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Farmers in Georgia — the nation's largest producer of peanuts — plan to decrease plantings of the crop significantly by about 17 percent in 2006, following a trend seen in much of the Southeast this year.
If these early projections prove accurate, Georgia's peanut acreage will total about 630,000 acres or 125,000 acres below last year.
U.S. peanut producers intend to plant 1.39 million acres of peanuts in 2006, down 16 percent from last year. Of the 10 producing states, eight intend to plant fewer acres than in 2005, while Mississippi and New Mexico expect acreage to be unchanged from last year.
Southeast growers — those in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina — intend to plant 1.03 million acres, down 15 percent from last year. In the Virginia-North Carolina region, producers intend to plant 102,000 acres, down 15 percent from 2005. Growers in the Southwest, meanwhile, intend to plant 259,000 acres, down 19 percent from last year. These states include New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.
The expected decrease in peanut acreage is being attributed to a higher supply than in recent years, low farmer stock peanut prices, and higher input costs.
"The decrease in peanut acreage isn't too surprising considering the large supply and the fact that demand is idling," says Nathan Smith, University of Georgia Extension economist. "We expected a decrease in Georgia of at least 10 percent, so 17 percent is significant."
Many peanut producers in the Southeast saw disappointing yields last year, and that also has contributed to the decrease, says Smith. "Another big factor is that there were no contracts being offered at the time the initial planting intentions were made," he says.
Rising fuel and fertilizer costs probably had a minimal effect on the reduction in peanut acreage, he says. "When you compare the costs of growing peanuts with corn and cotton, peanuts still look pretty good. There are higher fuel costs associated with peanuts compared to cotton, but that's offset by lower fertilizer costs," says Smith.
In addition to decreasing their peanut acreage, Georgia farmers also are planning a reduction in corn, soybeans, oats and sorghum. The lone increases are in wheat and cotton with tobacco acreage remaining the same as in 2005.
Georgia's cotton acreage in 2006 is expected to be 1,300,000 acres. This is 80,000 acres or about 7 percent above the 2005 level. Some peanut acres have shifted back to cotton, despite high energy and fertilizer costs.
Looking across the Southeast, cotton acreage will be up in 2006 in every state except Alabama, says Don Shurley, University of Georgia Extension agricultural economist.
"In some states, the increased acreage in some crops and decreased acreage in other crops does not come close to zeroing out. There certainly could be crops other than these major crops in the mix or, also likely, some acreage has been taken out of production for this year," says Shurley.
Nationally, farmers expect to plant 14.63 million acres to cotton this year, compared to 14.2 last year, an increase of 3 percent. "Using the 2001-2005 five-year average yield and acreage abandonment, this planted acreage would peg the 2006 crop at 21.12 million bales. If realized, this would be 2.5 million bales less than last year," he says.
However, in 2004 and again last year, the United States experienced above-trendline yields and below-average acreage abandonment, says Shurley. "If this were to happen again in 2006, the U.S. crop could approach 23 million bales or higher. With foreign mill demand soaring and, as a result, U.S. exports growing, the prospect of a 21 to 23-million bale U.S. crop should be enough to hold the market near current levels until more is known," he says.
Shurley says he isn't prepared to take a more optimistic outlook this early in the game. "The market (December futures) should rally back over 60 cents if the U.S. crop doesn't get off to a good start. Conversely, if the crop progresses well and/or if U.S. exports do not do well due to a number of reasons — including increased foreign production/competition and/or slower demand — then prices will weaken. But for now, I think the mid to upper 50s to 60 cents is the comfort zone right now. Rallies over 60 cents are good opportunities to consider strategies to manage potential downside risk," says Shurley.
In Georgia, for example, cotton acreage has hung fairly close to DCP payment acres or 85 percent of enrolled base acres since passage of the 2002 farm bill, he says. This year's 80,000-acre increase in cotton compares to a 165,000-acre decline in peanuts, corn and soybeans.
Corn planting in Georgia for 2006 is expected to total 260,000 acres, according to growers' plans in early March. This would be a reduction of 10,000 acres from last year.
If these acres are realized, this would be the lowest acres of corn on record in the state. As in other parts of the United States, growers in Georgia apparently are reacting to rising fuel and fertilizer costs. By the end of March, about half the crop had been planted.
Georgia's soybean acreage for 2006 is expected to decrease to 150,000 acres. This is 30,000 acres or 17 percent below 2005. The potential for disease problems and better alternative crops are being cited as reasons for a reduction in acres. Planting typically starts round the first part of May.
Tobacco growers are planning the same acreage as last year. Acreage for 2006 is expected to total 16,000 acres. Sorghum planting for 2006 is expected to total 35,000 acres or 5,000 acres less than in 2005, as growers continue to look for drought-tolerant crops.
Georgia wheat seedings for 2006 totaled 300,000 acres, up 20,000 acres from 2005.
Planting conditions were good in the fall and early winter months. Oats planted totaled 70,000 acres for 2006, down 7 percent from the 75,000 acres planted in 2005. Oat acreage still remains strong as growers look for alternatives to the higher costs of other small grains.
Hay acreage expected to be harvested for 2006 is forecast at 600,000 acres or 50,000 acres more than last year.
In other parts of the lower Southeast, Florida farmers have indicated they intend to plant more cotton and hay but less corn, peanuts, soybeans, wheat and tobacco in 2006 than in 2005.
Panhandle producers intend to bale 300,000 acres of hay, an increase of 10,000 acres from the previous year. The acreage planted to cotton is expected to be 105,000 acres, up 19,000 acres or 22 percent from a year ago.
Florida peanut growers intend to plant 145,000 acres or 9 percent less than the 2005 acreage. Winter wheat acreage, at 10,000 acres, is down 8,000 acres from the previous year.
Planted acreage is projected at 1,100 acres for tobacco, down 1,400 acres from a year earlier. Corn and soybean planted acreage is expected to total 60,000 and 8,000 acres, respectively, compared with 65,000 and 9,000 acres in 2005.
In Alabama, the four leading row crops decreased their combined acres by 2 percent from 2005, with peanuts showing the largest decrease since 2003. This year's combined plantings are expected to be 1,120,000 acres, compared to 1,145,000 acres in 2005. Peanut acres in Alabama are forecast at 190,000, down 35,000 acres and cotton acres, at 540,000, are down 10,000 acres from last year. Soybean acres rebounded to 170,000 acres, up 13 percent from last year, the same level as 2003.
Planting intentions for corn remained unchanged from 2004 at 220,000 acres.
Winter wheat seeded — forecast at 100,000 acres — remains unchanged from the 2005 crop, but was 28 percent below the five-year average. Hay harvested acres forecast at 710,000, are down 3 percent from last year.
Alabama sorghum growers are expected to plant 12,000 acres, an increase of 2,000 acres from last year. Planted acres of oats are estimated at 50,000, unchanged from last year. Sweet potato intentions are 2,500 acres, down 200 acres from last year.


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It is hard to imagine the new ownership of the Riverview Apartments making a better first impression.
Since finalizing the transaction with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban and Development (HUD) on December 17, the members of the Daczewitz family-run operation out of Oregon have said all the right things while providing not the slightest reason for doubt.
It is hard to imagine the new ownership of the Riverview Apartments making a better first impression.
Since finalizing the transaction with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban and Development (HUD) on December 17, the members of the Daczewitz family-run operation out of Oregon have said all the right things while providing not the slightest reason for doubt.
On the first Wednesday of the new year, Kelly Daczewitz and brother in-law Jeremy Leckie flew into Granite Falls to assess the building's needs looking into the future. Daczewitz, who serves as Director of Property Management, flew out this past Sunday, while Leckie, who oversees the Maintenance and Preservation of the rural development properties, will fly home this coming Saturday, provided his business is complete.
Having been on location for the auction this past summer, the visit marks the family's second sojourn to Granite Falls. On Friday, they attended a gathering with a number of locals at Hinterland Vineyards in Clara City, but other than a little additional sight-seeing, have immersed themselves in the job at hand.
"Our first trip out here has been to assess the building," said Leckie. "We intend to look at HUD's list of needed improvements and to see what we see on our own, then we'll make a plan for how we're going to attack this moving forward."
Including the Riverview Apartments and Lamberton, Minnesota's Douglas Manor, the Daczewitz family presently owns seven largely west coast located properties through its affordable housing preservation company, RPH. The acronym, which stands for Reasonable Personal Happiness, is a statement about what the family hopes to obtain from their business for both themselves and others. "We're not looking to get super rich, we just want reasonable personal happiness in our lives," he said.
Obtaining and sustaining this happiness involves doing right for the people they provide service to. Had profit been the company's only motive, Leckie said the building could have passed inspection with little investment and, over the course of the next 30 years, milked of its value until it fell into disrepair, where it would then be abandoned for the city to have to deal with.
But RPH has no intention of following such a model and, on the contrary, stressed the desire to invest in the future.
"Overall, I have a good feeling about it; I'm excited about the complex," he said. "In time, I think that we can make it a very nice building––something that is attractive to the residents of Granite Falls and the surrounding areas as a premiere affordable housing option in this region."
Leckie said he is still gauging what repairs and updates will need to be made internally, but at the very least there are plans to update the apartments and community spaces, and likely the exterior color scheme.
"Our short term goal is to get the building full. In order to get it full and operating financially sound and in a stable place, which it hasn't been in quite sometime, we need to get the units up to the expectations of the customer, which is the tenant.
"We want to make it attractive and a place that people want to live," he continued, "not a place that people are concerned about in terms of the longevity or the security of the complex. I think that's a stigma that has become attached to the building."
The approximately 40 unit Riverview Apartments have been operating at about half capacity for a few years, but the feeling from the Daczewitz family is that the building should have no trouble reaching maximum occupancy once these changes are made, particularly given the rarity of available Section-8 low-income housing.
Leckie noted that that the RPH's apartment complex in Lamberton has kept its 24-unit, low-income facility, and Lamberton is a town of just 800 people.
Well prior to the sale of the building, the city commissioned a housing study in which it was recommended that significant building renovations be made to cater to modern desires for larger apartments. This, however, is not feasible, Leckie said, as the alteration of the units would cause the apartments to lose their Section-8 status.
As a result, all of the apartments will continue to be one bedroom units, suited to cater to no more than two people, he said.
Anybody who meets Section-8 income requirements, and that pass RPH's screening process, will be eligible to live in the units. Section-8 guidelines require that an individuals income level be under 80 percent of the area median income level. The rent is then based off of 30 percent of that income.
As the Daczewitz family members plan to maintain their residences on the west coast, Leckie said that the company will insist on hiring a property manager to live either nearby or onsite who can be available to tend to tenants and facility responsibilities for four to five hours a day.
At this point, Leckie said no decision had been made as to whether the apartments will continue to be geared toward elderly living or open to a broader spectrum of age groups. But regardless, it will be the responsibility of a property manager to help facilitate a community setting that caters to the tenant makeup.
When all is said and done, "We think it'll be one of the nicest places to live in town, he said. "It's got a great view of the river. It's centrally located and it's an easy walk to the downtown. I think it just needs a change in consciousness as to what the building is.
In sum, seven members of the Daczewitz family comprise the RPH team with patriarch John Daczewitz serving as company owner, founder and CEO. Daczewitz, who is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), has roughly 35 years experience working in affordable housing both as an Owner/Operator and Independent Auditor.
The family partnership has but one stated goal: To provide the highest quality affordable housing to families and individuals in need.

