text: Tomcat has the right idea no chance of drawing if you don't apply its just a question of how. Another strategy is to apply in several States. This may not be an option for residents if you have your heart set on harvesting a moose in your home state. I like the draw quit or die quote that could apply to a lot of things!!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Many of these recipes are made with chicken broth -
to make them fit a vegetarian-based lifestyle,
swap in your favorite veggie broth!
Baked Veggie Sandwiches {we love this dinner with sweet potato fries!}
Barley and Asparagus Pilaf
Basil Pasta Primavera
Broccoli and Black Bean Rice
Cheesy Green Bean Skillet {pictured above}
Cheesy Mushroom and Broccoli Casserole
Cheesy Whole Wheat Vegetable Calzones
Crockpot Baked Potatoes
Crockpot Green Bean Casserole
Crockpot Ziti
Crockpot Zucchini Lasagna
Garden Vegetable Lasagna
Green Pasta Skillet
Herbed Butter Sauce and Veggie Pasta
Honey Mustard Stir Fry
Lasagna with Vegetables {favorite lasagna!}
Mushroom and Asparagus Crepes
Mushroom and Mozzarella Bake
Mushroom and Spinach Calzone
Pasta and Creamy Mushrooms
Pasta and Zucchini
Red Pepper Tortellini Bake {favorite}
Rice Cooker Mac and Cheese
Roasted Butternut Squash Lasagna
Roasted Garden Vegetable Lasagna {uses zucchini as noodles}
Roasted Veggie Primavera
Roasted Veggie Stew
Roasted Zucchini
Spinach and Black Bean Lasagna
Spinach and Mushroom Ravioli
Spinach and Mushroom Manicotti
Spinach Pasta Bake {make ahead!}
Spinach Squares
Stove Top Mixed Roasted Veggies and Pasta
Sweet Potato Casserole
Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese
Twice Baked Potatoes
Vegetable Medley
Veggie Rice
Veggie Risotto
White Cheddar Mac and Cheese
White Veggie Lasagna
Zucchini Lasagna
Zucchini Mac and Cheese
Zucchini Mushroom and Pasta Skillet
Zucchini Parmesan {favorite}
Zucchini Pasta Sauce
Zucchini Carrot Hotdish


text:
My sisters always accused me of not being able to keep a secret. I beg to differ with them, but since I am the youngest, and my two sisters are OLDer (lol!), I will not argue with them on that matter at the moment.
I was going to wait until the giveaway on the 15th to show my new items that I've been working on, but I am having so much fun and have already put some up for sale, I just had to share with you! I recently learned something new, block (or relief) printing. If you want to read a little more about it and how I first got interested in it, please visit the Artwork page of my website. If you'd like to see my framed artwork that is currently for sale, visit my ebay page.
The pumpkin set is called Pumpkin Panache and is sold as framed sets (on ebay and later on my website) or you may find 3 styles of note cards on the Cards page of my website now.
I also made a few punch needle embroidery pincushion boxes that are currently on ebay.
I'm still taking entries for the giveaway... just scroll down a few posts till you see GIVEAWAY in the title and comment.
Now for the babies.....
don't laugh, or gasp, or make weird faces..... she doesn't realize how ugly she is and we don't want to scar her for life by being unkind. By the way ~ I am HOPING it's a she, lol! I don't see the forming of a comb or rooster tail feathers, so maybe, just maybe, my only baby isn't a rooster! No name yet, I usually wait till something about their personality helps me decide. Who knows... I may have a contest later to give her a name!
And Sam, what can I say? He is one of the LAZIEST cats we have ever had! He lies on the porch (when he's not snuggled in the hay in the barn) and when he sees us he starts meowing, wanting to be petted (and wants milk in his bowl).
I'll sit down on the swing and Sam will come towards me and he drops to the porch and rolls over on his back to be scratched. But the thing is, he always drops about 2 feet away, just out of reach and I have to get up and go over to him! His fur is so soft, and his black paws are so sweet.... ok... I'm a sucker for animals.
I think I'll try a relief print of Sam when I've had a little more practice.
Well, that's it for now ~ I hope all of you had a safe and fun Labor Day!
Take Care & God Bless,
Honeysuckle Lane


text:
NEW YORK (AP) - Stocks are closing lower for the seventh day out of the last eight after the government reported that U.S. consumers cut their spending last month.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 50 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 12,727 Monday.
The Commerce Department said retail sales fell 0.5 percent in June from the month before. It was the third straight month of declining sales.
Also dampening spirits, the International Monetary Fund now forecasts the global economy to grow 3.9 percent in 2013, down from an earlier estimate of 4.1 percent.
In other trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell three points to 1,354 and the Nasdaq composite index fell nearly 12 points to 2,897.
Declining stocks narrowly outpaced rising ones. Volume was light at 2.8 billion shares.


text:
Used Elite Z Surge at 168 grams with ink on back.
Flight info below from discraft.com:
The Surge is perfect for long bombs, yet still highly controllable for virtually all skill levels. Everyone will benefit from the extra glide the Surge delivers in calm to moderate wind conditions. Controlled distance has a new name!


text:
Poles describe Himalayan climb where 2 died
- Associated Press
- March 19, 2013 - 11:09 AM
WARSAW, Poland - It was a race against the clock, against the mountain and against the darkness — and two climbers lost their lives doing it.
Two Polish climbers who made world's first winter ascent of a Himalayan peak of more than 26,000 feet (8,000 meters) gave a dramatic account Tuesday of their expedition to the summit. They also paid tribute to two colleagues who disappeared during the night-time descent and are presumed dead.
Adam Bielecki and Artur Malek earlier this month completed the ascent of Broad Peak, the world's 12th highest mountain, located in Pakistan, along with Maciej Berbeka and Tomasz Kowalski, who vanished during the return.
Visibly depressed over their friends' deaths, Bielecki and Malek said all four were in very good health and determined to reach the peak when they set out from camp in sub-freezing temperatures early on March 5.
"We knew that that was our last chance for good weather," Bielecki told reporters at a news conference.
But then they came across ice crevasses and a challenging climb on Rocky Summit, a smaller peak on the way to the top, which slowed them down.
"We knew it was getting late and that we would have to climb down at night, but we saw no reason to turn back," Bielecki said. "We were all fine, the weather was cloudless."
He said other night descents of high mountains have been successful. However, a night descent means no visibility and very low temperatures, a serious danger to climbers already exhausted by the ascent.
Bielecki reached the peak first, stayed there for "about one minute" to take pictures. On his way down, he met the others, who still climbing. He said Berbeka was frowning but Malek and Kowalski said they were okay.
Bielecki and Malek returned to the base camp that night, but Kowalski, reached by radio, said he was too weak to walk on and was spending the night near the top. He did not heed urging to go on, according to team leader, Krzysztof Wielicki, who spoke to him.
Wielicki, at the base camp, said he could see Berbeka's headlight moving down, but at some point near the crevasses, it vanished. After a few days of waiting, he realized the two lost men could be no longer alive in the Himalayan winter conditions.
Bielecki said it was a tragedy that they lost friends "but we will not give up climbing. Climbing is what drives us in life."
Wielicki said the expedition was professionally prepared but has asked a panel of Polish climbers to investigate whether the team took unnecessary risks.
Polish climbers have a long tradition of scaling the highest peaks in the Himalayas.
© 2018 Star Tribune


text:
From JAY WALLJASPER
Via Energy Bulletin
For all those who dismissed bike sharing as a woolly-headed European idea that would never work on the mean streets of U.S. cities, the success of the first season of MinneapolisNice Ride bike program will come as a surprise.
700 public bikes hit the streets in June at 65 stations, and they were taken for more than 100,000 rides until put away for the winter in mid-November. 1300 people signed up for an annual membership and 30,000 signed up for a $5 daily pass with the swipe of a credit card.
But the numbers that may be more significant for the future of bike sharing are three, two and none. That's the number of bikes vandalized, the number of bikes stolen and the numbers of injuries reported. This conclusively answers numerous skeptics who thought that sharing bikes would never work here in the individualistic, auto-crazed USA.
Nice Ride, the non-profit organization running the Minneapolis bike share program, had budgeted for the loss of 10 percent of its bikes due to theft or vandalism, which is one reason why it wound up in the black in its first year, even while selling fewer annual memberships than anticipated.
The slick-looking green bikes will be back next spring with a planned expansion of service to more neighborhoods in Minneapolis and possibly St. Paul. An outreach program to low-income communities is also in the works, according to Nice Ride Executive Director Bill Dossett. "We really want to…give them the same access to bikes that other people have."
Nice Ride was the largest public bike program in the U.S. when it was launched. Washington D.C. debuted the Capital Bikeshare system in September with 400 bikes that will grow to 1100 by the end of the year. Denver debuted a system in April with 425 bikes, which was criticized by the Republican governor candidate Tom Maes as a sinister attempt at "converting Denver into a United Nations community":http://shareable.net/blog/this-just-in-black-helicopters-are-behind-bikesharing (He got only 11 percent of the vote.)
The systems in all three cities were modeled on Montreal, where the Bixi bikeshare program launched in 2009 now features 3000 bikes at 300 stations.
New York City is looking at plans for 30,000 public bikes—a bike sharing system that would surpass even Paris, which fields about 20,000 bikes.
The popular systems in European cities such as Paris, Lyon and Barcelona are run by billboard companies, which provide the service in exchange for permission to erect billboards at prime locations around the cities. This arrangement has prompted widespread criticism that the companies are not dedicated to providing good service. That may account for the large number of broken, stolen, vandalized public bikes in Paris. But nonetheless the system has still been a unqualified success, which has boosted the number of bicyclists across the city.
A different model was pioneered in Minneapolis with Nice Ride operating as a non-profit organization. The initial start up costs were covered by a $1 million grant from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Minnesota (which invests in heavily in healthy living projects from a fund created from a state lawsuit against tobacco companies) and $1.75 million from Bike/Walk Twin Cities (a federally funded pilot project to promote walking and biking as a transportation alternative).


