text:
Fireman Ed said he paid for his PSLs, part of reason he is in cheap section. But he got four row one seats in endzone in 2.5K PSL sections. Those PSLs are worth 3x to 5x what he paid. Row one 2.5k LLEZ seats were so widely underpriced I would have bought all of them in a second!!
Fireman Ed does get paid over 100K a year for a few commercials and speaking engagements. Not bad for showing up eight times a year to a four hour game. Also the bigger issue I have with him is he is on 100% tax free disability pension and free medical for life from being a retired fireman. As a NYS state resident I get more of a tax hit from fireman ed than as a season ticket holder. Does not look disabled to me.
Back to tickets. Bottom line here are how defaults will stack up short term.
Paid off PSLs, no defaults, sure you might sell them cheap or give them them to someone else, but that does not effect Jets.
PSLs on five year plan who made 2012 11-1-12 PSL payment, no worries here too much skin in game
PSLs on 15 year plan that made 11-1-12 payment, no worries for now. I am sure Jets will do big push PSL holders get to some superbowl type events to get them to pay 11-1-13 PSL payment or something.
PSLs that did not make 11-1-12 payment. Jets have til season ticket money is due to convince folks to stay, Lower interest rate, free parking, call it Sandy relief, defer one year PSL payment whatever. Jets might be able to still retain 10-40% of this crowd.
PSLs that did not make 11-1- 12 payment and did not pay for 13 season tickets. That is hard core default population Jets need to deal with in spring.
But he said Jets will call him and say Pizzahut or something will pay him to be in a commercial as Fireman Ed in 2009 it was just Pizzahut, but when Jets were in playoffs in 2010 and 2011 he did a bunch of Pepsi type and Pizza Hut commercials and he gets paid for that.
He said he did not get paid to promote new stadium and never gets paid for Jets appearances. But if it is a commercial or non jet event and you ask him he will charge you. He said around 100K is most he makes.
He said unless you are saying he uses that "pizza hut" money to buy his tickets and PSLs he pays his own way at the stadium. Does not want to be a corporate mascot or shill for Jets. But he does get paid for non Jets things, and he should.
I can look around, but it was a sports radio show he was on I was listening to it was not in print.
He has said numerous times he does not get paid by Jets in lots of links. But only on that radio show did I hear he gets paid to do commericals for non jets things. Big deal.
I would like to see links where these posters are saying Fireman Ed DOES get paid by the Jets. It`s clear to me he doesn`t get paid. If he did get paid, he`d be on the field every game and not in crappy seats. As for those other mascots mentioned(Philly and Cheatman)? They are employed by the teams to play those characters. Those characters can be one, or a multiple of people since their faces are never shown. It`s just a part-time job for some kids to make a few bucks during the season. Totally different than what Ed was doing.
But as well know here, those who say otherwise are always right. They continuosly tell themselves they are right and everyone else is wrong that they actually believe themselves now. LOL
But someday they'll want a good job and a clean girlfriend and so to fit in with the rest of the PSL upper-crust, they'll act their age and drop the Vinny Barbarino impersonation.
And if you look past all the Fireman Ed drama, you're left with a guy that has made himself the mascot, made a human being into the stuffed animal. When that happens, he has an obligation to the children and others who like him and view him as the fun face of the franchise.
Like you said, Mr. Met can't march up the stands and leave the stadium cursing the team and putting out a press release. Neither should Mr. Jet.
He's gone, he's never being invited back, the stupid chant was as passe as "The Wave", and the stadium isn't filled by blue collar types with high school educations anymore. Fireman Ed was a quaint throwback to old times. We'll have a nice stuffed airplane for the kids to admire next season, put a nail in the coffin and keep the lid shut tight.
Fireman Ed didn't need to be paid by the Jets to be paid by the Jets.
Just by taking photos with the guy, referring to him at press conferences, and giving him a Row 1 seat near the CBS TV cameras, they enabled him to get paid by his affiliation.
He was selling an iPhone App, himself for personal appearances, TV commercials, radio spots, magazine ads. That's being paid by the Jets whether Woody signs the checks or not.
Last edited by SAR I; 12-31-2012 at 12:49 PM.
But Edwin M. Anzalone, known by Gang Green followers far and wide as Fireman Ed, might be overcompensating for a secret he keeps hidden behind his weekly bouts of Sunday bluster: He views himself as a bit of a bad luck charm.
At least as far as road games go.
Take the American Football Conference championship game in Miami, in 1983. Fireman Ed was there. The Jets were crushed 14-0 when the Orange Bowl morphed into a mud bowl.
Sixteen years later? In 1999? When the Jets reached the same level of playoff action? Yep, Fireman Ed was there again. His chant J-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets! disappeared into so much Rocky Mountain air as his teams early lead vanished in a swirl of Bronco passes and touchdowns at Mile High Stadium.
So this time, Mr. Anzalone, 50, has decided not to go to Indianapolis this weekend to watch the Jets face Peyton Manning.
Instead, he will keep his firefighter-turned-football helmet out of view, at home in East Rutherford, N.J., where he lives a few miles from the Meadowlands. And his No. 42 jersey, the one he wears in honor of Bruce Harper, the former player who captured his devotion as his fanaticism was first taking root? It will be home, too.
And that is where he will be with the front door to his house barred to all but those who watched the game with him there on TV last Sunday, when the Jets beat the San Diego Chargers and earned the right to take on the Colts.
Im superstitious, said Mr. Anzalone. They cannot give me enough money to go. I just feel like I dont want anything to go wrong.
Speaking of money, Mr. Anzalone said that everybody thinks his fanaticism had earned a paycheck from the teams owners. But that is hogwash, he said. In fact, he said, the idea of being bought would be a further curse.
How could you take money to cheer? he said. Youd be a fraud.
In the next breath, however, he did admit that he has earned some money on commercial endorsements, specifically for Budweiser and Pizza Hut.
I dont mind a commercial or two, he said. And hey, other corporations used his image and did not pay him, he acknowledged.
In a rambling telephone interview on Tuesday evening, it was impossible to see Fireman Eds facial expressions or gauge his mood from his body language, something he has come to rely heavily upon to communicate with the masses from his season-ticket seats in Section 134, near the 15-yard line.
But in tones strong and plaintive, and sometimes sweet, and with a linguistic manner alternately ironic, sentimental and tinged by a hint of bitterness, he expounded generously on his lifes twin passions: football, and firefighting.
Fireman Ed on firefighting: He loved the job; he sustained his share of injuries; he hated to leave; he finds it hard to talk about (though apparently not that hard).
I hurt plenty of things in different fires in different times in my career, he said. We werent playing tiddlywinks.
Mr. Anzalone joined the Fire Department in September 1987. He retired 20 years later, on the button, in September 2007.
He said he was forced out The doctor said I could not be a firefighter anymore; I could not fight fires anymore; that broke my heart and retired on a disability pension. He had knee surgery in 1997, he said. Before that, he had back and neck injuries.
Fortunately, I am able to walk, he said. All real. Not made up. Real. Pictures dont lie, brother. Thank God Im walking around.
The fires burned hot. Working in Harlem, in Engine 69 and Ladder 28, he saw many of them. He got a medal from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg for helping to pull a 300-pound man out of a fire.
You never do it alone, he said. I had plenty of help.
Looking back, he said, it was the times that we were not able to get to people that he could not shake.
They bother you more than the ones you get to, he said. You wish you could have gotten them out. You make every effort in your world to get those people, and sometimes it just doesnt happen. The fire is too widespread.
He paused, then added: I dont like to get into too many fire stories, man.
He had a few brushes with controversy. He was among a group of firefighters who lodged a federal lawsuit over being transferred after racking up 30 days or more of line-of-duty medical absences in a string of years. He was sent to the far reaches of City Island, but he said he took a bullet of sorts as a soldier in a battle the union still wages against management.
Listen to me very carefully now, he said, his voice lowering. I worked very hard at what I did; I lived what I did, and you get hurt when you love to work at a busy company; that is the way it works.
He paused. He cursed. Line of duty injuries is not chronic injuries.
Another time, while he was on light duty after an injury, he got in some hot water for ticketing unmarked police cars that were too close to fire hydrants. His excuse? They did not display official placards denoting their importance.
I have nothing but respect for those guys, he said of his brothers with badges, the police officers of New York.
Okay, so football?
He was a fan going back to when he was a kid, the youngest of five siblings who grew up in College Point, Queens. His dad was a baker. His uncles were firefighters.
One of his older brothers, Frank, got Jets season tickets in 1975, and began taking him to games.
Who knew that years later, I would become Fireman Ed, he said.
He fell into the role accidentally. Once, at an away game in Buffalo, a firefighter friend from Engine 225 in Brooklyn donned an old green-colored departmental helmet.
I said, `I want to wear that at the next game, he said. And I did, and it started to steamroll.
That was around 1991. A sports announcer from ESPN coined the nickname. He was easily seen in clips of the games, hoisted upon his brothers shoulders, screaming maniacally. Now, hes so famous he writes a diary for The New York Daily News.
But the fame has brought him closer scrutiny.
Somebody went back and found him dressed in a Miami Dolphin jersey in an old high school yearbook photo. Aha, some said: hes a fraud. But Mr. Anzalone said he was just a teenager looking for a winner.
Listen, he said. I am a kid. What do you want from me?
Bitter? No. Resentful at people nitpicking his past? Nah.
Whatever, man, he said. It dont bother me. If youre flabbergasted over me, go ahead. I am just a regular guy.
================================================== ================
so, whats wrong with the article? I`m not a fan of Ed but, I see nothing wrong with what he says or did in the past.
Sar you should book him for opening day at Tail Gate Joes BBQ so we can throw stuff at him.


