text:
Charity Navigator [charitynavigator.org]
I want to help Hawa Akther Jui [elearners.com], a Bangladeshi woman whose husband disfigured her right hand when she dared to pursue higher education against his wishes. She's determined to continue learning by training her left hand to write, and I admire her persistence. Anyone who wants to join me is more than welcome, details in my linked blog post.
See also: http://www.givewell.org/ [givewell.org]
I've been profoundly disappointed by all charities I gave to or came in contact with professionally.
Give your time to something close to you, not your money.
Giving your time may make you feel better - but when $10 can feed a family for 4 for a day or two, with soups, breads etc., your time is inherently useless. Go use your time to earn money and then pass it on. Barter was fundamentally inefficient - and hence money came to be. Why go backwards ?
There's some truth to that, but there are also transaction costs, principal-agent problems, unsavory things hidden by black boxes, bureaucracy, and various other such problems. When you give a non-profit organization $100, they may do a wide range of things. The best case is that they optimally use it in exactly the manner you would've preferred. But since you aren't actually there to see they do, it's hard to be sure. They might divert an unnecessarily large amount of it to staff salaries, travel, perks, P
It depends on what and when. Sometimes extra hands DO help. If you are good at IT, helping people on how to work with a computer might like learning them to fish.
Just talking to a lonely elder person is better then buying them a TV or even (audio)books.
Money is not always the answer.
helping people on how to work with a computer might like learning them to fish.
Except computers are significantly less nutritious. The basic necessities for quality of life (food, medicine, clothes, shelter) are still much more about money than time.
Using your time to teach (or volunteer in so many other ways) is admirable, but you do also have to look at the opportunity cost. For someone who makes $100+ an hour (or equivalent) working a demanding job and then donating to a charity might be more effective overall than volunteering their time.
Anyway, you make a good point, not disputing it (the OP saying "your time is not valuable" is just incorrect) - but in many cases you time *is* less valuable than your money...
If I give $10 they will spend that same money trying to solicit me for more. It's impossible to get them to stop. They can't spend my time.
Time is better, but money is important too.
Courtney's House is good--small local shelter in DC for trafficking victims. Or Talk to Polaris Project, either to donate to them or to ask where the closest place to you is that offers safe shelter for trafficking victims--there aren't many in the country, compared with tens of thousands of victims.
In the alternative, look for someplace that is underfunded and does good work. Unpopular but important causes, for example--legal aid, or someplace that does legal or
How about something close to home, efficiency doesn't always go along with need.
Good advice.
It may not be as efficient, but donate to a local Occupy movement. Particularly in the northern climates, they need money for food, clothing, blankets, etc.. as these people are camping out (sometimes without camping gear because local ordinances do not allow it).
As a gift that keeps on giving, these people are doing things that will beneift YOU in the long run.
I read recently that the American Red Cross is one of several charities that "carefully walk the line" of being a nonprofit organization, and that 49% of their take goes to "administrative costs". (their "administrative staff" are very well-paid) Can anyone confirm or deny this?
Confirm. My uncle retired from the ARC with a *very* good pension. I'd never give a dime to ARC.
Excuse me, but what does one person retiring with "a very good pension" say about how high the administrative costs are vs program costs? Charity Navigator says ARC has a 3.9% administrative cost. The parent post claims 49% administrative cost (which is insanely high). If you believe Charity Navigator, he's only off by an order of magnitude.
It should be obvious to someone who posts here. Think about it.
During WWII, ARC would give away free coffee and doughnuts to officers, and that was well-publicized. What wasn't publicized was the fact that ARC would charge enlisted men a dime for the same thing. When my father learned of this (he was an officer), he demanded that his men be given the same deal. When ARC refused, he gave them their doughnuts and coffee back, and spread the story among the other officers.
It charged because the Army told it to. C'mon, a 5-digit Slashdotter should know about Snopes [snopes.com].
It should be obvious to someone who posts here. Think about it.
I did think about it. My conclusion is that anecdotal evidence of one person who doesn't even mention numbers ("very good pension") is completely irrelevant when trying to get a handle on administrative costs vs program costs.
During WWII, ARC would give away free coffee and doughnuts to officers, and that was well-publicized
Yes, and as someone else pointed out, ARC was asked to do this by the U.S. Army:
The request was made in a March 1942 lette
A quote from the comments section on Charity Navigator:
I have worked for the ARC for over 11 years now as both a volunteer and a paid staff member. The organization is very top heavy with mostly overpaid executives at the National Headquarters in Washington DC. Generally the volunteers and staff "in the field" are the ones who go to great lengths to serve clients. Many positions in the field have been eliminated in recent years as the executives in the "ivory tower" protect their own salaries and positions. Our Service Members and their families are now served mostly by call centers empoyees who are inexperienced instead of caring employees working alongside our military throughout the world.
+4 insightful?
It must be the Christmas eggnog.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3277 [charitynavigator.org]
*shakes head sadly*
I've spent the better part of my career as a nonprofit tech warrior, from serving in the Peace Corps to a variety of domestic and internationally focused NGOs and non-profits, small and large, contract, full-time and pro-bono.
I hate the constant drive that non-profits feel towards minimizing anything that could be counted as "overhead." It's misleading, and eventually kills efficiency. Not having someone to answer phones, not having a budget to roll out a website, penny-pinching on every single thing that's not directly program-related does a variety of things. It burns staff out at an alarming rate, as they spend their often-unreported and uncompensated overtime to balance the lack of budget to hire additional staff or contractors. Second, it causes cost-cutting in ways that often lead to waste or additional in the long run. It suppresses wages and pushes good staff out of the sector entirely. Finally, it causes a donor-driven view of accounting, where every dollar must be accountable to some chunk of some program, instead of being broadly useful to the health of the organization and its mission.
This hurts the organizations, obviously - but as a donor, that's less important - you (like those working at the organization) care about the cause. And year-end campaigns are a huge benefit to organizations - providing them with unrestricted funds that they can use for the health of the organization, instead of funds driven by grant projects.
So give - as others have noted, find a local cause you're familiar with. Use CharityNavigator to weed out suspicious/dubious causes, but please - do not be turned off by high overheads. They're healthy. They mean the organization has a longer-term view on its role in making change.
Even better - find a social enterprise - an organization that has a double or triple bottom line, creating a profit or self-sustaining funding situation by selling products or services which also help them lift up a community through employment, skills training, and so on.
More like 3.9% [charitynavigator.org].
Www.LiteracyBridge.org - effective use of technology to make life better for real people. Worth your time (they're open source) and money.
What I like about the Salvation Army is they operate under the principle that people will always donate and they spend the money as it is donated.
The Red Cross and others seem to want to build a war chest so that when a big disaster hits they will be prepared. They take money from big events and hold some of it over for other operations. What bothers me about this is it seems like they don't trust people to donate when something happens.
If only they did not have an anti-gay agenda, I would concur.
If only they did not have an anti-gay agenda, I would concur.
The Salvation Army is not anti-gay. Sure, they are not pro-gay, but that doesn't make the anti-gay.
I can't mod this up so I'll just add my voice to the comment.
The Salvation Army is one of the better charities I have come across, I make it a point every year to donate either money, food, clothing or time.
It takes time for donations to wind up as available cash to spend on disaster relief. Do you think when you make a credit card donation the money is instantly transferred to the charity? From what I've heard this can sometimes take months.
I'm no charitable donations expert, but I'd guess that donations don't all come in at once, but slowly over a period of weeks. If a major disaster occurs, do you think a charity should just wait around for the money to come in, or start acting right away? Acting right away requires having money on hand.
Yeah, its the whole anti-gay agenda that bothers rational people about the SA as well as they're close relations to their own evangelical arm and partners.
I give to secular charities, thank you very much.
The Red Cross and others seem to want to build a war chest so that when a big disaster hits they will be prepared.
And this is bad why?