text:
| WMU News
KALAMAZOO—Registration is under way for summer sessions at Western Michigan University that offer teachers classroom-tested strategies to help teach writing as well as provide young writers with a popular summer camp opportunity.
The Third Coast Writing Project, part of the National Writing Project network, is offering the summer workshops for teachers beginning June 17, while a young writers' camp also begins June 17. Now entering its 20th year, Third Coast has been providing rigorous, research-based professional development for teachers since 1994. More than 350 teachers have completed its flagship program, the Invitation Summer Institute. Nearly 200 more have engaged in Third Coast's other summer programs, along with thousands who have been part of in-school professional development seminars.
This year, Third Coast will again offer an Invitational Summer Institute, a Teacher as Writer seminar and a seminar in Farmington Hills, Mich., with the Holocaust Education Network. Third Coast also will continue its popular Camp for Young Writers, serving children ages 8-14.
Young writers' camp
- Camp for Young Writers (June 17-28): This enrichment camp provides the spark for aspiring young writers in two distinct groups—ages 8-10 and 11-14. Directors and teachers help motivated children find their direction in writing. Poems, stories and much more come to life and culminate in a public reading for families, friends and teachers. The enrollment fee is $150. Applications are due by Friday, May 24.
Workshops for teachers
- Invitational Summer Institute (June 17-28): Third Coast Writing Project's flagship program, the summer institute is available by application and invitation only and provides a professional learning community that enhances teachers' own writing and enables them to give voice to student writers. Enrollment is limited to 10 participants and costs $200 with an option for two WMU graduate credits for additional enrollment costs. The registration deadline is Tuesday, May 1.
- Teacher as Writer Seminar (June 25-29): The Teacher as Writer Seminar focuses on the inner writer that exists in all teachers. Under the guidance of an experienced poet, writer and creative writer, teachers get the chance to concentrate full-time on their own writing, whether fiction, poetry or professional writing. Enrollment costs $200 with an option of one WMU graduate credit for an additional enrollment fee. Teacher as Writer applications must be returned by Wednesday, May 1.
- Holocaust Education Network Michigan Satellite Seminar (July 7-12): Co-sponsored by Third Coast with the Holocaust Education Network and Memorial Library of New York, educators are invited to participate in the second Michigan Satellite Summer Seminar on Holocaust Education. The seminar will be held in Farmington Hills, Mich., at the Holocaust Memorial Center-Zekelman Family Campus. The fee, which is subsidized by a grant, is $100 for teachers, including lodging at the Courtyards by Marriott of Farmington Hills, most meals, and all materials and fees. Then, teachers who complete the program are eligible for an additional $1,000 in grant money to take back to local classrooms and schools to provide additional training, Holocaust education or programming.
- Invitational Summer Workshop (July 30-Aug. 2): Co-sponsored with the Allegan Area Educational Service Area, the invitational workshop focuses on teaching writing, addressing the Common Core mandates, and using writing to help students and teachers think and learn in all content areas. The workshop is free to teachers in AAESA districts and $200 for those in non-AAESA districts. There is an option for one WMU graduate credit for additional enrollment costs.
For more information, including program applications, visit thirdcoastwp.wikispaces.com or contact Dr. Jonathan Bush, WMU professor of English, at (269) 387-2571 or email@example.com.
Related stories
From dinosaurs to spaceships, children's summer camp offers it all | March 1, 2013
WMU offers summer writing workshops for teachers, kids | March 13, 2013
2013 summer camps offer a variety of experiences | March 22, 2013
Registration begins for summer reading and writing camps | April 2, 2013


text:
Robustness of MySQL
Added by tldamico over 7 years ago
I have a quick question on the current robustness of MySQL. About a decade ago, I built an enterprise application for Verizon for bulk testing DSL circuits. Early in the project, we attempted to implement MySQL for the back end database with the software. The application was multi-threaded, with the ability to concurrently run a large batch of bulk tests, and at that time, MySQL simply couldn't keep up. Threads would simply drop, and the data not written. We ended up having to use Oracle 8i. Well, that was some time ago, and MySQL has evolved over the years.
So, the question is, how well does MySQL perform in handling the very large number of transactions that can be imposed on an MMORPG?
Replies (5)
RE: Robustness of MySQL - Added by ragnar-gd over 7 years ago
Dear tldamico,
i watched (played/installed) MYSQL as the central database of these (mostly OpenSource) MMORPGs:
- Arianne/Marauroa
- Ryzom
- PlaneShift
(- WorldForge)
All of these projects suffered from a fair amount of stability problems, sooner or later.
Ryzom and Arianne are quite stable overall now, PlaneShift suffers from occasional hiccups, and WorldForge simply isn't an operational MMORPG at the moment, but rather a very advanced framework/work in progress.
But MySQL, to my best knowledge, did not add to any problem, but, on the contrary, rather is a stable and acknowledged base.
There are good arguments for and against MySQL, but stability is not among them.
Ragnar G.D.
RE: Robustness of MySQL - Added by sfb over 7 years ago
MySQL is so seldom used in Ryzom its performance is the least of your concerns. To understand why you should simply look at the schema that we use. You'll find out quickly that MySQL is used almost solely for shard administration and user administration. All of the persistent data in the world is stored in PDR (Persistent Data Records) on the shard. These files are essentially binary files that contain the serialized instances of persistent game objects. This is why MySQL will never be a performance bottleneck for Ryzom.
I'd also like to note that unlike most of the MMOs that ragnar listed Ryzom Core is the basis behind one very large commercial MMORPG. I think it'd been road tested. (;
RE: Robustness of MySQL - Added by tldamico over 7 years ago
Sounds great. The system I built for Verizon was for bulk testing of DSL circuits, and had to communicate with numerous other databases, and ran many concurrent tests. The odd behavior was that it would seem to drop threads unexpectedly and without warning. But, that was some time ago, and I'm sure MySQL has improved greatly since then. Good to see your implementation is robust, and not tied to database performance.
I downloaded all the code, but haven't had a chance to start studying the code yet. I've been spending my time right now refreshing on C++ before I dig into the code.
I'm currently deployed in Afghanistan, but I retire in about 6 months, so will have lots of time to contribute.
RE: Robustness of MySQL - Added by ragnar-gd about 7 years ago
sfb wrote:
I'd also like to note that unlike most of the MMOs that ragnar listed Ryzom Core is the basis behind one very large commercial MMORPG. I think it'd been road tested. (;
I'd really like to know how many people are playing Ryzom right now... the more there are, the better for us.
ragnar g.d.
RE: Robustness of MySQL - Added by vl about 7 years ago
Indeed Ryzom is using mysql only for some basic purpose like login and things like that. It cannot be a bottleneck.
By Mysql is very strong, just look at who use it... Twitter just to take one
"MySQL handled 2,400 requests per second... 1 MySQL Server (one big 8 core box) and 1 slave. Slave is read only for statistics and reporting."
So even for biggest project with tons of request, mysql can do the work.


text:
Readshaw seeks to tighten clean streams law
November 15, 2005
State Rep. Harry Readshaw, D-Allegheny, is preparing to reintroduce legislation that would remove potential loopholes from the state's Clean Streams Law.
Current state law stipulates that a person or municipality can be charged only if they "willfully" violate provisions to protect water resources.
Readshaw's legislation, which he will introduce shortly, would change the term to "negligent."
The bill also would give the state the ability to file criminal or civil charges for up to five years after the violation is discovered.
"The way the law reads now, the attorney general could prosecute only if the person or municipality were aware that the action they were taking would imperil the quality of a water channel," Readshaw said.
"My bill would permit charges to be filed when a party has committed what appears to be an obviously negative act."
As an example, Readshaw said that if enacted, the revised law could be used when someone dumps a load of household trash or debris down a roadside stream bank.
"While the person may be ignorant of the fact that the material is damaging the waterway, they know that dumping the material was illegal," Readshaw said.
"The droughts of recent years have warned us to protect every possible water resource. My legislation would enhance our protection ability. "
Violations of the law would be a third-degree felony punishable by a fine of $2,000 to $75,000 for each offense, up to seven years in prison, or both.
Readshaw originally introduced the legislation during the 2003-04 session and, while it was not enacted, it was lauded in hearings on the proposal.


