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During an interview with National Public Radio host Terry Gross, Quentin Tarantino suggested that his new film about American slavery, Django Unchained, is in the tradition of the spaghetti western, with a mix of stylized humor and the fantastic feats of a blaxploitation superhero.
While all that is perhaps true, Tarantino uniquely captured the essence of the "peculiar institution." He may have engaged in historical revisionism, but he made a bold statement about a moral stain that Americans, white and black, cannot easily discuss and lack the moral gumption to reconcile.
Many prominent blacks, most notably writer/director Spike Lee, hate Django and are boycotting it.
Speaking with Gross, Tarantino explained how westerns from different decades reflect the concerns of their times: "One of the things that's interesting about westerns in particular is (that) there's no other genre that reflects the decade that they were made or the morals and the feelings of Americans during that decade (more) than westerns. Westerns are always a magnifying glass as far as that's concerned.
"The westerns of the '50s definitely have an Eisenhower, birth of suburbia and plentiful times aspect to them. America started little by little catching up with its racist past by the '50s, at the very, very beginning of (that decade), and that started being reflected in westerns. Consequently, the late '60s have a very Vietnam vibe to the westerns, leading into the '70s. And by the mid '70s, you know, most of the westerns literally could be called 'Watergate westerns,' because it was about disillusionment and tearing down the myths that we have spent so much time building up."
Assuming that Tarantino is correct, which of our current "morals" and "feelings" has he put under a magnifying glass in Django?
This is the era of Barack Obama, America's first black president. His presidency has affected white people's thinking on race, but it has affected blacks even more profoundly. Obama's ascendency has forced most black people to become more self-conscious, perhaps more introspective about a host of complex intra-racial issues that circumscribed our enlightenment and upward mobility or stopped them altogether.
Many complex problems in contemporary black culture are played out in Django.
The most obvious is the conflict between the Uncle Tom and the authentic black, represented by the Samuel L. Jackson character, Stephen, and the Jamie Foxx character, Django, our hero who becomes a freed man. Unlike Stephen — whose only power derives from being loyal to his white slave master — Django owns himself and becomes more powerful after striking out on his own.
Blacks continue to play the film's game of who's the Uncle Tom and who's the authentic African-American, who's worthy and who's unworthy. Remember that when Obama was beginning his first run for the White House, he was accused of not being "black enough," someone who, if elected, would not place high priority on black problems.
The film also describes the issue of class and status among blacks, manifested in the differences between house slaves and field slaves. Django himself, riding a horse, wearing white man's attire and speaking near-proper English, brings it all into sharp relief.
Most blacks immediately recognize the enduring problem of "colorism" in Django: black-on-black discrimination based on the lightness or darkness of one's complexion. Colorism became a deep-rooted reality with the first generation of slaves, after white masters had sexual relations with black female chattel to produce a class of mulattoes who lived and worked in the Big House. These fairer-skinned slaves became a distinct group, the genesis of today's black middle class.
You see class distinction everywhere in Django. Of course, Broomhilda, the hero's wife and the source of his quest, is the fair-skinned and attractive Kerry Washington. Tarantino knows that a dark-skinned Broomhilda won't elicit as much sympathy. Our light-skinned Broomhilda even speaks German.
And then there is Stephen, the loyal servant of the plantation master. He is as black as coal, both in character and skin color. He is the epitome of evil, more terrifying than his white master, played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
Tarantino has produced a haunting piece of entertainment. One of his subtexts puts a magnifying glass to contemporary black culture, and a lot of us don't like it.
Contact Bill Maxwell at [email protected]


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Eminent Domain Plan and Real Estate
Freddie Mac is making a bold move by threatening legal action against the city of Richmond, CA because they are planning to use eminent domain to seize underwater mortgages.
- Richmond's Stance: In offering to buy troubled loans at below market value from mortgage companies, they are then able to write down the loan balances for the new home owners and refinance the loans into government-backed mortgages. IF the mortgage companies refuse to allow them to buy the loans, they city will play the eminent domain card and seize them. This whole plan is theorized to help residents curb the loan debt and avoid foreclosure. Circumventing the federal government in this process is the key point. Richmond officials hope this new method will speed up the currently stagnantly moving foreclosure aid assistance. "We're not willing to back down on this," says Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin. "They can put forward as much pressure as they would like, but I'm very committed to this program, and I'm very committed to the well-being of our neighborhoods."
Richmond is not the only city considering this option for their residents. About two dozen local and state governments — including Newark, N.J., Seattle, and several other cities in California — have been considering similar uses of eminent domain.
- Freddie Mac's Stance: Voicing cautionary rhetoric, Freddie Mac feels the loan sales will be made only under pressure instead of being clean, tidy, and voluntary as assumed by Richmond. Freddie Mac and its backer, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, are considering taking legal action against such a plan.
This new method of circumvention may threaten real estate recovery. "We are concerned that the proposed use of eminent domain would slow the return of private capital to the housing finance system, and threaten our fragile housing recovery," writes California House Republicans John Campbell, Gary G. Miller and Ed Royce in a letter to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan. "We do not believe this is appropriate public policy, even if this use of eminent domain were to survive the inevitable legal challenges that would follow any decision to seize mortgages."
Freddie Mac Considers Legal Action to Block Eminent Domain Plan

subset: commoncrawl


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Sunday, July 06, 2014
Lois Lerners Criminal Acts
Employees of the government are protected from lawsuits when their mistakes occur within the official duties of the job. This is actually a topic one considers at some level each and every day. My boss who is an attorney would be the first to tell you I veer towards caution and restraint. In general the rules that dictate my job is the need to know. In one case, I told another supervisor just discussing the specifics of what was in that file would likely land me with an EEO issue. In this instance this supervisor had a need to know in order to carry out her job. She did an outstanding job with the case and was a great help.
On the job there is zero room for anything less than impartiality. There are who layers of laws that govern abusing your authority. I had a different conversation with a staff attorney about what is profiling and what is due diligence. Person A is from a country with issues of terrorism. There is no evidence the person in front of me is involved. Routine questioning is the norm and unless something in the response warrants additional scrutiny that is the end. Person B is from the same country and has a money laundering arrest. The crime has been identified and additional scrutiny is warranted. Person C is not from a country where terrorism is an issue but has the same arrest. Additional scrutiny is warranted on a criminal basis without the national security angle.
If person A were subjected to extended questioning solely on the basis of country of origin, this would be an ethical violation. Additionally, this would be a waste of time, resources and a public relations disaster. As people are not perfect sometimes this does happen. When I am being questioned for security clearance sometimes I have to remind the investigator of the boundaries. This is typically done with the phrase I will answer that question although it falls into my zone of privacy and is not pertinent to your investigation. An experienced investigator gets the hint, but new ones do not. The subject of what is an alias is a sticking point.
A religious ceremonial name was termed an alias. I pointed out this was not a name I use. Other than two members of my immediate family nobody knows what my exact ceremonial name. These names are so obscure they are placed in index cards at the house of worship. Moreover, they are categorized as translations of my name in a foreign language used for solely for religious ceremonies and not aliases.
In the case of Lerner, she abused her position to adversely impact those with political views she opposed.
Lerner as a lawyer and managerial level employee are held to high standards. She was aware that she was violating the law and should be punished to the maximum extent of the law. In fact her actions are so heinous that a set of new laws should be crafted named after her.
Leftists are fond of invoking paranoia about Black Listing and counter intelligence operatives infiltrating Peace Movements. Lefties leave out the part that Communists were indeed advocating support for Stalinism
and Communists did commit treason and spy for a hostile foreign power. In most cases Communists were
never confronted directly for their insane beliefs. In the case of the Vietnam Protesters, lefties forget about the criminality and direct ties to domestic terrorism of the protest leaders, Lefties omit rampant vandalism, large scale drug use and Communist leadership of Peace Protests.
Lerner is a leftist who abused her authority to prevent people she politically opposed from participating fully in their First Amendment rights. She was part of a government agency that trampled on the rights of peaceful
TEA Party activists to organize and participate in the electoral process. Donor and membership list were leaked in direct violation of the Privacy Act. Additional government agencies harassed these same people.
Lefties talk about voter ID cards suppressing the vote but remain silent on the actions of Lerner.
Lois Lerner is possibly the greatest villain in American history aside from Criminals and racial arsonists. Now some of you would point to Benedict Arnold. General Arnold's multiple heroic actions and his mistreatment
by some cronies make his case less odious than the crimes of Lerner. Richard Nixon did many admirable
things prior to Watergate. The crimes of Lerner are far more serious than Watergate.
Now the voices of the left who talk of marching with Dr. King and raises the often criminal peace protester
are silent about actual abuse of people for ideas they disagree with. When David Horowitz, Ron Radosh and other former leftists talk about the totalitarian aspects of the American left many of you laugh. The silence of the mainstream Democrats about the crimes of Lerner is deafening.
3 comments:
- Duckys here said...
@beak -- the rights of peaceful
TEA Party activists to organize and participate in the electoral process.
So you admit that the organizations investigated were campaign organizations and not public service groups.
So you admit there was no law broken.
As usual the only law you break is the law of subject/verb agreement.
You really need an editor, Beak. I hope you have someone proofread when you fill out the forms.
- beakerkin said...
Lets do this slowly as you are slow of mind. As a Commie concepts like ethics and law are above your limited capacity.
Every government official takes multiple ethics and record keeping
training classes. Lerner violated
every single facet of the ethics training given to Federal employees. She did so knowingly and maliciously. As an attorney she is held to a higher standard.
The actions of Lerner are pernicious and more appropriate in
a Castroite setting than the USA.
She belongs in jail and stripped
of her pension.
The groups in question had every right to organize peacefully. Funny, as a lefty you might not like this precedent if the winds shift.
Lerner also released the lists of donors illegally. This is a direct
and intentional violation of the Privacy Act. Lerner trashed the core of the Hatch Act. Perjury is also a crime and as an attorney she does not even grasp how one pleads the Fifth. She appears to have tampered with evidence in an investigation.
Then again as a good Commie Lerner
is your avatar. The ends justify the means. Your kind still venerates an Argentine slob who had an American sexual predator execute people without trials.
- Mike's America said...
Dicky/Ducky would deny to the Tea Party the same democratic rights enjoyed by every left wing labor union and black church that maintains a tax free status yet engages in political activities.
That is what so infuriated the left about the Citizens United decision. They can't win if there is a level playing field.


