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Huskers Look to Play Spoiler at MSU
Game 27: at Michigan State
Game Date: Feb. 25, 2012
Tipoff Time: 7:06 p.m. (central)
Venue: Breslin Center
Capacity: 14,797
Nebraska Cornhuskers
2011-12 Record: 12-14 (4-11 Big Ten)
Head coach: Doc Sadler
Record at Nebraska: 101-85 (6th year)
Record at Division I: 149-103 (8th year)
Career Record: 269-142 (14th year)
Michigan State Spartans
2011-12 Record: 23-5 (12-3 Big Ten)
Head Coach: Tom Izzo
Record at Michigan State: 406-166 (17th year)
Career Record: same
Huskers Look to Play Spoiler at MSU
The Nebraska men's basketball team faces a daunting task on Saturday night, as the Huskers travel to East Lansing, Mich., for a matchup with Big Ten leader Michigan State.
Tipoff is slated for 7:06 p.m. (central) and the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network with Tom Hart and Greg Kelser on the call. The game will also be available on BTN.com and the BTN2Go App on select mobile devices.
Saturday's Nebraska-Michigan State game will also be carried across Nebraska on the 30-station IMG Husker Sports Radio Network with Kent Pavelka and Andy Markowski calling all of the action. The game can also be heard on the Internet at Huskers.com and season audio packages are also available for purchase on the Huskers' App for your iPhone or iPod Touch.
The Huskers (12-14, 4-11 Big Ten) performed well offensively at Purdue with 65 points on 52 percent shooting, but couldn't slow down Purdue's shooting. The Boilermakers shot 63 percent from the floor in the first half and connected on 13-of-29 from 3-point range on the night, as Robbie Hummel's game-high 29 points led five Purdue players in double figures.
Bo Spencer paced the Huskers at Purdue on Wednesday with 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting and five assists. The 6-foot-2 senior guard is averaging 23.0 points per game on 68 percent shooting in Nebraska's last two contests, including 8-of-12 from 3-point range.
While Spencer has enjoyed a hot shooting hand, fellow senior Brandon Richardson has been more of a distributor in recent games, averaging 5.7 assists per game in Nebraska's last three games. That is the best stretch of the senior's 115-game Husker career.
Michigan State (23-5, 12-3 Big Ten) comes into Saturday's game riding a six-game win streak following a 66-61 win at Minnesota Wednesday night. In that game, the Spartans trailed by seven in the final eight minutes before rallying for a crucial road win to stay one game ahead of Ohio State and Michigan in the Big Ten race.
The sixth-ranked Spartans are 16-0 at the Breslin Center this season and feature Draymond Green, who is the favorite for Big Ten Player of the Year. The senior forward is averaging 15.7 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game on the season and had 17 points, five rebounds and five assists at Minnesota.
Husker Tip Off
Nebraska has shot well on the road during Big Ten play, shooting over 50 percent in four of its last six road contests. In fact, Nebraska has shot 51.9 percent in three of its last four road games.
Road Opponent
NU Shooting
at Iowa
at Northwestern
at Penn State
at Purdue
Nebraska has done a better job of handling the basketball in recent games, committing an average of 10.3 turnovers per game. That is down from 16.0 turnovers per game in Nebraska's previous five contests.
Asst.-to-TO ratio
Last 3 games
Previous 5 games
Last Time Out
Robbie Hummel scored 18 of his game-high 29 points in the first half, as Purdue used a hot-shooting first half to down Nebraska, 83-65.
Hummel was 10-of-18 shooting from the floor and grabbing seven rebounds to lead five Purdue players in double figures. The Boilermakers shot 55 percent on the night, including 13-of-29 from 3-point range, and shot 63 percent in the first half to build a 17-point margin.
Purdue did most of its damage from long range, as Hummel went 4-of-10 from beyond the arc. D.J. Byrd went 5-of-8 from 3-point range while Ryne Smith added four 3-pointers, as the pair combined for all 27 of their points from 3-point range.
Bo Spencer led Nebraska with 19 points, hitting 8-of-14 shots from the floor, including a trio of 3-pointers, as Nebraska shot 52 percent from the floor and committed 10 turnovers.
In the first half, Nebraska shot 48 percent from the floor, but was unable to slow down the Boilermaker attack, as Purdue shot 63 percent from the floor, including 7-of-15 from 3-point range, to build a 47-30 halftime lead. Hummel was 7-of-10 shooting from the floor and keyed a Purdue run with eight straight points, turning a 17-12 game into a 13-point Purdue lead.
The Huskers went to a zone and started chipping away, as a 3-point play from Dylan Talley and a basket by Mike Fox started a 10-4 run as Caleb Walker's basket made it 29-22 but a Smith 3-pointer stopped the run for the Boilermakers. The Huskers were within 34-25 but two Terone Johnson baskets highlighted a 6-0 spurt to push the lead back to 15 and eventually took a 17-point lead into the locker room.
Nebraska pulled to within 47-33 after a Spencer 3-pointer on the Huskers' first possession of the second half, but Purdue used an 8-0 run to build its largest lead of the night at the time at 55-33 after a Hummel 3-point play. The Huskers eventually pulled to within 14 at 67-53 with 8:17 left, but a Johnson basket and a 3-pointer from Byrd quickly pushed the lead back to 19 points.
Scouting Michigan State
Under Tom Izzo, Michigan State comes into Saturday's matchup with a 23-5 record and sits in sole possession of first place in the Big Ten with a 12-3 mark. The Spartans, who began the season with losses to North Carolina and Duke, have lost three times since Nov. 18 - with two of those losses by one point - and come into this weekend on a six-game win streak. MSU is now sixth in the AP poll this week and in position to win their seventh Big Ten title in Izzo's 17 seasons.
Izzo, who has guided the Spartans to six Final Fours, is the dean of Big Ten coaches, as he is in his 17th season. Michigan State has reached the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 14 seasons, and Izzo is sixth all-time among Big Ten coaches in conference wins.
The Spartans are fourth in the Big Ten in scoring offense (72.9) and third in scoring defense (58.7) while holding opponents to a league-low 37.4 percent shooting.
MSU is led by senior forward Draymond Green who is the front runner for Big Ten Player of the Year. The 6-foot-7, 230-pound forward leads MSU in scoring (15.7 ppg) and rebounding (10.0 rpg) while also averaging 3.7 assists per game. He leads the Big Ten with 15 double-doubles this season and had a season-high 34 points at Gonzaga in December.
Sophomore Keith Appling joins Green in double figures, averaging 12.1 points and 3.9 assists per game, as MSU has six players averaging at least seven points per game. Appling has four 20-point efforts this season and totaled 13 points, five assists and three steals against Minnesota on Wednesday.
Nebraska-Michigan State Series
Michigan State leads the all-time series, 9-6, that dates back to February of 1920 and snapped Nebraska's two-game win streak in the series with a 68-55 win in Lincoln on Dec. 31. The Spartans have won four of the five meetings in East Lansing, with Nebraska's only win coming in its last visit to the Breslin Center, an 85-81 win on Dec. 18, 1993.
Dec. 31: Michigan State 68, Nebraska 55
Toney McCray and Bo Spencer combined for 29 points, but Keith Appling scored eight of his 14 points in a decisive second-half run, as No. 16 Michigan State pulled out a 68-55 win. McCray and Spencer led the Huskers' comeback, as Nebraska chipped away at a 15-point lead to pull within 53-50 before Appling then took over, scoring six straight points, as the sophomore hit a driving jumper and a layup on consecutive possessions before his two free throws gave the Spartans a 59-50 lead. Nebraska would eventually pull within 59-55, but Austin Thornton's 3-pointer and two Appling free throws ended NU's comeback hopes. The Spartans went 19-of-21 from the foul line and enjoyed a 38-24 advantage on the glass. Spencer came off the bench to lead Nebraska with 15 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, while McCray finished with 14 points.
Husker Quick Hits
- Doc Sadler will be looking for his 150th Division I win at Michigan State on Saturday. Sadler is 149-103 in eight seasons as a Division I coach, including his two-year stint at UTEP.
- Nebrska will be seeking its 1,400th win in program history Saturday night. The Huskers are 1,399-1,237 all-time heading into the Michigan State contest.
- Nebraska is bidding to shoot over 50 percent for the third straight conference game on Saturday night at Michigan State. Over the last decade, the Huskers have shot 50 percent in at least three consecutive conference games one time - a four-game stretch from Feb. 20 to March 1, 2008.
- Bo Spencer has played some of his best basketball away from the Devaney Center, as the senior guard is averaging 17.5 points per game and shooting 47 percent in NU's 10 road games this season. Four of his seven 20-point efforts in 2011-12 have come on the road, including a career-high 29 points at Creighton on Dec. 4.
- Despite being held to four points at Purdue on Wednesday, Caleb Walker is averaging 9.7 points per game in his last three contests after coming into the stretch with an average of 6.5 points per game. Nebraska is 5-1 when he reaches double figures in 2011-12 and 11-3 during his career.
- Brandon Richardson is posting a 2.3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio over Nebraska's last seven games, a stretch where he is averaging 4.0 assists along with 10.6 points per game. He has five or more assists eight times in Big Ten play after totaling two during his first three years of conference action. The 6-foot senior guard already has established a career high in assists this season with 81.
- Nebraska's 80 points against Illinois on Feb. 18 marked only the fourth time in Doc Sadler's six years that Nebraska cracked 80 points in regulation in conference action and the first time it occurred since scoring 87 points in a loss at Kansas State on Feb. 17, 2010. NU's 80 points was the Huskers' highest conference home total in regulation since putting up 85 against Oklahoma on March 5, 2007.
- Brandon Ubel leads Nebraska and ranks second in the Big Ten with 67 offensive rebounds this season. His total is the most by a Husker since Aleks Maric had 131 in 2007-08.
- Walk-on Mike Fox has come off the bench to give the Huskers depth, averaging 4.0 points per game on 58 percent shooting in Nebraska's last four contests. In the last three games, the 6-foot-4 junior has tied or set career highs in minutes (19), points (six), assists (two), rebounds (three) and steals (two). He had six points and three rebounds in Wednesday's loss at Purdue.
Huskers Against Ranked Teams
The Huskers will be looking to improve to 2-5 against ranked teams this season, as they take on the sixth-ranked Spartans on Saturday night.
Nebraska is now 59-220 all-time against ranked teams, including 9-25 against ranked teams in Doc Sadler's six seasons at Nebraska. The Huskers have won at least one game against a ranked team in five of his six campaigns and last year's win over No. 3 Texas on Feb. 19, 2011, was Sadler's first victory over a top-10 team and the highest ranked opponent Nebraska knocked off since the 1993-94 season.