subset: commoncrawl


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Hi Everyone,
The Eye Cancer Foundation in NYC is having it's annual luncheon on Saturday September 21, 2013. Stay tuned for more information. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail me at: email@example.com
Anne Marie
Re: Save the Date: The Eye Cancer Foundation Annual Luncheon(5/13/2013 - 11:02am)
This is exciting news!! Going to NYC in July... And now looks like I'll be there in September. My sister in law lives there and my son's new office is in Manhattan !! They want to attend with me. Thanks Anne Marie!!
In Life we all have an unspeakable secret, an irreversible regret, an unreachable dream and an unforgetable love.


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Within Maori culture these wooden feeding funnels are known as 'Korere'. The funnel is made of wood inset with abalone shell and carved with interlacing ancestral designs. Korere feed high status individuals such as chiefs when the ability to consume food is restricted. This restriction can be due to activities called 'tabu', the origin of the word 'taboo'. 'Tabu' is used to describe a powerful or dangerous situation which must be controlled. One example would be during a tattoo ceremony when the chief has his face marked with traditional moko designs; he could be fed through the feeding funnel. This was for practical as well as ritual reasons; tattooing would cause excessive swelling, and water and healing agents could be passed down the funnel. The Korere would limit physical contact between the food and chief when both are considered charged with 'mana' or power, and therefore tabu. However, it is possible this example was carved for the early tourist market and never used for its traditional purpose.
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Glossary: indigenious beliefs
No description.
Glossary: feeding funnel
differs from 'feeding cup' as not necessarily used for feeding babies or invalids, sometimes used during cermonies and ritulas such as the feeding of chiefs during tattooing ceremonies, sometimes classed as a relgious object.
Glossary: spout - container component
Tubular protruberance through which the contents of a vessel may be poured or sometimes drunk.