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The Last Hard Drive, Part 2
So when will the last spinning hard drive, which is by far the most common storage media in use, leave the corporate data center?
The truth is, no one knows. The current generation of IT professionals may never see the day the last hard drive is tossed in the trash or sent to a museum. But if the history of the floppy disk, the CD-ROM, or the tape drive is any guide, it will be such a gradual withdrawal that few will notice it until after the fact.


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"Work Hard, Play Hard, Give Hard!" is the motto that Scott Delea, chairman and founder of Party With Purpose, lives and works by. Delea founded the not-for-profit organization shortly after the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, which deeply moved him. The silhouette of the Twin Towers is still in the logo of the organization. "It was a time when I knew I wanted to give back but didn't know how," says Delea. "Why don't I come up with a way for my friends and I to contribute and have fun doing it while staying connected with the community." To date, Party With Purpose has donated $500,000 through its various annual events, such as its Winter Benefit and 5k races and Kids' Fun Run. This year marks 11 years of service to the community. The organization gives what is called a restricted grant, which must be earmarked for a specific local children's charity for a specific purpose. Delea is adamant about donations going to local charities where you can see the impact of your contribution within the community. "We vet local children's charities and scrutinize them," he says. "The organizations have to be a nonprofit itself and have to be willing to allow us to come visit them and report the impact of the grant."
Party With Purpose is just one of many hats that Delea wears in Hoboken. He is also founder and CEO of a digital marketing agency, Inflexion Interactive, which is based in Hoboken. He is a member of the board of the Boys and Girls Club in Hoboken and sat on the board of the Hoboken Historical Museum for a few years. Delea is as motivated as they come and a real mover and shaker in the city he has called home for 15 years.
Delea lives and works in Hoboken and is currently single with no children (in case anyone out there is wondering). When he has free time you can see him supporting local Hoboken businesses by shopping in town as much as possible. He also can be found at Madison Bar & Grill and the Turtle Club chatting up the owners whom he admires because of their dreams to open their own places rooted in rich Hoboken history. "It is true to Hoboken," says Delea of the Turtle Club on 10th and Park Avenue, which takes its name from a former Hoboken social club. Delea is a fan of famous Hoboken resident Eli Manning, though Delea admits to also supporting the Buffalo Bills.
But supporting local charities is his passion. He announced this year's new donation recipients at the Winter Benefit held at the W Hotel on Feb. 27. They are: Emmanuel Cancer Foundation, Hoboken Boys & Girls club, Hoboken Museum, Hopes Cap Inc, Jeremy's Heroes, Jin-Che-Fway Karate School, Julibee Center, Mile Square Theater, Rock'n 4 Autism Awareness/ASAT, Soldiers Against Child Abuse, St. Matthews, Team Walker, The Hoboken Shelter, True Mentors Program, Wrap for a Smile, Hygiene Project, and YCS Foundation.
Contributing to the charities Party With Purpose sponsors is as easy as attending an event, sponsoring an event, donating, or volunteering.
"As America is, Hoboken is a story of change," Delea says. "It is an American story rooted in a respect for family and understanding change." He has watched Hoboken evolve into the city it is today and will continue to make a difference and contribute.—07030


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From coreboot
OpenSolaris is an operating system kernel.
We're currently evaluating how to boot OpenSolaris via coreboot using the GRUB2 payload.
Build instructions
OpenSolaris has moved to multiboot, so GRUB2 contains all necessary parts, except maybe the filesystem support (ufs compatibility must be checked, zfs doesn't exist yet for grub2).
The instructions on Shudong Zhou's blog don't work anymore, because Sun changed the boot mechanism (again).
what should work (but doesn't for me, yet):
multiboot /platform/i86pc/kernel/unix module /boot/x86.microroot (that filename might be different)
More information
- http://blogs.sun.com/szhou/entry/booting_solaris_from_linuxbios
- http://bugs.opensolaris.org/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6475349
| I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide.
In case this is not legally possible:


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vernon hargreaves
Friday Recruitin' Smashes Heads
- 2013 recruiting
- adam breneman
- ben gedeon
- cole luke
- darius latham
- dorian o'daniel
- dymonte thomas
- evan lisle
- gareon conley
- henry poggi
- jake butt
- joey bosa
- jonathan allen
- logan tuley-tillman
- matt miller
- michael hill
- patrick kugler
- rod crayton
- scott orndoff
- standish dobard
- su'a cravens
- tashawn bower
- vernon hargreaves
- wyatt shallman
Today's recruiting roundup takes a look at Patrick Kugler's newly-released junior highlights, breaks down 2013 Ohio rankings, discusses visitors and new offers, and more.
Commits: Prepared For MANBALL
Patrick Kugler's junior highlights were uploaded to YouTube today, and as you can see above, Michigan's latest commit has no problem playing through the whistle. Offensive line highlights start at the 2:32 mark (though his D-line clips are well worth a watch) and largely consist of Kugler planting a defender into the turf, often several yards downfield. Speaking of Kugler, GBW chatted with him recently, and it turns out he didn't even need to meet Brady Hoke before being sold on Michigan (free article!):
Patrick Kugler committed to Michigan football program this past weekend without even talking to his future head coach Brady Hoke. That has since changed as the four-star offensive linemen finally caught up with the head man last night.
"He is really exactly how I pictured him," Kugler said to GoBlueWolverine about his phone conversation with Hoke. "He has very high energy. He is serious and very straight to the point. I like everything about him on the phone. I can't wait to go meet him actually."
You can't say enough about the recruiting job Hoke has done in a little over a year at the helm in Ann Arbor, but don't undersell what his assistants have accomplished; if Darrell Funk isn't on multiple end-of-year best recruiter lists, it'll be criminal. The fact that Michigan has its line class sealed up in February is largely his doing.
Bucknuts is counting down the top players in the state of Ohio, and Dymonte Thomas comes in at #4 while Jake Butt
cracks makes the list at #10. (I typed "Butt cracks" without thinking and then started laughing my ass off. Yes, I'm 12 years old.) Here is ScoutingOhio's Mark Porter on Thomas ($):
"He is outstanding on both sides of the ball. He is a no-brainer at safety. He could play tailback because he is so explosive. On offense, he will deliver a blow. But I think Michigan really does see him as a defensive back."
And Porter compares Butt to a guy who would live in Michigan's nightmares if not for Denard Robinson:
"Jake reminds me a bit of Kyle Rudolph, who went to Notre Dame out of Cincinnati Elder. He's long. He's fast. He just needs to get into a college weight room and get bigger and stronger. He has the potential to be a great college tight end."
Scout, meanwhile, has released their top 50 for Ohio. Thomas is #2—behind only OSU commit Jalin Marshall (ahead of Rivals 5-star DB Cameron Burrows)—Butt is #10, Jaron Dukes is #20, and Taco Charlton is #29. Other recruits of interest include RB DeVeon Smith (#3), LB Ben Gedeon (#11), LB Mike McCray (#13), CB Gareon Conley (#16), CB Darian Hicks (#19), TE Jake Matuska (#22), and WR Kevin Gladney (#23).
Chantel Jennings profiled Wyatt Shallman today, and a big reason why the big athlete from Catholic Central committed to Michigan was because they gave him the chance to play tailback. Expect him to bring quite the physical attitude to the position ($):
"[My grandpa] always talked about how power football and power running, downhill, four yards a carry, that sort of thing, that has always been Michigan's M.O.," Shallman said. "That's really what Michigan football is about. That's really what football is about, smashing heads."
Shallman is training with Mike Barwis on top of his regular workouts with CC; heads will be smashed.
Quickly: The Wolverine breaks down film of Logan Tuley-Tillman ($), and the evaluation goes along the lines of everything else you've read on him: great athleticism and drive, needs work on technique. TomVH on the reinvigorated recruiting rivalry between Michigan and Ohio State ($).
Weekend Visitors, The Linebacker Crunch, and More
As far as I've seen, Michigan has just two visitors lined up for this weekend: Hudson (OH) LB Ben Gedeon (possible, not set in stone) and Indianapolis (IN) North Central OT/DT Darius Latham (both links $). Latham is an interesting prospect—he's adept on either side of the ball, though at this point the Wolverines would only take him at defensive tackle.
Gedeon, meanwhile, is one of the top linebackers in the Midwest, but there's going to be a serious crunch at the position. Michigan leads for Good Counsel LB Dorian O'Daniel, who's higher-ranked than Gedeon, and also for top-50 overall prospect E.J. Levenberry, and they could secure the commitment of Trotwood-Madison LB Mike McCray on March 8th when he announces. After last year's bumper crop, the only spot along the linebacking corps that really needs reinforcements is at SLB, where both Levenberry and McCray project. O'Daniel and Gedeon seem more like MIKE/WLB types; right now it looks like Michigan will only take two LBs, though it's possible that they grab a third if the numbers work out and a guy like Levenberry is looking to commit. All four are high-quality prospects, so this could become a first-come, first-served situation.
O'Daniel wasn't the only player to name Michigan as his leader this week, as he was joined by Massillon (OH) Washington CB Gareon Conley, a four-star prospect ($, info in header). Conley plans to visit Ann Arbor on March 10th, and he wants to make his decision before his senior season; we'll see if things move quickly on that front, as he'd be the big (6'1", 170 lbs.) corner Michigan wants.
Quickly running through other players who named Michigan among their top x lists: Dadeville (AL) DT Rod Crayton now has the Wolverines in his top five with Tennessee, Mississippi State, Penn State, and LSU ($, info in header). Ashburn (VA) Stone Bridge DE Jonathan Allen named a top six of Michigan, Alabama, Oklahoma, Penn State, Florida and NC State ($, info in header). Five-star S/RB/LB Su'a Cravens hasn't narrowed down his list, but says that "USC, UCLA, Michigan and Washington are recruiting me the hardest right now," though he maintains that every school recruiting him is equal at the moment ($, info in header).
New Offers, Future Potential Visitors, and Happy Trails
A couple new offers surfaced for the Wolverines in the last few days. New Orleans (LA) Edna Carr TE Standish Dobard now lists a Michigan offer; he's a three-star recruit to 247, but is being pursued by most of the heavy hitters in the SEC. The Wolverines also recently offered Pendleton (SC) four-star DT Michael Hill, who's considering a summer visit to Ann Arbor ($, info in header).
Several players are planning future visits to Ann Arbor. Here's the most recent list:
- Pittsburgh (PA) Seton-La Salle TE Scott Orndoff just decommitted from Wisconsin and will be on campus March 17th ($). He says if he likes the visit, Michigan will shoot to the top of his list.
- Tampa (FL) Wharton five-star CB Vernon Hargreaves III might be a tough pull from the state of Florida, but he's considering a summer visit ($, info in header).
- 247's #37 overall player, Ft. Lauderdale (FL) St. Thomas Aquinas DE Joey Bosa, is in regular contact with Greg Mattison and will likely visit Michigan and Ohio State in an upcoming weekend ($).
- Perhaps the top priority among DT recruits, Baltimore (MD) Gilman's Henry Poggi, has already visited Michigan twice but wants to see Ann Arbor again ($, info in header).
- Chandler (AZ) Hamilton CB Cole Luke, a four-star prospect, is thinking about swinging by Michigan and Notre Dame after planned spring trips to Texas and Oklahoma ($).
- Somerville (NJ) Immaculata DE Tashawn Bower is talking with Curt Mallory about setting up a spring or summer visit ($, info in header).
There are a couple happy trails to report. Camp Hill (PA) Cedar Cliff's Adam Breneman, the top-ranked TE in the country, will announce his decision on March 9th at 7 pm. He has not visited Michigan, so you can rule the Wolverines out; this will likely be a choice between Ohio State and childhood favorite Penn State, and I expect he'll end up with the Nittany Lions. Meanwhile, Centerville (OH) OT Evan Lisle, who held a Michigan offer prior to the O-line spots filling up, committed to Ohio State after receiving his Buckeye offer last week.
Quickly: Sam Webb profiles lineman Matt Miller, brother of Michigan center Jack, in the Detroit News; he could end up as a Spartan unless Michigan decides he's a good option at DT. Black Shoe Diaries recruiting analyst Jeff Junstrom notes an interesting lack of overlap between Michigan and Penn State recruits—only one of M's 13 commits held a PSU offer. Magnus released his initial TTB rankings for the 2013 commits.
Tuesday Recruitin' is Cheesin'
- 2012 recruiting
- 2013 recruiting
- amara darboh
- dan gibbs
- david dawson
- devin funchess
- evan lisle
- gerald holmes
- greg mattison
- jake butt
- james onwualu
- jayme thompson
- jourdan lewis
- justin davis
- khalid hill
- logan tuley-tillman
- matt godin
- mike mccray
- mike mcglinchey
- recruiting roundup
- ryan white
- shane jones
- shane morris
- vernon hargreaves
This edition of the recruiting roundup welcomes a new 2013 commit, takes a look at 2012 preferred walk-on Dan Gibbs, and discusses a bevy of new junior offers. As always, you're encouraged to email me or hit me up on the twitters with any recruiting tips or news you'd like to see in the next roundup.
Hello: Dan Gibbs