text:
With elections over and inaugurations scheduled, Dixon officials are slated to discuss the appointment of a city treasurer.
Current treasurer James Slaughter did not run for re-election and no one took out papers for the post. So now it's up to city leaders to appoint a person to the job.
City staff are slated to receive direction on the matter at Tuesday's City Council meeting.
The treasurer would serve a four-year term. Until the position is filled, Slaughter will continue on with his duties.
In other matters, the City Council is set to talk about providing the Dixon Unified School District with school crossing guards for the 2012-13 and 2013-14 school years.
The annual cost, officials said, cannot exceed $15,000. The amount has been allocated in the Fiscal Year 2012-13 Traffic Control Budget, Fund 540. The proposed agreement, officials said, is for the city to reimburse the school district up to 50 percent of the cost of the crossing guards with an annual maximum reimbursement of $3,500 per location.
The partnership between the city and the school district began in 1997. In 2008, 10 guards were to be hired for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years. But budget woes caused the school district to cut its funding of the guards for the 2009-10 year, officials said, and since then, the city and the district have not continued the agreement.
"The city recognizes the importance of crossing guards to the safety of students walking to and from school, and has allocated $15,000 for crossing guards in the FY2012-13 budget, the same amount that has been budgeted in previous years," wrote Jason Riley, associate civil engineer for the city, in a staff report.
Follow Staff Writer Kimberly K. Fu at Twitter .com/ReporterKimFu.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Spatial Data Management
GSA's Public Buildings Service (PBS) is mandated by Congress to charge rent to tenants occupying space in owned and leased buildings.
The Spatial Data Management (SDM) Program is GSA's national effort to create, update, and maintain its spatial data and associated Computer Aided Design (CAD) floor plans to accurately reflect the national federally owned inventory.
SDM CAD floor plans are the basis for the assignment data and square footage information that GSA uses for tenant rent bills. The creation and maintenance of drawings supports accurate rent bills for customer agencies.
The SDM program also aids in the performance and utilization of each asset while identifying the most efficient and cost-effective way to house federal employees.
The GSA Office of Portfolio Management provides national program support to the regional SDM programs through:
- Implementing the PBS Business Space Assignment Policy
- Maintaining SDM National Business Process Flows
- Coordinating significant SDM projects
Regional SDM programs reinforce efficient management of GSA's real estate portfolio. Asset managers, realty specialists, and property managers must have accurate inventory and assignment information through the regional SDM programs. The SDM drawings produced under the national program provide a graphic record of the GSA building inventory and can also be used as a planning tool and reference for building projects.


text:
Record-breaking major league contracts were the order of the day, but baseball's newest financial power may yet be heard from.
People familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Friday that the Dodgers were having contract conversations with former National League Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw.
The cost of securing Kershaw long term rose earlier Friday when right-hander Justin Verlander agreed to a $180-million, seven-year deal with the Detroit Tigers, and catcher Buster Posey agreed to a $167-million, nine-year extension with the San Francisco Giants.
Kershaw has said he doesn't want to deal with any negotiations once the season begins. The Dodgers open the season Monday against the Giants.


text:
Klara Wester Is Unconcerned with MPG
- Najib Benouar
via The LibertineCashin' Out: Open Culture has found a dozen rare recordings from the music collaboration dreams are made of: Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. [Open Culture]
Less Is More: We suspected as much, but Bill Hader confirms that Tom Cruise in real life is a lot like Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder. [Vulture]
Man-Urs: Manchester United is filing for IPO—which means you can own part of one of the most storied franchises on earth. No word on if Old Trafford has a fractional-owners box. [Business Week]
Salute: In honor of Flag Day—yes, that's today—you ought to brush up on your star-spangled history. (And then have a Bud Heavy.) [The Atlantic]


text:
KLRU Q Night at the Movies spotlights a classic film on select Saturday nights at 8 p.m. This month's feature films will be:
1/5– An Affair to Remember
Engaged to others, two people (Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr) meet aboard a cruise-ship and then plan to reunite six months later atop the Empire State Building. Cast: Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Richard Denning.
1/12 – Bedazzled
A short-order cook (Dudley Moore) with a crush on a waitress (Eleanor Bron) makes a deal with the devil (Peter Cook). Cast: Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Eleanor Bron.
1/19 – No Way Out
The secretary of Defense (Gene Hackman) forces a Pentagon naval aide (Kevin Costner) to lead a manhunt for a Soviet spy during a murder cover-up. Cast: Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young.
1/26 – Platoon
Two sergeants and a private join others lost in war along the 1967 Cambodian border. Cast: Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe, Charlie Sheen.


text:
1. Very High Update Activity on the Database
2. High number of Log Switches are occuring
3. Saw "denied expansion of controlfile section" in Alert.Log
4. Saw that CONTROL_FILE_RECORD_KEEP_TIME = 7 Days
5. Changed it to 0
My question:
1. What exactly happens if control file records = 65535 and new log switches are occuring.
2. How does this affect performance.
I've tried to get answers from Metalink, but could not get the answers.
Any insights very helpful.


text:
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Stallion Stakes Begin with Dr. Fager and Desert Vixen
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (July 25, 2012) – Now in its 31st year of existence, the annual Florida Stallion Stakes, a six-race series for 2-year-olds with estimated total purses of $1 million, will commence at Calder Casino & Race Course Saturday with the $75,000 estimated Dr. Fager Division and the $75,000 estimated Desert Vixen Division, both run at six furlongs on the main track with the latter restricted to juvenile fillies.
Gilbert Campbell's homebred colt Two T's At Two B is the lone stakes winner among the Stallion Stakes entrants and is likely to go favored in the Dr. Fager off a 5 ¼-length win in the $100,000 Frank Gomez Memorial Stakes on June 30. Trained by Kathleen O'Connell, the son of Untuttable also prevailed in his career debut on May 19 when running off to win by 7 ¼ lengths.
On the same day Two T's At Two B won the Frank Gomez Memorial, trainer Eddie Plesa, Jr. was unveiling the BR Congress, LLC-owned first time starter Dixie High, a son of High Cotton that drew off to a convincing 3 ¾-length maiden-breaking win.
Off that impressive debut, Dixie High will look to upset Two T's At Two B in the Dr. Fager for Plesa, an 11-time Stallion Stakes winner that is currently tied for second among trainers in the all-time series standings.
Dixie High will be ridden from post three by jockey Manoel Cruz, a 12-time Stallion Stakes winner.
Completing the field for the Dr. Fager is Brenda Tabraue, Juan Landeata, and Andrea's Farm's Billos Boy, third in the Frank Gomez; Rontos Racing Stable Corp.'s Wardroom, a debuting son of Milwaukee Brew; Rose Family Stable's Joshua's Comprise, the Frank Gomez runner-up; and Hurricane Stables, LLC's Cat Five Hurricane, a recent 4 ¼-length maiden winner.
While Two T's At Two B looks a logical choice in the Dr. Fager, finding a standout in the seven-horse Desert Vixen field appears to be a more challenging task.
Ione and Herbert Elkins' Putyourdreamsaway was a 5 ¼-length winner in her July 15 career debut, and that effort may prove impressive enough for the daughter of Put It Back to go favored in the Desert Vixen.
Trained by Bill Kaplan, a five-time Stallion Stakes winner, Putyourdreamsaway drew the rail for Saturday's race and will be ridden by Juan Leyva.
Rose Family Stable's Anita's comprise is the only filly in the Desert Vixen with stakes experience, exiting a third-place finish in the $100,000 J J's Dream Stakes on June 30. Prior to that performance, the daughter of Comprise was an impressive 4 ¾-length maiden winner on May 5.
Starting from post four for trainer Barry Rose, Anita's Comprise will be ridden by Jonathan Gonzales.
Completing the field for the Desert Vixen is Cairoli Racing's Capriccio Blue, a $32,000 maiden-claiming winner in her last start; Gilbert Campbell's Be My Love, third in her lone appearance; Our Sugar Bear Stable's So Blessed, third in her June 16 debut; Brenda Tabraue and Juan Landeata's Talent N Passion, a first time starter; and Elsaida and Easton DeSouza's Candy Coded Kisses, a $50,000 maiden-claiming winner against male rivals last time out.
In addition to the two Stallion Stakes, Saturday's 12-race program from Calder will also feature the $55,000 Ms Brookski, a one-mile turf stakes for fillies and mares that drew an overflow field of 12, with four also-eligibles, that includes the top four finishers from the $100,000 Hollywood Wildcat in Gary Aiken's Callmethesqueeze, World Thoroughbred Racing, Inc. and Chad Stewart's Brinca, Peter Fuller's Trip for A. J., and Cairoli Racing's Catch that Kitten.
First race post time at Calder is 12:55 p.m. The stakes portion of the 12-race card will begin with the Dr. Fager, scheduled as the ninth race at approximately 4:35 p.m. The Desert Vixen will follow at 5:04 p.m., with the Ms Brookski slated for a 5:31 p.m. start.
Read more articles in the Calder category.