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Monday, September 17, 2012
BELMONT PARK NOTES; Sunday, September 16, 2012
ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Chad Brown reported Sunday morning that Samitar came out of her narrow victory in Saturday's Grade 1, $300,000 Garden City at Belmont Park in good shape, and next will point for the Grade 1, $400,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup on Saturday, October 13 at Keeneland.
With her gutsy head victory over Somali Lemonade in the Garden City, the 3-year-old filly did something even her champion sire, Rock of Gibraltar, couldn't accomplish – win a North American Grade 1 to go along with a victory in a European classic. Rock of Gibraltar won both the English and Irish 2000 Guineas, but came up just short in his lone North American start, the 2002 Breeders' Cup Mile.
What struck Brown the most about Samitar's Garden City victory was her tenacity.
"I think she is a tough horse," Brown said. "She's not real big, but she has a lot of courage. She's a real battler. It didn't surprise me to see her really battle towards the wire and hold that other horse off. The way she trained, she seems to be that way.
"Even in her first start in the country, in the Lake George, she was only in my barn for a few days, and I watched the race, I didn't have anything to do with preparing her for it, but I thought she was hopelessly beaten at the quarter pole. I didn't think she would get anything, and for her to hit the board, she really battled. It wasn't a win but it showed me a little something there, and then when I took over her training, I kept that in mind, that she's a real fighter. She's a pretty brave horse."
Brown was pleased with how runner-up Dealbata and fifth-place finisher Kya One ran in Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Noble Damsel, contested at a mile on the firm Belmont turf, but feels that the race didn't fit either of their optimal preferences.
Two of Dealbata's four career victories have come at 1 ¼ miles, while Kya One's lone stakes victory came going 1 1/8 miles.
"I think both the races that I've run Dealbata in at a mile have been too short for her," Brown said. "Those races were available when she was ready to run, so we went for them, and she ran very well in both of them to her credit. But we probably would have been better suited waiting for races that fit her, even though they didn't fit into our schedule.
"From here on out, I'm going to run her further distances and hopefully get some cut in the ground. I've seemed to always find firm turf for her too, and I can just tell from the way she moves, she is looking for some cut in the ground. She has done really well over here in her three starts, and I don't think she's had anything go her way, really, in terms of where I've placed her – surface or distance. I think if she stays together in good order, I think she's pretty good and is going to win a big race."
Brown also feels that Kya One, who was making her first start for the barn, needs more ground.
"I thought Kya One ran well," he said. "We were in a little bit of a spot with her. We didn't have anything that really fit on the schedule for her and we wanted to get a race into her and get her some experience over here. The feedback from Johnny [Velazquez] was that she was always kind of on the chase and never really took him anywhere. I think that was a function of being too short, almost a one-turn type of race with a fast pace and the field was spread out and there was not much cover. It kind of took her out of her sorts, but she got some experience over here.
"The way that she trains, there is no doubt that she is a graded stakes caliber horse over here. She's really looking for longer distances, so she would be a horse that I might point for the Long Island [Grade 3, $150,000, 1 ½ miles turf, Aqueduct Racetrack, Saturday, November 10]."
* * *
Frank Stronach's 4-year-old filly Awesome Feather will look to run her record to a perfect 10-for-10 on Thursday at Belmont Park in the one-mile Nasty Storm overnight stakes, scheduled as Race 3. The race drew nine entrants, but some are expected to scratch.
Trained by Chad Brown, the diminutive Florida-bred daughter of Awesome of Course has dealt with tendon issues that have resulted in a light racing schedule over the past few years.
After winning six races in 2010, highlighted by a 2 ¼-length victory in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, she made only two starts in 2011, including a 5 ¼-length romp in the Grade 1 Gazelle in November at Aqueduct. In her lone start this year, Awesome Feather produced a 5 ¾-length tour de force score in the Sunshine Millions Distaff in January at Gulfstream Park.
Brown is hopeful that Thursday's overnight stakes, in which Awesome Feather has been installed as the 4-5 morning line favorite, will be the perfect prep for an appearance in the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic on Friday, November 2 at Santa Anita Park.
"The race is good timing before the Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic; I have roughly six weeks," Brown said. "She's training super. Her weight is very good, her coat is great, and her works have been perfect. I've brought her down to Belmont and I thought she galloped very well today. If she's sound and in good order, we'll plan on running her."
Jeffrey Sanchez, a 27-year-old native of Puerto Rico, will again have the mount on Awesome Feather. He has been on board for all nine of her starts.
On Saturday, Martin S. Schwartz's Grade 1 winning 5-year-old mare Zagora put in her second work (four furlongs, breezing, 49.88) since setting a track record in the Grade 2, Ballston Spa on August 25 at Saratoga Race Course.
Both her works have been over the Oklahoma training track at Saratoga, but Brown indicated that she is on her way to Belmont to continue preparations for a likely run in the Grade 1, $600,000 Flower Bowl Invitational on Saturday, September 29.
"We still got a little bit of an eye on the Spinster at Keeneland [Grade 1, 1 1/8 miles Polytrack, Sunday, October 7], that's not totally off the table," said Brown. "But I'm going to get her down here and train her towards the Flower Bowl locally, while keeping an eye on some other races. She's most likely to run here, though."
Brown also is making plans for two of his impressive 2-year-old turf winners from the Saratoga meet.
Balance the Books, who ran second in a maiden race at Saratoga before capturing the Grade 2, $200,000 With Anticipation the final week of the meet, will target either the Grade 3, $150,000 Pilgrim going 1 1/16 miles on the turf Sunday, October 7 at Belmont Park or the Grade 1, $400,000 Dixiana Breeders' Futurity going 1 1/16 miles on the Polytrack Saturday, October 6 a Keeneland.
"I need to speak with the owners, Seth Klarman and Bill Lawrence, and see what they're comfortable with," said Brown. "The Breeders' Futurity is a pretty big race, being a Grade 1. I bought him out of a sale at Keeneland and he's been over the Polytrack before, so it might make sense to take a shot at a Grade 1 with him. I think he's doing really well right now."
Brown added that Noble Tune, who broke his maiden at first asking impressively over the Saratoga turf on September 3, is pointing for the Pilgrim.
"Noble Tune is probable for the Pilgrim, no matter what," Brown said. "That won't influence what I do with Balance the Books. At this point, I don't mind running these nice horses against one another."
* * *
It was a busy morning at Saratoga Race Course for trainer Todd Pletcher, who was on hand to oversee a number of horses work in preparation for upcoming stakes.
Among them was multiple Grade 1 winner Turbulent Descent, who went a half-mile in 50.50 seconds for a likely start in Saturday's Grade 2, $200,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap at Belmont.
Following her victory in the Grade 1 Ballerina – her first start for Pletcher and owners Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith – Pletcher weighed training Turbulent Descent up to the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint on November 2 at Santa Anita Park, but said Sunday the 6 ½-furlong Gallant Bloom could be beneficial.
"We'll enter her and Mildly Offensive in the Gallant Bloom, and we might run both," said the trainer. "There will still be six weeks to the Breeders' Cup, which is a long time. The thinking is that she might be a little sharper for having a race."
Also on the Oklahoma training track worktab was Stay Thirsty, who breezed a half-mile in 50.22 as he points toward a possible return engagement on September 29 in the Grade 1 TVG Jockey Club Gold Cup, a race in which he finished third in 2011.
In his most recent outing, the 4-year-old Bernardini colt ran fifth, just over four lengths behind winner To Honor and Serve, in the Grade 1 Woodward on September 1 at Saratoga. He also was fifth, beaten 13 ½ lengths, behind winner Mucho Macho Man in the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap on July 7 at Belmont.
"The Woodward wasn't quite as good of a race as he was touting us, but it was a better race than the Suburban," said Pletcher of the Repole Stable color-bearer. "There are a few things we can adjust, such as the riding style. He was in tight quarters late, and Javier [Castellano] got the stick knocked out of his hand and didn't get to ride the way he wanted to the last part of the race. It didn't cost us the win, but it might have cost us third. We can hope for another step forward."
Rule, sixth in the Woodward, also breezed a half-mile in 49.33, but Pletcher said the 5-year-old son of Roman Ruler will most likely bypass the TVG Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Love and Pride, upset winner of the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on August 26 at the Spa, worked a half-mile in 49.70 as she points to either the Grade 1, 1 1/8-mile Beldame on September 29 or the Grade 1 Zenyatta at 1 1/16 miles the same day at Santa Anita Park.
"Right now, I'm leaning towards the Zenyatta because it's a two-turn race," said Pletcher. "But we won't make that decision until closer to the race."
Two of Pletcher's promising juveniles worked in company, with Archwarrior and Micromanage going head-to-head in 50.42 for a half-mile as their connections mull the Grade 1 Foxwoods Champagne on October 6.
Owned by Alto Racing, Archwarrior was a 3 ¼-length maiden winner in a six-furlong race on August 30 at Saratoga, while Repole Stable's Micromanage came home a five-length victor on September 1 going seven furlongs.
"I liked both horses' works," said Pletcher. "They're both under consideration for the Champagne. They will ship to Belmont this week and we'll see how they continue to train, and how aggressive in their approach their owners want to be."
* * *
Trainer Bill Mott confirmed Royal Delta for the Grade 1 Beldame Invitational and said To Honor and Serve could compete in the Grade 2 Kelso Handicap after the pair posted separate breezes on Sunday at Belmont Park.
Both the Beldame and the Kelso will be contested on September 29, Super Saturday at Belmont.
Besilu Stables' Royal Delta, breezing for the second time since her second-place finish in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign Handicap on August 26 at Saratoga, negotiated five furlongs in 59.24 seconds, the second quickest of 24 moves at the distance.
"A nice, smooth work," said Royal Delta's Hall of Fame conditioner. "Normal for her. She was good. That's been her second work [since the Personal Ensign], and she'll probably have another work next weekend, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, weather permitting, and then if all is well we'll run in the Beldame."
To Honor and Serve took to the training track and turned in a 47.43 breeze, his first since his victory in Saratoga's Grade 1 Woodward on September 1.
"He was good, did it easily. Seems to be doing well," said Mott.
Mott originally planned to train To Honor and Serve up to the Breeders' Cup in early November at Santa Anita, but now says the Live Oak Plantation color-bearer is possible for the one-mile Kelso.
"We're leaning in that direction but not committed 100 percent," said Mott. "We also have the option of just waiting for the Breeders' Cup."
Both the 1 ¼-mile Breeders' Cup Classic and the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile are under consideration for To Honor and Serve.
"I think Ms. [Charlotte] Weber's preference would probably be to run in the Classic," said Mott. "Obviously, everybody would love to win the Classic, but we're not locked in there. We could still run in the Mile if we want, but we have time. We're going to run in one or the other."
* * *
Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin worked a quartet of stakes runners for Godolphin Racing this weekend at Saratoga's Greentree Training Center, with multiple Grade 1 winner It's Tricky and promising juvenile Fortify turning in breezes for upcoming stakes races at Belmont Park, and top sophomores Questing and Alpha working toward engagements at Parx Racing.
It's Tricky, who has competed exclusively in New York this year with Grade 2 victories in Aqueduct Racetrack's Top Flight and Distaff Handicaps and a Grade 1 score in the Ogden Phipps Handicap, worked a sharp five furlongs in 58.80 on Sunday over Greentree's Tapeta surface. Most recently, the 4-year-old Mineshaft filly was a courageous third after falling to her face at the start of Saratoga's Grade 1 Personal Ensign Handicap on August 26. She is pointed for a start in the Grade 1 Beldame Invitational on September 29 at Belmont Park.
Fortify, an impressive Spa maiden winner who then was second to Shanghai Bobby in the Grade 2 Three Chimneys Hopeful on closing day, covered a half-mile in 48.10 on Saturday as he prepares for a start in the Grade 1 Foxwoods Champagne on Saturday, October 6.
Questing, who dominated the Grade 1 TVG Coaching Club American Oaks and Grade 1 Alabama at Saratoga this summer, also worked Saturday, breezing four furlongs in 48.20 for an anticipated start in Saturday's Grade 1, 1 1/16-mile Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing.
Alpha, winner of the Travers via a dead heat with Golden Ticket, is also Parx-bound this weekend. He worked five furlongs in 59:00 on Friday for his start in the Grade 2, 1 1/8-mile Pennsylvania Derby.
"I'm happy with the works," McLaughlin said. "They're all on course."
* * *
Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey sent out a fearsome foursome of workers on Sunday to gear up for upcoming graded stakes at Belmont Park.
Three of the Sunday breezers are targeting Grade 1 races on September 29, with TVG Jockey Club Gold Cup contender Hymn Book covering four furlongs in 48.33, Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational hopeful Point of Entry traveling four furlongs on grass in 49.03, and Flower Bowl Invitational probable Hit It Rich cruising three furlongs in 36.71. Boisterous, who is aiming for a title defense in the Grade 3 Knickerbocker, worked in company with Point of Entry and also received a time of 49.03.
"They all have chances, I think," said McGaughey. "Hit It Rich has always sort of been an inch below, but I think one of these days I think she is going to step up and not be an inch below."
McGaughey said he is looking forward to racing Hymn Book at Belmont, where he has won a pair of overnight stakes and twice finished second in the Grade 2 Suburban Handicap. Hymn Book, who races for Stuart Janney, III, was fourth in the Grade 1 Whitney Invitational Handicap on August 4 at Saratoga Race Course.
"Hymn Book's races here have always been good, and if he gets away well and is in the race then I think he'll have a big chance [in the TVG Jockey Club Gold Cup]," said McGaughey. "He's doing really well, so we'll see. If he's not good enough, we'll find an easier spot for him. The last two years I took him to Saratoga, and he just didn't do that well up there. I think he likes it a lot better here over this bigger track. Maybe it's a little softer, too, because he's always trained well at Payson [Park Thoroughbred Training Center in Florida].
"He was closing here going a mile and an eighth, so [the extra distance] might end up helping him while it might hinder some of the others. He's bred to run that far, so I don't think that will get in his way. I think he's put on weight down here, and I think he trains a little bit better over this track and moves better."
* * *
Trainer Christophe Clement reported Sunday that both of his runners in the Grade 3 Noble Damsel – winner Naples Bay and fourth-place finisher Federation – returned well from Saturday's one-mile turf race.
"Naples Bay is doing well and Federation came back in good order as well," Clement said. "No further plan at the moment, we'll enjoy it for a few days. Everything is possible. Everything is wide open."
This morning Clement sent out Waterford Stable's Summer Front to breeze a half mile over Belmont Park's inner turf course in 51.63. Summer Front, a four-time stakes winner whose biggest victory to date came in the Grade 3 Hill Prince on June 16 at Belmont, exits a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park on August 18. The trainer also worked Cheyenne Stables' Mystical Star (five furlongs in 1:03.59), winner of the Grade 2 New York at Belmont on June 30 and exiting an eighth-place effort in Arlington's Grade 1 Beverly D.
"Summer Front had a nice work this morning; it was his first since the Secretariat," said Clement. "He finished third, and I thought he had not much racing luck. He will run in the Jamaica [Grade 1, 1 1/8 miles on October 6]. Mystical Star worked this morning as well, and she's a possibility for the Flower Bowl [Grade 1, 1 ¼ miles on September 29]. I'm not sure about it yet, but she's possible."
Read more articles in the Belmont Park category.


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Here is a map from an "election forecasting model" that the Fox News sent out to America, and your Editrix found it on the Twitter and shared it in the Secret Wonkette Chat Room, for panic-laughs. But seriously, Fox News, try to be a bit more realistic! All of us who have been frantically refreshing Nate Silver's Math and Numbers Emporium for succor know that there's no way that Obama loses Pennsylvania and Minnesota but wins Nevada. Ain't gonna happen! But we have a more likely map to flip out about, after the jump!
There you go, there's a map that actually conforms to a realistic if pessimistic version of Nate's current numbers and ends in an exact 269-269 tie, which, you know what that means: contingent election in the House of Representatives! Get ready for mass protests, politicians screaming at each other for months, John Boehner weeping openly, etc. Fun! [270 To Win is awesome if you like maps, and freaking yourself out]


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He does have a point. " It's not the one big hit. It is the cumulative effect of thousands of little hits [that affect the brain]"
It's probably a forgone conclusion that football players have a good chance to damage their brains. Shoulders problems? OK. Knee issues? That sucks. But brains? Hate to say it but yeah its disturbing. Very disturbing.