Disaster relief is complicated, and thus expensive. You need supplies, equipment, and people with training. Between getting people to donate, getting funds to where they need to be, getting goods procured, getting people trained, and then moving it all to where it needs to be, the lead time is non-trivial. This isn't a hard drive; you can't just order it from NewEgg and have it there next day.
I don't get this objection to disaster relief organizations being prepared for disasters.
If you're just wanting to make a difference to someone, and not the tax write-off, find a family struggling to make ends meet and be their holiday benefactor, or give out sack lunches to the homeless, or volunteer at a soup kitchen. No better way to make sure your kindness does the most good than to do it yourself.
Agreed, this is one of my charities of choice, the other being the local SPCA, to whom I give on a monthly basis.
Unfortunately, a lot of charities have obscenely high administrative overheads, which means much of the money goes to lawyers fees, office rental in high rent districts, gala charity donation parties (granted, they pay for themselves) and other PR work. The Economist had a piece on this a while back. Even some of the UN agencies and a Lady Diana Charity Fund were some of the worse offenders.
Hey, whoever said "Charity begins in the home" was probably right . . . if you give close to home, you'll be able to see for yourself where it is going.
I can confirm this, even on the "local" level charities. I have worked with several "charity" groups doing IT work (NO - I won't name them). Several times it was recovering their financial data files after being corrupted for various reasons. Every time, I about shit myself when I looked at the actual data (had to confirm the data was valid with accountants). The worst I saw was one group that used 5% of their donations for actual recipients, the rest went to "administrative" costs (salaries in the 6 figure range, pension, rent, etc.).
I've since quit taking any work from charity organizations, and I refuse to donate any money to them.
All donations go to children's hospitals around the world. You can even donate toys instead of money if you don't trust how your donation will be spent.
I give yearly to Child's Play. They're not in it to create a self-sustaining entity, and the cause could not be better. When you're sick, your quality of life can really make a difference in your recovery. If a game can distract a kid from their pain or fears for a little while, that is everything. Their administrative fees are pretty low, and quite reasonable considering what those fees are paying for. I'm sure PayPal and the credit card companies are getting their cut, and there's shipping costs for all t
I did some research into this about a year ago - and decided to go with Plan International [plan-international.org].
My criteria:
I give specifically to their water project. I think that while sponsoring a child is significant, I find that I'd rather put my money specifically into infrastructure. Water and Sanitary systems, in my mind, are more important than education within a community - and I figure many others put money into education.
Hum. Directly to the project, rather.
One of the best places to bring your money to if you want to help people: http://www.kiva.org/.
Microfinance where you can decide yourself which enterpreneur you loan money to. I can heartily recommend it
http://www.shelterboxusa.org/ [shelterboxusa.org]
Basically, after any kind of disaster, natural or otherwise, they deploy a team out with plastic tubs filled with just about anything a family would need to start getting back on their feet like a tent, some basic food and water purification type things, along with some tools to improve what they have available. They are also constantly tweaking the box as better items become available, or in some instances they tailor the contents to where the boxes are being sent.
Decent charity that I found out from a friend. I've started to donate to them yearly now, along with some other charities for more personal reasons.
Amref simply do things. They both help and train professionals on site.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Medical_and_Research_Foundation [wikipedia.org]
It begins at home. My home. Please send money to Happy Dude, 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield. Don't delay! Eternal happiness is just a dollar away.
The United Way is terrible. They also strong-arm companies into strong-arming their employees into "100% participation". No, thank you.
Living in the US, I think it's a gross injustice that people in my immediate area don't have enough food to eat. As such, I have decided most of my charity contributions will go to the local community food bank. It's super easy to see how the money is being used (volunteer and meet the people involved, go down and talk to the admins), it improves the lives of people who live near you, and you get a tax deduction.
National and international organizations are nice, especially for medical causes, but for me local food bank seemed best.
I was centrally involved with relief for the Haiti earthquake and observed the Red Cross and many other such organizations in action. Or rather inaction. Their lack of logistical expertise and disaster planning is shocking.
But one outfit that did seem to have their act together was Doctors without Borders/Medecins sans Frontieres. They just hop on planes and start helping people, no BS. They also seem to have relatively low overhead, which is where the lion's share of every donated dollar goes at most charities. Maybe someone else on
While I'll confess I have a fondness for "lending" through KIVA (http://www.kiva.org), you may find that your charity dollars go a lot further with local organizations, some of which are struggling. I live in Baltimore and have several favorites: The Ark, a pre-school that provides special services and a comfortable environment for kids living in homeless shelters; House of Ruth, our local women's shelter; Our Daily Bread, a formidable soup kitchen and feeding operation run by the Catholics. I've also found
I know that God is not popular on Slashdot, but even from a rational humanist perspective these charities are very effective. The administrative costs are usually born by regular tithing so any funds given to the charity can be spent 100% on the core mission of the charity. Especially, in the area of disaster relief, these charities also have strong connections with the local congregations who can quickly put resources to use where it is most needed. This in contrast to groups like the Red Cross usually have to spend time "getting in" to places.
I know there will be some objections voiced that the money will be used to evangelize victims rather then aid them. I cannot speak for other sectors of the religious sphere, but charities associated with Mainline Protestant Christian churches operate in perpetual fear of this accusation and copiously avoid any activity that might be mistaken for proselytizing.
I will end by plugging the charity of my own Episcopal Church: Episcopal Relief and Development [er-d.org].
I'd advise you and others to contribute all you can to the "Let's Buy Ken a Ferrari" fund.
Rather than wonder where your money went, you'll enjoy the sweet, sweet sound of a V12 will be echoing throughout the concrete canyon as I blast down Main Street. You'll be able to shout "This is my gift to you all!" and feel the admiring glances of those who wish they had contributed as well.
What could possibly do more to help mankind than to share the sounds of a V12 Ferrari?
Why not microfinancing, such as http://kiva.org/ [kiva.org] ?
It really depends on your definition of "charity", and your intent - it can be defined as anything that's non-profit and tax deductible, which has a rather large scope.
Lots of things are non-profit and seen as charity donations - art museum and symphony, sports teams (kids soccer and baseball), research towards medicine (aids, MS), EFF and lawyer advocate associations, and so on.
All of these enrich our lives and make the world a better place. Donating directly instead of through a charity organization makes better sense because more of the money goes directly to the organization.
Your local Rotary club, for instance, is manned by locals who donate their time and would better know your community needs.
If your intent is to reduce the suffering of people directly, might I suggest Plan USA [planusa.org].
Plan USA chooses a needy child somewhere in the world and uses your donations to help them grow up. Their administrative overhead is relatively low, and you get periodic feedback showing how your monies are used. They also sponsor village improvements, such as sanitation, clean water, &c.
In addition, your donation is year round instead of just during the holidays. IIRC sponsoring a child is on the order of $325 a year.
If I may suggest an alternative, give micro loans through kiva.org instead. You can just keep recycling the money into new loans as you get paid back. The good gets multiplied many times over and communities get built up.
DRI's been at the top of the list (compiled by Forbes) 9 out of the last 10 years. They do work in the US and around the world.
Go to your local soup kitchen and ask what they need. Then buy it and give them the goods.
Also don't just do it because it is Christmas. Ask what they need all year around and give food or whatever they need monthly or even on a weekly basis.
Time is also something that they can use. Take time to talk to lonely elderly people. The downside is that you won't get rid of your money and get back more then you give away.
Do not buy yourself a good conscience. Earn it.
Pretty much as efficient as you can get: 100% of the proceeds go to help those in need. The LDS Church doesn't even deduct the cost of administering the donations, so literally *everything* you donate ends up helping the needy.
http://www.ldsphilanthropies.org/ldsp/about/ [ldsphilanthropies.org]
If you donate online, just enter the amount in the "humanitarian services" field - that goes to disaster relief and other efforts. If you call them you can have it applied more specifically. For example there is a program they are doing to supply wheelchairs to those in need, to help dig water wells to villages in Africa, etc. and you can ask that your money go specifically to one of those programs if you want.
