text:
If Swedish isn't your native language, this article might prove more useful:
Pirate Bay Judge Accused of Bias [theregister.co.uk]
Additionally, the judge sits on the board of the Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property (Svenska fÃreningen fÃr industriellt rÃttsskydd), which is lobbying for tougher copyright laws.
However, NorstrÃm insisted to the radio station that his membership of the various copyright protection groups did not constitute a conflict of interestâ.
It is indeed quite obvious that being a leading member of a copyright lobby organization can not in any way be seen as a conflict of interest.
And in other news, Slashdot still fails at UTF8.
Slashdot still fails at UTF8.
Are you hearing what you saying?
He is a member of a lobbying group.
Lobbying group gets MONEY from their interests - read financial benefit.
What I don't get is why a judge would be allowed to be in *any* lobby organization, excepting perhaps something directly related to the functioning of the judiciary itself. Alternatively, if they are allowed to be members in such groups, why wouldn't they recuse themselves from a relevant case?
What I don't get is why ANY lobbyists are allowed. Ever. Anywhere.
Because there's just not enough ammunition to get rid of 'em all.
Don't need ammunition...
Knives are a good idea. Big, fuck-off shiny ones. Ones that look like they could skin a crocodile. Knives are good, because they don't make any noise, and the less noise they make, the more likely we are to use them. Shit 'em right up. Makes it look like we're serious. Guns for show, knives for a pro.
What I don't get is why ANY lobbyists are allowed. Ever. Anywhere.
It's because the laws allow it. We just need to get some lobbyists to help us change those laws!
What I don't get is why ANY lobbyists are allowed. Ever. Anywhere.
Because sometimes groups of citizens have things that they would like their legislature do. You see when you write your legislator asking him to vote for (or against) a bill, you are lobbying him/her. Generally, we reserve the word lobbyist for someone who represents some group, for example the EFF. Let me guess, you didn't know that the EFF employs lobbyists?
When I write legislators, I don't include hookers, blow, and cold hard cash in my statement.
When I write legislators, I don't include hookers, blow, and cold hard cash in my statement.
Well maybe you should. -Signed, your congressman.
When I write legislators, I don't include hookers, blow, and cold hard cash in my statement.
If you did, maybe they'd listen to your viewpoint!
I mostly agree with your post, but would like to add the following
Ultimately, in my opinion, it's the voice and opinion of the general public that is incorporated into laws about how heavy penalties for certain actions are. And since everyone is unanimously against murder, this is often quite a clear case.
But since the public opinion is so divided concerning copyright cases, a judge that has very strongly chosen one side can be called biased even regardless of his membership of a lobby group. The membership only proves it in my opinion.
True, but it is the judges JOB to be unbiased. Dedicating himself to a lobby group is a huge conflict of interest. Either he has to disappoint the group, or he has to disappoint the people he is judging.
True, but it is the judges JOB to be unbiased.
That is absolutely correct. To be a judge is to be impartial and avoid appearance of conflict of interest and impropriety in both public and even private life. That is what it means to be a judge; with special powers, including possibly the power of life and death, comes special responsibility above and beyond what would be expected from the average citizen. If that is a problem then do not become a judge.
Generally, the public you refer to doesn't care one bit about copyright cases or law.
It's even stronger than that. They are not just indifferent. The vast majority of the population are actively flouting copyright law, everything from photocopying in the library as students to copying a friend's music to buying dodgy DVD's on the street.
Copyright maximalists, let alone copyright-as-it-is-currently-implemented preservationists are only a tiny fraction of the total population. And that's not even considerin
A judge shouldn't be a member of any group promoting any specific type of justice, imho, as they're to be an impartial judge of the facts given them in court and not to be out for personal vendettas of any kind.
In practise this doesn't happen of course.
That would be true if that was the only factor.
"Judge Norstrom acknowledged to Swedish Radio that he was a member of The Swedish Association for Copyright, as well as a board member of the Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property. He also said he has worked alongside Monica Wadsted -- who represented the American movie industry in the trial -- to solve disputes related to Internet domain names. However, he rejected that there was any conflict of interests."
But it isn't.
There is a difference between just being member of an organization and being a board member of an organization who's goals would benefit the Plaintiff and having established a professional cooperative relationship with a Plaintiff's council previously.