Nebraska's last win over a top-10 team on the road was a 74-69 win at Iowa State on Feb. 22, 1997. This will be Nebraska's third game against a team ranked sixth in the AP poll, as both of the Huskers' games against Ohio State came with the Buckeyes holding the No. 6 spot in the AP poll.
Huskers Learn to Win on the Road
For the Huskers to continue to climb in the Big Ten standings, Nebraska will have to play well on the road. The Huskers are 3-7 away from Lincoln this season, a vast improvement over the 2-20 mark on the road over the past two seasons, and had chances to win in road setbacks at Illinois and Wisconsin, as both games were a one-possession contest in the last minute. With a win at Michigan State on Saturday, the Huskers can match the program's highest road victory total since going 6-6 away from the Devaney Center in 1998-99.
Huskers Look to Generate Offense
For the 2011-12 Huskers, the key to success has been at the offensive end. Nebraska enters Saturday's game at Michigan State with an 11-5 record when scoring at least 60 points, but is just 1-9 when not reaching that threshold. In Nebraska's four Big Ten wins, the Huskers have scored 70 or more points, but have been to 65 points or less in 10 of their 11 league losses.
Charity Begins at the Foul line
One area where the Huskers have been proficient this season is at the free throw line, where Nebraska's 75.3 percent rate leads the Big Ten and ranks 25th nationally in the latest NCAA rankings.
It is on track to be one of the best seasons in school history, as only two Husker teams have shot over 75 percent since 1948, led by the 1967-68 team which was third nationally when they hit a school-record 76.5 percent from the line. Prior to this season, NU's best season under Doc Sadler was 71.3 percent during the 2006-07 campaign.
- Nebraska has shot 70 percent or better from the line in 19 of 26 contests and 80 percent or better 10 times this season.
- Four Huskers are shooting over 80 percent from the line this season: Bo Spencer (88.0 percent); Brandon Ubel (81.6); Brandon Richardson (81.0) and Dylan Talley (81.0).
- Spencer is on track to finish in the top five on Nebraska's single-season free throw chart and is the best since Cary Cochran shot 92.2 percent in 2001-02.
- The Huskers have been solid in the clutch, hitting 74 percent (86-of-116) from the line in the last five minutes of games this season, as Bo Spencer and Brandon Richardson are both over 90 percent.
Nebraska's success has often been determined by its ability to get to the line. In the Huskers' 12 wins, Nebraska is averaging 19.6 attempts per game, but that number drops to 11.5 in the Huskers' 13 losses, including three times at Purdue on Wednesday.
Spencer Makes the Point for the Huskers
The focal point of Nebraska's offensive attack has been senior guard Bo Spencer. The 6-foot-2 guard has made the most of his only season at Nebraska after transferring from LSU.
He leads the Huskers in scoring at 15.6 points per game, while also adding 3.5 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game while leading the Big Ten in free throw percentage (88.0).
Spencer has been an iron man for the Huskers, averaging 33.3 minutes per game which is the highest total by a Husker since Charles Richardson in 2006-07 (36.3 minutes per game).
Spencer's 15.6 ppg is on pace to be the highest scoring average by a Husker guard since the 2000-01 season (Cookie Belcher, 16.4 ppg). He reached double figures a team-high 21 times, including seven 20-point performances, which is the most by any Husker in five years. His latest 20-point effort came on Feb. 18 against Illinois when he had 27 points, including a career-high five 3-pointers. It was his third 20-point effort in Big Ten action, as he had 24 at Northwestern on Feb. 2 and 23 in the win over No. 11 Indiana on Jan. 18.
Spencer got off to a slow start in Big Ten play, averaging 10.0 points per game while shooting 26 percent in NU's first three games, but is averaging 16.7 ppg on 47 percent shooting over the Huskers' last 12 conference contests. Spencer led Nebraska with 19 points at Purdue on 8-of-14 shooting and is averaging 18.0 points per game on 54 percent shooting during the month of February.
He enjoyed his best offensive game of the year at Creighton on Dec. 4, pouring in 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting and adding five rebounds in the highest scoring effort by a Husker since 2007-08.
Spencer led Nebraska to a road win at TCU on Dec. 10, hitting 7-of-12 shots, including four 3-pointers, in NU's 69-57 victory. At USC on Nov. 14, he had 22 points, including the tying basket in overtime and the go-ahead bucket in double overtime, and also tied a personal best with seven rebounds. Against Rhode Island on Nov. 20, he had 23 points, four assists and three steals.
Before coming to Nebraska, he started two seasons at LSU, averaging 14.5 points, 2.7 assists and 2.5 rebounds per game in 2009-10. Spencer showed the ability to get to the basket, putting up 11 games of at least 20 points, including a season-high 28-point effort against Western Kentucky and back-to-back 25-point contests against Kentucky and Tennessee.
In his three-year LSU career, he reached double figures in 45 of 93 career contests, including 21 times as a junior. Spencer was the starting point guard on LSU's SEC championship squad in 2008-09, as the Tigers reached the second round before falling to eventual champion North Carolina.
Big Ten Active Leaders - Career 20-Point Games (as of Feb. 22)
Player, School
John Shurna, Northwestern
Brandon Wood, Michigan State*
Bo Spencer, Nebraska*
William Buford, Ohio State
Robbie Hummel, Purdue
Jordan Taylor, Wisconsin
*-includes previous school
McCray Makes Most of Starting Role
Fifth-year senior Toney McCray has overcome a pair of injuries to play some of the best basketball of his career in 2011-12. The 6-foot-6 senior was hampered by surgery on his feet over the summer and a toe injury in October, but has rebounded to enjoy a solid senior year. He is setting career bests in scoring (10.0 ppg), rebounding (4.7 rpg) and field goal percentage (46 pct.), while also shooting 35 percent from 3-point range.
He originally moved into the lineup in December when Jorge Brian Diaz missed five games earlier in the season with an injury, and has been in the lineup ever since. He tops the Huskers in rebounding (5.5 rpg) and is second in scoring (11.2 ppg) since moving into the starting lineup.
Once inserted into the lineup, he promptly put together seven straight games in double figures - the longest stretch of his career - before being held to seven points at Wisconsin on Jan. 15. Prior to this season, his longest stretch of games in double figures was four games. The stretch began with a 20-point, seven-rebound effort against Alcorn State on Dec. 17, and had 16 points and nine rebounds against No. 11 Wisconsin on Dec. 27. McCray led NU with 13 points and five rebounds at No. 6 Ohio State and totaled 12 points and six rebounds at Illinois on Jan. 7. He comes off an eight-point effort in just 20 minutes of action on Wednesday night.
During non-conference play, McCray had three straight games where he tied or set season highs, including 15 points and five rebounds at No. 22 Creighton on Dec. 4. He also had 12 points in Nebraska's games against South Dakota and Wake Forest.
McCray may have made his biggest contributions from the foul line in the double overtime win at USC on Nov. 14. A career 61 percent shooter from the line entering his senior year, McCray hit four clutch free throws at USC - two in the final minute of regulation and a pair with 2.8 seconds remaining in overtime - for his only points of the night in NU's 65-61 double overtime win. McCray is up to 68 percent from the foul line this season, the best percentage of his career.
Richardson is Huskers' Glue Guy
While senior guard Brandon Richardson doesn't lead the Huskers in any offensive category, his versatility is his greatest asset. The fifth-year senior averages 7.6 points, 3.1 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game, while he leads Nebraska and ranks third in the Big Ten in steals (1.9 per game).
Richardson enters this weekend's action in second place among active Big Ten players in career steals with 139, and he is threatening to become the first Husker since Cookie Belcher in 2000-01 to average more than two steals per game. Belcher, who holds three of the top four totals in school history, still ranks fourth in NCAA history with 353 steals in his career. Richardson is now eighth on Nebraska's career steals list.
Richardson has been active on the defensive end in Big Ten play, ranking second in the league with 2.0 steals per game in Big Ten action, including a career-high seven steals at No. 6 Ohio State on Jan. 3. He has multiple steals in eight of Nebraska's 15 league games, including three steals in Nebraska's upset of No. 11 Indiana on Jan. 11.
Richardson has become more of an offensive force in recent weeks, averaging 10.6 points on 55 percent shooting and 4.0 assists per game in Nebraska's last seven games. He is 14-of-22 from 3-point range in that span and is now third in Big Ten league action, hitting at 47 percent from long distance. He was 3-for-3 from beyond the arc at Purdue Wednesday night. He began his hot streak at Iowa, totaling a career-high 25 points, including 6-of-7 from 3-point range, and added a season-high six rebounds and five assists.
Richardson now has 785 career points and is 16 points away from becoming the 46th player in school history to score 800 career points.
The 6-foot senior came up big in his return home to Los Angeles on Nov. 14, totaling 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range in the Huskers' overtime win at USC. He matched his career best with four 3-pointers and dished out a pair of assists, including the game-tying basket in double overtime. Against Rhode Island on Nov. 20, he set then-career highs in both assists (eight) and steals (four). Richardson closed non-conference play with a strong performance against Central Michigan on Dec. 20, finishing with a season-high 15 points and three assists.
Throughout his career, Richardson has been clutch from the free throw line, as he ranks third in school history with an 82.4 career percentage from the charity stripe and is one of only five players in program history to shoot over 80 percent for a career.
Last year, he was second in Big 12 action in league play, hitting 87.8 of his free throws, including a stretch of 25 consecutive made free throws. Throughout his career, he has been his best in late-game situations, going 81-of-87 from the foul line in the final five minutes of games, a remarkable 93.1 percentage.
Richardson Earns Big Ten Honor
Brandon Richardson became the Huskers' first-ever Big Ten weekly award winner in basketball, as he was the Big Ten Co-Player of the Week on Jan. 30. Richardson, who shared the honor with Michigan State's Draymond Green, became the first Husker since Aleks Maric in 2008 to be named conference player of the week.
Richardson had a career night at Iowa on Jan. 26, scoring 25 points on 9-of-10 shooting and adding six rebounds and five assists in the Huskers' 79-73 win in Iowa City. Richardson was 6-of-7 from 3-point range, as his six 3-pointers were the most by a Husker since the 2006-07 season, while his 25-point night easily surpassed his previous season (15 vs. Central Michigan) and career (20 at Texas Tech on Jan. 22, 2011) bests. Richardson set season highs in points, rebounds and 3-pointers in the Huskers' win. He also had six points in Nebraska's 12-2 second-half run to take control and earn the program's first win in Iowa City since 1941.