If everyone who gave to charity gave to the one who deserves it the most, then all causes in the world except for the most worthy one would receive no money, until that most worthy cause was completely paid for, in which case the second most worthy cause would receive all the money, etc.
So I'd think a bit before giving to the most worthwhile. If it was me I'd give to groups that did things I knew about even if they weren't the most worthy groups in the world, which would include geeky groups like the EFF, or maybe local organizations.
I also agree with others that volunteering your time is a bad idea. Use your time to earn money and donate the money. We have division of labor for a reason. People like volunteering because it's more personal, but "more personal" and "helps people more" aren't necessarily the same thing.
Give work to someone who needs it. It's probably the most efficient use of your money that I can think of.
I like to fund medical research, most frequently cancer. I do so for two reasons. First, I like to think that I'm making things better forever. Research doesn't get used up, so whatever I donate we're now that farther ahead in science than we would be otherwise. Second, selfishly, I think someday I just might need to benefit directly from what that research produces.
There is frequently a lot of hue and cry here about the evil drug companies overcharging for medicines they have patents on. Don't want them to have those patents? Fund medical research yourself with a charity who puts the results into the public domain. I know it's not perfect since someone is free to use those results commercially as well, but it's an improvement.
Engineers without borders might be interesting:
http://www.ewb-usa.org/ [ewb-usa.org]
I like the fact that they have established a way of dealing with their charity faliures [admittingfailure.com], which makes them a respectable charity in my book.
My 2 cents.
Vitamin C deficiency is apauling.


text: Jeanie Lewellen walked with her granddaughter Janessa just moments after last Friday's tornado ripped through Old Pekin Road. Lewellen's home was destroyed. She held her dog and a picture of her mother but her main concern was not on all that she had lost it was the family of five that lived in the home across the street.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Hey everybody! My name is Jacob Chandler... well my screen name is at least. I am almost 15 years old, and I am going to take all of you on a journey. In a little less then a month, I am going to be buying on of the best RC Trucks in the world... the Traxxas Summit. My goal with this Summit is to buy it this year, and when in a few years, 6 to 10, I am going to do what no one has done before. I am going to get a Summit, I am going to modify the Summit, and in 6 to 10 years, my friends and I are going to Summit the Country. We are going to go through every state in the USA, except Hawaii, and we are going to drive that Summit in every type of terrain possible. If it can survive 6+ years, and then go wheeling in every single state, except hawaii, this will truly be the best RC Truck EVER! So, this is going to be the thread that for somewhere around the next 10 years, I am going to be posting pictures, updates, and everything that goes on around my Summit, and when the time comes, the Summit will be Summit...ing the Country.
Wow. Well if I this is true and works out then I will be happy to be the second post! Lol I am fifteen as well and will be buying 4x4 slash soon hopefully! Although I don't plan on traveling the country I give you all the courage and strength I can! I hope this works for you!
I hope it works too! Ya, I told my friends when they graduate High School, which will be in like 8 years, I would take them across the country in a Jeep on a road trip. Since I am gonna buy a Summit, thought I could take it along. Can't wait to get it though, cause that is the first step in the journey.
When u get to Oklahoma let me know and we can go bash.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2
When I go, I will make a thread for people in the states who want to get together and bash. Then we can all have a part in an epic Journey, while having fun!
No love for us, your northern friends.....
Lol just kidding
Sent using lipo power
Mountains cant stop me
they have tried
aaaah, much love.....how about some moose milk!
Please tell me you know what that is!
"Cocktail of the Week: Moose Milk
This week's drink of the week is Moose Milk. This yummy beverage with a silly name is very popular in Canada, but doesn't seem to get a lot of attention here in the United States. Moose Milk is a unique and delicious drink that can bring some extra fun to your next party."
..... never heard of it in my life! Must be purely American hahah!
Good for you Chandler for wanting to do this, it's YEARS away and if you like this Summit, the reality is that you'll probably have the Summit ][ by then or something, but a plan is a plan!
If you guys want me to, all of us Traxxas people can meet and have fun and try stuff like "Moose Milk". I could possibly swing by through Canada on the way to Alaska. It would be in the summer time, so when I go on the trip, no matter how long it takes me to achieve my goal, I will have like 2 and a half months to meet new people, and try new things. What is "Moose Milk" made of? Not actuallymoose mike, is it???
Omg good luck i wish i could tag along but my mommy wont let me just kidding awsome hope i get to meet you alotho it is like 1 in 5 billion haha get it Good luck with your adventure
Thanks. In around 8 years when I take off on the trip... I will see who all wants to meet up and we can find a spot or 2 in a state where we could all meet up and bash our RC's. I think that would be an awesome to get to meet everyone who loves to RC like me.
If you are in Canada you could start in Ontario or Manitoba and work your way west because its only 4 provinces so you could start in Manitoba and drive west. It's on the way to Alaska anyways.
Sent from my super super fast iPhone 4S in white!
I could go from west to east in the states, then go up into Canada and work my way back west over to Alaska. However it goes though, I will hopefully get to go through every state, see good lookin RC Trucks, and meet some awesome people.
Yeah that would be awesome!
Sent from my super super fast iPhone 4S in white!
hope im still on this forum by then. id like to see a summit drive across America, and surrounding driveable areas.
I'm not krazy. My mother had me tested.
At the least, I would have a website that RC people could go to to see pictures and a map of where we have been.
It is a adult beverage composed of a few different liquid ingredients we are not allowed to say on this board,but it sounds very tasty and much better than trying to milk a moose...that will never end well....lol
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Mountains cant stop me
they have tried
Someone needs to create that!!! Wild Moose Milking Competition!!! Hahahahahahaha That would be Hilarious.
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Mountains cant stop me
they have tried
So, update on getting my Summit. I really want to get it, but I think I will wait till later into 2013. Might get a Longboard for my Birthday in April, and pads that are going to save my life if I fall seem a little more important than an RC Truck. Someone has offered me a way to make over $1000 just by selling some stuff of theirs, so I know I will have plenty to buy the Summit. Just thought I would give an update. Peace Out and Post Again Soon:, JC
A company is going to send me an email when the Green Traxxas Summit is going to get into stock. I am going to buy it after Christmas if my dad says I can keep my Slash and still buy the Summit. I am so stoked!!! I might also be buying a Longboard, so after I make those two purchases, I am going to save until I buy my Jeep, so I can Summit the Country!
pics of the longboarding while driving the slash this summer or whenever you start
Slash 4x4
pics of the summit pulling you on the longboard would be awesome!!
I probably won't get the Longboard til April cause that is when my birthday is, but I have a friend that I am gonna see if he can make a trailer for the Summit so it can pull my Slash.
Here is the first big step of my journey before I can Summit the Country. My New Traxxas Summit is said to be delivered to my house on Friday, January 4th!!!
Niiiiiiiiiice you should enjoy it
Mountains cant stop me
they have tried
Sweet! ohhhh the anticipation.....its a killer!
I almost wanted to do the 2 day shipping, but I thought waiting would be better. Now I have to wait a WHOLE WEEK before I get to see what my new rc truck will look like. AHHHHHHHh


text:
Stacy Lewis' love affair with the Old Course continued at St Andrews on Sunday when she finished birdie, birdie to win the Women's British Open.
In 2008, the American won all five matches over the Home of Golf's famous links in leading her country to victory over Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup.
Five years on and the 28-year-old winner of the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship collected her second major with a final round 72 for eight-under 280.
Choi Na-yeon and Park Hee-young both shot 73 and were joint runners-up on six under.
However, there was disappointment for their fellow South Korean, Park Inbee, who had been aiming to become the first golfer to win four majors in one calendar year.
The world No. 1's attempt for a place in the record books petered out in a whimper.