text:
The irony in all this is that legal file sharers will be harmed, while people torrenting stuff illegally will simply find solutions that are harder to distinguish from normal traffic.
Nothing will happen to torrents, relax. The market is always controlled by the consumers, in some way.
Indeed it is, so long as we don't relax. If we do relax, just assume it'll all go our way, and go back to our couch-potato existence, it'll be controlled by the corporations, not the consumers.
Just look at cannabis...
Yes, look at it. Look at the basic human rights which are robbed of people whose only crime is partaking in a substance which may, in the very worst case, harm only themselves. Ask yourself why that is, especially if the consumers are in charge.
There are already torrenting services like this (Seedm8.com I think - don't want to visit that link from my work machine).
Effectively you can manage your torrents on that system with a web interface. Upload a file to their server and tell it to seed and it'll seed for you. Or, upload a torrent and it'll download it to your account on the remote system via P2P services where you can then download directly from their server and then delete the file.
To your ISP you're not using P2P at all.
stop telling me what i can do on the interent and where I can go, I paid my $40 this month
Thanks for adding in the word SARCASM at the end. If you hadn't done that I would have thought you were being serious.
Every time a net neutrality article comes up, I ask the same question--how is handing control of the internet over to the government somehow better than what we have today, as if the government is some incorruptible entity that does everything right? Giving it to the government makes it susceptible to lobbying from groups like the RIAA, and I knew torrent traffic would be the first on the chopping block.
This is sad but funny. Out of some alarmist political agenda scaring people about a problem that doesn't even exist, naive people were demanding that we give the government control of the internet, taking it away from ISP sysadmins based on the usual anti-capitalism arguments. Well, have fun, because you're getting what you want...government control of your once-free internet.
taking it away from ISP sysadmins
Damned straight. Keep in mind that this is the bare minimum that ISP sysadmins have done, so it's not as if the new legislation has caused any more harm than no legislation.
Presumably, it does prevent some of the more egregious things that corrupt ISP sysadmins could have done, and explicitly stated that they planned to do, such as charging twice for the same bits (once to you, once to Google), prioritizing traffic based on business relationships (Skype goes up, SIP goes down, or vice versa), and so on.
Is this just protocols or also destinations?
Could your ISP block websites which it considers to be involved in copyright infringement?
Might it even only allow you communicate with a whitelist of IP's?
Of course the ISP can block whatever they want, but they can't control everything or they will have no customers.
Bittorrent will if blocked be replaced by something more sneaky when it comes to filtering data. So it's not really useful to block it.
Of course the ISP can block whatever they want, but they can't control everything or they will have no customers.
Competition only works to prevent this kind of stuff when it exists.
This is the cruz of why America needs regulation like this. Because of the local monopolies, you may not have another choice for ISP. At best, you have the choice of DSL, Cable, and Fiber and each from exactly one provider. At worst, you may have only cable provider for broadband internet. Thus, the providers know that they have a captive public, very few users would voluntarily forego all internet access overall to protest their ISP blocking some of their usage. They can do whatever they want, their customers have nowhere to go.
If I understand and remember correctly, regulation is the culprit of your current local monopolies. So you want more regulation to solve that?
If you want "customers" to be able to "go somewhere else", you need to create some competition. I think you can get that if you allow anybody to put fiber in the ground with only regulation being "do not destroy our property" and "the net gain for us - customers - have to be positive too".
That won't work at all. It is expensive to lay fibre and silly to have dozens of fibres running to every house. A better solution would be to recognize the natural monopoly in last-mile connectivity: have one regulated fibre provider, and allow anyone to create an ISP at the other end.
Uh, so what competition does the government have? You want to replace a few choices with one giant one?
No, we don't need regulation like this. We need less government interference in our lives. Say bye to torrent traffic and hello to government lobbying from the RIAA and MPAA to block all kinds of things, with the cooperation of the current pro-DMCA administration.
Seriously, are people fucking dumb? You want to give the government the power to regulate the internet? How could that end any other way but badly?
Of course the ISP can block whatever they want, but they can't control everything or they will have no customers.
Unless they are either the only game in town (common) or the other ISP in town is just as bad (nearly universal in the U.S.).
They could but they will fail. The list of perfectly legitimate destinations will always be longer than the white list. Their customers will continuously be bounced from sites. The word of mouth and PR would be disastrous. Sure you can
If you block protocol they just tunnel it through a different protocol or encrypt the protocol.
We told you that any government-mandated net neutrality was going to be a lot of fun.
But alas, people continue to live with their idyllic, dog-like trust of government, politicians, and bureaucrats, and didn't listen.
Not to mention the whole net neutrality debate was mostly paranoia anyway. The real solution is for local governments to do something about the monopolies they grant telcos, but it's always easier to pray that god (the government) saves the day.
I don't know about you, but I live in NYC, have a choice of at least three different providers (two cable, one DSL, maybe more since I last checked). The policies imposed are nearly identical between the three, and, as in the case of Comcast, I have no doubt that the stated policy and the de facto policy differ. Exactly which one am I supposed to "flock" to?
You're supposed to flock to the theoretical Libertarian ideal that provides exactly what you want at a reasonable price. Barring that, stick with something you don't like and complain on the Internet that government regulation must be responsible for the situation.
ShadowRangerRIT said:
I don't know about you, but I live in NYC, have a choice of at least three different providers (two cable, one DSL, maybe more since I last checked). The policies imposed are nearly identical between the three, and, as in the case of Comcast, I have no doubt that the stated policy and the de facto policy differ. Exactly which one am I supposed to "flock" to?
blueg3 said:
You're supposed to flock to the theoretical Libertarian ideal that provides exactly what you want at a reasonable price. Barring that, stick with something you don't like and complain on the Internet that government regulation must be responsible for the situation.
Or you could write letter to the president and your representatives telling them that net neutrality means that all traffic is dealt with neutrally, and that they would be violating our rights by assuming all bit-torrent traffic is illegal. And you could write to editors at various publications in hopes of raising awareness. And you could contribute to the EFF. And you could even run for office or support those candidates who support your point of view. And you could start
But that might actually be effective, which doesn't seem to be the tactic people tend to go with.
And you flock to your theoretical government ideal of government for the people, by the people. Now THAT'S something to laugh at. A business can be dealt with by mass consumer action. A government can only be dealt with [censored by Department of Homeland Security]
All too true, although in the case of internet, phone, and television options, blaming specific government regulations (as opposed to government regulation in general) would largely be correct. Ideally the grandparent would have far more than three high speed options.
In the ideal case, NYC Cable Co-op, would own the cable, and all 6 or so cable companies nationwide would offer service over it, since they could, all having the exact same costs associated with offering service, which NYC Cable Co-op sets be a
I have no doubt that the stated policy and the de facto policy differ
Which is why a true economic free-market requires informational transparency (and usually more than 3 options). If you can't predict the outcome of your potential choices with some level of certainty, then acting like a free-market rational actor become hard.
And the 11.5 million New York State residents who do not live in NYC all have the same (or similar) options? I think not. Not to mention all the people that don't live in on the (densely populated) east coast. A huge portion of this country lives in suburbs or even the so-called country. Cities are not the beginning and end of discussion.
I live in upstate New York (for you folks that don't know what that means, I'm roughly a 30 minute drive north of Albany, near Saratoga Springs). Personally, I have th
If there were true competition in the market, the government wouldn't need to do anything. People would flock to the ISPs that give them the best service rather than flocking to the monopoly that offers service in their area.
I don't know about you, but I live in NYC, have a choice of at least three different providers (two cable, one DSL, maybe more since I last checked). The policies imposed are nearly identical between the three, and, as in the case of Comcast, I have no doubt that the stated policy and the de facto policy differ. Exactly which one am I supposed to "flock" to?
I've come to the conclusion that competition fails once an equilibrium has been reached. Take a competitive market, say, gas. In most urban areas, gas stations are a dime a dozen, and each intersection probably has two or three. Yet, you'll find for blocks on end, every gas station has the exact same price, maybe wavering a tiny bit. And that prices always seem to jump in unison, and fall very slowly. Yet this can exist without any form of price cartel among stations.
Simply put, what happens is a station wants more profit, so it bumps up the price. Each station nearby sees that, then decide they want more profit, so they bump up their price in short order as well. There may be times when one station refuses to cooperate and keeps prices low, but the other stations get business simply because the price difference isn't worth having to drive to the other station when you're already at the more expensive station. But eventually they'll give in and raise their price too since there doesn't seem to be any harm to business.
Same goes for Internet service. One ISP comes in, implements stupid policy. Other ISPs see stupid policy, also see no mass exodus, and end up implementing same stupid policy to increase profits.
Instead of the ideal that everyone gets the best price and best features, we end up with harmonization of competition - everyone has the same policies, everyone has the same speeds, and there's not much to be gained by dropping prices or increasing service, so you might as well go and enjoy the same profits everyone else does.
Seems to have happened with other products, like netbooks. Other than clearance, netbooks seemed to hover around $300 on the low end, yet you can get netbooks more expensive quite easily. Even counting the fact that a third party artificially limits the specifications, the price on netbooks hasn't seemed to have dropped, other than getting a better one for $300 now than $300 got you last year.
In most urban areas, gas stations are a dime a dozen, and each intersection probably has two or three. Yet, you'll find for blocks on end, every gas station has the exact same price, maybe wavering a tiny bit. And that prices always seem to jump in unison, and fall very slowly. Yet this can exist without any form of price cartel among stations.
Simply put, what happens is a station wants more profit, so it bumps up the price. Each station nearby sees that, then decide they want more profit, so they bump up their price in short order as well. There may be times when one station refuses to cooperate and keeps prices low, but the other stations get business simply because the price difference isn't worth having to drive to the other station when you're already at the more expensive station. But eventually they'll give in and raise their price too since there doesn't seem to be any harm to business.
This really cracked me up. First of all, the profit made on gas at a gas station is about 3% at it's best, the supplier gets 5%-7%. Secondly, There are laws stating that we can't be more than 2 cents away from our closest competitor, we can only change prices once every 24 hours, and there is a cap on how much the price can go up per day (I think it's 6 cents, but this isn't really ever an issue). All of this went info effect during the oil crisis.
>People would flock to the ISPs that give them the best service rather than flocking to the monopoly that offers service in their area.
Newsflash - this isnt happening. Turns out no one wants to invest in another set of wires to your home, so ISPs tend to fall into basic duopolies or monopolies. When both Comcast and AT&T decide to slow down torrents or competing VOIP, which they have done, then there's really no one else to go to. Thus, the demand for legislation.
What the "free market over all" kiddies dont understand is that there are natural monopolies and duopolies. Not everything falls into the 'marketplace' model of having lots and lots of competitors fighting over your dollar.
If there were true competition in the market, the government wouldn't need to do anything.
Absolutely. As we all know, it's only government intervention that causes a monopoly or cartel to form in the first place. Left to itself, a market would never do this, because companies are far too nice and dumb, and would rather compete fairly for equal shares of the market than bribe and blackmail their customers to completely screw over and crush their competitors.
Also, my doorbell just rang - it's Alyson Hannigan, naked and horny. Riding a pink unicorn. It's OK though - she brought her Evil Twin along for you.
And if only we vote hard enough, we'll get a benevolent government of the people!
On a unicorn, sure, but did she bring her flute? That's the important part!
If there were true competition in the market...
And if magical fairies existed, we could all fly to never-never land.
Hint: If the world doesn't work the way you want, passing laws and regulations as if it did results in *broken laws and a broken system*.
If there were true competition in the market, the government wouldn't need to do anything.
Right. But there won't be.
Last mile wiring is a natural monopoly: there's a high cost to burying the fibre that goes to your house. Most likely you're only going to be a customer at one ISP. If you want, say, five competitors, that means four unused wires.
That means each ISP has to charge each customer on average at least five times what it cost to bury the fibre.
It would be much more effective to bury one set of wires, have one organization maintain that set of wires, and then let different companies co
Unfortunately, yes, it does.
Fortunately, I'm starting to see more and more citizen rage as a result.
Actually, it was better. Consumers put up a big fuss and Comcast changed their policy. Do you think they're likely to respond that well to their customers' rage once they have governmental backing for their anti-consumer policies?
Hold on.....right now, they can get away with whatever the hell they want, and they folded under bad publicity. So, when this proposal is released, it will say that they can do whatever the hell they want. And you think they will respond to customers by saying "we know you're pissed, but the government said we can't be fined over it"?
I know Comcast has bad customer service, but they aren't _that_ bad.
It's not that the government should do nothing, the government should take control of the infrastructure and let any company provide internet service over it. That would create competition, and would be better than government-mandated net neutrality and the status quo.
Yes it would be. We are now faced with ALL ISPs being FORCED to block bittorrent.
Before some companies were choosing to block bittorrent and getting bad press because of it.
Now government regulation could screw everyone and there will be nothing we could do about it.
It appears that the government getting involved in net neutrality could make things much much worse.
It never ceases to amaze me how incredibly adept the government is at taking something the people want, working on it, and then delivering somet
The problem isn't that it's government-mandated, the problem is that it's mandated by a government that doesn't fear the voters and will gladly let itself be bought by wealthy special interest groups.
Unfortunately more and more governments are adopting this view of the world...
The voters are the ones that vote in the politician in the first place. The "blame big business" schtick is just an easy way for voters to excuse their own ignorance and poor voting behavior.
Do you think you'll get more of a response if you write your senator or the CEOs of Comcast and AT&T and Verizon?
If there were no regulation against monopolies, internet service would almost certainly be in the hands of one. They wouldn't ask anyone for permission to block any protocol, they would just do it. (CEO Bob wants another 10% to the bottom line? No problem... shut down port 25 and double the price of mail storage.) Not to mention the fact that without serious investment by DARPA, the internet may not have existed in the first place.
When a functioning democracy is in place, you can affect change with your vote, and it barely costs you anything except your time. That's supposed to be the equalizer for corporate power, since you're not going to have as much money as anyone in the Fortune 10,000 (if there is such a thing). When there's not even a mechanism in place to reign in business shenanigans, they just have to hold back enough so there aren't riots. Unless they can figure out a way to make money from riots.
We are supposed to be a constitutional republic, which holds everyone equal in the eyes of the law, which should be written by the society as a whole -- not just the rich and powerful. This is specifically due to the abuses of the monarchies and churches and companies that dominated society at the time of our founding, and continue today. Once again, the answer to a non-functioning democracy is a functioning one. Throwing away the government check to corporate power won't do anyone a damn bit of good, except for the people who own the corporations.
They already have the right to block all torrents if they pleased. They are privat companies with very few regulations. Companies already block copyright materials via DMCA take down requests. These guidelines change nothing, except put in some sane rules regarding the payola tiered web companies like Comcast want to put in. Im sure your anti-government screed is very convincing to young republicans, I mean libertarians, but this all looks like a lot of fearmongering from the eff.
Im sure your anti-government screed is very convincing to young republicans, I mean libertarians, but this all looks like a lot of fearmongering from the eff.
Stupid. As people will just change protocol, so.. what will you do? repeat your strategy? then enter on a tecnological battle where you ban thinks that "look" like suspicious "bad" traffic. How much time will this war need to result on a almost totally broken internet where all applications that need reliable latency fail for not apparent reason?
Do not start trowing rocks, if you live in a cristal house, concast.
Here you go, your neutrality regulations,
bought and paid for by your local, friendly *AA.
no no, no need to give thanks, they're here for you.
bought and paid for by your local, friendly *AA.
What, you didn't think that all that Hollywood support for the Democratic Party came without strings attached, did you?
I'm guessing this is less an unintentional "loophole" than a very intentional concession to the lobbyists who are writing this bill.
The only reason Congress cares about "Net Neutrality" is that some big tech companies like Google are lobbying hard for it, while big service providers like Comcast are lobbying against it. But since neither group actually cares about your right to use BitTorrent, the RIAA lobbyists are free to stick in some extra restrictions like this.
I'm ever so glad the Supreme Court thinks these corporate groups should have even MORE influence over our elections.
The key word here is: " unlawful transfer of content"
The reason BitTorrent has not suffered the fate of Napster is that there is significant noninfringing uses, ranging from Linux ISOs to public broadcasting to companies like Vuse which use BitTorrent for purely legal, liscenced content.
Thus you could do blocking of specific torrents under this proposed regulation, but you couldn't block all bittorrent.
It is questionable to include, because I don't like the idea of copyright enforcement in the wire (its too easy to abuse), but the headline is wrong: this would not block BitTorrent.
Let's do a little thought-excercise here.
Comcast Guy 1 : Oooh, I see User Joe is running BitTorrent.
Comcast Guy 2 : Why, I think you're right. Let's ban his ass.
Comcast Guy 1 : Now, wait just a minute, Comcast Guy 2.. We don't know whether it's legal or not.
Comcast Guy 2 : Hmm... You may be right about that. Let's ban him anyways, and see if he complains. After all, he might be pirating valuable NBC programming, like the Tonight Show with Jay Leno! And if we don't stop him now, we will cease to be!
Comcast Guy 1 : My God... you're right.
Seriously, do you think, in any plane of the multiverse, that Comcast would do the research to find out if the torrent the user was sending was legal, as opposed to block now and ask question later? Especially with them getting into content ownership, as well as being a content deliverer?
Let's take a look at the DMCA, and see how often companies that send DMCA notices really care about doing the research, and how often it backfires on them. Well, it does backfire on them from time to time, but are there actual consequences beyond Slashdot laughing at them?
The bigger question I see is HOW would they find out whether or not what he's downloading is legal? The only way to know is to invade his privacy.
Personally, I don't want my traffic blocked or my privacy invaded. I want option C, which has yet to pop up anywhere in a concrete form.
But see, they're just going to call it unlawful, then block it. It doesn't matter one whit whether it is or not.
It's up to your to prove it isn't. Of course it'll take 18 months to resolve.
The way I read this, net neutrality means they not only can't block traffic without proving that it's unlawful, but traffic not proven unlawful should be allowed to block other presumed lawful traffic(pipe saturation). I mean I've not seen anything in there that's not just a fancy way to call QoS. Of course QoS with a 1kb/s class is no fun, and almost blocking it... but unless the legalese actually defines a minimum QoS as "blocking" it's not legally blocking... Also, if a provider like comcat can give a QoS of 10kb/s, and assign all youtube traffic to it unless youtube pays, we're back to the "paying twice for the same traffic" case.
On the other hand, the FCC cannot do what network neutrality proponents most want it to do: mandate network (mostly backbone, but also edge in some cases) upgrades.
So it's mostly a catch-22.
I think the only thing that would work is a law that says a network cannot discriminate by source, target, protocol or source/target ports without proof of wrongdoing is the only thing that would work. Of course, the providers would scream that they can't. What they mean is that they can't without admitting just how poorly provisioned their networks really are.
As per your arguments they can't block... The idea is for a law to tell them what they can't do to unknown traffic. Known unlawful traffic, well they already have other laws for them, they don't need to QoS it, except to protect other customers. If they send the FBI to the tracker's location, you can be sure the torrent won't be on long, in that case though, they need to have(well so far, although they've been exceptions) a lot more evidence than just an overloaded network...
It could work almost identically to BitTorrent and no sane ISP would block HTTP.
Anyone interested in working on a FOSS implementation, PM me.
When they were going after P2P networks like Napster and Kazaa, you could argue the merits of what the technology could be used for versus what it was actually being used for.
However, BitTorrent sees very widespread legitimate use that you can't argue with. And honestly, in those legit cases, blocking BitTorrent won't reduce network traffic, but instead shift it back into the FTP/HTTP client-server model, instead of allowing BitTorrent to distribute the load among people who already have the data.
If they block bittorrent, they'll suddenly have millions of WoW players at their main offices with pitchforks and torches demanding to know why they can't update...
Does the regulation mention BitTorrent, or is this just the author's interpretation?
Any time someone says "Law X would let Person Y do Z by claiming A, B, and C", take it with a grain of salt. Sure, they can claim that blocking BT is a reasonable restriction, and then it would be up to the courts to decide if it really is. If the court decides not, then blocking BT is illegal. Anyone can claim whatever they want; and look how well that worked for SCO in the long run.
Might the court reach the wrong conclu
Who could have predicted that more government regulation of the Internet might have a downside?
Kill Ugly Processor Architectures - Karl Lehenbauer