Talley is Huskers' Scoring Sixth Man
Junior college transfer Dylan Talley has provided the Huskers with a boost off the bench in his first season at Nebraska, and comes into Saturday's game ranked third on the team in scoring at 9.1 points per game, while also chipping in 3.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. He is hitting 37 percent from 3-point range and 80.5 percent from the foul line.
Talley leads all Big Ten reserves in scoring and has been in double figures nine times in his first year at Nebraska. He was slowed by a thigh injury which sidelined him for five games before returning to action against Illinois on Jan. 7. Talley has regained his early-season form, averaging 9.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game in Nebraska's last 11 contests. More importantly, he has been best in late-game situations, scoring 62 percent of his points in the second half over the last 10 games dating back to Jan, 15.
He has been in double figures four times since his return to the lineup, including his best effort of the year against No. 11 Indiana on Jan. 18. In that game, he had 10 points, including eight in the final 5:19, as Nebraska came back from 11 points down, and also matched his career high with nine rebounds and added two blocks. Talley finished with 13 points at Northwestern hitting 5-of-7 shots from the floor and led the Huskers with 12 points at Penn State.
Talley has shown the knack for the heroics, hitting a game-winning basket with 10.4 seconds remaining against Florida Gulf Coast on Dec. 7, as part of a 14-point effort. The 6-foot-5 guard reached double figures in three straight games earlier this season, including a season-high 18 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals against Oregon on Nov. 23.
Talley's adjustment may have been helped by the Division I experience he had when playing at Binghamton (N.Y.) University in 2009-10. That season, he was the America East Rookie of the Year and averaged 11.8 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. Last year, he was an honorable-mention All-American at Blinn (Texas) College, ranking sixth in the NJCAA in scoring at 23.0 points per game while also chipping in 5.9 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.
Ubel Doing the Dirty work Inside
While Nebraska relies on its guards for the bulk of the offensive output, junior Brandon Ubel gives the Huskers a physical presence on the inside. The 6-foot-10 forward has started NU's last 17 games at center since Jorge Brian Diaz suffered a foot injury in early December.
On the season, he is averaging 6.1 points and a team-high 5.5 rebounds per game, ranking 10th in the league in rebounds. His rebounding total is on pace to be the best by a Husker in the last four seasons. Ubel is second in the Big Ten on the offensive glass, grabbing 2.6 rebounds per game, and has 10 games this season with at least seven rebounds, including nine rebounds in the loss to No. 22 Michigan on Feb. 8.
Ubel's best rebounding effort came against Florida Gulf Coast on Dec. 7, when he grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds and added 10 points for his first career double double. That began a five-game stretch where he averaged 9.6 points and 8.6 rebounds, including 13 points and eight rebounds in the win over Alcorn State, 11 points and seven rebounds against Central Michigan on Dec. 20 and eight points and nine rebounds against No. 11 Wisconsin on Dec. 27. Ubel is also solid at the free throw line, hitting 82 percent this season and is one of five players in school history to hit 80 percent for their career.
An overlooked part of Ubel's game is his passing abilities, as he has 33 assists this year after totaling just 22 assists in his first two seasons at Nebraska. He had his second five assist effort at Northwestern on Feb. 2, the second time this season he has had five assists in a game.
Huskers Battling Health issues
The Huskers have battled health issues during Big Ten play, as Nebraska has been without three-year starting center Jorge Brian Diaz for eight of the Huskers' 15 Big Ten games because of foot injuries, while backup center Andre Almeida has not played at all this season because of a knee injury suffered last March. In 2010-11, the duo combined for 15.4 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, and Diaz was on pace for career highs in all three categories before he was originally sidelined in early December. In addition, Dylan Talley missed the Huskers' first three games of Big Ten play with a thigh injury. Both Talley and Diaz were back for a seven-game stretch when the Huskers went 3-4 with two of the losses being decided on the road (at Illinois and at Wisconsin) in the final 30 seconds. Diaz reaggravated the injury prior to the Minnesota game on Feb. 5 and has missed the last five games.
The absence of Diaz on the inside has not only altered the Huskers' rotation, but also took away a vital part of Nebraska's attack. In league play, NU averaged 62 points per game and shot 44 percent with Diaz in the lineup, while averaging 54.8 points on 41 percent in the nine contests Diaz missed with injuries, going 2-7 in that span.
FG Pct.
Opp FG
Reb, Diff.
Big Ten Play with Diaz
Big Ten Play Without Diaz
Huskers Look for Interior Presence with Diaz Sidelined
For the second time this season, the Huskers are battling through injury issues at the center spot, as Jorge Brian Diaz is likely to miss extended time with an injury.
The 6-foot-11 center is Nebraska's fourth-leading scorer at 8.6 points per game while he also averages 4.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per contest in 16 contests. Since originally returning to the lineup on Jan. 8, he had come off the bench in seven games, helping NU to a 3-4 mark, before missing the last five games.
He enjoyed his best game in that stretch in the win over No. 11 Indiana on Jan. 18 when he had 10 points and four rebounds while hitting a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left to provide the winning margin. It was the sixth time he had been in double figures this season and has 37 career games in double figures.
Diaz enjoyed one of the best offensive games of his career against Oregon on Nov. 23, finishing with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting, six rebounds and three blocks. He had eight of his points in a 22-7 run to help the Huskers erase a 15-point deficit before succumbing in the final minute. It was his third career 20-point effort and first since his freshman year. He nearly recorded a double-double at Creighton on Dec. 4 with 10 points and seven rebounds while also blocking a pair of shots. He turned in a strong effort at USC on Nov. 14 with 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots in a career-high 43 minutes.
Defensively, he was second in the Big Ten with 1.9 blocks per game at the time of his injury and has had three or more blocks six times this season. Diaz tied his career high with five blocks in the one-point win over Florida Gulf Coast on Dec. 7, joining Illinois' Meyers Leonard and Michigan State's Draymond Green as the only Big Ten players with two games with at least five blocked shots this season.
With Diaz out, the bulk of the minutes inside are going to junior Mike Fox, who has set career highs in minutes in four of the last five games. He had five points and a pair of assists in the win over Illinois on Feb. 18 before coming back with a career high six points and three rebounds in 19 minutes at Purdue on Wednesday.
In addition, Christopher Niemann will see additional action, as he has averaged almost seven minutes per game in the last four games after playing a total of six minutes in the previous seven contests. Niemann had two points and a rebound in six minutes at Purdue.
Winning the Close Ones
With an experienced team, Nebraska has shown the ability to win the close games this year, going 4-1 in games decided by three points or less in 2011-12, including a pair of one-point wins (vs. Florida Gulf Coast and No. 11 Indiana). Last year, the Huskers were just 4-5 in games decided by three points or less, including a 3-2 mark in one-point games.
Comeback Kids
Nebraska has showed the knack for a comeback in 2011-12, rallying from three double-digit deficits. On Dec. 10 at TCU, Nebraska rallied from a 10-point first-half deficit in posting a 69-57 victory. On Jan. 18, the Huskers were down by 13 early in the second half to No. 11 Indiana and trailed by 11 with six minutes remaining before coming back with an 18-6 spurt to pull out the 71-70 win. The last time out, the Huskers overcame an 11-point first-half deficit to down Iowa, 79-73.
- Nebraska now has eight double-figure comebacks under Doc Sadler, including a 20-point comeback against USC in 2010-11 - matching the largest comeback in school history.
- The Jan. 18 win over Indiana was the first double-digit comeback against a ranked team since overcoming an 11-point deficit to fourth-ranked Oklahoma State on Feb. 22, 2005.
Welcome to the Big Ten
Nebraska began its inaugural Big Ten slate with one of the toughest stretches in conference history. The Huskers opened conference action with No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 16 Michigan State and No. 6 Ohio State in its first three conference contests. It marked the first time in school history that Nebraska has opened conference action with three straight ranked foes. In fact, it is only the fourth time in the last eight years that any Big Ten school has faced three straight ranked teams to start league play.
While Nebraska is 4-11 in the nation's top league according to the RPI, the Huskers will be tested in a league that features five nationally ranked teams as well as six teams in the top 45 of the RPI released Monday.
Home Sweet Home
Nebraska has been strong on its home court over the years and enjoyed an impressive home run under Coach Doc Sadler. In the past six seasons under Sadler, Nebraska has dominated to the tune of an 80-27 record (.748 winning percentage), but are just 9-7 at home this season following the victory over Illinois on Feb. 18. The seven home losses are the most since the Devaney Center opened during the 1976-77 season, as Nebraska will play its final home game of the season against Iowa on Feb. 29.
Last year, Nebraska tied a program record with 17 home wins, going 17-2 in the friendly confines of the Devaney Center. Facing non-conference opponents, the Huskers have been nearly unbeatable at home under Sadler, losing three times in 55 games, including a 26-game home win streak snapped on Nov. 23.
Nebraska Coach Doc Sadler
Doc Sadler is in his sixth season on the Husker sideline after leading Nebraska to an NIT appearance in 2010-11. Sadler has guided the Huskers to postseason appearances in three of the last four seasons, and his 89 wins in his first five seasons was the most by any Husker coach in his first five years at Nebraska. He is now in fourth place on Nebraska's career wins list with 101 after collecting his 100th win at Iowa on Jan. 26. Sadler has guided teams to postseason berths in five of his seven years as a Division I head coach, as both of his UTEP squads reached postseason play before taking over the Nebraska program in August of 2006. His next win will be the 150th of his Division I coaching career.


