I took a little break from the blog over the holidays and then gave myself a few more days to get back in the groove in my classroom.
We all know those people who are glued to their phones all the time. Those family members or friends who cannot just be "in the moment" and connect with other people. They also have to be "connected" to the internet. I would imagine , most everyone has had their moments of being that person and others are that way almost constantly.
Well, Collin and I both found ourselves in that position a little more than we were comfortable with. We would come home from work, eat dinner and then sit on the couch both on our phones. Now, truly we are million times better than most people our age but still it was something that was getting to both of us. Luckily, we are both capable of being on our phones and holding a conversation, but it just isn't the same. So, we created a new rule for our family in 2017.
No technology between the hours of 5-8 pm.
This means that our phones, tablet and computer are physically put in another room until 8:00pm each night. We put our phones on ring in case someone calls or texts and requires an immediate response. We also allow ourselves to look something up if it is important. Pictures of adorable Nora moments are also allowed. But, other than those exceptions, we don't touch our devices.
So far, we have actually stuck with this for 10 days.
It has been the absolute best thing for our family! In those three hours we have found ourselves having great conversations, getting on the floor and playing more with Nora, playing more games and watching less t.v. (Television in our house is not really an issue, we never have it on when Nora is awake). Reading for pleasure had pretty much gone to the wayside for me and now I am halfway through a new book I started only a few days ago. Excitedly, I have cooked more and our house is cleaner and more organized. I have even been able to fit a time for working out in that mysteriously just wasn't there before. We have been forced to do a lot more in those three hours and the results are amazing!
Maybe the best part of the whole thing is that Nora does not see her parents buried in their phones at all anymore. She sees parents who are attentive, present and who are doing things that make us more well rounded (Facebook and Instagram just don't reap us many rewards).
The time we chose was strategic for our family's schedule. I cannot check social media from work so I don't see Facebook or Instagram all day. Collin can check his periodically throughout the day. So, when I get home at 4pm, I can check anything I have missed during the day. Collin gets home from work at 5pm and the "no technology hours begin". We usually eat dinner around 5:30 and then pay with Nora until she goes to bed at 7. This gives us two "uninterrupted" hours as a family of three, then Collin and I have an hour with no technology just the two of us!
After 8:00 pm, if we choose to go grab our phones out of the other room we can, but many nights we don't even notice what time it is and we continue doing our other activities. The other night Collin and I played Skip-Bo until 9:30! One night I made cookies another night I deep cleaned the bathrooms while Collin put away laundry. Tasks that would have been put off for days if we were messin' around on our phones.
I challenge anyone reading this to try the rule out with your family for at least a week and see what kinds of things you find to do or what tasks you can accomplish that you "never had time for" before.
Here is an outline of our family's rules.
| Phones/tablet go in another room on a charger.
| Turn phones on high ring in case someone calls or texts.
| We can check texts and respond if it is important. If not important, respond after 8.
| If we are having a discussion and need to look something up. Both Collin and I have to agree if it is worth looking it up right then. For example, the other night we started a movie at 7:30 after Nora was asleep and we couldn't place where we recognized an actor from. It was driving us crazy, so we looked it up and then left the phone in the other room until 8.
| When the microwave clock says 8pm we can get our phones if we so desire!
It really has been so good for our little family and just helps us to be present with each other, more invested in moments and to hardly miss a thing! I plan on posting a list of some great options for anyone to do while not using their phone/device later on.
Let me know if you try this out and how it goes!


However, job outlook is better for respiratory therapists who have at least a bachelors degree fouryear college degree, while some respiratory therapists have only an associates degree. Instituto de Mediciones y Evaluacin de la Salud de la Universidad de Washington. Use an overthecounter remedy designed for these sores; many include the ingredients menthol, eucalyptol and benzocaine. WEDNESDAY, Oct. 5, 2011 HealthDay News Three hours of vigorous exercise a week can reduce a mans heart attack risk by 22 percent, a new study suggests. None said they recalled him ever being drunk or loosely dispensing medications. Why do we see a lot of research and studies from healthfocused tech companies, much of which isnt peerreviewed or evaluated by a thirdparty. United States last year, an increase of 3 percent from 2011. Women accounted for 98 percent of the arm lifts in 2012. But you have to be suspicious, particularly since high doses of Celebrex have heart attack and stroke risk. 45 The Comparison of Antipsychotics for Metabolic Problems study is examining the issue of antipsychotic switching in schizophrenia patients.


Today cardiac problems is even impacting the mid age generation in India. The urban and semi urban cities and towns are adding to the number of patients. Mostly working professionals in their mid 40's are at times victims of sudden heart attacks or diagnosed for cardiac problems by cardiologists or cardiac surgeons while checking for chest pain, blackouts and extreme fatigue with little activity.
Desun Hospital has state of art facilities for managing any cardiac emergency and also for latest heart surgeries. The cost is affordable; the hospital has facility for cashless mediclaim (PPN listed hospital) and also payment in EMI facility (Equal Monthly Installments) for expensive cardiac surgeries.
Cardiac Emergency management success rate is very high due to a strong medical emergency management foundation created by Desun. The medical emergency management quick response teams consist of doctors, surgeons, medical staff and hospital administration people. The quick response starts from attending the calls received on the dedicated emergency phone number, providing ambulance assistance, initial diagnosis, hospital admission if required and emergency OT as per the diagnosis.
Desun Hospital Chest Pain Center is a facility to help people with good medical facility in case of Chest Pain. The emergency team is quick to respond and it combines experienced cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, medical test facilities and expert medical staff. It is open 24 Hours to provide medical management and discharging patients as they get stable and the required diagnosis is done. There is also facility for hospitalization as per requirement.
Desun hospital has experienced doctors, expert medical teams to manage critical cardiac cases and deliver excellence in terms of medical management, heart surgeries and procedures like angioplasty, heart bypass surgery, permanent pacemaker surgery , heart valve replacement etc.
The LATEST Surgeries and procedures include LIMA-RIMA Y, Radial Angioplasty, Radial Angiogram, High quality stents, pacemakers and cardiac devices.
LIMA-RIMA Y or Arterial Heart Bypass is done by using the arteries and not the veins. This heart bypass done lasts longer and helps the person to lead a healthy and normal life for a long time.
Coronary Angioplasty Stents: Desun Hospital only uses high quality American Company Manufactured Stents. The stents are FDA and Government of India approved and the stents cost as per Government of India regulated price.
Radial Angiogram: Radial Angiogram is done through the wrist area and not the groin area. This angiogram process helps in faster healing, much less pain and assures more safety from post procedure complications and infections.
Permanent Pacemaker Surgery: Desun hospital has facility for Dual Chamber Pacemaker surgery and also cardiac devices. Cardiac pacemaker surgeries that help people to get back to regular life sooner and lead a normal day to day life post surgery.
Desun Hospital has NABH accreditation and is a superspeciality hospital.
This entry was posted in Health Care and tagged angioplasty surgery cost India, angioplasty surgery procedure cost India, cardiac arrest, cardiac Hospital Kolkata, cardiac pain, cardiac surgery packages kolkata, heart, heart attack, heart attack symptoms, heart bypass surgery package, heart checkup, HEART DISEASE IN WOMEN, Heart Hospital Kolkata, pacemaker surgery package. Bookmark the permalink.


To install mixmaster just follow these instructions.
Are you having problems? You can always remove mixmaster again by following the instructions at this link.
Which will install mixmaster and any other packages on which it depends.


