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USFWS National Digital Library
MARK MADISON: Okay. Today is June 29th, 2011, and my name is Mark Madison at the National Conservation Training Center, and this week we're having a conference for bright high school kids from around the country who might want to pursue environmental careers called the Student Climate and Conservation Congress, and one of our speakers this morning was Dr. John Francis, who has an extremely interesting career and has been kind enough to come downstairs and talk with us a little bit for this Podcast.
Let me just tell you a little about Dr. Francis. Dr. Francis was energized in his 20s when the 1971 oil spill in San Francisco Bay jarred his comfortable life as he joined volunteers to help scrub the beaches and save the birds there. He felt the need to make a deeper, more personal commitment to the environment, and, boy, did he ever! He decided to stop using motorized vehicles and eventually took a vow of silence. He topped using motorized vehicles for 22 years, is that correct, Dr. Francis, and he stopped talking and only listened for 17 years, which is kind of an inspiration to us all.
So, Dr. Francis, thank you so much for coming to Shepherdstown.
JOHN FRANCIS: Well, thanks, Mark. You know, as I said, thanks for being here, you know, because it takes two to communicate, you know.
MARK MADISON: It does. I'm sure that's a lesson you learned from your 17 years of silence.
Tell us why you made these two decisions to stop using motorized transport and stop talking.
JOHN FRANCIS: Well, you know, the not riding in motorized vehicles, it seems kind of obvious. It's a connection that I had made when looking at an oil spill and looking at myself driving a motor vehicle and realizing that the reason they were in the Bay with the oil was partly because of the demand that I was part of to have them there to get oil cheaply as they could and as quickly as they could for my use. And so that was an easy, no-brainer, as they say, to make that choice to start walking.
The not talking was a little more difficult for me because I had looked at the practice of remaining silent in my earlier life as a religious person, going in the monastery, and I thought, that's not for me, not talking, come on! But because I was in so many arguments about the decision not to ride in motorized vehicles, when people in my community mentioned that I really wouldn't make a difference, one person couldn't make a difference, I decided on my 27th birthday to remain silent for one day, and it was that one day that I learned that I hadn't been listening, and so I listened a little more, and then I realized that it was even-- it was even more profound than just listening; it was being able to tell the truth; it was being able to recognize the truth and a lot of other things that came from the silence. And discovering who I was as a person, as an African-American was paramount. So I took that vow to be silent for a year, which I renewed every year.
And it's great to be here in Shepherdstown, because the students here are just so bright and so committed already in what they're doing. I applaud you on being able to find such students. It's almost like preaching to the choir except this is a very young choir, and they are looking for direction and they're looking for inspiration from all of us. So to have that opportunity to speak with them and touch them and be touched by them and to listen to them is a great opportunity for me.
MARK MADISON: Well, you were very inspiring, and the students had a lot of questions. We could have gone three hours with their questions. We had to cut them off. But I wonder what you think-- you made your choice to stop riding motorized vehicles and to stop talking. Do you think that's a choice they should make or do you think they ought to find their own voice, no pun intended, to speak out on these issues?
JOHN FRANCIS: I won't take that as a pun.
You know, I try to keep from saying what it is that a person's journey is, because I don't know. That is something that we have to discover for ourselves. I do say that being who you are and discovering that person and being that person is probably the most powerful thing that you can do for all of us, and so that I unreservedly will recommend.
Now, some students asked me about walking, if they should walk, or if they could walk. And I get lots of e-mails from people around the country who want to walk. And so what I will say, and what I'm trying to come up with is a way that instead of going to, you know, some far-off land for-- Europe to kick around for a year and find yourself, that maybe in your own community you can become a planetwalker and just give up riding in motorized vehicles and walk, and I don't know if you want to stop talking, but, I mean, that's a possibility.
I don't think that it's something that you'll suffer. I think it's something that would be a great learning experience for you, just as maybe going to some European country and kicking around for a year or two. But it's something that you can do right here at home, and I think it has measurable benefits. You can lower your carbon footprint, and you will definitely affect your family's lives and the lives of your friends and the community, I believe.
MARK MADISON: An internal journey versus an external trip.
JOHN FRANCIS: Yes.
MARK MADISON: Now, people might be surprised that when you were not riding motorized vehicles and not talking you were not limiting yourself to a small geographic area or a small career path. Tell us some of the things you did during those years. Because I think it's amazing, actually.
JOHN FRANCIS: I did get around.
MARK MADISON: Yes, you do.
JOHN FRANCIS: I walked up-- from California, from near San Francisco, Pt. Reyes, about 500 miles every year to visit the [ inaudible ] Wilderness. It's not like one of those grand wildernesses like you can find up in northern Washington be the Paysaten, lots of views and mountains. This is kind of low elevation canyons and rattlesnakes and hornets and things like that, but it's nature, nonetheless. And I spent a lot of time there. And then I'd walk back in the fall. And I would do that, and eventually I made-- was befriended by a gold miner there and lived with a gold miner, Perry Davis and his wife Ruth, for a winter, and came out and went to school at Southern [ inaudible ] State College.
From there I returned to the bay area, apprenticed as a wooden boat builder, founded Planetwalk, started walking around the world as part of my education in the hope that I could benefit all of us, but figuring I'd figure that out along the way.
Went to Missoula, Montana, and did a master's in environmental studies there and then on across the country to Wisconsin, University of Wisconsin, where I did my Ph.D. in oil spills and ended up working at the Coast Guard writing oil pollution regulations for the United States.
And from there I sailed through the Caribbean and then walked the length of South America. I started talking, though, in the East Coast of the United States in 1990.
And now I'm headed back to Madison, Wisconsin to be a visiting professor there at the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies to teach Redefining Environment. And "environment" for me now has changed from just being about pollution and just being about climate change and the loss of species and habitats and things that we traditionally think of as environment, but to also have to include the human environment, because we're part of the environment, and as being part of the environment, it's our first opportunity to treat the environment in a sustainable way, or even to understand what sustainability is, is in the relationships we have with ourselves and each other. So it's a human rights and civil rights and economic equity and gender equality, and pretty much all the ways that we relate to one another that environment has to embrace in order to be effective. Because as we do all the work that we're doing, we really want it to make a difference, and I think we begin by making that difference in our own personal lives with our relationships with each other.
MARK MADISON: That sounds perfect. It's very-- a nicely-- I mean, the circle that you're at the Nelson Institute, because Gaylord Nelson, obviously, was the founder of Earth Day. He was very interested in getting humans incorporated into the environment. He was actually the first speaker we had out at this place shortly after we opened. He was a family friend, and I think he would be very thrilled that you're coming back to Wisconsin to make these connections.
JOHN FRANCIS: I would hope so. And, of course, Aldo Leopold is at Wisconsin, and John Muir is at Wisconsin, and so, yeah, I guess it's a great magnet for--
MARK MADISON: Breeding ground for conservationists.
JOHN FRANCIS: Yes, breeding ground for conservationists and activists.
MARK MADISON: John, this has been a very short Podcast, and, you know, you have had a fascinating life, and we just touched on a few episodes of it. Are there books or web sites people could go to learn more about Planetwalk and your career?
JOHN FRANCIS: Well, we have a web site, planetwalk.org, and that's a nonprofit web site, but also National Geographic, I'm a fellow at National Geographic, and my hope is this Podcast is heard on that web site as well. It has enormous reach. But National Geographic has also published two books... "Planetwalker," which will be made into a motion picture at some point, and "On the Ragged Edge of Silence: Finding Peace in a Noisy World" has just came out in March. So, yeah, you can get those at your bookstore or the National Geographic web site.
MARK MADISON: That sounds good. Do you have one take-home message for folks that are listening?
JOHN FRANCIS: Well, the take-home message for me, I think I said it before, but please take this to heart and take it home. The environment is about how we treat each other. So let's treat each other well.
MARK MADISON: Thank you, John. This is has been Dr. John Francis at the Student Climate and Conservation Congress for 2011, and he's just joining us for a brief broadcast. Thank you very much.
JOHN FRANCIS: Thank you, Mark.
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Economy on the rebound
Well, the world didn't end in 2012.
Not for everyone, anyway.
Article Photos
The first five Top 10 stories of 2012
In Emmet County, 2012 was a year when the economy pulled out of a recession. Buoyed by good commodity prices, and despite a withering drought, good yields, Emmet County farmers sat back and called it a good year for production agriculture.
The good economic news spread to towns like Estherville as well.
Two major signs of new growth were store expansions - Pamida to Shopko Hometown and Dollar General to a new store across from Estherville High School. Not only that, but Carrico Heights saw new housing units - all at a time when housing was largely on hold in many parts of the country.
Halfa feed mill
StateLine Coop, with main offices in Burt, started work on a $9 million feed mill in Halfa this summer. Plans are to finish the project by late 2013.
"We chose the Halfa location in Emmet County to meet the needs of our feed customers now and well into the future. We are very excited about the new feed mill which will also give area corn producers another market for their grain," said Cherilyn Kirchau, StateLine Cooperative's Feed Department manager.
Upon completion, the mill will have the capacity to manufacture up to 400,000 tons of meal feed with the option of pelleting 200,000 tons of feed annually. The facility will be able to receive 20,000 bushels of corn per hour.
Ringsted school closes
Just a few miles to the south of Halfa, Ringsted Elementary closed its doors for good on June 30 after having served the community for 60 years.
The Save the Ringsted School committee, a group of local Ringsted citizens, put in an 11th-hour bid to save the school. However, the Armstrong-
Ringsted Board of Education had its eye on a ticking clock, and feeling a responsibility toward taxpayers and the community at large, decided to sell the property with the understanding that the building would be demolished.
North Union whole-grade sharing
The year 2012 was also the first year of whole-grade sharing between Armstrong-Ringsted and Sentral and North Kossuth. Armstrong took high-school students while Sentral took its own elementary students as well as A-R's. North Kossuth took middle-school students and its own elementary grades into the Swea City building.
In the spring, the district let students choose a mascot, name and colors, something that helped draw students together in a common cause. The success of that strategy was evident in the North Union homecoming theme, "Old with the old, in with the NU."
A-R and Sentral are working toward consolidation by 2014 with that new district to be designated as North Union. Plans are for that new district to whole-grade share with North Kossuth, with an eye toward possible future consolidation.
Armstrong growth
Only two or three years after city leaders were ready to sound the death knell of their commercial district, Armstrong saw significant growth in its commercial sector this year.
Casey's bought the former Kum & Go and demolished the store and started work on a new facility that will serve the community well.
Just to the east, Armstrong Service Center started construction on a tire and alignment center that will also house its rental business. Plans are for the facility to be open in the next couple months.