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The Institute communicates its scientific and educational information in a number of ways. One major outlet is peer-reviewed publications and reports. Cary Institute staff regularly publish in the best-rated journals in their respective fields.
Export 1 results:Sort by: Author Title [ Type] Year
Filters: Author is Fauth, J. E. [Clear All Filters]
Journal Article
Simplifying the jargon of community ecology: a conceptual approach using a Venn diagram", Am. Nat., vol. 147, p. 282-286, 1996., "


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Sep 7, 2007, 11:42 #1
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CSS Position Absolute - Damn You! - Have you been here before?
Hey everyone,
Kind of new to CSS. Just made the switch from <table> to <div>. It was better then PC to Mac until Position Absolute came around and screwed me all up.
Problematic Website
On a mac and in mozilla firefox it works wonders! On a PC in exploder 6 & 7 the menu shows up completely wrong. I think it's because of the position absolute.
The style sheet is here
Can anyone tell me what's up? Why is it doing this? Should I make my sites without using position:absolute? or is there a hack!
Thanks way in advance! :-)
Sep 7, 2007, 16:10 #2
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position:absolute is for overlapping elements (by includeing them inside a position:relative) or to allow them to be moved around using JavaScript.
For content other than that it can all be positioned using
paddingStephen J Chapman
javascriptexample.net, Book Reviews, follow me on Twitter
HTML Help, CSS Help, JavaScript Help, PHP/mySQL Help, blog
<input name="html5" type="text" required pattern="^$">
Sep 8, 2007, 06:50 #3
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The top menu overlaps in IE because mozilla applies a 1em top margin to elements such as p,h1,h2 etc and IE doesn't apply ant top margin. You can cure the overlap by setting the margin explicitly.
h1,h2 {font-family:Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; padding:10px; margin:1em 0 0 0; }
position:relative is uded for more subtle overlapping effects and not structural layout. The reason it isn't used for structural layout is because position relative doesn't in fact move anything at all. The white space that the element previously occupied is always preserved and other elements on the page treat the relative element as though it had remained in the same place.
You can think of it as moving the element only visually but not physically.
You can of course use absolute positioning if your layout is rigid enough to live with it but remember that absolute elements are removed from the flow and it is impossible to place a footer that spans absolute columns.
Columnar layouts these days are usually floated but floats are also not without problems but are a lot more flexible which is why they are usually preferred.


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Fallen Heroes
As a Michigan alum living in Columbus, the picture below is one of the many reasons why I love this city.
Enjoy! It was like an early Christmas gift.
This is so...Ohio. Didn't realize Fathead had a Disgraced Coaches section. Who knew?
Why do I get the feeling that if Bernie Madoff had won a National Title or two for Tosu and had a winning record against Michigan, Buckeye fans would hang a wall-sized poster of him in their double-wides?
Damn straight it's a trailer park joke!


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Open House pick of the week: Kaimuki
This retro home is a cute example of Kaimuki's charm, but with all the elements of contemporary living inside. Although it was built in 1927, the owners—who have owned it for about 30 years—have maintained it with ongoing upgrades to keep it looking new. (Click here for details.)
"It's not like they overhauled the house in just one year," says realtor Yukiko Sato of Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties. "The paint is new, and all of the electrical wiring is new. But the home's upgrades have always been a work in progress, and it's been well-kept."
The two-bedroom, one-bath home is just 808 square feet, but the lot is 4,643 square feet (which includes a two-car parking area, which is rare in Kaimuki). There's good ventilation throughout the house, so there's no need for air conditioning.
"For added storage, the home has an attic," Sato says. "It's a full-sized attic, so you can stand up straight and walk around. There's also a separate storage shed outside that can be used as a greenhouse."
It's located on the lower part of Kokohead Ave. so you can walk to the various shops and restaurants in the area; it gets 85 on Walkscore.com so it's legitimately walkable. It's high enough, though, to get you ocean, city, and Diamond Head views.
The first open house is this Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. Happy house hunting!
Money talk: $745,000 fee simple
Contact: Yukiko Sato, Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties, 808-225-1253, firstname.lastname@example.com


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The Colorado Rapids announced today the signings of defender/midfielder Danny Earls and defender Oscar Murillo. Per club and league policies, financial terms of the transactions were not disclosed.
Earls and Murillo will be added to the club's senior roster pending receipt of their International Transfer Certificates (ITC).
Earls comes to Colorado after two seasons with the USL-1 Rochester Rhinos. The 20-year old from Dublin, Ireland gained significant experience while playing with English Premier League side Aston Villa's Reserve squad from 2005-2008. Earls has also been capped as a member of the Republic of Ireland's U15, U16, U18 and U19 National Teams.
Murillo joins the Rapids following two seasons with Deportes Quindio of Colombia's top professional league, where he scored two goals and registered eight assists in 42 games. The 21-year old has played professionally with Argentina's famed Boca Juniors, Centauros Villavicencio in the Colombian Second Division, and Club Atlético Lanús of the Argentine Primera Division. On the international side, he has also been a member of Colombia's U15 through U20 National Teams.
Both players will join the club in Colorado as the Rapids are in the midst of their preseason training camp at Dick's Sporting Goods Park.


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December 8, 1980 The Day John Lennon Died.
The sign in front of the Dakota reads, AUTHORIZED PERSONS ONLY BEYOND THIS POINT. I study it, read it over, walk a few paces down the block, double back and scrutinize it again.
Had the rule been enforced in 1980, Mark David Chapman would never have had the opportunity to lurk in the shadows of the archway leading to the entrance of the historic building, and fire five hollow point bullets at the back of his onetime idol, John Lennon.
Chapman, Im convinced, was mentally ill. For whatever reason, he blamed his various shortcomings on Lennon, and had made at least one prior trip to New York to slay the former Beatle. He was also a proponent of Herostratic fame named for Herostratus, the arsonist who torched the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, in 356 BC or infamy at any cost.
Sadly, with this one act of violence, he succeeded. As a result, when I was doing interviews related to the hardcover release of my book, December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died two years ago, a number of radio stations asked that I refrain from mentioning the killers name; he was already infamous enough, and listeners preferred to hear about John.
Obviously, if it werent for Chapman, there never would have been a sign restricting the movements of the curious in front of the Dakota. On a chilly October afternoon, as regular New Yorkers patiently wait for the M-72 bus a few feet away, a dozen or so tourists line up to photograph the wrought iron gate leading to the buildings reception area the spot where Lennon collapsed following the attack.
The doorman and I make eye contact, and joke about the fact that, in this modern age, his face appears in hundreds, if not thousands, of social media photos. The most common question he hears: Where did it happen?
When I wrote December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died, I realized there was more to that inquiry. People wanted to know how and, particularly, why the tragedy occurred. I told the story from a New York-centric point of view, describing not only the activities of Lennon, Chapman and the other Beatles that day, but others whod find themselves pulled into the story: the mayor, the police officer who rushed to the crime scene, the neighbor whose husband dialed 911, the guy being treated for a broken leg at St. Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital when the singers body was brought into the emergency room.
Now that the paperback edition is available, I find myself recounting these stories, as well as many others Ive heard from fans about their December 8, 1980 experiences. Some are mildly amusing a friend related that, at dinner that night, he told his father about his preference for Paul McCartney, and continues to feel guilty about it but theres an underlying sadness behind every tale, and a feeling of communal grieving that has not diminished after more than three decades.
From the Dakota, I cross the street to Central Park, passing an entranceway jammed with pedicabs, or rickshaws, and turn onto the short, winding path to Strawberry Fields, the 2.5-acre, landscaped memorial to the Liverpudlian who came to love New York. Thirty-two years ago, I walked a similar path into the park, joining 225,000 other fans at a vigil less than a week after the murder. For ten minutes, all of us were silent, some lost in prayer or meditation, the rest in our memories of John and his music. There was sorrow, of course, but comfort in unanimity the fact that wed all literally come together over him.
This time, I have my eight-year-old daughter, Summer, with me and we ponder the focal point of Strawberry Fields, the circular mosaic of inlaid stones, highlighted by the title of Lennons most significant song, IMAGINE. When she asks why this particular word, I explain how John a turbulent guy himself -- asked us to imagine a world that was truly and utterly peaceful.
The 50 or so people gathered at the memorial appear to be aspiring to that goal. They chat quietly, smile at each other, introduce themselves. I noticed that someone has placed a pair of National Health glasses Lennons trademark on top of the mosaic, along with two mini yellow submarines, and a stuffed strawberry with the letters JL embroidered on top.
Everybody has a story about John, and the way he affected them. Michele Polan shows me a portfolio of her artwork. She started drawing the individual Beatles at the height of Beatlemania, and they remain among her favorite subjects. An hour before the shooting, she tells me, she decided to listen to Abbey Road on her turntable, and, even now, gets a chill when she contemplates how Lennon lost his life while he was so prominent in her thoughts.
Its kind of sad being here, she says. I think of him still.
Two guitars are produced, and a small crowd congregates around a bench. Interestingly, the performers choose a Bob Marley tune, but its theme is consistent with the mood.
Every little thing gonna be alright, sings Barry White from the Bronx.
His partner Craig James, lives walking distance from Strawberry Fields, and appears to bask in its serenity. We come here to give and take energy from this beautiful place, he reflects. We come to celebrate music. We come to remember John Lennon.
He had a lot more to give.