Yes it is. This is similar to a judge in the USA that is a member of the RIAA and then goes in the courtroom to judge Virgin v. Thomas. It doesn't matter how high your involvement is. Apparently one of the lawyers IS his co-worker for certain things. That would be the same as you being a judge and in your off-time you work at a small company (which isn't illegal) and then you have to judge on a private matter between that company and somebody that has a beef with your company (for whatever reason) and the (hot) gal you go drinking coffee with once in a while is the lawyer representing the company you work at. IANAL but it seems that this would be grounds for a mistrial in the US.
But Yes, if a judge is a member of an organization lobbying for tougher murder penalties, he or she would be excluded from murder trials under Swedish law, should the defense lawyers so request. There cannot be even the slightest suspicion of bias.b
If he firmly believes in copyright as a matter of law and principle, I don't think it's much different than a judge being a member of an organization lobbying for tougher murder penalties, etc. We wouldn't exclude him from murder trials.
If he demonstrate bias in one case, the only time I'd ever let him in a courtroom again is when he gets his sentence for it. The only time behavior like that I'd consider acceptable is with laws where jury nullification would do the same.
When we let the judges be corrupted with a political agenda, the whole system is really close to falling apart.
By the way, WHO LET A MEMBER OF A COPYRIGHT LOBBY GROUP JUDGE A COPYRIGHT CASE?
Alternatively, from The Local, an English language Swedish paper:
Pirate Bay Lawyer calls for retrial [thelocal.se]
Though it might be worth pointing out that the "call" for a retrial isn't actually official yet, just what the lawyer has said to journalists.
Clearly, they could not, or did not.
The TPB lawyers didn't do their homework, which is a sentiment that rings very loudly in a lot of commentary about this trial.
It will hopefully come up in the appeal. This may have been a strategy all along -- i.e. let the music industry lawyers put all their cards on the table during the trial, and destroy them in the appeal.
Its fairly common in sweden that the first instance of the court system (Tingsrätten) is viewed upon as a bunch of clowns you have to pass to get to the real court. They consists of local politicians and if your local ones are anything like ours you know they suck on a professional level in every way possible when it comes to just about anything they do.
Im fairly sure the TPB lawyers has been set for going to the highest level court from the beginning and planned accordingly. This little gem with a clearly biased judge doesnt really help the TPB guys other than for PR since whatever a retrial will result in the trial will be taken higher up in the court system.
Its just a huge PR win for us in the PirateParty and the public opinion. It paints a very clear and vivid picture of us small ones against greedy, corrupt, self-loving, elite and above-the-law politicians.
Its fairly common in sweden that the first instance of the court system (Tingsrätten) is viewed upon as a bunch of clowns you have to pass to get to the real court.
That's pretty universal, I'm afraid.
If the allegations are true, they should easily win an appeal... assuming the rest of the judicial system is not so corrupt... allegedly, of course.
TPB want a win on merit, not technicality. Unless BitTorrent / P2P is vindicated in trial, the case will just return with new people involved.
Which is the whole point of the appeal. If the judge had a conflict of interest, then they quite possibly didn't lose on merit. Go back, redo the trial with new people who will actually handle the trial properly based upon its merits, and see what happens.
I move for a bad court thingie!
Well he's had it in for me ever since I kinda ran over his dog... Well, replace the word "kinda" with "repeatedly" and the word "dog" with "son,".
Aren't Judges supposed to remove themselves from a case if there is a known conflict of interest or an arguable bias? Don't they get in trouble for presiding over cases with this bias?
Maybe someone with a background in law can answer this? Google didn't seem to want to give any definitive answers. Then again, maybe the laws in Sweden are different?
Those with a conflict of interests are expected to recuse themselves from (i.e., abstain from) decisions where such a conflict exists. The imperative for recusal varies depending upon the circumstance and profession, either as common sense ethics, codified ethics, or by statute. For example, if the governing board of a government agency is considering hiring a consulting firm for some task, and one firm being considered has, as a partner, a close relative of one of the board's members, then that board member should not vote on which firm is to be selected. In fact, to minimize any conflict, the board member should not participate in any way in the decision, including discussions. Judges are supposed to recuse themselves from cases when personal conflicts of interest may arise. For example, if a judge has participated in a case previously as some other judicial role he/she is not allowed to try that case. Recusal is also expected when one of the lawyers in a case might be a close personal friend, or when the outcome of the case might affect the judge directly, such as whether a car maker is obliged to recall a model that a judge drives. This is required by law under Continental civil law systems and by the Rome Statute, organic law of the International Criminal Court.