subset: commoncrawl


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'Game of Thrones': New featurette takes cheeky look at HBO fantasy
Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen. (HBO)Link
Maisie Williams as Arya Stark. (HBO)Link
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister. (HBO)Link
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister. (HBO)Link
Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth. (HBO)Link
Kit Harington as Jon Snow. (HBO)Link
Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister. (HBO)Link
Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark. (HBO)Link
Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Lannister. (HBO)Link
Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell. (HBO)Link
Aidan Gillen as Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish. (HBO)Link
Rory McCann as Sandor "The Hound" Clegane. (HBO)Link
Iain Glen as Jorah Mormont. (HBO)Link
Carice van Houten as Melisandre. (HBO)Link
Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane. (HBO)Link
Isaac Hempstead Wright as Bran Stark. (HBO)Link
Charles Dance as Tywin Lannister. (HBO)Link
Rose Leslie as Ygritte. (HBO)Link
Pedro Pascal as Oberyn Martell. (HBO)Link
Michiel Huisman as Daario Naharis. (HBO)Link
A poster for the fourth season of "Game of Thrones." (HBO)Link
"Game of Thrones" fans, here's something fun for your Friday.
HBO has released a new five-minute featurette titled "Long Story Short," which explores how the massively popular and critically acclaimed political fantasy series, based on George R.R. Martin's bestselling "A Song of Ice and Fire" book series, came to be.
Narrated by Charles Dance, who plays the nefarious Tywin Lannister on the show, the featurette has a cheeky feel quite different from the grim and devastatingly serious show in which death lurks around every corner and characters are constantly scheming to betray one another in a quest for power and survival.
Show runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss talk about their long-running friendship, how, seven years ago, they began reading Martin's books and saw in the sprawling narrative "a chance to tell a human story on an epic scale," Weiss said.
Watch the full featurette below.
Premiering April 6, the upcoming fourth season of "Game of Thrones" follows the events of the second half of Martin's third book in the series, "A Storm of Swords," but also introduces occurrences and characters from other novels, including the Dornish Prince Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal), the so-called Red Viper who comes to King's Landing seeking vengeance.
As for the familiar characters, Jon Snow (Kit Harington) must prepare to defend the Wall against a Wildling invasion; Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), maimed and shaken, struggles to find his place in the kingdom; and cruel King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) finally is set to wed Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer).
Meanwhile, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) continues her conquest of Slaver's Bay after having freed the slaves of Yunkai, but as her dragons mature and grow and her empire expands, she finds herself grappling with her leadership role.
Click through the gallery above for a more detailed look at Season 4, and let us know what you think of the featurette in the comments section below.
— Gina McIntyre and Noelene Clark
Maisie Williams on what's best for Arya Stark
'Thrones' exclusive: George R.R. Martin talks Arya
'Game of Thrones': 15 images from Season 4
'Thrones': Meet the cast without their costumes
'Thrones' Season 4 trailer: Vengeance, dragons
'GOT' star Michelle Fairley: 'Everyone's dispensable'
'Game of Thrones': Jaime Lannister's evolution


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BanaBay Makes Awards Shortlist
BanaBay has been recognised as one of the Midlands based businesses giving a boost to the region's economy by being shortlisted in two categories of the Midlands International Trade Awards.
Organised by Insider Media, the awards are designed to celebrate businesses and business leaders who are successfully exporting and bringing overseas investment into the UK.
BanaBay is going for the Food & Drink Award and Rapid Export Growth Award, the latter being in recognition of the impressive leap the company made from launch to global brand in just three years.
Good luck team, the results will be announced at a gala dinner to be held on Thursday 15th October.


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Welcome to Ultimate Subaru Message Board, my lurker friend!
|Welcome to Ultimate Subaru Message Board, an unparalleled Subaru community full of the greatest Subaru gurus and modders on the planet! We offer technical information and discussion about all things Subaru, the best and most popular all wheel drive vehicles ever created.
We offer all this information for free to everyone, even lurkers like you! All we ask in return is that you sign up and give back some of what you get out - without our awesome registered users none of this would be possible! Plus, you get way more great stuff as a member! Lurk to lose, participate to WIN*!
* The joy of participation and being generally awesome constitutes winning
** Not an actual guarantee, but seriously, you probably won't regret it!
Serving the Subaru Community since May 18th, 1998!
Canadian Windshield Gasket Buyers please read
Posted 26 June 2006 - 04:31 PM
That'd be a heck of a lot easier and will save money on the tarriff.
Thanks for any consideration.
Posted 28 June 2006 - 02:40 AM
but if they are all in B.C. ill do it
Posted 04 July 2006 - 01:29 AM
heh ya sure i'll do it...
i'm going out to jim's tomorrow night and collecting the money will send out to you on wednesday... i PROMISE!
rguyver, send your money to moosens like normal, than he'll ship them all to me, and i'll disperse accordingly!
sorry for the slow reply... i haven't been on much lately and just saw this thread...
everything sound good?
Posted 04 July 2006 - 09:16 AM
Posted 04 July 2006 - 01:18 PM
Posted 04 July 2006 - 09:31 PM
Posted 10 July 2006 - 01:14 AM
alright i sent out the money for you 3 days ago (the 6th)...
didn't get around to actually telling you until now...
anywho... this is all in the note i wrapped the money order in, but incase it isn't readable (my handwriting skills aren't very good) that the money is for 3 gaskets...
for me and subaru jim in maple ridge... now it came out to something funny like 134.74 bucks US... it is exactly 150 bucks canadian from the 6th...
i think it'll be enough... that leaves around 30 bucks for shipping... now i looked into this, and i pay the tax and such when it comes to my door... if i don't pay it i don't get my package and it gets held at the post office then sent back to you... there is no way for you to get stuck with the tax if i don't pay it if it is done properly... i'm good for it don't worry...
if you need more to cover shipping and such gimmy a shout...
money order should be showing up at your door any day now...
Posted 10 July 2006 - 08:44 AM
Wow,I'll have to scream at FedEx over this one....those pricks.
No sweat,thanks very much,and if you owe me you can bet I'll bring it up.
Thanks Canada!
Posted 11 July 2006 - 11:44 PM
I'll make an update of the speadsheet later this week and attempt to post it...or email it to each of you.
0 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users


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Aston Villa have made an enquiry about the availability of Inter Milan midfielder Philippe Coutinho, his agent has claimed.
The 20-year-old Brazilian spent part of last season on loan at Espanyol but has made only three Serie A appearances since returning to Milan.
Coutinho's agent, Cacau Barbosa, told the Wolverhampton Express and Star: "I can confirm Aston Villa made an enquiry. They want him, but with all due respect for the proposal made to Philippe, at this moment there is still nothing concrete to suggest an exit from Inter."
Copyright (c) PA Sport 2013, All Rights Reserved.
Do YOU want to write for GiveMeSport? Get started today by signing-up and submitting an article HERE: https://www.givemesport.com/writeforgms


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Great looking Pics.
And my cock still wants to fuck your ass, so it sounds like a match.
Touch, Arouse Me, Kiss & More!My signature picture was designed for me by Reone.
Looking good!
With a HOT body like yours you wont be a virgin for long !!!!
stunning pics!
TA, TA, TA...where have you been?
What can I say except
You look wonderful
Lovely pics. You look really good!
would love to eat it and fuck it
Sweet deal you got going on TossAside69
Love suck that cock and rim that ass.
great pics!!! more please
You are like an angel! So cute! Thanks for sharing your hot butt
Hockey players butts drive me nuts!
The thought of being the first to fuck that tight hole is so hot!
I'd love to lick this up - fantastic load! Thanks for posting - you're great!
With such a hot ass, cock and body you won't remain a virgin much longer, if you don't want to! Really fine!!
You are truly beautiful!
Very hot dude. Please keep them coming!
Nothing is like anything else. Things are themselves entirely and do not need interpretation, only a minimal respect for their precise integrity.
Love the new pics. Need a shower buddy?
I love the body and the cumshot... wow!
Great pics!! You're on a roll, aren't you?
Guess so hahaha
Great pics! I just uploaded a few pics in a thread. Would love some feed back!
Great pictures - shower more on us!
What a beauty
nice update!!
I would definitely LOVE to "Toss" YOU! Butt, in NO way would that be "Aside"!
Rather more like ...
Keep smilin'!!
WISDOM is the Knowledge you've gained ... After you could have used it! _Me
Shower yaah ! I like it, nice pictures man
id happily take your virginity!