text:
has beaten out Oscar favourite
to take the prize for best motion picture drama at the Golden Globes.
The thriller triumphed over a field which included Steve Spielberg's acclaimed Lincoln, Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty and Ang Lee's Life of Pi in the star studded ceremony in Beverly Hills.
The win caps a dream night for Affleck, who was controversially omitted from the best director race for the 2013 Oscars.
He earlier beat Spielberg to take the Globe for best director.
Les Miserables also had a great night, taking out best comedy or musical along with acting gongs for stars Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway.
As predicted, Hathaway won best supporting actress for her performance as Fantine.
She said she would always use the award as a weapon against self doubt.
Jackman won best actor in a comedy or musical for his star turn as Jean Valjean.
He joins fellow Golden Globe winners Adele, Quentin Tarantino and Jennifer Lawrence.
Lawrence, 22, was awed after beating out Meryl Streep and Dame Judi Dench to pick up best actress in a comedy or musical for her role in Silver Linings Playbook.
She thanked producer Harvey Weinstein by saying: "Harvey, thank you for killing whoever you had to kill to get me here."
Adele won best song for her performance in the title track for Bond film Skyfall.
She claimed not to have expected the win.
"We're new mums, we just came for a night out."
Director Quentin Tarantino won best original screenplay for Django Unchained.
Hilarious opening
The Globes began with a hilarious opening monologue from hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
The pair, who are nominated for best actress in a TV comedy for their respective roles in 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation, ripped into Hollywood royalty throughout the monologue.
In one joke, they linked best director nominee Kathryn Bigelow's failed marriage to James Cameron to a scandal over her portrayal of torture in Zero Dark Thirty.
"When it comes to torture I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron," Poehler said.
Poehler also poked fun at Ang Lee's best drama-nominated Life of Pi.
"The Life of Pi, which is what I'm going to call the six weeks after I take this dress off," she said.
Fey likened Hathaway's performance as the doomed prostitute Fantine in Les Miserables to her disastrous performance hosting the 2011 Oscars with James Franco.
"I've never seen someone so abandoned and alone since you were on stage with James Franco," she said.
Red carpet glamour amid the cold
Looking glamorous but feeling frigid, stars from film and television stars arrived on the red carpet for the Globes ceremony.
Debra Messing from Smash came in a strapless black gown and goosebumps. Asked how she was coping with the cold, she replied, "Not well."
Melissa Rauch of The Big Bang Theory also shivered in her strapless red gown.
"I'm absolutely freezing!" she said.
Claire Danes of Homelandwas in Versace and Zooey Deschanel of New Girl came in a strapless Oscar de la Renta gown walked near heat lamps.
"I'm so cold. My legs aren't cold but my arms are," said Deschanel.
Golden Globes winners:
Best motion picture drama
Best musical or comedy
Les Miserables
Best Actor, Comedy or Musical
Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables
Best Director
Ben Affleck, Argo
Best Supporting Actress
Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Best original screenplay
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained
Best Actress, Comedy or Musical
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Best Original Score
Mychael Danna, Life of Pi
Best Original Song
Skyfall (music and lyrics by Adele and Paul Epworth), Skyfall
Best Series, Drama
Best Series, Musical or Comedy
Best Actor, Drama
Damian Lewis, Homeland
Best Miniseries or Movie
Game Change
Best Actress, Miniseries or Movie
Julianne Moore, Game Change
Best Actor, Miniseries or Movie
Kevin Costner, Hatfields & McCoys
Best Supporting Actress
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
- additional reporting AP