The Seoul 25-year-old went into the final round nine off the lead and after reaching the turn in 41 she went on to post a disappointing 78 for six over par and joint 42nd.
"I've gone through four rounds of intense pressure and I'm sort of glad it is over," Park said. "I enjoyed it, but it was very tough. I almost feel relieved it is all over. It was hard being the center of attention all week and I feel exhausted.
"Unless I do go on and win four majors in a row then I think I'll always remember this moment. It is something not many get to experience and so I was very lucky," she said.
Three behind Choi following a run of bogeys at the start of the second half, Lewis, the world No. 2 produced some magic over the final stretch in the wild and windy conditions.
At the famous Road Hole — the 17th — she hit her second shot to tap-in range and then holed a 30-foot birdie putt at the last to set a target that no one else could match.
"This is unbelievable," Lewis said. "I fought so hard over every shot all day and then it happened so fast at the end. A couple of birdies and it was over."
"The second shot to two feet at the 17th with a five iron was probably the best shot of my career. That got me to seven under and I thought that might be good enough for a play-off. Then to birdie 18 was incredible," she said.
"It was such a tough day having to play 36 holes. I was up at 4:30am, but I love this course. All the history and, because of the Curtis Cup, I had played the course so often," Lewis said.
"I am so comfortable here at the Old Course and I almost feel this victory was meant to be," she said.
Choi, last year's US Women's Open Champion, bogeyed the 13th, dropped another shot by three-putting the 14th and another bogey at 17th left her two adrift.
With play having been suspended around lunchtime on Saturday due to high winds, all the leaders had to pack 36-holes into the final day.
After the third round, America's Morgan Pressel led on nine under after a 71. Lewis had a 69 for eight under and Choi (75), the halfway leader, and Park (70) were in a group tied for third on seven under.
Pressel, hampered by a four-putt double-bogey at the 12th, had a final round 76 and finished tied for fourth on five under with Norway's Suzann Pettersen (74).
On the same mark as Park, New Zealand's 16-year-old Lydia Ko and England's 17-year-old Georgia Hall shared the Smyth Salver for the leading amateur.
Ko, who was joint 17th at the British Open at Hoylake and top amateur last year, closed with a 74 and Hall, the British amateur Champion, had a 77.
Taiwan's Candie Kung shot a final-round 77 to finish tied for 25th place with a four-over 292 total.
Additional reporting by staff writer


text:
I'm attempting to teetotal for a while because I'm dieting - and I'm just not willing to spend limited calories on alcohol - but today, I had some girlfriends over for lunch, and one of them brought a nice bottle of champagne. I still might have said "no thanks" (I'm not much of a daytime drinker...it just makes me sleepy), but it seems we were toasting her successful cancer surgery & upcoming round of chemo.
What could I say but, "I'll drink to that!"?!?
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Life List Day 232 - Champagne at Lunch
Posted by JILL SMOLINSKI at 8:02 PM
1 comment:
- pcsolotto said...
Whoever owns this blog, I would like to say that he has a great idea of choosing a topic.
- May 16, 2008 at 3:27 AM
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The Social Laboratory 79
An anonymous reader writes: We often worry about technology and unscrupulous intelligence agencies driving us toward a surveillance state. But apparently Singapore already beat us to the punch. "Not only does the government keep a close eye on what its citizens write and say publicly, but it also has the legal authority to monitor all manner of electronic communications, including phone calls, under several domestic security laws aimed at preventing terrorism, prosecuting drug dealing, and blocking the printing of 'undesirable' material." They've used it to do good, like swiftly moving to contain the spread of infectious diseases and to figure out how the public wants policy problems solved. But they've also obliterated privacy and restricted what people can say and do. "Singaporeans speak, often reverently, of the "social contract" between the people and their government. They have consciously chosen to surrender certain civil liberties and individual freedoms in exchange for fundamental guarantees: security, education, affordable housing, health care." The article notes, "It's hard to know whether the low crime rates and adherence to the rule of law are more a result of pervasive surveillance or Singaporeans' unspoken agreement that they mustn't turn on one another, lest the tiny island come apart at the seams."


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Tama County Landfill Accepting Electronics for Recycling By Marty Berda Midwest Electronic Recovery and Kristin Simon ECICOG
October 11, 2013
The Tama County Landfill is now collecting electronics from Tama County households for recycling! The ìofficialî grand opening of the program will be Saturday, October 19th from 9A.M. to noon at the landfill, 2872 K Avenue, Toledo. The first 50 computer monitors and/or televisions will be accepted at no charge (Limit 2 units per household). Electronics include computers towers, keyboards, cords, monitors, televisions, desktop copiers, fax machines, telephone answering machines, cell phones, electronic readers, tablets, and gaming electronics. If you have any question please call the landfill at 484-5061. Why collect electronics for recycling? Electronic devices are everywhere; in your home, your car, at work, and yes even in your landfill. A large quantity up, to 75% by EPA estimates, of reusable or recyclable electronics end up being landfilled. So, what harm is there in throwing away electronics? First, you may be throwing away money. Many electronic devices can be cleared of data and refurbished for a second user. You may be able to sell rather than dispose of your electronics. Age and condition of consumer electronics will be important for resale value. However, if your electronics devices are too old, they may be taken to an electronics recycler. Second, nearly100% of the materials which make up electronics can be recovered. While each electronic device will have different components depending on its age, type, and use the bulk of computers and similar electronics are made primarily of recyclable plastics and recoverable metals. The plastics are easily removed and separated for new life as remolded products. The metal recovery is a bit more complicated because of the variety of metals in consumer electronics. The chassis of an average desktop PC is sheet metal containing aluminum and steel. Cables and wires containing copper, tin, silver, and gold are found in several critical parts such as the central processing unit (CPU) and circuit boards. More exotic metals such as neodymium, platinum, antimony and gallium which can be reclaimed are found in hard drives and electrical components. The third reason to recycle your electronic devices is a bit more serious. Improper disposal of electronics can pose a health hazard to humans and the environment. There are more than a hundred compounds and elements which make up the composition of electronic equipment. Some of these compounds and individual elements can be toxic if released into the environment. Lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polyvinyl chloride, and phosphorous powders are just a few of the ingredients used to make electronics. While all these compounds and elements are safe inside your electronic device, they can cause environmental degradation if released. Forth, think of the value of landfill space. Older electronic devices-TVs, monitors, and desk top computers are huge by comparison to the newer laptops, tablets, and internet ready cell phones. Space is an important commodity in a landfill. You can quickly fill up a closet with old electronics. Just imagine what can happen when whole communities empty those closets into the landfill. According to the EPA the average American household has at least 24 electronic products. That number may seem high until you start taking stock of your own electronics. In addition to your laptop, router, printer, flat screen TV, DVD player and alarm clock you probably have a number of smaller devices such as cell phones each with a charger, multiple remote controls, timers, etc. As I write this there are seven devices on my own desk. So, what can you do when you upgrade? Where can you take that old cell phone, computer, printer, or flat screen? Here are some options. One: if you are tech savvy or know someone who is; clear your data, clean up your device, and sell it to a second user. Your device is more marketable if you have the original box and manuals. There are many websites where you can enter information about your device and determine its value. Two: some devices can be traded in when you buy your new one. Check with your consumer electronics retailer for take back programs. Three: you can drop your electronics at the Tama County Landfill. There is a reasonable charge for monitors, televisions, and large printers and copiers. All other electronic materials are accepted at no charge. Everything received at the landfill will be refurbished or recycled by a reputable electronics recycler. The Tama County Landfill currently contracts with Midwest Electronic Recovery, an R2 certified recycler, in Walford, Iowa. The East Central Iowa Council of Governments (ECICOG), on behalf of the Tama County Solid Waste Disposal Commission, applied for an Iowa DNR, Solid Waste Alternative Program (SWAP) grant to assist the landfill in constructing a building to store collected electronic materials for recycling. Please, join us at the landfill on October 19th from 9A.M. to noon and bring your old electronics for recycling
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Today's winning party feature goes to this stunning
Black, White & Yellow 60th Birthday Party
submitted by Boutique Affairs!