Michigan may not have landed Jordan Diamond or, at least for now, Alex Kozan, but they did manage to pick up a 6'7", 305-pound offensive lineman this week. Birmingham Seaholm's Dan Gibbs accepted a preferred walk-on spot over offers from Ball State, Eastern Michigan, and several Ivy League schools. Gibbs is a Michigan lifer and is ranked as a three-star by Scout (#97 OT) and 24/7 (#121 OT) and a two-star by Rivals (NR) and ESPN (#109 OG). He has the versatility to play either guard or tackle at the next level, and it's always nice to pull in a walk-on who had D1 scholarship offers. You can see his senior highlight tape above, and here is ESPN's evaluation ($):
Gibbs is a tough inline blocker who can maul defenders when run blocking; also flashes the explosion and playing strength to knock defenders off the ball when single blocking. Has great size with good athleticism for the offensive guard position at the major level of competition. It appears his frame is very capable on handling additional body mass. We like this guys toughness; comes off the ball aggressive and hard but a little too high at times; must work to lower his pad level on initial contact. Appears to bave some lower body stiffness however we are impressed with his ability to get out of his stance when asked to pull and trap, locating defenders on the move while demonstrating good balance and agility; plays on his feet well in space. Although this prospect is more of a mauler than one who consistently knocks defenders off the line of scrimmage we are impressed with his ability to get movement when single blocking; is a nasty tough finisher who is capable of putting defenders on their backs. If he is to successfully reach for leverage and consistently get a hat on active 1st and 2nd level defenders we see the need to improve initial quickness, first step and pad level. His long arms should be an asset in pass protection; is not heavy legged playing in the center/guard box, flashing the ability to bend and slide his feet. We do feel he plays too tall and must improve his overall balance and base when pass blocking. All areas of hand use will need refinement although we see flashes of strong initial punch and extension.
Gibbs is a developmental prospect, to be sure. His size and physicality should be a great asset on the practice field, however, and he's got the potential to become an in-game contributor down the road.
In more from the class of 2012, four Michigan signees—Devin Funchess, Royce Jenkins-Stone, Terry Richardson, and James Ross—suited up for Team USA in the International Bowl. Although they fell to the World Team, 35-29, the future Wolverines impressed, especially Funchess, who hauled in an 11-yard touchdown pass ($):
"I think Devin Funchess is going to be a star. When they put weight on him, he is a long 6-5 guy, but he's just a boy. They'll put 40 pounds of muscle on him. He has great hands, runs great. He had a great attitude. He's going to be a great player - not just a good player, a great player."
"He looks like a wide out. He runs great. For a tight end, he has tremendous speed," [Team USA coach Steve] Specht said. "The thing that really impressed me about Devin is how much bigger he's going to get. I said something to him when we were in Austin. I said, 'In a few years, when you get that weight on you, you're going to be special.'
Funchess appears to be in line to take a redshirt year as he works on adding that bulk. After that, he could turn into a very dangerous receiver from that TE/H-back hybrid spot. For highlights of each Michigan commit in the International Bowl, check out MGoVideo—a big thanks to Josh (aka MaizeNBlueJ) for putting those together.
Speaking of Funchess, his senior highlight tape is now available on YouTube. Also releasing senior film is DL Matt Godin; he does a very impressive job of getting skinny and shedding blocks to work his way into the backfield:
Quickly: Greg Mattison was named the Big Ten Recruiter of the Year by Scout and also earned top-25 status nationally on Rivals. 24/7 released their Big Ten superlatives—Ondre Pipkins is one of three players tabbed for immediate impact and the Wolverines have more players (10) on the All-Big Ten team than any other school (Ohio State has seven, Wisconsin two, while Minnesota, MSU, and Nebraska each have one). AnnArbor.com's Kyle Meinke discusses the importance of tight ends in recruiting with Al Borges and Darrell Funk. Stephen J. Nesbitt writes a feature in the Daily on Pipkins and Willie Henry. TTB Andrew interviews Amara Darboh.
Welcome: Khalid Hill
Recruits come in pairs, right? Michigan not only landed Gibbs yesterday, but they got a jump-start on tight end recruiting for 2013 when they pulled in Detroit Crockett's Khalid Hill. You can read the full "Hello" post here. Hill—who committed on the spot after getting his offer on an unofficial visit yesterday—is another life-long Michigan fan, offering up this fantastic quote to Allen Trieu in the aftermath of his commitment ($):
"I feel great," he said. "There's a smile on my face. I'm cheesin'."
I'll give Khalid the benefit of the doubt and assume that's not a South Park reference. Hill also told 24/7 that, upon receiving a verbal offer from Brady Hoke in his office, he immediately accepted and gave the coach a "big hug." He also carries a 4.0 GPA and plans to major in Engineering; this is definitely a commitment worth celebrating. Hill's high school coach shed some light on his future role in a free Scout article:
"He's a great pass catcher. He has the blocking ability of a lineman, the athletic ability of a skill guy, and the hands of a wide receiver, so he's a match-up nightmare. What he brought to the table for us this year was, he created mismatches down seams of the field."
He'll do the same for the Wolverines, but also fill a couple of other roles as well.
"It's a tight end/H-Back kind of deal. He's a utility guy, who will be motioning from fullback, get work done in the slot. They'll move him around a lot. They sat him down and told him how they're going to use him. They said he'd do a lot of what Kevin Koger did last year."
That hybrid role makes sense for Hill, a solid athlete who's a little short for the traditional tight end role at 6'2".
Another 2013 tight end, Pickerington (OH) North's Jake Butt—an early four-star to 24/7 who holds a scholarship offer from the Wolverines—has Michigan as his top school ($):
"Michigan is definitely my leading school right now, by far… it's not even close," he reported. "Their coaches are showing me a lot of attention. I have been up to the campus twice and loved it there, and seemed to grow a great relationship with coach (Jerry) Montgomery who is my recruiting coordinator. I already had five (Michigan) coaches come down to school to see me, so that is big. They are telling me I am their leading tight end on the board."
Butt doesn't have a concrete decision date in mind, but he's looking to wrap things up before the start of next football season. If he does, it looks like Michigan will be tough to beat.
Meanwhile, Logan Tuley-Tillman was at Yost on Saturday and plans to return to Ann Arbor this weekend—his fifth visit, and he's hoping to bring his mother along with him—but there's a minor change atop his leaderboard. While the Wolverines were at one point alone at number one, they're now joined by Alabama after Tuley-Tillman visited Tuscaloosa for their Junior Day ($).
Quickly: Cass Tech CB Jourdan Lewis is excited by his recent Michigan offer, but has not yet settled on a timeline while he's playing through basketball season ($). Magnus has a thorough preview of 2013 in-state recruiting over at TTB. He also takes a look at the early scholarship numbers and breaks down Michigan's needs by position. Chantel Jennings does the same—plus identifies some key early targets—over at WolverineNation ($).
Offerpalooza 2013
Just when I think I'm going to be able to sum up Michigan's list of offers in something other than bullet form, they seemingly extend scholarships to half of the free world. Here's what I pulled together since the last recruiting update:
- Tampa (FL) Wharton CB Vernon Hargreaves III now has a Michigan offer listed. He's a five-star prospect to 24/7 and their #7 overall player in the class; all the major in-state schools have also offered and his father coaches at USF, so he'll be a very difficult pull out of the Sunshine State.
- Dayton (OH) Trotwood-Madison LB Mike McCray earned offers from Michigan and Oklahoma within the past week ($). The Top247 and ESPNU 150 prospect says those two schools plus Illinois, Tennessee, and Purdue stand out early in the process, but expect Ohio State to become a major factor if (more likely when) they offer.
- Michigan offered four-star Vorhees (NJ) Eastern CB Eli Woodard, though he's favoring Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan State, and Rutgers early ($).
- Centerville (OH) OL Evan Lisle becomes the latest standout Midwest lineman to earn an offer ($).
- I forgot to include him last week, but CB Ryan White became the third Louisville (KY) Trinity prospect to receive a Wolverine offer, joining teammates James Quick (WR) and Jason Hatcher (DE). White told Scout that he plans on visiting Ann Arbor at some point ($).
- The Wolverines offered another wide receiver in Cretin-Derham Hall (MN) standout James Onwualu ($), who plans on visiting within the next couple of weeks.
- Philadelphia (PA) William Penn OT Mike McGlinchey received a Michigan offer last week ($). He's a four-star prospect to 24/7 early in the process.
- Cincinnati Moeller LB Shane Jones now boasts offers from Michigan and his hometown Bearcats.
- Rivals.com's Adam Gorney reports that Michigan also offered Stockton (CA) Lincoln RB Justin Davis.
There are a couple of happy trails to report as well. Toledo Central Catholic DB Jayme Thompson chose West Virginia over Michigan and Notre Dame last week; it's unclear whether or not he had a commitable offer, though I don't believe he did. He's a player to keep an eye on should the Wolverines decide to continue pursuing him. Finally, while Michigan hadn't extended an offer, they had displayed some interest in Flint Carman Ainsworth RB Gerald Holmes, who chose Michigan State on Sunday.