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PHOENIX — A fiery, fatal accident involving a big rig forced Interstate 10 at the Broadway Road curve to be closed in both directions early Thursday.
By 10 a.m. three lanes were re-opened in each direction.
The truck driver, who was heading east on the freeway, died. Witnesses said the truck hit the median, followed by an explosion around 5 a.m.
Other vehicles were caught in the wake, and several people suffered minor injuries, according to the Department of Public Safety.
Drivers in both directions of I-10 had been forced to exit at State Route 143, although some westbound cars were able to stay on the I-10.
The closure also affected U.S. 60 westbound in the East Valley.
Cause of the accident is as yet unknown.

subset: commoncrawl


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Jenny Jones won Great Britain's first medal at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, and the first ever on snow, after a superb run in the women's snowboard slopestyle event earned her bronze.
At 33, Jones was the oldest entrant in the final, but she showed her experience with her best run of the week on her last attempt.
Her score of 87.25 briefly put her top of the standings and although she was overtaken by Finland's Enni Rukajarvi (92.50), who took silver, and gold medallist Jamie Anderson (95.25), her third-place finish is a wonderful achievement.
Jones' bronze on the second day of the competition is Britain's earliest medal in the Winter Olympics.
Jones was considered as a medal chance at the first ever snowboard slopestyle event, but hopes appeared slim after she failed to qualify automatically for the final on Thursday.
She earned her route to the showpiece event with a third-place finish in the semi-final on Sunday morning.
She was fifth after the first run in the final, but then a clean, near flawless, second attempt gave her a genuine chance of a medal.
"It feels amazing," Jones told BBC Sport. "I cannot believe it, I just can't believe it.
"I knew I was going to drop but I didn't know how far. I am just so happy.
"It was so difficult waiting. I thought I did my best run and landed it as best as I could. With the course the way it was, I did my best run."
Jones, who was making her Olympic debut, added: "I feel absolutely ecstatic, I'm so chuffed to have made it on to that podium."
Jones was the second competitor to come out for the 12-person final, which meant, after landing her run, she had an agonising wait to discover where she would finish.
"I was only the second person to drop and there were so many more girls, so I absolutely knew I would drop down, but it was just a question of how much," she said.
"When the last girl went, I just went 'Oh my God, oh my God, I am on the podium'."
Liz Nicholl, UK Sport chief executive, was among those to offer her congratulations to Jones.
She said: "UK Sport is hugely proud to have supported Jenny Jones as a member of our National Lottery funded World Class Performance Programme. It's wonderful to see all the hard work and dedication of Jenny, her coach and support staff, realised when it mattered the most.
"Jenny Jones winning a historic first British Olympic medal on snow, in the new Slopestyle Snowboarding discipline, will create a huge sense of excitement and momentum within the team.
"UK Sport has invested over £14 million of National Lottery and Government funding into athletes representing Great Britain at the Sochi Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, and set a target of winning at least three Olympic medals, and Jenny has got the team off to a sensational start."
Britain's Alain Baxter was awarded bronze in the men's slalom at Real Salt Lake in 2002, but was subsequently stripped of his medal for an alleged doping offence.
Sunday's success is richly deserved for Jones, who exploded on to the scene in 1999 by winning the first of five British Snowboarding Championships.
Jones has gone on to win gold in the prestigious Winter X Games on three occasions, but has had to fund herself by taking a variety of odd jobs, including working in a cardboard factory and a doughnut shop.
"It feels ridiculous, I still can't actually believe it," she said.
"I just thought 'Oh my goodness, it's gone my way today', and I couldn't be more grateful."


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The Stoors were one of the three breeds of Hobbits.
In their earliest recorded history the Stoors, like the other Hobbits, lived in the Vales of Anduin. They were a riverside people that dwelt in the Gladden Fields, and were fishermen.[1]
They were broader in build than the other Hobbits, and had large hands and feet. Among the Hobbits, the Stoors most resembled Men.
Stoors were the only Hobbits who normally grew facial hair. A habit which set them apart from the Harfoots who lived in the mountain foothills, and the Fallohides who lived in forests far to the north, was that many Stoors used boats, and could swim. They also wore boots.
Stoorish characteristics and appearance remained among the Hobbits of the Eastfarthing, Buckland (such as the Brandybucks) and the Bree-hobbits.[1]
The Stoors are believed to live in the southern vales of Anduin. During the Hobbit Wandering Days, after the Harfoots had migrated westward in Third Age 1050, and the Fallohides followed them about a century later, the Stoors long remained back in the vale of Anduin, but between T.A. 1150 and 1300 they, too migrated west.[2]
Unlike the other Hobbit-kinds they took the Redhorn Pass where many Stoors branched off and moved south to the Angle of Eriador south of Rivendell and mingled with the Harfoots and Fallohides that lived there; but most went to Dunland (Swanfleet near Tharbad) which most resembled their old lands. There they came into contact with the Dunlendings. This contact altered their speech slightly, mostly by picking up a few Dunlending words.
A hundred years later Angmar began to threaten Eriador and many Stoors of the Angle fled south to their kin in Dunland where they became a woodland people;[3] others returned to Rhovanion and settled the Gladden Fields, becoming riverland people Déagol and Sméagol belonged to (c. T.A. 2430). There they had a matriarchal society[4]. What became of those Stoors and whether they rejoined their folk in Eriador, no history tells.
The Stoors of Dunland moved back north to join the other Hobbits in colonizing the Shire. The result was that places that were settled by Stoors have some slight linguistic oddities due to their time of separation and contact with the Dunlendings. The three original Hobbit-kinds merged and blended in the centuries since the settlement of the Shire, but regional variations remained.[1]
Some of these villages might have survived until the War of the Ring, when they were sought out by the Ringwraiths.[5]
However, most Stoors fled to the north and west, ending up in the newly founded Shire around 1630.[2] There they mingled with the Harfoots and Fallohides, becoming the Shire-folk however they predominantly stayed in Eastfarthing and then migrated to Buckland.
Stoor is supposed to be a special Hobbitish word that did not exist in Westron during the War of the Ring.
Early English stor, stoor means "large, strong", referring to the fact that these Hobbits were of heavier build.
External links
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, "Prologue", "Concerning Hobbits"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Third Age"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "The Númenorean Kings", "Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Shadow of the Past"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The Hunt for the Ring"


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Did you read today's front page stories & breaking news?
Today's Top SOA Links
From the Wires
Animal Health Market Competitive Intelligence Reports: Suppliers' Analysis, Marketing Tactics and Technological Know-How
By: PR Newswire
Jan. 17, 2013 08:30 PM
DALLAS, January 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --
ReportsnReports.com adds three new competitive intelligence reports on the global animal health market outlook and leading suppliers' analysis.
Covering strategic overview of the worldwide animal health market with five-year forecasts for major market segments and key geographic regions, these research reports provide an assessment of major U.S. and international trends with potentially significant impact on the animal health industry during the next five years.
"Competitive Intelligence: Global Animal Health Market Outlook and Leading Suppliers' Strategies, Marketing Tactics, and Technological Know-How" is the major report that covers:
Leading Animal Health Companies Strategic Directions covering specific business, new product development and marketing strategies, anticipated acquisitions, joint ventures and divestitures as well as major strengths and weaknesses.
Leading Animal Health Companies' Marketing Tactics covering sales force size in the U.S. and other markets, promotional tactics, distribution approaches, product service and support as well as information on customer relations.
Leading Animal Health Companies Technological Know-How covering internally developed and acquired animal health technologies, processes and related capabilities as well as information on proprietary technologies and patent litigations.
The other two similar but smaller reports are "Competitive Intelligence: World Animal Health Market Outlook and Leading Suppliers' Business Strategies and Marketing Tactics" and "Competitive Intelligence: Analysis of the Global Animal Health Market, and Leading Suppliers' Marketing Tactics and Technological Know-How" that cover one or more of the above listed points.
These competitive intelligence reports also cover information on pricing, industry consolidation, market globalization, growing R&D cost, generics as well as advances in genomics, proteomics, drug screening, tissue engineering, bioinformatics and other technologies.
Explore more reports on the Pharmaceuticals Market @ http://www.reportsnreports.com/market-research/pharmaceuticals/ and the overall Healthcare Industry @ http://www.reportsnreports.com/market-research/healthcare/.
Find newly published market research reports for other industries @ http://www.reportsnreports.com/latest-market-research.aspx.
About Us:
ReportsnReports.com (http://www.reportsnreports.com/) is an online market research reports library of 250,000+ in-depth studies of over 5000 micro markets. Our database includes reports by leading publishers from across the globe. We provide 24/7 online and offline support service to our customers.
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text:
IMPORTANT - To use the Forgot Password feature, your email must be correct in the TER User Maintenance Security screen. If you are a Local Admin, please verify your email and all email addresses for users in your facility as soon as possible. If you are not a Local Admin, please contact your Local Admin and ask that your email address be verified. If a user's email address is incorrect, they will not be able to utilize this time-saving feature!
The first step in allowing TER users to reset their own passwords is setting up individual user Security Questions. When your user security questions are in place, you will be able to reset your forgotten TER password without contacting a local administrator or the TER Help Desk.
You will be asked to answer two security questions of your choosing the first time you log in.
Select and answer the questions and then select SAVE.
Answer YES to the question "Do you want to close this window" and continue with the log in process.
Statewide Search | Texas.gov | Texas Veterans Portal | Privacy Practices | Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse


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I am afraid that you are not going to find my answer very helpful, but the assignment seems pretty clear to me:
Reflect on your own learning experience through writing an autobiography of 500-800 words on your language learning
Write about when and how you leant a foreign language.
and then use the theories in Course Book One to explain the influence of linguistic and cultural factors on the learning process.
Presumably you have Course Book One and have read about the theories. Write about how relevant these theories were to your own language-learning experience.
Student or Learner


text:
Monhegan power district to upgrade power system with federal grant
MONHEGAN ISLAND, Maine (AP) � Monhegan Island is getting a $420,000 federal grant to upgrade its power system.
The Department of Agriculture grant will fund a 13-kilowatt solar power system, a new 40-kilowatt generator and a new switching system that will allow the Monhegan Plantation Power District to switch between different power sources and incorporate renewable energy sources like solar or wind power.
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree says Monhegan residents pay about 70 cents per kilowatt hour, more than four times the average mainland rate and among the 20 highest rates in the country. She says the grant will improve the reliability and efficiency of the island's power grid.
Monhegan is about 10 miles off the coast and is a summer haven for artists. It has a year-round population of about 70.