Emphasis mine. Background reading and links for anyone interested here [wikipedia.org]. If this description is accurate (and I remind you again it's from Wikipedia so that's a real concern) then it would appear that any affiliation with copyright organisations would present a potential bias.
Come on now! How often is Wikipedia really inacPENIS PENIS PENIS PENIS PENIS
... then it would appear that any affiliation with copyright organisations would present a potential bias.
And the story doesn't stop there, because both Monique Wadsted and Henrik Pontén was also members of this organization, and he had seen Monique in other circumstances too. So it's not far fetched that he's even acquainted to Monique to some extent. And he still didn't remove himself in advance, or even informed of this.
Maybe he's friends with Anton [janrainwater.com] Scalia [commondreams.org]:
Besides Thomas, Scalia also took part in the decision while a close relative had a substantial interest in the outcome. Scalia's son Eugene is a partner in the Washington office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where one of the senior partners is Theodore B. Olson, who argued Bush's case before the Supreme Court.
Scalia refused to recuse himself from Bush v. Gore, although the lead lawyer for the plaintiff was, in effect, his son's boss. He took the same position in the various legal proceedings that accompanied the impeachment of Bill Clinton, beginning with the Supreme Court's decision to permit Paula Jones to proceed with her lawsuit against Clinton for sexual harassment, in which Olson provided legal assistance.
WASHINGTON - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia refused on Thursday to remove himself from a case about Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, even though their recent duck-hunting trip raised questions about his impartiality.
But then, hackery has never been much of a problem [reason.com]
But Scalia's liberal critics have a point: His moral views have a habit of grafting themselves onto his constitutional philosophy. No one expects him to be a libertarian; he has stressed that his opposition to expanded federal power applies only to instances in which it is explicitly limited by the Constitution. But you might at least expect him to be oppose federal intervention within the parameters of his originalist vision. Or rather, you might have expected that until Gonzales v. Raich, this year's medical marijuana case.
Scalia voted to uphold the federal government's prerogative to go after medical consumers of homegrown pot, on the grounds that this activity supposedly affects interstate commerce. This ruling prompted Thomas to note in a caustic dissent, "If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything--and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers."
The 11th Amendment says federal courts cannot hear lawsuits against a state brought by "Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State." But it's been interpreted to block suits by a state's own citizens - something it clearly does not say. How to get around the Constitution's express words? In a 1991 decision, Justice Scalia wrote that "despite the narrowness of its terms," the 11th Amendment has been understood by the court "to stand not so much for what it says, but for the presupposition of our constitutional structure which it confirms." If another judge used that rationale to find rights in the Constitution, Justice Scalia's reaction would be withering. He went on, in that 1991 decision, to throw out a suit by Indian tribes who said they had been cheated by the State of Alaska.
Judging from the take-down notices TPB publishes that are sent to them, a lot of people around the globe think that way...
IANAL but would this not be grounds for a mistrial and sanctions against the judge in question? I am pretty sure that in America, if you have a bias due to affiliation then you should recuse yourself from the case as a judge. I am not sure about Sweden, but this would only make sense since a judge is _supposed_ to be fair and impartial.
Kinda hard to be impartial when you belong to the same organization as three of the prosecutors...
I call bullshit!
How is a judge even allowed to belong to such an organization? A judge who does, and who believes what he is doing, will be the definition of activist judge. Judges aren't supposed to have their own agendas. They're there to execute the law and therefore ostensibly the will of the people.
How is a judge even allowed to belong to such an organization? [...] Judges aren't supposed to have their own agendas.
We all have things we want. We all have opinions on matters, or are able to form them quite easily. How do you find a completely neutral judge?
Of course, being a member of an organization whose stated goal implies "we think this side should win" is beyond just having an opinion...
But consider this: if you were the judge, would you be unbiased?
Several experts in Sweden are calling for a re-trial with another judge.
It's somewhat embarrassing. The judge says that he made the call that his participation in "intellectual property groups" (upphovsrättsföreningar) did not bias him.