text:
Lute's long-awaited album 'Gold Mouf' is a self-reflective sonic experience that's refreshingly sincere
Photo: Marcus Miller
After a year of minimal activity from the Dreamville squad, the hip-hop super label is back in full swing with new singles from Earthgang, J.I.D., Bas, Ari Lennox, and an album from the head honcho himself, J. Cole. Despite the litany of recent releases, Dreamville fans have been clamoring for new Lute– the Charlotte native and proverbial underdog of the roster who released his Dreamville debut with West 1996 Pt. 2 (the sequel to his 2012 independent mixtape, West 1996) in 2017.
Album cover for 'Gold Mouf,' the second studio album on Dreamville by Charlotte's Lute.
Four years later, Lute is back with his second studio album, Gold Mouf— a self-reflective sonic experience that resumes where we left off in 2017. The album starts with a soul-dripping opening track, "100" (produced by Coop the Truth, Jsmash, and KingCeez). However, it only takes a minute to notice that Lute is a different person this go 'round. This is not the same guy from 2017 who was slummin' and juggin' just to get by. Lute's life circa 2021 has undergone a 180-degree rotation.
Despite his fame, Lute is still "keeping it 100." He is still hungry for success, like a man haunted by the possibility of going back to where he worked so hard to leave. His fear of impermanence is now in the driver's seat. He faces this fear head-on by acknowledging the fleeting nature of money and friends.
'Gold Mouf' is a self-reflective sonic experience that resumes where we left off with 'West 1996 Pt. 2′ in 2017. Photo: Marcus Miller
It's a tale as old as time in rap music: Black man leaves the hood and does everything in his power to prevent going back to the hood– a conundrum that makes the politics around "making it" delicate and difficult. Minutes into the new LP, we find Lute balancing survivor's guilt with basking in the feeling of deservedness. After all, the West Charlotte native worked hard to get where he is now.
The second track, "GED (Getting Every Dollar)," produced by Jsmash, MixMP, and Patrick "Guitarboy" Hayes, makes the case for his value system. He sees himself as, or is rather told by others that he is, an inspiration to those he may have left in his past. And with that inspiration comes a personal responsibility for him to win by turning his pain into prosperity– a tenet of hip-hop itself.
Musically speaking, every track on Gold Mouf possesses the "golden touch," a comfy balance of soul and hip-hop that never goes out of style and that Lute has come to master in his artistry. With production from a rolodex of newcomers– Coop the Truth, Jsmash, King Ceez, MixMP, Guitarboy, Trox, Diego Ave, Swish, The Nukez, Suburban Plaza, Blakk Soul, Matthew Crabtree, Mell, ROMderful, Christo, Marco Polo, Dom, Tigallo, Zo!, Diamond, KQuick, and Ronald Gilmore– no song shares the same producer. Despite its varied personnel, Gold Mouf maintains its soul throughout the entire album.
Embedded in a musical DNA that harkens back to the stylings of Organized Noize, Dilla, and early Kanye West lies soul and jazz instrumentation, gospel-tinged choir vocals, and smooth grooves. There are even skits on the album, which add a grounded, comedic element. In its most pastiche moments, the skits are capped by a chorus of men shouting "Gold Mouf!" as if to signify breaking a huddle.
"Every track on 'Gold Mouf' possesses the "golden touch," a comfy balance of soul and hip-hop that never goes out of style." Photo: Marc Prosper
Gold Mouf's humor may point directly to Phonte Coleman of Little Brother and The Foreign Exchange, who sequenced the album. Coleman offers his comedic timing and voicings to the skits while fellow Little Brother member Rapper Big Pooh is Lute's manager, as well as the album's executive producer. Lute, Phonte, and Big Pooh's connection on this album makes apparent that Gold Mouf is also a testament to the lineage of North Carolina rap.
The breaks of comedic relief come in handy when juxtaposed against some of the album's more somber themes. Lute's braggadocio is immediately sidelined by the revelation of his underlying anxiety and depression. This isn't a topic from which he's shied away. In 2019, the rapper revealed to GQ that "his anxiety was starting to heighten." In his digital series, Gold Mouf Chronicles, he spoke about multiple family members having anxiety, his experience with open-heart surgery in his youth, and having anxiety attacks on stage.
On the track, "Be Okay" (produced by Diego Ave and Swish) he opens up a Pandora's box about his budding anxiety, citing the loss of his close friends and the near loss of his father: "N****s want more music; I ain't right within." Where has Lute been? He's been dealing with life. We all have. And he's demanding grace and comfort where it hasn't been offered: "Even when the light goes dark, I confide in you; tell me it's gon be okay."
Through the course of the album, it becomes more evident that this body of work is a form of therapy for Lute. He's generous enough to offer and share his safe space with everyone who's willing to listen. The album is considerably interactive in that way. With every revelatory statement he makes, he looks for a witness who can relate.
Lute brings his own fair share of witnesses on the album, as well. Out of 13 tracks, seven of them have features, including fellow Charlotte native DEVN, his Dreamville home team: JID, Cozz, and Ari Lennox; soul singer BJ The Chicago Kid, Saba, Westside Boogie, Blakk Soul, and North Carolina legends, Little Brother.
Community and conversation is at the heart of Gold Mouf. The most pointed example of this is "Birdsong" featuring JID and Saba (produced by Christo), a posse cut that spends its three minutes exploring personal freedom. Lute desires to be free from the charades of the rap game. He hints at early retirement with lines like, "I'm just rapping til' I'm somewhere chillin'" and "collect my coin then I'ma dip off." Ultimately, his idea of freedom is having agency to live as he wants: "Live how I wanna, cause I'm freer than a bird."
Somewhere between acknowledging the weight of his influence and contemplating his long game, Lute uses Gold Mouf to be openly honest about who he is, how he feels, and what all he desires to accomplish in his long-awaited follow-up to West 1996 Pt. 2, and it certainly does not disappoint.
Listen to Lute's latest album Gold Mouf via Dreamville/Interscope Records.
Blakk Soul
Coop the Truth
DEVN
Diego Ave
gold mouf
Guitarboy
Jsmash
King Ceez
KQuick
Matthew Crabtree
MixMP
phonte
ROMderful
Ronald Gilmore
Suburban Plaza
The Nukez
Tigallo
Westside Boogie
Zo!
Red Hot Chili Peppers coming to Charlotte with The Strokes and Thundercat in 2022!
Cyanca celebrates the release of her latest EP with Reuben Vincent in homecoming concert

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I have been pretty busy over the last week or so with the first push for publicity for the book, and things have gone fairly well. I did a couple of interviews on local BBC radio stations in the UK, and several other interviews with online broadcasters too.
They have all been fun interviews to do, and all are available online if you want to listen to them.
With Amazon being the main target for as many of my sales as possible, I have been looking at ways to improve my ranking there, as well as find ways that will help others to stumble across my book as they browse through Amazon's huge catalogue of around 8 million books.
I have discovered a couple of things that look like they will help, and if you care to assist a little, your input would be very gratefully accepted. Here are a couple of things that you can do that will only take a few seconds.
1). This is the quickest and easiest way you can help out a little – just a few seconds will do! A very influential part of a listing on Amazon is the "Reviews" section. For reviews that have already been written, there is a "Did you find this review helpful?" section. Below each review there is a "Yes" and a "No" button, and you can indicate whether the review was of assistance to you. "Yes" votes for good 5* reviews help keep these reviews on top of the review list.
2). Another really quick way to assist – Amazon makes use of tags to assist people to search for products. You can add your own tags, or agree with tags already suggested by others. I think the most relevant tags are: travel, adventure, goals, goal setting, ebay, auction, life changing, separation, divorce, love… tick the ones you agree with, or add your own. You are allowed to tick or add up to 15 tags.
I was looking into the tagging system a little more last night, and it is very interesting to see how it works. When you search for a book on, for example, the subject of "goal setting", the page first shows recently popular products tagged this way. As I write this my book appears at #5 on this list. This is wonderful, and is due to those friends and contacts who have recently done a review or some tagging. Thank you all very much.
In overall popularity I am currently #18. The top 15 books display on the first page of results, and the book at #15 has been tagged "goal setting" 9 times. So only two more people tagging A LIFE SOLD as being relevant to "goal setting" will put me on the first page.
Anything elso you can suggest?
You can add up to a maximum of 15 tags, and as always, anything you can do to help is greatly appreciated.
There is another new page on the website with a few other ideas and suggestions for ways you can help, should you have the time and inclination.
Many thanks once again to all blog readers out there for your on-going support and encouragement.


You can now choose a name to help you identify the server. You can also use the "Label" field for this. You can also use the "Label" field for this. Enter "Server Address" and "Nickname" just like you would do in "Quick Connect".... You can now choose a name to help you identify the server. You can also use the "Label" field for this. You can also use the "Label" field for this. Enter "Server Address" and "Nickname" just like you would do in "Quick Connect".
Ranging from common nicknames to more unusual options, these terms of endearment will help you express your love for your wife in a romantic, cute way. 1. Heartbeat: Your wife is like an extension of yourself, so calling her your heartbeat makes complete sense.
My name is, my name is. If every syllable is the same length, the same volume, the same pitch, then we loose the character of American English, which is based on stressed vs. unstressed syllables. If every syllable is the same length, the same volume, the same pitch, then we loose the character of American English, which is based on stressed vs. unstressed syllables.
Accordingly you choose a tongue-in-cheek nickname. Like going from silly Stephanie to wink-wink Queenie . Fourth possibility: In business there�s some tradition to nicknaming yourself by initials.
Abstract: Non-English words and hybrids are common Abstract offers the most potential from a branding and flexibility standpoint, which we will cover more later. In the DJ Mag 2011 list of the top 100 most popular DJs, we see plenty of both types of DJ names. 42 of the DJs on the list use their real birth names (or a shortened version), while 58 of them use a unique name.


text:
Angern an der March is een gemeente in de Oostenrijkse deelstaat Neder-Oostenrijk, gelegen in het district Gänserndorf. De gemeente heeft ongeveer 3200 inwoners.

Geografie
Angern an der March heeft een oppervlakte van 38,13 km². Het ligt in het noordoosten van het land, ten westen van de grens met Slowakije en ten oosten van de hoofdstad Wenen.

Gemeente in Neder-Oostenrijk

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Plus, the 3 items you should avoid at all costs.
Fall officially begins on Saturday, which means you can finally sip your maple-flavored latte and nibble on pumpkin-spiced snacks without shame. It feels like we've been celebrating fall ever since Starbucks launched their pumpkin spice latte on August 28, but last week Trader Joe's released their seasonal treats, which officially gave us full-blown fall fever. A TJ's manager in Birmingham, Alabama, said that fall treats will continue to be released through mid-October.
The only downside? Pumpkin-spiced snacks sound pretty harmless, but they can actually be pretty unhealthy and some items are definitely better for you than others. Many of the items are packed with added sugars and sodium—but there are a handful of products you can enjoy and keep your diet on track.
Trader Joe's hasn't announced how many seasonal items they plan to release, but it's important to note that each region has different sale dates for fall products. While there are reports of Trader Joe's renowned pumpkin-spice almond milk being sold in the New England area, the item isn't due in our local Trader Joe's until next week. One or two of the items on our list may not be available in your store just yet, but be patient. You'll soon have all the best of fall-flavored foods (all of which are under $7).
A cup of this pumpkin-flavored oat cereal is perfect to get your morning going, and each serving has just 110 calories, 140mg of sodium, and 9g of sugar (none of which is added). Bonus: The cereal leaves a slight hint of pumpkin flavor floating around in your milk, which sounds like a treat on its own.
If a hot breakfast is more your style, Trader Joe's has launched a pecan- and pumpkin-flavored oatmeal that's packaged into eight single servings, perfect for on-the-go mornings. Unfortunately, the sweet nature of the seasoning means you'll be eating 240mg of sodium and 14g of sugar per bowl, which is definitely higher than regular oatmeal, but more than okay for an occasional treat.
Bakers, rejoice! All you need to make a loaf of pumpkin bread are eggs, water, and oil. Slice a loaf for your family and friends, and enjoy as a sweet treat: each slice is 250 calories, and has 290mg of sodium and 18g of sugar. There's also a gluten-free variety available, and we guarantee it'll make your kitchen smell delicious.
I'll be making these fluffy, light pancakes every Saturday this fall—and since two pancakes have just 210 calories, 250mg of sodium, and 7g of sugar, I won't feel at all guilty about it. Pass the syrup, please!
Upgrade your cheese plate this fall with these savory bread crisps that are delicious for dipping or spreading. 11 crackers come in at 80 calories, 115mg of sodium, and 6g of sugar, which makes them a healthy choice for your next dinner party.
If you're dying to have something deliciously sweet and rich alongside coffee or tea, chocolate mousse is the way to go—especially when it's dressed up as an adorable pumpkin. These cakes are the perfect size for dessert, and you'll rest easy knowing there are 120 calories, 35mg of sodium, 2g of sat fat, and 5g of sugar per cake.
This item is the most expensive of the bunch, but you'll understand why when you taste this blend of roasted almonds, spiced cashews, pecans, candied ginger, and dried apples. If you're looking for a quick snack without breaking the calorie bank, each serving of this hearty mix contains a mere 150 calories, 55mg of sodium, and 11g of natural sugar.
Who says you have to go to Starbucks to enjoy a pumpkin-flavored coffee this fall? This product comes in two different packages—blended coffee grounds for your drip brewer, or single-serve cups like the ones pictured above. This container includes 12 cups of what one staffer says is "the best at-home coffee" she's tasted all year.
One of our editors says that this pumpkin-spice blend is delicious without being overpowering or artificial-tasting, and would be delicious for breakfast or after dinner. This tin contains 20 self-serve bags for you to steep at your desk or at home.
Each muffin contains 390 calories, 2.5g of saturated fat, 220mg of sodium, which isn't too horrific—until you realize there's 45g of sugar in each muffin, plus 90mg of cholesterol. Enough said.
You can make a loaf of pumpkin bread using Trader Joe's mix—minus all the sugar you'll find in this one. A slice of this pre-baked cake has 250 calories, 2.5g of saturated fat, and 320mg of sodium, but the most concerning bit is the sugar: a whopping 31g per slice.
Unfortunately, we wouldn't even recommend sticking to one serving of this spread—a tablespoon contains 9g of added sugar, which is just about 40 percent of what you should be eating each day.


