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Ten major, primarily US-based universities and campus-based research institutes signed contracts in 2010 to help establish and run a major "world class" university in Kazakhstan, the resource-rich Central Asia country lorded over by autocrat, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), beginning in late-2009, actively sought and eventually won one of those contracts. That agreement with the regime provided the go-ahead for a team of UW-Madison experts to create a School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) at Nazarbayev University (NU), named after the country's "President-for-Life."
UW-Madison, birthplace of the progressive "Wisconsin Idea," has long prided itself as a bastion of liberal democratic values and for its dedication to public service and social betterment. As such, the story of its ongoing Kazakhstan involvement stands as a case study of the contradictions inherent in the rush by today's "global universities" eager to win clients, prestige and income abroad from those regimes most able to pay - regardless of their nature.
Sealing the Deal
Documents acquired via a series of Wisconsin Open Records Law requests show that in March 2010, an eight-member high-level delegation representing NU traveled nearly 6,000 miles from its home on the Kazakh steppes to attend a brief ceremony at then-Chancellor Carolyn "Biddy" Martin's Office atop the UW-Madison's famed Bascom Hill.
Representing the country's authoritarian regime, the team had come to Madison for the formal signing of an initial contract committing UW-Madison to prepare a feasibility study for the creation of a social science and humanities program for the then-dubbed "New University of Astana." The proposed university - already projected to become a major Central Asia research hub - was at the time under construction at an estimated cost of $2 billion at the country's showcase capital.
In Madison to witness the signing as head of the delegation was Kazakhstan deputy foreign minister and former Nazarbayev aide, Yerbol Orynbayev. The Western-trained diplomat and former in-country liaison for the World Bank in Kazakhstan, Aslan Sarinzhipov, in his capacity as acting president and CEO of the "New University," came to sign the contract. "Biddy" Martin fixed her signature to the agreement along with the Nazarbayev insider at the March 4 ceremony.
A two-page background briefing prepared for Martin in advance of the gathering noted the work under way at Astana to establish the NU as an "English-language university based on the American model."
After listing the names of the visiting delegates, that backgrounder gave a cursory five-sentence sketch of the country. It simply described Kazakhstan as a former Soviet republic populated mainly by Turkic, Russian and German speakers with major gas and oil reserves in its Caspian Sea region. The description also noted Nazarbayev's upcoming 70th birthday, without giving any indication of the brutal nature of his dictatorial regime.
While the sum offered up by the NU suitors for that feasibility study totaled a mere $100,000, the UW-Madison representatives involved viewed it as the beginning of a mutually-beneficial and potentially-lucrative relationship.
Completed in July 2010, that initial proposal paved the way for a 594-page detailed strategic plan, submitted in June 2011, for a state-of-the art School of Humanities and Social Studies based on UW-Madison's "best practices."
An additional phase two "Strategic Planning and Assessment Program" went into operation in Oct. 2011. This entailed numbers of teleconference meetings by various working groups and multiple exchanges of visitors to Astana and Madison over the next several months.
Nazarbayev University's Wisconsin-designed School of Humanities and Social Sciences opened for business in September 2011. A contract for "phase three" was signed in December 2012. The regular back-and-forth flow of UW-Madison faculty and administrative consultants continues to this day.
Onlookers and Go-Betweens
Among those present for the signing of the initial UW-NU agreement was Gilles Bousquet, at the time dean of the UW's division of international atudies, director of the UW-Madison's International Institute and vice provost for globalization. Bousquet now serves as the interim chancellor at University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
"We are honored and delighted to be selected by Kazakhstan as a partner as they embark on establishing a new university to bring the benefits of education to their people and the entire region in the tradition of the Wisconsin Idea," an article covering the event from the UW-Madison press office quoted him saying
Bousquet subsequently traveled to Astana in late-June 2011 for a two-day conclave. While there, he met then-prime minister and Nazarbayev's chief of staff, Karim Massimov, chairman of NU's Board of Trustees.
Interviewed upon his return about the developing UW-Madison relationship, Bousquet emphasized "the benefits that Wisconsin's business community can derive from such [a] relationship."
Also accompanying the Kazakh delegation was Dennis De Tray. The World Bank's country director in Indonesia during the late-1990s - the final years of the Suharto dictatorship - De Tray subsequently became an apologist for the murderous, kleptocratic regime.
In recent years a private "development contractor" and Pentagon consultant in US-occupied Iraq and Afghanistan, he now sits as chairman of NU's "International Advisory Committee," a consigliere for the regime's operatives doing business with various university partners, UW-Madison among them.
Also present at the 2010 signing: Uli Schamiloglu, chair of the UW-Madison Central Asian Studies Program and associate director of the Center for Middle East Studies. A central figure from its inception, he played the major role in forging the relationship.
Tapped to head the feasibility study, he became "team leader" of the "Nazarbayev University Project," the main liaison with the NU's representatives, among them Dennis De Tray.
Schamiloglu led a five-member UW-Madison contingent to Astana in April 2010. Besides visiting their NU counterparts and the nearly-completed campus, the group received a dignitary's welcome at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They also toured the Ministry of Education and met with a group described as Nazarbayev's "apparatus." The next junket stops: the country's rubber-stamp Senate and the headquarters of Nur Otan ("Light of the Fatherland"), Nazarbayev's ruling party. They also conferred with the US Ambassador, Richard Hoagland.
Schamiloglu and Cynthia Williams, director of external relations in the UW's Division of International Studies, flew to Astana in June 2010 to attend the official opening ceremony of NU, presided over personally by Nazarbayev.
Alongside representatives from the other major university partners, the UW delegation also attended a private audience with Nazarbayev in which he described his "Strategy 2020" for economic growth through accelerated industrialization and infrastructure development.
A duo from each of the partnering institutions - among them representatives from Duke, Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, the University College of London and the National University of Singapore - also signed a mutually vetted "Principles of Collaboration" that, among other things, listed university autonomy, academic freedom, transparency, integrity and diversity as institutional goals.
Williams, upon her return, expressed the hope that the UW's involvement in the project "can help spread the values of the Wisconsin Idea" by "inspiring Nazarbeyev University to go beyond being an ivory tower and instead to use its knowledge to serve all the people of the country in relevant ways."
Others would continue to speak of the "Idea" as a model and inspiration for the venture. Aslan Sarinzhipov - presumably learning of the tradition via Schamiloglu and translating it as the "Wisconsin Way" - referenced it as such in his UW-Madison correspondence.
The Unspoken Problem
While UW-Madison team members involved in the ongoing project have continually spoken of the Kazakhstan partnership as a logical global extension of the "Wisconsin Idea," none have commented publicly on the repressive nature of Nazarbayev's regime.
Larger than Western Europe and four times the size of Texas, the former Soviet Republic shares a 4,000-mile border with Russia and a 1,400-mile frontier with China. It contains vast amounts of oil, natural gas, uranium, rare-earth minerals, wheat and livestock. As such, it has been defined by US economic and strategic planners as vital to "national interest," despite an atrocious human rights record that actually has worsened since the UW-Madison joined the consortium of prominent universities currently "partnering" at the new university.
Nazarbayev, in 2010, enacted a law naming him "Leader of the Nation." This made him immune from prosecution and the seizure of his assets for the rest of his life.
Critics have characterized his ruling oligarchy as an outright kleptocracy, one that has siphoned off billions to Nazarbayev and his immediate circles. Corruption and bribery at all levels of government, the judiciary included, have long been considered the modus operandi in the country.
A 2012 listing of the Kazakhstan's 50 wealthiest individuals, holding a combined estimated wealth of $24 billion, included four of Nazarbayev's immediate family members - two daughters, a son-in law and a grandson - as well as his minister of defense and environment minister. The average monthly wage, meanwhile, continues to hover at $600.
The US State Department's 2012 survey on Kazakhstan's "rampant and diverse" human rights violations cited "severe limits on citizens' rights to change their government," the clampdown on freedom of expression, and a lack of judicial independence and rule of law, "especially in dealing with pervasive corruption."
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have long criticized the regime for its violations of international standards regarding workers' rights, political repression, police impunity and intimidation and torture of those arrested and imprisoned.
The mistreatment of immigrants, exploitation of child labor and human trafficking also continue to be documented. Kazakhstan also recently revised its legal codes, mandating that religious groups register with the state. Those unregistered or denied a permit to practice their faith have come under increased repression in the past year.
Transparency Intenational in 2012 ranked the country as "not free" while Freedom House gave it a worsening "democracy score" of 6.54 (with 1 representing the highest level of democratic progress and 7 the lowest.)
In an interview following his July 2011 visit to Astana, Gilles Bousquet spoke of how the UW-Madison's worldwide partners looked to Madison to educate "leaders who will have an impact and help change the world, like the thousands of UW-Madison graduates who have joined the Peace Corps over the decades."
A few months later, in late-2011, the Peace Corps abruptly removed its 117 volunteers from the country following several sexual assaults and reported instances of harassment by the KNB, the KGB-styled state intelligence service.
The "Zhanaozen Massacre"
Three months after NU and its Wisconsin-created SHSS opened in December 2011, Kazakhstan state security forces opened fire on striking oil workers in the Caspian Sea oil company town of Zhanaozen.
According to the official government account, 15 died and nearly 70 were wounded. Unofficial casualty counts ran much higher, numbering into the hundreds, and many more were detained and routinely beaten while in custody as the government blacked out communications from the region.
In the immediate aftermath of the strike, the regime not only held a mass show trial and imprisoned strike leaders, but also jailed attorneys who came forward to assist the detained and opposition political activists protesting the repression.
Western academics employed at NU at the time of the "Zhanaozen Massacre" might not have had any clue about the situation.
After all, Nazarbayev family members or cronies have long controlled or own the dominant media. Independent journalists are regularly subjected to fines and criminal charges for publishing "defamatory" reports regarding Nazarbayev his family or leading government officials.