Alecia {owner of Boutique Affairs} made almost everything on this beautiful dessert table {including the cake}!
The menu included a 3 tier mud cake, gooey caramel macaroons, lemon cake pops, vanilla sponge with passionfruit cream, coffee ganache chocolate cups, vanilla cupcakes & licorice logs. YUMMY!
Photo's taken by Her Photography.
Stationary by Her Designs.
Awning made by etsy shop, Vintage Sew & So!
Excellent job, Alecia! Thanks for your submission. Congrats on being chosen as today's winning party feature!


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Cabot Manufacturing Co., Brunswick, ca. 1895Item 22738 info
Maine Historical Society
The Cabot Manufacturing Company, which had operated a cotton mill by the falls of the Androscoggin River in Brunswick since 1857, expanded operations at the end of the nineteenth century.
In 1877, the company had 35,000 spindles operating and 550 operatives employed.
Cabot Manufacturing owned about 30 acres of land on both sides of the river and had more than 75 tenement buildings to house workers.
Many of the workers who lived in the tenements and in the northwest section of Brunswick came from French Canada.


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DUI Charges To Be Filed
Driving under the influence of a controlled substance and other traffic offenses are slated to be filed against a Warfordsburg man who crashed his car along Interstate 70.
Pennsylvania State Police in McConnellsburg said Anthony Phillip Lane was travelling westbound near the Town Hill exit at 7 a.m. on July 25 when his 1991 Ford Festiva struck the rear corner of a 2008 Kenworth tractor trailer. Lane's car spun and struck the side of the trailer pulled by 45-year-old Milton Garrison Holt, of Clemson, S.C. The vehicle came to a rest on the left side of the Brush Creek Township roadway.
Police said Lane, 27, was not wearing a seat belt and suffered minor injuries. He was placed under arrest and transported to the Mc- Connellsburg substation for further processing. Charges will be filed through Magisterial District Judge Tamela Bard.
Holt was wearing a seat belt and escaped harm. Damage to his tractor-trailer was minor, police said. Town Hill Auto assisted on the scene.
Woman, Children Injured
An Autin, Pa., woman and her three children suffered minor injuries when their vehicle rolled over along the eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 on Friday, July 20.
According to state police reports, Kimberly Dawn Daniels, 28, lost control of her 2004 Buick Rainer on the rain- soaked Brush Creek Township roadway at 7:18 p.m. The vehicle struck an embankment and rolled onto its roof, police said.
Daniels was wearing a seat belt and suffered minor injuries, while a 10-year-old boy, a 6-year-old boy and a 7- year-old girl were not using seat belts. They suffered minor injuries as well. All four individuals including a 13- year-old girl, who was not injured, were transported to UPMC Bedford Hospital.
State police were assisted on the scene by Needmore EMS and Bedford EMS along with the Breezewood Volunteer Fire Co. Multiple traffic citations will be filed against Daniels through Magisterial District Judge Tamela Bard.
One Accused Of Mischief
Twenty-five-year-old Needmore resident Joshua Leonard Mellott has been accused of criminal mischief in connection with an incident at 1456 Little Egypt Road on Sunday, July 8.
State police alleged Mellott broke the side mirror of a vehicle belonging to a Mc- Connellsburg man at 1:30 a.m. Charges against Mellott were filed through Magisterial District Judge Devin Horne.
Cup of Money Stolen
A red, disposable cup containing $40 in currency was removed from a vehicle parked at the McConnellsburg American Legion on Sunday, July 15, between 5:20 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Victim in the case is a 44-yearold McConnellsburg man. Anyone with any information related to this case is asked to contact state police Trooper Barnett by calling 717-485-3131.
Woman Held In Robbery Case
A 29-year- old McConnellsburg woman was held in Washington County, Md. Detention Center last week in connection with a robbery and theft of a motor vehicle.
Misty Dawn Bottenfield is being held in lieu of $60,000 bond pending a preliminary hearing scheduled for August 22. Bottenfield was arrested last Monday, July 23, after the Washington County Sheriff's Department was contacted by a woman who alleged she was robbed at the McDonald's in Clear Spring. The alleged robber drove away in a vehicle belonging to a Breezewood, Pa., resident who had reported the vehicle stolen earlier that day, reports indicate.
Later that day, a Hancock police offer reportedly spotted a woman in a vehicle matching the same description. The woman was involved in an altercation with a clerk at the AC&T, charging documents said. The woman then drove off in the stolen vehicle without paying for her gas.
The officer reportedly followed the stolen vehicle, which travelled 100 miles per hour on Hancock's East Main Street and 125 miles per hour on Interstate 70. Stop sticks were eventually used to deflate the vehicle's tires.
The driver of the vehicle, Bottenfield, was allegedly found in possession of a syringe and a spoon with burnt residue. Police also found a purse that was stolen from a woman who had been using the restroom at the AC&T. Bottenfield is faced with charges of robbery, theft, attempted theft, possession of drug paraphernalia and assault.
Needmore Woman Charged In Bedford County
A Needmore woman has been charged with harassment in neighboring Bedford County, Pennsylvania State Police in Bedford said Barbara Bakner is accused of grabbing an individual by the neck with both hands on Sunday, July 22. Police stated Bakner also pushed the person into a car and shut a car door on the victim's leg at 3:30 p.m. in the parking lot of Sheetz located in East Providence Township.
Waterfall Man Cited In Crash
Sixty-nine-year-old Max Sheeder of Waterfall has been cited by Pennsylvania State Police in Huntingdon following a two-vehicle crash in Brady Township.
Police said Sheeder faces a stop-sign violation after he pulled into the path of a 2003 Ford Focus operated by Bonnie Parks, 48, of Huntingdon on July 20. The 11:20 a.m. crash occurred at the intersection of Route 655 and William Penn Highway, and Sheeder was operating a 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 at the time.
Parks was transported to J.C. Blair Hospital for treatment of moderate injuries. Sheeder's passenger, 67- year-old Violet Sheeder sustained minor injuries.
Nothing Taken In Burglary
A 49-year- old McConnellsburg man informed state police investigators he was the victim of a burglary on Tuesday, July 24. Between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., burglars broke through the front door of an apartment at 102 Lincoln Way East, McConnellsburg. Nothing was reportedly taken or disturbed in the apartment. Anyone having further information regarding this break-in is asked to contact state police Trooper Wadsworth at 717-485-3131.
Car Rolls Over
An Orbisonia man was transported to Fulton County Medical Center following a vehicle rollover in Dublin Township last Friday.
According to state police reports, Manuel N. Hall, 52, suffered moderate injuries during the 5:08 a.m. crash along Great Cove Road. Hall was injured when he lost control of his northbound 1998 Ford Escort, which struck a utility pole and rolled over. Police added several small trees were struck during the rollover.
Police said it was unknown if the driver was wearing a seat belt when the crash occurred. He will be cited for driving on roadways laned for traffic.
Car Hits Tree
Two McConnellsburg residents suffered injuries ranging from minor to moderate during a collision with a tree last Thursday afternoon along Lincoln Highway.
Pennsylvania State Police from the McConnellsburg barracks reported a 17- year-old boy failed to drive within the eastbound lane and proceeded to lose control of his 1993 Chrysler Lebaron. The car crossed onto the northern berm and crashed into a tree. The car, police said, suffered disabling damage to its rear end.
The juvenile suffered minor injuries, while his passenger Maria D. Esparza, 18, was taken to Fulton County Medical Center with moderate injuries. Both individuals were using a seat belt when the crash occurred at 11:58 p.m. just west of the intersection of Black Bear Road.