text:
Important Learnings From The Bhagavad Gita
Posted by Carrie Cabral | Jan 31, 2021
This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The Bhagavad Gita" by Eknath Easwaran. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
What are the important learnings from The Bhagavad Gita? What lessons does Arjuna learn?
Throughout the book, Arjuna learns many important lessons from Krishna about connecting with God. These learnings from The Bhagavad Gita revolve around dharma, yoga, and finding your path to god.
Read more about the learnings from The Bhagavad Gita.
Learnings From The Bhagavad Gita
The final two chapters of the Gita are devoted to answering Arjuna's remaining questions and wrapping up the conversation. In Chapter 17, Arjuna asks for more details about scriptures. Specifically, he wants to know what happens to people who worship faithfully, but not in the ways that are prescribed in the scriptures.
Chapter 18 reiterates that the way to find everlasting peace is by maintaining faith in Vishnu, devoting your life and all of your actions to him, and detaching from your ego. This is, as Krishna has said many times throughout the Gita, the ultimate goal of life. Here are some of the learnings from The Bhagavad Gita.
Worship Influenced by the Gunas
Following up on Krishna's last lesson, Arjuna asks about people who worship faithfully but don't follow the rituals prescribed by scripture. He wonders which guna they're acting from by doing so.
Krishna answers that every living creature has some kind of faith, which could come from any of the three gunas. What kind of faith someone has depends on which guna he or she is ruled by, which also impacts every aspect of that person's life. Krishna specifically discusses what each type of worship focuses on, and what each type of person likes to eat, which taken together give insights into the kinds of people that they are.
Sattvic worship focuses on God, in all of the many forms he takes. People ruled by sattva like to eat mild, healthy food that fuels them without causing damage to the body. Like their food, their worship is also straightforward and designed to promote good health. They make offerings with their minds focused on the ultimate purpose: worshipping God. They don't think about rewards or social standing, they simply perform their spiritual duties.
Rajasic worship focuses on wealth and power. People ruled by rajas like food with strong flavors—spicy, salty, bitter, or sour. However, such food ends up causing them pain, and even sickness. Just like they eat with the intention of indulging themselves, they worship for selfish reasons as well—to make a show of it, or because they hope to be rewarded for their faith.
Tamasic worship focuses on ghosts and spirits, rather than any form of God. They worship without any true faith, and don't even follow the proper rituals. Tamasic worship may be practiced in order to gain power over one's followers, or in the misguided belief that torturing one's body is spiritual. Like their worship, their food has no purpose nor value—people ruled by tamas like food that has been overcooked, or that has gone stale; food that's lost its flavor and nutrition.
Finally, Krishna says that there are three different types of self-discipline, each of which can be practiced according to any of the three gunas as previously described—but should be practiced according to sattva. The physical disciplines are service, worship, self-control, and peace. The disciplines of speech are honesty and kindness, and studying the scriptures. The mental disciplines are gentleness, calmness, and restraint.
The Name of Brahman
Krishna ends this lesson by reciting the sacred name Om Tat Sat. While the three words together represent Brahman, each has its own powerful and important meaning. This is another one of the important learnings from The Bhagavad Gita.
Om is the oldest Hindu mantram—a short phrase that is repeated many times over to focus the mind and spirit. It's a holy syllable that represents Brahman and is meant to be the sacred sound that one can hear while deep in meditation. Those who follow scripture always use this mantra while making offerings, giving gifts, and performing other spiritual duties.
Tat simply means "that," but represents the ultimate reality: the truth of God and the universe that no one can possibly imagine or describe. Worshippers will add the word Tat to indicate that they're performing these actions to free themselves from karma, rather than for any immediate personal benefit.
Sat means, simultaneously, "what is" and "what is good." It describes an admirable or honest deed. On the other hand, engaging in spiritual practices in bad faith would be asat, without goodness. Worshipping for selfish reasons has no value, in this life or any life to come.
Taken together, the phrase Om Tat Sat means that only good is real. Evil, like sense-objects, is temporary and false.
The Kinds of Renunciation
Finally, Krishna talks about renunciation as a part of the learnings from The Bhagavad Gita. Now starting to wrap up his lesson, Krishna returns to one of the Gita's earliest topics: renunciation of actions, called sannyasa, and renunciation of the results of those actions, called tyaga. Krishna reiterates that sannyasa, completely giving up on taking any actions at all, isn't a proper spiritual path, and it's impossible besides; as long as you have a body, you'll have physical needs that you must see to.
He's more interested in tyaga and goes into detail about three ways to practice it according to the three gunas. Simply renouncing all of your duties and responsibilities is tamasic tyaga, which will only degrade your spiritual health. Renouncing only those actions that you think will be difficult or unpleasant is rajasic tyaga, driven by selfishness and lacking in any spiritual value.
However, fulfilling your obligations without any thought of selfish rewards—doing your duty simply because it is your duty—is sattvic, and this is the best form of tyaga. Sattvic tyaga will bring you closer to God.
What's Needed for Action
Since actions must be performed, Krishna now explains the five things that are needed for every act that anyone performs, whether good or bad:
The physical body
The means to perform the act
The sense of self
The actual performance of the action
The divine will that drives it
People who don't fully understand these five elements think that they are the ones performing actions, but those with spiritual wisdom understand that they are only vessels through which the divine will acts. While awareness of oneself is needed to take any action, that action should not be taken for oneself. Everything should be done in service to God.
In addition to the five elements that are needed to perform an action, three things determine when and how people take action: the concept of knowledge, the things that are known, and the one who knows them. Without these things, people wouldn't know when it was appropriate to take action, or what actions to take.
The action itself can also be broken down into three aspects: the means to perform the act (which is both part of the action and part of what's needed to do the action), the action itself, and the one doing the action.
Action Driven by Gunas
The gunas are an importnat part of the learnings from The Bhagavad Gita. These deconstructions are important because the knowledge to perform the action, the action, and the one doing the action can all be affected by, and described in terms of, the three gunas.
Sattvic knowledge is what Krishna has been explaining throughout the Gita—that there is a single, divine entity living in all things, and therefore all things are connected and unified. Sattvic understanding knows right from wrong, what will bring security and peace, and what will ultimately lead to freedom and union with God.
As Krishna has said before, acting selflessly to fulfill one's obligations—one's dharma—is the proper way to take action. This is sattvic action. Sattvic actors are selfless, unconcerned with payment or reward, and equally happy in good times and hard times.
Rajasic knowledge is selfish; it doesn't see the unity in everything but considers different things and creatures as separate entities. Because it lacks this crucial understanding, rajasic intellect can't tell right from wrong. It pursues wealth, pleasure, and good reputation, often at the expense of others.
Rajasic action is also selfish, done in the hopes of personal gain, and often causes undue stress on the actor. Rajasic actors are greedy and destructive, and they're obsessed with their ever-shifting fortunes.
Tamasic knowledge is deluded—like a child, it sees one small part of the world and thinks that's all there is, with no concept that there could be something beyond its own experiences. It's even more confused than rajasic knowledge and mixes up right and wrong at every turn. It leads to fear, grief, sadness, and a refusal to learn from mistakes.
Tamasic action is ignorant and thoughtless, done without any consideration of dharma, the impact it will have on others, or even one's own ability to do it. Tamasic actors are lazy, undisciplined, and dishonest. They often procrastinate on their work or shirk it entirely.
The Three Kinds of Happiness
Like everything else, you can even describe happiness in terms of the gunas. Happiness that comes from sattvic knowledge and action is hard to find at first. Working without any thought or hope of personal reward will seem bitter and pointless until you come to fully understand how you're fulfilling dharma and helping the world through your actions. However, sattvic happiness is the only type of happiness that brings lasting joy and peace.
Happiness that comes from the guna of rajas is immediate and pleasurable, but temporary. It's the joy of getting something you've always wanted, or the thrill of eating a piece of spicy food. It fades quickly and reveals itself to be an illusion—remember, only that which is permanent and unchanging is real.
Tamasic happiness is a lie from beginning to end. It comes from idleness, sleep, and intoxication. This kind of false happiness should be avoided at all costs.
Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best book summary and analysis of Eknath Easwaran's "The Bhagavad Gita" at Shortform.
Here's what you'll find in our full The Bhagavad Gita summary:
The key principles of the Hindu faith
Why all spirituality is good and there is no single path to God
The 3 reasons that can explain every action people take
Carrie Cabral January 31, 2021 February 5, 2021 Books, Philosophy, Spiritual
← Strategy and Execution: Balancing What and How
Economic Anxiety in White Conservative Voters →
Carrie Cabral
Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.
The 13 Essential Principles of Think and Grow Rich
Joseph Adebisi July 21, 2021 August 6, 2021
The Gifts of Imperfection: Review (Brené Brown)
Hannah Aster August 12, 2021 August 20, 2021
Antifragile: Book Overview, Key Concepts & More
Carrie Cabral May 25, 2021 June 6, 2021
The 5 Laws of Gold From the Richest Man in Babylon
Darya Sinusoid July 26, 2021 August 9, 2021
How to Surrender: You Can Be Happy, If You Choose – Eckhart Tolle
Allen Cheng July 30, 2019 October 10, 2021
Short Sighted Thinking & Long Term Consequences
Carrie Cabral December 13, 2020 December 19, 2020