Critical reporters have also been jailed, harrassed and physically attacked, while offices of independent newspapers and websites, closely monitored by the state, continue to be shut down. The regime banned dissident newspaper Respublika in December 2012, along with the small opposition party, Alga.
The "Nazarbayev Idea"
In October 2009, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Orynbayev's Office sent letters to a number of American universities announcing the establishment of "a new flagship university with the highest international standards . . . in partnership with a number of leading international universities."
Stating that the idea for the new school came directly from President Nazarbayev, the letter spoke of the goal of creating a "knowledge based society" - adapting to the World Bank's "knowledge bank" - to assure sustainable economic growth. In the letter, he requested an early-November meeting to discuss "partnering" opportunities.
According to a conversation with Cynthia Williams, the Kazakhs expressed a desire to meet with Chancellor Martin. Reluctant to schedule such a meeting on short notice with limited information, Williams asked Uli Schamiloglu if he would be interested in forming a group to greet the delegation.
Schamiloglu met with a single Kazakh representative over dinner on November 4, after a larger meeting was cancelled due to a flight delay. The Kazakh envoy expressed a primary interest in the UW-Madison's biotechnology programs, but Schamiloglu introduced the idea of the UW-Madison creating a humanities- and social science-focused "liberal arts" effort at Astana.
Things moved quickly thereafter.
Schamiloglu, viewing a possible Kazakhstan project as "the opportunity of a lifetime," actively promoted the idea to his superiors on Bascom Hill, among them the Dean of the College of Letters and Science, Gary Sandefur, and International Programs head Bousquet.
UW-Madison wasted little time in submitting a "letter of intent" in January 2010, signed by the Sandefur and Bousquet.
In Feb. 2010, Aslan Sarinzhipov and then- "New University" vice president, Kadisha Dairova - today both members of the university's executive council - toured the UW-Madison campus and liked what they saw.
The contract for the feasibility study was hastily drawn up, vetted by a UW-Madison legal team and signed on March 4, 2010, and the first UW-Madison team arrived in Astana on April 24, 2010. In June 2010, that five-member team and Williams attended a Washington, DC, "partners' meeting," and Williams and Schamiloglu attended the NU opening ceremonies in Astana later that month.
The full UW-Madison team of more than 20 members planned whole departments and a full battery of courses. Administrative staff also submitted plans for a registrar's and admissions offices, while faculty from the UW-Madison School of Library Science prepared detailed designs for the NU library and its collections.
The intent, it appeared, was to implant some semblance of UW-Madison at NU.
The "Idea"
As part of its NU pitch, the authors of the original feasibility study noted that ". . . the UW-Madison is guided by the 'Wisconsin Idea' " and that, "through the Nazarbayev University project, the UW-Madison is seeking to extend the "Wisconsin Idea" to Kazakhstan and the world."
The "Idea" came about in response to the abuses of unimpeded economic power and political corruption during the late 19th century age of the robber barons, an era void of social protections and increasing social upheaval caused by abuses of unrestrained industrial and financial might.
Idea legislation and policies proposed by progressive UW-Madison faculty brought about workers' protections, improved practices in agriculture and rural life, environmental safeguards and public health standards. Political reforms broadened the scope of democracy by rooting out corruption, graft and behind-the-scenes statehouse corporate influence-peddling.
In 2012, as various UW-Madison faculty, staff, and administrators came and went from Astana, the university officially celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the "Idea," articulated in the mission statement of the university, to "embody, through its policies and programs, respect for, and commitment to, the ideals of a pluralistic, multiracial, open and democratic society."
One anniversary panel on April 26 of that year featured John Witte, an accomplished political science professor, public policy maven and grandson of the UW's renowned Edwin Witte. Edwin embodied the "Wisconsin Idea," going from Madison to Washington, DC, during Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal to become the "father of Social Security."
Two weeks before the forum, a UW-Madison press release announced Witte was retiring from his 35-year stint in Madison. That release further announced he was departing for Kazakhstan to become dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Nazarbayev University.
Witte had already had been to Astana as part of the initial project team. He made a second journey there in December 2011 to scope out his new campus digs and to present a dusted off paper on Milwaukee's voucher and charter schools to his future NU colleagues.
On the eve of the November 2012 US presidential election, Witte joined UW-Madison political scientist Howard Schweber, on leave and teaching in Astana, at a campus forum on what another President Barack Obama term or a Mitt Romney victory could mean for Kazakhstan.
While Schweber suggested that a Romney election would not bode well for Kazakhstan, Witte was quoted as stating,
"Kazakhstan . . . absolutely critical to the world . . . is a stable democracy that will enhance this country as well as the United States' goals. It is also a country of peace, stability, and prosperity. All of these things the United States will benefit from.
"Some of our companies are already here. I think that they will benefit. And also, to be honest, I think that there is a greater free-market spirit here in Kazakhstan than there would be in the Democratic Party of the United States. So I think that in fact that private initiative would be well-received here. And that private initiative is not the hallmark of the Obama administration."
A month later while serving as acting NU vice provost, Schweber spoke at a conference on the institution of the presidency and its importance in the transition to democracy. The state-controlled press reported the event under the headline, "Kazakhstan is not ready for presidential-parliamentary rule: Vice-Provost of Nazarbayev University."
The official media report quoted Schweber as suggesting that while the office of the presidency should be separated from any specific individual as the country moved toward democracy, "probably, Kazakhstan is not ready for this transition yet."
"Academic Freedom"
In his July, 2011 interview, Gilles Bousquet mentioned NU was the country's first university to guarantee academic freedom "in the law."
As if to assuage concerns and circumvent criticism, the regime's rubber-stamp parliament passed specific legislation, signed by Nazarbayev in early 2012, granting "autonomy" and "academic freedom" to NU faculty and staff.
One line in the new law simply defined the "principle of academic freedom" as "independence of the University . . . in defining and selection of educational programs, forms and methods of implementation of education activities, and the directions of conducting scientific research."
The new law enshrining "autonomy" and "academic freedom" also granted ultimate authority over the university, its feeder Intellectual Schools and its specially-created corporate-funded endowment to a "Supreme Board of Trustees" chaired by Nazarbayev and comprised entirely by insiders.
The meaning of the "academic freedom," usually understood as an implicit, if not always explicit right of faculty and students to write and speak freely inside and outside the walls of the academy without fear of repercussion, has been cynically nuanced by NU.
The "guiding principle" dealing with "Autonomy and Academic Freedom," states that the University will:
"[E]nsure independence and collegiality in management and decision making based on democratic principles and personal responsibility of each individual involved; guarantee academic freedom of teachers and researchers within their research and educational activities." (emphasis ours)
Implicit is a clear message that faculty and staff must take care not to speak beyond the confines of their respective disciplines - or else.
The Big Picture
The ongoing "partnership" between the UW-Madison and the Kazakhstan dictatorship's "world class" university is far from exceptional. Every major US university has joined in the highly competitive scramble for a piece of the globalized "knowledge economy" pie, this time served by far-from-democratic regimes rich with resources and strategic value.
UW-Madison's "partnering relationship" with Nazarbayev University serves as but one example, among many, of the expanding international role of today's global universities as major multinational corporations. In that capacity, the "global university" serves an elite function in reproducing and expanding the existing economic and political order.


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A 19-year-old Savannah man was arrested Wednesday afternoon after local drug agents learned he was making methamphetamine in Bloomingdale.
The Chatham-Savannah Counter Narcotics Team charged Joshua McNelly with manufacturing methamphetamine for his role in an active meth lab found at a residence on Pine Barren Road, said Gene Harley, CNT spokesman.
Earlier in the day, undercover CNT agents were informed of the operation and identified three people potentially involved.
Agents seized the active lab during a search of the home and discovered evidence that a person had been injured from an explosion during a previous meth cook, Harley said.
He added that CNT agents and a specially trained environmental company seized the lab and deemed the area safe after the operation.

subset: commoncrawl


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(Kevin Arnold photo)
There are a few restaurant, cafés, bistros and other dining opportunities in and around Kaslo.
The Kaslo Hotel is a classy addition to Front Street. With the patio facing north and the beautiful Kootenay Lake, the hotel is a great place for a leisurely lunch on a summer's day. Feeling hungry? Try the buffalo burger.
Across from the SS Moyie, the cozy Silver Spoon Café specializes in yummy sandwiches and other homemade fare. The café is open for breakfast and lunch, with outside seating available. On 5th Street at Front, the Rosewood Café offers fine dining with a family-friendly atmosphere. Kids enjoy a play area, while parents enjoy dinner. Rosewood is open for lunch and dinner in summer, and for dinner only during the rest of the year.
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The BlueBelle Bistro and Beanery combines innovative dishes and good coffee – Oso Negro Coffee roasted in nearby Nelson. BlueBelle is located on corner of 4th and Front Street, and serves lunch and dinner.
Open April through September, Mountain King has no inside seating, but is very affordable for families on a budget. The simple menu consists of burgers, fish and chips, and ice cream. Mountain King is open for lunch and dinner at 333 Front Street.
Stop by the Kaslo Visitor Centre for a complete list of dining options.
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Brown wrestled to a 38th place finish at one of the most competitive mid-season competitions of the year over the weekend, taking on some of the best teams in the country at the Cliff Keen Invitational. The Bears wracked up 9.5 points, finishing just a single point behind the Air Force Academy. Ohio State just edged Cornell for the team title, beating the Big Red by a final tally of 122.5-121.5.
Senior Greg Einfrank led things off at 125 for Brown, dropping a tough first match to UNC Greensboro's Eric Chandler. Einfrank rebounded well in the consolation bracket though, winning three straight matches before being bumped from the field by another loss. After moving on to the second round on a bye, Einfrank picked up a fall in just 3:03 over Western Wyoming's Kasey Bertagnolli. He then picked up 3-2 and 8-6 decisions in the next two rounds before dropping a hard-fought 10-6 bout to the eventual seventh place finisher.