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WWE Studios movie trailers
See Shawn Michaels in "The Resurrection of Gavin Stone" WWE Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels stars alongside Brett Dalton in WWE Studios' "The Resurrection of Gavin Stone," coming Jan. 20, 2017. 09/16/2016 - 11:51
WWE Superstars go wild in "Surf's Up 2: WaveMania" John Cena, The Undertaker, Paige, Triple H and Mr. McMahon get animated and star in "Surf's Up 2: WaveMania" on DVD and Digital Jan. 17 11/29/2016 - 18:45
"Eliminators" starring Wade Barrett is available now on Digital HD, DVD and Blu-ray Universal Pictures Home Entertainment and WWE Studios' "Eliminators" is available now Digital HD, Blu-ray, DVD and on-demand. 12/05/2016 - 14:24
Blumhouse and WWE Studios present "Incarnate" Check out the trailer for Blumhouse and WWE Studios' "Incarnate," starring Aaron Eckhart and featuring WWE Superstar Mark Henry, in theaters Dec. 2. 08/26/2016 - 11:46
Scooby-Doo and WWE join forces today! Scooby and the gang team up with your favorite WWE Superstars in "Scooby-Doo and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon" available on Blu-Ray and DVD today! 08/08/2016 - 13:33
Edge and Lana team up for "Interrogation" Edge and Lana join forces in WWE Studios and Lionsgate's action-packed thriller, "Interrogation," available Tuesday, Sept. 20, on Blu-Ray, Digital HD, DVD and on-demand. 07/11/2016 - 11:46
Kane and Dolph Ziggler team up in "Countdown," the new action-thriller from Lionsgate and WWE Studios "Countdown" is available on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD and on-demand April 5. 03/17/2016 - 10:41
Dean Ambrose stars in "12 Rounds: Lockdown" Check out WWE Superstar Dean Ambrose in the action-packed trailer for "12 Rounds: Lockdown" available on Blu-Ray, Digital HD and On Demand now. 12/18/2015 - 12:33
WWE Superstar Randy Orton and Eric Roberts star in "The Condemned 2" - available now Lionsgate presents a WWE Studios production, "The Condemned 2," available on DVD, Blu-ray, Digital HD and on-demand now! 01/15/2016 - 14:07
Get in the holiday spirit with "Santa's Little Helper" Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and WWE Studios present "Santa's Little Helper" - starring Paige, The Miz and AnnaLynne McCord - on DVD and Digital HD now. 11/16/2015 - 15:23
Big Show stars in "Vendetta," available on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD and on demand now Big Show stars alongside Dean Cain in the action-packed thriller "Vendetta," which is available on Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD and on demand now. 08/17/2015 - 22:04
"The Marine 4: Moving Target" available now on Digital HD, DVD, Blu-ray and On-Demand. WWE Studios' "The Marine 4: Moving Target," starring The Miz and Summer Rae, is available now. 04/15/2015 - 15:57
Get "The Flintstones and WWE" now! "The Flintstones and WWE: Stone Age SmackDown" is now available on Digital HD, Blu-ray and DVD! 03/11/2015 - 16:53
"Jingle All the Way 2" - Available now on Blu-ray and Digital HD Don't miss Larry the Cable Guy & Santino Marella in "Jingle All the Way 2" available now on Blu-ray and Digital HD. 12/01/2014 - 17:41
"Oculus" - Own it on Blu-ray and Digital HD now WWE Studios' thriller "Oculus" is available now on DVD, Blu-ray and Digital HD 08/05/2014 - 10:40
"Leprechaun: Origins" is now available on DVD, Blu-ray, Digital HD and Digital Download A horror legend is reborn. WWE Studios' "Leprechaun: Origins" is available now on DVD, Blu-ray, Digital HD and Digital Download. 09/29/2014 - 18:10
WWE Studios presents "Queens of the Ring" - Available Now! In a desperate attempt to reconnect with her estranged son who is a passionate WWE fan, Rose grabs his attention by joining a rigorous training program to learn to wrestle like a legitimate WWE Diva. She convinces her bored fellow cashiers at the local supermarket to join her challenging new adventure and together they become the "Queens of the Ring," featuring cameos by The Miz and Eve Torres. 11/11/2014 - 08:27
WWE Studios
WWE Studios' "Birth of the Dragon" available now on Digital, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand
Two of the most famous martial artists of all time face off in the enthralling, action-packed tale, "Birth of the Dragon," available now on Digital, Blu-ray, DVD and On Demand, from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Featuring remarkable


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Hofesh Shechter – Uprising / The Art of Not Looking Back (Plymouth)
The Brighton-based Israeli choreographer has coupled his all-male Uprising with the all-female The Art Of Not Looking Back in his current tour for an explosive 81 minutes (including interval).
Uprising, despite having been around for a few years now, remains fresh and dynamic.
The combats and T-shirt-clad dancers appear from the darkness in an engaging piece which is superbly physical, dramatically lit (by Lee Curran) and in which the visceral music (Vex'd) is ear-bleedingly palpable.
Exploring masculinity, the men strut and fight, josh and embrace in an ever-weaving display of athleticism and suppleness with Philip Hulford's apparently improvised solo particularly impressive.
Up next was the retrospective The Art Of Not Looking Back in which Shechter, in a ponderous voiceover, talks about his mother deserting him when he was two while six women move amid the smog of dry ice.
Not exactly engaging, the piece is abrupt and somewhat aggressive seemingly exhibiting women as looking gentle and serene while disguising their inner violence and real being. Very uncomfortable and staccato but striking.
Hannah Shepherd is the stand-out soloist whose free dance is expressive and imparts a sense of fighting the inner demons.
Curran's lighting is again atmospheric while music switched between John Zorn's Litany IV, Bach's Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins and Nitin Sawhney's heart-wrenchingly beautiful Hindi 'Fragile Wind'.
And as a piece de resistance, first the female troupe then the men seemingly rewind their set pieces in a fast-paced, smoke-ridden finale. Superb.


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New Moon just totally took my breath away. Saw it again last night with the daughter that couldn't make it Saturday, and it was even better the second time around! *sighs contentedly*
You are so right that there isn't enough of the Cullen clan. I missed the airport and the cake. However, the few lines that Jasper and Emmett had just had me rolling.
Great movie!!
Edit: Did you guys see the "How Twilight Should Have Ended" spoof on the blog page. LOL!! I am still laughing. Go check it out!!


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Meanwhile -- let's check in with all the Madison bloggers, while I'm far afield myself.
Tonya's reminiscing on the occasion of her sister's birthday, in a post that has a cool picture of her sleekly stylish family, posing back in 1970. I especially love Mother-of-Tonya's dress (and hairdo).
Oscar's doing a panel on blogging at the Journalism School:
[T]he J-school's first choice was the splendid and brilliant Ann Althouse, but she was unavailable.I had to blab about blogging elsewhere.
The first thing I noticed as the panelists took their seats was that we were six white guys between thirty and fifty. Six married white guys. From my seat on one end of the dais, I looked to my right and caught an excellent "I wish had my camera" visual of five left hands resting in a neat row on the table, each sporting a wedding ring. From now on, if the topic is blog-related, I'm just going to take the damn photo and say "it's for my blog!"Tee hee. Read the whole thing. There's lots more, and it's not all about me. But, as you go through your days, keep in mind the handy phrase: "man, if Althouse were here, she'd be ripping these guys a new one!"
The second thing I noticed was that the other five panelists were all professional print or broadcast journalists who seemed to believe that there are only two kinds of blogs: those that function as news clipping services -- essentially filtering and linking to useful news items that may not make the final edition of their paper or news show -- and those for people who want to post pictures of their babies.
I was dumbstruck, and kept thinking "man, if Althouse were here, she'd be ripping these guys a new one!"
Gordon's blogging the cheese we had for dinner. The cheese posed elegantly for a photo I was sharp enough to snap. Gordon's also got some pictures of the conference participants at dinner, and notes that it was hard to get good pictures in the room where the event was held. [CORRECTION: Christine Hurt took the pictures.] Yeah, I know. They had the blinds down so the big screen would have some clarity. At the end of the day, they opened the many huge blinds that had seemed like just part of the wall. Here were dozens of big windows. The room was transformed, beautiful. It made me sad that we had been oppressed by lack of shining window beauty all that day -- all for PowerPoint, damn it! I do have a kind of cool photo of Eugene Volokh speaking -- he's very animated, even when he's just eagerly awaiting his turn to talk -- but all three profs in the picture look angry, so I'm not going to post it. I find the picture amusing, but I'm not positive they would, so.... the nice side of Althouse prevails this time.
Does Jeremy count as a Madison blogger? Having given him too much trouble last week, I'll just say, here's his blog, it's the original model for the Madison blog. You should check it out every day. Jeremy's the best sociologist in the world.


text:
Bond Buying
Norway's oil fund responded by investing about 150 billion kroner in emerging market sovereign debt last year, boosting the share of emerging market government bonds to 10.2% of fixed-income holdings from 0.4% a year earlier. Holdings in Mexican government debt grew by 14% to 22.6 billion kroner in the fourth quarter to become the fund's ninth-biggest bond holding. It also made its first purchases of government bonds from Turkey, Russia and Taiwan.
The fund's holdings in French government debt slumped 25%, while its investments in U.K. sovereign debt fell 13%. The fund is also underweight its benchmark index in yen-denominated securities, Bunny Nooryani, a spokeswoman for the investor, said by phone.
'Most Substantial'
Slyngstad said last week the change in strategy in 2012 was "the most substantial" since the increase in the fund's equity allocation to 60% from 2007 to 2009.
The fund is undergoing a shift in strategy to capture more global growth to safeguard the nation's oil wealth. It said last week it posted a return of 13.4% in 2012, its second-best year ever.
The fund in 2012 cut its European holdings to 48% of total investments from 53% a year earlier, and has come "halfway" to its 40% target, Slyngstad said.
"The big shift in the strategy probably paid off so 2012 became a good year," Olav Chen, a senior portfolio manager at Storebrand Asset Management in Oslo, who oversees about $8 billion, said in an e-mailed reply to questions.
Copyright 2014 Bloomberg. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


text:
Eleven New Working Group Projects Underway at NCEAS
Synthesizing frontiers in modeling drought- and insect-induced tree mortality with climate change
Principal Investigator(s): William Anderegg, Jeffrey Hicke, and Rosie Fisher
Establishing an open-source animal-tracking analysis platform for archival geolocators
Principal Investigator(s): Eli Bridge, David Winkler, Eldar Rakhimberdiev, and Nathaniel Seavy
Global impacts of climate change on kelp forest ecosystems
Principal Investigator(s): Jarrett Byrnes, Sean Connell, and Mark Novak
Land use change and infectious diseases
Principal Investigator(s): Andrew Dobson, Nita Bharti, and Matt Bonds
Developing comprehensive management models for marine mammals
Principal Investigator(s): Leah Gerber
Dance with neighbors: What have we learned about species coexistence in tree communities from the global stem-mapped forest plots?
Principal Investigator(s): Fangliang He, Rick Condit, Stephen Hubbell, and Thorsten Wiegand
When is a mutualist a cheater? A synthesis of conceptual and data-based perspectives on the causes and consequences of variation in mutualist quality
Principal Investigator(s): Emily Jones and Maren Friesen
Warming food webs
Principal Investigator(s): Mary O'Connor and Hamish Greig
Synthesizing top-down and bottom-up approaches to ecological energetics
Principal Investigator(s): Jane Shevtsov
A standard assessment framework for ecosystem services
Fungal pathogens and disease-induced extinction: Are fungal diseases different?
Principal Investigator(s): Jamie Voyles, Cheryl Briggs, and Marm Kilpatrick