text:
May 8 : Truth in Labeling: Transparency and Health Insurance
Truth in Labeling: Transparency and Health Insurance
12:00 - 1:30 PM EDT
{"name":"Truth in Labeling: Transparency and Health Insurance","startDate":"2009-05-08","endDate":"2009-05-08","startTime":"12:00:00","endTime":"13:30:00","label":"Add to calendar","options":["Apple","Google","Microsoft365","MicrosoftTeams","Outlook.com","Yahoo"],"timeZone":"US\/Eastern","trigger":"click"}
Show Embed Code
"There is no question that 'meaningful health insurance' is at the heart of the effort to get affordable, quality coverage for all Americans," said CAP Senior Fellow Judy Feder at "Truth in Labeling: Transparency and Health Insurance," an event CAP hosted last Friday. A group of experts joined Feder for the discussion, including Georgetown University Research Professor Karen Pollitz, American Cancer Society Action Network's Senior Program Editor Steve Finan, and Senior Program Editor at Consumer Reports/ Consumer Reports on Health Nancy Metcalf.
In order for health insurance to be meaningful it must "comply with the three A's," said Feder. "It must be adequate, available to all, and affordable." This is unfortunately not the case with most plans; they often have coverage gaps, deny people insurance, or are too expensive for most consumers.
Being underinsured is nearly as dangerous as being uninsured. Even with insurance, "you can lose everything if you have a heart attack," explained Pollitz. Millions of insured Americans accrue staggering medical bills each year due to inadequate coverage.
It can be difficult to tell what benefits a health insurance plan provides, and consumers are generally not even allowed to read a policy before purchasing it. These practices also make it difficult to avoid hidden costs. "For almost anything we buy these days people can get consumer information, except for health insurance," said Finan. Despite the wide variety of plans available, consumers have almost no tools to effectively compare them and make an informed decision.
Even after purchasing coverage, it is nearly impossible for the average consumer to understand their plan and judge whether it will cover costs. "The policy language is in legal and health jargon making it difficult for people to understand," said Pollitz. In one study three out of four people didn't understand their policy and 53 percent didn't know whether there was a limit on their out-of-pocket spending.
The fundamental lack of coverage transparency can lead to insurmountable debt. "We are trained as consumers [to] buy bargains," said Metcalf, but plans that seem cheap often have costly loopholes. Pollitz and her team compared three hypothetical patients with serious health conditions under 10 different insurance plans offered in Massachusetts and 10 others in California. The discrepancy in out-of-pocket payments for their breast cancer patient ranged from $4,039 to $55,250, as detailed in their report, "Coverage When It Counts."
Often patients don't know about the limits in their coverage until they receive their bill. Even if consumers know they have an out-of-pocket limit, and know what it is, sometimes this limit isn't comprehensive and it is difficult to determine what is covered and what isn't. "It is important to make the out-of-pocket limit real," said Pollitz. Otherwise patients can incur staggering debts, even under a seemingly comprehensive policy.
"We all agree that everyone should have basic coverage, but the question is what does this mean? What do you leave out?" asked Metcalf. This will be a central issue in the process of health care reform and creating a system that doesn't leave people without coverage.
Vital steps toward health insurance reform and transparency will be standardization, comparability, disclosure, and honesty of language. "The most important step is to make health insurance less variable," said Pollitz. "What we have now aren't choices. They're traps." Consumers should also have access to comparative information the same way they do for other products through services such as Consumer Reports. One way to do this would be through a Coverage Facts label, modeled after the FDA's Nutrition Facts labels.
Health insurance must undergo significant reform, and transparency needs to be at the heart of it. Patients should not have to face a lifetime of debt because of dense, complex legal language. As Feder said, "If health insurance doesn't work for sick people it doesn't work."
Steve Finan, Senior Director of Policy, American Cancer Society Action Network
Nancy Metcalf, Senior Program Editor, Consumer Reports/Consumer Reports on Health
Karen Pollitz, Research Professor, Georgetown University
Judy Feder, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress


text:
Мадрепоровая пластинка — небольшая известковая пластина с большим количеством мелких пор, используемая для фильтрации воды в сосудистую систему иглокожих. Действует как фильтр и клапан, уравновешивающий давление. Например, у морской звезды выглядит как небольшая округлая структура, напоминающая маленькую бородавку, которая находится на аборальной (тыльной, противоположной ротовому отверстию) поверхности центрального диска недалеко от анального отверстия. Вблизи она имеет структуру, похожую на колонию кораллов (madrepore, коралловый камень, Scleractinia), откуда и пошло название.

Сосудистая система морской звезды состоит из совокупности заполненных морской водой протоков, которые используются для передвижения, питания и дыхания животного. Основными ее частями являются мадрепоровая пластина, каменный канал, кольцевой канал, радиальные каналы, латеральные каналы и ножки в виде трубок. Напоминающая сито мадрепоровая пластина позволяет вводить морскую воду в каменный канал, который соединён с кольцевым каналом вокруг рта. От кольцевого канала отходят пять или более радиальных каналов, по одному в каждой конечности над амбулакральной канавкой. От радиальных каналов отходит множество боковых каналов, каждый из которых ведет к ножке, представляющей собой закрытый цилиндр с мышечными стенками, имеющими присоску на внешнем конце и похожую на колбу ампулу на внутреннем конце в полости тела.

Ссылки

Иглокожие


text:
Pac-12 has no clear favorite, but plenty of potential
Sports | August 14, 2019
Greg Beacham
The Utah Utes were selected to win the Pac-12 in the preseason media poll and they're also ranked in the preseason coaches' poll. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)
Rick Bowmer | Associated Press file photo | AP
LOS ANGELES — The Pac-12's national championship drought hits 15 years this winter, and there are few signs of a respite. Several of the conference's traditional powers are in states of rebuilding or disarray heading into a season that's murkier than a Mike Leach metaphor.
Even the preseason media poll couldn't identify a clear favorite, with plucky Utah barely emerging on top after several schools essentially split the vote.
But to the coaches entrusted with returning the West Coast's major conference to national competitiveness, this seeming parity actually underlines the overall strength of a league on the rise again. Elite talent is easy to find around the Pac-12, and several programs are in a position to potentially put it all together.
"There are not a lot of conferences out there that can legitimately look up and say more than half their conference has a chance to win the conference," Stanford coach David Shaw said. "The people that know football know how deep and how difficult this conference is. The people that only want to look in two spots, in the SEC and the Big Ten footprint, you can't win them over anyway, because they're not paying attention to the scope of college football."
Still, the Pac-12 doesn't have a traditional power in peak form after graduation losses at defending champion Washington and Stanford, Southern California's miserable 2018 season and the questions still looming around resurgent Oregon and its 5-4 conference mark.
Into the gap stepped Utah, the (relative) conference newcomer with numerous returning starters, an elite defense and promising quarterback Tyler Huntley.
Whether the Utes live up to their hype or another power emerges, Huskies coach Chris Petersen is confident this league is on its way up again.
"Five or six years ago, the Pac-12 could do no wrong," Petersen said. "We were in the greatest position ever, and we were going to do this and that. And five years later, (people think) we don't even know how to play football anymore. It's always somewhere in between. I know we've got good players out here, and good coaches and programs. I think it's all cyclical."
Here are more things to watch during the Pac-12 football season:
UTES UP FRONT
Utah is the preseason favorite, but it's not going to anybody's head in Salt Lake City, according to coach Kyle Whittingham. In fact, he wants his Utes thinking not about national championships, but only about achieving Pac-12 supremacy, largely because the league's South Division teams are 1-7 in the league championship game. "We felt like we were going to have some preseason hype, and so we wanted to make sure that we got out ahead of it and talked to our players about just ignoring the noise and staying focused," Whittingham said. "We all know that the Pac-12 championship is our goal, as I'm sure it is for every team in the Pac-12, so the focus is not on the goal. It's (on) how we are going to achieve that goal."
TROJAN HOT SEAT
Coach Clay Helton clearly needs a swift rebound with his Trojans coming off their first losing season since 2000, including five losses in their last six. USC finished 91st in scoring in the FBS despite a talent-studded offensive roster, and Helton addressed the problem by hiring blue chip coordinators Kliff Kingsbury and then Graham Harrell, who brings his version of the Air Raid offense to Tailback U. The Trojans' brutal early season schedule is an obstacle to a quick turnaround, but Helton knows what's expected — or else.
HERBERT'S RETURN
Quarterback Justin Herbert returned to Oregon for his senior season, and he'll finally have the same coach in consecutive years. Mario Cristobal's Ducks should contend for their first league title since 2014 if Herbert takes another step from his 3,000-yard season last fall. Herbert calls it "a huge bonus" to have the same coaching staff for the first time: "We go from having spent all this time learning to teaching. We're able to reach out to those younger guys, get them dialed up and up to speed so they are able to jump in as soon as we can."
HUSKIES RECHARGE
Although Washington is heading into its biggest rebuilding season in a half-decade after losing 13 starters from last year's champions, quarterback Jacob Eason has hopes running high in Seattle. The touted local product returned from Georgia last season in hopes of replacing four-year starter Jake Browning this fall. Petersen insists Eason is competing with sophomore Jake Haener in camp, but most expect Eason and running back Salvon Ahmed to step in for Huskies stalwarts Browning and Myles Gaskin.
THE CHIP DIP
UCLA is coming off its worst season since 1977 after going 3-9 in coach Chip Kelly's debut. Those Bruins largely got a pass due to the program's steady decline in Jim Mora's final seasons, and they also beat USC. But the deep-pocketed UCLA boosters who attracted Kelly will be looking for some return on their investment this fall, and they might get it if Kelly fields an improved offense around quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson.
Glenwood soccer standout Celia Scruton signs to play with Evergreen State in Washington
Glenwood Springs High School's senior soccer standout Celia Scruton is set to continue her career with the Evergreen State College Geoducks in Olympia, Washington.
Tuesday hoops: Rifle, Grand Valley split non-conference matchup; Glenwood soars at Eagle
On the Fly column: A good net man should be cherished
Preps roundup: Glenwood swimmers win six-team home meet; Demons hockey scores big win at Steamboat
Improvements headed to Sayre Park after community groups fund majority of phase one construction costs


Bonding is a quick, painless in-office procedure to repair cracks, chips, gaps between teeth or cover stained teeth to enhance your smile. Bonding can often be done without anesthesia if there is no decay or pulp exposure. The bonding material is developed in many shades allowing the dentist to accurately match the shade of your natural teeth. The composite resin forms a durable, stain resistant surface that is later smoothed and polished to give it a natural appearance and feel.
The resin is then hardened and polished to a natural finish.