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Jets RapidReports @CBSJets
Cancellation of Rex's presser called "organizational decision." No further info. Woody Johnson statement this a.m. said Ryan remains as hc.
Seth Walder @SethWalderNYDN
Black Monday casualties so far: Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel, Browns coach and GM Pat Shurmer and Tom Heckert. Jets GM Tannenbaum.
Brian Costello @BrianCoz
Who ever thought Rex would be scared of the media?
Is it just me, or is Coz turning into a troll?
He never promised or guaranteed these 12 wins...
You have absolutely no stake in anything that happens here, you're a guest and an extremely sh!tty one at that...
It's the same five or six douchebags constantly parroting this sh!t throughout the board, seemingly daily...
Chris Nimbley @Cnimbley
Interesting, confusion spreading as #Jets announce Rex presser postponed. There will be no additional media availability after locker room
Chris Nimbley @Cnimbley
It was an organizational decision to not have Rex talk today, guessing to avoid him answering questions normally meant for a GM #guessing
I can definitely agree with that plan and it seems to be the way things are going to break. There is no team that has done well with a constantly changing roster of coaches.
Ian Rapoport @RapSheet
#Bears assistants are freaking out inside the building. Coach Lovie Smith's status is "not looking good." Decision time for #Bears.
Rich Cimini @RichCimini
Mike Tannenbaum addressed team today in what amounted to farewell address. #Jets
Rex Ryan isn't a pimple on John Fox's a$$. Fox has won a division, been to a SB and has a clue about how to run a football team and make tough decisions.
But yes, I do think Rex would win with Peyton Manning. But to assume he can be like Fox is a slap in the face to Fox.
Albert Breer @AlbertBreer
Also, on Cards, Keim is expected to draw, and listen to, interest in GM openings outside AZ. Could motivate Bidwell to elevate him quick.
I still think Rex is toast. Maybe not today, but shortly after the new GM is hired.
ProFootballTalk @ProFootballTalk
Report (or maybe we should say "sources"): Chargers not interested in Andy Reid http://wp.me/p14QSB-6QR8
And given how disagreeable you are every single day with almost everyone here, I'd say it is YOU who has a miserable life.
Lastly, do you need someone to post the definition of WELCHER for you?
Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter
Whoa: Bears have sent out consent forms requesting permission to interview head-coaching candidates.


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phpMyAdmin is a tool intended to handle the administration of MySQL over the Web. It can create, rename, and drop databases, create/drop/alter tables, delete/edit/add fields, execute any SQL statement, manage keys on fields, create dumps of tables and databases, export/import CSV data, and administrate one single database and multiple MySQL servers.
PeaZip is a cross-platform file archiver utility that provides a unified portable GUI for many open source technologies like 7-Zip, FreeArc, PAQ, UPX, etc. Creates 7Z, ARC, BZ2, GZ, *PAQ, PEA, QUAD/BALZ, TAR, UPX, WIM, XZ, and ZIP files. It extracts more than 150 archive types: ACE, ARJ, CAB, DMG, ISO, LHA, RAR, UDF, ZIPX, and more. Features of PeaZip include extracting, creating, and converting multiple archives at once, creating self-extracting archives, split/join files, strong encryption with two factor authentication, an encrypted password manager, secure deletion, find duplicate files, calculate hashes, and export job definitions as scripts.
Develop hybrid intelligent software agents and agent applications in Java.
A small, powerful, and really fast Web server for Linux.


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Duke sophomores Kyle Keenan and Kyle Turri again helped lead the U.S. squad with a goal and four saves, respectively. Turri played in the second half, holding the Iroquois to just two second-half goals.
Midfielder Steve Pontrello scored five goals for the U.S., including three straight to open the second half as the U.S. built a 9-5 lead just 5:46 into the third quarter after Connor Buczek tacked on another goal.
Iroquois raced out to a 3-0 lead before the U.S. squad tallied three goals in the final six minutes of the opening quarter to tie the game. The contest remained tied, 5-5, at the half before the United States scored three unanswered to start the second half.
The U.S. (4-2) advances to play unbeaten Canada (5-0), a 15-4 winner over England in Thursday's first semifinal, for the world title at 4 p.m. (9 a.m. EST) Saturday in Finland. Team USA has won all six gold medals contested since sanctioned U19 international play began in 1988. Canada beat the U.S., 15-13, in overtime last Saturday in pool play.


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Video How Can Linux Gain (Even) More Enterprise Acceptance? (Video) 177
Robin: This is Jason Perlow, who has written for Linux Magazine and now ZDNet and has worked for IBM and for Unisys, all pretty much on Linux, and before that he was a big UNIX guy. So, tell me what does Linux need to do now to become even more accepted in the enterprise?
Jason: So, Linux has really evolved over the last 10 to 15 years. It's gone from like a science project of one particular guy living in Finland to one of the most scalable enterprise offering systems in the world. It's gone from a hobbyist operating system with no commercial support to an operating system that's been embraced by the largest enterprise systems vendors in the word including IBM, HP, Oracle, Dell, you name it.
So, in terms of being able to handle workloads, we now have an operating system that could handle large of amount of codes and processors on a monolithic system, on clusters, huge memory configurations, enterprise storage, all those things are part of the operating system today. Where Linux lags behind some of the more other commercial enterprise products includes commercial [UNIX systems] as well as Windows-based enterprise environments, and the mainframe is really in management.
The reason why management has become so important this year and it will be over the coming years, is that more and more enterprises are going to be divorcing themselves from owning their own infrastructure and that's just because you have a crappy economy, people don't want to have computer assets anymore, they want to buy it as a service, essentially infrastructure-as-a-service from hosting and cloud providers. Or, if they want to have their own infrastructure, they need to be able to provision it very quickly.
So, you don't want to have a situation where you bring a virtual server up or any kind of server up, and it take hours or days or weeks to get it configured and ready for production. You want to be able to spin it up within minutes. And not just one server, you want to be able to spin up a whole group of servers that are part of an application architecture pretty quickly. So, typically in a 3-tier architecture, you might have a web server, you might have a middleware server and a database server, that's one simple configuration.
Well, each of those servers may have pieces and components on them that are fairly complex. You want to be able to template an application architecture like that and spin it out within minutes just by clicking a button. So, that's something that Linux needs to have in order to become successful if you are going to have something which is called multi-tenant cloud tenancy. You want to be able to have these cloud providers which can sell Linux as an infrastructure to customers, essentially like you would buy electricity or water from your local utility company.
Robin: Yeah, are you sure? IBM, HP, these guys have been trying to do that for years. I've gotten press release after press release and I've always asked, well where are the customers and they never were able to sell the service. So are people buying it now?
Jason: People are definitely buying it now and you're seeing it happen at Amazon, you're seeing it happen at Rackspace, you're seeing it happen at also companies – Amazon, and also Microsoft with their Azure service as well. So that's just a couple of them. There are 4,000 service providers in the United States which are offering Linux virtualized to customers. Now all of them have different abilities to provision in terms of the speed at which they can provision a system and what they cost and what the complexity of their offerings are, but these are real companies that are selling to your customers.