When the trial started a nämndeman (assistant to the judge) was dismissed because he was considered biased due to his profession as a composer.
It sure will be interesting to see how this one plays out. One might assert that the judge made a huge mistake by taking the case and thus wasting a tremendous amount of time and energy for both sides. Rather moronic for a judge, who should be able to see this type of conflicts.
...cleared the search warrant towards TPB +3 years ago, I wonder if that was properly handled, from the articles here in sweden it seems he took the warrant-request from APB and just signed it and added "take anything you find interesting" and let them have at it.
Lawyer Peter Althin, representing the Pirate Bay spokesperson Peter Sunde calls for retrial [thelocal.se]
There have been a series of interesting events surrounding the extended Pirate Bay process. It started with PRQ (the web hotel hosting TPB) being illegally raided, and to add the icing on that cake, the minister in charge acting in violation of the Swedish constitution by directly ordering law enforcement (see New Technology's "Was the Raid a Judicial Scandal?" [nyteknik.se] [in Swedish]). Then the FRA and IPRED bills passed in direct defiance of election promises and popular opinion folding to foreign pressure, as was the trial itself. It is hardly surprising that it turned out that the judge was cherry picked. The judge, Thomas NorstrÃm, argued that "My view has been that these activities do not constitute a conflict of interest," and he was not swayed in his judgement by involvement with copyright protection groups.
There was great surprise over the April 17th ruling [thelocal.se]. Even the legal experts that expected a conviction were taken aback by the prison sentence and the size of the compensatory fine.
The current debate on Swedish technical boards is one of conspiracy theories. Swedes are generally relatively hesitant of suggesting conspiracies, but this one reeks of collusion.
The former Chief Prosecutor Sven-Erik Alhem says (in Swedish) [newsmill.se] that this will hurt the international renown of Swedish courts as well as damage domestic belief in judicial neutrality and safety.
Also interesting is the public statement from the Pirate Party [piratpartiet.se] which calls this "Corruption and miscarriage of justice" and "The copyright lobby has really managed to bring corruption to Sweden".
This may turn out to be a huge inconvenience for the copyright organisations and for the ruling coalition.
Of the two organizations, only one appears to be problematic.
SFU is basically an organization for people who want to keep up to date with IP law. Of course you'll find judges here, and RIAA/etc. will of course get their lawyers from here - after all, if you go into an IP-related trial, you want someone with knowledge in IP to represent you.
SFIR is more problematic, as they state as one of their purposes is to "contribute" to the evolution of IP rights in Sweden and world wide. What kind of evolution is unsaid - it need not be copyright extensions, and I think a lot of the final decision in regards to the bias will depend on just what SFIR does.
So much for the bias of the judge. What will happen with TPB, then? Well, they may (or may not) get a new trial. But so far there has been no argument as to that the verdict shows signs of bias in finding them guilty. That is, biased as the judge may be, the verdict is unlikely to change. Maybe the fine will be reduced, but I doubt that, given that Carl (the old guy) is a multimillionaire and can pay the 30 megaSEK. (As a side note, the younger TPB guys were probably right in saying that they wouldn't pay the fine: The old guy will.)
The prosecution got a guilty verdict without actually managing to prove any wrongdoing due to severe incompetence and lack of knowledge.
It was pretty clear something was odd about the decision, whether the TPB guys were right or wrong is irrelevant when the prosecution are unable to actually prove any wrongdoing.
You can't legitimately get a guilty verdict if you haven't proven that they're guilty of doing something illegal, accusations alone aren't enough.
The interesting thing now will be to see what happens as a result of this revelation. It's probably worth pointing out that this conspiracy almost certainly goes deeper - the first judge due to judge their trial was removed due to conflict of interest IIRC and this is his replacement, so the real question has to be who is responsible for repeatedly ensuring the judges presiding over this case have strong music industry/pro-copyright lobby links? Who in Sweden determines which judge should oversee a particular case?
the first judge due to judge their trial was removed due to conflict of interest IIRC and this is his replacement
No, that is not correct. The judging group consisted of one professional judge and three laymen judges appointed by the city council. Before the trial, the professional judge decided to replace one of the layman judges for fear of conflict of interest because he was a composer. The allegedly biased judge this time is the professional judge that headed the judging group.