text:
Josh Hamilton collected three RBI and finished a double shy of the cycle as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim slipped past the Houston Astros, 4-1, on Sunday in the finale of a three-game set at Angel Stadium.
Mike Trout stroked a solo homer and scored three times for the Angels, while starter C.J. Wilson (1-0) held Houston to one run on five hits and four walks over six solid innings.
"I had confidence today with all my pitches," Wilson remarked. "I had extra in the tank. I had the strength to throw a lot of pitches. I was able to keep them off balance."
Ernesto Frieri recorded the final out of the eighth and worked around a two- out single in the ninth to nail down his second save of the season for the Angels, who have won back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Philip Humber (0-3) was a hard-luck loser, as the Houston right-hander gave up two runs and scattered seven hits and walked just one over seven strong frames.
"Humber was outstanding," Astros manager Bo Porter said of his starter. "He was efficient with his pitches."
Matt Dominguez's run-scoring double in the second accounted for the lone run for the Astros, who had won three straight before dropping the final two games of the series.
"We got men on base, we were just not able to execute," Porter added.
The Angels struck first in the opening frame, as Trout scorched a one-out double, moved to third on an Albert Pujols ground out, and then crossed the plate on Hamilton's single to give the Halos a 1-0 edge.
Houston pulled even in the second when Dominguez followed Ronny Cedeno's leadoff double with a two-bagger of his own, but the Angels jumped back in front in the third after Trout launched a solo shot over the wall in right- center field.
The Astros nearly pulled even in the sixth, when Carlos Pena worked a one-out walk and Carlos Corporan followed with a single to center before moving to second on the throw to put runners at second and third.
Cedeno then laid down a suicide-squeeze, but Wilson recovered the bunt and flipped to catcher Hank Conger, who applied the tag on Pena running from third to keep the Astros from tying the game.
Wilson escaped the inning unscathed by getting Dominguez to fly out.
Sean Burnett took over for the Halos in the seventh and retired the Astros in order before Scott Downs ran into trouble in the eighth, when he issued a one- out walk to Chris Carter and then served up a two-out single to Corporan to put the tying run on second.
Frieri then entered and fanned pinch-hitter Jason Castro to escape the mild threat.
Hamilton provided Frieri with some breathing room in the bottom half, as the Los Angeles slugger launched a two-run blast over the wall in left-center field for his second homer in as many games to give the Angels a 4-1 advantage.
Frieri fanned the side in the ninth despite issuing a two-out single to Jose Altuve.
Game Notes
Houston went 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base ... The Angels open a three-game set in Minnesota on Monday ... Houston heads to Oakland for a three-game set beginning on Monday.