At 133, rookie Cortlandt Choate faced a similarly tough opponent in the first round, dropping an 11-0 decision to move into the consolation bracket. Once again though, Brown got an impressive performance in the lower bracket, as Choate earned a pair of dominating victories, 13-3 and 10-2, before being knocked out of the tournament.
Junior Ricky Bailey was Brown's top competitor at 149, though he dropped his initial match to move into the consolation bracket. There, Bailey advanced to the second round on a bye, then picked up an exciting 11-9 victory over UNC Greensboro's Alejandro Soto Perez to move to the next round. There, however, Bailey was dealt a 9-4 loss, ending his run.
After moving to the second round of the 157 class on a bye, senior Bryan Tracy dropped a heartbreaker to ninth-seeded Keegan Davis, losing 4-2 in a tight match to move to the consolation bracket. There he again advanced on a bye before falling to Buffalo's Andrew Stella.
At 165, sophomore Jeff Lemmer took a 5-2 loss in his opening bout, but rebounded to win a 4-3 decision in his second match. In the third round, however, Lemmer lost a tough 8-3 bout to Joey Wilson of Cal Davis, bumping him from the bracket.
Fellow sophomore Ziad Kharbush took over at 174, advancing to the second round on a bye before falling to Columbia's Stephen West in 5:34. In the consolation bracket, Kharbush again advanced on a bye before dropping a tough 11-8 decision to end the day.
At 184, senior Bran Crudden turned in a solid showing, moving to the second round on a bye before losing to the fourth seeded wrestler in the event. In the third place bracket, he knocked off Arizona State's Jake Meredith by an impressive 10-2 margin before falling to Andrew Saunders, who would go on to take seventh overall.
Rookie Tyler Cowman wrapped up the day for Brown at 285, moving to the second round on a bye before falling to Drexel's Kyle Frey. Cowman again advanced on a bye in the consolation bracket, but dropped a 5-1 bout to North Idaho's Roger McCovey to end the tournament.
The Bears will be back in action on January 8, 2010, when they begin their dual season with matches against Rutgers and Franklin and Marshall.


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Jason Bond 540-387-5493
July 28, 2011
Revised traffic management plan includes detouring southbound I-81 traffic onto Route 11/460
SALEM – Blasting on the road construction project to add a truck climbing lane to southbound Interstate 81 in Montgomery County between mile markers 120 and 125 will begin again on Tuesday, Aug. 2.
Concerned about traffic delays on southbound I-81 during previous blasting operations, the Virginia Department of Transportation temporarily had halted blasting on the project on July 14. VDOT has been working with its design-build contractor CH2 MHILL Constructors, Inc. of Chantilly to develop a better plan for traffic management.
The time needed for post-blast scaling operations to ensure safety, not debris in the roadway, caused most of the delays. After a blast, heavy equipment is used to remove any unstable debris and boulders along the slope next to the travel lanes and ensure that roadway is safe for southbound I-81 traffic to resume normal flow without risk of falling rock. Even with equipment in position and ready to go, the time needed to stabilize the rock slope varies.
The revised traffic management plan is as follows:
• Starting Tuesday, Aug. 2, blasting will be scheduled daily, Monday through Thursday, between 11 a.m. and noon. Blasting days may be expanded to include Friday depending on traffic volumes.
• Southbound I-81 traffic will be detoured off I-81 at exit 132 (Dixie Caverns) onto Route 11/460 and back onto I-81 at exit 118 (Christiansburg). The detour will be implemented daily sometime between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. and will be removed immediately once slopes have been scaled and the road is deemed safe for the traveling public. State Police will assist with this detour. A right lane closure will be in place on southbound Route 11/460 during the detour.
• On northbound I-81, a rolling road block starting at mile marker 114 sometime between 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. will be used to slow traffic. During blasting, the on-ramps will be restricted onto northbound Interstate 81 at exit 118 (Christiansburg) and onto southbound I-81 at exit 128.
• Traffic on Route 626 (Den Hill Road) will be stopped within one-half mile of the Route 626 bridge over Interstate 81. Motorists should watch for flaggers.
Blasting on the truck climbing lane project is expected to continue through spring 2012. Construction of the new truck climbing lane will require approximately 300 blasts to move a million cubic yards of rock and dirt. So far, since May, 30 blasts have been detonated and approximately 80,000 cubic yards of material has been moved.
Work on the truck climbing lane project is expected to be completed in November 2013.
Information in VDOT news releases was accurate at the time the release was published. For the most current information about projects or programs, please visit the project or program Web pages. You may find those by searching by keyword in the search Virginia DOT box above.


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It's Schooner Festival week!!!!!! (Effie, the pup at the helm of Ernestina)
For The Who When What Where Check Out The Schooner Festival Website Here
Al Bezanson submits-
Effie, the pup at the helm of Ernestina, (ex Effie M Morrissey) will be greeting visitors at the SEMA table from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM Saturday at Maritime Gloucester. This Effie is a Newfoundland, no longer a pup, and there's no missing her. The Schooner Ernestina Morrissey Association (SEMA) has important news to share on a restoration schedule and subsequent plans to put her back to work. Now owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and operated by the Schooner Ernestina Commission, she was launched as Effie M Morrissey in Essex 120 years ago to fish out of Smith Cove for the J F Wonson Fish Company. We are very interested in talking to anyone with information on her early years working out of Gloucester.
We hope to see you at MG on Saturday!
(Mary Ann McQuillan photo, 2003)
Al Bezanson


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Hey, we are still here!
Inscrit le 7 juin 2012
- Articles
Hey we are still here, hope you have not forgotten. We, the different, the disabled, as you know us, we are still here and feel forgotten in Africa. Hey, I guess we should tell you how many kinds we are, or how much more normal we are on the inside than what you might see on the outside. Just want to voice out as you do, speak out cause we are locked up at home, we are not in school, moving around is not easy, our care is not taken care of, our world seems nothing but isn't it the same world as yours so why are we, the different, the disabled left in the shadows?? We are still here and it is time to speak out.....


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Do Tricky Windows 8 Upgrades Help Microsoft?
Wall Street Journal tech columnist Walt Mossberg wrote today about his difficulties in upgrading existing Windows personal computers to the latest Microsoft operating software, Windows 8. Complications, of course, have advantages from Microsoft and its allies.
As Mossberg's column indicates, what Microsoft and computer makers such as Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo would really like you to do is buy a new computer with Windows 8. Pretty please.
One perhaps unintentional benefit of complicated Windows 8 upgrades – which cost as little as $40 – is to spur people to give up on the old PC and head to the nearest Best Buy.
Any trickiness of upgrading also underscores how Windows 8, which launched in late October, is a break from Microsoft's tradition of making its computer software work reasonably well with previous versions.
The biggest break is one flavor of Windows 8 — dubbed Windows RT and used in some tablet-style computers like Microsoft's own Surface — can't run existing versions of software you may have had on your home PC for years. In short, forget that copy of Quicken you have sitting on your desktop. It won't work.
To be sure, analyst Al Hilwa of IDC cautioned that it's always been tricky to upgrade to new versions of Windows. "Unless the manufacturer stands behind it, you are going to have to go hunt-down drivers whenever you upgrade, which, frankly is beyond most ordinary users," Mr. Hilwa said in an email.
At a conference in November, Windows division financial chief Tami Reller said "upgrade momentum" for Windows 8 is outpacing that of Windows 7. "For as little as $39.99 you get Windows 7 made even better," she said.
Of course if it's hard to upgrade older computers to Windows 8, or if – as Microsoft says – the software's features really shine best on new PCs, that's all the better for Microsoft, for computer makers such as Dell, and for computer-chip companies such as Intel. They're all hoping Windows 8 can help reverse a decade-worst soft patch in PC sales, as people have held off replacing old machines or opt for an iPad instead of a second computer in the den.
"You haven't had a compelling reason to replace your old PC," Dell Chief Executive Michael Dell said in an interview in October when Windows 8 launched. "Well, I think you just got one."
But some industry data has indicated a slow sales start for Windows 8 PCs. Sales of Windows-powered notebook PCs fell 11% in the five-week holiday period ended Dec. 22, according to research firm NPD Group. The figures, based on sales numbers from retailers such as Best Buy Co., haven't included sales of Microsoft's own Surface tablet-style computer.
Microsoft on Tuesday disclosed the company has sold 60 million licenses for Windows 8, a trajectory the company said is "similar" to the prior version of Windows. The figure reflects sales to people who opted to upgrade older Windows-powered computers to Windows 8 (as Mossberg tried to do), and sales of Windows 8 software licenses to computer makers such as Dell, which then sell their PCs to the public. The figure therefore doesn't directly indicate sales of Windows 8 devices to consumers and businesses.
The Windows 8 PC lineup includes a breadth of higher-priced PCs, including laptops and desktops with touch screens, which ramp up the cost, and therefore the sticker price, of PCs. That could bring relief to PC makers weary of consumers buying the cheapest computer they can buy.
But NPD said the average selling prices for Windows notebook PCs were $420 in the five weeks ended Dec. 22, up just $2 from the same period a year ago. (By comparison, the average price for an Apple MacBook rose $100 to $1,419.)
UPDATE: A Microsoft spokesman said Tuesday: "Windows 8 continues Microsoft's strong commitment to backward compatibility across apps and peripherals even as we introduce the new app ecosystem that works across both Windows 8 and Windows RT devices. In fact, we haven't raised hardware requirements since Windows Vista. That means Windows 8 has the potential to run on more PCs than any other previous operating system….[W]e're finding the vast majority of customers are having a positive upgrade experience."