text:
Our new boss started work today and if you're interested in what NPR CEO and President Gary Knell is thinking as he settles into the job:
-- He's due on Talk of the Nation just after 2 p.m. ET, and will be answering questions from callers. When we get closer to the time he's scheduled to be on, we'll embed an audio player in this post so that we can stream the conversation. To find a station that broadcasts or streams the show, click here.
-- There's a post written by Gary on the This Is NPR blog. "This organization has a profound impact on our world every single day," he writes. "I'm humbled to now be able to say 'we' when I talk about all that NPR has done and will continue to do. ... The media environment is increasingly crowded, chaotic and complex. What people need is not just more information, but an ally to help them make sense of it all."
-- At 3 p.m. ET, Gary's due to have a "tweet chat." He's @nprgaryknell, and questions can be tagged #nprceo.
If you need background on Gary and the changes at NPR over the past year:
Vivian Schiller resigned as CEO and president last March after two high-profile controversies led the board of directors to conclude that she could no longer effectively lead NPR.
There was the Fall 2010 dismissal of NPR analyst Juan Williams after he said on Fox News Channel that he gets nervous when he sees people in "Muslim garb" on airplanes.
Williams went on to say it's wrong to profile or stereotype anyone based on his or her appearance, but NPR said it was one of a series of comments he had made that violated the network's standards. The handling of his dismissal and the controversy surrounding it — including comments Schiller made about Williams that she later apologized for — made headlines for several weeks. That controversy also led to the resignation of NPR's top news executive at the time, Ellen Weiss. Her permanent replacement has yet to be named.
And there was the release last March of a videotape surreptitiously made by associates of conservative activist James O'Keefe and heavily edited before its release, showing then-NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller (no relation to Vivian) slamming conservatives and appearing to question whether NPR needs federal funding.
The controversies fueled calls by some in Congress to cut funding to NPR.
NPR General Counsel and Senior Vice President for legal affairs Joyce Slocum served as interim CEO until today.
Gary joins NPR from Sesame Workshop — producers of the Sesame Street educational children's TV show — where he was president and CEO.


text:
Did you read today's front page stories & breaking news?
Today's Top SOA Links
From the Wires
PASS Summit 2012 Kicks off with Record 5,600+ Registrations
By: Business Wire
Nov. 7, 2012 07:56 PM
The Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) opened its annual PASS Summit today at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle with a record 5,611 registrations and a live-streaming keynote to SQL Server professionals around the world by senior Microsoft executive Ted Kummert.
As of this morning, PASS Summit 2012 had 3,894 delegates – up 13% from last year's previous record attendance – and 1,717 pre-conference registrations across 57 countries for a total of 5,611 registrations. The event's sold-out Exhibit Hall features 18 companies new to Summit.
"When we look at the success of PASS Summit – record attendance, a packed Expo Hall, people connecting at a great First-Timers Orientation and the Welcome Reception last night – it really speaks to the success of the community," said PASS President Bill Graziano. "Everything we do at Summit is a reflection of countless hours of work by our dedicated volunteers and a global community passionate about connecting, sharing, and learning from each other."
PASS Summit, organized by SQL Server users for SQL Server users, is the largest SQL Server event in the world, delivering a record 190+ technical sessions, 14 full-day pre-conference sessions, and unmatched networking opportunities with the industry's top SQL Server and business intelligence experts.
Microsoft is committing its top resources to the week-long event, including two executive keynotes and a special Spotlight Session on "Big Data Meets SQL Server" by Microsoft Technical Fellow David DeWitt – all of which will be streamed live to community members around the globe as part of PASS TV's 12 hours of programming a day, with overnight replay.
Over 300 hundred Microsoft SQL Server engineers will be on hand in technical sessions, the CSS and SQLCAT SQL Server Clinic, Chalk Talks, Hands-On Labs, and the Expo Hall to share best practices, explain the latest solutions, and answer questions to help attendees get the most out of their SQL Server and BI investments—and their time at PASS Summit. Microsoft Learning is also onsite to provide easy access to Microsoft Certification exams at a 50% discount.
In today's opening keynote, Kummert – Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Data Platform Group – will be joined by the technical minds behind Microsoft's data platform solutions and services as he shares details about what Microsoft is doing to help organizations accelerate insight on any data.
PASS Summit 2012 runs through Friday, November 9. For the latest updates and access to the PASS TV live stream and programming schedule, see http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2012.
About PASS
PASS is an independent, not-for-profit association dedicated to supporting, educating, and promoting the global Microsoft SQL Server and Business Intelligence community. From local user groups and virtual chapters to webcasts and the annual PASS Summit, PASS enables knowledge sharing, in-depth learning, access to the Microsoft SQL Server team, and the ability to influence the direction of SQL Server technologies. For more information, visit the PASS website at http://www.sqlpass.org.
All brand names, product names, and trademarks belong to their respective holders.
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text:
Arsenal are being linked with a loan move for Napoli striker Eduardo Vargas.
The Daily Express claims Arsene Wenger has set his sights on the 23-year-old as a 'quick fix' up-front at the Emirates Stadium, with a deal for Gunners legend and New York Red Bulls hitman Thierry Henry seemingly dead in the water.
Arsenal lack options up-front this season, with in-form Theo Walcott and French international Olivier Giroud the only senior attackers available in north London after Marouane Chamakh left on loan last week.
And, whilst Vargas appeared set to join Brazilian outfit Sao Paulo, the Express cites reports on forzaitalianfootball.com when claiming that Arsenal have offered £800,000 to bring the player to the Premier League on loan this month.
The move would be with a view to a permanent deal in the summer, according to the paper, with Vargas yet to score a goal in Serie 'A' after completing a move from Universidad de Chile to the Stadio San Paolo last January.
Vargas did have a good goalscoring record in his homeland before moving to Italy however, and Wenger will hope the player can replicate that form if he does indeed join Arsenal during the current transfer window.
Do YOU want to write for GiveMeSport? Get started today by signing-up and submitting an article HERE: https://www.givemesport.com/writeforgms


text:
Submission + - Is the time finally right for hybrid hard drives? 1
a_hanso writes: Hard drives that combine a traditional spinning platter for mass storage and solid state flash memory for frequently accessed data, have always made sense. They may be slower than SSDs, but they are a lot cheaper gigabyte-for-gigabyte. CNET's Harry McCracken speculates on how soon such drives may become mainstream.


text:
University of Vermont
Xxxxxx Xxxxx
APEX Alums Celebrate 40th Anniversary of Nationally Lauded Teaching Program
- 08-14-2013
- By Jon Reidel
When education professors Charlie Rathbone and Frank Watson launched the American Primary Experience Program (APEX) in 1973 they wanted to change the way education was delivered by teachers and received by students by infusing experiential learning into educational systems across the state and beyond.
Idealistic perhaps, but after APEX won the 1976 Distinguished Achievement Award from the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education -- the most prestigious professional association of colleges of education in the U.S. -- it became a nationally recognized program that earned Vermont a reputation as an incubator for new educational learning models.
"Vermont was the place to go see hope for the future of education," Rathbone says. "It was a very exciting time. We wanted to change the world through education. We weren't just talking about, we were doing it."
Alums of the program, which spanned 1973-1984, gathered in August at the Davis Center for a 40th anniversary celebration, where they shared their experiences while in the program at UVM and after graduation when they started teaching at schools across the country. "The stories and reflections of the people at the reunion really showed the impact the program had on them and the students they taught over the years," Rathbone says.
"As I have thought about APEX through the years, it has reminded me that learning is a serious matter, but it does not have to be grim," said reunion speaker Dean C. Corrigan, who served as dean of the College of Education from 1968 to 1979. "With great teachers like Charlie and Frank, there is no place in the world that can bring so much joy as a lively, humane, center of intellectual inquiry where everybody is somebody. This is the view of APEX that has stayed with me."
Understanding APEX
Not everyone understood APEX when it was initially launched. Rathbone and Watson wrote about the philosophical foundations of APEX by tying it to Socrates, who advised Athenians that "knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind" and that to discover the "natural bent" of children, educators ought to "let early education be a sort of amusement." Other philosophers, such as Plutarch, John Dewey and Jean Piaget, also spoke to an educational setting for children that was "in keeping with this idea of learning through play and inquiry."
APEX was sometimes lumped in with the student-centered, open classroom movement of the 1970s for its self-described programmatic structure that "encouraged inquiry, self-direction in learning, and the development of a personal framework of beliefs and values concerning schooling." But APEX had defined goals and outcomes, starting with students spending time as participant observers at Thayer and Wheeler Elementary schools in Burlington and Shelburne, followed by junior and seniors learning how to integrate reading, science, children's literature, mathematics, social systems, health, and physical education in a 15-week methods block. A 17-week student teaching experience completed the program, leading to an APEX diploma.
At the reunion, Rathbone recalled trips to Boston in a van filled with students to "loot the Education Development Center (where Watson had worked) of learning prompts no longer being used" -- like batteries, bulbs, kitchen physics, geo blocks, mystery powders, sand and screens, and cardboard carpentry. A PowerPoint presentation showed how these were used to teach the key elements of APEX: physical, material, social, intellectual, instructional, bureaucratic and curricular. Programmatic aspects included blocked curriculum; multi-age groupings; content integration; accountability to self and self-directed learning; and giving each other leeway to fail as learners. "I was stunned by the number of people at the reunion who talked about risk-taking," Rathbone says. "They learned to take risks in the classroom and that failure was a step on the road of learning, not something to get in trouble for in their school."
"Our reunion weekend vastly surpassed anyone's expectations," says APEX alum Ebeth Scatchard '76, who helped organize the event. "We were immediately transported back to the community that we built while in APEX. It was one that was founded in trust, had great depth and encouraged learning through our experiences -- just as many of our classrooms would later."
Bringing APEX to the classroom
One of the topics of discussion at the reunion was how much each alum infused APEX into their classrooms. Very few were able to adopt APEX wholesale, but almost all included some aspect of it in their curriculum. Suzy Mills Klinefelter '75, who taught for 34 years in Bradford, Barre Town and East Montpelier, says her science classes involved measuring things outside while building nature trails and conducting experiments. "What I used from APEX was the concept of integrating the curriculum so everything wasn't taught in isolation," Klinefelter reported at the event. "So I tried to mix in reading, writing and calculating into my science lessons."
Wayne Tarr '76, who taught in Highgate before retiring and starting a photography business, shared that multi-age reading and multi-age classrooms in Highgate were directly related to his student teaching experience in APEX. "The meaningful and thoughtful way that Frank talked about education has always been in the back of my head," says Tarr, who served as official photographer of the reunion (see photos here). "It was amazing to hear about the different directions people went in after APEX. Almost everyone stayed in education in one way or another, but applied what they learned in APEX in different ways."
While APEX may have ended in 1984, it's clear from alumni testimony that its impact was longlasting and remains strong four decades later. Rathbone says the legacy of the program was captured best by Ellen Baker, the College of Education and Social Services' current director of teacher education, at the reunion when she said that APEX helped set the framework for more recent revisions in UVM's elementary education program. "There are some really significant parts of APEX in the current elementary education framework like field experience, integrated curriculum, and the portfolio they do at the end," Rathbone says, "and that's pretty powerful."
"As I watch what is happening for children in schools today I realize how important the APEX program was and still is," says Watson. "The energy of this reunion group clearly illustrates the energy that is necessary in our schools today. I am proud to be part of the APEX family. I think John Dewey is proud that APEX happened on the University of Vermont campus."