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Most homos hate them.
The Republicans still don't love them.
Poor GoProud. Literally. By being shut out of CPAC, these homos are missing the opportunity to rub shoulders at the urinals with some big potential Daddy Moneybucks supporters.
Or I guess they could still hang around there and hope for some action in the stalls.
Great way to get support guys. But never fear. Come the next election, GoProud will still declare their undying support for the Republican candidate who openly shuns homo rights, like they always have in the past.


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Summer is Here! Central Library will close at 6 pm on Thursdays and will be closed Sundays until September. Enjoy!
Log in
Sid "The Rock" Ellis was at the Alma Powell Branch on Tuesday, February 22 and he was phenomenal! Everyone enjoyed his storytelling and puppetry. His puppet show enthralled the kids. And young and old were entertained by his Anansi folktales. The Anansi, the spider, folktales originated in West Africa. Anansi is a rascally spider that is devious and wise. He spends his time weaving ways to get out of work or take advantage of something or someone. These ancestral tales go way back and are still shared around the campfire.
Thanks, Sid, for sharing your time and outstanding talent with us.
Posted by Judi Rambow at 02/28/2011 03:18:02 PM
Books for: Kids, Teens & Tweens


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the Yucatan & Casa Hamaca
Ten Top Things to See in the Valladolid, Yucatan, Area.
Friday, January 29, 2010, 08:35 PM
Note: As opposed to some lists, I make no pretense of being able to prioritize these ten attractions. All are worth seeing. Some will have greater interest to various individuals than will others.
10. The Museo San Roque. Located one block from the Palacio Municipal in a de-consecrated church. Contains a wide variety of Proto-Mayan, Mayan and Colonial artifacts and exhibits. A bit dusty and in need of some up-grades, it is, nevertheless, worth seeing when you are al centro.
9. The Cenote Zaci. Located just a few short blocks from the main square (parque principal or zocalo) of Valladolid.
A Palapa-style restaurant (with the only wheelchair access to a restaurant in Valladolid of which I am aware. Unfortunately, the bathrooms in the restaurant as not easily accessible by wheelchair. Casa Hamaca is the only hotel or lodging in the area with wheelchair access). The restaurant serves good Yucatec-style food... but the real reason to go there is to eat or drink, in the shade, while overlooking the beautiful cenote. Plus, if you have a beverage or food at the restaurant, you will be invited to enter the centore from their private entrance at no cost. If you enter the public entrance, you must pay somewhere in the neighborhood of USD$2. The cenote is partially covered and partially open to the sky with a walk-way with both ramps and steps going all the way around. Th walkway decends to water level at one point to allow access to the water. A "No Swimming" sign is sometimes posted, but there seem to be people in the water at all times of day.
8. Murals in the Palacio Municipal. Located at the southeast corner of the zocalo on the second floor. Enter the building next door to the tourist office and go up one floor to the murals that depict the history of the Mayans and colonials of the Valladolid area beginning with pre-hispanic images through the revolution of the early 1900's. Powerful images!
7. The entire town of Izamal. Located less than one hour distance form Valladolid, Izamal is caught in a time warp. Take a horse-drawn carriage ride around town to get a feel for for the historic district and then go off on foot to explore the pyramids, the convent and the shops.
6. The Mayan Ruins of Cobá. Located less than one hour drive from Valladolid on a usually good road, the ruins of Cobá are different than most of the ruins of the Yucatan. The form of the main pyramid is more like that of Tikal in Guatemala than it is of of others in the north. As of this writing, you can still climb most of the structures, including the main pyramid. The site is very large and includes some lakes (lagunas) with crocs drozing in the sun. You have the options of walking the ruins, renting a bicycle or hiring a tricycle powered by a guide. The last option is worth considering since you can cover a lot of ground and have some idea of what you are seeing. Make any agreements before your leave the rental area including time of your tour as well as what parts of the ruins are included. If you want more time or extensive viewing, make your deal before you start. These ruins are almost Indiana Jones-like as you walk/ride through the jungle, turn a corner and suddenly are confronted with a pyramid that had been hidden from view until you turned the corner. Lots of fun for all ages.
5. The cenotes of Dzitnup... there are two of more or less the same form... an underground dome with a hole in the ceiling to the world outside with swim-able water. One is the most photographed cenote in the Yucatan (the one on the left as you approach the town of Dzitnup from the Merida-Valladolid free road); the other (on the right) is much less visited, but equally beautiful. Both are worth visiting. If you are really into cenotes, there are lots of options in any direction from Valladolid. All are swim-able, some have more amenities than others
4. Casa de los Venados, a private home just off the main square of Valladolid. The owners, John and Dorianne Venator, have completed a ten year renovation and expansion of one of the early historic building of Valladolid. More importantly, they have over 3,500 pieces of Mexican folk art on display. The house is a living museum. However, since it is a private home, you need specific permission of John or Dorianne to view the house and contents.
3. The Mayan ruins of Ek Balam are located an easy 25 minute drive north of Valladolid. The site is compact and easily visited in two hours. The main pyramid is higher than the main pyramid at Chichen Itza and, by volume, is one of the largest in the Yucatan. At this writing, you can still climb almost all of the structures. Be sure to check out the tomb entrance slightly over halfway up the main pyramid. If you have the time, walk all the way around the main pyramid to get a feeling of just how big the structure is. The front and one side is more or less completely restored, but the rest is as the archaeologists found it. Currently, there is active restoration work going on. Lots of fun to watch if possible.
2. The cave of Balankanche about five kilometers from the ruins of Chichen Itza. In the late 1960's a guide from Chichen, who was a spelunker, was exploring a local cave when he found a hidden passageway that lead to a secret Mayan ceremonial site that had been know and used by the local people for hundreds of years. After much negotiation, the cave and ceremonial site opened as a national park. The cave is well lighted and easy walking. You are not allowed into the cave without a guide. Tours, in various, languages leave frequently from the visitor center.
1. Chichen Itza... one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Show up at the site early in the morning (gates open as early as 8:00 AM) so you can park in the shade... arrival before 9:30 usually will still get your car a good spot. Early arrival also means it will be less hot with fewer tourists. At about 11:00 AM, the big tour busses start arriving from Cancun and Playa del Carmen. On a busy day there will be over 100 of the big busses, dozens of big tour van and uncounted private cars. Most of them will arrive after 10:30 or so. Since you are no longer allowed to climb or enter any of the structures at Chichen, get there early before the crowds, take your photos and go to El Balam to climb something. Or linger at Chichen Itza if shopping is your thing. There are hundreds of vendors both in and outside the grounds.
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Valladolid... Renewed, Restored and Refurbished
Friday, January 15, 2010, 11:01 AM
The makeover of Valladolid is just about completed.
A major effort by the local government has transformed Valladolid with
new streets, new parks, new lighting and new colors.
All of the old colonial buildings in the town center have been repainted with colonial colors and all of the tacky signs are gone. New, period street lighting has been installed along side the newly paved streets. In short, all of the center of Valladolid has been transformed. The government is completing similar restoration in Izamal. Parts of the historic districts of both Valladolid and Izamal will have the look and feel of the colonial city of Antigua in Guatemala... with a Yucatan twist.
One small drawback with the signs being taken down is that is difficult to find anything. Businesses have not only lost their signs, but have often had the color of their building changed as well. It sometime a bit of a challenge to find a particular shop or store, but at the same time it makes the search more interesting and more of an exploration. This will change as the new signage rules are worked out.
Ready for tourists and travelers alike.
Every afternoon the tour busses on their way back to Cancun and Playa, drop off Chichen Itza-tourists for an hour or two to shop, see some local sights and take a few photos and then get back on the bus thinking that they have experienced some local culture.
But the renovated downtown area is just perfect for a stroll around town especially for a traveler. Someone who is not afraid to meet local people, taste local food or walk a block or two away from the tourist center. There's a lot to encounter and experience in Valladolid.
There's a new high-end restaurant, Taverna de los Frailes, near the convento de Sisal...about a five block stroll through old Valladolid from Casa Hamaca.
Just up Calle 40, one of the main North-South streets in Valladolid, from Casa Hamaca is
Casa de los Venados
. Here John and Dorianne Venator have created a home for their collection of over 3,500 pieces of Mexican folk art. The renovated colonial house has recently won first prize in an national architectural contest and has also been featured on
Yucatan Living
A new movie theater has just opened one block away from Casa Hamaca. It's currently the only one in town. In fact, the only one for miles around.
In short, Valladolid is waking up from the sleepy town it was and is poised to become, once again, the Sultaness of the East. No longer is Valladolid just a place to pass through on your way to or from Chichen Itza, it is a destination in its own right.
And a wonderful, central location from which to see and experience all that the Yucatan has to offer. A great base to visit Maya ruins, historic colonial cities, dozens of magnificent colonial churches and hundreds of cenotes. Bird watching and other natural history locations such as bio-preserves are to be found in almost any direction from Valladolid. The Caribbean coast is just over one hour away to the east and the Gulf fishing villages just over one hour to the north. Both Cancun and Merida, with their international airports, are less than two hours from Valladolid.
Casa Hamaca Guesthouse
remains, as reviewed by guests at
Trip Advisor
, the most interesting, authentic and friendly accommodations of any kind in the Valladolid/Chichen Itza area. However, we are not for "tourists", we are for travelers who wish to experience something out of the ordinary.
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Lunch on Isla Mujeres
Wednesday, December 2, 2009, 10:14 PM
This was originally written as an email to a friend on Saturday, December 08, 2001 7:28 AM Subject: Lunch in Isla Mujeres Good morning from Isla Mujeres, Yesterday morning I went to church. I went to see the confirmation of the young son (Freddy) of a friend of mine. The church was standing room only...over 100 children (and some adults) were confirmed. Then, along with the boy's Godfather, I as invited to lunch at the parents home. The house was made of cardboard, nailed over wooden poles. I could see daylight through the roof and walls in many places. The furnishings were rejects from the Salvation Army shops. Nothing ever got thrown out, I think, because they had so little...so there was clutter everywhere. There was an old refrigerator and an old gas stove...but no sink or running water in the combination kitchen, living room and store room. Our meal was a simple soup (caldo de pollo) made from a chicken and two onions...I think that was all that was in the soup. A side dish of cold elbow macaroni, mayo, corn and tiny pieces of ham was served along with a small bowl of sliced and pickled Jalapeño chilies and tortillas to complete our meal. Coke or beer for beverage. A simple and humble meal and probably they best that they could afford for this festive meal. I have been in houses like this before, but never before as a guest. And the experience was a humbling one. The thing that really got to me was this. When the woman of the house brought out the small can of pickled chilies, the husband opened the can with a scissors. He used scissors similar to shop scissors to cut off the entire rim of the can, all the way around...and all I could think of was they did not own a can opener! Likewise, when the husband opened a beer, he used a spoon handle and his other hand as a fulcrum to pry off the cap. How can people not own a can opener or a bottle opener? Today, I'm going to give the wife my can opener. Caio, Denis
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A new way to think about "Time-Shares" in the Yucatan
Monday, November 16, 2009, 08:25 AM
As some of your know I spend a lot of time looking for property in the Valladolid area. I've looked a property that should be just left untouched and other properties that are already planted with acres of fruit trees. Ranchos that have cattle and all that come with cattle like corrals and wire fences. Properties with cenotes (fresh water "sinkholes" that are the only source of open water in most of the Yucatan) that are big and beautiful.
The problem I face is the same problem that faces everyone who looks at property or houses anywhere in the world; the property I can afford, I don't like and the property that I like, I can't afford. So here's a possible solution to my problem and a possible opportunity for you (or a friend of yours) to have a home in Mexico.
As an example, today I am going to look at a property, a rancho with a cenote and old-growth forest/jungle, of over 160 hectareas or almost 400 acres. It is close to Valladolid and the asking price seems very reasonable. However, it is out of the range of what I can afford. But if I had 9 more partners with USD$10,000 each, we could purchase the property together and each own a share in the entire property.
Lots of details to iron out, but I think that the concept makes a lot more sense than a two week time-share at a hotel. You would have year-around access. A big playground (400 acres is a lot of property). Easy access to all of the Yucatan (Valladolid is exactly halfway between Cancun and Merida). Easy access to both the Caribbean beaches and the Gulf fishing villages. Easy access to dozens of Mayan ruins.
Plus a much slower pace of living. A warmer climate. And a different approach to life. A opportunity to live pretty high on the hog on a chicken feed budget.
Plus an investment that has a very good prospect of returning interest in the form of sale of produce and/or rental or lease of living space/playing space.
Just so that you know where I am coming from, I am not interested in cattle. They take too much work for the return on investment. And they take a lot of time as well. Plus they cost the environment. I am much more interested in short term crops such as papaya (10 months from planting to first harvest); medium term crops like neem (fast growing tree that produces a natural pesticide) and structural bamboo; and long term crops like cedar and mahogany. I'm interested in making the property as energy self sufficient as reasonable and using solar and wind power as much as possible and as organic as reasonable. I have no interest in horses but this might be a great place to think about keeping a horse or two. I have no interest in racing ATV's through the jungle or in cutting old-growth forest for a quick profit. I'm not a fanatic on being green or organic but I certainly lean in that direction.
I am very interested in preserving traditional Mayan culture and values and in treating the Mayan people with respect. That means paying staff and ranch hands a decent wage, giving them a secure, dry place to live and interacting with them with love. Just so that you don't get scared off by this, a normal wage for a farm worker is between 100 and 150 pesos per day or USD$7.70 to USD$11.50 per day.
We will set up a Mexican corporation that will protect all of our investments and give us equal voice in the direction of the rancho. Foreigners can legally own property in Mexico through various means, including through a corporation. And for gringos, now may be a time to consider a secure toe-hold in someplace other than the USA. Taxes are less, health care is very good and affordable, government control of details of life is much freer.
I'm not sure that the rancho that I will see today is the right one to purchase, but this is great time to consider purchase in the Yucatan. The economy is down and it is affecting the local landowners. Property prices are down. Valladolid is spending a lot of money on infrastructure in anticipation of a surge in tourism and in commerce.
If you want to come down and see some of the opportunities that's probably a good idea.
The investment is low and the possible return is great.
If this idea rings any kind of bell with you, pass it along to your friends who might be interested. And then get back to me via email at
I am going to be traveling on a Mano Amiga planning trip over the next week, but I should have email access most of the time.
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A visit to a Mexican Emergency Room
Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 09:30 AM
Contrasted with a visit to an ER in the USA
Yesterday as I was visiting Merida (the capital of the Yucatan), I started getting an violent allergic reaction (possibly to something I ate). First my hands and feet started itching, then my eyes watered, my face glowed red... I felt as if I were on fire... and my companions said that we should get to the hospital ASAP. Allergic reactions are potentially fatal since airways can shut down. So off we went.
There are three very good hospitals in Merida that I know of and we were closest to Clinica Merida. All three of these hospitals are private hospitals.
When I walked into the emergency room, the receptionist asked what the problem was, took my name and asked if I had insurance. That was it. My friend motioned for me to sit down but before I could sit the receptionist directed me to an exam room since she recognized a potentially serious problem. Before I could sit down there, the doctor entered, did a fast assessment and told me the options. Some slow acting pills or fast acting IV. By this time I was in agony and said "IV, Please!" (By the way, most if not all of the MD's that I have met in the Yucatan read English quite well and speak some English; this is because many medical textbooks are written in English).
I was ushered to a bed in ER, undressed and put on my johnny coat. Almost before I could get into bed, a nurse was there to check my vitals, followed very rapidly by a saline IV hook-up. Within minutes, the prescribed meds (a cortizone and an antihistime) were tied into the saline solution and the itching and redness rapidly disappeared. The needle work for both the IV and the blood samples was extremely professional and completely painless. Various nurses kept checking on me and I was visited by the admitting MD as well as a allergic specialist. I was held for observation for about 7 or 8 hours and then given prescriptions for some meds for the week.
The total cost for the visit including in-hospital meds, bed, blood work, MD visits, etc. came to less than 2,500 Mexican pesos or about USD$187. The prescribed meds for home-care totaled less than USD$45.
I contrasted the level of care, the speed of admission and the total cost with that of my last visit to an emergency room in the US. I was admitted much, much faster in Mexico than I was in the US (in the US, I was experiencing chest pains and had been referred to the hospital ER by a cardiologist... my total admission time was at least 45 minutes before I was in a bed in ER... and another 1/2 hour before I was seen by an MD). My level of personal care was much greater in Mexico in that all of the various medical personnel seemed much less stressed and much more available to attend to me and my needs. And the cost difference was HUGE! An 8 hour bed in any ER that I know in the USA would be at least USD$1,000 to $1,500. And then add on the MD costs, the lab work and the med costs! Very easy to project a total cost of over 10 times as much.
I don't know how to fix the health care system in the US, but it sure can be approved. There might be something to be learned from Mexico.
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January 2010
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The upcoming University of Montana Western basketball games will honor members and veterans of the armed forces and raise money for the local mammography program.
On Thursday, Feb. 13, both the women's and men's teams take on MSU-Northern. The game is this year's Military Appreciation game. Current military members and veterans will be admitted to the game for free. The game is also a "black out" game and all attendees are encouraged to wear black.
On Saturday, Feb. 15, Montana Western basketball hosts the University of Great Falls. The game is the Pink Zone Game, which honors survivors of breast cancer and raises awareness. Free admission is given to those wearing pink. In addition, there will be an assortment of $1 activities and prizes. All proceeds benefit the Southwest Montana Mammography Program at Barrett Hospital and Healthcare.
Both games are in the Straugh Gymnasium on the Montana Western campus. Women's games start at 5:30 p.m. and men's games tip off at 7:30 p.m.