Police said the driver will be cited with driving on roadways laned for traffic. State police were assisted on the scene by McConnellsburg Volunteer Fire Company and EMS as well as Fischer's Towing.
Police Investigate Death In Licking Creek Township
Pennsylvania State Police from McConnellsburg and the Fulton County Coroner's Office investigated a death that occurred at 6429 Lincoln Highway.
Police investigators said Barry L. Stofflet of Harrisonville was discovered dead at his residence at 2:55 p.m. on Thursday, July 26. Deputy Coroner Darrin Smith determined the 62- year-old man died from a heart attack caused by coronary atherosclerosis as well as diabetes.
Two Drivers Injured
Two drivers from southern Huntingdon County sustained moderate injuries when their vehicles collided along Great Cove Road on Sunday, July 29.
Ryan K. Fleck, 24, of Three Springs, was travelling northbound through Ayr Township when his 2007 Ford Escape crossed over and struck an oncoming 2007 Suzuki XL7 at 8:30 a.m., state police reports indicate. Following the initial impact with the southbound Suzuki driven by Freeman A. Snair Jr., 55, of Rockhill Furnace, Fleck's car struck an embankment and overturned onto its roof. Meanwhile, Snair's vehicle ran off the berm and collided with a utility pole just south of the intersection of Rock Hill Road.
Fleck was taken to Fulton County Medical Center, while Snair was flown to Conemaugh Hospital with moderate injuries. Both men were wearing seatbelts. Fleck will be cited for driving on roadways laned for traffic.
Three Hurt In Interstate Crash
Three residents of Pittsburgh suffered injuries during a single-vehicle crash along the eastbound lanes of Interstate 70 over the weekend.
Pennsylvania State Police from the McConnellsburg substation reported 49- year-old Joseph T. Surmacy was attempting to put on his seat belt when he lost control of his 2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer at 8:03 a.m. on July 28. Police said the vehicle spun clockwise 180 degrees across the righthand lane before colliding with an embankment. The vehicle rolled over completely and came to a rest on its wheels along the southern berm.
Surmacy was taken via Needmore ambulance to Washington County Hospital as were his passengers Antoinette E. Surmacy, 49, and 20-year-old Nicole Surmacy. Joseph Surmacy will be cited by state police for careless driving.
Vehicle Disabled In Rollover
A Broad Top woman is being cited for driving on roadways laned for traffic in connection with a rollover along Route 475 last Friday night.
Twenty-year-old Abigail Lynne Warner lost control of her northbound 2007 Chevrolet Silverado, which travelled onto the berm near the intersection of Doran Road. The truck crashed into a ditch, a mailbox and then rolled over at 11:55 p.m. Disabling damage was sustained to the entire vehicle, according to state police reports.
Warner was wearing a seat belt and suffered minor injuries. She will be cited for driving on roadways laned for traffic.
Death Investigated On Iron Bridge
A Hustontown man was discovered dead along Iron Bridge Road over the weekend, Pennsylvania State Police reported. Thirty-eightyear old Douglas Eugene Everhart was found along the Taylor Township roadway at 8:20 a.m. on Saturday, July 28. Fulton County Deputy Coroner Brian Barton pronounced Everhart dead at the scene as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Prowler Spotted
A homeowner's girlfriend discovered a prowler lurking about their property at 2861 Big Cove Tannery Road in Thompson Township at 9:51 p.m. on Saturday, July 28. The individual reportedly fled the property through a wooded area to the west of the home. According to state police reports, the homeowner had been the victim of a burglary earlier in the month. Anyone having further information linked to this case is asked to contact state police Trooper Doriguzzi by calling 717-485-3131.
Gas Cylinders Stolen
Two 420-pound gas cylinders were stolen from 9650 Old 126 in Brush Creek Township between 10 a.m. on June 30 and 10 a.m. on July 10, state police report. The gas cylinders have been valued at $962.41. Anyone having additional information regarding this case of theft is urged to call state police Trooper Piasecki at 717- 485-3131.
Car Hits Pole
A southbound 2009 Mazda struck a utility pole along Route 475 in Dublin Township Saturday morning. According to state police Michelle Kay Helman, 28, of Burnt Cabins, lost control of her vehicle at 12:01 a.m. while rounding a curve in the roadway. Helman was wearing a seat belt and suffered minor injuries. She will be charged with driving on roadways laned for traffic.
Everett Man Cited For DUI
A 28-year-old Everett man will be cited for driving under the influence following an incident on the Crystal Spring Exit of Interstate 70. State police said John Allen Garner was sleeping inside his vehicle, which was running, while stopped on the exit ramp on Saturday, July 28, at 2:52 a.m.
One Cited In Domestic Assault
A 27-year-old Warfordsburg area man is being charged with simple assault after he repeatedly threatened a 63-year-old woman, also from Warfordsburg.
Pennsylvania State Police at the McConnellsburg barracks said Anthony Phillip Lane and the woman reportedly got into a verbal dispute on Tuesday, July 24, at 702 Cider Mill Road. The incident escalated when Lane grabbed a knife with each hand and threatened to harm the woman. He then threw the knives on the kitchen counter and left the kitchen, police stated.
He re-entered the kitchen with a loaded .22 caliber rifle, pointed it at the woman and threatened to shoot her, police alleged.
Police said the following day at approximately 2 p.m., the woman and a 59-year-old male went to Fulton County Medical Center to pick up Lane. The group began arguing, and Lane threatened the man, police added.
Both incidents were reported to state police investigators at that time.
Hit-And-Run Investigated
Pennsylvania State Police at the McConnellsburg barracks investigated a hit-andrun accident that occurred in a parking lot at 318 North First Street in McConnellsburg Borough.
Police said an unknown vehicle struck a parked 2005 Mazda belonging to Chase E. Duckwall, 19, of Needmore at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, July 24. Minor damage was sustained to the left rear panel of Duckwall's vehicle. White paint had transferred onto Duckwall's car as well, state police added.
Woman Charged In Crash
Nineteen-year-old Hustontown resident Kayla G. Jones has been charged with following too closely in connection with a two-vehicle accident along Great Cove Road on Friday, July 20.
According to police reports, Jones rear-ended another southbound vehicle, that was stopped and waiting to make a left-hand turn just north of Fulton Drive at 12:03 p.m. Police did not identify the other driver or vehicle involved in the Ayr Township crash.
Police did report Jones' Mustang was disabled and was removed from the scene by Tin Man Towing. She was wearing a seat belt and escaped harm.


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Meet the Colorado Rockies
Note: This analysis was written prior to Manuel announcing that Cliff Lee would start Game One. At the time, Cole Hamels was listed as the Game One starter.
On Friday, you got an idea as to where all four playoff-bound teams stood. Back then, we had yet to learn of the Phillies' true opponent for the first round of the post-season, as the Colorado Rockies had dreams of toppling the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West division title. Now that we do know for sure that there will be a rematch of the 2007 NLDS, it's time to get to know the Rockies better.
What can be said about the Rockies? They are quite resilient for one. Following the firing of Clint Hurdle and the promotion of Jim Tracy, the Rocks went on a tear, winning 74 of their next 115 games, a winning percentage of .643. They finished the season with the National League's second-best offense. Any ideas as to which team is numero uno? The defending champs, of course! The spotlight can be shared, though: the offensive categories the Coloradoans led in were triples and bases on balls (pause for polite applause).
Even though they are quite potent offensively, it's their pitching that really helped push them forward. No one expected Jason Marquis, Jorge De La Rosa, and Jason Hammel to contribute the way they did.
Marquis had hovered around league-average production with his pitching following his first season with the St. Louis Cardinals, and most expected even worse with a move to the hitter-friendly confines of Coors Field. Marquis experienced no adverse effects from the thin air, as his home ERA was 0.06 lower than on the road. The ideal strategy in that thin air is to induce ground balls, and Marquis did just that 55.6% of the time, the third-highest ground ball rate in the Majors.