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Women's International Study of the Paranormal Expo
Event Date: 23 - 25 May 08
Donna LaCroix will be co-hosting the first ever Women's International Study of the Paranormal (http://www.wispexpo.com) along with Kristy Hinkle, Maria Cipriano, Jacqui Carpenter, and Elizabeth Cory.
This event will celebrate women's contributions to the field of paranormal research on May 23rd through the 25th in Bentonsport, Iowa
Women's Intl Study of the Paranormal Expo, 23-25 May
Started by carlotta , Mar 27 2008 11:15 AM
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Posted 27 March 2008 - 11:15 AM
Who owns the land? Only the land knows. We mortals are passersby, and our lives are but a brief moment in the great span of time and space. We are born, we live out our lives, and most of us do the best we can with it, but the wind is forever, and the rivers flow forever to the sea, and all the seasons of the weathers will come and go after we are gone. But the Earth endures, the Earth is eternal" - Earl Hamner
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Register for Workshop: Research Readiness for Graduate StudentsThomas Cooper Library (Level 3 Multimedia Classroom)
Aug 22, 2012 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM
Get acquainted with the library tools and services you'll want to use as a graduate student including: advanced database searching techniques, citation searching, customizing Google Scholar, finding dissertations, requesting materials we have and things we don't, and setting up alerts for new materials.
Register and view other workshops.
*Note: Registration for all library workshops closes 24 hours before the scheduled start time.


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Cuba's Classic run falls short of semis
Two-run error in fourth inning opens door for Japan's victory
By Jesse Sanchez / MLB.com
- Japan-Cuba box score
- Recap: JPN 5, CUB 0: Watch
- Gourriel's diving catch: Watch
- Photo gallery
- Classic: Tickets | Gear | Schedule | Home
On Wednesday, Japan defeated Cuba, 5-0, at PETCO Park to eliminate the country from the tournament for the second consecutive time. In the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006, Japan defeated Cuba, 10-6, in the same park for the title. Japan also defeated Cuba, 6-0, on Sunday.
Japan will join Korea as the Pool 1 representatives in the semifinals in Los Angeles. United States and Venezuela have also qualified for the next round.
"Today was a special game," Japan manager Tatsunori Hara said. "We had to win and that was the main goal for us. We were all aware of this. As a manager, I was all tensed up and ready for the game."
As for Cuba, the loss and subsequent finish in the tournament marks a new low for the country. According to the information provided by World Baseball Classic organizers, Wednesday's elimination marks the lowest finish ever in one of the four major international competitions -- World Cup, Intercontinental Cup, Olympics and World Baseball Classic -- for Cuba, and the lowest since a third-place finish in the 1951 World Cup.
Since 1952, Cuba had played in 40 international competition finals and won 33 times. Additionally, Cuba had streaked to 38 international titles in 49 tournaments since 1939.
The streak took a major hit Wednesday. Team Cuba will return to the island with a 4-2 record in this year's World Baseball Classic.
The game began as a pitching duel between Japan's Hisashi Iwakuma and Cuba's Yuneski Maya, and for three innings the teams traded zeros. But a one-out single by Japanese left fielder Norichika Aoki marked the beginning of the end of Cuba's historic run. Designated hitter Atsunori Inaba followed with a double to put both runners in scoring position.
And when it seemed like it couldn't get any worse for Cuba, it did.
Maya's first pitch to the next batter, Michihiro Ogasawara, changed the game. Ogasawara connected on the low fastball and drove it deep to center field. Cuban center fielder Yoennis Cespedes raced into position and appeared to catch the fly but the ball bounced in and out of his glove.
Aoki and Inabal scored. Cuba never bounced back.
In the fifth inning, Japan second baseman Akinori Iwamura led off the frame with a walk and scored two batters later on a single to center field by Aoki for a 3-0 lead. In the seventh, Iwamura stung the Cubans again by drawing his second walk of the game. He moved to third on a single by Ichiro Suzuki and raced home on a sacrifice fly by Hiroyuki Nakajima for Japan's fourth run.
It was more than enough.
Japan and Korea will square off Thursday night to determine the top seed in the pool. Cuba will return to the island before the first pitch is delivered.
"Thank you very much," Cuba manager Higinio Velez said in a press release. "All the best to all the four teams."
Jesse Sanchez is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Sources for More Information
Bulletin #34: How to Fund Community Forestry
The topic of funding is ever-changing, especially in the state and federal sectors. The best source of current information is the community forestry coordinator in your state. For contact information in your state, visit the Community Forestry Directory.
Writing Grant Proposals
Before writing a grant proposal for the first time, or if you are trying to improve your skills in this important area of raising funds, here are two excellent Web sites to visit:
The "How-to" of Fundraising
There is a lot of expertise involved in successfully raising funds. Look at these tips from development expert Tony Poderis.
Costs and Benefits of Community Trees
Facts about the benefits and services provided by trees are necessary in order to make a convincing argument for support. An excellent source of research-based information and presentation aides can be found at the U.S. Forest Service's Center for Urban Forestry.
Alliance for Community Trees (ACT)
Contact information for this organization as described on page 8 of Bulletin 34:
Alliance for Community Trees
4603 Calvert Road
College Park, Maryland 20740
Forest Service Support for Community Forestry
Although specific programs that help fund community forestry change and continue to evolve, here is some general information about current Forest Service policy, as provided by the Forest Service, that should be helpful as you develop partnerships with this key government agency:
Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) is a cooperative program of the US Forest Service that focuses on the stewardship of urban natural resources. With 80 percent of the nation's population in urban areas, there are strong environmental, social and economic cases to be made for the conservation of green spaces to guide growth and revitalize city centers and older suburbs. UCF responds to the needs of urban areas by maintaining, restoring, and improving urban forest ecosystems on more than 70 million acres. Through these efforts the program encourages and promotes the creation of healthier, more livable urban environments.
UCF provides technical, financial, research and educational services to local government, nonprofit organizations, community groups, educational institutions, and tribal governments. The program is delivered through its legislative partners, the state forestry agencies in 59 states and US territories.
The goal of the Urban and Community Program is to provide technical and financial assistance to help improve the livability of cities and communities through managing urban forest resources to promote a healthy ecosystem.
- Provide technical and financial assistance.
- Strengthen Forest Service and state leadership in the care of urban and community forest resources.
- Increase transfer of technical information.
- Increase awareness and education about the importance of healthy urban forest resources.
- Promote volunteerism and citizen participation.
- Ensure urban greening efforts are biologically sound and sustainable.
Forest Service cooperative programs are currently being redesigned to make more effective use of federal resources. Programs will be focused on issues and landscapes of national importance and prioritized through state and regional assessments. Over the next five years an increasing percentage of funding will be focused on the landscape-scale projects.
A Word on Interconnected Systems:
Urban forests, through planned connections of green spaces, form the green infrastructure system on which communities depend. Green infrastructure works at multiple scales form the neighborhood to the metro area up to the regional landscape. This natural life support system sustains clean air and water, biodiversity, habitat, nesting and travel corridors for wildlife, and connects people to nature.


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I have an unordered list that contains the list of categories for my work's site. Every now and then we want to emphasis a certain category with an image or icon, so we put that image in an anchor tag instead of general text.
Each category has a > icon on the left side of it, and it stays centered for the general links, but on the image link, the icon is at the top of the image. I've tried to change the css on the image to "display:block" but that puts the icon to the bottom instead. I've also tried to adjust the height of it's anchor tag, as well as remove all whitespace in that <li> container.
If anyone else has had this problem and found a solution, I'd love to hear it, please.


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MindSource is looking for a Server Java Developer for a local mobile start-up. A successful candidate will be responsible for developing server-based products for the internet and telecommunications industries and be focused on delivering highly available, hosted, and high-quality carrier grade products.
The candidate should be able to work with market and product requirements, write functional, high and low level design specifications, and implement and deliver quality product solutions in a timely manner to meet market needs with little direct supervision. Candidate must be able to provide technical leadership and demonstrate expertise in specific field or breadth of expertise in multiple fields. Candidate should also be able to work with QA and operations engineers to review and advice on end-to-end and system/module level test plans.
Technical skills:
5+ years software development experience with a focus on high performance n-tier java based servers.
3+ years of demonstrated experience in large-volume, high-traffic, transactional, multi-tenant Software as Service applications.
Significant hands-on experience with multi-threaded programming and practices.
Very good knowledge and understanding of presentation, web, business and data access layers and their inter and intra communication.
In-depth experience with Core Java Technology, Java Frameworks such as Hibernate, Spring, and web application development with Servlet, XML and HTML.
In-depth experience with HTTP, Open Source, XML, XML schema technologies.
Experience with LAMP stacks and most of J2EE stack including JDBC, EJB, JMX, JMS, JNDI, JCA (JAXP, JAXB and JAAS would be a plus).
Experience with Web services technologies such as SOAP, XML/RPC or REST.
Working knowledge of application servers such as JBoss, Weblogic and Servlet containers such as Tomcat.
Experience building data based applications using JDBC and database technologies such as MySQL and Oracle.
Development experience in Linux/Unix (in-depth system programming knowledge preferred as well).
Experience with IDE such as Eclipse, Visual Studio and CMS such as CVS, Subversion or Perforce.
Experience with tools such as Purify, Quantify and code coverage.
Knowledge of Perl and Unix scripting languages
Track record of developing and maintaining shipped products
BS/MS in Computer Science or a math-related degree
Strong written, verbal and interpersonal skills
If you are interested in this position, please email us at email@example.com, or send a PM to this poster.


text:
Chanukah's Secret to Greatness
This Chanukah, light up your life.
Give Tzedakah! Help Aish.com create inspiring
articles, videos and blogs featuring timeless Jewish wisdom.
(77) asia cohen, December 5, 2013 10:55 PM
Oh! I need this year round!
(76) Anonymous, December 5, 2013 5:42 PM
I like your video and agree with your base theme.
Good Video Charlie,
Not all that bad for a lawyer, although the opening greeting of Greetings Jews & humans was a little strange. Something like Dear Brothers etc. might have been a little better. Remember that there are actually a lot of like-minded Christians who are out there watching. We should remember we have neighbors who support us and shear our values.