text: Guns Polymer Trigger Kits from Apex Tactical Recoil Staff May 22, 2013 0 COMMENT Polymer trigger kits are available now from Apex Tactical – in fact, there are two. One is the Polymer Action Enhancement Trigger Kit (retails from $39.95) and the Polymer Forward Set Sear and Trigger Kit (retails for $129.95). The former is a 3 piece set including the Apex Polymer Action Enhancement Trigger, Heavy Duty Sear Spring and Apex Trigger Return Spring Slave Pin. This kit directly replaces the factory trigger with the Apex center-mount, pivoting safety solid body polymer trigger (say that fast). According to Apex it is a more comfortable trigger that reduces factory pre-travel by roughly 20%. Use this kit on the S&W M&P Semi-Autos in 9mm, .40, .357 Sig and .45 ACP (will not work on the M&P Shield). The latter is a 10-piece kit for all Smith & Wesson M&P Semi Auto Pistols – 9, 40, 357 Sig and .45 ACP models included; it is not applicable to the M&P Shield either. The kit is designed to produce a smooth trigger pull that feels like a single action trigger. It contains the Apex Polymer Forward Set Trigger, Forward Set Sear, Ultimate Striker Block Kit (Striker Block, Spring and Talon Tactical Tool) and the Polymer Forward Set Spring Set (Sear Spring, RAM Spring, Trigger Slave Pin, 4lb Rated Trigger Return Spring and green 5.5lb Rated Trigger Return Spring). This kit reduces both pre-travel and over-travel and comes with two different trigger return springs so the shooter can choose the preferred weight. More information at Apex Tactical. Explore RECOILweb:Preview - Short Shot 870 AOWMaximum Nerdery with ITS Tactical and Star WarsWant a M41A Pulse Rifle? Here's Your ChancePuna Knife Pairs Firearm Flare With Multi-Tool Functions


text:
Here's what I transcribed from Al Golden's teleconference this evening:
How is Jacory doing?
I think he's doing OK. What happened on that play was he took a shot to the upper biceps. I don't know if he hit a nerve or something but his arm went completely numb on him for the last two plays. But I think he's OK.
So he can practice pretty much fully once that starts?
You said you wanted more efficiency in the running game on first and second downs to avoid third-and-long. What are you seeing right now that's causing the problem?
Some of the issues are we had a couple false starts in the game and you get behind the 8-ball there. There are a lot of things we have to improve. No. 1 is our blocking and No. 2 is Lamar has just got to hit singles. He's got to hit it up in there. We're dancing a little bit too much. Maybe we're trying to do too much at running back but we've got to just press it a little bit more, trust the scheme and trust the blocking. Right now we're trying to do too much with the running game
Is Lamar's shoulder OK?
I think he's OK. I don't know what he did on the third-and-[3] and fourth-and-[2] plays. He came out of the game and he got banged up in some capacity and came out of the game. But everything I'm seeing on the injury report is that he'll be OK.
How did the defense do generally?
Ultimately when you give up those kind of ex plays that we gave up it's hard to overcome. When you get something for nothing it makes it really, really hard. Clearly we didn't get enough pressure on Rocco, the Va. Quarterback; We didn't do a good enough job getting off the field on third down, they had the ball the entire third quarter; we have to do a better job getting off the field there. The explosive plays were just too much to overcome, really was. That part of it was disappointed. I was disappointed in our tackling and I was disappointed in the ex plays we gave up. Another thing is we had a fake field goal that led to points and we have a roughing the punter that leads to point and then we have a late hit on the quarterback that leads to points. Those are hard to overcome, too.
In the four games you lost you only forced two turnovers and five sacks. How big of a factor is that?
I've been saying it all along. I don't pull any punches on who we are right now, especially on defense. If we don't take the ball away, play really good red-zone defense and get off the field on third down, it's going to be hard for us to win. We're trying to build, we're trying to grow, were trying to move forward, but if we don't take the ball away it makes it really hard right now.
Again, just disappointed in the overall play of the team, not just the defense, the overall play, and that falls on me.
Lamar has a heavier workload than last year, with a third of the season to go. Is it getting to him?
I think that's fair but if you recall I said he really didn't start understanding or appreciating or recognizing how important it is to be in incredible condition as an elite tailback until after spring ball. You're not talking about somebody who has been working out on an elite level in the offseason for two or three years. You're talking about really May, June, July and August. It served him really well. I'm glad he made that approach, but I'm certain now he understands what we're talking about in terms of your body being your biggest investment especially at running back and the things he needs to do to prepare himself for that.
I'm concerned about everybody's health. It's seven straight games and then a short week. I was concerned about it. I was concerned about transitioning from Georgia Tech to Virginia and concerned about our health and our fatigue.
The final long touchdown play for Va, it seemed like Jimmy Gaines was one-on-one, was he supposed to get help on top?
If we don't get pressure on quarterback it's hard for anybody to hold up there, let alone Jimmy. They really had a great call on there but we didn't get any pressure, we didn't get anybody in the quarterback's face and the longer that play goes the harder it is for Jimmy or any safety to defend. That was a tough one.We had a blown assignment on the screen that went for one and a clearly we had a safety out of position on the pitch pass so three explosive plays and hard to overcome them. (8:40)
When you looked at the play, did it appear to you that Olivier got blocked into the quarterback?
I don't see the TV copy so obviously you start to hear somebody saying this or what perception and reality is. We watched the tape and on the sideline view (Olivier) he clearly got blocked and pushed from behind, No. 1. And No. 2 you can clearly see him trying to turn his upfield shoulder at the last second and there's actually probably a half yard between his helmet and the young man's knee. So I was convinced that it was not intentional and I wanted to make sure we did our due diligence here. I brought him in and reviewed it with him and I'm confident that there was no intent there but Olivier does play hard. He made a hard turn to the quarterback and he did tell me he was trying to avoid him up high because he could see the kid start his windup. But I do know there was a push in the back. I know there was an attempt by Olivier not to go for the kid's knee with his head gear. That was clear. If that is portrayed differently or if there's an angle that shows differently I'll have to examine that.
We know you're focused on process but do you worry how this team holds it together with long ACC odds and throughout the last third of the season?
don't because it's Year One. We're trying to fix long term problems in the short term and that's the challenge of our staff and for me as the head coach and for this team. There's still so much to play for and we are playing a lot of young guys mixed in with the veterans. We need the seniors to continue to lead and stay focused and improve, and obviously they are. Sean Spence is playing well, [Jordan] Futch is probably playing the best football of his career, I think Jacory obviously played well yesterday, Travis Benjamin, Harland Gunn, Tyler Horn. So, a lot of the seniors are stepping up for us and playing well. We just need some of the young guys to step up and understand, we have a long way to go. We're not where we want to be yet. We fight back, we don't quit, we're competitive but we're not consistent, and that's what gnawing at me today. I want to build a team that is consistent every day, that practices consistently, that has the same approach and plays the same way. There were too many lulls in that game for us to be consistent.
How much does two extra days of treatment when you've gone seven straight?
It's huge. We're not doing anything with them at all Friday, Saturday, Sunday. They'll just take care of academics and get rested. I was nervous going into the game. I knew we were going to face a downhill running attack with two really good running backs, a big offensive line. I was concerned how we came out of the Georgia Tech game. I was hoping and praying we'd be able to hang in there and get some stops. But clearly we gave them explosive plays, we miss a field goal, we fumble on the 12 and we miss a fourth-and-1 on the 13 and that's the difference in the game despite all the easy plays that we gave them.
Could you assess the plays of the safeties and the cornerbacks?
At safety we're not where we need to be. Clearly JoJo [Nicolas] is playing the best for us there. He has been consistent both in his ability to operate the defense and the way he's playing and leading. We're not disciplined enough and we keep giving up explosive plays on the back end – the pitch pass for one. We had a blown assignment in the secondary on the screen. I believe it was the first quarter that scored a touchdown. We're not consistent enough there and obviously we need to improve. Our tackling is inconsistent as well. At times Vaughn [Telemaque] and Ray [Armstrong] really tackled well, but there's still too many times where we don't execute the way we need to.
At cornerback?
We've got to get [Brandon] McGee over the hump now. He's doing so many things better. He's becoming more reliable. He's just got to become to the point where he's dependable and frees it up and starts to make some big plays for us, some interceptions, or some big tackles, or some caused fumbles. Those types of things. He's maturing, he's improving but we really need him to finish strong here in this final stretch an clearly we need from Mike Williams, we need more from [Thomas] Finney and we need more from [Lee] Chambers at this point in time.
Duke is ranked 22nd nationally in passing offense. They have two big-play threats, in Vernon and Varner, from Miami. How concerned are you with that?
I'm concerned about everything. My focus here today and tomorrow will be making sure we're taking care of the things that we need to take care of on our end. I've watched all three phases of Duke here today. But our attention will go squarely on Duke on Sunday. I'm concerned about it all. I'm concerned about every team we play. I'm mostly concerned about making sure we have a team that adheres to the preparation, the process and understands what it means to be consistent and play consistently game in and game out. We have not done it yet. We just have not. That was the challenge for the team this week and we didn't bring all three phases for four quarters and that's why we end up on the 8-yard line and falling short just by a little bit again.
Are their spirits down?
I hope they're down right now. I do. I hope they feel badly. That's the kind of culture we want. We want it to hurt. We don't want it to be easy to lose. WE don't want that .500 mentality where it's OK to lose. We did too many things in that game.. we don't miss a field goal or we don't fumble on the 12-yard line clearly the game is different. We're kicking a field goal to win. The same thing with the fake field goal and roughing the punter. We go from having a chance for an ex play blocked punt to roughing the punter and giving them a first down and points. We're just trying to develop consistency and that starts with my approach to staff and we want that from the team as well.
The offensive line play?
I would say that [Harland] Gunn, [Tyler] Horn and [Brandon] Linder played really well. Seantrel [Henderson], that was probably the most he's played – I think it was 43 reps. That was the first time he got back to kind of a normal game for him. Not full game, but probably three quarters. But we gave up three sacks and we just didn't block as well as we need to block. It's not just the O-line, it's the tight ends and running backs hitting their aim points and getting positive yards.
When you look at last night's loss, do you look at it as a setback for the program or is it part of the growth process and the big picture?
It's part of the growth process. I'm not even going to deny that. I'm disappointed but I'm not discouraged. We're just not consistent right now. We understand the impact that penalties and mental errors and special teams have on the game last week and we protect the ball and keep our penalties down and do a really good job on special teams. And then we turn around this week. I'm trying to develop a consistent team here. I don't know if they don't know how to handle success right now. In a short week we were just trying to keep them fresh and develop some momentum and just keep them focused on the process but I just didn't do a good enough job. I just did not do a good enough job. We just had too many mental breakdowns in that game to win.