text:
|Version 55 (modified by 5 years ago) (diff),
To have Twisted available on Python 3.3 and newer, with the same functionality as is currently available on Python 2.x.
- Single source - The result will be a version of Twisted that is source-compatible with Python 2.6, Python 2.7, and Python 3.3. Please note that this specifically means you should not use 2to3 at any point in this process.
- Test-driven - Following the standard Twisted development process, all changed code will be fully automatically unit tested.
- Opportunistic - Where module dependencies (within Twisted) need to be ported to support porting of the high-priority modules, subsets of the module may be ported to provide specific functionality (but less than the full module).
All other standard Twisted development practices apply.
An initial minimal project (http://twistedmatrix.com/trac/milestone/Python%203.3%20Minimal) was funded by Canonical and implemented by Future Foundries LLC (i.e. Itamar and Jean-Paul), with the aim of getting a basic subset of Twisted working, sufficient to run a specific Canonical project. That project has been completed, laying the groundwork for further porting effort by other developers.
Reviewer check list
- Tests pass under 3.3.
- Ported modules were added to list of ported modules in [source:trunk/setup3.py setup3.py]
- No warnings when running using
-3mode under Python 2.7.
- All non-docstring strings are clearly marked as one of the various string categories (bytes/unicode/identifier/version-dependent).
- No use of 'str' except for things that really can differ across versions of Python.
from __future__ import division, absolute_importwas added to the module.
- And any code changes necessary to work with the resulting changed semantics were made.
- Verify dictionary methods were ported correctly.
- All calls to
open()files should be in binary mode.
- Unavoidable incompatibilities between Twisted APIs on Python 3 and the original behavior on Python 2 are documented in [source:trunk/doc/core/howto/python3.xhtml doc/core/howto/python3.xhtml] (incompatibilities in the Python 2 behavior are not allowed).
- Python 3 changes from Python 2 are addressed, including but not limited to:
filter(), etc. are lazy.
except Exception as e:for exceptions.
- Dict
items()are wrapped in
list()if they are expected to be an unchanging copy.
- Bytes objects iteration and indexing return integers.
- No byte paths in
- Etc..
twisted.python.compatcompatibility functions are used, rather than reinventing the wheel.
_PY3checks are ideally only done at top of module, e.g. to define alternate helper modules.
- Bootstrap the testing system
- Port the non-reactor parts of trial necessary to run the tests for the non-reactor parts of trial
- Refactor the implementation to separate the reactor and non-reactor parts into separate source files
- Add more tests for uncovered functionality
- Get the non-reactor parts passing their own tests on Python 3.3
- Test-driven port of the dependencies of the reactor features of trial
- Test-driven port of the reactor features of trial
- Port the non-reactor parts of trial necessary to run the tests for the non-reactor parts of trial
setup.pyshould only install ported modules on Python 3 (#6040, #6096).
- Test-driven port of the following modules (some of which may be dependencies of above steps):
- twisted.application
- internet
- service
- twisted.cred
- twisted.trial
- twisted.protocols
- twisted.internet
- twisted.python
- twisted.protocols
- twisted.names
- twisted.web
- twisted.application
- Select a module that needs to be ported (make sure there is a ticket, no one else has started it, etc).
- Add the module and its test module(s) to [source:trunk/setup3.py setup3.py]
- Run [source:trunk/admin/run-python3-tests admin/run-python3-tests]
- Fix syntax errors in the test module
- If some of the APIs in the module are not being ported, add a
delstatement at the end of the module, guarded by an
if _PY3check, to get rid of all unported APIs.
- If some of the APIs in the module are not being ported, add a
- If there are syntax errors in modules depended on by the test module:
- See if the depended-on module has been split into a
_foopy3module and if the APIs needed from it are already in the
- If so, switch the test module to using the
_foopy3module directly.
- If not, go back to the beginning using the depended-on module as the thing to port.
- If so, switch the test module to using the
- See if the APIs are really needed. For example, if the dependency is trial (and trial is not yet ported), perhaps the test module could use (temporarily) the stdlib unittest module instead.
- If the APIs are not needed, switch them to something that has been ported or remove their use.
- If they are, go back to the beginning using the depended-on module as the thing to port.
- See if the depended-on module has been split into a
- Make the tests pass on Python 2.6 and Python 2.7.
- Make the tests pass on Python 3.3.
- If only some of the APIs in the module are being ported, use the same
delsolution at the end of the test module to get rid of
TestCasesubclasses for unported APIs.
- If only some of the APIs in the module are being ported, use the same
- Verify the tests still pass on all 3 versions of Python.
- Submit for review
- Strings
- Types
- Python 2 largely conflates text and bytes in the
strtype, but offers
unicodefor unambiguous text usage.
- Python 3 reduces the functionality of the
strtype and renames it to
bytes, reflecting the intent that it be used for bytes only. It renames the
unicodetype to
- There is a third kind of string, used to represent Python identifiers and docstrings. These are bytes in Python 2 and text in Python 3.
- Python 2 largely conflates text and bytes in the
- Plan
- Python 2.x native (byte) strings will be changed to Python 3.x native (text) strings except where some particular consideration dictates something else. For example, strings which belong to APIs primarily related to network traffic (ie, strings that come out of or go into sockets) will remain as byte strings.
- As a consequence, APIs which previously only supported Python 2.x native (byte) strings will be changed on Python 3.x to accept native (text) strings. Where there does not introduce a new requirement to choose an encoding, arbitrary text will be supported. Where it does and the choice of encoding is trivially obvious (for example, dealing with a protocol which mandates UTF-8 in an RFC), arbitrary text will be supported. Where the choice if encoding is not trivially obvious, only ASCII text will be supported.
- A later porting pass will revisit these ASCII only sites and expand support to include arbitrary text.
- Types
- Running
trial --versionrequires the following modules:
- twisted
- twisted.application
- twisted.application.app
- twisted.application.reactors
- twisted.application.service
- twisted.copyright
- twisted.internet
- twisted.internet.defer
- twisted.internet.protocol
- twisted.internet.utils
- twisted.persisted
- twisted.persisted.sob
- twisted.persisted.styles
- twisted.plugin
- twisted.python
- twisted.python.compat (#6099)
- twisted.python.components
- twisted.python.context
- twisted.python.deprecate (#5916, #6036)
- twisted.python.failure
- twisted.python.filepath
- twisted.python.hashlib
- twisted.python.hook
- twisted.python._initgroups
- twisted.python.lockfile
- twisted.python.log
- twisted.python.logfile
- twisted.python.modules (#6041)
- twisted.python.monkey
- twisted.python.randbytes
- twisted.python.runtime
- twisted.python.reflect (#5906, #5913, #5914, #6100)
- twisted.python.text
- twisted.python.threadable
- twisted.python.usage
- twisted.python.util (#5933, #6054)
- twisted.python.versions
- twisted.python.win32
- twisted.python.zippath
- twisted.scripts.trial
- twisted.trial
- twisted.trial.itrial
- twisted.trial.reporter
- twisted.trial.runner
- twisted.trial.unittest (#5874, #5963, #6033)
- twisted.trial.util (#6019)
- twisted._version
Ideally we could omit a number of them:
(trial depends on this, porting it is easier than selectively cutting out all the bits in trial and throughout the test suite that rely on the functionality)
twisted.python.deprecate- we will not be porting deprecated code, presumably, so hopefully we can omit the module.
twisted.python.win32- windows is not a target platform for the initial release.
twisted.persisted.styles- this is all useless and/or terrible.
- No doubt some others we can get away with only porting part of the module.
Lessons Learned
These are things that won't necessarily have any bearing on the Twisted porting project. However, they may inform future porting efforts, either of Twisted-using applications or any other Python applications.
- Initial porting effort was estimated by looking at what modules would be needed. This overlooked some modules because they are only imported inside functions.
- Splitting up modules into two separate implementation modules, one for ported code and one for unported code, is disruptive (#6183). Particularly, it's a great source of huge merge conflicts for development not related to the Python 3 port.
Some further ideas to consider: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Python/3
Documentation potentially requires porting as well. An individual example (ie, one of the runnable .py files in a doc/<project>/examples/ directory) can be treated much as a module for the purposes of the porting workflow. One difference, however, is that the example is not added to the list of ported modules in
As with the rest of Twisted, the goal for porting documentation should be a version which is compatible with all supported versions of Python (eg, at this time, Python 2.6, Python 2.7, and Python 3.3).


text:
I just looked at the site and the DIY parts are now listed. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]
I went through and priced what I think is required to build one just like the original TK serise, I came up with about $150 including optics.
Is that right? Or am I looking at the parts list wrong?


text:
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sat 15th Aug 2009 17:55 UTC
Over the past couple of months, and especially over the past couple of weeks, I've been working very hard to write and complete my thesis. I performed all the work on Windows 7, but now that the thesis is finally done, submitted, and accepted, I installed Ubuntu - and immediately I was reminded of why I do not do any serious work on Linux: the train wreck that is X.org.
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RE[6]: MIssing the point
by strim on Sun 16th Aug 2009 16:38 UTC in reply to "RE[5]: MIssing the point"


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Extraordinary gifts you'll make by hand
Books make great gifts, I think we can all agree. But you've heard the saying "teach a man to fish, you feed a village". These books teach you how to make some extraordinary gift items from paper objects to books, to cards. Arm yourself with these and you can make stunning gifts for everyone! :
* The Practical Step-by-Step Guide to Making Pop-Ups & Novelty Cards
* 500 Handmade Books: Inspiring Interpretations of a Timeless Form
* Painted Paper: Techniques & Projects for Handmade Books & Cards
* Pop-Up: Everything You Need to Create Your Own Pop-Up Book
* Creative Cards: 40 Projects for Invitations, Cards, Gifts
* Handmade Holiday Cards from 20th-Century Artists
* Simple and Stunning : Handmade Art Nouveau Cards
* Cards that Pop Up, Flip & Slide
... and more ! October 30, 2012


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HARTVILLE, S.C. – The Cobra women's soccer team was unable to come up with a win in their Conference Carolinas match against Belmont Abbey College on Tuesday night. The Crusaders defeated Coker 4-1 behind a pair of Nicole Voets goals.
The Crusaders netted the first two goals of the match in the opening 10 minutes of play, a pair of unassisted goals the first from Voets and the second from Ananda Gebreyesus.
Coker cut the lead in half with a header from Sarah Rountree (Plantation, Fla.) off a free kick from Cassie Callahan (Fayetteville, N.C.) in the 18th minute. The Abbey regained the two goal lead just before the end of the half thanks to a one-timer by Alexa Hale with an assist from Rebecca Mateo.
Voets put home her second goal of the match to make it a 4-1 game with a penalty kick in the 61st minute.
Lizz Morris (Stillwater, N.Y.) had seven saves in the net for the Cobras, while Simone Melvin had a single save and earned the win in the goal for the Crusaders.
Coker will play their final regular season match of the season on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at home against St. Andrews.
McDonald's Player of the Game- Sarah Rountree
Rountree scored the Cobras lone goal.
The McDonald's Player of the Game is presented by the Hartsville McDonald's and is given to the most outstanding performer during each Coker College home athletic event.