De La Rosa could never put it together when he was in Milwaukee and Kansas City, and it didn't appear like it would happen in Colorado either, as he posted a near-5 ERA last season. Yet, somehow, he lowered his ERA this season over a half-run and averaged half a strikeout more per nine innings while also lowering his walk rate. Believe it or not, that 93 MPH fastball of his is his worst pitch. Jorge made his money with his off-speed stuff, particularly his slider and a change-up that is about 9 MPH slower than his fastball on average.
As for Jason Hammel, it's a simple matter of command. While with the Tampa Bay Rays, he lowered his walk rate every year between 2006-08 but couldn't get it under four per nine innings. He was traded to Colorado and his BB/9 rate decreased by nearly two — a vast improvement. This season, he had six outings in which he pitched at least five innings and left without walking a single batter. FIP even thinks he was better than this ERA showed — he finished with a 3.71 FIP compared to his 4.33 ERA.
The Rockies made their living with a bit of a Moneyball strategy — finding value in players other teams had already passed over. The Phillies, for example, took a much riskier and much less rewarding venture by signing Pedro Martinez than the Rockies did by experimenting with Hammel. The Rockies, however, do not have the lustre that attracted a future Hall of Famer to Philadelphia, so they routinely have to improvise. When everything's coming up Milhouse, you may happen to find yourself in the playoffs.
Now that we're more intimately acquainted with our cross-country foes, let us dive into the meat of the matter: who's better? For this expedition, we will be using the value stats conveniently collected, organized, and displayed by the kind folks at FanGraphs.
First, let's have a look at the team's regulars' offensive contributions by position.
*Note: Ryan Spilborghs, Carlos Gonzalez, and Seth Smith's values are combined in LF, as are each team's starting and back-up catchers' values.
The Phillies have an edge at every position except shortstop, where Troy Tulowitzki has produced 36 more batting runs than Jimmy Rollins. That, unsurprisingly, is not the biggest disparity. At second base, Chase Utley has produced 55 more batting runs than Clint Barmes.
In the outfield, the Phillies lay claim to two players who arguably deserve some ninth- or tenth-place NL MVP votes. The Rockies, meanwhile, have given three different players significant playing time in left field. This gives the Rockies some versatility that the Phillies lack. For instance, when Ryan Spilborghs is in left field against Cole Hamels or Cliff Lee, the Rockies have both Seth Smith (126 OPS+) and Carlos Gonzalez (122) on the bench available to pinch hit late in the game. The only above-average hitter the Phillies will have on the bench is Ben Francisco (109 OPS+).
On that note, since the Phillies will be utilizing two lefties in the first two games and the Rockies two righties, let's focus on the platoon splits.
- Rockies LH hitters vs. LH pitchers: .734 OPS
- Rockies LH hitters vs. RH pitchers: .784
- Phillies RH hitters vs. RH pitchers: .713
- Phillies RH hitters vs. LH pitchers: .816
- Cliff Lee vs. LH hitters: .583
- Lee vs. RH hitters: .734
- Cole Hamels vs. LH hitters: .711
- Hamels vs. RH hitters: .767
- Ubaldo Jimenez vs. RH hitters: .585
- Jimenez vs. LH hitters: .681
- Aaron Cook vs. RH hitters: .757
- Cook vs. LH hitters: .788
Four of the Rockies' top-five hitters are left-handed and the same goes for the Phillies if you count switch-hitter Shane Victorino. The Phillies will throw out two lefty starters against the Rockies' lefties gaining the platoon advantage while the Rockies will use two righties against the Phillies' lefty mashers. In the batter/pitcher match-ups, the Phillies have a nice advantage here.
Before moving on to pitching, let's stay with the regulars and compare the teams defensively. I will defer to the aesthetically-appealing graphics at Beyond the Box Score. The Phillies have the better defender at every position except shortstop and in left field where the Rockies' trio has been pretty, pretty, pretty… pretty good.
If you recall above, we found that the Phillies had the better bat at every position except shortstop, so their advantage grew even more except in left field.
Now onto the starting pitching. This is a scouting report of sorts. I put the rates each starter utilizes certain pitches and put it in a scatter plot along with the run values the opposing offense has against that pitch. For instance, Cole Hamels throws his fastball 59 percent of the time and Rockies hitters score .45 runs above average per 100 fastballs thrown. Comparatively, Hamels throws his change-up 30 percent of the time and Rockies hitters score .11 runs above average per 100 change-ups.
Here is your Game One match-up (click to enlarge):
Essentially, the further northeast the data points lie, the bigger the advantage for the hitter. Conversely, the further southeast the data points lie, the bigger the advantage for the pitcher. As you go westward, the advantages and disadvantages wane as the pitches are not thrown enough to have a significant impact.
The results are not surprising: hitters like to hit fastballs. The keys to the match-up are Hamels' change-up precision and Jimenez's use of his slider.
Your Game Two match-up:
Aaron Cook throws 85% fastballs but is adept at getting the hitters to drive them into the ground and not in the air. It sounds simplistic, but Aaron Cook will be successful if his sinker sinks. As Cleveland Indians pitcher Jake Westbrook details, per MLB.com:
A good sinker is really just down in the zone. Even if it's in the middle of the plate, if it's sinking down, there's good chance they're going to hit the ball on the ground somewhere.
As for Cliff Lee, aside from a fastball, he utilizes a cutter. Unfortunately for him, the Rockies are the second-best team in baseball at hitting the cutter. That's also bad news for Brad Lidge, who added a cutter to his repertoire and will "debut it in NLDS" according to the Phillies website.
Lastly, let's briefly look over the relievers. Overall, the Phillies' bullpen was more than a half-run better than the Rockies' in terms of ERA. Neither bullpen inspires confidence, but unlike the Phillies, the Rocks have a closer they don't mind handing a baseball with a slight lead in the ninth inning.
Since Colorado will be unable to utilize a left-handed starter, it is pivotal that their lefty relievers — Franklin Morales and Joe Beimel — are able to successfully retire the likes of Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Raul Ibanez.
The Phillies' concern is obvious: the ninth inning. Charlie Manuel hasn't named a specific closer for the NLDS and perhaps he won't, but it would behoove Manuel to use Ryan Madson, who has been very effective this season, in those high-leverage situations. As we learned last week, Manuel does have the ability to adapt.
In summation:
- The Phillies are better offensively almost entirely across the board
- The Phillies are better defensively almost entirely across the board
- The Phillies' starters are matched up more favorably than the Rockies' starters
- Both bullpens have specific goals they need to attain that will lead to team success
- Game 2 is the key to the series: the pitcher who cannot utilize his go-to pitch (Cliff Lee's cutter; Aaron Cook's sinker) will likely be responsible for his team coming up short


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It's almost baseball season. Maybe this is a good time to revisit some of our favorite lines from one of our favorite baseball flicks: Major League.
Post 'em here.
Here are a few of mine:
Heywood: How's your wife and my kids?
Jake: Hell of a situation we got here. Two on, two out, your team down a run and you've got the chance to be the hero on national television... if you don't blow it. Saw your wife last night. Great little dancer. That guy she was with? I'm sure he's a close personal friend, but tell me, what was he doing with her panties on his head?
[batter pops the ball straight up]
Jake: Uh-oh, Rexie, I don't think this one's got the distance.
Charlie Donovan: How would you like to manage the Indians this year?
Lou Brown: Gee, I don't know...
Charlie Donovan: What do you mean, you don't know? This is your chance to manage in the big leagues.
Lou Brown: Let me get back to you, will ya, Charlie? I got a guy on the other line asking about some white walls.


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If you have a friend on hand (or some serious ambidextrous skills....) click "Inser Coin" twice and use the WASD keys to control MsPacman!
Don't cross the stre^H^H^H^H pacmen!