text:
Red Cross, Music Saves Lives blood drive set for Tuesday in Rossiter
ROSSITER — Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood.
More than 41,000 donations are needed every day.
To help the American Red Cross reach their goal, two friends are teaming up to unite music lovers and anyone wanting to make a difference.
On Tuesday, July 1, in conjunction with Music Saves Lives, the American Red Cross will host a blood drive for the Rossiter community.
Those who donate will get a unique incentive.
Organizing the event is Eddie Armstrong and Jenna Roach, who received help from American Red Cross Donor Recruitment Representative Jocelyn Milby in setting up the drive.
Armstrong said the first 100 people who donate blood and show up at the Music Saves Lives booth at any stop of the Vans Warped Tour will receive a backstage pass.
"The drive was a way for us to get the vouchers," he said.
The drive is also a way for the American Red Cross to obtain the blood supply it needs, as well as and a chance for those who donate to meet their favorite bands.
How it works is once a person donates, he or she can receive a voucher by checking in on the Music Saves Lives smartphone app. The voucher can then be used to obtain a backstage pass at the Vans Warped Tour.
Even if someone is not one of the first 100, he or she still has the opportunity for priority meet-and-greets with some of the bands performing at Warped Tour.
"While the backstage passes are a nice incentive, I've always wanted to get involved with the American Red Cross," said Armstrong, adding that "American Red Cross and Music Saves Lives are both such amazing organizations."
When it comes to donating blood, the age and requirements vary from state to state.
Those unable to donate may have someone else donate for them so that they can still receive a voucher.
Armstrong and Roach have been encouraging friends, familiy members and fellow community members to donate.
"I've been told that blood supplies are especially low at this time of year. People don't realize that one pint of their donated blood can save up to three lives," Armstrong said. "I have a bigger satisfaction knowing I get to be a part of that effort."
The drive will be held from 2 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 1, at the Rossiter American Legion, located at 330 Central St. in Rossiter.
Limited-edition t-shirts will also be given to donors, while supplies last.
For more information on Music Saves Lives, visit www.musicsaveslives.org.


text:
Country Music at the White House
Share this:
President and Mrs. Obama welcome country music greats to East Room of the White House. The music captures the entire range of human emotions, wrapped in timeless melodies and harmonies that have resonated with generation after generation of fans.
In Performance at the White House: Country Music
Wednesday, November 23, 7pm on PBS North
The evening's performance is headlined by superstars from the world of country including Alison Krauss, Dierks Bentley, Kris Kristofferson, Lyle Lovett, Darius Rucker, Mickey, Lauren Alaina, The Band Perry, and James Taylor. The program will also be broadcast at a later date via the American Forces Network to American service men and women and civilians at U.S. Department of Defense locations around the world.
Watch Country Music on PBS. See more from IN PERFORMANCE AT THE WHITE HOUSE.


text:
Dobbs Record Pinch Hit Put The Phillies On Top
Greg Dobbs tied a record today that has stood since 1913 when he knocked a fastball over the right-field fence in the 5th inning. It was his 20th pinch hit of the year. The last Phillie to have 20 pinch hits in a season was Doc Miller and yes, it was as far back as 1913. This 3-run homer put the Phillies in the lead 10-9 over the Braves, which turned out to be the final score. Here is a shot of Dobbs hitting that homer and then the follow through as he watches it leave the yard:
It was a rollercoaster of a game which started with three very solid innings from Cole Hamels. Even the offense had shown signs of life at this point, scoring three runs by the bottom of the third. Then just as we were all feeling comfortable in our seats, Hamels began to unravel in the 4th. Or maybe a better word would be, implode. 9 runs would score in that inning, 3 of which came off a Mark Teixeira home run, and another off a Hamels throwing error. Not a happy day for Cole.
However, the offense finally found their bats today and managed to score 7 runs in the 5th to take the lead, with the Dobbs homer putting them over the top. After that, the bullpen came in and held the Braves down; 6 relievers in all combined for zero runs scored from the 5th inning on. Here is a nice shot I took of JC Romero closing out the 8th inning. He was especially excited about his outing today.
Nice win…these guys looked like they had a bit more life in them today. I think maybe Photo Day did them some good. Hanging out and taking pictures with the fans; ya know…being forced to smile, whether you like it or not J No seriously, there was a lot of positive energy out on that field before the game and hey, maybe that helped. Maybe they should do that like once a week, just for the energy boost J I'll post some photos from that event later when I am not so sleepy…until then, Go Phillies!


text:
posted by Thom Holwerda on Sun 13th May 2007 14:17 UTC, submitted by Rahul
Open source guru Alan Cox has voiced his support for the controversial version 3.0 of the GNU General Public Licence in an exclusive podcast interview with Computer Weekly. Cox was once regarded as the Linux number two behind Linus Torvalds because of his work maintaining the Linux kernel, and he is still a major force in the open source community. But whereas Torvalds has openly criticised GPL 3.0, and said he will not be signing up to the new licence, Cox is fully behind it.


text: When Platinum Games was attached to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, I had little doubt it could be a potentially great action game. But, I didn't think it could be a real Metal Gear game, especially as its focus was taken away from stealth. After playing the first few hours of the game, I realized I was wrong. The action in Revengeance not only stands up to Platinum's other hits, but the game carries on the stealth legacy of its Solid predecessors. focalbox Rising focuses on the exploits of Raiden in a new narrative that takes place several years after the events of Guns of the Patriots. Revengeance is deeply rooted in the events of MGS4, exploring the consequences of the fall of the Patriots, and the ramifications for cyborgs and the war economy. A bald-headed cyborg menace named Sundowner and his ridiculously-named samurai accomplice, Jetstream Sam, embark on a quest to spread war across Africa. Raiden looks to take down the terrorist cyborgs set before him, but he quickly learns that the war isn't as black-and-white as he originally makes it out to be. In spite of featuring ninja cyborgs fighting giant robots, in typical Metal Gear fashion, the story is quite heavy-handed. In fact, I get the sense that the story starts to take itself a bit too seriously. I appreciate the philosophical questions it tries to raise, such as whether the killing of terrorist underlings is justified. However, it's difficult to accept these questions in light of the game's encouragement to cut enemies into as many pieces as possible. I feel like Revengeance's story is trying to have its cake and eat it too. Cutting enemies is incredibly satisfying Combat in Revengeance is very focused on being on the offense. In fact, Raiden doesn't have a traditional block. Instead, he must parry enemy attacks by attacking right before an enemy lands a strike. Succeeding triggers Slice Mode, where players can slice enemies in whatever direction they want in bullet-time slo-mo. It's still gruesome. Another key facet of Raiden's repertoire is his Ninja Run. By holding R2/RT, Raiden can swiftly jump across platforms and leap through tight spaces. It's not unlike free-running in the Assassin's Creed series, albeit faster. Not only does Ninja Run enable Raiden to dash, but it makes him automatically block machine gun fire from enemies. Boss battles help keep things varied, by pitting Raiden against other cybernetic mercenaries with their own respective gimmicks. One such foe is Monsoon, a cyborg with magnetic powers that he uses to break his segmented body apart at will. Trying to strike him like any other enemy proves to be a bad idea, as he'll simply move shift parts of his body away from harm, even while Raiden is in Blade Mode. Successfully striking him requires parrying his attacks and stunning him long enough to get a combo in. Monsoon would break up his normal attack patterns by leaping up to a faraway building to launch large hunks of metal my way with his magnetic powers. After these sequences, the battle returns to a battle of attrition, only ending once Raiden lands enough hits to deplete the boss's health bar at the bottom-right corner. Boss battles are plentiful Usually depleting a health bar will trigger a cinematic QTE. While these sequences enable the over-the-top action players expect, they interrupt the game's flow. Annoying, defeating a boss requires successfully completing a series of QTEs, resulting in a fail state if I missed any cues. It proved to be an annoying coda to what had otherwise been an enjoyable battle. Metal Gear traditionalists will be happy to learn that there is a surprisingly great emphasis on stealth. The first three missions that I played all had portions of the game that allowed me to proceed without getting into a scuffle, some featuring security cameras that I had to sneak around before carving them up. However, unlike this game's predecessors, there didn't seem to be a lot of consequences to getting spotted. Enemies and robots would rush me, but Raiden is a far superior fighting machine to Solid Snake. Each time I was spotted, I would simply tear through any opposition like a hot knife through butter. As graceful as Raiden is throughout Revengeance, the same can't be said for the game's camera. The camera has a lot of trouble keeping up with Raiden's quick movements, which particularly becomes troublesome with the game's parry system. Because the parry is almost entirely dependent on the camera position, I found it difficult to perform when the camera is facing a random direction. Revengeance may be cut from a different cloth from the Solid series, but it is unquestionably a Metal Gear title, through and through. Beyond the heavy-handed story, over-the-top boss encounters, and surprising stealth sequences, you can see the Metal Gear DNA in nearly every aspect of the game, from Raiden's Codec to the cardboard boxes scattered in the environment. Eleven years after MGS2 introduced the world to Raiden, Rising finally makes him feel like a worthy successor to Snake's mantle.