text:
He needs ups...
Michigan - Purdue Open Thread
I wish the foul hadn't interfered with the dunk, but still. I'll take the foul.
Nice look Canadian Bacon! Anything leading to a foul or a dunk is a-ok by me.
Except if it's McGary shooting the freebies.
Please finish Mitch!
I never expect to make both free throws anymore, sort of sad.
Hahaha, look at them messing around under the basket!
I love this kid more and more every week....
McGary is the man!
Everybody Chant now!
Enthusiasm? Oh, he's got it all right
McGary is one badass mascot.
McGary has so much effort but it seems like he is always this close to making a great play. Just dribbles it out of bounce. Misses the dunk, Misses both free throws. When he can get the finishing down he is going to be special.
He has to start finishing plays if we want to make a run in march...
Agreed, that's why I love him as a 6th man this year. I feel him a Caris are just a half step away in adjusting to the college game. When they do, be it the end of this year or next, watch out.
We on.
GRIII baby!
what the heck I make a pro Michigan post and I get sent to bolivia. Nice dictatorship here eh comrads.
With all due respect and remember I'm saying with all due respect, will you please piss off?
The first amendment says I have the right to make any dumbass comments I want.
It protects you from jail, not from being sent to Bolivia.
Not a good first post.
Welcome to MGoBlog. Bow down.
I guess you probably shouldn't have posted the obviously pro-Purdue posts before that one then
after you couldn't handle non-trolling instructions. Bolivia for a month; don't test it again.
But things are looking shiny now!
I think I just broke something in my house. I blame Mitch Mcgary.. He told me to. Love watching this kid play. Brings so much energy
Was that that drake look-a-like who made the prank videos they just showed in the student section? Can't remember his name but those videos were semi-entertaining.
I swear after that series of plays he was foaming at the mouth. He might be a little too hype after those good plays.
GRIII: Scores quietly, dunks loudly.
Mcgary pumping up the crowd! I LOVE IT!!
Purdue is about as done as Professor X.
Assume the position.
Wow. Crisler is on fire, and the team's even hotter. 2013 is the new 1989.
As much as a I love the guy, Trey Burke's shot selection is at times terrible.
That would be it.
but we need to shoot free throws better.
While Prof X was trolling, he was egged on by some idiot M fans.
There's nothing wrong with a reasonable opposing fan posting here. However, some people negged him for just that. Now, Prof X responded poorly, but he's been a valued member here for a while. Whatever mod bolivia'd him should take responsibility and explain why.
Beer + alumni status dissonance = prof x goes crazy...
Boiler the fuck up posts and the other rubbish he posted aren't anything other than trolling so F him.
You should probably take the night off. The MGoBlogerati has spoken.
I explained quite clearly that informative or insightful commentary was fine, but to restrict his comments to that. He tried to flout that warning twice, and I took his points to zero (as my above post explains), I then told him not to post on the thread again; after he did that, I put him into the negative.
I've explained each action I've taken in real time, if you care to look.
Thanks. Haven't had time to look backwards at replies and still pay attention to the game.
I do remember people jumped on him for early, innocent posts though. There used to be a community wide effort to encourage polite discourse, yet game threads this year have been a sad display of the MLive mentality. Perhaps, some of those that egged Prof X on deserve some blame as well.
and I make a point to stop the personal stuff against simple opinion posts, whether they say M football will be better out without Denard because he's a "bad player" or it's a Buckeye getting negged just for being a Buckeye. Not saying I'm perfect, just that I do consciously try.
If you can point to anything above that you think deserves more than just a "come on guys" warning, I'd be glad to take a look at it. I didn't post one of those because his first couple posts were pretty bad, though I agree he followed up with a few reasonable replies about Painter/Purdue frontcourt before reverting back.
If you went back and read his posts you would see most people ignored him. He had the "Mlive"-like attitude, trolling trolling and trolling some more. You can go back and read yourself but nobody jumped on him early on. He got what he deserved.
I am sorry but you did not give enough warning time. By the time I saw the warning I already posted the comment that brought me to 0. So, in essance your moderating system blows for open threads. The old system was better. Let the community decide with neg bangs. I am fine with getting neg banged to bolivia.
There are plusses and minuses to the current system. A mod controlled system is great for non-open threads. A community controlled moderation works better for real time open threads.
In the words of Arnold, "Quit whining!" I lost all of my points one time and went to -999 for posting a thread questioning the football teams toughness and I never got those points back.
As someone who knows a thing or two about acting like a douchebag, I'd say he was mainly acting like a douchebag.
Happy to see Horford in and scoring
Burke is sooo quick. Gotta love it!
i decided to combing gr3 timmy and trey to create
trey hardaway iii
I love how whenever Trey makes a mistake or misses a shot, he bounces back immediately
I love spike...he has been so good at driving the lane the last few weeks...and then a charge...
Easy Spike.
Love McGary's energy, he gets Crisler rocking.
Spike turnover? Rare.
I haven't seen Stauskas drain a 3 in a long time, when was his last? I probably wasn't watching when it happened, but it seems like it's been games...
He hit one at the start of this game.
his confidence seems down...has played poorly since OSU...far from the heights of earlier this season.
Definitely missed it, thanks! I was curious, his regression to the mean has kind of sucked to see.
The beginning of this game
That was an "I want to shoot" shot.
Burke flipped a switch and is attacking that guy on defense. It looks like he doesn't respect the guy's handles.
Hey guys, did you know twitter?
If they say twitter one more time... I'm sending a stern letter.
early in the year, when he wasn't making his 3s, his misses were often of the in-and-out variety. now, he is firing up a lot of airballs and bricks. he needs to get his mojo back for this team to fire on all cylinders.
They could also do a little more to get him involved. He can be good on the ball screens. Too often he gets lost in the corner.
dude went from nothing to big time exposure... this is to be expected. Heck, its probably good for him...
by the time we get to indy next week he will be fine I predict.
POWER POST....Mitch Morgan on the floor....Together!
Michigan up 10 and in control of the game, Purdue is a different team this second half. They played an AMAZING first half, no way they could do that consistently.
I don't know about "in control". Still struggling.
not so fast...
Purdue came within 5, maybe 4 don't remember, and Mich shot that back up to 10. Mich will win this by 15+
He's bear hugged full two-armed reacharound by Purdue as the ball was knocked out, hmm..
That's a really bad call
He's working and running a lot which is why I think his shot is suffering. Earlier he was just standing in the corner and shooting open shots. Once he gets the conditioning down, he should return to form.
He just tried to tackle him! How can that be a foul on Staukas?
Over and back. Stauskas still established in the front court when he recovered possession.
Mcgary pumping up the crowd! I LOVE IT!!
You all have my permission to pour it on these refs.
Holy fuck these refs are you serious?
Oh you were super close to the call? Well I didn't really see it, but the ball went across half court, so I'm just going to over rule you...
So if that ball wasn't tipped...ARE THERE GHOSTS AT CRISLER?
Game ain't over yet. Gotta start making shots again.
Terrible call.
It seems like the ref said Stauskas controlled it after the tip in the front court and then went back court which is technically a good call if you think Stauskas regained possession with one hand on the ball. It's debatable.
I'm more concerned with the Purdue player wrapping up Stauskas. Looked like he was trying to make an open field tackle not knock the ball out.
We need to learn to put people away.
So, in 17 wins we have not been able to "put people away"?
I'll go on record as saying that I bet Michigan "puts away" Purdue.
Yea I think some people need to take a step back from the ledge.
I still think Mich wins by 15+
Saying we need to put someone away is not hysterical talk. Some people need to let fans be fans their own way.
I would have been cool if you said that. But you said we need to "learn" how to put teams away.
One word, but huge difference. I would argue that we've put teams away in every game that we've led late this year because, well, we have. Our only loss was a comeback that fell short.
SFTC riding on it? lol
What is SFTC? I'm assuming signature?
You're kind of an ass tonight.
People calling Michigan players "bitches" can make me less patient with people, I'll admit.
you have been cluttering this thread up with tears for way too long tonight...
Irrationality in game threads? You don't say.
Our defense is pretty rough. BOX THE FUCK OUT!
There we go Nik, keep it up
Blame Canada.
Oh, Canada
There ya go Stauskas!
What a great job of finding Stauskas by Burke.
about time we see stauskas throwdown a 3
Worst job in the world next year? Defending Trey Burke in the NBA
defense in the nba???
This begs the question: would you defend against Trey Burke on national television for free college tuition?
Glad he made that. I've started cringing whenever Stauskas winds up. Hope he gets back in the rhythym.
2-4 is 50%. - Ill take that every single game
McGary gets the layup in the paint. Huh.
LOVE the maize and blue canadian flag. Perfect.
Who is choosing the down-time music? God-awful.
I'm going to make a call Herm... Any special request?
Not a fan of "Stanky Leg"?
the refs are horrible tonight
They have made bad calls, but far from horrendous...ala OSU and Minny games
M is really good at basketing the balls
and Purdue is really bad at everything. except at being a sausage-fest-nerdy engineering school
This is why it is so great to be a Michigan Wolverine. I went to the Wikipedia page for "Rebound", and who is an example? Trey Burke and Glenn Robinson III. Go Blue
I'm sorry to bring up twitter again, but if any of you have one and you aren't following Zach Novak you probably should. I love his tweets during the game. He's a true MIchigan man.
Do us all a favor and link his twitter.
Considering it's like 3 am over there now, isn't it?
for a McGary Finish?
Obviously some lovely Michigan fan took some nice pics in Evanston. Go Blue!
McGary: feeling it.
Mr. Byrd no hot anymore.
He On.
McGary reminded me of the bus drivers kid in hoosiers on that drive. Showing some awesome moves tonight.
Trey with the handle
Was it 17? Seems like it might be about right.
Great angle. Brian is loving it I'm sure.
It did make the bounce pass look kinda cool.
pouring it on now! Go Blue!
#1 sign: bueno.
After that 1st half, I'll take a double digit win
Trey's just showing off now.
Go Blue! One win away from #1
I get the mpression that Trey could do it all himself if he really cared to. Dribble for 30... attack the rim at the last 5... easy layup.
68-53 is your final from Ann Arbor.
McGary was POG. He brought the energy when we needed it.
Came out in the 2nd half. Made their shots. Purdue cooled off. And that was it. They just didn't match up talent wise.
Good finish after a shaky start. Purdue isn't a good team, but they are pesky. Take care of business at Illinois and we'll have the #1 ranking! Bring it!
As sluggish as they looked tonight, I still think this team is a true championship contender.
Man, I kinda get tired of other teams bombing away from 3 and making an excessively high percentage of often crappy shots, but I know they can't keep it up all game. Meeeechigan wins make it all better.
I love the way this team plays.
Purdue was shooting lights out early, and a lesser team might have freaked out. This team is confident and talented.
This team is only getting better too. I've thought this after every game and it's still true.
Love this team. Go Blue!
Sometimes KENPOM biffs the prediction by a basket so that people don't figure out who possesses the DeLorean.
Team's theme song. lol
This is the song that has been in my head for the past couple of hours.
It's been in my head ever since they used it to introduce the Cowboy Classic jerseys.
We're 18-1 people!!!! How awesome is that!!!!!!! There were times when i thought I'd NEVER see this kind of a start. 18-1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May be the long layoff got us off to the slower first half start! But Purdue had great 3 point shots in the first. Next game against IL, I hope we get off to a faster start! Bench is shaping up well and should improve through the season!
Goin out of his way to bash Michigan during the Ucla game. Still has a grudge from the Fab Five days, what an idiot.
I noticed this as well. It was extremely irritating. Never liked that guy
But as a kid I was a huge Reggie Miller fan. He also went to UCLA, but I would have been too ting to see him play there. It seemed like Walton did every game. As a 10 year old, I still thought he was a moron. Why was a hearing about the 77 Trailblazers while watching the 94 Pacers vs Hawks?
Not ting. My apologies
are the prohibitive Number 1 Muppets?!
Gotta clean up against Illinois before those!
Not sure who was worse tonight: Blind Bo Boroski, TerribleTed Valentine, Brian Dorsey or the half time ball twirler who couldn't twirl.