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I gave a Road Prong update a few days ago but here is a good story. I have fished from the confluence of Walker Camp Prong all the way up to where the stream is a trickle (and apparently holds no more fish). In three trips in the past week or so I have C&R 71 brook trout mostly on a #16 Adams. There are three major falls. Trickle Falls, a large one with no name, and Talking Falls. At Talking Falls I could get no action with a floating fly so I decided to try a crayfish. I tied it on, put on a split-shot and cast the lure into the deep, blue water. Immediately it sunk to the bottom. I twitched it ever so often and suddenly got stuck. I pulled, relaxed, plunked with no favorable results. I decided to wade in and retrieve the crayfish but to no avail. Just too deep. So I reluntantly broke the line. However as I was tying on another fly I saw my crayfish floating toward the surface. It must have "got itself loose." I wanted to grab it before it floated away so I placed my rod on a boulder and without warning a trout attacked the crayfish and I could see it in the brookie's mouth as it dove to the depths. I know that fish is still wondering how a crayfish could pinch his mouth so hard that it could not be swallowed . Anyway, if you are fishing Road Prong and catch a brook trout with a crayfish hanging outside its mouth...the crayfish is mine!
On the way out I found the trail where the tiny headwaters stream flows nearby thinking what a beautiful stream this is. When I looked down the trail there was another flyfisher with rod in hand. I stopped her and we chatted about usual trout stalking matters. Here is a cool detail...her name was Lea and she was from Ohio. I asked her how she found this particular stream all the way from Ohio and she told me she comes down here often and reads alot. Guess whose shirt she had on? "Little River Outfitters" of course!
Seeing that Troutfest is only two weeks away and I have done so well with the Brookies this year, how about joining me and dropping a dollar per brook trout caught this year to the effort!
See you in Townsend!
~~~~ Jeff Wadley


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Competing ride-sharing services Lyft and Uber have landed in Memphis.
The services, which have been popular in bigger markets, announced in recent days their respective expansions into new markets, including Memphis.
Each service has a similar customer experience. When someone wants a ride from Lyft, for example, they'll pull up the Lyft mobile app and request one. They'll be matched with a Lyft driver from the area and will see their picture on the app, which also lets the rider know the Lyft driver's estimated time of arrival.
Ride-sharing service Lyft has expanded to Memphis. This coverage map shows where Lyft passengers can request rides.
The Lyft cars – available 24 hours a day, seven days a week – have distinctive, large, pink mustaches attached to the grilles. When the ride is over, the app charges payment from the user's credit card so that there's no need to carry cash.
The company told The Daily News that users could start using the service in Memphis at 7 p.m. April 24.
"Lyft is thrilled to now offer residents of and visitors to Tennessee's largest city the most convenient, affordable and safest rides to and from all Memphis' prolific art, music and foodie events," said Lyft spokeswomen Katie Dally. "Bringing a peer-to-peer ridesharing platform known for pink mustaches on drivers' cars to the home of Elvis, Graceland and the 'Pink Cadillac' struck a chord with us, too."
An informational Web page for Memphis shows Lyft is charging riders based on a combination of time and distance. The cost includes $1.40 per mile, 20 cents per minute, an 85-cent pickup fee and a $1 trust and safety fee. There's a minimum required cost of $4 and a cancellation fee of $5.
Riders are getting two weeks of free rides as part of Lyft's rollout in the two dozen cities it announced Thursday. Another important feature of the service for new users to know is that drivers and passengers can rate each other through the app once the ride is done.
Rate a driver three stars or below, according to the website, and that rider will never be matched with them again.
"Our goal is to bring affordable, safe, friendly, community-powered rides to all corners of the country, and this is a big step to help us get there," Dally said. "We are about Main Street, not Wall Street, and creating economic opportunity across America, not just in Silicon Valley."
Referring to the new cities Lyft has added, Dally went on: "These cities also have strong community roots and local hometown pride that make them all great fits for Lyft. Many residents of these cities rely heavily on their own cars to get around town, and we wanted them to have an opportunity to leave their car at home – or to give rides to their neighbors and put their empty seats to new use."
In terms of safety, Lyft says it has $1 million liability insurance in place covering driver liability for bodily injury and/or property damage. Drivers are screened for criminal records and any driving incidents.
Lyft says it maintains a zero-tolerance drug and alcohol policy, and Lyft cars have to be model year 2000 or newer and pass a 19-point inspection.
Uber, meanwhile, also announced at the end of last week that it's now available in Memphis. It likewise is giving customers free rides for two weeks.
"And we're live folks!" Uber tweeted April 25. "FREE uberX rides in #Memphis until 5/8. Stoked to get our #Growl on."
Opponents have said ventures like Lyft and Uber should come under the same scrutiny as a taxi business.
"There's a reason our business is regulated, and that's what these app companies are going to realize," said Ham Smythe IV, president of Yellow Cab & Checker Cab, referring to Lyft's promise of inspections and background checks versus a cab company's requirement to do that officially with a city office, file paperwork, and the like. "Transportation for hire needs to be supervised. You can't count on the goodwill of the driver to protect a consumer who doesn't know what they're getting."
Kansas City is another of the new cities where Lyft has launched, and a taxi company CEO there, according to the Kansas City Star, compared Lyft to selling liquor out of a minivan on the street or serving meals from a food truck without submitting to health inspections.


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Are Steve Nicks and Oprah bffs? We can't say for sure, but the Fleetwood Mac singer is set to be featured on a new episode of Oprah's Master Class, which will kick off its third season on March 3. Specifically, Nicks will stop by the March 24 episode of the show, which plays on the OWN Network, owned by Oprah Winfrey, on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT.
It's likely Nicks will get personal on the show. Judging by a trailer teasing the upcoming episode, the singer will open up about her battle with drug abuse and addiction. Here's an excerpt from the video teaser: "If you're gonna start doing coke, save your money, because it's gonna cost you $50,000 to go to rehab."
Other celebrities scheduled to appear on Oprah's Master Class this season include Alicia Keys (March 3), Cindy Crawford (March 10) and Tom Brokaw (March 17).
In other Nicks news, the singer will perform at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on May 4.


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Report: Dodgers to fire manager Little, hire Torre
Report: Dodgers to fire manager Little, hire Torre
td.yspwidearticlebody { font-size: 13.5px; }October 30, 2007
By PA SportsTicker The Los Angeles Dodgers are planning on firing manager Grady Little and replacing him with former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, according to multiple reports. Citing sources, the Journal-News of Westchester, New York said the announcement of Torre's hiring could come as early as Tuesday.
The New York Times, quoting two major league officials who requested anonymity, also reported Torre's imminent hiring but did not give a timetable.
Torre has been on the market since turning down a one-year offer to remain as manager of the Yankees on October 18. He had been with the Yankees for 12 seasons, winning four World Series championships and leading the team to the playoffs every season he was in charge in the Bronx.
Torre, 67, owns a .539 (2067-1770) winning percentage over 26 seasons in the majors that have also included stops with the New York Mets, Atlanta Braves and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Along with the possible hire of Torre, it is being reported that his bench coach, Don Mattingly, may be joining him in the same role that he manned for one season with the Yankees after spending three seasons as their hitting coach.
Mattingly was one of the three finalists for the vacancy created by the departure of Torre last week before the Yankees offered the job to former Marlins manager Joe Girardi on Monday. It had been reported earlier in the day that Mattingly would not accept a position on the new Yankees coaching staff.
Interestingly, a move to Los Angeles would reunite Mattingly with the organization that drafted his son, Preston, in the first round of the 2006 major league draft.
Little, who has led the Dodgers to winning seasons in each of his two seasons at the helm, led Los Angeles to a disappointing 82-80 finish last season, eight games behind the eventual National League West Division champion Arizona Diamondbacks. Despite never enduring a losing season in four seasons with the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox and compiling a .552 winning percentage (358-290), Little will have lasted just two seasons with each team.


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ELMHURST – Improving your golf game can become an obsession.
York golfer Kerri Carlquist has learned to love the finer aspects of the game in an effort to improve each shot.
Carlquist, who will be a senior on this fall's Dukes squad, has made that the focus of her summer. She has noticed the growth in her game as a result.
"There's always room for improvements," Carlquist said. "It's been really cool this summer to break down each shot and learn about each shot.
"Even though we are all striving to win, that's not what golf is about. It's just about finding an aspect of your game to strengthen."
Carlquist mentioned improving her swing plane as one thing that has made her drives much better. She was a sectional qualifier last year as a junior for the Dukes, and the work she's put in could put her over the top as a state qualifier.
However, that's not what she is most concerned about this season. Instead, Carlquist said her top goal is to help the team qualify for sectionals with her this year.
"I really like the girls on the team," Carlquist said. "The bus rides to a tournament are always fun and just the motivation that all the girls have. We get so excited when all the girls are playing well. It's always really fun because our coaches are such great encouragers. They're always looking for ways to build us up."
Playing in a team setting was an easy transition for Carlquist since both her parents played golf and got her into the sport.
"My whole family on both sides has been really into golfing, and it's actually made it a family sport, which is nice," she said. "Getting to play on Father's Day with my dad and grandpa was great."
Playing with her family at her home course of River Forest Country Club has made for many cherished memories. This summer, her time at River Forest has been spent mostly on lessons.
"(The lessons) have improved my game so much," Carlquist said. "I've been getting out to the range a lot. I've been working hard in lessons with my short game."


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Regular price: $20.97
Join Jordy, Alex, and Chloe as they cross the portal from our world to a strange and wonderful place, accessible for just a moment through the trapdoor of the attic in their family home. From hat-stand forests to towering hills of old musical instruments, deserts of old books, and a great water-tank lake, the vast continent they stumble upon is one of limitless surprises - and that's before they meet the inhabitants. The strange clans of small, lumpen people live in homes constructed from all manner of found things and drive vehicles powered by old sewing-machine parts. It is against this remarkable backdrop that the three children will embark on a spellbinding adventure to recover a prized possession, save a life, and - somehow - find a way back home.