There's no way TPB's lawyers were in the dark about this.
But now, they get to turn this into a(n even bigger) circus and it will be thrown out due to the judge being extremely biased and having worked with the plaintiff before.
Meanwhile, they just managed to get the support of the entire country against the corrupt Judge and local version of the RIAA, and the next Judge will be on best behavior -- and since they haven't done anything illegal, that means they'll get off scott free.
Brilliantly played, Pirates. Brilliantly played.
The judge was found to be a member of SFU, whose list of supporting members [upphovsrat...ningen.com] is full of Swedish and European versions of MPAA and RIAA, as well as Microsoft.
He is also on the board of SFIR, the Swedish branch of AIPPI, an "intellectual property" lobby organization that for example has a resolution [aippi.org] saying
It is recommended that all jurisdictions adopt rules in their IP law concerning contributory
infringement of IPRs and that the basic principles be harmonised.
The IPR owner should be able to hold the contributory infringer liable in damages for any
loss that is incurred as a result of the contributory infringement and is not otherwise
Which is exactly that the Pirate Bay trial was about.
If graphics hackers are so smart, why can't they get the bugs out of fresh paint?


text:
Questions About Copyright On Stormtrooper Costume Hit UK Supreme Court
from the i-find-your-lack-of-copyright-disturbing dept
Either way, the case is finally going to the UK Supreme Court. Apparently, Lucas is claiming that there was an implied term in the agreement between Lucas and Ainsworth that Ainsworth wouldn't be able to have any rights to sell the works he created. So the question really may come down to whether or not the court really believes in such "implied" terms, or whether it prefers contractual terms to actually be explicit before people can agree to them.

subset: commoncrawl


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By Murray Coleman
Gearing up for the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) shareholders this weekend, Morningstar's Esther Pak takes a look at mutual funds that invest like Warren Buffett.
"He knows that successful investing means playing a good defense, but doing so doesn't have to equal passively waiting on the sidelines. When he finds companies with long-term competitive advantages and clean balance sheets, he'll back up the truck for them," she writes.
So she screened for funds with portfolios heavily invested in stocks with sustainable competitive advantages, concentrated positions (to show conviction in picks) and tenured management.
Only no-load funds with expense ratios less than 1% were included. Institutional funds were excluded and those with initial purchase requirements greater than $5,000 were also left off the list.
One of the names such a screening process came up with was the Jensen Fund (JENSX). It might sound like an odd pick since Morningstar rates it a large-cap growth offering. But after struggling a bit in its earlier years, the fund's managers added valuation screens to their stock-picking process. Jensen's returns improved notably as a result.
The managers consider only U.S.-based companies that have generated a return on equity of at least 15% in each of the past 10 calendar years.
But it also considers macroeconomic views. As a result, the fund's managers favor companies that are expanding in emerging markets.
One of those is 3M (MMM). Others include Pepsi (PEP) and Procter & Gamble (PG).
Other funds the report notes include:
– Bridgeway Blue Chip 35 (BRLIX). Manager John Montgomery uses a quantitative, computer-driven system to pick 35 of the top names, then equal-weights each. Some of its top stocks include Oracle (ORCL), General Electric (GE) and Microsoft (MSFT).
– Sequoia (SEQUX). Managers Bob Goldfarb and David Poppe favor companies with strong competitive advantages, high barriers to entry and proven management. While considered value-minded investors, they've shown a willingness to pay up for good franchises. Top long-term favorites include Fastenal (FAST) and Google (GOOG).
– Clipper (CFIMX). This fund's five-year record has been a real laggard. But it has come on strong lately, or, at least pulled even with its peers in 2011. From the market's bottom in March 2009 through early February, Clipper's return beat the S&P 500 by nearly 8 percentage points. Managers Chris Davis and Ken Feinberg have stood behind picks like Goldman Sachs (GS) and Coca-Cola (KO), picking them up when they were down and positioning the portfolio for a recovery.


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So it's dishonerable mention time.
Here is a collection of the worst nine everday players current taking up roster spots in the majors.
For this, we define an 'everyday' player as someone, as of the end of last night's games (06/13/06), has at least 175 plate appearances - an approx. average of 3 a game.