text:
Now if I could just get some Deep Brain Coffee into me...
This could have some rather unexpected negative side-effects. For example, Lincoln was prone to depression - if he had been less melancholic, perhaps he wouldn't have spent so much time brooding over the negative consequences of slavery to the union. Similarly, this could spell the end to a lot of literature
How depressing
How depressing...
Mr. Coward, you are correct. I had depression for a while. I learned quite a bit about what it is and how it works. First, you have so-called normal people. They may get sad and say they are depressed. These bouts may last days, for example, after a traumatic event such as the death of a spouse or parent. That is not real depression. Then there are people like me who were trapped in a bad situation for a long period of time and just couldn't deal with the pressure. That's just a worse case of the first scenario. Finally, there are the truly depressed people. They have a chemical or other imbalance in their brains that causes depression for no reason. Everything could be going well in life, and they just start crying, get into a funk, and can't get out of it. They may snap out of it and be okay for a while. Depression moves in cycles.
I read an article in one of the IEEE magazines about two months ago on exactly this topic. Essentially, physicians implant an electrode in the patients brain that stimulates the area responsible for depression, so it helps avoid those slumps. It has a similar function to SSRIs, aka Prozac and other drugs that mess around with serotonin, but with few if any side effects. Similar to a pacemaker, a surgeon can implant an electrode and small battery into the patient's head that requires infrequent maintenance (every few years). If this works long-term, I think it will be a very good thing. Many otherwise productive members of society are unable to function at times because of depression. If we can remove that depression, we are stronger as a society, an economy, and most importantly, as a family. I know what depression can do to a family. It isn't pretty.
Maybe Lincoln was depressed, maybe he was not. I am not an expert on that topic so I won't debate it. However, assuming he was, I think he would have been just as effective without the depression. Those same thoughts and tendancies in his brain would still be there, but he would have been clearer and more rational (not that he was or wasn't already, just more so). I know from experience that the times I was on the up part of my depression cycle I was clearer and more rational, but I still had the same thoughts. I just dealt with them better.
That sort of thing just didn't happen when I was that age 30 years ago.
Actually, it did, but the world was a smaller place in those days, and it was much less likely to be plastered all over the news, or if it was, it stayed in the local community. People talked about it in hushed tones, if at all, and since court awards were much less than today, there was less incentive for ambulance-chasers to "monetize" the situation.
Is there some kind of well-rounded, adequately-functioning, happy-with-life mediocre model that we all should be striving towards
I sure wish I could find a well-rounded, adequately-functioning, happy-with-life mediocre model. That's MUCH better than the women I've met recently. But I don't want EVERYONE to strive towards her. Just me.
What they referred to as "melancholy" in Lincoln's day would certainly pass for depression nowadays. That feeling that nothing's worth it, the world is all grey and closing in, getting out of bed is more effort than its worth, that just breathing is a reminder that there's no end in sight, no light at the end of the tunnel, that you've been there before, and that you'll be there again (how depressing
Most of the time, when people are truely depressed, they don't do much constructive. Perhaps there are some times where depression may lead to something insightful in art and literature. But to say that it may have prevented Lincoln from doing anything about slavery really shows a lack of understanding of what depression is. If you want to know what Lincoln's thoughts on slavery were when he was depressed, it probably would have been something li
This really begs the question: Have you ever been depressed?
Irrelevant to my point, but since you ask, it sort of "comes with the territory" (PTSD).
What finally worked for me was dogs. Not 100% effective, but a lot better than losing a decade (the '80s) to a grey funk.
Its probably made me more left-leaning politically than I would have been otherwise, since the experience gave me insight into just how much we all really are individuals, and how much the external appearance doesn't necessarily mirr
For example, Lincoln was prone to depression - if he had been less melancholic, perhaps he wouldn't have spent so much time brooding over the negative consequences of slavery to the union. Similarly, this could spell the end to a lot of literature
Not that I'm Lincoln (or anywhere near), but I've found I'm actually more productive when off of anti-depressants. Why? Two reasons I believe: 1) the antidepressants made me just not care; I never got even vaguely worried about deadlines, therefore I would tend
Check it with a (micro) amp meter first or you might wind up like Owen Jennison.
I'm more afraid that the governments of the world will learn to like the technology... if everyone can be happy just via stimulation of certain parts of brain, no-one will ever oppose the government...
Tinfoil helmet off, happy helmet on...
That doesn't sound like government.
That sounds like the Church.
If I were to sleep
I could dream
If I were afraid
I could hide
If I go insane
Please don't put your wires in my brain
I managed to get a copy of the book finally, and discovered wonderful passages such as the following on page 115:
ESB [electrical stimulation of the brain -- JAB] may evoke more elaborate responses. For example, in one of our patients, electrical stimulation of the rostral part of the internal capsule produced head turning and slow displacement of the body to either side with a well-oriented and apparently normal sequence, as if the patient were looking for something. This stimulation was repeated six times on two different days with comparable results. The interesting fact was that the patient considered the evoked activity spontaneous and always offered a reasonable explanation for it. When asked, "What are you doing?" the answers were, "I am looking for my slippers," "I heard a noise," "I am restless," and "I was looking under the bed." In this case it was difficult to ascertain whether the stimulation had evoked a movement which the patient tried to justify, or if an hallucination had been elicited which subsequently induced the patient to move and to explore the surroundings.
This passage is eerily reminiscent of a passage from Richard Dawkins' "The Extended Phenotype [amazon.com]" chapter titled "Host Phenotypes of Parasite Genes":
"Many fascinating examples of parasites manipulating the behavior of their hosts can be given. For nematomorph larvae, who need to break out of their insect hosts and get into water where they live as adults, '...a major difficulty in the parasite's life is the return to water. It is, therefore, of particular interest that the parasite appears to affect the behavior of its host, and "encourages" it to return to water. The mechanism by which this is achieved is obscure, but there are sufficient isolated reports to certify that the parasite does influence its host, and often suicidally for the host... One of the more dramatic reports describes an infected bee flying over a pool and, when about six feet over it, diving straight into the water. Immediately on impact the gordian worm burst out and swam into the water, the maimed bee being left to die' (Croll 1966)."
Our records indicate that you had been modded as Troll continuously for last 6 months on slashdot. We understand how depressing this can be.
We can offer you Deep Brain Stmulation to fix the depression and additional free package of Dumb Brain Simulation, to get +5Funny.
Warm regards
Marvin was plugged directly into the central intelligence core of the Krikkit war computer. Marvin wasn't enjoying the experience and neither was the central intelligence core of the Krikkit war computer.
Maybe you aren't trolling, so I'll simply say that not everyone has your experiences - perhaps you could provide linkage instead of flaming anecdotes?
I *CAN* say that my grandmother - a lifelong depressive - was treated with Zoloft beginning in her late sixties (75 now) and is IMMENSELY better off today because of it. She's a happier, more engaged person who takes MUCH better car
In short, try not to think as depression as something simply psychological, but as a physical illness caused by chronic abuse of the brain. Giving it a chance to rest is the first step towards recovery.
Machines that have broken down will work perfectly when the repairman arrives.


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Louisiana Oyster Task Force Enforcement Committee to Meet
10 a.m., Tuesday, August 5, 2014
UNO Advanced Technology Center, 2021 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 210, New Orleans 70122
I. Call to Order
II. Discussion on increase of theft on oyster leases
III. Adjourn
The meeting will be held in compliance with Louisiana's Open Meetings Law as defined by Louisiana R.S. 42:11, et seq. The public is invited to attend.
Those interested in listening in to the meeting via Webinar or telephone register at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4416045876572638466 [4]
The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is charged with managing and protecting Louisiana's abundant natural resources. For more information, visit us at www.wlf.louisiana.gov [5], on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ldwffb [6], or follow us on Twitter @LDWF.
For press inquiries please contact Ashley Roth, 504-286-4162 or firstname.lastname@example.com [7]
To sign up for LDWF Alerts sent as text messages and emails directly to your mobile device click here [8].