text:
BEAVER MEADOWS (AP) — The police chief of a northeastern Pennsylvania borough is lucky to have escaped with only minor injuries after being dragged by a car.
Beaver Meadows Police Chief Mike Morressi says it happened Thursday while he was trying to serve warrants on the driver, 41-year-old Dean Kancir.
Police say Kancir was living illegally in a burned-out shell of a home near Hazleton, where Morressi was trying to serve a long overdue eviction notice.
Morressi said he jumped on the car's hood to try and stop it and was dragged down Route 93.
State police say Kancir was arrested several hours later and is jailed in Carbon County Prison.
Morressi was treated at a hospital for bumps and bruises and released.


text:
Last week I learned about a simple "hack" that can retrieve the full name and Facebook URL for any account holder, given nothing but the Facebook ID number. All you need to do is open your browser, type in "http://graph.facebook.com", and append a number. For example, "http://graph.facebook.com/4" gets you the entry for Mark Zuckerberg. The returned data looks like this:
"id": "4",
"name": "Mark Zuckerberg",
"first_name": "Mark",
"last_name": "Zuckerberg",
"link": "http://www.facebook.com/zuck"
OK, that's not a lot of information, but you could theoretically use it to compile a list of all Facebook accounts. I wrote a small program to do exactly that and concluded that Facebook has nothing to worry about.
My simple-minded program just works its way through all possible ID numbers in sequence, starting with 1. When it finds an ID that has associated data, my program writes that data to an output file. In about 18 hours my program, processed the first 180,000 IDs. Only 25 percent of them actually linked to Facebook user information.
So my program processes around 10,000 IDs per hour but turns up only about 2,500 actual accounts per hour. Facebook presently claims 400 million active users. That means a complete listing could take 160,000 hours--a little over 18 years. This "hack" is an entertaining novelty, but there's no practical way you could exploit it to list all Facebook users.


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Moderator: Moderators
random guy wrote:ok well i just virus scanned my system and i didnt get anything at all, i havent noticed anything wrong either... my virus scan my not be greatly up to date but i trust it emough. i was using firefox so maybe i didnt get it because of that...
From: Kehafethe
To: john_doe
Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 19:19
Subject: avete visto questo?
avete visto questo? http://people1000.com/?john_doe
avete visto questo?
From: Bicinachu
To: Spiug31
Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 22:22
Subject: avete visto questo?
avete visto questo? http://people1000.com/?Spiug31
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text:
J&L Collection
Heritage 1/2015:6507, $5,876.18
David Hall: The Pilgrim commemorative half dollars were struck for in two years, 1920 and 1921. The final distribution figures for the 1921 were considerably less than the 1920; 152,112 for the 1920, and only 20,053 for the 1921. According to Dave Bowers, the 1921 was the first commemorative "variety" "specifically created to increase sales to collectors." But sales of the 1921 Pilgrims were much smaller than the 1920, perhaps because of the economic recession of 1921, perhaps because a lot of collectors already "had" a Pilgrim.
If you look at the PCGS Population Report, there appears to be about twice as many 1920 Pilgrims as 1921's. My experience is that there man be three or four times as many 1920's as 1921's, but not seven times as many as the distribution figures would suggest. Interestingly, in Gem condition, the 1921 Pilgrim is only a little rarer than the 1920. Where there is a definite difference is in lower, circulated grades. Many 1920 Pilgrims went into circulation and many circulated survivors exist today. For the 1921, while not as impossible to find in circulated grades as many of the 1933-1939 era commemoratives are, circulated examples are few and far between. All of this suggests that both years were sold to collectors, dealers, and speculators, but only the 1920's were placed into circulation.
The typical 1921 Pilrim is well-struck and marks are not usually a problem. Luster is of the frosty type and various degrees of toning can be seen. The average grade is MS63 to MS65.
© 1999-2018 Collectors Universe NASDAQ: CLCT


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So this is what it feels like to be the first one to post?
So this is what it feels like to be the first one to post?
Nope. I think I beat you to it.
... why this isn't obvious, and being done already?
From my layman's POV, it seems like we have telescopes all over the spectrum, from X-rays to long radio waves, constantly gathering enormous amounts of data which could easily be mined for dark energy detection, SETI, and just about anything else conceivable. So while I think it's very cool that two such different applications can share data and techniques, I'd like to know what the reasons are that this doesn't just happen all the time. Is it a reluctance to share data, differences in the type of data needed, or something else entirely?
I'd also like to point out that while exoplanets are obviously relevant to people seeking extraterrestrial life, they are scientifically interesting in other ways too. They can suggest things about the history or future of our solar system, and about star systems in general. Additionally, the more we learn about them, the easier it becomes to find additional ones, and the easier it is to create and test hypotheses about them.
From the title, you'd expect that these telescopes were listening for signals that
Even though exoplanets could provide useful knowledge, the search for dark matter is just as fruitless as trying to prove that aether exists (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminiferous_aether#End_of_aether.3F). It's another theory that we should be developing, not conforming what we see into a theory we know to be flawed.
Well, I've got a couple of comments on that. Firstly, the article isn't talking about dark matter which is an entirely separate issue to dark energy -- effectively, dark matter is gravitationally attractive and appears on scales ranging from galactic to cosmological, while dark energy is gravitationally repulsive and appears on cosmological scales. Secondly, the search for dark matter cannot (yet) be compared to the search for the aether and any such comment, without being qualified and backed-up with reasonable arguments, is uneducated. The evidence for "dark matter" (meaning an apparent weakness of gravity on galactic and supergalactic scales) is extremely strong -- the problem is there. The next question is simply whether something is wrong with the theory of gravity, which is certainly possible, or whether there is actually missing matter of some form out there.
Taking the second view first, which is more or less the current view, there are plenty of ways that we can get "dark matter". The simplest is simply matter that is difficult to see -- but there are problems with this and it is unlikely that it makes up a significant amount of the problem. Then you get more interesting models. The immediate particle candidate is a neutrino. Neutrinos exist, of this we can be sure, and they appear to have a small but non-vanishing mass -- of this we can be very confident. (This immediately tells us, by the way, that the standard model of particle physics in its simplest form is flawed since it predicts neutrinos of vanishing mass.) Since neutrinos interact only very weakly with matter, they are an immediate dark matter candidate. The problem is that if you make all teh dark matter in the universe the result of massive neutrinos you wash out cosmic structure -- it just doesn't fit observations. So it can't be (entirely) neutrinos. The most common candidate at hte minute would be neutralino, which is the supersymmetric partner of a neutrino. If you believe supersymmetry (which personally I don't, quite, but plenty of people do and there are very good reasons to believe that there's something in it) then you believe in supersymmetric partners; and you also must believe in a *lightest* supersymmetric partner. This particle will be stable, since it can't easily decay into non-supersymmetric particles. In most models, this particle is the neutralino. The hope is that its mass may be such that we can detect it at the LHC. If we do, much of the dark matter problem will be immediately solved -- there would be neutralinos in enough numbers to fit the observations.
The first view, that of modifying gravity itself, is an old one -- and a current one too. It is entirely wrong of you to suggest that people aren't "developing" the theory, since they are and have been ever since Einstein proposed general relativity in the first place. The main ways of modifying relativity come from adding an extra (scalar) degree of freedom into the theory; this can either be done by literally adding in a scalar degree of freedom (which ultimately makes Newton's "constant" time-dependent) or by modifying the "action", the function that generates the equations of motion, such that the Einstein action linearly dependent on the Ricci scalar becomes instead an arbitrary function of the Ricci scalar.
You can struggle to get dark *matter* out of such theories, but if you go one step further and also add in additional vector degrees of freedom, then you have dark matter along with dark energy. (And a really ugly theory.) The other advantage is that you can tune the theory such that in the non-relativistic limit it matches the predictions of "MOND" (MOdified Newtonian Dynamics), which is a purely phenomenological "theory" that aims to predict galactic rotation curves without recourse to dark matter. Effectively, in MOND there is a minimum acceleration below which the nature of gravity changes. With this simple idea, you get startlingly good agreements with many observations (and truly rubbish ones with others, it must be said). The benefit of the
The Michaelson-Morley experiment was an attempt to find out more about the luminiferous aether - specifically, how we were moving relative to it. Are you arguing that it was fruitless? (For the history-challenged, it was one of the driving forces behind relativity. One of the important features of special relativity was that it explained Michaelson-Morley in a way that was consistent with observed facts, if not with the way scientists thought about the world.)
Physics is partly a matter of pushing acce
Life != intelligent life. They're searching for planets that could harbor life; planets in the "goldilocks zone" with water. It's assumed that anybody reading slashdot should know this.
Possibly because these projects simply aren't aware of possible overlap and possibly because they need to have their own project running 24/7, simply without time left to share.
AFAIK, most satelites actually DO include "secondary" hardware for different research that piggy-backs along for the ride, but we're talking about having two "primary" purposes for a single device.
As far as I understand they account an unknown source of energy due to the accelerating rate of expansion of the universe. Telescope allow you to measure its effects, but not its nature.
... why this isn't obvious, and being done already?
From my layman's POV, it seems like we have telescopes all over the spectrum, from X-rays to long radio waves, constantly gathering enormous amounts of data which could easily be mined for dark energy detection, SETI, and just about anything else conceivable. So while I think it's very cool that two such different applications can share data and techniques, I'd like to know what the reasons are that this doesn't just happen all the time. Is it a reluctance to share data, differences in the type of data needed, or something else entirely?
I have a huge number of programs on my hard drive for everything from web browsing and word processing to Java IDE's and hard disk defragmenting. Why can't I get by with just one program which can do everything?
Oh, wait, I just installed Emacs. Problem solved!
I suspect you over estimate the amount of data being collected and how unsuitable some data may be for any other purpose.
Ignoring the obvious, that space is a huge space, you can hardly expect optical telescope sky scans used to detect, say, Kuiper belt objects in visible light to be suitable for detecting dark matter. Quasar signals won't be useful to detect the slight wobble induced by a planet in a star's motion.
Everywhere you look on this planet there are cameras and cell phones and radios, seismograph
Like a reusable space vehicle.
Beaten up and left for dead by an imaginary extra terestrial friend.
There's lots of data available, so get to work: http://www.us-vo.org/portalhome
I'd like to know what the reasons are that this doesn't just happen all the time. Is it a reluctance to share data, differences in the type of data needed, or something else entirely?
Actually, it's primarily lack of funding to build archives and, therefore, lack of access to the data. I think most astronomers have no problem sharing data, as long as they're properly credited and the data is used for something other than the original use (i.e. detecting exoplanets instead of dark energy). There are, of course, differences in the optimum observing strategy and obviously you can't figure everything out from the same instrument/observation, but additional observations are always good and there are usually ways to use the data.
What most people probably don't know is that the majority of data from ground telescopes (except for a few roboticized telescopes) is kept only by the observer. Observations often yield something "weird", in which case the "standard" procedure is to ask colleagues if they know what the "weird" thing is. If no one has any clue, the data is often put aside for later analysis, and typically forgotten about. Everyone is guilty of it, but it is entirely possible that what is one person's trash is another's gold mine.
Amusingly enough, at the last AAS (American Astronomical Society) meeting, there was a grad student discussion session with some of the higher ups in AAS. One of the things we grad students were very much in favor of was an observation archive with exclusivity for the PI for 12-18 months (this is the standard for NASA space missions). The reason we were given that this would never happen is funding.
Ah, that makes sense, in a sad way. In the bioinformatics world, we're used to the existence of large open archives, but of course this is because the funding agencies have specifically made grants for the purpose. Perhaps NASA or the NSF could be persuaded to think about such a thing, at some point.
This phenomenon is in no way unique to astronomy. Or even science. Or new. It happens to all data and it always has. (Cuneiform anyone?)
Well, I suspect this is a rather North American perspective. All data taken with the largest optical/IR observatory in the world, the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, are archived and are freely available to researchers after a (typically) 12 month proprietary period. This is true for observations made on site by the astronomers who proposed them (so-called "visitor mode") and for observations made by ESO staff on behalf of the successful proposer, saving them the need to trav
... why this isn't obvious, and being done already?
I think you answer your own question: the enormous amounts of data involved - that, as well as the fact that they are using different and probably incompatible ways of storing the data. And that is just the technical side of the problem; someone has to translate the data into actual knowledge first, so we know what to combine; and we still don't have computers that can do that.
This has always been the problem in scientific research; an enormous amount of knowledge is being generated, and nobody can keep up
One issue is how deeply you have to look into space to get a large number of supernovae in your field of vision. Generally, the integration time to image a supernova is extraordinarily large. The radio telescopes famous for SETI experiments are non-directional, therefore they cannot find supernova. You have to look at a specific region of space and look HARD to find them. That is why various space missions are proposed to find supernova in a sky survey, then look at them hard once they're found.
If there is a planet with intelligent life that has their own SETI, they would not know Earth had intelligent life unless they were within 120 light years away, becaue noneof the radio signals would have reached them. SETI is incredibly limited.
It's a pity that they cannot smuggle SETI into the pack. Anyway, if I was a SETI researcher I'd save some of my radiotelescope time to look into the region of space occupied by exoplanets deemed suitable for life by borg such as this.
The fact that there you posted the same thing twice and that these two sets of astronomers are doing the same thing is ironic and an unintended witticism. That was probably why you're modded funny rather than redundant.
SPACE GRUES! So THAT's why we've not returned to the moon...
I know nothing about these two subjects. Dark Energy? Planet searching? Bahhh, it is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
A grue? Pfft. I'd be more worried about Vin Diesel.
The European Space Agency is NOT a part of the EU. When will people learn that the EU is NOT synonymous with Europe!?
I guess the general population of the world doesn't really take much time to consider the Swiss and Norwegians. (or Belarusian. and should Iceland really count as part of Europe, how far away from the continent do you have to be)
And there I was, thinking we had a complete moon for ourselves.
What kind of question is that? Don't you know that America was that close to get a vice-president that wouldn't be able to find the US on a map of Nort America? I think you need to adjust your expectations a bit.
Leave Joe Lieberman alone!
What? Bush could find the USA on a map of North America? Wow. Seems he was not as dumb as he looked... or spoke... or just about everything...
As already pointed out, the European project (Euclid) in question is being studied by the European Space Agency, not the EU: these are simply not synonymous.
Euclid is one of six missions currently under study for two so-called M-class mission slots within the first round of ESA's Cosmic Vision programme. The first two-year long study phase is over now and the results will be made public at a meeting in Paris on December 1, prior to ESA's scientific advisory working groups and committees coming up with a
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_(Babylon_5)#Capital_ship [wikipedia.org]
Now I gotta write about it on my Deadjournal after I cut myself!
Kill Ugly Processor Architectures - Karl Lehenbauer