A story of courage, loyalty, and friendship; of incredible landscapes,ingenious devices, and cunning plot twists, Attica has a richness and depth that will delight listeners of all ages.
I downloaded this book as I had a long journey to make and often find it is easier to lose myself in a world created for children. In that respect it sort of worked. The performer was really good at giving each person a voice, and the concept was interesting. The story I found in paces a bit weak and others a bit bizarre/creepy not really what I expected. Mostly though it was light hearted and fun and I am clearly not the intended audience so shouldn't judge to harshly. It was imagining it from the intended audience that made me consider parts of it wierd - I think it loses sight of its audience at times.
Overall OK, enjoyed most of it most of the time.


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The coldest weather in years will continue early this week, according to the Weather Channel.
West-northwest winds are predicted at more than 20 to 30 mph, causing wind chills approaching 50 below zero.
On Tuesday, winds are predicted to shift to west-southwest, and temperatures are expected to rise at least to the single digits. Temperatures in the 20s are expected by the end of the week.
With the extreme cold weather in the forecast, superintendents in the DeKalb, Sycamore and Genoa-Kingston school districts have canceled classes on Monday.
Although it was to be the first day back to school after the holiday break, Sycamore superintendent Kathy Countryman said it looks like the forecast is holding with below-zero temperatures and wind chills around 40 below zero.
"We spoke earlier [Sunday] afternoon and decided to make that call to give parents the opportunity to make other arrangements," Countryman said.
DeKalb superintendent Jim Briscoe said the closure message went out by phone and social media about before noon.
"I would not be surprised if all the schools in the area will be closed," Briscoe said.
He indicated the dangerously cold temperatures will be accompanied by strong winds, making travel hazardous.
"Normally we wouldn't make that call until the morning of school, but the forecast hasn't changed," Briscoe said.
He said Tuesday's forecast has improved, and they are continuing to monitor the weather reports.
DeKalb County Highway Department engineer Nathan Schwartz said his snowplow crews are in a constant battle with the blowing and drifting snow.
"With the snow we got last night and the extreme winds, we will have our trucks running pretty much around the clock to fight this blowing snow," Schwartz said.
According to the National Weather Service, strong northwest winds were to develop Sunday afternoon and evening which will lead to blowing and drifting snow and near-blizzard conditions. Wind chills of 30 to 50 below zero were expected Sunday night.
Local grocery stores have been busy with area residents preparing for the worst of the winter weather.
"We've been slammed with people stocking up on the staples – bread, milk, eggs," said Cori Buttrum, a manager at Piggly Wiggly, 600 Pearson Drive, Genoa.
Sycamore's Hy-Vee, at 2700 DeKalb Ave., has been busy all weekend, according to assistant manager J.J. Branecki.
"We've sold a lot of canned goods, a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, and of course the normal stuff – milk, eggs, bread," Branecki said.
"Saturday was nuts, but I like being busy. It's good for business," Branecki said.
Other closings include: Hiawatha, Indian Creek, Kaneland and Hampshire school districts, Cornerstone Christian Academy, St. Mary in DeKalb, Kishwaukee College, Sycamore Child Care, Kishwaukee Education Consortium and Northern Illinois University. The DeKalb Clinic, DeKalb Public Library and Genoa Public Library District will be closed, along with DeKalb County buildings. The buildings and offices of the Sycamore Park District also will be closed.
Court has been cancelled for Monday. This includes the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore, and 200 S 4th St., DeKalb City Municipal Building.
Local business and agency closings for Monday include Moxies, Sweet Dreams Desserts, Family Service Agency, DeKalb County Youth Service Bureau and Beth Fowler School of Dance in Genoa.
In addition, Waste Management of Illinois will delay Monday residential pickup for one day.
Road conditions
Road condition information is available by calling 1-800-452-IDOT (4368), Illinois Tollway information by calling 1-800-TOLL-FYI or online at www.gettingaroundillinois.com and click on the "winter road conditions" icon.
Garbage pickup
Waste Management of Illinois will delay Monday residential pickup for one day.


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LOL dump
LOL dump
Yeah, that int wasn't his fault either.
And a classless move by a real QB, Peyton Manning refuses to conduct a post game interview.
Tebow with all the humiliation served upon him this year was still class.
Actually, I mocked the OP and I was wrong... Just think, if he is right we are sitting on a draft day goldmine... We have a QB better than Peyton that we can clearly trade for a multiple high picks... If we could just get a GM signed he could start working the phones... I can't believe Caldwell passed this goldmine opportunity up to make a trade bigger than the Herschel Walker trade...


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pretentious wrote:What i think is suspicious is that while i don't have a great deal of experience in photo editing and stuff like that, i could probably do a far better job at forging a legal document. The idea that these guys, with the magnitude of resources available to them, can't even make hand writing done on a computer look half genuine, just seems strange. Is it meant to be reverse psychology of some sort? No one can possibly be that incompetent, it must be legit.
Logic that it's so bad that it must be legit is not very solid logic to begin with. But it disturbing/strange point that you(along with others) make. I can't objectively answer why it was so poorly done. My only theory is it's a detraction from real issues. Government and magician seem to have much in common in that respect.
Objective I can point out layers, kerning(old type writer couldn't do that), lettering, missing the seal, contradiction in doctors name, contradiction with Nordyke twins birth certificate(born the day after Obama), and different ink colors.


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Members of a variety of environmental and community groups – including Greenpeace, Te Whanau a Apanui, Oil Free Otago, and Forest and Bird - hand in a 140,000 signature-strong petition, calling for the Government to abandon its fossil fuels agenda in favour of a clean energy future in Wellington, New Zealand.
© Greenpeace / Anna Harding
97 - 108 of 901 results.
Greenpeace New Zealand


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RCMP and police departments across the province have, for several years, been waging a campaign against the indiscriminate use of replica guns.
These guns range from plastic dollar store guns and cap guns to airsoft and paintball guns.
All have one thing in common - they look real.
Some more realistic than others.
The latest incident occurred about 10 days ago in Kelowna where a 21-year-old man pointed a gun in a threatening manner in a back alley at Richter Street and Wardlaw Avenue.
The man was arrested and charged and the gun confiscated.
RCMP Cst., Kris Clark says officers were amazed at how closely the replica gun resembled the real thing - even up close.
Police continue to issue warnings to the public to keep replica guns out of sight when in public.
"Police don't have the luxury of examining a suspect's weapon before engaging them and have to rely on their knowledge, experience and perceptions in order to respond," says Clark.
"When faced with the apparent threat of a firearm, the results could be disastrous."
Police issued photos to the media Tuesday with the replica gun and the real gun side-by-side asking, "Can You Tell The Difference?"
Well - CAN YOU?
We'll reveal the answer later this week.


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More than 2,600 central Kenai Peninsula homes and businesses lost power Sunday during a snowstorm.
The city of Kenai experienced the largest outage when the Marathon Road substation went off-line around 4 p.m. About 2,500 Homer Electric Association customers from Beaver Loop Road and along the Kenai Spur Highway through Kenai to Redoubt Avenue were without power from the outage. Power was restored by 5 p.m., after HEA reconfigured its distribution system, according to the utility's spokesman, Joe Gallagher.
According to a statement from Gallagher, the association thought the outage was caused by a problem on the transmission line from Kenai and Nikiski, and planned to have crews search for the problem. As of 7 p.m. Sunday, the exact location of the issue was unknown.
Other outages were scattered throughout the central Peninsula. Kenai, Sterling and Mackey Lake saw outages throughout the day. HEA customers near Poppy Lane in Soldotna, Hinnerman Street in Nikiski and Robinson Loop near Sterling were without power past 7 p.m., according to Gallagher.
The southern end of the Peninsula also lost power. By 7 p.m., electricity had been restored in Homer.
A generator was serving the Seldovia area with power because of an outage caused by a tree near Sunshine Point on Saturday night taking down the main power line that serves the southern Kachemak Bay communities, Gallagher said.
The association planned to attempt repairs on that line Monday, if weather allowed.
According to the utility, people who spot a downed line or have an outage should call 1-888-8243.
The Associated Press reported that a storm was under way Sunday throughout Southcentral Alaska, causing power outages in Anchorage and elsewhere.
Molly Dischner can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Chip Kelly might want to start his new chapter in Eagles football with one of the symbols of what went wrong in the past.
That�s the speculation being slung at the walls of the NovaCare Complex as the decision day approaches with Michael Vick. The inference is the veteran quarterback has left the door open for a return to the Eagles.
ESPN�s John Clayton, on the other hand, reported the Eagles will jettison Vick for a variety of reasons, first and foremost financial commitment.
A source close to the Eagles echoed that sentiment, suggesting the only reason to keep Vick around would be to see if the guy with the extensive injury history and turns 33 next season has trade value.
The Eagles would owe Vick $3 million if he�s on the roster after Feb. 6. The Eagles would be off the hook for those dollars if he joins another team later in 2013 at a contract paying him at least that amount.
It appears remote the Eagles would keep Vick around for the $15.5 million they owe him in 2013 under the terms of his contract. But Vick could renegotiate the pact, which he�s not publicly shown willingness to do.
If Kelly, the successor to the fired Andy Reid, was interested in Vick, he�s passed on the chance to say so. Kelly said he was evaluating all of the players on the roster.