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Production scheduled for Sunday and Monday
Youth groups from First United Methodist Church and Zion United Methodist Church are teaming up to present the Easter story according to the Bible.
"Passion Play" is performed every three years, according to First United Methodist Pastor Larry Brown, who is also directing the play. The story, which is based off the Gospel of John, begins at Palm Sunday and ends following the resurrection.
For this time around, he said he wanted to have teens and middle school students take part in order to gel the groups together, called Community Youth Vision Team.
"My hope was it would unify the groups," said Brown.
He added there are a variety of ages represented in the story and those who have and have not grown up in the church.
"It's a teachable moment. I'm hoping they'll want to learn more about what happened," Brown said.
He said he expects the actors will become impacted by the story as they perform before an audience and see how attendees react to the story and crucial scenes including The Last Supper, Garden of Gethsemane and The Crucifixion.
By bringing the youth groups together, Brown said he would like to see it start a movement to bring the youth together across the Ionia community.
The performances will take place Sunday and Monday at 7 p.m. In addition, the performance is scheduled for the Good Friday service at First United Methodist Church, and it will end following the burial of Christ. A free-will offering will be taken, which will benefit the Community Youth Vision Team ministry.
First United Methodist Church is located at 105 E. Main St.
Follow Karin Armbruster on Twitter @ISSKarin


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Degrees and Majors of the School of Communications and Information Systems
LITO3120 - British Literature To 1789
Fall 2011
This course examines the historical growth, philosophical premises, and literary techniques of important writers in British and Commonwealth literature from Beowulf through the Middle Ages, Renaissance, the Restoration and the 18th century. Students read a wide range of literature, including fiction, drama, poetry, journals, and autobiographies. The course focuses on historical development with emphasis on significant schools and movements such as the Metaphysical poets and the Neoclassical writers. This course excludes Shakespeare. Students investigate print, internet resources, and electronic databases and write literary research essays in MLA format.
Prerequisites: COSK2220 or COSO2220 and any ELIT or LITO course
3 Credits
Schedule Book for All Active and Available Future Terms, Course starting with LITO3120
No Courses Found


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Game Review: Borderlands 2 117
CowboyNeal writes: "This week sees the release of Borderlands 2, the sequel to Gearbox Software's 2009 role-playing shooter Borderlands. Pandora is ready to be explored yet again, with a cast of new heroes, and a few familiar faces along the way. There's new and different guns, and also guns, and did I mention guns? Also, there's guns. Read on to learn about my experience in Borderlands 2, and the joys of Pandora's gun-based economy."


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Hopefully the devs working on Unity and Gnome realize that end users just want customization.
Then why is iOS so popular? It's certainly not because users can configure every little detail. It's because the interface is pleasing to use and doesn't require a lot of customization.
While GNOME's audience right now might be configuration-obsessed Linux users, they're trying to branch out into the audience that includes grandmas and teenagers with this new interface by making it simpler (in the long run, I mean, when people get used to it). I think that's as good of a goal as any, and it's only going to m
iOS is for my phone or my tablet. Not my computer.
Eventually, we'll want the same flexibility we've grown to enjoy on our computers, on our small devices. Then, iOS will not be acceptable anymore.
Maybe not. A computer is a device someone interacts with for complex tasks 8+ hrs a day. A phone is a device someone interacts with for ad-hoc tasks possibly as little as 10 minutes a day (excluding time actually talking on the phone).
I could see those two interfaces never converging.
The convergence is what you find in tablets. And kiosks. And TV media centers. And web applications.
All those examples can be used for hours at a time.
I don't have good predictions for tablets. I'm not sure where they go long term. As for kiosks, I think those get used for seconds to minutes unless we are talking about something else. As for web applications those aren't OSes but a style of delivering applications.
This shows off a weakness in open source. The people who can make changes to the system are not necessary the ones who should make the decisions on what changes to make.
Half of the complains about GNOME 3 is just from a bunch of Old Farts who do not want to see anything change. The other half are from people who don't like the trade offs chosen to make it. This second half will try to make this hybrid and end up making something that will split the group again as still people will not like the trade offs
Nice try, but us Old Farts have and have enunciated very specific reasons why Unity and GNOME 3 are exactly the antithesis of why we use Linux based systems in the first place - we want multi-purpose machines for doing a variety of tasks, not "CLICK HEER 4 TEH LULZ" OSen.
So we won't "always be here", we'll be over there, having tucked-and-rolled off of the Canonical train wreck and switched to another distro. It's not like there's a paucity of choice.
I didn't even think it was a nice try, just a supercilious know-it-all.
There were some trade-offs between 1 and 2, and I thought at the time really really annoyed at the fact that I couldn't drag in new launchers into the menu (Hello still obvious need for this!), but trade-offs were worth the features and streamlining that was added to the release. Of course all the enlightenment peeps felt put out and left, but I'd say they were quite in the minority in terms of the community as a whole.
IMHO Gnome 3 is not functionally similar in any way to Gnome2. If Apple, Microsoft, RIM,
See the post from Sancho below..
I'm not bothered by the fact is it changing (in fact I love it) or by the trade-offs (I dont see many anyway).
It's the dork defaults that I hate; starting with the hidden poweroff feature(*) and application switchers where users actually want application launchers.
(*) Dont tell me to use suspend; I have 3 current machines, with three industry-standard chipsets, none of them suspend then resume properly; neither did my previous thinkpad.. Suspend in Linux is basically broken a
It's not just GNU/Linux though, I still have serious problems with resume in Windows 7 (and I think Win 7 actually puts that as the default "power" button on the menu). In my case, as soon as the video driver has been updated to current, resume can pretty much be abandoned as never working again. Screen just stays black, or maybe its a brief blink then back to black. In any event, totally broken.
The only machine I have that can actually suspend / resume correctly is my Macbook. It's sad, but I actually
Long term these hybrid OSes are tough to maintain. We used to have KDE / Gnome hybrids on Linux, but Redhat, Mandrake... got tired of it.
Then why is iOS so popular?
Many on Slashdot would say that it's because iOS devices are status symbols. That real, discerning users use Android.
It's because the interface is pleasing to use and doesn't require a lot of customization.
Right. It is a sane set of defaults that work well for most people.
While GNOME's audience right now might be configuration-obsessed Linux users, they're trying to branch out into the audience that includes grandmas and teenagers with this new interface by making it simpler (in the long run, I mean, when people get used to it). I think that's as good of a goal as any, and it's only going to make GNOME more popular in the long run.
Only if they provide good, useful defaults. Low-configuration plus low-usability doesn't usually make something popular.
Usability is relative. GNOME is very usable to me, even if it doesn't seem usable to you. Many GNOME developers like the new interface, too, from what I've read.
Usability is relative.
Yes, but if you're going to reduce configurability, you damned well better design with usability for as many people as you can.
Many GNOME developers like the new interface
Developers ideas of usability may not align with users ideas of usability.
Well they sure align with my ideas of usability, hence the relativity of usability. GNOME 3 isn't perfect but I find it to be much more usable than GNOME 2 in several (though not all) areas. Give it some time; GNOME 2 had years and years to mature, while GNOME 3 is relatively fresh. By the time GNOME 4 comes around everybody is going to be bitching about how it's not exactly like GNOME 3, just like with every eventual desktop OS upgrade.
Many GNOME developers like the new interface, too, from what I've read.
What a fascinating coincidence!
Many on Slashdot would say that it's because iOS devices are status symbols. That real, discerning users use Android.
iPhone as "status symbol" was maybe about 4 years ago? I just saw my garbage man checking his iPhone, somehow I don't think they are status symbols anymore. I think you need to get the spray-painted yellow or diamond-encrusted to get back to status symbol.
Smartphones---whether android or iOS---they are just now common tools that any person would spend money on if they have the money, like a car or a TV.
Then why is iOS so popular?
It's not. I am in an office full of Macs right now, and not a single one of them is running iOS. It's all "keyboard and mouse" edition Mac OS X. This is Apple fanboy territory and even here, there is little evidence of iOS popularity.
Part of the reason for this is that iOS ala cart is not for sale; you can't put it on your desktop computer even if you want to. And part of the reason is that it would be stupid to even if you could.
Once you understand why Mac OS X users wou
They've chased this vaporous market for 10 years and have gotten them basically zero adoption into the consumer mass market. I think its time to start focusing on making their products good for the people actually using them.
Hopefully the devs working on Unity and Gnome realize that end users just want customization.
fat chance of that... they've been working to remove means of customisation from the user for a long time now... basically, it's the Gnome way, or else find something else instead...
basically, it's the Gnome way, or else find something else instead...
I went over to KDE when GNOME started pushing mono as their preferred technology for default applications. GNOME continues to make bad choices for my use cases.
I'm amazed by how many Slashdot computer geeks still feel a strong affinity for running whatever the distros set for a default in spite of the obvious long-term negative outlook.
Don't get me wrong - I have complaints about KDE, but they're normal complaints, not massive fundamental
As an authentic, card carrying SCG, I routinely introduce others to the wonderful world of Linux, most of whom are impoverished students, desperately clining to to a life-expired WinXP box bursting with viruses. For the past 4 or so years, I have been able to take a CD, boot from it, show them its really not more different than movi
You know, the conclusions from the recent UDS is that Unity will have customization options finally (they wanted to focus on making it work first), and that the Dash will be dramatically changed to a less zany approach. I don't think the Unity bashing is justified.
Why don't they just fork the GNOME project into small and large form factors?
"Just fork"? If you think it's so easy to do to maintain a whole desktop environment, why don't you do it yourself?
How do you think that would be easier than Mint's route to write a handful of GS extension files and let upstream GNOME take care of the rest?
let the user decide how they want their desktop configured, because you never know what they want.
All the Usability lore is based on that you can know what the user wants (and needs) and build the system around it. A system designed to cover those needs should ideally require little to no configuration, because the creator would satisfy all the requirements through a single interface - once the optimal design is achieved, any change to it would be worse for the stated needs.
That only works for a particular
Gnome 3 is shiny, elegant and modern looking. It's a sleek desktop but it comes with a few problems:
[...] So with this in mind, Gnome 3 in Linux Mint 12 needs to let you interact with your computer in two different ways: the traditional way, and the new way, and it's up to you to decide which way you want to use.
For this, we developed "MGSE" (Mint Gnome Shell Extensions), which is a desktop layer on top of Gnome 3 that makes it possible for you to use Gnome 3 in a traditional way. You can disable all components within MGSE to get a pure Gnome 3 experience, or you can enable all of them to get a Gnome 3 desktop that is similar to what you've been using before. Of course you can also pick and only enable the components you like to design your own desktop.
The main features in MGSE are:
gnome-tweak-tool, despite being well out of the way, still offers very little in the way of customization.
customization requires people to put on a developer hat and write 'extensions'.
Despite all this time no one has restored 'search by window title' functionality (there is one, but it doesn't interact with the window preview view, which is still well behind the state of KDE or compiz). We also still don't have a 'preview all windows belonging to a single app' despite the lengths of having a 'dock' group
Gnome isn't a lightweight UI. What you need is really not even a GUI but more like a window manager, I.e. below a GUI all together. Essentially you need far less than a GUI so the issues others are having wouldn't matter.
> In some cases, I've moved to LXDE because it's more stable.
LXDE is a great option for a more traditional desktop. It is fast, light, and works very well. It may not be as pretty as Gnome 3, and it may lack some of the "social integration" of KDE 4, but it gets the job done. I use it on a number of light systems and in all my VMs.
IIRC, LXDE was the desktop that wouldn't recognize a left-handed mouse. I.e., it had an option to set it as left handed, but the option didn't do anything. This had been a know bug for over a year.
I agree with you. I use Knoppix quite a bit and have really enjoyed it there. But then again I rarely want much more than a window manager. I actually suspect Gnome 3 would be fine for me.
Mint and its devs have had a bit of thought, and unlike some others I could mention actually have a core idea on what to give users. But then Mint has for quite a long time been a very good distro specifically for end users. And frankly, Linux needs at least one to be so.
So, in the next round of new Distro updates, Mint will again top the distrowatch charts, and deservedly so. The other distro's need to start taking note, becasue they think they are leading and others will follow. In truth, Mint is leading because Mint's process and view on users is ballpark correct, and many of distro's are off target.
As for Ubuntu and Unity. Well. Not much to be said there. They need to learn the lesson but seem to be determined to drop themselves down the distrowatch chart.
I'd rather have Tom Dickson tell us whether GNOME 2 and 3 blend or not...
Skip the backwards, get on to KDE
Flamebait? No, not necessarily.
See "Sabayon 7 Review / Overview Kde +Gnome" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyBsUrxxEYk [youtube.com]
Well... untested Debian Squeeze that needs to be debugged from scratch.
Why don't we quit mucking around and just go back to Debian? I finally figured that out.
And what's wrong with being a little like Windows95? All I want from my desktop environment is a panel with a task bar and some small icons to start applications, neither Gnome3 nor Unity can handle that and instead do some ugly full screen filling start-menu replacement crap that makes no sense on a large screen.
Guess what genius, people really like the interface because it works, and works well for people. If you wanted a brand new shiny looking desktop, some clever developer could've come up with a hybrid desktop environment along the lines of what Microsoft is doing in Windows 8. Instead, we the not so silent majority of people unwilling to work with a piece of garbage Tablet UI for hours and hours of daily -productivity- work, will not more to functionally crippled DE.
I haven't upgraded my Ubuntu 11.04 to 11.10 because I like my GNOME Desktop the way it's been, not whatever this new thing is. But I don't want to miss the rest of the upgrades. Is there a way to keep the old style Desktop, but complete the rest of the upgrade?
And what about on my old machines that run Intel motherboard integrated graphics (82854G/GL), that often break with Ubuntu upgrades for at least a few weeks until xorg-intel patches are released? No, I don't want to buy new machines that otherwise do
You can upgrade to 11.04, as it still provides Gnome2, you simply have to switch off Unity at the login screen and it will behave otherwise as usual. For 11.10 there is no way to do that, it doesn't provide Gnome2 and there is no easy way to install it at all. Ubuntu 11.10 still provides the gnome-fallback-session, which is build on Gnome3, but sort of looks like Gnome2, but is kind of broken and buggy, it also doesn't reuse any of your configurations, so you have to start from scratch.
For 11.10 I'd recomme
Why are so many people still running Windows XP? Yea, Vista was a disaster, but Win7 is actually decent. But people don't want to move. The reason is that they are tired of having to re-learn how to do things each time a new user interface comes out. Why do open-source GUI people copy from Apple and Windows? Because they are trying to make the user experience in their desktop OS likable for that audience. BUT, they are PISSING OFF the same people that got used to the old Linux/Unix way of doing things. One of the problems is the self-selection of 'improvements' by the GUI developers, who are people who want to make things 'better' ('Kamtrya!'). The rest of us are more concerned with getting tasks done, and don't want to be bothered with the learning curve. Customization ability is fine, but the default behavior should be that of Tradition, with an option to set things back to 'traditional' in any customization.
I don't care about rounded corners, opacity, and lots of screen candy. What I was is speed, reliability, consistency and the ability to change text size/layout within a window, and also to have windows maintain their aspect ratio as the default behavior when appropriate. I also like the idea of being able to focus on a background window. I'd like an 'unclose' option to bail me out when I accidentally close a window, but I know that's difficult to do properly. But please, just focus on the speed, reliability, and consistency.
If you suspect a man, don't employ him.