text:
USFWS National Digital Library
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
ESA Basics
More Than 30 Years of Conserving
Endangered Species
When Congress passed the Endangered
Species Act (ESA) in 1973, it recognized
that our rich natural heritage is of
"esthetic, ecological, educational,
recreational, and scientific value to
our Nation and its people." It further
expressed concern that many of our
nation's native plants and animals were in
danger of becoming extinct.
The purpose of the ESA is to protect
and recover imperiled species and the
ecosystems upon which they depend.
It is administered by the Interior
Department's U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (FWS) and the Commerce
Department's National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS). The FWS has
primary responsibility for terrestrial
and freshwater organisms, while the
responsibilities of NMFS are mainly
marine wildlife such as whales and
anadromons fish such as salmon.
Under the ESA, species may be listed
as either endangered or threatened.
"Endangered" means a species is in
danger of extinction throughout all
or a significant portion of its range.
"Threatened" means a species is likely
to become endangered within the
foreseeable future. All species of plants
and animals, except pest insects, are
eligible for listing as endangered or
threatened. For the purposes of the
ESA, Congress defined species to include
subspecies, varieties, and, for vertebrates,
distinct population segments.
As of March 2008, the FWS has listed
1,925 species worldwide as endangered
or threatened, of which 1,351 occur in the
How are Species Listed?
Section 4 of the ESA requires species to
be listed as endangered or threatened
solely on the basis of their biological
status and threats to their existence.
When evaluating a species for listing,
the FWS considers five factors: 1)
damage to, or destruction of, a species'
habitat; 2) overutilization of the species
for commercial, recreational, scientific,
or educational purposes; 3) disease or
Tom MacKenzie/USFWS
predation; 4) inadequacy of existing
protection; and 5) other natural or
manmade factors that affect the continued
existence of the species. When one or
more of these factors imperils the survival
of a species, the FWS takes action to
protect it. To ensure the accuracy of the
data, the FWS decides all listings using
sound science and peer review.
Candidates for Listing
The FWS also maintains a list of
"candidate" species. These are species for
which the FWS has enough information to
warrant proposing them for listing but is
precluded from doing so by higher listing
priorities. While listing actions of higher
priority go forward, the FWS works with
States, Tribes, private landowners, private
partners, and other Federal agencies to
carry out conservation actions for these
species to prevent further decline and
possibly eliminate the need for listing.
The ESA protects endangered and
threatened species and their habitats by
prohibiting the "take" of listed animals
and the interstate or international trade in
listed plants and animals, including their
parts and products, except under Federal
permit. Such permits generally are
available for conservation and scientific
What is "Take"?
The ESA makes it unlawful for a person
to take a listed animal without a permit.
Take is defined as "to harass, harm,
pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap,
capture, or collect or attempt to engage in
any such conduct." Through regulations,
the term "harm" is defined as "an act
which actually kills or injures wildlife.
Such an act may include significant
habitat modification or degradation
where it actually kills or injures wildlife
by significantly impairing essential
behavioral patterns, including breeding,
feeding, or sheltering." Listed plants
are not protected from take, although it
is illegal to collect or maliciously harm
them on Federal land. Protection from
commercial trade and the effects of
Federal actions do apply for plants. In
addtion, States may have their own
laws restricting activity involving listed
The law's ultimate goal is to "recover"
species so they no longer need protection
under the ESA. Recovery plans describe
the steps needed to restore a species
to ecological health. FWS biologists
write and implement these plans with
the assistance of species experts; other
Federal, State, and local agencies;
Tribes; nongovernmental organizations;
academia; and other stakeholders.
Federal Activities
Section 7 of the ESA requires Federal
agencies to use their legal authorities to
promote the conservation purposes of the
ESA and to consult with the FWS and
NMFS, as appropriate, to ensure that
effects of actions they authorize, fund, or
carry out will not jeopardize the continued
existence of listed species. During
consultation the "action" agency receives
a "biological opinion" or concurrence
letter addressing the proposed action.
Puerto Rican parrot
In the relatively few cases in which
the FWS or NMFS makes a jeopardy
determination, the agency offers
"reasonable and prudent alternatives"
about how the proposed action could be
modified to avoid jeopardy. In almost
all cases solutions can be found; it is
extremely rare that a project ends up
being withdrawn or terminated because
of jeopardy to a listed species.
The ESA also requires the designation
of "critical habitat" for listed species
when "prudent and determinable."
Critical habitat includes geographic
areas that contain the physical or
biological features that are essential
to the conservation of the species and
may need special management or
protection. Critical habitat designations
affect only Federal agency actions or
federally funded or permitted activities.
Federal agencies are required to avoid
"destruction" or "adverse modification"
of designated critical habitat.
Critical habitat may include areas that
are not occupied by the species at the
time of listing but are essential to its
conservation. An area can be excluded
from critical habitat designation if an
economic analysis determines that the
benefits of excluding it outweigh the
benefits of including it, unless failure
to designate the area as critical habitat
may lead to extinction of the listed
The ESA provides a process for
exempting development projects
from the restrictions of the law if a
Cabinet-level "Endangered Species
Committee" decides the benefits of the
project clearly outweigh the benefits of
conserving a species. Since its creation
in 1978, the Committee has only been
convened three times to make this
Working with States
Partnerships with States are critical to
our efforts to conserve listed species.
Section 6 of the ESA encourages States
to develop and maintain conservation
programs for threatened and
endangered species. Federal funding is
available to promote State participation.
Some State laws and regulations are
even more restrictive than the ESA in
granting exceptions or permits.
Working with Landowners
Two-thirds of federally listed species
have at least some habitat on private
land. The FWS has developed an array
of tools and incentives to protect the
interests of private landowners while
encouraging management activities that
benefit listed and other at-risk species.
Habitat Conservation Plans
Section 10 of the ESA provides relief to
landowners including private citizens,
corporations, Tribes, States, and
counties who want to develop property
inhabited by listed species. Landowners
can receive a permit to take such
species incidental to otherwise legal
activities, provided they have developed
an approved habitat conservation plan
(HCP). HCPs include an assessment of
the likely impacts on the species from
the proposed action, the steps that the
permit holder will take to minimize and
mitigate the impacts, and the funding
available to carry out the steps.
HCPs may benefit not only landowners
but also species by securing and
managing important habitat.
Safe Harbor Agreements
Safe Harbor Agreements (SHAs)
provide regulatory assurance for non-
Federal landowners who voluntarily
aid in the recovery of listed species
by improving or maintaining wildlife
habitat. Under SHAs, landowners
manage the enrolled property and may
return it to originally agreed-upon
"baseline" conditions for the species and
its habitat at the end of the agreement,
even if this means incidentally taking
the species.
Candidate Conservation Agreements
It is easier to conserve species before
they need to be listed as endangered or
threatened than to try to recover them
when they are in danger of extinction
or likely to become so. Candidate
Conservation agreements (CCAs)
are voluntary agreements between
landowners—including Federal land
management Agencies— and one or
more other parties to reduce or remove
threats to candidate or other at-risk
species. Parties to the CCA work
with the FWS to design conservation
measures and monitor the effectiveness
of plan implementation.
Candidate Conservation Agreements
with Assurances
Under Candidate Conservation
Agreements with Assurances (CCAA),
non-Federal landowners volunteer to
work with the FWS on plans to conserve
candidate and other at-risk species
so that protection of the ESA is not
needed. In return, landowners receive
regulatory assurances that, if a species
covered by the CCAA is listed, they will
not be required to do anything beyond
what is specified in the agreement,
and they will receive an enhancement
of survival permit, allowing incidental
take in reference to the management
activities identified in the agreement .
Conservation Banks
Conservation banks are lands that are
permanently protected and managed
as mitigation for the loss elsewhere of
listed and other at-risk species and their
habitat. Conservation banking is a free-market
enterprise based on supply and
demand of mitigation credits. Credits
are supplied by landowners who enter
into a Conservation Bank Agreement
(CBA) with the FWS agreeing to
protect and manage their lands for one
or more species. Other landowners who
need to mitigate for adverse impacts
to those same species may purchase
conservation bank credits to meet their
mitigation requirements. Conservation
banking benefits species by reducing the
piecemeal approach to mitigation that
often results in many small, isolated and
unsustainable preserves that lose their
habitat functions and values over time.
International Species
The ESA also implements U.S.
participation in the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora
(CITES), a 175-nation agreement
designed to prevent species from
becoming endangered or extinct due to
international trade. Except as allowed
by permit, CITES prohibits importing
or exporting species listed on its three
appendices. A species may require a
permit under the ESA, CITES, or both.
For More Information
For more information, contact the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the
address below, or visit http://www.fws.
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Endangered Species Program
4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Room 420
Arlington, VA 22203
February 2009
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You may have had brain cramp on #4... Harbaugh was legendary..I like Marquise but not even close.
#9 I think has to be Franklin as well.
I'll take my Marcus Ray over anybody for #29
Bored while waiting for an 18-year-old to decide your level of happiness for the next four years?
Here's a list I compiled of the best (in my opinion) player to wear each jersey number, 1-99, for Michigan, from 1929 to the present.
If you're wondering why guys like Germany Shultz, Al Benbrook or Willie Heston from the Yost years aren't on there, that's they didn't wear numbers back then. When they did start wearing numbers, however, they switched them around almost willy-nilly. I'd love to have Ernie Vick (19, 8, 2, 14, ...) or Harry Kipke (1, 4, 6, 14, 18, or no number at all) on my list, but they wore too many numbers to associate them with one or another. Therefore, I made my cut-off at 1929, when Kipke became the head coach, and made numbers (relatively) permanent.
Also, a player can only have one number they are associated with (even if Braylon Edwards was the best player to ever wear 80, he's up against the No. 1's)
All-time best Michigan man at each number.
1. Braylon Edwards, WR (over Carter, Terrell, Alexander)
2. Charles Woodson, CB
3. Tripp Welborne, CB (over Marlin)
4. EDIT: Jim Harbaugh, QB (over Marquise Walker)
5. Gordon Bell, HB
6. Tyrone Wheatley, HB (over Dave Brown)
7. Chad Henne, QB (over Leach & Henson)
8. Jason Avant, WR
9. EDIT: Dennis Franklin, QB
10. Tom Brady, QB
11. Alvin Wistert, OL/DT (over Albert and Francis Wistert)
12. Ricky Powers, HB
13. Garland Rivers, CB (over Larry Stevens)
14. Brian Griese, QB
15. Elvis Grbac, QB (over Breaston)
16. Adrian Arrington, WR
17. Ted Petoskey, End (over Larry Foote)
18. Bump Elliot, HB (over Amani Toomer)
19. Robert Brown, C/DT (this is a big number for kickers)
20. Mike Hart, HB
21. Desmond Howard, WR (over Biakabutuka)
22. Ty Law, CB
23. Jamie Morris, HB (you try picking btw JM and CP!!!)
24. Butch Woolfolk, HB (over Jack Clancy)
25. Tom Curtis, S (over Shazor)
26. EDIT: David Key, HB/DB
27. Bennie Friedman, QB (over Charles Bernard. Who remembers Stephen King?)
28. Robert Timberlake, QB
29. Leon Hall, CB
30. Andre Weathers, CB
31. Stuart Harris, S
32. Anthony Thomas, HB
33. Leroy Hoard, FB (over Mike Taylor)
34. Tony Leoni, HB (not Brabbs?)
35. B.J. Askew, FB
36. Aaron Shea, TE
37. Erick Anderson, LB (Can you pick btw him and Jarrett Irons?)
38. Robert Wiese, FB (met this guy on the plane once)
39. Adam Finley, P
40. Ron Johnson, LB (over Ron Simpkins)
41. Zoltan Mesko, P (over Rob Lytle)
42. Billy Taylor, RB/FB (over Tony Boles, Lawrence Reid)
43. Jim Pace, RB/FB (over Carl Diggs)
44. John Lott, DB
45. Dave Harris, LB (over Bill Daley)
46. Harry Newman, QB
47. Bennie Oosterbaan, End
48. Gerald Ford, C
49. Bob Chappuis, HB (over Ed Frutig)
50. Otto Pommerening, OL
51. Steve Everitt, C
52. Rod Payne, C
53. Mel Owens, LB
54. Mo Williams, OL
55. Brandon Graham, DE
56. LaMarr Woodley, DE
57. Maynard Morrison, FB/C (over Dave Pearson)
58. Rob Renes, DT
59. George Lilja, C
60. Mark Messner, DT (over Danahue)
61. Turner Booth, LS (Michael Sullivan, Willis Ward)
62. Quentin Sickels, OL
63. Les Miles, OL
64. Clare Jack Wheeler, QB
65. Reggie McKenzie, OL
66. Mike Hammerstein, DT
67. Mervin Pregulman, OL
68. Joe Cocozzo, OL
69. Jon Runyan, OL (over Forest Evashevski Sr.?)
70. Marty Huff, LB
71. Dave Gallagher, DT/OL
72. Dan Dierdorf, OL (over Jumbo Elliott, Robert Wahl)
73. Bill Dufek, OL
74. Mike Husar, OL
75. William Yearby, OL (over Bubba Paris, Skrepenak, Baas)
76. Steve Hutchinson, OL (over Stefan Humphries)
77. Jake Long, OL (over Jansen)
78. Dean Dingman, OL
79. Jeff Backus, OL
80. Alan Branch, DT
81. Glen Steele, DE
82. Norm Betts, TE
83. Bennie Joppru, TE
84. Shawn Thompson, TE
85. Lowell Perry, End (over Paul Seymour)
86. Tai Streets, WR (over Bob Westfall)
87. Ron Kramer, End
88. Jim Mandich, TE
89. Richard Rifenberg, End
90. Tim Jamison, DE
91. Matt Dyson, LB (over Josh Williams)
92. Steve Evans, LB (what, you prefer Dan Rumishek?)
93. Sam Sword, LB
94. Jason Horn, DT
95. Curtis Greer, DT
96. Calvin O'Neal, LB
97. Chris Hutchinson, DT
98. Tom Harmon, HB
99. Pierre Woods, LB
*Thanks to the Bentley Library for their searchable database.
Notice only two players are from last year's team. But I have high hopes that some of the younger guys can end up on this list eventually. For some of them, it wouldn't require so much improvement as a switch to a generally bad number.
Now make me a liar. I'm sure I'm wrong on several of these.
You may have had brain cramp on #4... Harbaugh was legendary..I like Marquise but not even close.
#9 I think has to be Franklin as well.
I'll take my Marcus Ray over anybody for #29
is a big omission. Agree that 9 should be Franklin. I would probably put Breaston over Grbac. Breaston is the best returner in UM history number-wise (with Howard as the better over-all returner). I would put Leach over Henne. I would think that AC has to own #1. Lytle over Mesko. Jumbo Elliot over Hutchinson. Paris at 75.
-These all come with the disclaimer that although I have been techinically "watching" (meaning alive) since '77, I can only really remember the players beginning around '84 or so.
-Thanks for putting that together.
To pick between players, I kept asking myself, "was he the best player on his team?"
The Harbaugh choice was difficult, but here's what stood out to me about Marquise: in 2001, he WAS the offense. Just as Braylon eased Henne into the role, Walker was always open for Navarre, always ready to catch a Tacopants shot.
The others I stand by a little more strongly. Mesko and Lytle is the same argument. Mesko is, in my opinion, the best punter in M history. And while Jumbo is no slouch, Hutchinson was the best player on a loaded team.
The other guy mentioned Ray at 29. Both were fantastic performers for M early on. Ray's injury and disappointing '98 season downgraded him for me, while Leon Hall's steady improvement throughout his career gave him the edge in my eyes.
My youth betrayed me on Franklin. That was Mercury Hayes fandom there.
Jim Harbaugh is the single biggest reason I became a Michigan fan. He MUST be the #4.
Sorry 'bout that. Someone should take away my photo of that one-handed TD catch versus Iowa. It's made me do bad things.
but Leach was nails and Henson beat OSU. Could make an argument for either one. Also, how is Butterfield not in the conversation for #1?
Harbaugh is undisputable-Walker had 1 great season. Harbaugh had several great years as well as signature moments in huge games.
Ray was more a joke than anything I loved that guy, but looking objectively you could go with others..just a personal favorite...a rare making plays bad ass in the secondary for U-M depite his 4.9 speed :-) Fuck you David Boston.
Dreisbach was briefly in contention until
Griese goes on to win a National Championship, and Brady becomes a superhero. Dreisbach briefly appears on the Lions depth chart during the Charlie Batch years.
I wouldn't put Manningham over Streets but he has to at least be in the conversation at # 86.
Manningham had it in him to pass Streets, but I think he submarined his own junior season. He was always a great deep threat. Streets was a star receiver.
Also, and this goes to the Leach/Henne discussion, Manningham was great at getting open downfield, but Henne was just as great at getting him the ball.
I think there's a tendency among M fans to downgrade the last quarterback, then reminisce about how awesome the old guy was. The same people saying Henne was only "above average" were the guys who thought Brady wasn't NFL material, or that Henson was overrated. Those guys were GREAT quarterbacks. Even Navarre's reputation has healed over time. Give it a few years, and Henne will look like Leach.
Except his 0-4 record v. Ohio. I can't argue that.
Leach > Henne, Irons > Anderson, Lytle > Mesko (!)
Not to knock Zoltan, he's a great punter.
Rob Lytle:
had 557 carries for 3307 yds; 5.9 yds/carry
scored 26 TDs
was 3rd in Heisman voting in 1976
One Mr. James Whitley. End of discussion.
Forest Evashevski Jr. never started for the mid 60 Wolverines, you might have him confused with his dad, who may belong above Jon Runyan? For 26, I'd go with Rosey Smith or more likely David Key.
Wow, good catch!
Yeah, I totally meant his dad, who was an excellent running QB back when the QB was basically a 3rd tailback. I remembered him from a video my dad has of Michigan's greatest teams (1939 team - natch). Of course, he wore No. 69, which means...hmmm...do I bump Runyan?
Forest Jr. was probably a legacy.
Nice job. The Franklin and Harbaugh things stuck out for me on your original list. To round this out you might want to consider adding a best player who didn't wear a number on his jersey. To me, that'd probably go to Willie Heston.
SI ran through this exercise for college football not too long ago. I pulled out where the M men fell:
They have AC as their top ranked #1 (in all of college football) with a bunch of M guys runners up. They've got the legend Harry Kipke as runner up behind Robbie Bosco with the number six jersey. I didn't know he wore #6, but if that's the case he's got to take that over t-sweets.
Oh man, I have that SI Special Edition thing on the best by numbers! I remember reading that, then gushing to everyone about how AC was the best player in CFB history. The responses I got back that week are probably the reason I stuck Braylon ahead of him (and perhaps because inside my head somewhere that MSU game is always on replay).
Kipke wore No. 6 his junior season (or for part of it), then switched to No. 1 his senior year. It seems he wore 14 for his sophomore season. I put in a query with the Bentley historians as to this and the general history of the uni number at Mich (it seems we were among the first ever to sport 'em). I also sent an e-mail to Paul Lukas (ESPN Page 2's resident clothes horse). Maybe we can get him to do a column on it.
Seriously? You're gonna put a punter over an iconic Wolverine like Rick Leach (the guy who was on the cover of Sports Illustrated)?
#67 Jon Vitale (R.I.P.)
#72 I'm not knocking Dan Deirdorf but Jumbo Elliot was one of the top tackles to ever play at Michigan.
Rick Leach wore 7, not 41.
A good punter makes a big difference to a team. A punter who averages 10 yards a punt more than the average can easily give you an extra 1,000 yards in a season. I'd take the best punter of all time over the 8th best quarterback. But yes, if the Space Emperor (of Space) went up against Leach, I'd go with Leach, at least in football prowess (if it was a space battle for control of Transylvania, I'd go with Mesko).
I meant Rob Lytle.
Steve Morrison has to take #36 over Aaron Shea. Shea was an OK tight end. Morrison was a four-year starter at MLB, and his senior year he was All-Big Ten and a Butkus semifinalist. He still holds the Michigan record with 23 tackles in a game.
Should now be Denard easily.
a punter over perhaps bo's best back.
come on Rob Lytle easy.
This is not fair holding me accountable to things I said in the distant past.