text:
Fire should burn out within two days
Updated 1:50 pm Saturday
Here's the latest update just in.
Most of the Buffalo Lake Road Fire was quiet yesterday, giving firefighters the opportunity to continue improving containment lines and mopping up throughout its perimeter. In the southeast section, near Swawilla Basin, even with more fire activity, the rocky terrain made it difficult to thoroughly burn out the sparse fuels. Despite these challenges, crews located and built a new containment line that is closer to the body of the fire. This strategy will hasten successful containment.
Utility crews were able to access and repair burned powerlines enabling restoration of electricity to Mt. Tolman and the town of Keller.
All roads in the area including Peter Dan Road, Buffalo Lake Road and Hwy 155 are open. Drivers should use caution, watching for fire personnel and any rolling rocks or debris that has been loosened when the supporting plants and logs burned away.
Today's weather is expected to exceed 100°F, with relative humidity of 11%. Although winds should generally be light, there's a chance of dry lightning storms tonight. Crews are alert to the possibility of erratic winds as weather changes and managers have created contingency plans for providing "initial attack" forces if needed in the area.
The current size of the wildfire is approximately 11,091 acres with 82% containment.
Coordination is occurring between the Colville Confederated Tribes, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Washington Department of Natural Resources, US Bureau of Reclamation, Okanogan Fire District 2, Elmer City Fire Department, Coulee Dam Fire Department, Grant County Fire Department, National Park Service and Okanogan County.
Nearly 200 firefighters worked in 100-degree heat yesterday to locate and extinguish the burning fuels throughout the 11,000-acre Buffalo Lake Road Fire, officials stated in a press release. After three days of firefighting in the rugged terrain east of the Columbia River and north of Lake Roosevelt, the fire containment is estimated to be 82% with a few remaining pockets of timber burning in the deep canyons along the northern shore of Lake Roosevelt.
According to Pat Halford, operations section chief for Washington Interagency Incident Management Team 4, those pockets of burning fuels are expected to burn themselves out within two days.
Halford said firefighters spent two days burning out the upper slope above the steep and craggy cliffs above the Lake, driving the fire toward the water's edge. The strategy, he said, was to stop any spread north or east and allow the fire to consume remaining fuels there. "Lake Roosevelt is a popular recreation area and we want to make sure the fire cannot flare up later and alarm the public," he said, "so crews are cleaning up the area from the blackened burn to the Lake where it can be done safely."
Some of the smoke seen throughout the area during the past two days resulted from that burnout that was conducted in the southeast part of the fire, Halford said. In a steep draw in the north end of the fire, a 20-person hand crew and several engines worked to clean up the fire burning in old snag trees. "We expect to have that draw in good shape by the end of today," he said yesterday.
Other crews spent Friday mopping up within 500 feet of homes and structures along the fire's western perimeter – between the towns of Coulee Dam and Elmer City. "Infrared heat-detecting devices, called Palm IRs, are being used to locate and extinguish heat that cannot be seen," Halford said.
The power poles northeast of Coulee Dam burned by the fire were to be replaced by 6 p.m. Friday, Halford said. With the installation of new poles, power is expected to be restored to the community of Keller, which has been without power for more than 25 hours.
Crews throughout all divisions of the fire have been mopping up and rehabilitating areas to standards developed by the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the Washington Department of Natural Resources.
"Control of the fire area will be returned back to the Tribes once the mop-up and turn-back standards have been met," Halford said.
Halford said rocks and boulders throughout the burned-over area pose hazards now that the logs and vegetation that had been holding them in place have burned. "The public is encouraged to stay out of the area until it has been rehabilitated," he said.
The fire started Tuesday, August 14 at the intersection of Peter Dan and Buffalo Lake Roads. The cause of the fire was determined to be lightning from a storm that passed through the area five days prior. The fire flared up and moved rapidly through dry grass, sage, and sparse ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir timber, driven by erratic winds. By Wednesday evening, the fire had burned across the slope above the town of Coulee Dam and was moving eastward until stopped by dozer lines through the Swawilla Basin.
Heroic work by initial attack forces, consisting of tribal and local fire department resources, on Tuesday saved hundreds of homes and outbuildings along Highway 155 north of Elmer City. A Level II Evacuation Notice was issued Tuesday night to residents of Elmer City and surrounding area. The area remained under a Level I Evacuation Friday.
While the fire burned through the area, Highway 155 was detoured along the Elmer City Access Road for two days as firefighters struggled to keep the fire away from the shore of the Columbia River. At one point, the fire did cross the Access Road, causing the complete closure of Highway 155 for nearly 10 hours.
As firefighters continue to mop up and hold onto the successes of the past four days, Halford anticipates a change in the hot, dry weather with an advancing thunderstorm late Saturday.
"The storm is going to bring lightning. It's less lightning than what we had anticipated, but we do not expect much precipitation with the storm either," he said.
The hot and dry weather currently affecting the region is expected to continue for the next several weeks with increased fire behavior in the late afternoons.
When asked how concerned he is about the anticipated dry lightning, Halford said, "We will have to wait to see what it gives us and deal with it accordingly."
The Washington Interagency Incident Management Team (WIIMT) #4 is managing the fire under the command of Larry Nickey, incident commander.
More than 250 firefighting personnel have been very conscious of firefighting safety principles and are maintaining a stellar safety record. "To date, there have been only a few minor blisters," Halford said. "We are striving to keep firefighters safe, both day and night, while battling this fire," he added.
The Colville Confederated Tribe's seven-member Burned Area Emergency Response Team is evaluating burn severity throughout the southern and eastern portions of the fire and developing a comprehensive plan for the rehabilitation of fire-damaged resources.


text:
MyAvibase allows you to create and manage your own lifelists, and produce useful reports to help you plan your next birding excursion.
There are more than 12,000 regional checklists in Avibase, offered in 9 different taxonomies, including synonyms more than 175 languages. Each checklist can be viewed with photos shared by the birding community, and also printed as PDF checklists for field use.
There are a few ways by which you can help the development of this page, such as joining the Flickr group for photos or providing translations of the site in addition languages.
Avibase is also available in the following languages:
Google translations:
ArabicAzerbaijaniBulgarianBelarusianWelshDanishGreekEstonianBasquePersianunknown [FIL]IrishGalicianHaitian Creole FrenchHebrewHindiCroatianArmenianJapaneseGeorgianKoreanLithuanianMacedonianMalayMalteseNorwegianRomanianRussianSlovenianAlbanianSerbianSwahiliThaiTurkishunknown [UR]Vietnameseunknown [YI]Chinese
Contribute a better translation
These checklists are based on the best information available at this time. They are based on a wide variety of sources that I collated over many years, and are constantly revised.
I am pleased to offer these checklists as a service to birdwatchers, but they are subject to some level of inaccuracy. If you find any error, please do not hesitate to
Bird Checklists of the World is part of Avibase and Bird links to the World, which are designed and maintained by Denis Lepage, and hosted by Bird Studies Canada, which is a co-partner of Birdlife International.
© Denis Lepage 2018
Avibase has been visited 259,827,317 times since 24 June 2003. © Denis Lepage |
Privacy policy


text:
For some, holiday cheer turns to bad news blues once bills from Christmas and every day expenses start to mount. When this happens, some people look for a loan. Stressing that securing a loan to fill the gap is fine, Mississippi Better Business Bureau CEO, John O'Hara says extreme caution should be taken.
"You just want to make sure that whenever you're signing any kind of a loan that you make sure that you read the fine print before you agree to the terms."
O'Hara says this is especially important when applying for a quick loan over the internet.
"Over the internet you're not going to be protected by Mississippi law because you're doing commerce over the internet, and you're not doing it in the state. The regulations, if they do come into affect this year, they do not regulate on-line loans that maybe come from another state, or maybe from an Indian Reservation which is not regulated. So, some of those interest rates on those pay day loans can be as high as 300%."
In fact, O'Hara says his office has had a case reported where a person applied for a quick loan over the internet; the loan stated that the person would get his money very fast. However, the person failed to read in the fine print that the interest rate was a whopping 338%!
"Again, you just want to make sure that you read the fine print before you agree to the terms."
For more information on this matter contact the Better Business Bureau. The phone number in Mississippi is 1-800-987-8280, and the number in Alabama is 1-800-824-5274.