His Grace Most Rev. Lawrence Mar Ephraem was secretary general of the catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) before taking over as Bishop as the First Bishop of Marthandam in Tamilnadu state. It is the first Syro-Malankara Diocese outside the adjoining southern state of Kerala – the Oriental Church's base. The late prelate had been Auxillary Bishop of Trivandrum Syro-Malankara archdiocese since 1980 and was made Bishop of Marthandam when it was carved out of the Malankara Church's only Metropolitan See in December 1996. Bishop Ephraem was an "unchallenged leader of the oppressed and poor". During his two terms as CBCI secretary general from 1990-1994, Bishop Ephraem "always spoke for the oppressed, neglected women and unorganized people". Bishop Ephraem worked in the region for more than 20 years implementing several development projects. He was a pastorally concerned Bishop with much Humanitarian feel.


text:
Halidolar (Hali Dolar) ist eine Aldeia des osttimoresischen Sucos Hera (Verwaltungsamt Cristo Rei, Gemeinde Dili). 2015 hatte die Aldeia 2054 Einwohner.

Geographie
Halidolar nimmt den Westen des Ortes Hera, nördlich der Avenida Hera ein. Dazu gehören die Ortsteile Liqirahu, Bidik und Besidada. Dazu kommt das etwas abseits liegende Dorf Mantarlido im Nordosten. Südlich davon liegt die Aldeia Mota Quic, östlich und nördlich die Aldeia Ailoc Laran und westlich die Aldeia Acanuno.

Einrichtungen
Im Norden von Halidolar befinden sich Reisfelder, während der Rest der Aldeia weitgehend besiedelt ist. Hier findet sich die protestantische Christuskirche.

Einzelnachweise

Aldeia in Dili (Gemeinde)


Recent studies have predicted that in 2030, traffic accidents will be the fifth leading cause of death worldwide. The costs of fatalities and driver injuries due to traffic accidents greatly affect the society. These insights call for investigating various aspects of traffic accident data analysis and modeling in numerous geographic regions (Sameen and Pradhan 2017a, b, c; Sameen et al. 2016). In particular, several researchers paid increasing attention to determining factors that greatly affect the severity of driver injuries caused by traffic accidents. Many approaches, such as logistic regression (LR) (Al-Ghamdi 2002), artificial neural networks (ANNs) (Delen et al. 2006; Moghaddam et al. 2011), support vector machines (SVMs) (Li et al. 2008, 2012), and Bayesian methods (Xie et al. 2009; de Oña et al. 2011), were explored to model traffic accident data.