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"The Southeast High-Speed Rail Corridor between Charlotte and Washington, D.C., serves one of the fastest growing regions in the country, which is why it is critical to eliminate congestion points so that intercity passenger, freight and commuter rail can all run smoothly without delays," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
The project will build up to 11 miles of third track and related improvements from Arkendale in Stafford County to Powell's Creek in Prince William County, Va. The third track will provide the capacity needed for higher speed trains on the Southeast Corridor to operate without conflict from freight and commuter trains. On a daily basis, 40-50 freight trains, 10 Amtrak trains and 14 VRE trains operate over this segment and the addition of a third track will allow for traffic to flow unimpeded. In addition to adding a third track, the project includes final design and improvements to the station at the Quantico Marine Base in Quantico, Va.
When completed, the corridor will have at least eight high-speed trains traveling at 110 mph between Charlotte, N.C., and Washington D.C. Travel time between Charlotte and Washington, D.C., will be reduced by up to three hours and travel time between Richmond and Washington, D.C., will be reduced by 35 minutes.


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It finally stopped raining here and it was going to be beautiful through Saturday, but now there's a 30 percent chance of thundershowers for the second jewel in the crown.
But the locals tell me this is the Mason-Dixon Line for weather, meaning it can resemble any other Delaware Valley-based area, which basically means a Northeastern U.S. weather pattern.
Or, apparently, it can be a little like Florida, meaning that the sun can be shining at Pimlico Race Course while golf-ball sized hail rains down on Ellicott City. I'm holding a good thought.
I'll be watching the Yanks and Birds live on Tuesday night for two reasons: Can't afford Yankees home games, and I'm betting my buddy that Doug O'Neill won't one-hop it to the plate when he throws out the first pitch at Camden Yards. I insisted on, and got, 8-5.
But man does not live by Preakness alone. There are some older horses lurking about, such as the horse currently ranked 4th in the NTRA open poll, Oaklawn Park Handicap champion Alternation, the headliner in Friday's resuscitated Pimlico Special.
Is he a one-track wonder or has developed very well for 3 to 4? Is Bodemeister going to regress? Will Doug O'Neill get the job done tonight? These are important questions.
While Alternation is a deserving favorite, the Special is no one-horse affair. Wood Memorial winner Toby's Corner was third in both starts at 4; the fast key race Grade 2 General George sprinting and a similar finish when third to Fair Grounds freak Nate's Mineshaft in the G2 New Orleans Handicap.
Lest anyone forget, trainer Graham Motion is a profitable 27% efficient with horses returning off similar 46-day layups.
Endorsement won the Texas Mile last out. Hymn Book won Gulfstream's G1 Donn Handicap but rallied very wide behind Alternation in Hot Springs most recently.
Yawanna Twist won the General George then lacked aggressive handling while racing wide in at Oaklawn Park when third. In his only Pimlico start, he was beaten two lengths by Lookin At Lucky in last year's Preakness.
And not least is Mission Impazible which, after winning last year's New Orleans Handicap, finished second in three consecutive Grade 1s, including a nose loss in the Donn and a second in this New Orleans Handicap renewal.
Speaking of Todd Pletcher, he will have last year's Jim Dandy and Travers winner, Stay Thirsty, waiting backstage. But first there's the matter of Thursday's third race at Belmont Park, the Vanlandingham overnight stakes, a good spot to get the 4-year-old started.
"He's been training very well and we've kind of had a race around this time in mind for awhile, hopefully as a prep for the Suburban Handicap," said trainer Todd Pletcher. "The main goal for the summer is the Whitney," adding "we're happy to have him back."
"It's been a long time since the Breeders' Cup, we've got to start somewhere, and this is a good spot," said owner Repole, "even though this seems a little tougher than an average overnight stakes," seemingly as anxious to get back in the spotlight as the colt.
Most of the danger to Stay Thirsty in his return is 8-5 second favorite Trickmeister, whose only defeat in a half dozen career starts came in this year's Donn, his only start in 2012.
Other accomplished rivals are narrowly beaten 2011 Wood Memorial runnerup Arthur's Tale, third favorite Joan's Choice, extremely sharp with competitive Equiform figures, and multiple stakes-winning New York bred 3-year-old Swag Daddy.
"Bringing Stay Thirsty back this year was a no brainer and I'm excited," said Repole. "He won the Jim Dandy, the Travers, and I think he's going to be one of a really, really good group of older horses this year."
Actually, the racing this year has been good in both divisions and among the fillies and mares as well. Too bad most of the headlines of 2012 have been made off track.