Kelly in all likelihood had to spend quality time evaluating the quarterback situation with the Eagles before taking their head coaching job. Certainly the position was discussed extensively during the nine-hour meeting Kelly had with the Eagles between room service offerings at the Renaissance in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Kelly�s up-tempo offense requires a Colin Kaepernick-type quarterback to function properly. If Kelly looks at film of the past two Eagles seasons he will realize that Vick no longer can run away from defenders, his decision making is suspect and his health is always an issue.
Vick might be part of the culture change Kelly must make to move the franchise forward after back-to-back disappointing seasons.
The Eagles had a country club atmosphere around the locker room the last two years. Turnover could approach 50 percent considering the new offensive and defensive systems Kelly likely will install. Remember, the Eagles were 4-12 last season.
When Jim Harbaugh emerged from the college ranks as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, he rode underachieving quarterback Alex Smith to the conference title game. Smith, like Vick, played through a litany of head coaches.
Like Kelly, Harbaugh had no NFL head coaching experience. But Harbaugh, who with Kaepernick was beaten by a field goal in the recent Super Bowl, knew the league from a career as a quarterback.
During Super Bowl week Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson weighed in on Vick returning for another season.
�For sure I can see it,� Jackson told the NFL Network. �Now that Chip Kelly is our offensive coordinator, I mean our head coach, Michael Vick, I think it�s a no-brainer to keep him here. It fits his playing style and what he�s done perfect.�
Unless Vick, at his advanced age, wants to be the setup guy for a young quarterback, it might be best for both sides to move on.
In addition to Vick the Eagles have quarterbacks under contract in Nick Foles, who was beaten in five of his six starts as a rookie last season, and veteran Trent Edwards.
One way or the other the Eagles have to make a decision on Vick. If they don�t cut him this week, it�s a sign he could return at another rate or could be shopped around the league the way the Eagles did last year with cornerback Asante Samuel, who landed on his feet with the Atlanta Falcons.


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To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
I must be about the only person on the planet who loathes the idea of using a telephone - the idea of a video phone sends shivers up the spine only matched by the sight of Palin giving a speech on economic management. There something about the phone I find impersonal which makes me sooner meet the person face to face - there are a whole heap of clues which are missing when one just relies on a voice for communication.
What I do hope to a certain degree is that telecommuting undermines the current way of doing things; people get up do some work from 8:00am to 11am, spend some time doing something they want to do with friends or family or just chilling out then come back at around 4pm and then knock off at 9pm. If the role of video phone allows that to happen as to free up more time to spend with in the community then the technology will be a good tool to use.
Edited 2010-08-17 12:00 UTC


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WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill will lead a newly expanded subcommittee looking into federal finances and contracting.
The Democratic senator from Missouri has led a temporary subcommittee on contracting oversight since 2009. But McCaskill said Wednesday the subcommittee has been made permanent and broadened to provide oversight of spending at every federal agency.
The Subcommittee on Financial and Contracting Oversight is part of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee. McCaskill says the designation as a permanent subcommittee means the panel will get more staff and investigative resources.


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Wilson R. Huhn Receives the 2012 Scholar of the Year Award05/22/2012
Professor Wilson R. Huhn received the 2012 Scholar of the Year Award at The University of Akron School of Law 2012 commencement ceremony. Members of the Akron Law Review select the recipient of this award.
This year, the students selected Huhn on the basis of him being Akron Law's most productive scholar, publishing a book, a book chapter, and four law review articles. In this same academic year, Huhn's work has been downloaded off of SSRN 447 times, and off of BEPRESS 1027 times. His notable work, the Five Types of Legal Argument, is out in its second edition and is assigned at many law schools across the nation.
"Professor Huhn is a leader within the academic community and an expert on constitutional law," said Carol Tran, executive editor of the Akron Law Review. "He has been cited by more than 200 other scholars in the United States working in his field. On top of that, he did all this while being a committed teacher, continuously teaching during the academic year and even part of the summer."
Huhn is a C. Blake McDowell, Jr., Professor and Associate Director of the Constitutional Law Center at The University of Akron School of Law. He currently teaches courses in Constitutional Law, Advanced Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, and Commercial Paper. He received his B.A. at Yale University and J.D., cum laude, at Cornell University, where he was a member of the Cornell Law Review. Prior to joining the Akron Law faculty in 1984, Huhn served as law clerk for the late Judge Leo A. Jackson in the 8th District Court of Appeals and as an associate at Squire, Sanders and Dempsey. Huhn's book "ObamaCare: Is It Necessary, What Will It Accomplish, Is It Constitutional" (Carolina Academic Press 2012) is available in electronic format for Kindle. His book "The Five Types of Legal Argument" (Carolina Academic Press, 2002, 2008) is required reading at a number of law schools nationally. Other recent publications include A Higher Law: Abraham Lincoln's Use of Religious Imagery (Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion, forthcoming 2011), Abraham Lincoln's Influence on the Modern Supreme Court (Oklahoma City University Law Review, forthcoming 2011), The Constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Under the Commerce Clause and the Necessary and Proper Clause, 32 Journal of Legal Medicine 139-165 (2011), The Constitutionality of "Socialized Medicine" 15 Michigan State University Journal of Medicine and Law 299-336 (2011), Constantly Approximating Popular Sovereignty: Seven Fundamental Principles of Constitutional Law, 19 William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal 291 (2010); The Legacy of Slaughterhouse, Bradwell, and Cruikshank in Constitutional Interpretation, 42 Akron Law Review 1051 (2009); Cross Burning as Hate Speech Under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, 2 Amsterdam Law Forum vol. 1 19 (2009) (online journal); Ten Questions on Gay Rights and Freedom of Religion, Akron Journal of Constitutional Law and Policy (online journal) (July 31, 2009); Abraham Lincoln Was a Framer of the Constitution, 86:3 Washington University Law Review (Slip Opinions, online journal) (March 12, 2009); Waterboarding Is Illegal, Washington University Law Review (Slip Opinions, online journal) (May 10, 2008); Congress Has the Power to Enforce the Bill of Rights Against the Federal Government: Therefore FISA is Constitutional and the President's Terrorist Surveillance Program Is Illegal, 16 William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal 537 (2007); In Defense of the Roosevelt Court, 2 Florida A & M University Law Review 1 (2007); The State Action Doctrine and the Principle of Democratic Choice, 34 Hofstra Law Review (2006); and The Constitutional Jurisprudence of Sandra Day O'Connor: A Refusal to "Foreclose the Unanticipated", 39 Akron Law Review 373-415 (2006). The graduating class selected Huhn Outstanding Professor of the Year in 1987, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2008, the Akron Law alumni awarded him the Outstanding Publication prize in 2004 and 2006, and the law faculty named him the "Most Valuable Player" for his contributions to legal scholarship, 2001-03. In 2011, he received an Honorary Alumni Award from the Akron Law Alumni Association.
About The University of Akron School of Law
The University of Akron School of Law promotes justice, the protection of individual liberty and the rule of law through commitment to excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. A regional school of national impact, the law school features renowned programs in intellectual property, professional responsibility and trial advocacy, and is home to one of four Constitutional Law Centers in the United States, established by the U.S. Congress in 1986.To learn more, visit www.uakron.edu/law.


text: Checked baggage is excluded in these online fares, but may be added for a fee. Please ensure you read the important fees & charges info for our low cost flights. Advanced bookings are recommended for best availability of cheap flight tickets. Fares are subject to change. Book Air Tickets to Nakhon Si Thammarat with AirAsia - Cheap Airfare to Nakhon Si Thammarat starts from THB 1,300 Departing Arriving All-in-fare from From Bangkok – Don Mueang to Nakhon Si Thammarat THB 1,300 Book now


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Florida was the national battleground for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment through most of the 1970's and early 1980's. The amendment fell three states shy of ratification in 1982, but now the amendment is back.
Ten thousand women came to the capitol in 1982 to fight for the Equal
Rights amendment. They lost, over worries of drafting women and unisex bathrooms, but now the amendment is back.
Supporters believe the 1992 ratification of a 200-year-old amendment has breathed new life into the era.
"The anger isn't hear anymore, the time has come that we should be treated equally in the constitution," said Senator Gwen Margolis, D-Miami, bill sponsor.
But women like 77-year-old Ruth Klopfenstein, are still wearing their faded Stop Era buttons.
"Frustrated feminists are like leeches, they come back again and again, and again," Klopfenstein, a homemaker, said.
Klopfenstein's remarks met with snickers from the audience. But passing the era is no laughing matter to 16-year-old Broward High School student Katie Young.
This will affect me because I want to get paid the same as a man does. He does the same job, I deserve it," said Young.
Senators approved the amendment by a six to three vote
In addition to a questionable legal foundation the political future of the Equal Rights Amendment is uncertain, it has two more stops in the Senate, then onto the House, where there doesn't seem to be much interest.
But supporters say they've fought for 30 years and can fight some more.
"Women are back, and were here and we are going to be heard," said Sandy Oestreich Ocala.
And organizers say they have a five-year timetable to do what has so far escaped them for 30 years.
Governor Jeb Bush will have no legal say on the Equal Rights Amendment, but he's made it clear he thinks it's like bringing back bellbottoms.


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I'm pre-concussed over the constant talk about concussions.
I can't watch a game without over-the-top talk about safety in the NFL.
I get it! But the media and announcers seem to think every time there is a call, we need to have the explanation that safety is a number one concern in the NFL.
Enough, OK?
Now there are former players with legitimate complaints about memory loss, yet there are also phonies just looking to cash in on the situation.
My mother-in-law had dementia and then Alzheimer's, and she never played a down of football. She worked for the phone company for more than 30 years and raised a family.
Football is a great game, and Sundays are special, but as I watch guys such as Mike Ditka, Tom Jackson, and countless others former players, I can't figure out why they haven't had any issues.
These guys must have gotten lucky, and the NFL and NFLPA are doing all they can to minimize the problem. But at some point, doesn't the personal responsibility of playing the game fall on the individual?