Here are the winners
Manning the outfield
Willy Tavares - .266AVG/.320OBP/.313SLG in 258PA
Craig Monroe - .232AVG/.272OBP/.412SLG in 224 PA
Juan Pierre - .241AVG/..284OBP/.305SLG in 288PA
Pierre and Tavares have the equal distinction of being awful hitters at the top of each of their teams lineup. Taveras has split time between the 1 and 2 spots in the order, while Pierre has his name in the leadoff spot written in pen. In a prime example of the old adage 'you can't steal first base', both the Cubs and the Astros rank in the bottom 3rd of the majors in runs scored. Speed kills, and both players have a quick first step towards the dugout that has few rivals. Monroe makes the cut just above fellow sub-.700 OPS outfielders Payton & Burnitz on the rank nature of his low OBP. His slugging is higher than any other on the All-Awful team, but even the Fightin' Mendozas need a big bopper.
In the team photo
Jeff Francouer (.249AVG/.266OBP/.450SLG in 278PA)
Jay Payton (.259AVG/.280OBP/.363SLG in 200PA)
Jeromy Burnitz (.233AVG/.282OBP/.416SLG in 217PA)
Taking up the infield
Juan Uribe - .198AVG/.229OBP/.308SLG in 194PA
Clint Barmes - .212AVG/.238OBP/.329SLG in 244PA
Vinny Castilla - .218AVG/.259OBP/.291SLG in 193PA
Richie Sexson - .204AVG/.270OBP/.380SLG in 270PA
Brian Anderson is getting all the pub for being a boat anchor in Chicago, but you have to wonder why his center of the field mate Uribe isn't getting the same heat. Barmes should be drawn and quartered for not being able to hit in Coors, humidor or not it's still a boost to offensive stats even without the home runs. What would he be putting up in Washington? In Castilla's case, it maybe the only time where a trading partner that ended up reciving a pitcher with a torn rotator cuff won out in the deal. Richie Sexson is well known as one of the worst fielders in baseball. And he inhabits the defensive position on the diamond that requires, by far, the least amount of skills. So he can't hit, he can't field, and he's one of the highest 25 paid players in the game. Awesome.
In the team photo
Travis Lee (.207AVG/.268OBP/.316SLG in 190PA)
Adrian Beltre (.234AVG/.294OBP/.339SLG in 269PA)
Adam Everett (.212AVG/.275OBP/.301SLG in 212PA)
Angel Berroa (.255AVG/.267OBP/.366SLG in 223PA)
Behind the plate
Yadier Molina - .214AVG/.271OBP/.301SLG in 191PA
I want to cut Molina some slack. Catchers have the toughest defensive spot on the field, so the beauty of good hitting/good fielding catchers is something to behold when you see it. And someone has to be last in the majors. But Molina wins this spot going away. A .600OPS is just downright awful, and every major league everyday catcher but Yadier has managed to reach that mark in 2006. Maybe it's something that Tony LaRussa puts in the water that prevents his catchers from hitting, as Mike Matheny had this spot reserved for the better part of a decade.
In the team photo
Mike Matheny (.231AVG/.276OBP/.338SLG in 177PA)
Rod Barajas (.256AVG/.293OBP/.390SLG in 185PA)
Designated Hitter
Rondell White - .190AVG/.209OBP/.224SLG in 182PA
Perhaps White's performance is the most egregious. His job after all, his only responsibility on the baseball field, is to get hits and get on base. Most other players have some form of redeeming baseball qualities in the way of a glove, or at least one form of offense they at least aren't completely putrid at. Not Rondell. White has managed an unusual trifecta, he sweeps the awful Triple Crown as the worst everyday hitter in AVG, OBP & SLG. White is so bad he really has no contemporaries for the All-Awful team. As such, we've left off the "in the team photo" option for the DH.


text:
Some Atlanta Falcons visited an elementary school in Chamblee Tuesday afternoon to teach kids that fitness can be fun.
Wide receivers Harry Douglas and Eric Weems and safety Thomas DeCoud went to gym class with Dresden Elementary students, teaching them about physical fitness by playing football, tug-of-war, and hoola-hooping.
The visit was part of a program called Falcons First Down For Fitness, a three-month program that challenges kids in the third through seventh grade to exercise and eat healthy.
The program is incentive-based, and rewards participating students who are active for at least 60 minutes a day, five days a week.