text:
Posts Tagged 'Quadricentennial'
it ain't over
Violinist/Artistic Director Soovin Kim
Summers here are all the sweeter for the outdoor music. Right? It starts with the big bang of the Discover Jazz Festival just after Memorial Day. From there on out every restaurant, park and tent-able space erupts in sound, happily for weeks on end.
Did I mention the berry patches? Those too. One of my favorite places to kick off the shoes and enjoy some live tunes is the Owl's Head Blueberry Farm in Richmond. Tuesdays and Thursdays through July and August offer live musical accompaniment to pick a few quarts. It's great. And hey – it's almost over. This is the last week, check out the schedule and by all means get there if you can. July's rain has made for some of the biggest, fattest, sweetest berries in years. The 8 brimming quarts in the freezer can back that one up. I'm hoping to go for 16 before the week's over. It's a long time before next summer.
This year we even had the extra bonus of the Lake Champlain Quadricentennial events to keep things exciting through the end of June and start of July, before the "real" festival season fired up later in the month with the annual Vermont Mozart Festival, Marlboro, the Killington, Manchester, and Central Vermont's Chamber Music Festivals, and … on.
So we come to late August and it feels a little empty. Like the day after Christmas, or that odd quietness in the house the morning after hosting a really great party.
Enter the Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival. I first heard about the plans around a year ago when Soovin Kim visited us at Vermont Public Radio. He came that day to play violin, and he mentioned his role as Artistic Director in getting the first plans for this summer's LCCMF off the ground. It all seemed so far away then. Now it's here: a new music festival starting in late August just as so many others are wrapping up.
The events began today as artist-in-residence David Ludwig led the first of the week-long "Listening Club" sessions (today's subject: Shostakovich's Op. 127 songs on poems by Alexander Blok). Schubert's lovely song cycle Liederkreis is tomorrow's discussion subject, and then you can hear soprano Hyunah Yu singing the Blok song cycle in the first of the Festival concerts on Weds. night, at 7:30. Two more concerts follow on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.
Summer's not over yet. It's just rounding third now, fueled by the afterburn of an already very fine live music season.
Festival details (all concerts at the Elley-Long Music Center on the St. Michael's campus):
– the complete schedule, with the Listening Club workshop information
– schedule information for concerts only
Tags:Burlington, Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival, David Luwdig, Discover Jazz Festival, Dmitri Shostakovich, Killington Music Festival, Manchester Music Festival, Marlboro, Owl's Head Blueberry Farm, Quadricentennial, Robert Schumann, St. Michael's College, Vermont, Vermont Mozart Festival
don't rain on my…oh, alright.
Burlington's Taiko drummers, rounding up the parade
"How many people went to the parade today?" (audience cheers.)
"How many people were in the parade today?" (BIG audience cheers.)
"This will be the parade everyone remembers," Jay Craven continued, as he introduced the night's feature at the Flynn.
It was a wet one alright. The parade for the Quadricentennial had been scheduled to start at 5 and end around 7. By the time I came into downtown around 6 driving through a heavy downpour most of the way in, I knew it must be cancelled. The standing traffic barriers on all of the sidestreets said otherwise. Sure enough – it was on, in the pouring rain.
Bands, floats (no irony there), the Vermont French Antique Car Club, Bread and Puppet, they were all rolling along as normal down the parade route even as onlookers had to move closer to the middle of the street to avoid the small streams flowing down the gutters. Burlington's Taiko drummers kept the beat at the end of the lineup, smiling and dancing in rain ponchos made luminous in with the backlighting from the following patrol cars.
Somehow fitting that a celebration of Lake Champlain should include so much water.
Taiko drummers: rain, no rain. No matter.
Tonight's feature at the Flynn was the new collaboration commissioned for the Quad celebrations, From the New World, choreographed by the French/Algerian dancemaster Heddy Maalem. It's a dance interpretation of Samuel de Champlain's arrival at the Lake, set to Dvorak's Symphony #9 ("From the New World"). At least mostly. Did I miss something? Like the last movement of the symphony, which was replaced for the final dance tableau by a movement from Dvorak's "American" Quartet? No one ever promised a complete performance of the symphony for tonight's show, true, but when the performance concluded without that last movement ever playing and the lights came up there seemed to be some brief confusion in the audience. For a moment everyone looked at each other, I heard a few "Is that it?" and "Is it over?" comments, and then the applause began.
Post-parade libations at the Vermont Pub & Brewery
It did feel inconclusive, but then again this Quadricentennial celebration also is not the end of the story for the Lake region, it's but a milemarker in the region's history.
A lot of preparation and hard work went into these shows (tonight's and the premiere, last night), which never could have been realized without the vision of Jay Craven and Heddy Maalem, the commission from Burlington City Arts, the nearly 40 dancers, and many contributing organizations and sponsors.
What will they do for the 500th? I can't imagine, but I'll have my umbrella ready for whatever it holds.
Tags:Antonin Dvorak, Burlington Taiko drummers, Flynn Center, From the New World Symphony #9, Heddy Maalem, Jay Craven, parade, Quadricentennial
the keyboard-percussion-horn-mobiles
It's been that kind of day, as all of Burlington gets ready for the anticipated Quadricentennial parade. Here are a couple of the 'instruments' that were wheeling into downtown around Noon. Is it drums, or horns? Is it cymbals, or a keyboard? —YES. Yes indeedy, it is.
Tags:Burlington, parade, Quadricentennial
music and then some
The week started in downtown Burlington with the last sweet notes of this year's Discover Jazz Festival, and it ended just as nicely: with Thursday evening's recording session featuring music of Lake Champlain, and last night's red-hot set of standards with Ray Vega's new Quartet at the bakery in Richmond.
No doubt: I am very fortunate that both the professional and personal areas of my life are so frequently filled with music, and usually such different kinds. A day that starts with two hours on the air hosting beautiful classical music often continues in the afternoon as I listen to new world music in the barn while working in the Cumbancha/Putumayo database, and concludes later that same evening by catching live music somwehere: classical, jazz, world, or any variety of local performers. Very fortunate.
Both Thursday and Friday this week were days like that: hosting classical music on the air in the morning (commemorating "Juneteenth" on yesterday's show); working at Cumbancha/Putumayo in the afternoon, and then enjoying live music in the evening.
On Thursday eve around 7, the forces gathered in the VPR performance studio to record the last artist we'll be including in the Champlain 400 music showcase. (The program is scheduled to air later this summer, as part of the station's and the region's wider Quadricentennial celebrations. You may remember my mentioning it here when the first showcase recording session took place over Memorial Day weekend, included the French Canadian fiddler/guitar duo of Lisa Ornstein and André Marchand, and singer/songwriter Alan Greenleaf. What a day that was!)
Robert & Deb recording in the VPR studio
Singer, songwriter and historian Deb Flanders stopped by to share an intimate set of traditional and original songs largely reflecting the personal stories of the Lake's Anglo settlers. Found and lost love, distant love, struggle and survival and despair and optimism…the 9,000+ songs and ballads that comprise the extensive collection of Deb's great-Aunt, Helen Hartness Flanders represent a comprehensive narrative of the collective and individual immigrant experiences. From the haunting ballad of The Butcher Boy to Deb's original additions to the archive, Thursday evening's music offered a quietly poignant, very personal cross-section of that vast experience.
Last night's live music was a nothing short of a mainline into the other end of the intro/extroverted energy spectrum. Late in the week I found out that Ray Vega was going to be bringing his Quartet to Richmond's On the Rise bakery. Having seen Ray just a couple of weeks ago with the new UVM Jazz Collective, I was ready for more and eager to hear him in a smaller ensemble setting.
The only complicating factor? I work on the Burlington side of the Richmond Bridge (where On the Rise is), but I live on "the other side" of it.
March, 2009 - at your own risk: taking the VT backroads home in mud season
A little history: in early March (yes, the start of 'mud season' here), the Bridge closed for structural repairs, necessitating any number of creative alternate routes around it on dirt roads for anyone living on 'the other' side. That is, anyone – like me – living at the southern end of Chittenden County and dependent on the Huntington Main Road (and the Richmond Bridge) to be connected to the rest of the county. Besides adding another 10 min. (minimum: that's without school buses or heavy weather or excessive mud) to the daily commute to/from Burlington, the temporary closure effectively bifurcated the Richmond business district and severed the main route through town. The Bridge was scheduled to reopen in time for the annual 4th of July parade to pass through, but I read that the contractors also had a tiered scale of financial incentives available to them to encourage an earlier completion.
So: back to last night. In considering whether or not I would go to the bakery to see Ray Vega's Quartet for their 8pm set, I also had to think seriously about driving home afterward – without the benefit of the Bridge – tired, through the winding (deer, fox, beaver and moose-filled) backroads to get home. It's funny, I admit it. But a little less so when dodging the wildlife very late at night in the pitch dark. I decided to do it anyway and just be extra vigilant and careful on the drive home afterward. This is just something I never had to think about when I lived in LA, where heading home meant leaving the wild life behind.
I arrived in Richmond yesterday evening around 6 for a pre-concert pizza at the Bridge Street Café, and noticed right away the unusual amount of traffic at the top of the Street. Was the Quartet drawing all the traffic? Or the Friday afternoon Farmer's Market? Or…?
Turns out the Bridge had just reopened! Two weeks early! I learned when I got to the bakery that when the day's construction ended (at 6pm), there had been a brief ceremony and the Bridge reopened for business. Great news.
Then the music began. I was just thinking as the Quartet launched into their opener, Cedar Walton's hard-driving Bolivia, that even if I had the longer (dark, beaverous) drive home to look forward to afterward, it would have been worth it. They play for keeps, whether straight-ahead grooving or lingering over the delicious notes of a ballad like Tom Jones' What's New Pussycat? (the tune Ray dedicated to his wife, sitting at a table right in front: "This one's for you honey." And then, as an aside to the rest of the room: "Now I'll really play the blues! " Love his humor. And his fluglehorn sound.)
The Quartet: Ray Vega (trumpet & fluglehorn), Tom Cleary (piano), John Rivers (bass) and Jeff Salisbury (drums)
They ended the set with a tribute to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, in its 50th anniversary year: All Blues.
My week ended with smiles, friends, great coffee and a sunset-lit table in the corner, enjoying the Quartet. And a short, quick drive home thanks to the reopened Bridge.
In other words: anything but the blues.
March, 2009: taking the backroads home
Ray Vega Quartet at On the Rise bakery
Ray & John
Tom – watch those fingers fly
Jeff & Ray
pre-reformance consultation: Tom & Ray
Tags:Alan Greenleaf, Andre Marchand, Burlington Discover Jazz Festival, Deb Flanders, Lake Champlain, Lisa Ornstein, On the Rise Bakery, Quadricentennial, Ray Vega Quartet, Richmond, Richmond Bridge, VPR
BDJ Festival, day 2: rock, paper, scissors
a Firehouse floor socket, only one in the whole place that was empty!
Yesterday evening's performance at Burlington's Firehouse Gallery was just the kind of thing I usually try to seek out at the Discover Jazz festival: the unusual performances that define the edges of the art, as much as the headliners aim squarely for the populist center. A complete festival needs (and attracts) both kinds of experiences.
A few days ago I found out banjo legend Paul Metzger was coming to town. While not technically an event sponsored by the Discover Jazz Festival, his appearance in Burlington was timed perfectly to offer that alternative musical performance perspective. He's touring with with Elaine Evans (amplified violin and pocket trumpet), Amen Dunes (guitar/vocals), the Paper Hats (self-described "experimentalists") and Eric Carbonara, who plays fine flamenco-style acoustic guitar and an unusual guitar/sitar hybrid called a "Chaturangui". They each played an individual set, and the order of performances was decided in the back of the room just before the music started. It was a very involved process: a heated bout of rock/paper/scissors. (Those crazy experimental musicians!)
Paul doesn't have the high profile of other banjo greats – folks like Bela Fleck and Earl Scruggs – though it's a safe bet they sure know who he is. He doesn't seem to be too bothered with all of that. I talked with him a little before the show and I got the feeling that the mainstream isn't where an artist like him can operate, and still have the latitude they need to to develop their vision. Paul's career has been defined by breaking every banjo rule and rediscovering the instrument from the ground up, including how it's played, and expectations of how it "should" sound.
Paul tuning his modified banjo
While Paul is reinventing an established instrument, guitarist Eric Carbonara is exploring new realms with a recently invented one. He helped design the instrument with his teacher, Indian slide guitar master Debashish Bhattacharya. The "Chaturangui" fuses an acoustic guitar and a sitar onto a single body and sounds like an entire metallic orchestra of guitars and sitars all playing simultaneously. The sound is big, and impressive. On the way home last night I listened to one of Eric's CDs I had picked up at the show. It contains two tracks: each is over 10 min. long, unfolding and developing patiently, building in complexity, much like ragas in their form and feel. Loved it.
Eric and the Chaturanguia
The concert reminded me of something I read recently in Kyle Gann's excellent collection of essays on contemporary music, Music Downtown: "Music is a language to the extent that it has syntax, rules that govern its continuation, a level of predictability with which events happen. But that's the formulaic, 'yang' side of music. Rules don't govern everything, and some passages take even the composer by surprise. In the hullaballoo about language, music's less describable side – image – has suffered neglect, in both composition and discourse."
Last night's show was all about that side: music's capacity to evoke images, expressed vividly through the unique language of experimentalism.
Earlier in the day, for some non-jazz festival music, I had stopped by the Fleming Museum to hear organist David Neiweem's recital on UVM's 4-stop portative organ in the Museum's interior Marble Courtyard. It's a 2001 model, by Dutch builder Henk Klop. The performance was part of the Museum's new exhibit "A Beckoning Country", a celebration of art from the Champlain Valley to coincide with the region's Quadricentennial celebrations this year.
David's program featured music from the time of Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer who arrived in the area from Québec City and mapped the Lake region in 1609. Who was writing music around that time? Girolamo Frescobaldi and John Blow were. So were Samuel Scheidt, Michele Corrette, and, J.S. Bach. What an interesting idea for a program.
David Neiweem at the Fleming
Scheidt's partita on Martin Luther's Easter chorale Christ lag in Todesbanden was especially lovely, as the light voice of the portative spoke in airy contrast to the weightiness of the chorale.
What a great day of diverse music!
Tags:banjo, Burlington, Chaturangui, David Neiweem, Discover Jazz Festival, Elaine Evans, Firehouse Gallery, Lake Champlain, Paul Metzger, pocket trumpet, portative organ, Quadricentennial, Samuel de Champlain, UVM
Reel des nouveaux mariés (the 'newlyweds reel')
Staffers know it, so do many listeners. Local musicians definitely know it. The performance space in the heart of Vermont Public Radio's Colchester offices is one of the acoustically finest recording studios in the state.
I spent today in there, interviewing and hosting several musicians for a showcase we're producing. It's part of the station-wide project celebrating this year's Lake Champlain Quadricentennial anniversary. Not sure when today's session will air. Possibly in early July. Keep an eye here, I'll let you know.
The day started off on the right foot (and the left, and the left-right-left!) with Lisa Ornstein and André Marchand, the French-Canadian fiddler and guitarist/singer duo. They're in town for a concert this evening at UVM but took a little time to stop by and share some of their wide repertoire of chansons, dances, reels and other traditional tunes. They're great. Lisa has a longstanding connection to this area, as a protégée of the legendary fiddler Louis Beaudoin. Among André's credits is several years with Quebec's Juno-winning La Bouttine Souriante. We all got a laugh from Lisa describing her move from Canada back to the family home, after graduating: "It was in Maine. Northern Maine. So far North in fact that when I moved back there I had to go NORTH from Québec City to get there!"
Marty, Robert and me in the studio (ace audio engineer Chris Albertine in the background)
Next up was one of my favorite local acts, the Burlington-based duo of Robert Resnik and Marty Morrissey. With more than 30 instruments and 50 years of experience between them (25 of those years playing together), these two really know how to share some learning, have a great time, and get everyone else involved in the fun too. And why not? There's a lot to keep a songwriter entertained here: a rich maritime and military history, wildly unpredictable weather, breathtaking natural beauty (every season!), Champ (Lake Champlain's elusive answer to the Loch Ness monster), farming culture, and…yep, even rock snot. And other invasive species.
After a short break we were joined by singer/songwriter Alan Greenleaf. A farmer himself, fittingly, he had spent the earlier part of the day playing at the opening weekend of a local farmer's market. He offered a final set of original songs ranging from the whimsical to the poignant, covering everything from the flood of 1927 to the austere landscape of our northern winters, and that hallowed Vermont summertime tradition, the Strolling of the Heifers. Really. Greenleaf likes to describe this as the rare parade that's not about wars.
This was just one of those days where I feel lucky. Blessed to live where I do, fortunate to be involved in special gatherings like this, and grateful to have the ears and eyes to be able to take it all in.
Thanks to everyone who was part of today's recording session.
The final words for the day come from Mr. Greenleaf: "I never get tired of looking out the window. This is a beautiful place we live in, Vermont. It's worth a lot of songs."
For further exploration:
Robert Resnik & Marty Morrissey's Old and New Songs of Lake Champlain
Alan Greenleaf: Singer/Songwriter/Farmer
(Lisa Ornstein's website is currently in development. I'll add the link here when it's ready.)
Reel des nouveaux mariés (the 'newlyweds reel')
Alan & his cool guitar case
Alan Greenleaf
Robert's button-box
Marty Morrissey & Robert Resnik
Lisa et André
Lisa Ornstein & André Marchand
Tags:Alan Greenleaf, Andre Marchand, Champ, Lake Champlain, Lisa Ornstein, Marty Morrissey, Quadricentennial, Robert Resnik, Strolling of the Heifers, Vermont Public Radio