I don't think it's an issue of ambidextrous skills -- it's trivially easy to control both of them -- it's dividing attention between the two long enough to play both effectively that is the issue.
Aaah, I was wondering why the "," "a", ";", and "h" keys were causing her to move!
Don't worry, in 7 years we'll be playing Crysis in the google doodle.
And in 7 years, you still won't be able to get more than 24 FPS out of the cinematics.
I get 35fps out of the cinematics you insensitive clod!
The opening one, in the Jet, you can get lots of frames per second - but watch their lips closesly, either it was put together terribly or what, but their lips jump around like its choppy and laggy, like its not running at anything higher than 20 fps.
Yes, how can you NOT play once you see it?
I'm sure that's why they saved it for Friday.
Now let's calculate how much potential productivity is lost to Facebook. So, let's see: from Facebook's own statistics [facebook.com] it's users spend over 500 billion minutes per month. Assuming a very conservative 5% of that time could/should be spent being productive (the other 95% we'll assume is a reasonable quantity of recreation), that's 25 billion minutes a month. Divide by 60 for hours, divide my 40 for work week, divide by 51 for year, divide by 45 for a lifetime of work and...
Over 4,500 entire lifetimes of pote
The control scheme is pretty complicated and you do also have to keep track of 4 ghosts at the same time you are moving around. Those damn Namcoers are too smart for their own good.
Quite another challenge to play both Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man at once, though.
Yes, it works on iPhone. Not very well, mind you, but it is controllable with swipes.
Have a Nice Day, Adobe!
Have a nice day indeed, since it still uses a Flash object for sounds.
Hah! Good catch.
I am in such a habit of silencing such things that I hadn't even noticed. But you're right, it was silent without me doing anything about it. (Of course, for me that's a feature, but YMMV.)
I was going to ask you how you got to it on the iPhone since by default you're sent to the Mobile Google page, but I found the "Classic" link on the bottom. And what do you know, it does in fact work on iPhone. Cool.
...Until the browser decided I double-tapped while trying to move around a couple of corners to avoid a ghost, and zoomed in to the bottom of the screen.
Oops. Deerooreeroo whoop-whoop!
(Well, without the sound on the iPhone. Since it doesn't do Flash.)
Noticed it at work this morning.
Told a few people.
Poster should note that there is SOUND!
Sporadically every now and then I hear Pac-Man going on a few cubes away. lol.
Mute your sound before going to Google if your in an Office setting... Unless they are cool enough to let you play video games at work. My bosses are a bit sticky about that.
If "sound" is NSFW, you need a new job.
On one of my previous jobs my contract was terminated because I was watching FOX News while eating my lunchtime sandwich.
Yeah I know - FOX. But I don't think watching MS-NBC would have made any difference - they were cutting contractors and costs. They also told me "You are eating too much food at the lunch buffet." I only weigh 140 pounds - I don't eat much.
"Sound" isn't NSFW, but video games are.
I am pretty sure sound from video games are a dead giveaway to your boss that your playing video games.
Since most people are not allowed to play video games at work...
In which case you might need to start looking for a new job.
My work doesn't let us have speakers, you insensative clod!
Why would you have speakers on in an office environment anyway?
cisco unity voicemail to email?
Thats the reason my users all want speakers, or so they claim...
From the point of view of a serious organization, I don't think it was such a good choice - a large part of Google's audience are people who just use the computer to work, can barely use it, and any deviation from standard behavior prompts panic and a call to help desk (us!) to ask why the hell did the computer start making noises and playing games by itself, and how we should run there to run an antivirus check and preferably take the computer outside and burn it with a flame thrower lest the nasty virus s
Wow, they let you use flamethrowers?! That's a lot more fun than pulling the drives and tossing the rest in the dumpster.
It's not entirely done in JavaScript - they have an off-screen Flash applet that handles the sound.
In that case, it is a shame they did not do the sounds using HTML5. It would be nice to a reworked version using HTML Audio.
In that case, it is a shame they did not do the sounds using HTML5. It would be nice to a reworked version using HTML Audio.
I've been told HTML5's <audio> has five deficiencies:
I could be wrong; feel free to post links to web sites demonstrating how to overcome these deficiencies.
You can hear your staff playing video games while you post on Slashdot? But I thought 3DRealms folded?
Having an "alarm sound" in google home page is not that wise decision, I got reports about people calling helpdesk tech support in order to report an "alarm sound", "its a virus?", "hijacked google home page, please run anti-spyware", etc, etc
Is PacMan that important to the general public? I agree is
no one gives a fuck about people who are that stupid.
Seriously, watch them abandon google
oh wait, they won't.
Google should do this more often.
I've never worked helpdesk so I guess I'm not familiar with the magnitude of stupidity that is possible, but REALLY? People don't know what pacman is? Pacman is a cultural icon, everyone knows what it is in a similar way to tetris. I'm finding it hard to believe that non-techs would both be uninterested in pacman, and not even know what it is.
Check out the Wikipedia page for links to the sources..:
In 1982 the song reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart..
There is a Pac-Man machine in the Smithsonian
94% of American consumers recognize Pac-Man
and of course, Pac-Man has been published for essentially every single platform that could possibly play it.
On a personal note:
My parents and my children recognize Pacman and recognized the sounds right away.
Be careful here, MrJones...
I just found out that if you say anything negative about this that you'll get modded down pretty quickly.
Evidently, most readers here on
I personally have no problem with playing, but my rule is "first work, then play". You can then play harder with no guilt of having to stop playing to do the stuff you put off so you could play.
And I want to run a game programmed in Javascript on my computer WHY? I helped write a simulator for a PDP-10 that ran on a PDP-11 (36 bit machine on a 16 bit machine) 30+ years ago. And there was a concrete corporate need for it (we were modifying the Bliss-11 compiler which was written in Bliss-10). And even though I like PacMan (lord knows how many quarters I plugged into it at the local video game parlors in the 80's) I would still pause before I open my machine(s) up to running Javascript games.
The goal of programmers (world-wide) should not be on "how do I implement something clever and cool". It should instead be on how do I reduce the CO2 footprint of my program? It is a sad state when one is promoting programs which may increase wasteful expenditure of energy (via Javascript). If
Go away, Conserva-Troll
I think that C is not green either, since it's really more efficient to code the game in assembly code that can be inlined in the web page.
But assembly still consumes those excess cycles. You know what's really green? Not playing Pac-Man.
Certainly, playing Pac-Man as it was originally---as an arcade game with a dedicated CRT monitor---is out of the question.
Actually, I'm a little concerned with your comment up there, because it seems like there may have been some CPU cycles that were wasted in your comment.
Guess we'd better outlaw Flash and any video codecs that aren't built into the hardware, too, huh? And ban everything but assembly languages! Compilers, linkers, interpreters? Those are for pansies! Go green, code on the bare metal!
Newsflash: your laptop probably pulls about 20W no matter what you're doing on it (and most of that is lost to conversion costs) and even running at 100% CPU would probably only have a handful of watts more. However you lose about 30W constantly every time the battery needs to charge. So technically, if you were *THAT* worried about being green, you'd be unplugging your battery whenever you use your laptop and the battery is already fully charged. Desktop systems are more power-hungry too. Hell, your di
One lingering questions about this: Did Google have to get permission from copyright holders to make this game? I'm assuming that it would be a no-brainer to let google create this game, because anyone with a financial interest in the game would certainly welcome a free ad of this magnitude, but what are the rights of Namco, et. al. regarding this now 30 year old game? Do they still "own" the game-proper? What about the soundtrack?
The Google PacMan kill screen [twitpic.com] for you
even cooler would be if they would save the top 10 highest scores.
Save Complete Page in Firefox doesn't get even close to all the pieces. This must be preserved, to be played every year on May 21st. Is there a save Addon that can get it all automatically or do I have to spelunk in my cache?
"If it's not loud, it doesn't work!" -- Blank Reg, from "Max Headroom"