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How sweet it is! Macaron sweet that is. You're having a party and it's time to invite the gang. Whether you're looking for a birthday party invitation, a baby shower invitation or you're just a person with a sweet tooth who's throwing a sweet party, these macaron themed invitations are for you.
See how Paper Culture compares to Tiny Prints, Minted, Shutterfly, & Snapfish
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- Cards 6.0" x 4.3" - Flat
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- 130lb, 100% post consumer recycled paper
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- White envelopes made from 100% post consumer recycled paper.
- Delivery Options
Mailed For You
$0.30 plus the cost of the stamp
Shipped To You
$8.99 flat-rate (via Ground)
- Price Per Card
- 1-10
- $2.59
- 11-20
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- 21-50
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- 51-90
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Plants eagerly make me take out my sketchbook before I forget. Every time I visit cities other than Los Angeles, I sketch everything that catches my eyes. My inspirations can be drawn from everywhere. I love children and animals, their naiveness and simplicity. As an illustrator and a designer, I always wanted to make art for children about loving animals. Furthermore, as I design for them, things seem brighter and happier. I wish I can inspire them as well and make them see things in many different perspectives.


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By Tiernan Ray
Tom Warren of TheVerge this morning writes that Microsoft (MSFT) is working on a tablet for video game playing, with a 7-inch screen, that will be called the "Xbox Surface," borrowing from the name of the company's video game console, citing multiple unnamed sources.
The device is in "initial planning" stages and Warren gives no time frame for an arrival of such a device. Microsoft declined to comment, he writes.
The device may use a chip based on the technology ARM Holdings (ARMH) licenses, or it may use Intel's (INTC) chip architecture, writes Warren. It will have a stripped-down version of the Windows operating system, his sources tell him.
Warren writes that the device is being sheltered within the more secretive development environment used for making the company's Surface tablet computer, which went on sale last week. Developers at some Xbox facilities are under "lockdown" by Microsoft to provide them greater privacy while they write for the tablet, writes Warren.
Microsoft shares are up 47 cents, or 1.6%, at $30.10.


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Romeo played by Richard Madden
Romeo & Juliet (2007)
Written by: William Shakespeare
Richard Madden played Romeo in the 2007 touring production of Romeo & Juliet.
latest updates
We have just left Newby Hall in Yorkshire. It is a gorgeous mansion house and was the backdrop to our set for the first two nights.
Sterts is the first venue we have played which is covered, or is supposed to be covered rather than an emergency run into a church or something!
We are in Queen's Square in Bristol which is a beautiful park lined with huge trees. The camper van is parked between two big old trees, beyond there are buildings on all sides of the square; sometimes you can hear your voice bouncing back of them.
We are playing the Glasgow University Quad; it's gorgeous, it's sort of this old gothic building. We are in the middle of the courtyard. We are just surrounded by this lovely architecture and huge spire.
Belvoir Castle is absolutely beautiful. It's very big and we are performing on the lawn right beside it. The castle is our backdrop, it's gorgeous.


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KidsLIVE and TeenLIVE: TeenLIVE presents LaQuan Smith
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22 and fabulous - meet LaQuan Smith, a fashion designer just launching his career. Drill down into the NYC hustle to find out what it takes to make it in fashion and other creative fields.
Special interview by Adriana Nova, associate editor at ideeli.com.
Streaming live online at http://ow.ly/3SmUP.
All KidsLIVE and TeenLIVE programs are sponsored by the Katerina and Andreas C. Dracopoulos Family Endowment for Young Audiences.
About Adriana Nova
Adriana Nova is a writer and editor who's work has appeared on ESSENCE.com, StyleHive, and in Honey Magazine, among others. Currently, she is Associate Editor at ideeli.com, an official sponsor of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, and heads the company's social media operations for its over three million members. She has appeared on CBS News and WWD.com, and publishes her own blog on style and culture, Curb Appeal (realcurbappeal.com). She lives in New York.
About LaQuan Smith
LaQuan Smith (LQS) has a passion for fashion that in seven years has only gotten stronger. After a battle with a cancer, he was able to regroup and refocus on his passion. In 2007, after graduating from high school, he began working as an intern at prominent NY-based magazine, Blackbook. Yet, realizing his fashion thirst was not quenched he soon began exploring his design talents.
Experience and ambition have opened doors for LaQuan allowing him to work with some of the industry's top models and photographers. He has designed custom pieces for an array of celebrities, pop culture icons and artists including: Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Beyonce', Dakota Fanning, Alicia Keys, Julissa Bermudez, Aubrey O'day, Amerie, Toni Braxton, Ciara, Cassie, Justin of Semi Precious Weapons, top models Tyra Banks, Sessilee Lopez, Amber Rose, Sigail Currie, Tara Gill, and Jaslene Gonzalez (ANTM), fashion personality Andre J., and the list goes on.
LaQuan Smith's New York Fashion Week debut was a huge success when it was held on February 15, 2010 at the Society of Illustrators. The audience for the LaQuan Smith "Water Goddess" Fashion Show was 100 exclusive attendees including top fashion press, buyers, and celebrities. Notable attendees included Vogue Editor-at-Large, Andre Leon Talley, Vogue Style Director, Alexandra Kotur, Janice Combs, Misa Hylton, Semi-Precious Weapons, and Londell McMillan. LaQuan has received a tremendous amount of press for his work including the New York Times, NY Daily News, Daily Candy, Wall Street Journal, Vogue, Seventeen, Marie Claire, Tyra.com, and many more.
LaQuan's success has allowed him to showcase his collection both domestically and internationally with fashion shows in Atlanta, Philadelphia, Johannesburg and Tortola (British Virgin Islands). While in Atlanta supporting Foundation F.O.C.U.S, LaQuan received the F.O.C.U.S for Life Service Award for surviving cancer and not letting the trauma of such an experience hold him back from his passion. Throughout his travels, LaQuan was able to display an expanded version of his A/W 2010 Collection, which included his diffusion line entitled "LQS", an affordable line that is currently inspired by athletic apparel.
The Spring/Summer 2010 Collection expands on the LaQuan Smith woman, who is the personification of modernity, sensuality, and liberation in femininity. The bold prints, unique silhouettes and inspiration will surely set LaQuan's work this season apart from the rest. LaQuan states "Women have always inspired me to create. When it comes to women I understand their essence and my designs allow her to make history.
About TeenLIVE
TeenLIVE reaches teens culturally, artistically, inspirationally, technologically, and more with the biggest, best, and the brightest stars. The programs will spotlight current cultural trends and important mainstays that inform the lives of today's teens.