Yes it's a dangerous game, but if you can't remember what you had for dinner two nights ago, and you last played in league 35 years ago, can you say football was the cause?
It could be genes or aging. I know this -- I didn't play in the NFL, but I can tell you with almost 65% certainty I think I had meatloaf on Monday.
That's not good, maybe I ought to get a lawyer.
Tebow the cause of losing?
Rex Ryan, the coach of the New York Jets, is a buffoon.
It is totally mind blowing to me that the losers on the Jets team want to call Tim Tebow terrible. There are actually people out there that think it's acceptable to blame Tebow for the Jets' problems.
How can they? He's thrown only six passes, he hardly plays, and yet players on his team are sniping at him.
One question: if he's not any good, then why not play the backup quarterback Greg McElroy, who helped Alabama win a national championship? Is he terrible too?
Rex Ryan should never be a head coach in the league again. He's a Ryan -- great assistants, but there is always too much drama. They're OK when you're winning, but just too distracting, which leads to losing. There is no leadership -- that's for sure.
The other day I read where former athletes such as John Starks, Tiki Barber and World B. Free will charge fees to play hoops, or attend bar mitzvahs. I laughed at first, but then started thinking -- why not?
Look for my price list coming soon. If you need me for a baptism -- I'm your guy. How about a prison visit or lunch? I've got my calculator out -- this is going to be huge!
NFL picks:
Last week I went 2-0 and my season record is 13-10-1. This week I'll take Atlanta (-10) as they get back on track. Also, I'll take Oakland (+ 4½) over New Orleans.
Program notes:
Watch for me again on Mancow Muller at 6 a.m. Monday on Ch. 50 (WPWR), and I'll be on the Bears pregame show on Ch. 26 (WCIU) on Monday night.
• Mike North's column appears each Tuesday and Friday in the Daily Herald, and his video commentary can be found Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at dailyherald.com. For more, visit northtonorth.com.


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Spillman Farmer Architects of Bethlehem is looking to create a mixed-use development that would boost economic activity on an abandoned industrial site.
The firm is working on a master plan for Catasauqua in Lehigh County that would determine which part of the former F.L. Smidth property the borough would like to retain for its municipal facilities, said Russell Pacala, a principal with Spillman Farmer. The project, called Iron Works, would include 200 residential units, either apartments or townhouses, and about 29,000 square feet of retail or commercial space, Pacala said.
To anchor the site and attract further development, the borough is looking to create a 38,000 square foot municipal complex that would house its fire station, police station and municipal office, according to a presentation document by the architectural firm.
"The remaining parcel would be subdivided and sold; we've indicated retail along Front Street with apartments or townhouses above," Pacala said.
The 13-acre site of a former factory, between the Pine Street Bridge and Willow Street, abuts the Lehigh Canal and the Delaware and Lehigh River Trail, which Pacala said could be amenities for the project.
"If you look at Catasauqua, it's so central to the Lehigh Valley," Pacala said.
Though it's an urban area, Pacala said the zoning allows for a dense and compact project.
The creation of an economic development zone for abandoned and underused sites in Whitehall, Catasauqua and Coplay could further spur redevelopment of the F.L. Smidth site.
Last year, the Whitehall Catasauqua Coplay City Revitalization and Improvement Zone Committee reviewed the application it submitted to the state for the Pilot Zone designation through the CRIZ Program. The inter-municipal plan would create a zone similar to the Neighborhood Improvement Zone in Allentown. The CRIZ allows certain state and local taxes generated by businesses in the zone to be used to finance construction and development of these projects.
While the CRIZ legislation, or House Bill 1177, earned approval by the Senate, the House of Representatives will not vote on the bill until early August, said Howard Lieberman, executive director for the Whitehall Township Industrial and Commercial Development Authority.
"Three pilot zones would be approved throughout the state," Lieberman said. "To that extent, the CRIZ is still alive. The F.L. Smidth property was included as the major property in that development."
Lieberman said the CRIZ committee is working with the borough to establish a Local Economic Revitalization Tax Act designation for that property, which would take real estate taxes and abate them at a pro-rated amount over the next 10 years.
"It's possible that LERTA could include residential development," Lieberman said.
The CRIZ and the LERTA are two opportunities that have the most direct impact on attracting developers, Lieberman said.
Lieberman said some loan programs also exist for developers, depending on the plans.


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Responding to that Kateb essay against patriotism, Walter Berns begins:
What he might better have done here is to have distinguished between loving, or pledging allegiance to, a democracy or a monarchy, or, with a view to our current situation, a liberal democracy or any of the forms of tyranny. This, surely, is the decisive issue in an appropriate analysis of patriotism.
Prof. Berns' distinction is a useful one for thinking about the circumstances that would require the patriot to turn against his government for the love of country, but it seems to me that beginning this way simply reinforces the problem with Kateb's original argument that conflated state and country. To say that it is "the decisive issue" in talking about patriotism is to give the game away except in those lands where some suitably liberal democratic regime happens to exist. This makes patriotism hinge on the regime type in power at any particular time, which both flatters liberal democracy as the only regime type in which a desirable patriotism can exist (a profoundly dangerous and ahistorical assumption) and makes patriotic sentiment the equivalent of a vice whenever it is felt by anyone who happens to live under an illiberal or non-democratic regime. It seems to me that this sort of conflation opens the door to exactly the dangers of an activist foreign policy Kateb warned against, since this would involve demonising the patriotic loyalty of anyone who lives under a foreign illiberal regime and make a virtue of of their treason against their country in the name of "liberating" it (with the aid of the benevolent hegemon, of course). It would also entail glorifying the patriotism of democratic peoples as inherently self-justifying: we can be patriotic because our form of government is best, and our form of government is best because it is our form of government. The confusion of regime and country leads to a host of such errors and needs to be nipped in the bud.
This confusion continues in Berns' next paragraph:
It is significant that Aristotle did not number patriotism among the virtues — courage, for example, or prudence, justice, magnanimity — probably because he knew that it should be praised or fostered only in the case of a country that deserved to be loved. And not all countries, or regimes, deserve to be loved.
Now, wait a minute. It is true that not all regimes deserve to be loved–it is questionable whether anyone should ever love any regime–but this is related to the justice of the regime. To say that there are countries that do not deserve to be loved is to create another version of the two-tiered hierarchy of countries mentioned above, as if it were right for the Iowan but not for the Eritrean to love his country (or vice versa). "A patriot does not boast of the largeness of his country, but of its smallness," Chesterton said through one of his characters in The Napoleon of Notting Hill, and likewise a patriot loves his country as a whole, including its flaws, not in the absence of them. It is possible that a foreigner might find many other lands unloveable, but they are not his lands. Not only can no one find any country that does not have at least some people who love it (and if we confuse countries with officially recognised nation-states, we make another mistake in thinking about what a country is), but it is impossible to imagine an inhabited country that is "undeserving" of love. Indeed, the whole language of deserving muddles things, for who or what can be said to deserve love? Love is gratuitous and freely given, not something given to the deserving alone (or else there would be very, very few loved things in this world).
Berns then takes a turn that is in some ways even more unfortunate than Kateb's broadside against all patriotism:
In a word, the patriotic Clay loved the idea of his country, or its principles.
Please, no ideas of countries! This is very troubling. Berns then goes on to divide this patriotism of the idea from the patriotism of the soil and solidarity with one's people. In other words, the only way that Berns wants to defend patriotism is by hollowing it out into the meaningless propositional variety.
Berns concludes with the same confusion with which he began:
One prominent American university professor (Martha Nussbaum) suggests that the times require that people get rid of patriotism and, to that end, become citizens of the world and lovers of humanity, and thereby protect all those desirable human rights. But humanity does not have a government (or an army), and there is not reason to believe that, if it did have a government, it would be lovable.
This final sentence is right, and it also has little or nothing to do with patriotism.


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WINSTON SALEM, N.C., Dec. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Wake Forest University and Ameritox, Ltd. today announced that Ameritox is supporting research at Wake Forest that could break new ground in developing technologies for medication monitoring and toxicology testing.
"Ameritox, the nation's leader in medication monitoring with a state-of-the-art laboratory in Greensboro, and Wake Forest University are just 25 miles apart, facilitating this cutting edge exploration," said Jay Zimmerman, chief operating officer of Ameritox.
Ameritox pioneered the field of pain medication monitoring, offering physicians tools that give them crucial information to help keep their patients and the communities they live in safe. Wake Forest University is among the nation's top universities, ranked 27th in the most recent U.S. News and World Report "Best Colleges" guide.
The Wake Forest-Ameritox partnership aims to build on the foundation of the science behind the mapping of the human genome to create a new standard in toxicology testing.
"Ameritox is excited to support work with Wake Forest University towards new discoveries for everyday use in commercial toxicology testing and analysis," Zimmerman said. "The researchers and the chemistry department at Wake Forest are recognized nationally for expertise in the science and methods that are advancing the work done in laboratories like those run by Ameritox."
"Wake Forest University has been active in the development of new technologies and analytical methods that have the potential to improve toxicology testing," said Dr. Christa Colyer, chairperson of the Chemistry Department at Wake Forest University. "Being located close to Ameritox's Greensboro laboratories will make it that much easier to collaborate and exchange ideas to realize testing breakthroughs. I am confident that, working with Ameritox, Wake Forest's chemistry department can help to provide even greater overall laboratory performance and success to industry leaders like Ameritox."