Home / Uncategorised / Join the Eat Clean, Train Mean 30-Day Challenge, win up to $1,000 in prizes!
Eat Clean & Train Mean: not only does it rhyme oh-so-well, but it just makes sense – complementing your calorie-burning workout with a healthy diet results in a huge lifestyle change and incredible results…and when you workout for just 30 minutes in the Vea Fitness "Eat Clean, Train Mean" challenge from April 13 – May 13, you'll automatically be entered into a prize lottery to win up to $1,000 in prizes!
Workout for 30 minutes: you can do this in several ways, all of which count toward the challenge!
Use the Run/Bike/Walk feature: as long as the challenge timer elapses 30 minutes and you're keeping it active, it counts! You can run for 3 miles, bike for 6 miles, or go to the gym and lift weights for 30 minutes. As long as the timer elapses 30 minutes, it counts!
In the "Challenges" tab, look for the Eat Clean, Train Mean challenge and click the green arrows to open it.
Click "Begin Challenge >>" – this will start a timer in the top left corner of your screen.
Workout! If you're at the gym, do yo' thang – as long as the timer elapses 30 minutes, your workout will count toward the challenge. If you're more into running, just run 3 miles, or you could even bike 6 miles. All of these workouts count as "training mean" and enter you into the prize lottery to win up to $1,000 in prizes.
If you want to switch up your 30 minute workout, we also created an optional day-by-day fitness plan with quick and simple gym workouts, recommended by Philly-based Personal Trainer Joe Pepe, that can help guide you throughout the challenge.
You can complete the challenge as many times throughout the month as you'd like, but the more times you complete the challenge, the more entries you get into the awesome prize lottery! The more you burn, the more you can earn.
Prizes include $100 gift cards to Snap Kitchen, a Prana yoga mat & backpack from CORE Hydration (valued at $299) plus a ton of Vea Fitness swag.
Winners will be randomly selected and announced on May 13 – the last day of the challenge, where we'll celebrate the top 10 gym-goers of the challenge with a brunch party, complete with healthy options provided by Snap Kitchen. Joe Pepe will lead attendees in a short workout, and will share his own personal fitness tips and recommendations for making the "Eat Clean, Train Mean" habit continue throughout the summer. More information about the May 13 brunch party will be announced on the Vea Fitness Facebook page.
Springtime is a time of new beginnings and growth not just for the outdoors, but for all of us. Our "Eat Clean, Train Mean" challenge will help motivate you and help you grow in your fitness journey! Now let's get moving!
We'll be publishing full FAQ's and more info on Thursday.
Looking forward to working out with you all. Ciao for now!