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Childhood is a time full of questions, and Carol Gahara Harris' new book is based on an inquiry that seems simple enough. What's in a name?
The book, "My Name is Leona," follows a child with a very specific complaint. She doesn't like her name, and by the end of the book, she asks her perplexed parents, "Why did you name me Leona?"
It's a small problem for most people, but for a little girl, it's a big issue.
If Leona's name is more noticeable than most, so too is the book about her predicament. Gahara Harris' first foray into children's literature has so far netted her two awards. The Mom's Choice Seal is awarded to products that are family-friendly and educational.
Gahara Harris received a bronze 2013 Moonbeam Children's Award for excellence in Children's literature for a first book in conjunction with the Traverse City Children's Book Festival.
The validation pleases Gahara Harris, who owns a medical billing company in Clinton Township and has wanted to write a children's book for several years.
"This book comes straight from my heart," she said. "I put so much thought into putting together a story that children could relate to. Everyone has something that they don't like — for Leona, it's her name. But over the course of the book, she learns to accept, and even love, her name.
It's a powerful lesson drawn from real life for Gahara Harris, who grew up not liking her name. But like her book's fictional heroine, she came to appreciate her name.
"The message (of the book) is even if you don't like something, you may see things differently in time," she said. "When Leona learns she was given her name out of love, how she feels about her name changes."
Gahara's story was illustrated by her personal friend, Kim Fujiwara, who is also a well-known advertising illustrator and artist. Fujiwara crafted the book's soft-focus look using colored pencils and watercolors, which is fairly rare.
"Today's way of illustrating is so digital, and I wanted the book to have the look of traditional drawing and painting," he said.
Both Gahara Harris and Fujiwara worked on how the characters — which also include a goldfish and the main character's constant companion, a tuxedo cat — would look.
"I wanted to have a personality," Fujiwara said. "She needed to have spunk."
How an author's words and an artist's brush capture a character can make the difference between a loved, and ignored, children's book, said Steve Mooser, the president of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
"Coming up with a plot and characters that engage children is hard to do," he said. "Publishers like to see ideas that they've never seen before. But children and parents like books that they can see a little bit of themselves in — they want something that entertains them and reassures them."
Although Gahara Harris initially set out to write one book, she's working on plans to write a series of books about Leona. She's mum about the topics of the planned books, but she said Leona will grow significantly.
"She's going to encounter all sorts of new situations, and she's going to learn from them," she said.
When Gahara Harris is not writing, she's managing her medical billing business and spending time with her husband, Douglas, and her two grown daughters, Danielle and Lauren.
"My Name is Leona" is available at Amazon.com, and can be purchased at Fisher's Hallmark at Lakeside Mall, Shoe Strings in Shelby Township, and the Toy Box in Sterling Heights.


text: My 4 year old Rottweiler, Guiness, growls and bares her teeth when she's happy. The happier she is, the louder she gets. When we pet her, she growls, and if we stop, she nudges our hands. Same when we play with her. She has never bitten anyone, and if my brother, father, and/or I rough house with each other, she snaps at our legs because she thinks one of us is hurting the other and doesn't like it, but will turn her head away if we get too close to her. She doesn't do this with little kids, stays quiet and gentle with them, no matter what they do to her. She barks at people she doesn't know, and that's it. Plays fine with big dogs and tries to protect dogs smaller than her (she has a bad tendancy to lick their muzzles, ears,and eyes- total maternal instincts). I've had conflicting reports from two breeders and a trainer. One breeder never heard of it, the other had, and the trainer said we should hit her with a broom when she did it. Reported him to Animal Cruelty. It doesn't bother us, since we've gotten used to it, and haven't had any problems with her. I would just like to know if it's normal for Rottie's to do this.


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PolitiFact Florida revved up the Scott-O-Meter today, updating our ratings on two of Gov. Rick Scott's campaign promises.
Scott's now kept more than half the promises we've rated (not including those still In the Works).
Scott said he would "eliminating overlapping economic development agencies," replacing them with "one group" that would assist local economic development agencies and serve as a statewide recruitment agency. A law this summer created the Department of Economic Opportunity and streamlined the state's work, but some standalone agencies remain. We rate his promise a Compromise.
The governor also said he would provide parents with annual financial reports on schools. An educational accountability law passed this year requires school districts to post budget information online in "terms that are easily understandable to the public." We rate this Promise Kept.


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Michael Feinstein and Marilyn Maye: Swingin' The Night Away
These two veteran performers combine their talents for a magical, uplifting evening at Feinstein's at Loews Regency.
"This must have been what Steve and Eydie was like," joked Michael Feinstein during his Friday show with Marilyn Maye, entitled Swingin' the Night Away, at Feinstein's at Loews Regency.
And while I never saw that legendary duo in person, I can't imagine it was more magical or uplifting than the pairing of these two veteran entertainers.
Maye, who is the personification of optimism, knows how to light up a room like no one can. Whether taking on the tricky jazz classic "Take Five," doing a brilliantly uptempo version of "On the Street Where You Live," or joining Feinstein on a well-conceived pairing of Jerry Herman's "Big Time" and "Open a New Window," she is guaranteed to put a smile on your face and a wow on your lips.
Equally exciting, she has encouraged Feinstein to be the loosest I've ever seen, jamming on Jerry Lee Lewis' "Great Balls of Fire," or doing an all-stops-out version of "Hooray for Hollywood" that was simply breathtaking.
There are serious moments, as well, and they rank among the evening's highlights: Maye's stunning rendition of the little known "Everytime" (from Best Foot Forward); Feinstein's beautiful takes on "Somewhere" and "The Way We Were"; and especially his gorgeous-as-can-be rendition of George and Ira Gershwin's "Isn't It a Pity?"
The show is, perhaps, a bit medley-heavy for my taste. Maye strings together four songs all tied by the word "Rainbow," (including "Look to the Rainbow," "Over the Rainbow," and "The Rainbow Connection") and the second half of the act features both a "Wonderful" medley, performed by the duo, and a joyful "Boogie Medley." Yet as hokey as they may sound, they do work in the hands (and voices) of these masterful entertainers.


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ROCKFORD (WIFR) -- "Children's Home + Aid's MotherHouse Crisis Nursery has been awarded a grant in the amount of $5,000 by the Schneider Electric Buildings, LLC Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois," Judith Loudin said today.
According to Judith, funds received from the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois Schneider Electric Fund will be used to purchase a seven cubic deep freezer, frozen meats and vegetables for MotherHouse Crisis Nursery's "Healthy Kids, Happy Tummies" project. These supplies will be distributed throughout Fiscal Year 2013 to provide healthy foods to vulnerable families in the Rockford community who can not afford these items on their own.
The majority of low-income parents who receive child care and crisis services from MotherHouse must often use their limited financial resources to pay for transportation to the Nursery, which greatly limits their ability to purchase healthy foods for their families. In addition to meats and vegetables, households will receive recipes that provide them with step-by-step guidance on how to prepare nutritional meals on a small budget. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will also be served to children during their stay at the Nursery.
"Our agency has received several awards over the past years," Judith said. " Most recently, Children's Home + Aid's Northern Region, received the "Champion of Youth Award" at the Blackhawk Area Council of Boy Scouts of America's Distinguished Citizens Luncheon. The MotherHouse Crisis Nursery was one of the programs specifically recognized at the awards."
Ms. Loudin continues, "The grant from the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois will give us additional resources to meet the needs of more children and families in crisis, helping to ensure they have the opportunity to eat more healthy foods no matter what their situation might be."
Keeping children safe from harm's way is the goal of MotherHouse Crisis Nursery, a program of Children's Home + Aid.
When a family is in crisis due to unemployment, a medical emergency, homelessness, fire, flood, or being faced with everyday stressors they can no longer handle, MotherHouse Crisis Nursery provides free respite care, food, and resources for the family.


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A-Wing wrote:Isn't the X-Type just a Ford Mondeo with Jag exterior/interior?
Not really, it is apparently based on the Mondeo floorpan, but built in aluminium, different engine, etc.(even the bloody tyres are non standard)
A bit like saying "isn't a Mac just a PC with a different interior/exterior" -Oh, hang on a minute, a Mac IS just a PC with...........
A-Wing wrote:Anyway, waay off topic now
I know, (desperately trying to drag it back)


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Gail Brooks
(print-ready photo)
Gail E. Brooks
Vice Chancellor, Human Resources
Gail Brooks is the Vice Chancellor for Human Resources at the California State University. Gail provides strategic leadership for the CSUs human resources department overseeing labor relations, employee relations, compensation, policy development, benefits, academic human resources, information support, data research and analysis.
Prior to joining the CSU, Gail was the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Human Resources at the University of California, Irvine, for seven years where she provided strategic leadership to UCIs comprehensive human resources programs. Gail has a background in higher education, the private sector and non-profit sectors with more than 20 years experience in human resources, labor relations and the legal arena. Gail holds a Juris Doctorate degree as well as a Master of Arts in Industrial Relations from Wayne State University, Michigan.