Currently, 40,000 students across the state are enrolled in the program.
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text:
There are easy practices the day before and after, usually only two hard practices per week and after everyone gets dressed and warmed up there's only about an hour or so left of practice. Think about that the next time you're dreading going to practice.
The next time a teammate starts to complain about having to go to practice, think about the kids who can't play. In Haxtun one of my teammate's little brothers isn't allowed to play due to health problems.
Every year the junior high team plays a game at the end of the year between the sixth and seventh graders split into two equal teams, and the eighth graders coach. The boy went and asked his dad, who is also a coach, "How do you contain a team that is faster than you on the outside?" The saddest part about that: Coaching in that game is the closest he will ever come to playing another football game. He would kill to play the game that a lot of kids take for granted. So next time you're too tired to do another wind sprint or too lazy to watch film on the other team, remember that.
The second part to that is you never know when a play is going to be your last play. What if you get hurt and can't play the rest of the season? We had a captain who wasn't able to play in two games.
When I asked him what advice he would give to other seniors around the state he said, "Give it 110 percent, every down and every play. Don't take any of it for granted because those Friday night lights won't be around forever. There's no worse feeling in the world than not being able to play in a game where you're needed and all you can do is cheer on the sideline."
In the "Boys of Fall" music video, the coach talks about how you want to be remembered. When you're old and sitting in you rocking chair, I'm betting you don't want to be saying, "I wish," or, "If only I would have." The time that we have as high school athletes is limited and even more so in certain sports. Every down and every play, give it everything you have and don't have any regrets. Like I said in my previous article, life's a game of inches; make sure you're the guy in the locker room with a full heart because you know you didn't let your teammates down, and think of how lucky we are to have the time we have to play the game we love. Whether that sport is football, volleyball, basketball, wrestling, track or baseball, it doesn't matter. Play to your fullest and give it everything you have.
Think of the tragedy that hit northeast Colorado last winter with Cole Rhodes. Do you think the night before he knew he wouldn't be going to school the next day and that it was going to be his last basketball practice?
So this Friday when you're in the locker room getting ready, think about what you need to do and how you're going to do it. Never go through a game with regrets and always play like it's your last play you'll ever play because it just might be.
Garrett Shafer is a senior at Haxtun High School.
Students, have something you want to say? Contact firstname.lastname@example.com about becoming a student columnist.


text:
Forecast strong winds to challenge firefighting efforts at Hazelwood fire
Fire authorities say strong winds in Morwell on Saturday will challenge firefighting efforts at the Hazelwood coal mine fire.
Strong winds on Wednesday intensified the heat of the fire and created shallow hot spots throughout the mine.
The fire has been burning since February 9, sending thick clouds of smoke across Morwell.
Vulnerable residents of Morwell South were urged to relocate temporarily.
Fire crews have managed to contain 85 per cent of the fire.
Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley says Monday is still the deadline for containing the rest of the fire but the next few days will be tough.
"The last 15 per cent is still difficult and will take a number of days and even after that we know there will be some smoke come out of the mine for probably weeks," he said.
Mr Lapsley says the cost of extinguishing the fire will run into the millions of dollars.
"It's one of the most significant fires we've had in the state that's seen multi-agency national response," he said.
"It's a multi-million dollar fire without a doubt."
Over 200 firefighters per shift are working around the clock on the fire.
They are also using compressed air foam and water bombing helicopters.


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Pistolero is a hilarious track in the original short single... humorous voice samples and the guitar is great. They really watered down both the song elements and the production on Shango for some odd reason - I was highly disapointed with the track on that. Shango grew on me over time - there are some really great tracks on it that are easy to overlook. Hallucinogen - I don't think I have a full album, but I think I've got some tracks on various artist releases. good stuff.