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Carrot Layer Cake Recipe
Popular Videos
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1-1/4 cups canola oil
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs
- 4 cups finely shredded carrots
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups confectioners' sugar
- In a large heavy saucepan, combine sugar, flour and salt. Stir in cream; add butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until the butter is melted; bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Cool and set aside.
- In a large bowl, beat oil and sugar until well blended. Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with eggs, beating well after each addition. Stir in the carrots, raisins and nuts.
- Pour into three greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
- For frosting, in a small bowl, beat the butter, cream cheese and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar until smooth. Spread filling between cake layers. Frost the sides and top of cake. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 20 servings.
Reviews forCarrot Layer Cake
My Review
Average Rating
"I've only made this a handful of times but it's loved by all who try it. In fact, my BIL told me I could sell this to a 5 star restaurant, it was that good!"
"This was really good. The cake is nice and moist. My only impression was that the frosting seemed almost too sweet. If I make it again, I might go ahead and use the whole 8 oz of cream cheese {hate to waste that leftover 2oz anyway} and reduce the butter to 1/2 cup. Just a thought. We all enjoyed every piece though!"
"Excelente,gracias por la receta,lo hare."
"I jumped the gun. Just scraped some icing off and it was the best, most moist delious, carrot cake I ever made! I apolize for my previous review ....."
"This was excellent! Made it for my wife for her birthday. Everyone loved it!"
"I made this exact cake 30 years ago for a restaurant where I lived . It was the number one request ."
"My family LOVES this cake! I only make it for special occasions though because it is time consuming to make. I usually shred the carrots and chop all the nuts before i mix the batter and make the filling while the cake is baking. Stay with the filling and cook on very low temp and stir often or it will burn. I put the filling between the layers then put the cake in the fridge until the next day. Then i make the frosting and finish the cake. This way the layers and filling are cold and set and won't slide when you frost the cake. Also makes it a lot easier to divide the work in two days."
"I cut this recipe in half, and bake it in an 8 x 8 pan sometimes I omit the raisins, and add 1/2 cup of crushed pineapple. but either way, it is delicious."