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Progstravaganza 14 Released!
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Posted: October 23 2013 at 06:56
Two months after the release of seminal Progstravaganza 13, Prog Sphere is back with another part in the on-going compilation series. Halfsized comparing with the previous part, Progstravaganza 14 is definitely not lacking the quality.
The Progstravaganza compilation series has as its sole purpose to discover new bands. Since its inception in 2010, Prog Sphere has made it its goal to make each compilation special. Every part in the series comes with specially designed artwork. They are all available via Bandcamp in different audio formats.
Progstravaganza 14 is half in size comparing with previous sampler. The compilation itself is accompanied with the official Progstravaganza website where all the artists-participants have profiles. The website also brings interviews with the bands. The bands' releases are also available as streamings on Progify streaming service. Chris van der Linden (Linden Artwork) provided once again design for the art cover and he is the one "to blame" for the new approach of naming the samplers.
Prog Sphere's editor-in-chief Nick says: "The new sampler has a title "Timeshift," what kind of symbolize that after three years of putting out the samplers, we are still there, doing the thing. Giving a unique name to our samplers adds another dimension to the whole experience, it's kinda weird that we didn't do it before."
Along with Progstravaganza 14 going on, Prog Sphere is allowing submissions for the upcoming, fifteenth edition (due in December). Prog Sphere invites bands from all around the world to take part and reach out to a wide audience by promoting the sampler. The compilations are actively promoted by continuous radio streams on more than 50 radio stations around the world. Bands and musicians interested in being a part of the upcoming compilation can get in touch with Prog Sphere by sending an email to [email protected]
Progstravaganza 14 is available from THIS LOCATION. For all the news and updates concerning the sampler visit its official website HERE.
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Infobright Community Edition (ICE) is an analytic database built on MySQL, designed to deliver very fast query response against large data volumes. It is a self-tuning, columnar database that eliminates the need to create or maintain indexes, partition data, or perform other administrative tasks.
A download accelerator.
A tool that displays information about BOINC projects.


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Glee! the spiel
By Miriam G. Mazliach
If a mix of music, humor, and the Old Testament gets your feet tapping, then dont miss Temple Beth Torahs Glee! the spiel. The entertaining production has a limited run of only two performances: Saturday, March 3 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 4 at 1 p.m.
This years spiel (a humorous, tongue-in-cheek play), is a musical-comedy adaptation of the traditional story of the Jewish holiday of Purim, but based on the characters and music of the hit television show Glee! Music is the universal language that draws people together, as evidenced by the shows popularity, among all ages.
Glee! the spiel recounts, in a unique version, the story behind the festive holiday. Its the tale of Queen Esther, a young woman who marries a King (Ahasuerus) but must hide her Jewish faith. When Haman, the Kings evil advisor, threatens her people with death, she finds the courage to acknowledge and reveal her true identity.
A cast of more than 50 performers span the generations, from four-year old Dara Turchin to members of Temple Beth Torahs Shalom Aleynu senior citizens group. All take on the personas of well-known Glee characters, but with a biblical twist such as: Mordechai Will Schuester, Esther Rachel Berry and Haman Sue Sylvester, to name a few.
To help set the mood, here is a sampling of the humorously renamed production numbers with the original song titles in parentheses:
Dont Stop the Spielin based on the classic pop song, (Dont Stop Believin by Journey); Bad Hair Day, (Bad Romance by Lady Gaga); Teenage Queen, (Teenage Dream, by Katy Perry) and Defying Authority, (Defying Gravity, from the Broadway musical Wicked.)
The script, written by Norman Roth, with adaption and direction by Laura Golden, is sure to be a crowd-pleasing event. Greg Ravenscroft takes on the duties of producer.
A historical victory over oppression, Purim is traditionally celebrated by dressing up in costumes, waving greggars (noisemakers) and partaking of delectable baked goods, specifically hamantaschen (triangular-shaped poppy seed/fruit filled pastries), modeled after the three-cornered hat worn by Haman.
Now celebrating its 50th year anniversary in Fremont, Temple Beth Torah encourages the entire community to attend and experience the fun and flavor of a true Purim spiel. These productions always offer a wonderful time for the entire family, so get your tickets early!
Prices will be higher at the door (assuming it doesnt sell out beforehand), so it is advisable to buy in advance either online at http://www.tbtpurimspiel.com or call the TBT office at (510) 656-7141.
Glee! The spiel
Saturday, March 3
7:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 4
1 p.m.
Tickets: $5/General admission (ages 14-64); $4/General (age 65+); Free General admission (ages 13 and under only); $15/Preferred (ages 13 and under and 65+); $20/Preferred (ages 14-64); $50 - VIP (front row seats for Saturday 3/3 show only)
Temple Beth Torah
42000 Paseo Padre Parkway, Fremont
Advance tickets: (510) 656-7141 or http://www.tbtpurimspiel.com


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Respecting the Help
We're all Jewish ambassadors. So watch what you say and do.
Click here if you are unable to view this video.
Give Tzedakah! Help Aish.com create inspiring
articles, videos and blogs featuring timeless Jewish wisdom.
(12) SusanE, April 28, 2012 2:04 AM
Generalizing and Birds of a feather.
Lori, People generalize about all groups. We are associated with other people who are like us and we are all judged together. If a few get judged harshly for their actions and if they are still accepted as part of the group, then the group gets judged harshly. That's the way people form opinions. For instance, the Jewish community will be judged by R K's views on how to handle the help. (commenter #2) Is that a favorable or unfavorable image to the Jews? Will they be looked at as fair and just employers to poor Spanish speaking people who are used to washing their clothes in a river. That the helps life is better since they have learned to use a machine and how to properly use cleaning products? Will they be seen as generous employers for donating used clothing to their employees instead of sending it to Goodwill? You tell me. Making sure that the helps children are getting a proper education, would make most people form a favorable opinion of R K. All who post here, including me, are ambassadors to your 260,000 subscribers. - - - - - - - - - Races, Religions, Nationalities, Clubs, Communities all are judged buy the commonly seen reports and actions of it's members. It's not unfair. The world only knows what it sees and hears and from that it forms opinions. - - - - - -- - - Lori, There is something disturbing about teaching children to act in a special way towards servants or others working for them. Teaching children respect for everyone is of course wonderful and we set the example. However, giving children a motive to act extra nice in front of their workers or servants is deceptive. In my opinion.
(11) Mel, April 23, 2012 10:50 PM
Yes, I was waiting for something like that.
Lori, thanks a lot for this video, because i really don't like that many jews think that they are something better than "the non-jews". As if they had chosen themselves in which womb they were placed! Every human being is a valuable soul created in the image of Hashem and the only difference between us is the task that we were given. Jews and Gentiles have different tasks as much as men and women, and both are equal in worth! While I agree that it is important for the jewish people to keep a bit seperate from the nations, I think that it has been exaggerated and even turned into arrogance (the opposite of Chesed!). There are many non-jews out there who are not "idol-worshippers" and have a very high morale and much wisdom. It's not only us who are good. (And we should even be kind to those who have low morale.) Let us do acts of kindness to everyone, not just the fellow jew.
(10) Anonymous, April 19, 2012 11:34 PM
We Are Ambassadors
having moved from NY to a very small city in Indiana in the 70's I realized several things rather quickly. One was how much my Jewsih identity and heritage meant to me and two, that we are ambassadors of our people. The people I worked with and lived among had never met a Jewish person. Some didn't know we still existed on Earth- just back in the Bible times. My children were born there and from the time they could understand I taught them that we are ambassadors and we needed to show the best side we possibly could. Media LOVES to find the bad side all too often. Lori has said it very well- Good Job, Lori!
(9) Mikhael, April 18, 2012 2:40 AM
Lori's right--BUT
As she says (paraphrasing) , is it right that non-Jews should generalize about us (whether for bad or good) based on how we behave-? As she says, whether it's fair or not, we represent klal Yisrael in our deeds. However, the converse is also true. We should also not judge other groups by the actions of indivduals. If PERSON A from ETHNICITY X behaves a certain way, we shouldn;t assume everyone from ETHNICITY X is that way.
(8) Anonymous, April 17, 2012 11:16 PM
Being brought up as the minority in a small town, where my family had a successful business, taught me from a very early age to behave and speak appropriately, as '"we" were always being judged, Today, I tell my children the same thing, It boils down to a very basic rule. treat others as you likee to be treated. Nobody is any better than you or below you.


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Top 10 reasons why the Steelers can't lose the Super Bowl
What some might call tempting the gods of Fate, I call 100% Justified Confidence. Come on, Steeler Fan, show a little faith!
10) The Steelers held top WRs to just 6.5 yards per attempt this year, so Larry Fitzgerald is not even planning on playing
9) Kurt Warner's Born Again Jebus Power is no match for Troy Polamalu's Eastern Orthodox Pray Every Play Jebus Power
8) Anquan Boldin's behavior in their last game was the very worst thing a wide receiver has ever, ever done, and there's no way the Cardinals can overcome that
7) Both Cardinals fans that were thinking of going to the game are now in jail for lawn abuse
6) The Steelers are favored by seven points, and favorites always win in the NFL Playoffs
5) After what he did to Willis McGahee, no Cardinals offensive player will be able to go within 10 yards of Ryan Clark without soiling themselves, which generally leads to more turnovers
4) Seahawks Fan will tell you, and tell you, and tell you, how the refs are totally in the tank for the Steelers in the Super Bowl
3) While the Cardinals are the home team for the game, the Steelers were 6-2 on the road
2) There's no way that the Cardinals can succeed against a team with strong blitz schemes, a good pass defense, and a quarterback that can extend plays with his feet
1) I've picked against the Cardinals for three straight playoff games now, but this time, I *really* mean it