I caught up with Texas Stars GM Scott White Tuesday afternoon after the signing of Maxime Fortunus was announced. We chatted about that and also some of the roster openings still remaining in Texas.
"Obviously Max had options. He's at a point in his career where there are family and financial decisions. At the end of the day, our offer was very competitive, a two year AHL contract. He knows where he'll be for the next two years. He will go to Dallas in camp and do his best there."
"You never know whatever occurs down the road in terms of needs for the NHL. He still has that, but he has family and [job] security issues. With his kids and wife, they are very comfortable in Cedar Park. It's a great place to live. His oldest is five or six and getting into school. Max can solidify himself in this area with this deal."
"I think term was there, but there were other offers out there and he was very comfortable with the Texas and Dallas Stars. He's been with us for a long time and knows what we're all about. He's been a big part of our success from a depth perspective. He's been a big part of our success, and he's a good leader, good for the younger players on and off the ice."
"Max is a fit guy. He was dinged up a bit last year, but it wasn't because he wasn't a fit athelete. I think he'll come back in even better shape this year."
"He's a player that is going to have to establish himself. He has pace and skill, but he's a little undersized. He plays the game the right way, but it's really in the player's hands to take advantage of the opportunity. He's got to be ready when the time comes. Mike Hedden went through it when he joined up. Ranford had a good development camp but so did a lot of other guys. It was more about getting them introduced to the Dallas Stars as an organization."
"You know me, I always like to have more depth and a lot of different guys. If we can tweak it a bit by adding more depth and players that spend time in Idaho, that's what we'll do. If it's a player who can add depth, there's a long time between now and the end of the regular season so you never know. If the right player is out there, we may add that player. Other than that we are pretty good with numbers right now."
"I evaluate those case-by-case but right now I'm running with the status quo. Obviously Brad Ralph is working with a lot of players because many fall through the cracks with finding AHL jobs. I'm constantly talking, emailing and texting player reps to see who might still be available. You keep your eyes open. The players that you mention, I don't see them in the mix at this juncture. "
"It's a good core group and I like that we're brining some youth into it as well. Now the coaching staff just has to manage them accordingly over the schedule and put the team into the playoffs. It's a long year and it's all about guys managing and taking advnatage of opportunities. That's what you need in a dev setting."
"Willie and Doug will be prepared and the players will compete. The coaches believe that the work ethic needs to be top notch and that will give them a great chance for success."
One of the longest-tenured Texas Stars will be returning for two more seasons as Texas announced this afternoon that they have signed captain Maxime Fortunus to a two year AHL only deal.
It turns out Fortunus was the veteran defenseman that GM Scott White had been looking for, and he didn't have to go very far to find him. The 29-year old Quebec native had made a decision to test free agency coming off a two-way deal with the Dallas Stars. Fortunus played a few NHL games in the 2009-10 season for Dallas.
With the expectation that Jordie Benn could stay in Dallas among the likely stable of eight defensemen there, the AHL Stars needed a veteran presence to guide youngsters including sophomores Oleksiak and Nemeth and rookies Klingberg, Jokipakka and Boutet.
It's an interesting signing for the Stars, who were at one point looking for a veteran defenseman who could push the NHL roster. They appear to have gotten that and a little bit more with Jordie Benn, who is anticipated by some to make the NHL out of camp. Needing to backfill that veteran gap, Fortunus fits the bill.
The term of the deal leads me to believe that the Stars are investing in Fortunus's leadership abilities following the success of last season under his captaincy. Two year deals are rare in the AHL mostly due to the constantly shifting rosters. Texas has had only two in its history, both captains. Landon Wilson signed a two year deal but only played one season due to injuries.
Fortunus joins Luke Gazdic, Francis Wathier, Travis Morin and Colton Sceviour as first-year Stars to remain with the club through its fifth season.
The Texas Stars announced today that the club has signed defenseman Maxime Fortunus to a two-year standard American Hockey League contract through the 2014-15 season.
Fortunus, 29, is a member of the Original Texas Stars, having played all four years of the franchise's existence. The La Prairie, Quebec native was selected as the Stars' third captain in team history on October 12, 2012 and had 28 points (7 goals, 21 assists) and 16 penalty minutes in 67 regular season games during the 2012-13 season. Fortunus also appeared in all nine Calder Cup Playoff games for Texas, registering one assist and two penalty minutes. Undrafted after playing parts of five seasons for Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the QMJHL, he has played in 699 career professional games over the course of his ten pro seasons, including 568 career AHL games with 180 points (49 goals, 131 assists) and 234 penalty minutes in his AHL career. Fortunus has also played in 94 career Calder Cup Playoff games, reaching the Calder Cup Finals in back-to-back seasons with the Manitoba Moose (2009) and Texas (2010), both times losing to the Hershey Bears in six games. He made his NHL debut with the Dallas Stars on December 18, 2009 against the Detroit Red Wings and has appeared in eight career NHL games for the Stars.
Fortunus has appeared in 272 career regular season games for Texas, which is the most of any defenseman in team history and ranks fourth overall. He leads the franchise amongst defenseman in almost every offensive category: goals (29), assists (76), points (105), power play goals (11), power play assists (31) and shots (410). Fortunus ranks fourth overall in assists and points, fifth in shots, ninth in goals and 13th in penalty minutes. He is one of only three players, along with Colton Sceviour and Francis Wathier, to play in all 39 Calder Cup Playoff games in Texas Stars history.
The Texas Stars announced this morning that they have locked down two of their AHL contracts for the coming season, both re-signings, as winger Mike Hedden and goalie Josh Robinson rejoin the fold. Hedden, who is entering his third year with the club, is a key signing for the Stars' top six. His combination with Justin Dowling during the last season was an engine for success for the club. Both are now back under contract.
"Mike can take a bigger bite here," said Texas Stars GM Scott White. "The trade (sending Matt Fraser and Reilly Smith to Boston) opened up opportunities in our top six. Fortunately, [Hedden] was still available. He can seize some key minutes for us next year."
Texas also locked down their goaltending depth. With the departure of Tyler Beskorowany, the team has a definite number five guy in Josh Robinson. Robinson was a rookie last year in the ECHL and was lights out for the Steelheads (27-8-1-3). White is looking for Robinson to continue that depth role in Idaho and be ready for the callup if the time comes. Robinson did not get into an AHL game last year.
The Texas Stars announced today that the club has signed both left wing Mike Hedden and goaltender Josh Robinson to one-year standard American Hockey League contracts for the 2013-14 season.
Hedden, 28, returns for his third season with the Stars after finishing tied for fourth on the team with 35 points (13 goals, 22 assists) during 2012-13, along with 38 penalty minutes and a plus-eight plus-minus rating. The Dunnville, Ontario native saw his first career AHL post-season action during the 2013 Calder Cup Playoffs and was tied for second on Texas by scoring four points (1 goal, 3 assists) in nine games. Over the last two seasons, Hedden has appeared in 130 career AHL games for the Stars, which ranks 14th on the team's all-time list, and has 69 points (32 goals, 37 assists) and 93 penalty minutes. He ranks sixth in franchise history in game-winning goals (7), seventh in goals, ninth in points, 11th in assists and 12th in shots (212).
Hedden holds the distinction of being one of just two players in Texas Stars history, along with Colton Sceviour, to score a penalty shot goal. He accomplished the feat on April 14, 2012 when he beat Oklahoma City goaltender David LeNeveu at 5:35 of the second period in front of a sellout crowd at Cedar Park Center. Hedden played four years of NCAA Division III college hockey for Neumann University of the ECAC West, helping the Knights win the 2009 NCAA D-III National Championship, the first in school history.
Robinson, 23, re-signs for his second year with Texas after spending his first professional season with the Idaho Steelheads, the Stars' ECHL affiliate. The Frankenmuth, Michigan native played in 39 games for Idaho during the 2012-13 season, posting a 27-8-1-3 record, with a 2.57 goals-against average (GAA), a 0.925 save percentage (SV%) and five shutouts. Robinson ranked second in the ECHL in wins, shutouts and SV%, fourth in saves (1,245), sixth in minutes played (2,362) and ninth in the league in GAA. He also appeared in 13 post-season games for the Steelheads during the 2013 Kelly Cup Playoffs, earning a 5-7 record with a 2.50 GAA, a 0.919 SV% and one shutout, leading Idaho to the Western Conference Finals before losing to the Stockton Thunder in five games. Robinson was recalled to Texas twice last season and served as the Stars backup goaltender for three AHL games. He was undrafted after playing four years of NCAA Division I college hockey for Michigan Technological University of the WCHA.
With the addition of the Utica Comets, departure of the Peoria Rivermen and the relocation of the Houston Aeros, it was inevitable that a little bit of divisional realignment was coming to the AHL this summer. What came out of it is a nasty mess for the Texas Stars, who find that their new division spans the entire North American continent and four time zones. Stretching just under 2300 miles by air east to west, Texas will face off with Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Abbotsford and Charlotte in the newly renamed 'West Division' in 2013-14.
This chain of events, that sees the Checkers starting away games against a divisional opponent at 10 PM local time and Abbotsford at 4 PM, was set into motion by the Canucks' purchase of the Peoria Rivermen. Their decision not to keep the team in Peoria and move them instead to Utica forced the AHL's hand here as they wanted to keep a 15/15 West to East split. Utica stayed in the West but needed a new division. They slide into the North Division, replacing Abbotsford, as Iowa moves into the Midwest to replace the now vacant spot previously held by Peoria.
The overall divisional alignment is pretty good. You have to ask, really, what other choice did the league have? There are a few teams that have good arguments to move East (Charlotte being tops on the list) and they've all got more tenure than Utica.
So where do you put Abbotsford? It's so much out on an island that it causes real travel headache for the whole conference. Earlier news that Peoria might have relocated to Seattle is now made doubly bitter as the Coyotes have stayed in Arizona. The potential failure of the arena deal in Glendale and subsequent likely move to Seattle was one reason why the move was blocked. Yes, Texas probably would have ended up in a division with the Seattle AHL team, but it would have made a little more sense. You could chain a few games together up there and the Heat and Seattle could play 12 games against each other with just a bus ride between them. The economics make more sense.
Of course, given that the Abbotsford club is guaranteed to break even using city money, who knows what sort of economic calculations went into this decision.
The Stars, who are the reigning South Division Champions, will now add the Abbotsford Heat to their division alongside Charlotte, Oklahoma City and San Antonio and the division will be renamed the West Division. Other changes from last year's alignment include Iowa being placed in the Midwest Division and Utica being slotted in the North Division.
The trade with Boston sort of obscured another bit of news for the Dallas Stars over the past twenty-four hours: the signing of defenseman Jordie Benn. After initially having a three year contract announced by his agent on Twitter a few days ago, the Dallas Stars confirmed that contract yesterday. The deal is two-way in the first year and two-way in the second and third years.
This deal suggested that the Stars are confident in Benn's ability to mature into a 6/7 swing man for the club longer term. It is a pretty incredible story for the player once best known as "Jamie Benn's brother". After starting in the ECHL and CHL, Benn signed in Texas. He didn't get into many games to start but then found his way onto the roster and played so well that Glen Gulutzan couldn't take him out. That play earned him a Dallas contract, which has now turned into this three year deal. He's played 29 NHL games and scored eight points. When he was playing in the CHL, I don't know if many thought that Benn would end up in the NHL. Now, he's got three-year NHL contract.
The Texas Stars announced today that the Dallas Stars, the club's National Hockey League affiliate, have signed defenseman Jordie Benn to a three-year contract. As per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In addition to his time in Dallas, Benn also skated in 43 games for Texas, the Stars' top development affiliate in the American Hockey League (AHL). He finished fourth amongst team defensemen in points (7G-14A-21P) on the season. Benn has appeared in 165 career AHL games for Texas, which ranks seventh on the team's all-time list, and he has 65 career points (18 goals, 47 assists), which ranks 10th all-time.
So much for a vacation. The Dallas Stars made a blockbuster trade today with major ripple effects down into the minor leagues. Dallas acquired centers Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley and defenseman Ryan Button from Boston in exchange for wingers Loui Eriksson, Matt Fraser, and Reilly Smith along with defenseman Joe Morrow.
Matt Fraser and Reilly Smith have been big contributors in Texas over the past two and one seasons respectively. Obviously the loss of the all-time leading goal scorer in Fraser and one of the team's top points-per-game producers in Smith is a pretty rough one-two punch. However, there is talent coming along the pipe, some of which was previewed such as Brett Ritchie.
In the end, the Texas Stars primary purpose is talent development. While most of the time it is nice to see that talent develop and then stay in the system, seeing that talent leave the system is also a positive sometimes. Matt Fraser, an undrafted free agent, has matured into a player that dominates the AHL level and has a crack at the NHL level now, perhaps in Boston. The Bruins saw what he did in Cedar Park and put a value on that, hence his inclusion in the trade. Again, it's a tough hole to fill, but the Stars hope to see players such as Ritchie step up into that goal scoring role.
In my opinion, the loss of the scoring from Fraser and potentially Smith, in the case that he would have made the AHL roster instead of Dallas, makes secondary scoring even more important for the team. Mike Hedden should be a priority for the Texas Stars in the coming days. The two sides have been having talks.
Also gone in the trade is Joe Morrow, who saw action in all but one game after his trade to the Dallas system. Morrow has now been traded twice in four months. It seemed like the performance he had in Cedar Park did not match expectations of him. The Stars received Ryan Button on the blue line in his place. Button was a third round pick in 2009 by Boston. He played in the WHL, mostly with Prince Albert, but also seeing time in his final season with Brenden Dillon and the Seattle Thunderbirds. Kirk Luedeke, who covers Boston prospects, had this to say about Button: "Mobile shutdown, bottom-pairing guy, real good character. Has the tools to be more, could just never apply them." Button spent some time in the ECHL over the past two seasons and has yet to tally a goal at the AHL level but has 3 points.
Finally, yes, there are a lot of people who are going to be upset about the Texas Stars losing some top talent and getting what seems like to them a rather meager return. However, the number one goal of the Dallas Stars organization is to win a Stanley Cup. Players on the roster are all tools in the GM's toolbox to get there. When a trade comes across the table, the work that the Stars have done to develop players can help make those AHL players valuable pieces in the trades. Those trades make the Dallas Stars better and move them closer to the Cup.
To say that this wasn't a good deal for either side isn't a fair analysis. Boston gets scoring wingers, including the centerpiece of the trade for them, Loui Eriksson. Eriksson is a big scorer in his prime or perhaps just past who can help the Bruins right now. Dallas gets two centers, which immediately shores up that position, and allows them to move Jamie Benn back to his natural wing spot.
If you want to try and make the argument that Jim Nill doesn't care about the minor league team, take a look at the Grand Rapids Griffins, which were under Nill's management this season. They just won the Calder Cup. It's an argument that doesn't hold water.
Valeri Nichushkin, the Stars first round pick in Sunday's draft, is a rare first round pick eligible to play in the AHL immediately after the draft. Because he is coming from the KHL, instead of the CHL, the transfer rules we are used to do not apply. However, Nichushkin is also the sort of player that could make an NHL impact in the first year after his draft. Unfortunately for Texas fans, he is likely to start the season in Dallas and has specifically stated that he would come to North America next year as long as he didn't have to play in the AHL.
It's sort of unclear what should be gathered from that statement. In a perfect world, any draft pick would say they were willing to go wherever the organization wanted them in order to ensure they had the best chance to develop into a consistent NHL contributor. However, fairly or not, Russian players have developed a reputation for turning down chances to play in North America, especially in the minor leagues, in favor of the KHL ranks.
The other players drafted on Sunday may not get to the pro ranks for a few years. For comparison, the Texas Stars' coming rookie players for this next season were mostly drafted in 2010 and 2011. That puts your potential AHL ETA for players like Jason Dickinson or Remi Elie at 2015-16 or 16-17.
Until then, you can monitor their growth as sites like Defending Big D track their progress.