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Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin have Knicks on roll
When the Knicks lost the first four games of their recent five-game West Coast road trip by an average of 20 points, few thought they would hang on to first place in the Atlantic Division, let alone regain the No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference.
Yet by rattling off four straight wins, the Knicks (42-26) find themselves in a virtual tie for second in the East with Indiana (43-27).
As improbable as it sounds, considering all the team's injuries, the Knicks still are in contention for home-court advantage through the first two rounds of the playoffs.
The Knicks head into the regular-season homestretch a lot more optimistic than they were a week ago. A big reason: Carmelo Anthony, the NBA's second-leading scorer at 27.6 points per game, is back, looking healthy and knocking down shots.
Anthony totaled 65 points in the past two games after missing six of the previous eight games with a sore right knee. On Saturday night, the second of a back-to-back against Toronto, Anthony looked like his explosive, athletic self.
"It was a big step for me and a big step for us, just to see that I can handle the back-to-backs right now," Anthony said. "I'm starting to feel better and better each day. I'm getting back to where I need to be."
Anthony's return to health hasn't been the only factor that has helped the Knicks right their ship. The emergence of Kenyon Martin, who was watching games from his living-room couch a little more than a month ago, has been a key factor in getting the team through an epidemic of front-line injuries.
Martin, who has started six games while Tyson Chandler is out with a neck injury, has posted back-to-back games of 19 and 18 points. He also has brought a much-needed level of energy and emotion to the team, especially on defense.
"He's stepped up big-time," coach Mike Woodson said. "He's scored for us, he's rebounded, had a few blocks. He does a little bit of everything."
Martin was a teammate of Anthony and J.R. Smith in Denver and played with Jason Kidd on the Nets teams that went to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003. He obviously has a good feel for the games of several key Knicks.
"He means a lot to this team right now," Anthony said. "We need him coming down the stretch."
Woodson has said Martin will return to the bench once Chandler is healthy. Martin insists he is fine with whatever role he plays.
Said Martin: "I'm playing for now and I'm playing for beyond now. I don't want this to be it . . . I just want people to know I can still play the game of basketball at a high level."


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The first doctor we met with was the radiologist on Monday (Dr. Rad). He was very nice and explained things quite well. Best of all, he talked TO Mom and listened to what she had to say. We've had several doctors in the past that act like she's not even in the room when discussing various things. Anyway, we all like him - all being Mom, my niece, my brother, and myself.
Dr. Rad did not "agree" with Previous Doctor's suggestion for treatment. Previous Doctor was the one who found the tumor and diagnosed it as cancer. His suggestion was to treat the tumor with radiation only and "make her comfortable" suggesting that the cancer was not curable. Dr. Rad, on the other hand, doesn't believe in half-hearted treatment. Instead, he "goes for the cure" which includes radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery...
After an extended discussion with Dr. Rad, which Mom seemed to fully understand (she sometimes has memory/comprehension issues – but then, so do I), the choices were to go with "radiation only" at another facility and with Another Doctor since Dr. Rad "doesn't do that" or to go with Dr. Rad for the cure. We were all quite surprised when Mom said that she wanted to go for the cure! Quite a change from 3 1/2 years ago when she wouldn't do either radiation or chemo for the breast cancer!
Mom is taking it all in stride and, at least on the surface, seems to be handling everything quite well. She seems to have an optimistic outlook (somewhat surprising to us given her negative-thinking tendencies) and is trying to follow the recommendations of the doctors as far as eating more/better (she has lost about 20 pounds in the last six months) and drinking more fluids (the treatment could cause dehydration). We even got her started on Carnation Instant Breakfast, which is what was recommended as a supplement, and she actually likes it!
On Wednesday we had a meeting with the chemotherapy doctor, Dr. Chemo. She too was very thorough in her explanations of the two types of chemo treatment available – an oral pill and IV/infusion pump. Dr. Chemo patiently answered all of our questions. She also talked directly to Mom and we all liked her as well. I think it is extremely important to like your doctors and those who are treating you!
Yesterday they did a P.E.T. Scan to see if there were any other "hot" spots. Today we returned to see Dr. Rad for the results and to set up the treatment schedule. The P.E.T. Scan did not show any other abnormalities though apparently some lymph nodes have been affected. However, they are in the pelvic region and will be able to be treated along with the tumor. If there is such a thing as "good news" associated with the cancer, I guess it is that it hasn't spread outside the rectum, other than some of those lymph nodes.
Insurance won't cover the oral chemo-medication, which would have been easier to administer, so the chemo will be via an IV/Port infusion pump. As you can probably guess, both have pros and cons with various and different so-called "minor" side affects. We've been told that she won't lose her hair but that there may be some nausea.
Anyway, treatment starts Monday afternoon (January 10th). Chemo will be given in conjunction with the radiation and will be five days a week for 5 1/2 weeks (a total of 28 treatments). A technician will come to the apartment on Saturdays to disconnect the chemo pump then on Mondays we see the Chemo Doc to resume the chemo treatment for the next five days. Radiation will be done daily at the treatment center in Fort Wayne. After the first session, it will only take 15-20 minutes for each treatment - it takes us longer than that to get there!
After the chemo/radiation treatment they will wait 5-6 weeks then there will surgery to remove the affected area of the colon and rectum. Depending upon how well the treatment worked and the damage done by the radiation she may or may not end up with a colostomy bag.
About six weeks after surgery more tests will be done to determine if additional chemotherapy is required. If so, that could last for up to six additional months.
We're just going to take it a day at a time and hope that she does not have any serious side-effects from the radiation and chemo.