About Ameritox
Ameritox is the nation's leader in Pain Medication Monitoring Solutions®, offering specialized laboratory testing and reporting services. Ameritox's expertise and innovative science provide physicians with insights and support to enhance and optimize the care of chronic pain patients. Ameritox offers the most thorough pain medication monitoring lab process – Rx Guardian(SM) – with Rx Guardian CD(SM), the only pain medication monitoring process with a proprietary normalization algorithm and a reference database of pain patients clinically assessed for adherence. Patient results are compared against this database, helping physicians assess whether patients are taking their pain medications correctly. Monitoring through prescription drug testing helps physicians make more informed clinical decisions and manage the risks and complexities associated with prescribing pain medications. Ameritox is headquartered in Baltimore, Md. with laboratory facilities in Midland, Texas and Greensboro, N.C. Ameritox can be found online at www.ameritox.com, on Twitter @Ameritox, on Facebook at facebook.com/ameritox, and on YouTube at www.youtube.com/ameritox.
© 2012 Ameritox Ltd. All rights reserved. Ameritox, Ameritox-Medication Monitoring Solutions, Rx Guardian, Rx Guardian INSIGHT and Rx Guardian CD are trademarks of Ameritox. Other trademarks are the property of their owners.
About Wake Forest University
Wake Forest University, founded in 1834 and located in Winston-Salem, N.C., is the nation's premier collegiate university. The Wake Forest community embodies the University's motto, Pro Humanitate, or "for humanity," and blends the personal experience of a liberal arts college with the resources of a top research university. The Chemistry Department has a strong tradition of intensive teaching and wide-ranging research in the fundamentals of the field, including analytical chemistry. More information about Chemistry at WFU is available at http://college.wfu.edu/chemistry/ .
|SOURCE Ameritox
Copyright©2012 PR Newswire.
All rights reserved


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Browse by Month
Observing & Predicting
- May 24, 2013
Rain and snow across the contiguous United States during April 2013.
- May 23, 2013
NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) has issued its 2013 Atlantic hurricane seasonal outlook. In this video, Gerry Bell, a NOAA CPC meteorologist, explains that as of May 23, 2013, the outlook favors an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season from June 1 through November 30.
- May 20, 2013
During late winter, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas received sorely needed rain which helped reduce short-term impacts, like wildfire and dry topsoil. But as Deke Arndt explains, it has taken months to develop deep and severe drought in the region, and a few wet weeks won't erase that situation. It can take months of ideal conditions to bring soil, rivers, and vegetation back to health.
- May 20, 2013
Spring 2013 has brought something fairly unusual in recent years: colder-than-average temperature for the nation as a whole. NOAA's Deke Arndt talks about how spring temperatures in three U.S. climate divisions compare to the local long-term trend.
- May 20, 2013
The average global temperature for April 2013 was the 13th highest on record for April at 57.64° Fahrenheit. It also marked the 37th consecutive April and 339th consecutive month (more than 28 years) with a global temperature above the 20th century average. The last below-average April temperature was April 1976 and the last below-average temperature for any month was February 1985.
- Department:May 16, 2013
Although most drifting buoys start their journeys with a crude send-off—usually heaved into the ocean from the stern of a moving ship—NOAA oceanographer Rick Lumpkin describes today's drifter as "a high-tech message in a bottle." Insignificant on their own, but an army of drifters 1,000 strong patrols the world's oceans and records key data for climate monitoring and research.
- May 16, 2013
Drought status in the contiguous United States on May 14, 2013.
- May 15, 2013
April showers and cool temperatures brought drought relief to many areas across the United States, but conditions worsened in the Southwest.


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Pitino Says Jennings and Smith Will Not Miss Game TimePosted by rtmsf on October 15th, 2009
We really shouldn't be surprised by this stuff anymore, but we still allow ourselves to be from time to time.
Rick Pitino said yesterday that two key contributors who were involved in an altercation with police over the weekend will not miss any game time due to their alleged transgressions. Two expected starters, Terrence Jennings and Jerry Smith, were arrested on Saturday night for mixing it up with police at a homecoming alumni party in Jeffersonville, Indiana (across the Ohio River from Louisville). In Jennings' case, he was so resistant to the JPD that he was subjected to a taser – not once, but TWICE – before they finally subdued the 6'10, 230-lb forward. Smith, a senior guard, allegedly came to his defense, refused to back off, and he too was subdued.
Both players were arrested and the accompanying police report recommended that each be charged with multiple counts of resisting arrest and battery. Steven Stewart, the Clark County (IN) prosecuting attorney, had other ideas as last night he stated that they would instead each face a single misdemeanour charge of resisting arrest. He stated:
People don't understand that police make a recommendation in the report, but the prosecutor makes the decision what charges will be filed.
This is assuredly true, and something that many people don't understand. But it would have been nice if Mr. Stewart had provided a little more by way of explanation as to what mitigating factors he considered in making that decision. In most cases, police don't wantonly taser people to the ground (there are exceptions, of course). And when they do it once, they usually don't have to do it again. Yet in the heat of the moment here, the cops felt that Jennings was so completely out of control that he needed to be subjected to extremely strong (sometimes lethal!) jolts of electricity twice. So why would Stewart reduce the charges against someone whom the police thought was extraordinarily out of line on that night? What on earth could it be?
We haven't even gotten into Mr. Best Year of His Life's sentencing techniques. It's understandable to a certain degree that someone in a political position such as Stewart's must carefully navigate high-profile crimes in full view of his constituents, but what's Pitino's deal? In one statement he says that "anytime you defy a police officer, it's serious," and in another he defends Smith's actions by saying that "he saw a teammate [on the ground] taking some pretty good blows and tried to help."
Speaking of serious, is Pitino serious with this hedge? Defying a police officer is failing to move out of the way when he asks you to clear some space. It is NOT taking haymakers at officers wearing clearly marked "POLICE" jackets, instigating a fight and causing them to use the taser on you twice (in Jennings' case). Furthermore, this isn't a basketball court environment where you're taught to defend your teammates — this is the real world. If the cops are busily tasing your friend/teammate, you should be upset (in Smith's case); but you should also realize that you didn't see what led to that incident and the cops must believe it's fairly serious (rightly or wrongly). The smart move is to keep your head so that you can learn about what is happening and try to negotiate the heated situation – the wrong move is to refuse to back off and make the scene worse for everyone.
Well, at least they're running lots of sprints (probably as we speak, right?). That'll teach 'em, Coach!


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the Sox claimed the 25-year old OF (CF) from the Marlins:
The White Sox on Wednesday claimed De Aza off waivers. At Triple-A New Orleans, De Aza batted .300 with eight home runs and 34 RBIs. He also appeared in 22 games for the Marlins, and he had 20 at-bats, batting .250 with a double and three RBIs. Injuries hurt De Aza in recent years. De Aza won the starting center field job in Spring Training of 2007, but early in the season he suffered an ankle injury that limited him to 45 games that year. He missed all of 2008 due to injury.
De Aza was born in the Dominican Republic says Wikipedia. Here are his stats: Baseball-Reference, FanGraphs, First Inning.


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We stock many types of computers, memory, hard drives, networking equipment, and other components all at competitive prices.
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Competitive fixed prices with honest reliable service - what could be simpler?


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Um. Pretty much everyone, circa 1999... I never did quite catch 'em all.
Beats of Rage [senileteam.com]
It's pretty fun.
Obviously, Need for Speed Underground 2 [eagames.com]
No, not on a game console. I mean fighting my way through holiday interstate and city traffic.
Golden Sun 2 is also excellent - but I'm a bit lost right near the end...
(Of course, it helps to have the portable hardware to carry it around on...)
Shit. Lumpy is already breeding the next generation of bloggers.They will be encouraged to track our progress on the GPS as well as find waypoints as well as taking photos of a list of items.
My kids will be armed with digital cameras and a handheld GPS back there. They will be encouraged to track our progress on the GPS as well as find waypoints as well as taking photos of a list of items.
Both of which keeps them somewhat quiet...
Your tenses are inconsistent, but I'm getting the distinct feeling that your kids are hypothetical, or at least that their potential game playing days are in the future.
I'm a single father of 12-year-old boy/girl twins, having raised them alone since they were born. On long car trips -- we do a 17-plus hour drive from Minnesota to our Colorado cabin every summer -- you find a balance of things to do and think about, or to sometimes zone out over. Not everything has to fit the program. Kids will not fit your program anyway.
Concentrate on providing them with positive stuff to do -- and helping you figure out the map is a great one -- rather than laying into anything they enjoy that doesn't meet your standards for edutainment. The kids'll be much happier, they won't regard learning as a burden because you'll have lured them to it rather than cracking down and forcing it on them, and you're going to be oh so much saner.
With respect to video games in particular, I would suggest that borrowing a gameboy sort of thing for long-distance trips isn't such a bad deal.
In all seriousness, the only parent I know well who actually attempts to constantly make every experience into an educational wonderland actually is a control freak whose child is pretty miserable. Kid has a reading disorder of some sort, and the father is unreal about it. It's sad to be around.
Just my advice based on experience in the past (and present).
It's perfectly legal to play poker in the US, even for money. The only time you may run afoul of the law is if the house collects money from the players or rakes the pot. IANAL, but I do have a regular game going so I've investigated this a bit.
I think geeks who haven't tried it should try playing some Hold'em. A lot of it is calculating od
As always my saving strategy is to drink heavily, hopefully inconspicously, while waiting for the Good Mother, the Saintly Daughter and the Rigtheous Father to fall asleep and allow me to spark up a phat doobie on the deck and watch the ocean rock the Christmas lights strung on the masts of the sail boats.
Is the screen on the DS that the GBA games play on any bigger/smaller than the single screen on the GBA? Meaning, is there any compromise in playing quality when playing a GBA game on a DS?
The DS can play GBA games on either screen (selectable in the system options). Each is slightly larger than a GBA screen in terms of size and pixels, so the DS puts a thin black border around the game when playing to keep it pixel-perfect. It's quite nice, really.
It seems intuitively obvious to me, which means that it might be wrong. -- Chris Torek