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DELAND — Adam Pegg didn't come to Stetson because of coach Casey Alexander.
But Pegg's third head coach in five years of college basketball proved to be the best thing that happened to the 6-foot-9, 260-pound center.
"He has me involved in everything, more so than any other coach that I've ever had," said Pegg, who on Tuesday became the first Hatter in 12 years to garner All-Atlantic Sun Conference First Team honors. "He's got me shooting the 3, which has been a lot of fun for me. I can't complain because he has us throwing the ball in the post all the time.
"It's been a long ride going through three different coaching staffs in my career. I don't regret any of it. I've loved it, and it's been fun playing here."
There was a time, however, when it didn't look like it was going to be fun for Pegg, who will lead third-seeded Stetson (14-15, 11-7) against No. 6 seed East Tennessee State (10-21, 8-10) at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in Macon, Ga., in the A-Sun tourney quarterfinals..
The Clearwater native transferred from Delaware after two seasons to be closer to home. But as he sat out the 2010-11 season due to NCAA regulations, he saw the Hatters go 8-23, including 6-14 in conference play. Stetson failed to qualify for the A-Sun tourney, and then-coach Derek Waugh resigned.
A few months later, Alexander was on the job. But things didn't get much better in the 2011-12 season, when the Hats went 9-20 with a 6-12 league mark.
This season was when things jelled, but it didn't happen quickly. It wasn't until the Hatters were 3-8 and met the day after Christmas that they all got on board. It was sink-or-swim time, and the Hatters decided to swim.
Soon after, they won six of seven conference games and were battling at the top of the standings. They bounced back from a three-game skid to win five of their next six contests, earning the program's first trip to the A-Sun tourney since 2009 and a No. 3 seed.
Looking back, there was a little bit of learning for both the Hatters and their coaches.
"I didn't really know what to expect, but it took awhile for me — everybody, really — to get on board and for everybody to play together," Pegg said. "I think we've improved this year steadily as the season has progressed."
Pegg, who was named the A-Sun's top scholar-athlete for men's basketball Tuesday, is a bright student who carries a 3.39 cumulative GPA as an integrative health science major. He saw that Alexander and the Hatters assistants weren't only asking for players to do more, but he observed them working just as hard.
"I have a lot of respect for Coach Casey," Pegg said. "This coaching staff is different than any other coaching staff that I've ever played for. It's hard to explain. I feel like they definitely expect more. I think it's pretty obvious that they work pretty hard in preparing us for every game. There's a respect you give them without them even saying anything because of what (most of them) were able to do at Belmont."
Alexander and two of his assistant coaches came out of a Bruins program that had dominated the A-Sun before leaving for the Ohio Valley Conference last season.
Getting Pegg to buy in to the new program was key in the Hatters' turnaround.
"It was really a matter of knowing that he's the guy that can carry the most weight — literally and figuratively," Alexander said with a laugh. "Adam's welcomed the challenge from the start. You have to have your best players, and he's been voted by his peers as captain for two years, which says a lot about what his teammates think about him. If you can get your best players to buy in and lead the rest, then you're off to a good start."
Pegg has averaged 15.6 points, sixth-best in the A-Sun, this season with 6.2 rebounds. Coupled with junior guard Chris Perez's 15.3 points per game, Stetson has the highest-scoring duo in the conference. Junior guard Aaron Graham and senior guard Joel Naburgs also are scoring in double figures.
"It's always hard when there's a coaching change and guys are here initially for a different reason," Alexander said. "It's not always easy to accept what the new guy brings to you, and I wouldn't say it's been rosy for anybody at all times, but he first and foremost has accepted the responsibilities that go with playing for our team."
Alexander also had to make his own concessions. The coach is not a fan of tattoos, and Pegg and Naburgs have ample ink that can be seen when wearing their uniforms.
"I'm not really smart about a lot of things," Alexander said with a smile, "but I knew there was nothing I could do about it. So, I just decided to grin and bear it."
It should be noted that none of the other Hatters have any visible tattoos, and Stetson recruits are informed early on in the recruiting process that the head coach would rather they put off getting any ink for a few years.
But in the end, Alexander said: "I'm not going to say that someone can't have one. I'd rather they know that we're a little bit different, and (they'll) say, 'Hey, I'll get my tattoo in three or four years when I'm done.' "
Soon, Pegg's college basketball career will be done. He and his elaborate, colorful tattoos will move on. But he'll be leaving something behind for his brother, 6-7 freshman Brian Pegg, who is getting a medical redshirt this season.
"I'm going to leave him my jersey number (41)," Adam said, smiling.
That, and a little bit of advice that would serve any Hatter well: "Be mentally tough and don't take anything for granted because I've been in college basketball for five years, and it's gone by so fast. Don't ever let it become a job. Keep the fun in basketball."
And as Adam Pegg and the Hatters have learned this season, winning makes college basketball a lot more fun.
Adam Pegg is center of attention for Stetson men's basketball team
DELAND — Adam Pegg didn't come to Stetson because of coach Casey Alexander.


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Join Nature Center for Fourth Annual Photo Contest Reception
April 09, 2010
The John D. Huston - Dr. John Brumbaugh Nature Center will hold a 'Photo Exhibit/Open House Reception' on Friday, March 3 from 7:30- 9 p.m.
Photos will be on display in the Visitors Center through the month of March. People's choice nominations will be open through March 25, with the winners on display beginning March 26.
No registration is required. For more information, contact the Nature Center at (330)823-4787. The Nature Center is located six miles south of Mount Union College on Daniel Street, just off of Route 183.


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Now, I see it was called Trimper's Rides. Tthere's a news story: after 117 years, the place is closing. The property is too valuable, and the taxes go too far beyond what you can make with an old-fashioned place like that:
Trimper's is the oldest continuously owned amusement park in the United States, and its demise would reverberate beyond the mid-Atlantic shore, said Jim Futrell of the National Amusement Park Historical Association.The place is more than twice as old as the Coney Island amusement park. It is classic Americana. We are fools if we don't preserve these landmarks of American pop culture. This isn't even a question of designating the place a historical landmark to prevent its destruction. The owners want to preserve it. They just want tax relief to spare them from the spiraling property assessments. And doesn't the value of the surrounding property come, in part, front the classic amusement park that gives Ocean City character? I can't believe the city doesn't do everything it can not just to preserve but to restore something so distinctive and so profoundly and historically American.
Closing Trimper's "will forever change Ocean City, and I don't think it will change it for the better," Futrell said. "It would rob the community of its soul."...
There are the arcade with rows of Skee-Ball lanes, the pipe-organ carousel with hand-painted horses, the haunted house and the mirror maze.
Granville and Doug Trimper have appealed the taxes with the state. They also have reached out to Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and lawmakers for help. Options under consideration include a historic designation or legislation to change the way the park is assessed, Doug said.


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Vicente Fox, Former President of Mexico, to Keynote WOCCU Conference
February 19, 2009
|Vicente Fox, former president of Mexico, will keynote the 2009 World Credit Union Conference.
MADISON, Wis.—Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico who helped energize his country's economy and strengthen its credit union movement, will speak to attendees of the 2009 World Credit Union Conference, World Council of Credit Unions' (WOCCU) annual event. Fox will keynote the conference, July 26-29 in Barcelona, Spain. He is expected to address global economic challenges and the role credit unions can play in meeting them.
Fox, who served as Mexico's top elected official from 2000-2006, was the country's first democratically elected president in 70 years. During his tenure, Fox increased public access to financial services and enacted legislation to strengthen Mexico's credit unions and increase access to their services. He left office with a 70% public approval rating.
In 2007, Fox became co-president along with Italy's Pier Ferdinando Casini of the Centrist Democrat International, a global coalition of more than 100 Christian Democrat parties.
Prior to taking national office, Fox served as governor of the Mexican state of Guanajuato. During his administration from 1995 to 1999, he helped Guanajuato become the country's fifth most productive state, in certain sectors surpassing the national average. Fox served as president of Coca-Cola Co. for Mexico and Latin America before he entered public service,
Fox studied business administration at Universidad Iberoamericana and holds a management diploma from the Harvard Business School. He still resides on his family ranch in Guanajuato.
Learn more about the World Credit Union Conference in Barcelona and register to attend at www.woccu.org/Barcelona09.
World Council of Credit Unions is the global trade association and development agency for credit unions. World Council promotes the sustainable development of credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to empower people through access to high quality and affordable financial services. World Council advocates on behalf of the global credit union system before international organizations and works with national governments to improve legislation and regulation. Its technical assistance programs introduce new tools and technologies to strengthen credit unions' financial performance and increase their outreach.
World Council has implemented 300+ technical assistance programs in 89 countries. Worldwide, 68,882 credit unions in 109 countries serve 235 million people. Learn more about World Council's impact around the world at www.woccu.org.
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That is what the leader of the tea bag movement called our President of the United States. President Barack Obama.
John's response to that is to say " As for THAT guy, i dont think he had the facts to say what he said about Obama". Just a little bit of understatement John dont you think? Cant even bring yourself to denounce it huh? Your a friggin coward is what you are.
That reaction to that the ugly statement about our elected President tells me everything i need to know about the Tea baggers movement and John.
Its really a sad time in the beautiful United States of America. God help us all.


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> To listen, go to bostonglobe.com/soundtrack. It's a cold, raw night in Boston. Not inside TD Garden, though. The place is sold out, crammed with Bruins fans draped in black and gold. They all want the same thing: They want goals. But they will have to wait. In this game, against the stingy New Jersey Devils, the puck won't find the net. First period gone, no Bruins goals. Second period, no Bruins goals. Through much of the third period, still no Bruins goals. And then, as the game enters the closing minutes, winger Nathan Horton delivers a crucial score. The Garden erupts with the sounds of celebration: a titanic cheer from the stands, two deep horn blasts, and the pulsing Zombie Nation song "Kernkraft 400." It's a cathartic moment, a release for the deprived, a reward for patience and persistence on the ice and off. Bruins backers pump their arms in the air, they dance, they yell. A little while later, Boston will take the game in a shootout. With a victory in hand, and the NHL season back after a four-month lockout, it's a good night to be a hockey fan.
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