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The Duke Basketball staff is on the road as you learned in out latest recruiting update and BDN has confirmed that an official offer was made to Jahlil Okafor, a 6-9 sophomore center who plays for Whiney Young High School in Chicago, Illinois.
Blue Devil Nation Recruiting Analyst Andrew Slater gives you the low down on Jahlil Okafor below and if you like what you read, you will love how informed Blue Devil Nation Premium is. What are you waiting for? Join in on the fun as a member now!
"For of those to whom much is given, much is required"
-President John F. Kennedy
Jahlil Okafor is a 6'10″ rising sophomore from the North Side of Chicago. In the Gold Medal game of the 16U FIBA Americas, the fifteen year-old was perfect from the floor and finished with eighteen points and fourteen rebounds against Argentina. This was the culmination of months of preparation. Okafor had spent countless hours refining his low-post skills and shedding some baby fat in order to be able to both make the final cut and ultimately contribute to the USA 16s team.
Although one of the youngest members of the team, Jahlil wound up finishing second on the team in rebounds (9.2 rpg) and third in points (14.6 ppg), while leading the team in shooting, both free throw (82.6%) and field goal (71%). His Mac Irvin teammate and friend, FIBA Americas MVP Jabari Parker, was on hand to celebrate the moment with him on the court in Mexico.
Okafor had a solid freshman year on the varsity team at Whitney Young, a magnet school that is the alma mater of First Lady Michelle Obama, the NBA veteran Quentin Richardson, and the directors of the Matrix, the Wachowski brothers. Jahlil was reportedly offered a scholarship to DePaul as an eighth grader at Rosemont Elementary School by their former interim coach, Tracy Webster. Since then, Okafor, a passionate Bulls fan, has received college scholarship offers from high-major programs across the country.
In late May, the decision was made to advance the fifteen year-old Jahlil to Mac Irvin's 17U team in order to give more of a post presence for Nike's EYBL wing in Los Angeles. Like a duck taking to water, he was a natural in his game against the physical 6'8″ senior Elijah Macon and All-Ohio Red. His advanced footwork, size, and developing low-post game have helped him hold his own against significantly older players at the LeBron James Skills Academy and the Peach Jam.
After losing his mother in the third grade, the focused and gregarious big man has been raised by his father Chukwudi "Chuck" Okafor and helped out by his aunt, Dr. Chinyere Okafor-Conley, an assistant principal at Penn Elementary School in Chicago. Education is a major point of emphasis in the family and was the primary factor in Jahlil's decision to select the academically challenging school, Whitney Young.
For more, join BDN Premium for full site access.


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The Oakland Press (http://www.theoaklandpress.com)
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
A Lake Orion High School cheerleading coach will appear in district court Thursday after investigators say she embezzled money from a charity fund created for the team.
Nancy De Avila, 49, is charged with embezzlement from a charitable group — which could carry a penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine or three times the amount embezzled is she's convicted of the felony — and will appear for a pretrial in 52-3 District Judge Lisa Asadoorian's Rochester Hills courtroom.
The case reaches back to 2010, said Sheriff's Orion Township substation Lt. Dan Toth.
"It went for three years unnoticed," said Toth. "It wouldn't have been noticed, either, because there were several instances where she would take money out of the fund for personal use and put it back in shortly after."
De Avila, cheerleading coach at Lake Orion High School, took the money from a scholarship fund originally set up in 2006, deputies report.
The fund, named the Natalie Rae Nance Scholarship Fund after the death of former graduate Nance — 21 years old when she died in a tragic traffic accident — gave small amounts to exceptional students at the high school in the areas of art, cosmetology and cheerleading. It was supported by donations with one main fundraising gala held every year in the Lake Orion Community.
The investigation was launched in Nov. 2013, when scholarship organizers found shortages in the fund's bank statements and filed a police report when De Avila allegedly stalled their efforts to look into why the money was missing.
Orion Township deputies' investigation revealed funds from the scholarship had been converted to personal use over a three-year period by De Avila, one of the managers on the account. Checks from the fund were used to purchase goods and services and make payment on personal credit card accounts without the knowledge or approval of the fund organizers, deputies said.
Toth added that once the investigation was brought to light, De Avila did make deposits before she was ultimately taken into custody.
"I think at one point, the fund account was down over $10,000, and several thousand dollars was returned, but the account is still over $1,000 short," Toth said. "Those final figures are still being looked at by investigators."
Toth said it could come out in court what types of things De Avila may have bought with fund money, or whether she bought anything at all.
While De Avila is free on a $10,000 personal bond and cannot have any contact with Natalie Rae Nance Scholarship representatives, the Lake Orion High School cheerleading team has a state finals competition scheduled for this weekend in Grand Rapids. An interim coach will be leading the team, school officials said.
Lake Orion Schools Superintendent Marion Ginopolis was not immediately available for comment on De Avila's track record with the school, but Orion's Lt. Toth said that "by many accounts, she was a good coach."


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Like 1994 all over again
I was f-cked up good over Keanu Reeves when Speed came out. For the next six months I imagined we'd be together some day. Keanu and Sandra Bullock have remained friends throughout. Last night they had dinner in Beverly Hills, pictured here leaving separately. Zebra shoes on Sandy? I never would have pictured it.
Anyway, since Sandy is single, of course they'll be calling for their engagement in the magazines next week, especially since they were wrong about her and Ryan Reynolds. (SO curious what Sandy really thinks of Blake Lively.) After all this time though, Keanu and Sandy, they're probably like siblings. Also, I am trying not to look at him too closely in these shots.
Instead, I'll throw it back to an interview he gave during Speed. God he was hot. God they were young. And SO cute. The payoff is at the end. Wait for it. And then, below, because they were also in The Lake House together, follow that up with the best acting you'll ever see.
JML / Splash News


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Can someone summarize exactly what we have achieved in this case?
Can someone summarize exactly what we have achieved in this case?
We paid a judge and some court staff their salaries for a few years? Oh, and let's not forget the lawyers...
Yeah. Pretty amazing how a website for engineer and computer scientists don't like to pay their own salaries.
Do you remember the 'good ole' days of software. Do you remember how much of it was funded? It was funded by the old telephone monopolies which used their guaranteed monopoly over phone lines to fund such ventures as the invention of C++ at ATT/Bell labs. Wait a minute... do you remember what happened to these great labs once they were forced to breakup from their monopoly? Oh yeah... they sucke
So on slashdot someone advocating monopolies to drive technological innovation gets modded +4 Insightful?
(Pssst: Competition is the main driver of innovation in a market system, you should be thankful we have _any_ innovation coming from Microsoft instead of cheering for them)
Microsoft is not a natural monopoly (like cable, electricity, water) where there is only going to be one infrastructure going to your house.
Electricity is not a natural monopoly when it is regulated to separate distribution from generation.
Until that time, let us people who produce goods that we need to sell in the brutally competitive free market have a few tools to have a steady income. If that means proprietary file formats, exclusive deals with distributors, making funny protocols... so be it. The free market will determine when that is too annoying to bother dealing it and get with the competition.
If all that shit was eliminated, you'd have a level playing field to work on, and be able to compete based on merit.
What are you afraid of?
I'm not living in a world where my neighbor who makes windows break my window every morning, so I have to pay him to fix the window.
I personally have never had a problem with it, but that sounds like WGA to me.
For that matter, it sounds like the Windows update schedule (or OSX, I'm not prejudiced.) Either way, a new OS comes out every so often with new APIs that developers are convinced or cajoled into using so that we have to buy a new operating system. Sometimes it's made sense, because computers h
Oh, and let's not forget the lawyers...
But what about the children? Why can't anybody think of the Children?
The children lose the most from monopolies.
We forestalled the compete domination of Microsoft in the computer industry. They behaved like better computer citizens than they otherwise would have. And they should have gone along with the breakup. It would have made for a much more nimble company, with independent units that made the OS, the applications and the hardware.
They secured the big OEMs the right to sell more than just windows, eventually paving the way for netbooks.
Which is where I think antitrust REALLY ought to be looking at, as I smell something fishy. I mean, look at how fast OEMs dropped Linux onto the back page when they were "given" XP for Netbooks. You'd think that as cutthroat as the margins are in that sector they would be pushing the one that gives them better profits, especially considering most folks treat Netbooks as a "browser in a box" and don't expect everything to work like a full size. Yet the Linux options are suddenly buried away from the front pa
Can someone summarize exactly what we have achieved in this case?
Briefly, in the 1990's MS was found to have a monopoly in its OS, which is not illegal in and of itself, but that it also illegally used its monopoly OS to create barriers to entry in other competitive areas. Particularly, it illegaly tied its browser to the OS, making other browsers not function as well (e.g., for help file viewing) and more difficult to install. At trial, they were shown to be either liars or, if you are very generous, incompetent.
Detailed findings of fact found illegal anti-competitive behavior in multiple areas, and their punishment was to be broken up into several companies. On appeal, MS successfully got that ruling overturned, on the basis that the judge in the case had made some negative comments about MS prior to issuing his ruling. In the meantime, 15 separate cases against MS brought by state attorneys general were merged, and MS settled with them for something so trivial no one remembers what it was. California, New York, and maybe one or two other states held out and separately obtained billion dollar settlements.
Shortly after the break-up order was rescinded, George W. Bush came into office and all efforts to obtain a reasonable remedy were dropped. MS essentially got off scott-free, in the sense that they illegally transformed their OS monopoly into a browser monopoly, with all the due profit that entailed, and weren't punished at all except for what they had to pay their lawyers and a billion to California.
To summarize and answer your question: Not Much.
Shortly after the break-up order was rescinded, George W. Bush came into office and all efforts to obtain a reasonable remedy were dropped
And don't forget that this happened right after Microsoft heavily "funded GWB's election campaign".
And don't forget that this happened right after Microsoft heavily "funded GWB's election campaign".
That's how American politics work these days. We have the best laws, legislators, and governments money can buy.
Microsoft DID document a number of otherwise undocumented APIs. And they have internal processes to ensure that Microsoft programs like Office, FoxPro, Visual C++ etc dont call anything thats undocumented, see this:
http://blogs.msdn.com/calvin_hsia/archive/2005/01/26/361033.aspx [msdn.com]
They did later document lots of network protocols but that was the EU and not the US that got them to do it.
Documentation my ass. I read the Wine mailing list a lot and the first thing newbie programmers hear on that list is to take the MSDN documentation with a grain of salt since it is A) not written at the time of programming and B) not written by the programmers itself.
Furthermore; the small, leaked part of the source code for Windows contains comments such as "Changing X seems to fuck up the goddamn C compiler" and "Removing this seems to break Office 98" which implies that not a lot of people at Microsoft s
Very little, because the DoJ shut down the case before it went to the most recent punitive stage. The findings of fact was useful in that it resulted in many civil suits against Microsoft being won without having to argue the merits of those specific facts.
Instead of actually doing something about the facts of the case, the government decided to turn around and walk away, so that Microsoft ended up in a form of legal limbo where they were guilty of doing something wrong without being punished for it yet, b
Can someone summarize exactly what we have achieved in this case?
The outcome was a complete success. Windows 95 no longer dominates the desktop.
as far as I was aware, there was little movement in 8 years.
If a lot happened quickly, it wouldn't be taking 7 or so years would it, therefore by definition, not a lot of movement is going on.
Considering that this is the same judge who agreed Microsoft was abiding by the terms of its reward for losing in court, when it clearly wasn't, I don't hold out a lot of hope that anything will change from the last 8 years of U.S. court-endorsed monopoly abuse.
Name an OS consumers use that is browserless. Fact is, an OS without a browser in this day and age is utterly useless. Less than useless. It's a paperweight.
In general, Microsoft has made great strides to make its OS more transparent and more 'fair' than ever. A lot of people (who are technically aware enough to agree) will probably attribute this to the court, but I think the reason is a lot simpler: good engineering is winning out over corporate greed. Case in point? UAC. A lot of people give Microso
if you're a standard user, your life has never been better
That's like the frog in the cooking pot saying, "oh good, the water only got one degree warmer, it's not boiling." A user's life might be better, but as someone who knows what decent privilege escalation and user controls actually look like, I would say that UAC is still a joke, but that joke would not be funny. Do yourself a favor and use a different operating system for awhile, it'll open your mind I promise. You may still continue to use Wind
I have been running linux exclusively at home since 1995.
Think of it this way: can you imagine anyone thinking UAC was going to be a big selling point? They did it because they needed to to.
As far as IE; try setting a different default browser and try to find instances where IE still gets launched. I imagine people do take dependencies on IE's rendering engine, so I wouldn't be surprised if you're going to have a hard time getting rid of ieframe.dll.
Ok why the hell is slashdot running an ad for "report piracy" by the BSA?
And in the YRO section of all places?
The irony...
ob Microsoft Antitrust: Reminds me of why the BSA's power needs to be trimmed in some way.
Ok why the hell is slashdot running an ad for "report piracy" by the BSA?
slashdot doesn't love you, it just wants your money.
"If it's not loud, it doesn't work!" -- Blank Reg, from "Max Headroom"