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Turning over and preserving family history from one generation to the next.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Advent Calendar - The Christmas Tree
After Husband and I were living in Arizona and had a family of our own, we continued to purchase a real tree every year. It was quite the production with the entire family driving around town to all the Christmas tree lots to find the very best tree. The kids thought it was great fun and they would come home tired so it worked out wonderfully!
Over time, we realized we were waiting until closer and closer to Christmas to buy our real tree so that it wouldn't be all dried out by the time Christmas Day rolled around. We tried to do all the right things to keep our trees from drying out but the dry Arizona environment just isn't conducive to real Christmas trees. Finally, we gave in and bought a huge, beautiful, but fake tree. Now we buy a nice smelling "real" wreath to make up for the lack of a real tree.
© 2010, copyright Michelle Goodrum
5 comments:
You and I have gone the same way with the tree. One year my step mother gave me an ornament that had a pine aroma to hang in my "fake" tree.ReplyDelete
Thanks for sharing your memories. Having a real wreath is a great idea.ReplyDelete
Great post! What a great idea to have the wreath if not the real tree. I may do that next year!ReplyDelete
I remember those trips to the Christmas tree lots myself. Looking back it must have driven my Mom nuts to have us all running in different directions and not being able to keep us all in sight.ReplyDelete
I grew up in dry areas (SoCal and Texas) and it was either artificial trees or real trees with a very short time until drying out.ReplyDelete
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Kara Walker: Freedom: A Fable (Pop-Up Book)
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Kara Walker: Freedom: A Fable. With Offset lithographs and five laser-cut, pop-up silhouettes on wove paper. Pop-up design by David Eisen. Privately published by the Peter Norton Family, 1997. Unpaged (25 pp). Small quarto. Edition of 4000. Bonded leather boards with Norwegian finish.
An astonishing artists book from relatively early in Walker's career! Rarely comes to market!
"Each year since 1988, rather than sending out a holiday card, [the collector and software entrepreneur Peter Norton] has commissioned an artist to create an edition - usually the sculptural objects or books known as "multiples"...
As the best multiples tend to do, each Norton project typically provides a smart twist on the artist's previous work. One example is the 1997 Christmas gift by Kara Walker, known for her flat wall installations of cut-paper silhouettes in black that pinpoint the nuances of the antebellum South. Her Norton project was a pop-up book called "Freedom: A Fable," which illuminates the dreams of "a soon-to-be-emancipated 19th-century Negress" using 3-D cut-paper constructions."--
Carol Kino, NY Times
"Kara Walker first came to art world attention in 1994, when she was 24, with her mural at the Drawing Center in SoHo. It was a narrative panorama with a long, goofy, old-timey title: 'Gone, An Historical Romance of a Civil War as It Occurred Between the Dusky Thighs of One Young Negress and Her Heart.' And it was made in an unusual way, from black-paper silhouette figures cut by hand and affixed to the gallery wall. It was a danse infernal of sex, slavery and chitlin-circuit comedy. "Gone" was an instant hit....Several African-American artists with careers dating from the 1960s publicly condemned Ms. Walker's use of racial stereotypes as insulting and opportunistic, a way to ingratiate herself into a racist white art industry. In 1997 one of these artists tried to organize a museum boycott of her art. Ms. Walker responded with a vehement outpouring of diaristic drawings titled "Do You Like Creme in Your Coffee and Chocolate in Your Milk?" Some are text-heavy, direct-address and issue-specific: "What you want: negative images of white people, positive images of blacks." Others are angry, funny, obsessive notes to self, examining race, racism, her own racism, her rejection of it and her dependence on it from many angles and various personas." --
Holland Cotter, NY Times
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This is a silly, biased article and summary. This does NOT bring Flash to iOS devices. This is merely Adobe spinning out a new version of their video serving software with a new protocol option than plays nice with iOS devices.
The things Flash is really good at -- multimedia experiences that can be delivered to a wide audience via a ubiquitous plugin -- are not emulated here. But way to go timothy for trolling! You wear your bias on your editorial sleeve.
It merely takes the Flash video that an Adobe Flash Media Server would send out via Flash's proprietary RTMP (or HDS) protocols, and does some real-time repackaging of the video, so it can be streamed out via an Apache server which is co-installed on the box. The Apache server streams the content out via HTTP as individual MPEG-TS fragments, compatible with Apple's HTTP Live Streaming.
Since both HDS (Adobe's HTTP Dynamic Streaming) and HLS (Apple's HTTP Live Streaming) use H.264 video - there is no transcoding involved, only a simple dynamic repackaging to convert between formats.
So... it does what Slyfire [skyfire.com] has been doing for... what? 2 years now?
The Adobe solution is meant for deployment by services who wish to provide (a single) video for Flash and iOS platforms. More of akin to what YouTube does, maybe.
Sounds like it'll make downloading streaming videos easier. I'm all for it - Messing with rtmpsuck and the like is definitely annoying for those sites that you can't just get the url from the source...
The things Flash is really good at -- multimedia experiences that can be delivered to a wide audience via a ubiquitous plugin
The thing is, Flash SUCKS at that. Can you name a single site that really does that well? The only thing I can think of off hand is the MINIUSA configurator. But even there the site is rife with all the things that make Flash a terror - I can't copy text from just anywhere, sometimes the loading goes wrong, and the site bogs down my DESKTOP never mind what would happen to a mobile device.
Pretty much every other site I've seen that relies heavily on Flash for a "rich multimedia experience" is just awful, non-intuitive and performs very badly. So many sites trying that kind of thing would be so much better serving users simplifying the site into something that would work with DHTML, never mind HTML5 and canvas stuff...
Thanks, I was about to say something similar but you beat me to it.
Every single "multimedia experience" I've encountered on the Internet since day-one has been a sucktacular piece of shit. Flash is one of the leading reasons for that, but the whole concept of using a web browser to deliver "multimedia experiences" is idiotic, and every implementation I've seen has been a sad, buggy, bandwidth and CPU hogging joke.
Browsers. Aren't. Built. For. That.
No "plugin" will fix it.
Use a dedicated app, fools.
I don't want a dedicated app for every website. It would be a pain in the ass to setup, cause a lot of wheel-reinventing, and be a security nightmare. Flash is a jack of all trades. Able to do most anything you want, but never really good at it.
Use a dedicated app, fools.
Would you want to have to download and install an app for Homestar Runner, an app for Weebl and Bob, a separate app for every single video or game uploaded to Newgrounds, etc.? And would you want to have to buy a copy of Windows to run those apps?
Not all flash is evil. Gmail uses it for some background stuff to keep the ui responsive.
You seem to have a more brutal experience on the web than I've ever had in the last 17 years or so.
Do you tend to buy really really cheap shitty low end PCs or something? My PC was upper mid range about 3 years ago, and this is a similar pattern for all PCs I've ever owned, yet I've never even come close to such problems with Flash. In fact, there are literally millions of people right now sat happily playing games like Farmville on Facebook using Flash without an inkling of a problem, and they'll hardly ha
Sure they will run, but if they require keyboard presses how do you control them?
What if they require a cursor hover...
I just press the keys on my phone's keyboard.
Not all Android devices have a physical keyboard (indeed, not many these days). What then?
If they don't require keyboard, how do you control them? Very few Flash games I've played over the years did not require a keyboard.
Troll mods, eh. There are Adobe fanbois?
God have mercy on their heathen souls.
Lately, I've been absolutely amazed at the amount of detail Flash games have gotten... my girlfriend plays Facebook games every now and then, and things like The Sims actually look better than their standalone counterparts - full screen native res and everything.
The games peg the CPU, of course, but hey, it's smooth
Video playback, when it works, is also alright. Youtube's implementation works well... others... meh, often not so much. It even works well on my smartphone, so watching TV/Movies off of streaming sites at the gym is a favorite...
Now "Flash multimedia experiences" (i.e. Flash web sites) on the other hand, are atrocious - that's something that just absolutely needs to go away - but those seem to be limited to private sites and maybe just a few businesses these days (like restaurants... what is it with restaurants and Flash?). If these go away completely and the rest stays the way it is (OK, maybe a bit better hardware acceleration for the games, so the CPU doesn't need to work as much), I'll be more or less satisfied with my experience - on a year-old smartphone and a 3-year-old subnotebook, no less!
Thats mostly a problem of the so called web designers who think they can do everything with flash. HTML5 wont change that you will get the same shit experience but without extra plugin.
Flash shines in other areas, video, or real data centric uis in Flex.
If I had mod points, I'd mod you up.
You know what I do when I happen upon one of those super-awesome flash sites? I navigate away as fast as possible. Because as you say - they *suck* (And that's being kind).
Luckily, I can usually hit the back button before they finish loading the "intro" and not have to suffer through whatever it is that's about to display on my screen.
The problem is not with Flash, but with how it is used and the purposes for which it is used, specifically:
- The braindead decisions and taste of the people who designed those pieces of crap - for example, the text on Flash CAN actually be selected and copied if the developer makes it so - but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. In fact, I suspect many people use Flash mainly to prevent you from copying text and other resources.
- The stupid thought that something designed to be used with
So many sites trying that kind of thing would be so much better serving users simplifying the site into something that would work with DHTML, never mind HTML5 and canvas stuff...
Let me know when Strong Bad Emails play in an HTML environment with usable performance.
Can you name a single site that really does that well?
They also use Flash-derived techniques to make anime.
Multimedia is defined by the Oxford Am. dictionary as -- "(of art, education, etc.) using more than one medium of expression or communication." It does not equate to "company website." I used multimedia as a catch-all for what Flash is good at -- merging different visual and aural elements together, whether that be a game, an art installation, content creation tool, etc. Flash has become a really good development platform for games. It's become a great way to deliver complicated A/V tools over the web -- au
The author adds a note at the end directly contradicting the title of his own article. It must be hard being a "journalist" these days...
The things Flash is really good at -- multimedia experiences
That's a long-winded way to say "porn".
Great intro topic; lets see if we can order them:
1. Leaving your machine open to all sorts of opportunistic malware.
2. Attempting to see how much heat your machine can actually generate [ bonus points for 'while actually doing nothing ' ]
3. Bringing a really crappy experience to a larger audience.
I was working for Sun (now Snoracle) when they way dissed the macromedia/flash experience. As an employee, I thought they were being little shits since it got in the way of experiencing the really slow alte
Well, Adobe blames flash problems with Macs on Apple's API lacking any sort of low level access to the graphics card. Flash doesn't seem to be a source of instabilities on non-Mac PC's, nor does it seem to cause performance issues.
On the other hand, I would have to uninstall Flash if I didn't have NoScript to keep it off when I didn't specifically turn it on.
Well, Adobe blames flash problems with Macs on Apple's API lacking any sort of low level access to the graphics card.
That lack is a feature, not a bug.
Flash uses big loop style programming to poll all the conditions to take action on. This a good model for a small control system where RM analysis has been properly applied; but really sucks as a general programming model.
There are lots of ways to make crappy code, and Adobe doesn't have the market cornered by a long margin.
Well, Adobe blames flash problems with Macs on Apple's API lacking any sort of low level access to the graphics card. Flash doesn't seem to be a source of instabilities on non-Mac PC's, nor does it seem to cause performance issues.
On the other hand, I would have to uninstall Flash if I didn't have NoScript to keep it off when I didn't specifically turn it on.
A) Yeah, that's why every Flash game existing is slower on Flash 10 than on Flash 9 - because they suddenly need a 3D graphics card to work. B) Sure, Flash never crashes on PCs. Nor will it gobble up CPU cycles And I also have a bridge in New York to sell...
If this is really better for video on mobile devices then will it work on Android also? And why not use it on laptops too, they can always benefit from better battery life.
Adobes only goal here is to stop the slow but steady adoption of html5 video formats. By offering this upgrade they tell their clients they no longer have to work in a transition to target the huge and growing iOS user base.
This is good for Apple as most video services are just a server patch away from providing video content to iOs users, drastically diminishing the "it cant play flash video" bashing competitors like to use.
Flash gaming may not be available still, but most iOS users are far from game starved. It's video content most iOS users actually complain about.
So, good for Apple and good for Adobe. Who is it bad for? Web standards, and perhaps Android users. Adobe still wants flash to be required anywhere that it can run so it's likely they won't offer the same HTML5 video streams to Android devices. Many of the handsets out there still can't handle flash properly and the ones that do do so with heavy battery penalties.
With this available, it's very unlikely content providers will bother pursuing web standards for the sake of low end Android handsets or users that refuse to install flash in their computers.
It's likely that sooner or later Adobe will provide the capabilities for all clients, but I doubt they have any intentions to do it soon. I do hope im wrong though.
PS: unsure if it's related but have been streaming blip.tv episodes of the Nostalgia Critic on my iPad all night so I guess at least they (blip.tv) already updated.
Who is it bad for? Web standards, and perhaps Android users.
Flash is not a web standard, but a proprietary format owned by Adobe. The sooner it dies the faster we can move to something that is an open standard.
This is actually only good for Adobe, as it slows the death of flash. Without this, content providers would simply send everyone html5 video. What is wrong with that?
That is why I say it's bad for web standards.
Seriously, the HTML5 video tag works - just start using it. The problem here is of course dynamic streaming (and a few other things) but the thing is Flash can stream mp4 files just fine - internally it's the same stuff with just the flv container being different. Transcode your video into mp4, if Flash loads play it in Flash (or even better give the user an option), otherwise use an HTML5 fallback. If both of those cases fail direct your users to download a browser that doesn't suck or something.
Oh, and the whole process I just outlined is something you can do easily with a variety of libraries and modules, just search for it. Oh, and cut out the whole trying to stop people from downloading video by wrapping it in 8 different concentric SWF interface wrappers - if you don't want someone downloading your video then don't put it on your website in the first place.
The best player for video on the internet is still embedded Windows Media Player. It's just a shell around DirectShow, but DirectShow stuff is very well optimized, especially when using good third-party codecs. Nothing else comes close. Flash video is slow as hell, and Firefox's playback of HTML 5 video is even slower, especially when it is not played at 100% size.
So we have a 10-year old browser plugin outperforming all the newest software, and that's insane. Only goes to prove that software quality go
My Firefox loads gstreamer, so I have no speed issues. Try changing what player is loaded for HTML5 video or grab a player that's embeddable.
Transcode your video into mp4
Convert vector animation to compressed pixels and it'll become ten times bigger. See this comment [slashdot.org].
if you don't want someone downloading your video then don't put it on your website in the first place.
Then how would you recommend that the publisher of a video provide an electronic service with a revenue structure similar to video rental?
1. I was referring to video like that on YouTube - normal video. Not vector animation.
2. DRM like WMDRM. This is one of the cases where it's a good solution. It's already used by video rental services and you can watch the video in an actual video player at a very high resolution - whereas 1080p video drops frames and looks like crap in a Flash player.
. The problem here is of course dynamic streaming
I would consider eliminating dynamic bitrate selection a huge upgrade... it bites me in the ass all the time.
Yes, I have the bandwidth for your super high-def Flash video stream... No, my phone can't play it to save it's life, the CPU power just isn't there with Flash being so nightmarishly inefficient.
The Youtube model just works... Anybody that wants ultra-high bitrates can set it in their preferences, or per-video, and will get it. Those that want sup
I agree with you on dynamic bitrates, but what I meant about dynamic streaming was being able to load and play the video from a particular portion and not having to cache the entire video to play it - just a portion. This basically doesn't exist in HTML5 video with any of the players I've used, but it's not like it couldn't. In fact some players may support it and I just don't know about it.
At least MPlayer supports seeking in an http stream. There are probably others as well.
What do you know, it does! Well, I guess that solves that. Thanks for the tip.
This should mean that iOS devices will get much of the advantages of Flash video support,
And what are those advantages, actually? As far as I can tell, the "advantage" is mainly to content producers who haven't updated their skill sets since around 2002. And these tools cost a pretty penny.
Seriously, why bother? This probably isn't going to work for those Flash ads that seem to be 90% of the Flash usage on the web (no loss there!); and for video you can simply encode in h.264 and tell the Flash plugin to pretend it's Flash video for those browsers that can't handle h.264 (Firefox, IE 8, Chrome if Google ever actually follows through). With the proliferation of Android and iOS devices that do h.264 quite nicely, I'd think it's smarter to go that route - which is basically the opposite of the one Adobe is trying to sell here.
No, it's actually exactly what Adobe is trying to sell here. Read again. This is about server software serving up non-flash video to devices which do support flash, and flash to everyone else.
Erm, I meant that the other way around. Serving Flash to devices that support it, and non-flash video to those who don't. In other words, Adobe's own server software doing exactly what you suggest it should do.
And what are those advantages, actually? As far as I can tell, the "advantage" is mainly to content producers who haven't updated their skill sets since around 2002. And these tools cost a pretty penny.
The advantage is that HTML5 video tags do not support anything with DRM, and sadly there are many content producers who will not allow their content to be available without DRM. As a result, there is always going to be video content exclusive to Flash that iOS devices miss out on. I don't actually know how Adobe expects to get around there here (since they are effectively serving up HTML5 video in h.264), but I suspect sites that are concerned about DRM simply won't use this feature.
P.S. I need to go to sleep.
for video you can simply encode in h.264
I mentioned a drawback of that in another comment [slashdot.org].
Flash video is way more prevalent than that. In fact it seems ads have already adopted html5 standards to do their annoyance, but that's anecdote based off my iPad web browsing.
Also, transitioning to web standards my re-encoding everything is not that easy of a task.
It is indeed smarter to go pure web standards, but it's easier to just upgrade flash streaming servers.
But I like that they are a disruptive force in the industry. They force change in others - sometimes for the good. I think its healthy when entrenched companies are forced to change their ways. Firefox/Chrome with IE, etc. I predict that if/when Windows goes 50% market share that we'll start seeing some interesting changes in microsoft.
A week away from the RIM earning call, and you are spouting about the ability of the iPhone to use flash.
I swear the lot of you are barely classified as functionally retarded, and don't realized when you are being used.
This article should have been tossed in the bin.
Matter cannot be created or destroyed, nor can it be returned without a receipt.