now playing- Jeff Greinke: Lost Terrain & Wide View
David Tagg & Brian Grainger - Sawdust Aromatics [rope swing cities 2008]Entia Non - Lilt [test tube 2008]Genesis - Live in Leicester 1973nrvnet - light cycles - a new mix from The Hydrogen Cafe


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Designs by gsonge
Greta Songe
Coralville Iowa
Hello! I am an artist based in Iowa. I aim to make work that is whimsical, colorful, and fun. All artwork protected by copyright © all rights reserved. Feel free to use for personal projects. If using commercially or for resale, please give the artist


text: Sunday Jul 14, 2013 Jul 14, 2013 0 Facebook Tweet Email eghhh on here actually a lot, but never post. i guess I just lost interest in it. Sorry guys. VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS kaicito: My feelings exactly... but it's nice to know you're lurking on here somewhere most of the time ;-) Jul 14, 2013 killtime: Me too I understand. Jul 15, 2013


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Andrew McIntyre, vice president, technology, Chicago Cubs


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Scientists at Johns Hopkins university have determined that complex, reversible behavioral patterns in bees - and presumably other animals - are linked to reversible chemical tags on genes.
The above-mentioned study is the first time DNA methylation "tagging" has been linked to something at the behavioral level of a whole organism. In addition, the behavior in question, along with its corresponding molecular changes, are reversible, which has important implications for human health.
Indeed, according to Dr. Andy Feinberg, the addition of DNA methylation to genes has long been shown to play an important role in regulating gene activity in changing biological systems - which is perhaps somewhat analogous to fate determination in stem cells or the creation of cancer cells.
Curious about how epigenetics might contribute to behavior, Feinberg and his team studied a tried-and-true model of animal behavior: bees.
Together with bee expert Gro Amdam, Ph.D., associate professor of life sciences at Arizona State University and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Feinberg's epigenetics team discovered significant differences in DNA methylation patterns in bees that have identical genetic sequences but vastly different behavioral patterns.
Employing a method that allows the researchers to analyze the whole genome at once, dubbed CHARM (comprehensive high-throughput arrays for relative methylation), the team analyzed the location of DNA methylations in the brains of worker bees of two different "professions." Interestingly, all worker bees are female and, within a given hive, are all genetically identical sisters. However, they don't all do the same thing, as some nurse and some forage.
Meanwhile, nurses are typically younger and remain in the hive to take care of the queen and her larvae. When nurses mature, they become foragers that leave the hive to gather pollen and other supplies for the hive. "Genes themselves weren't going to tell us what is responsible for the two types of behavior," Feinberg says. "But epigenetics – and how it controls genes – could."
Feinberg and Amdam started their experiment with fresh hives populated by bees of the same age, effectively negating the possibility that any differences they might find could be attributed to differences of age.
"When young, age-matched bees enter a new hive, they divvy up their tasks so that the right proportion becomes nurses and foragers," explains Amdam. "It is these two populations that were tested after painstakingly characterizing and marking each bee with its 'professional,' or behavioral, category."
Analyzing the patterns of DNA methylation in the brains of 21 nurses and 21 foragers, the team found 155 regions of DNA that had different tag patterns in the two types of bees. The genes associated with the methylation differences were mostly regulatory genes known to affect the status of other genes.
"Gene sequences without these tags are like roads without stop lights – gridlock," says Feinberg.
Once they knew differences existed, they could take the next step to determine if they were permanent.
"When there are too few nurses, the foragers can step in and take their places, reverting to their former practices," Amdam added.
The researchers used this strategy to determine whether foraging bees would maintain their foraging genetic tags when forced to start acting like nurses again. So they removed all of the nurses from their hives and waited several weeks for the hive to restore balance.
That done, the team again looked for differences in DNA methylation patterns, this time between foragers that remained foragers and those that became nurses. One hundred and seven DNA regions showed different tags between the foragers and the reverted nurses, suggesting that the epigenetic marks were not permanent but reversible and connected to the bees' behavior and the facts of life in the hive.
Interestingly, more than half of those regions had already been identified among the 155 regions that change when nurses mature into foragers.
"These 57 regions are likely at the heart of the different behaviors exhibited by nurses and foragers. It's like one of those pictures that portray two different images depending on your angle of view," she said. "The bee genome contains images of both nurses and foragers. The tags on the DNA give the brain its coordinates so that it knows what kind of behavior to project."
The above-mentioned results could help scientists improve their understanding of complex behavioral issues in humans, such as learning, memory, stress response and mood disorders - which all involve interactions between genetic and epigenetic components similar to those in the study. To be sure, an individual's underlying genetic sequence is acted upon by epigenetic tags, which may be affected by external cues to change in ways that create stable - but reversible - behavioral patterns.