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Dave D'Onofrio's Patriots Notebook: Coach Belichick calls it a sad day on many levelsBY DAVE D'ONOFRIO
Special to The New Hampshire Union Leader
July 24. 2013 8:48PM
TWO DAYS before the players pull the pads back on, and put an end to an offseason that was more about the penal system than the playbook for the organization, the football fans of New England received reassurance that their Patriots are going to be OK.
It came courtesy of coach Bill Belichick, who Wednesday afternoon met the media for the first time since star tight end Aaron Hernandez was released after being arraigned on a murder charge, and with a tone of reflection and regret delivered a pitch-perfect statement that took an important step in distancing the team from the situation as it moves forward with football.
A pencil tucked behind his ear, he wore a blue Patriot-emblazoned windbreaker like it was any other Wednesday — but shortly after stepping to the podium he explained it was hardly that.
"It's a sad day, a really sad day on so many levels," he offered at the outset, saying that he felt the matter was important enough that it needed to be addressed before Friday's start of training camp, and offering condolences for the "tragic loss" suffered by the family of 27-year-old victim Odin Lloyd.
He then described the shock and disappointment he felt upon having his foreign vacation interrupted by reports of the investigation into Hernandez's involvement, subsequently saying that he worked with ownership in acting swiftly to cut Hernandez before he'd even been charged, and that he stood by everything owner Robert Kraft said a couple weeks ago in a meeting with three hand-picked reporters.
But it was when he specifically related the murder to the team that he did himself and his organization the greatest service.
"This case involves an individual who happened to be a New England Patriot, and we certainly do not condone unacceptable behavior and this does not in any way represent the way that the New England Patriots want to do things," he said, reading from a prepared statement.
"As the coach of the team, I'm primarily responsible for the people that we bring into the football operation. Our players are generally highly motivated and gifted athletes, they come from very different backgrounds. They've met many challenges along the way, and have done things to get here.
"Sometimes they've made bad or immature decisions, but we try to look at every single situation on a case-by-case basis and try to do what's best for the football team and what's best for the franchise. Most of those decisions have worked out, but some don't. Overall, I'm proud of the hundreds of players that have come through this program.
"I'm personally disappointed and hurt in a situation like this."
Finally, after the star they'd invested $40 million in proved to be a monster, and their response began to look a bit cold and faceless after opting not to address in front of cameras and microphones for more than a month, in speaking for the team's leadership Belichick looked human. He seemed genuine and sincere. When he said he was disappointed and hurt, it sounded like he really was.
It's too far a stretch to call him and the Patriots any sort of victims here, but a man notorious for his steely demeanor and sheer ability to stonewall even the most innocuous of questions cast a vibe that he was still struggling to digest this — not in the way it would impact his team's roster or strategy, but simply as a citizen.
And that was important for any corner of the public holding a belief that the Patriots were somehow complicit in this, having drafted and re-signed Hernandez despite the red flags — some of which weren't unfurled until after his arrest. It was important for the coach to confirm that the team studies the backgrounds of its players, not because one went horribly awry, but because the system is validates by the hundreds they got right.
"I can tell you that we look at every player's history from the moment we start discussing it," Belichick said. "Going back to his family, where he grew up, what his lifestyle was like, high school, college experiences. We evaluate his performance, his intelligence, his work ethic, his motivation, his maturity, his improvement and we try to project that into our organization on a going forward basis. It combines a player's personal history, but again, it also has to project what we think and how we think he will be in our environment."
This time they obviously thought wrong, and they owned up to it. They were accountable. They took responsibility for bringing Hernandez here — yet they managed to do it without revealing what they missed, where they erred, or why their system failed.
And so, in the end, Belichick came across more caring and honest and humble than most probably expected. He gave the impression that the Patriots aren't running from this situation as an organization, even while moving on as a team. And as a result he made the case to his players, to his fans, to everyone invested in his franchise that the situation is under control.
That with Hernandez in their past, and with the focus now ready to shift to football, the Patriots are going to be OK.
"We'll learn from this terrible experience that we've had. We'll become a better team from the lessons that we've learned," Belichick said. "We have so many players on this team that work hard, that do the right thing, and that set a great example of being a professional and being a solid representative of this team and the community."
Dave D'Onofrio covers the Patriots for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. His e-mail address is email@example.com.


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As if the Bruins weren't having enough problems, now they might add yet another rookie to their defense corps for their match-up with Pittsburgh Monday night.
The Bruins tonight recalled blueliner Matt Bartkowski on an emergency basis from Providence (AHL). Today in Pittsburgh, Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid was granted a "maintenance day" and did not practice. He played less than five minutes in Montreal last night. It's safe to assume that in the cloak-and-dagger world of the NHL, McQuaid suffered some sort of injury (possibly in his fight with Travis Moen).
So with first-year pro Steven Kampfer already in their top six, the Bruins might now replace the rookie McQuaid with Bartkowski, who coincidentally enough is a native of Pittsburgh.
Although he has yet to make his NHL debut, Bartkowski went on the Bruins' season-opening road trip to Europe. With Providence, he has endured an up-and-down first pro season. For the season, he has posted 12 points (four goals) and a minus-7 rating in 34 games.


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One of Cataclysm's biggest changes came in the form of the stat redesign. Blizzard's team made several huge changes to the stats we were used to seeing on our gear. Attack power was rolled into agility's base potency, while armor penetration was never to be seen again on an item. We picked up a new, role-agnostic stat in mastery, with the hopes that it might help consolidate gear between the various rogue specs. Finally, haste was changed to increase the resource regeneration of melee classes and specifically accelerates the rate of energy regeneration for rogues.
Haste has always boosted our energy recovery in PvE, although that mechanic was reliant on talents like Focused Attacks and Combat Potency. Now, all three specs see an energy boost from their haste, with combat still regenerating the most energy due to Combat Potency. The idea is that as your character gains gear, you get the ability to push more buttons per minute. As we progress through raiding tiers and the ilevel of our gear climbs, our rotations should be becoming more robust.