text:
- Parent Category: News
Corbett can't be removed as Health Administrator, contractual agreements
The Ford County Board is in no hurry to act on the removal of Doug Corbett as director of the Ford-Iroquois Public Health Department.
A contract states Corbett is under contract and can only be removed if a disability prevents him from performing his duties OR he's convicted of a crime.
The Paxton Record, thru a FOIA request, shows Corbett's contract is in place thru November (2013) and he's protected under contract unless there's wrongdoing.
The Illinois Attorney General's office has already found no reason to pursue any alledged wrongdoing in the office.
The Ford County board Chairman Rick Bowen has said repeatedly, he sees no reason to follow through on an Iroquois County Board recommendation to remove Corbett from his post.
Meanwhile---the Ford County Health Board urges health employees to complete a survey providing their input on Corbett's status.


text: I haven't seen the Swedish adaptations, nor read the Stieg Larsson books on which they are based, which either makes me hopelessly unqualified to comment on this piece of the franchise, or a blank slate for judging this film on its own terms. All I can say is that I once overheard sections of the audiobook, and it seemed to involve mostly people emailing each other (here's a full plot synopsis if you need it). After The Social Network, I wondered if David Fincher was going to go one step further and make a whole film about electronic communication. Not quite. Continue reading


text:
The lights are on
Gaming is as big as ever, and the next home consoles are preparing to step into the spotlight and possibly expand the category even further. Is there a ceiling to our sky-high expectations? Console makers have long salivated over the possibility of bringing in both casual and hardcore gamers under one big tent, particularly by expanding systems' capabilities. But can you be everything to everyone?
I think it's extremely hard for a video game console to fill that role. Even as technologically advanced as these systems are becoming, it's not easy to attract both the hardcore audience and the casual one. The hardcore need to be convinced that your new platform is X times better than the previous one, while the casual audience is more difficult to lure since they are not naturally heavily engaged with your product. The more features you add to appeal to one side or the other, the more everyone starts to wonder exactly what they are paying for. Is your friend who bought the PlayStation 3 because it was a Blu-ray player enticed by the PlayStation 4 because it lets you share video clips from games?
With gamers, you can always sell them on the games, but I think it's easier for casual fans to enjoy their time with a game and then move on to something else – and not necessarily the next game in your franchise. It can be difficult to justify why the upcoming turn of the screw is exponentially better than the previous one. Even regular gamers are not immune to selective purchasing. How many of you only get a sports game or racing title every few years rather than buying every annual installment?
If non-gamers aren't going to be lured by games, contented inertia with the current product can be a force against buying a new system. You certainly see people with outdated phones who don't upgrade simply because they don't feel they have to. The Xbox One could fall in this trap. Since it doesn't replace your DVR, it already fails on its promise to be the machine that's the center of your living room.
But there's no harm in trying, right? It's too cynical not to expect a company's best effort. You should absolutely still swing for the fences with a system. But the consequence of over-reaching for the whole pie instead of just a slice of it is an arrogance that can devalue your relationship with the consumers who got you to this position in the first place. The more you try to appeal to everyone, the more you drift away from having an identity at all. Ambition can serve consumers, but it can also be fueled by the need for publicly held companies for ever-increasing growth, and not necessarily producing the best product.
Of course, good old-fashioned irrational excitement trumps reason every time, and that's why these new systems are coming out at Christmas time where there will likely be the customary feeding frenzy. But what are we actually buying other than our own aspirations?
Email the author Matthew Kato, or follow on Twitter, and Game Informer.


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Match-fixing is becoming an increasingly more prominent issue in football.
There have been various claims of match-fixing, but everyone seems to ignore them. It has now come to the point where it is beyond a joke. Football matches are being completely ruined due to the disgraceful behaviour of some clubs.
Match-fixing in football has never really been an issue that we have shown much interest in, but now we are becomingly increasingly more aware and annoyed at what is going on.
In 2006, it really came to the forefront when a match-fixing scandal erupted involving Italy's top professional football leagues, Serie A and Serie B. The scandal was uncovered in 2006 by Italian police, implicating league champions Juventus and other major teams including AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio, when a number of telephone interceptions showed a thick network of relations between team managers and referee organisations.
Juventus were the champions of Serie A at the time. The teams were accused of rigging games by selecting favourable referees. All the teams stated were found guilty, but Juventus were relegated to Serie B.
Whilst this is clearly a severe punishment, it still does not seem like a harsh enough penalty. There was a call to kick the teams out of the Italian league, but this never materialised.
Recently, match-fixing has popped up again, but this time in the La Liga. According to Spanish league vice-president Javier Tebas, La Liga games have been fixed in the past, and it is becoming a major problem.
Speaking to ESPN, Tebas said: "Games have been bought. There is the real truth and then legal truth.
"Match-fixing exists, but you need to be able to prove it to be able to impose a punishment.
"We are trying to uncover the cheats because there are some, and even if there is just one, for me that is a scandal."
Match-fixing in La Liga came to the forefront last season when a number of unexpected results towards the end of the season occurred. Racing Santander manager Alvaro Cervera and Granada president Quique Pina claimed that Real Zaragoza's escape from relegation, which included four wins in their last four games, had been suspicious.
There was also evidence of match-fixing when Real Madrid played Valencia recently. Madrid won 2-0, but their victory was akin to daylight robbery. Valencia striker Roberto Soldado was called offside three times in the match when he was clean through on goal. However, each one of these offsides was miraculously onside when reviewed on the replays.
On the other hand, Andres Guardado's own goal took a clear deflection of Gonzalo Higuain's arm when watching the replay in slow motion, and Valencia were also denied a penalty for a clear handball by Raul Albiol.
Match-fixing needs to be stopped before it goes any further, it's ruining matches and degrading the once prestigious reputation football had.
What do you think on the matter? Have your say below.
DISCLAIMER: This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeFootball Writing Academy and does not represent the views of GiveMeFootball.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article. GiveMeFootball.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.
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text:
Exon skipping proves effective in mice with a severe DMD-like disease
Mice with a severe disease closely resembling human Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) have responded extremely well to a new "exon skipping" compound that targets the specific dystrophin gene error these mice have.
Researchers noted "a remarkable prevention of the dystrophic pathology and improvement of the muscle function" in these severely affected mice, which lack both the dystrophin and utrophin muscle proteins. (Mice in previous exon skipping trials lacked only dystrophin, the protein missing in DMD.)
This latest report adds to the evidence for exon-skipping-based drug development, which is already under way for DMD.
|These latest exon skipping trial results are unique in that the mice were more severely affected by muscular dystrophy symptoms than mice in previous exon skipping trials. Team member Stephen Wilton at the University of Western Australia in Perth received MDA support on this study.
Kay Davies at the University of Oxford (United Kingdom) and colleagues published their findings online Oct. 20, 2009, in Molecular Therapy.
MDA supported Stephen Wilton at the University of Western Australia in Perth on this study. Wilton has been developing exon skipping in laboratory studies with MDA support for several years. MDA is supporting Davies for other research in DMD.
About DMD
DMD is a degenerative muscle disease caused by any of a number of mutations in the X-chromosome gene that carries instructions for the muscle protein dystrophin. Without dystrophin, muscle fibers are abnormally fragile and break down under the stress of contractions.
About exon skipping and DMD
The regions of genes that carry instructions for proteins such as dystrophin are known as "exons." During the processing of genetic information in cells, these exons are pieced together, while other information (in the form of "introns") is removed. Then, the final instructions are exported from the cell nucleus, at which time the cell can use them to make protein molecules.
Exon skipping compounds in development for DMD use molecules called "antisense" that block (keep cells from "making sense of") erroneous genetic instructions in particular exons. The goal is for the remaining, error-free exons to be spliced together to form the "recipe" for a functional dystrophin protein molecule.
About the new findings
The mice used in the new study were different from mice used in previous exon skipping studies in that they were missing both dystrophin and another muscle protein, utrophin, causing them to have severe symptoms that closely resemble the course of human DMD. (Unlike these research mice however, humans with DMD do not lack the utrophin protein.)
Mice that received six weeks of an exon skipping compound via injections into the abdomen produced nearly normal levels of apparently functional dystrophin protein in all the muscles the researchers examined, with the exception of the heart.
Along with the restoration of dystrophin protein, they experienced considerable improvement of their muscle function compared to untreated mice, and they lived much longer. These severely affected mice normally don't survive beyond 12 weeks, but at the close of the experiment, there were healthy-appearing, treated mice that were 26 weeks old.
Unfortunately, dystrophin production in the heart was minimal, differing from previously reported results. The researchers attribute this problem to the method used to deliver the treatment.
They say they delivered the treatment via intra-abdominal injections because these dystrophin-deficient/utrophin-deficient mice decline so rapidly and die so quickly that they have to be treated during the newborn period, when intravenous therapy is not feasible. They say intravenous delivery, a more likely route in humans, would be much more likely to reach the heart.
Meaning for people with DMD
The study gives a boost, the second this month, to DMD drug development using exon skipping. (See Major Pharmaceutical Company Commits to Develop Exon Skipping Drug, posted Oct. 16, 2009.)
Exon skipping compounds are currently undergoing human testing. See the Clinical Trials section of MDA's Web site for continuously updated information.