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Each season a new crop of college athletes take part in the NFL Draft Process, and every year what the overall strengths and depths of the class are will change as often as the needs of the teams doing the drafting.
This year is no exception.
In 2008, we saw a class with good overall running back talent, quicker than anticipated impact at the quarterback position and great depth at the defensive spots.
The 2009 class has its own set of advantages and strong spots, but also more than a few positions of questionable depth and talent.
When the layman looks at the Draft, they think in terms of the 'sexy positions'. The quarterback, the running back, the high profile names on the offense. It's where many new draftnicks and casual observers get caught up.
But once you've spent any time listening to any analyst or scout worth his salt, it turns out that's not always where the value is in any given year.
This year is no different and while there is some value and depth in those skill positions, once again the most value appears to be in the trenches and on the defensive side of the ball.
Let's take a look at the overall talent in the NFL Draft class of 2009.
Position - Quarterback
High Side - Matthew Stafford, Mark Sanchez
Low Side - Curtis Painter, Graham Harrell
Overall Grade - C+
Explanation - While I am a big fan of Stafford and Sanchez, I don't know either would have cracked the top of last year's class. Still, both athletes have the tools to be worthy of a top pick in 2009. Stafford solidified a high pick slot with an outstanding Pro Day showcasing his accuracy and arm strength while Sanchez will have an opportunity to prove his doubters wrong by showing off his own accuracy and allaying injury concerns on April 1st at USC's workout. In his own tier behind them is Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman. I'll be honest – any other year and Freeman isn't going in round one. His accuracy issues, streaky nature and occasional lapses in decision making worry me. Still, after Sanchez and Stafford, Freeman is the guy you want, though he'll take more time to develop than the first two. After that – it's personal choice. Every quarterback behind them is a big question mark and a project, so it becomes about who teams fall in love with. One team might love Pat White's versatility, while another may love Sam Houston State QB Rhett Bomar's huge arm and intangibles. Or a team may wait a bit and snag any number of high upside, long term projects like Fresno State's Tom Brandstater (good short touch vs shaky deep throws), Alabama's John Parker Wilson (great intangibles vs lack of size and arm strength) or recently hot prospect Mike Reilly from Central Washington (good short accuracy and touch vs spread offense worries). My choice for dark horse? Rudy Carpenter, Arizona State. Tough, determined and with good accuracy on the West Coast-Style slants and short passes, Carpenter played behind an atrocious offensive line, with no run game and still managed to put up very good numbers. Sure thing? Not at all. But in the right scheme? Could be very successful. But he's indicative of the class – all upside, all projects. Few sure things. Here is where I think a smart team can make a big future impact with a pick that's low risk, but potentially high reward. One of these guys in the right system and with patience could turn out to be another Matt Cassel - assuming people remember the patience it took over almost four years to develop him.
Position - Runningback
High Side - Knowshon Moreno, Chris Wells, LeSean McCoy
Low Side - Ian Johnson, Marlon Lucky
Overall Grade - B
Explanation - These backs don't have the marquee value of a Peterson or a McFadden but that doesn't mean there aren't any solid backs here. Knowshon Moreno has great instincts and is a big, tough runner with good hands. Chris Wells is a strong runner with good burst, but injury and durability worries. UCONN running back Donald Brown is quick to the hole and had very good vision and can catch the ball well out of the backfield. Behind the big three are a ton of solid, though perhaps unspectacular running backs. It's not to say that a guy like Pitt's LeSean McCoy, Liberty's Rashad Jennings or Andre Brown from North Carolina can't have a very good and very productive careers. But none of these backs hold the excitement that the top of the line studs usually do. The class has some depth, players with defined roles versus the projects that litter the quarterback class. A guy like Jeremiah Johnson out of Oregon would make an outstanding change of pace back. While he doesn't have elite speed and has never been a workhorse, he's shown ability, can play in special teams and has shown good vision and patience. He may never become the bell cow, but he also shouldn't take three years to develop into a solid player. Or a team can grab a guy like Marlon Lucky from Nebraska, a runner who has a good combination of size and speed, who can run for tough yards but doesn't have the ability to be an every down back. He can certainly fill in – and quickly – on special teams as well as be the type of back to grind yardage out and get the hard yards. Though he will never be a home run hitter, Lucky could be another guy who can be picked late and yet still contributes early in his career. The running back class is filled with these solid, though perhaps unspectacular, backs. Because of this, a team can lay in the weeds and fill other positions of need, yet still have a shot at a quality back who can contribute in a specific role pretty quickly. While the ceiling isn't extraordinarily high, the floor for many of these guys is pretty good.
Position - Fullback
High Side - Tony Fiametta
Low Side - Brannon Southerland
Overall Grade - C-
Explanation - Like with centers and kickers, top shelf fullbacks are few and far between and that's why guys like Tony Richardson get the dollars he does blocking for backs like LT and Adrian Peterson. You aren't likely to see any fullbacks go on day one, and maybe just a handful will be drafted over all. In the last nine drafts, the top fullback has been selected in the fourth round four times and the fifth round three times. The top fullback has only been pulled in the third round twice including last year when Jacob Hester went to the Chargers. And while he was the top fullback in the 2008 draft he was also the type of guy San Diego looked at as a potential full time running back. Again, it's rare for a full blown fullback to go early. While a blocking fullback is worth his weight in gold, it's easier to convert a running back or sign a fullback off the street. So even the top guys like Syracuse's Tony Fiametta will be unlikely to go earlier than the middle rounds. This is not to say Fiametta isn't a capable player. The former Orangeman is a fantastic blocker who works hard and has the versatility coaches love which allows him to block for other backs, catch the ball out of the backfield or even work special teams. It's that flexibility which will attract teams and players like Fiametta. But many other guys have too many question marks. Georgia's Brannan Southerland has some real conerns about his ability to stay healthy, Eric Kettani needs to fulfill his Naval service before he can play and lack experience in receiving and special teams so is limited while Jason Cook from Ole Miss is basically a blocker – and that's all. Once you get past the top one or two players, a team might as well wait and sign these guys after the draft or look for a late round running back, see if they can develop him as a regular RB and if not, move him to fullback. Less fullbacks are being used in College football, and Pro teams are using tight ends and other players to block when necessary. As a result, this class which is thin on depth will likely see few players taken on draft weekend and perhaps even during the rookie free agency signing period.
Position - Wide Receiver
High Side - Michael Crabtree, Jeremy Maclin
Low Side - Sammie Stroughter, Tiquan Underwood
Overall Grade - B+
Explanation - A huge step up from last year and we should see a bunch of receivers pulled in the first round and over the course of the first day. There are some projects, but there are also plenty of very solid top prospects here. You can start with the names we've all become familiar with over the last few months. Michael Crabtree with his phenomenal size, body control, reach and outstanding ball skills. Fluid and elusive Jeremy Maclin with his ability to stretch the field and vertical ability. Darrius Heyward-Bey, Kenny Britt, Percy Harvin. All are names you've heard about endlessly. But this class differs from the 2008 bunch in more than just the top end players. This class has a full compliment of depth, guys who will be effective early in their career and could have long-term impact. Some, like OSU wideout Brian Robiskie seemingly emerged out of nowhere, lighting up the NFL Scouting Combine with an outstanding 40 and showing more athleticism than expected. He continued to impress at his Pro Day and is poised to get picked somewhere in the second or third rounds. Robiskie's route running and instincts make him a player who could be ready to contribute immediately and while he may not be the next Calvin Johnson or Randy Moss, he's a solid player and could be so for a long time to come. Slipping down a few spots to Ramses Barden, from Cal Poly. Barden has the size and strength to dominate defenders, he just needs to use it a little more confidently. And he can get yards after the catch. A little more of a project, but he can still develop into a good wide receiver and an excellent guy to move the chains or red zone target. Other guys who provide the depth on this squad are Washington State's Brandon Gibson (experience, great hands, good routes, so-so speed, not enough separation), USC's Patrick Turner off a great Pro Day (great routes, hands and tough attitude but not a great blocker or much of a deep threat), Quon Cosby out of Texas (athletic, quick, great ball skills, but a little older and limited separation) and Dominique Edison from Stephen F. Austin (decent speed, great hands and a good vertical threat, but not too physical nor sudden off the line) all will go second day and could carve out roles as at least #3 receivers. Even guys like the players at the bottom of my list, like Oregon State's Sammie Stroughter and Rutgers' Tiquan Underwood could contribute, though it might take a little longer.
Position - Tight End
High Side - Brandon Pettigrew, Jared Cook
Low Side - Ryan Purvis, Bear Pascoe
Overall Grade - B-
Explanation - There are at least 5 TEs in this class that could be impact players at the next level, but not much depth and overall it won't dominate the draft. You may never be able to have too many wide receivers or running backs, but you don't need that many tight ends. Also, the position plays a little different now. You want a tight end who can block AND catch, not one but able to learn the other. Pettigrew is the class of the positional group, he can run, he can block, he can catch – and he's a tough SOB. The guys behind him are all very athletic – Jared Cook (great speed and quicks, great hands, but little blocking ability), Cornelius Ingram (great ball skills, soft hands, can go vertical, but not tough, inexperienced) and Travis Beckum (great speed, good routes, elusiveness after the catch but not bulky enough, not physical enough and there are durability issues) – but have some question marks. Still, they have the offensive skills to play for some time. The low end like Bear Pascoe (great blocker but very stiff and not fast) and Ryan Purvis (good hands, willing blocker but not fast or explosive) seem to be the flipside – blockers who might develop into full tight ends. The fact you could get production from the late rounds with guys this deep into the class is what makes this class just a bit better than average.
Position - Offensive Tackle
High Side - Jason Smith, Eugene Monroe, Andre Smith
Low Side - Garrett Reynolds, Joel Bell
Overall Grade - B+
Explanation - Once again a great crop of OTs and we could see another run on the position in the first round. The game is won in the trenches and there are a lot of fine tackles in the 2009 class, even if it isn't quite as deep as the 2008 group. Jason Smith, Monroe, Andre Smith and Oher will be gone in the top 15 in all likelihood and you could see guys like Eben Britton out of Arizona and recently hot Phil Loadholt from Oklahoma who could sneak into the first as well. There are other good tackles behind these guys but they could go anywhere from late second to beginning of the third, guys like William Beatty (UCONN), Troy Kropog (Tulane) or Jamon Meredith (South Carolina). All have something they need to work on be it a lack of prototypical size, mobility or a lack pf perfection either in the run or pass portion of the game. But all of them will be productive. As you go further away, the projects grow more shaky but there are so many who could slip in or will get picked up immediately as a street free agent, if a team misses out on one guy, they have the possibility of grabbing a project late and spending less money, yet still seeing production.
Position - Guard
High Side - Duke Robinson, Andy Levitre
Low Side - Ryan Durand, Travis Bright
Overall Grade - B-
Explanation - A decent group, but not a ton of depth. You'll see them go starting in the second, but there aren't more than a dozen guys who are good bets to go. A bunch of guards will go as rookie free agents, but not much excitement. Most interesting thing I have seen is the contradicting evaluations of Greg Isdaner of West Virginia. Some rankings have him as the second or third guard. But some don't even have him going on Draft weekend. The top of the class are definitely Oklahoma's Duke Robinson and Oregon State's Andy Levitre. But while maybe one slips into the first, guards don't go early. Overall it's a decent class but there are not a ton of guards who will go on draft day, especially when some tackles can move over to guard if they don't work out.
Position - Center
High Side - Alex Mack, Max Unger, Eric Wood
Low Side - Cecil Newton, Dallas Reynolds
Overall Grade - C
Explanation - Top flight Centers are tough to come by, which is why Jeff Saturday just got re-signed by the Colts. You don't let one go. This class is ok at the top, but there is a significant drop-off after that and if we hit double digits drafted, I'd be surprised. But the top of the class is pretty good. Cal's Mack is whip-smart and incredibly flexible in what he can play – center, guard, what have you – he not only can do many things, he's willing to. I have seen him slip a bit in some mocks, with Wood jumping in as the center taken in the first round. The Louisville center isn't the most powerful guy and finds himself pushed around a little too much for me. But again, a smart guy who is a hard worker.
Friday, April 24, 2009
NFL Draft: Positional Class Grades
Posted by Andrew Garda at 3:45 PM
Labels: centers, draft prospects, guards, nfl draft, offensive line, Quarterbacks, running backs, tackles, tight end rankings, Wide Receivers
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