text:
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
How can I promote Ray's new CD?
Ray Boltz has never done anything to purposely hurt me or cause me pain. He wanted nothing other than to let me escape his ultimate acceptance of his own God-given sexual orientation. Yes, it might have been easier if I'd known a little bit before the 30-year mark, but I didn't. And at the point when one person of a mixed-orientation marriage is gay, you have to deal with that reality. That is what I've done.
I am letting people know that if there were any other solution, we'd have found it. I'm letting other straight spouses know that if they are married to a gay person,you just might need to listen to, "God knows I tried," in order to realize that you are loved, but not in the way that you deserve. And when a parent or family member needs to hear the heart of a gay person, they might listen to, "I chose," and realize that gay people don't choose their sexual orientation. And for the Christians who struggle with their responses to gays in their churches and communities, I'd suggest that you listen to, "Who would Jesus love?"
And those suggestions are just so folks can TRY to understand how people who are gay feel in just a small way. If it takes a few "listens," so be it - there's hope if you will hear that same heart of Ray Boltz that you came to love before YOU knew.
True also includes serious songs, as well as some with humor, and for those who are trying to reconcile their faith as it relates to self-acceptance, this entire collection of songs are true and self-accepting. Ray has never written anything he didn't fully commit to, and this CD is no different.
Prior to this recording, Ray adhered to faith that fulfilled the stereotypical fundamentalist. Now, he's still sharing faith, but it is deeper and it's honest in a way that he never could share before.
Once you've heard it, I hope it helps you understand how I can support and promote this record.
11 comments:
Thank you so very much for sharing your thoughts and feelings! I have listened and sung Ray's songs for as long as I can remember and I could not wait to hear his new songs about his journey. I was so excited to see on Facebook that his new project was ready for download so I purchased Ray's new CD on Amazon yesterday. After listening to TRUE on the way home from work yesterday, all I could do was sit in my car and cry. The music and the story of his personal journey touched my heart and life. Thank you for your sweet spirit as well... Please let him know that God is certainly STILL USING HIM to touch people.
Allen in Atlanta
- April 28, 2010 at 1:00 PM
- hadleybaker said...
I will not deny that many Christians come across as hating people who are gay and lesbian. While I will not defend the actions of some of my fellow church goers, it must be also noted that the Bible is crystal on the issue of homosexuality. I am not going to argue about "what if someone was born that way?" Even if they were, does this "exempt" them from what God's Word says? If the Bible is true, then it must all be true. If we do not accept all of its truth, then we cannot accept any of it. I am not mad at Ray Boltz. His music has been a blessing to my life. I pray that he will repent and seek the Lord for the strength to walk away from this sin.
- April 28, 2010 at 1:34 PM
I have been a lurker for about 4 months. I sincerely appreciate everything you have written; you give some of us hope that one day there will be a place in the Church for LGBTQ people. I already know there is a place for us in Kingdom of God.
May God continue to bless your life as you go about His work.
Brian in Austin, TX
- April 28, 2010 at 3:48 PM
- Carol said...
Hadley - You said: "I am not going to argue about "what if someone was born that way?" Here is what I say: Long ago, people thought that if someone had cancer, it was a demon. It was thought that a person who was mentally retarded should be locked up. As recently as 100 years ago, women were refused information about birth control (in some places they still are!). We no longer rail when a young girl gets pregnant without marriage, or when a couple lives together before marriage. We even have showers for the new baby, and we let brides wear white, even though that has traditionally been reserved for virgins. I would be embarrassed to go to a wedding where anyone questioned the white-dressed bride these days.
These things have all changed in our culture, and by that I mean that thinking people and loving people no longer treat others this way. Now, I tell you this...We have learned at least some about sexual orientation, and we no longer should turn people away from houses of faith because they are gay. We should not tell them they can't be with the one they love because of traditions that are 100s of years old. Then, once we allow them to have coupled relationships civilized, then just let them live their lives. You don't have to live a life with no hope of EVER having an honest sexual relationship! No one makes you! But I daresay that if you are straight, no one is policing your date-life.
You also say: "If the Bible is true, then it must all be true. If we do not accept all of its truth, then we cannot accept any of it."
I say: The Bible can be true, but it isn't all literal. We don't TAKE it literally, even if you think you do. I bet you haven't stoned any rebellious children in your community (nor should you). I assume you have not plucked out your eye when it offended you (nor should you). And I bet you even have some divorced friends, and I would hope that you are granting them grace to live full lives and re-marry if they choose. If you take the Bible literally, you would adhere without reservation. In America, in our churches, we have taken our faith and overlaid our culture on top of it (or is it the other way 'round?) Whichever it is, we can accept the Bible, because we do already, and receive truth, without picking on gay people (which we also have done, and we need to stop).
- April 28, 2010 at 8:35 PM
- deb said...
Carol, Your comment to Hadley needs to be a post of its own. :)
- April 28, 2010 at 10:28 PM
Carol, your touching words and accepting spirit make me think of my dear former wife, whom I was so sad to leave 8 years ago when after many years in the "ex-gay" movement I finally determined to accept what was true. They were challenging times for us. We both loved Ray's music and ministry, and I was shocked, amazed, and renewed by his story ... and yours. We, too, have great kids, so my exwife and I are still connected, but it is sometimes strained. I shared your blog with her hoping that she'll find comfort in your experience. Bless you for sharing.
John in Indiana
- April 28, 2010 at 11:04 PM
- Karen said...
Carol has given you an excellent response (by the way, I agree it could be a post itself) but I would like to add just a little to it.
You say that the Bible is crystal on the issue. I don't doubt that you have a copy in English that reads that way. The text in the original language simply doesn't support that translation. To read (or translate) the Bible through the assumptions of our own time and culture is to profoundly distort the message of the Bible. That is what you are doing.
- April 29, 2010 at 6:58 AM
- hillsideslide said...
Here's the thing.
There is no consensus on how Christians view homosexuality. Some think it's a sin. Some think it's not.
I see no conflict btwn my faith and same-sex relationships. I believe that they fall under the themes of Love & "it is not good for Man to be alone."
AS a United Methodist, we incorporate Personal Experience, along with Scripture, Reason & Tradition into how we interpret God's call on our lives.
Karen's interpretation point factors into how I view those key scriptures.
Others choose to believe that Christian tradition and the 7, or less (depending on whether you count Old Testament laws), scriptures on this are clear: Homosexuality is a sin.
The Bible is pretty clear that we are responsible for judging ourselves only.
Paul makes that point about eating meat sacrificed to idols- some will see that as a problem/honoring those gods, while others know it's not a big deal. YET, they are all Christians.
Can't we take something from that?
- April 29, 2010 at 1:29 PM
- Carol said...
To the anonymous commenters, the ones who think that I'm wrong about people who are gay:
I won't publish your comments that criticize gay people because of their sexual orientation, insisting that "some of my friends are gay." Let me share this with you: If you hold the opinion that they are "openly practicing the homosexual lifestyle," and you don't approve, they don't really think of you as their friend.
I won't publish the messages that say that gay people must be denied freedom to share their lives with another adult to whom they are emotionally and physically attracted. When you (anonymous commenters) say that someone is "practicing an open homosexual lifestyle" I know you are drawing lines of rejection, and that you assume that all people who are gay adhere to crazy and irresponsible sex - and that isn't true.
I won't publish comments that assume that molestation is the source of same-sex attraction. This is not based in fact.
I refuse to publish comments that call gay people sinners in the same way as murderers, pedophiles, rapists, or those in incestuous relationships.
There are other reasons that I reject comments, but tonight it's late, and this is my short list.
- May 1, 2010 at 12:41 AM
- Mary Kay said...
As we talked before my parent's are AG and I hated the way they judged people so when I got out on my own I became Catholic because they showed compassion and forgiveness and no hate. Sorry if I repeat myself here.
But, I hope you don't mind if I copy some of your blogs to show my parent's pastor.
As I told you before my 16 year old daughter is a beautiful singer. But she is shy. My mother begged her to sing a song at my parent's church for the Mother-Daughter Banquet. My girl's grew up listening to Ray Boltz. So, my little one thought the song "Thank You" would be really special to sing at the banquet. My mom told the pastor's wife (who is the praise and worship leader) that my daughter will sing that song. The pastor and his wife had no problem with it (they did not know Ray was gay). Well their daughter-n-law who is from Muncie was putting together the programs. She immediately called the pastor and gave him an earful on Ray. Some of it was not true because you have shared almost everything. The pastor called my parents and told them my daughter needed to pick a different song by a different artist.
She did not pick that song because she supports the gay and lesbian community she picked it because she thought that was a very appropriate song and she knows it by heart. She likes Michael English too and they asked her to sing Your Love Amazes Me. She refused. She said Michael had a past in the late 90's and everyone forgave him and if people can not forgive and accept Ray then she is not singing and is going to "boycott" the banquet. Well, she is my daughter and I want to be with my mother my I need to "boycott" it as well and support my daughter!
I just can't believe how shallow some Christians or so called Christians can be!
Hugs and Prayers!
- May 1, 2010 at 3:54 AM
Wow.... what a truely powerful message you and Ray have both given by both your testimony and witness. I was very skeptical before listening to Ray's new songs and reading the words on his blog. To answer the question, "Would God discriminate?" that really broke my heart. I could hear Ray's heartbreak as he sang about choices. Thank you for reminding me that God loves us all just as we are. My heart goes out to you and your family as you continue to heal and draw strength from others and from our great physician.
God Bless!
- May 3, 2010 at 8:29 PM


text:
Hardly a week goes by in the Lowcountry without a drugstore being held up for painkillers or another mobile meth lab being discovered in a car or hotel room.
It's a trend that is troubling law-enforcement officials all over the country, as evidenced by a national conference being held in Charleston this week to address the problem.
About 275 cops, prosecutors, intelligence analysts and chemists from 100 agencies in 40 states and several other countries have signed up for the National Methamphetamine and Pharmaceuticals Initiative's 2013 Strategy — Training Conference at the Lockwood Marriott Hotel. They are sharing tips and taking comfort in knowing they are not alone in the war.
Those in attendance Tuesday included the nation's drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. He said he was most encouraged to see so many different agencies working together.
"Especially after 9/11, there was all this criticism that the federal government doesn't share information (among its own agencies), that people don't work well together, they're too concerned about turf," he said during a brief break. "Well, here you see China, Mexico, you see law-enforcement agencies from the state, the county, the city level and the federal level all equally sharing information, exchanging new ideas, and there's not the least bit of turf. ... I think from a public-safety standpoint, from a health standpoint and from the use of taxpayer dollars, this makes an awful lot of sense."
Kerlikowske said he also talked about the prescription-drug problem over lunch with Charleston Police Chief Greg Mullen Tuesday, and also met with Charleston Mayor Joe Riley.
The conference is a reminder of the growing meth problem in South Carolina, Lt. Max Dorsey with the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division said between sessions. Agents are especially concerned about the increase in mobile meth labs. Addicts are making meth in soda bottles in cars, parks and motel rooms. Agents call it the "one-pot method."
"Since 2008, we've seen a huge increase in this method of manufacturing," Dorsey said. "This is the most popular manufacturing method in our state."
SLED busted 538 meth labs — most of them mobile labs — around the state last year. That was more than double the 267 meth-lab busts in 2011.
The number of soda-bottle meth labs took off after laws were passed that limited how much of the decongestant pseudoephedrine somebody can buy at a drugstore, since that's one of the ingredients used to make meth.
Addicts got around that obstacle by hiring others — SLED agents call them smurfers — to go to drugstores and get as many boxes of the ingredient as they could, then bring the boxes back to the meth maker, Dorsey said. Usually the payment is cash for the decongestant and a promise of some of the meth.
A law introduced by state Sen. Mike Fair, R-Greenville, hopes to break up that racket by making pseudoephedrine a controlled substance so people would need a prescription to buy it. It would make life more inconvenient for sinus sufferers, but everybody is already inconvenienced when a meth lab has to be decontaminated next door, he said. Meth making is also highly explosive and dangerous.
Oregon and Mississippi saw their meth busts drop significantly after passing similar laws, Dorsey said.
"This isn't just a criminal-justice problem," he said. "This is an issue that affects our economy, our environment, our children, our health-care system."


text:
The LA Archdiocese's response to sex abuse cover up: Too little, too late?
When the Archdiocese of Los Angeles was required by a court of law to hand over internal documents related to past cases of sexual abuse by priests, it was pretty clear why the archdiocese never wanted them to see the light of day. The documents show that the archdiocese, and specifically now retired archbishop Cardinal Roger Mahony, deliberately covered up the sexual abuse of children and sheltered priests who were guilty of abusing children from legal action.
Sadly, with all we've learned about how the church for years hid these atrocious crimes, that part wasn't surprising. But this part is: Current Archbishop Jose Gomez issued a public statement that Cardinal Mahony, his predecessor, would be removed from all involvement in archdiocesan administration and would no longer be active in public ministry. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry, who also was implicated in past cover ups of abuse while working under Mahony, has tendered his resignation from archdiocesan administration as well. (In another surprise, Mahony has issued a public response that attempts to save face by indicating how he cleaned up the archdiocese's handling of abuse cases in more recent years.)
It is worth reading Gomez's statement, and I think he deserves to be commended for taking this stance. It is rare to see bishops condemn one of their own, and taking public action against Mahony is a bold move that shows Gomez isn't taking the matter lightly. It is a positive and necessary step for a church that has a long way to go to repair its reputation on this issue and to prove that the sins of the past will never be repeated.
But taking action against Mahony now, when he's already settled into retirement, won't be enough to satisfy all the critics. Many are still waiting for something to be done about Bishop Robert Finn, who still serves as bishop of Kansas City-St.Joseph, Missouri in spite of being found guilty in a court of law for not reporting a priest who was in possession of hundreds of inappropriate photos of children. Finn's actions were a black eye on a church that couldn't afford to take another hit, as one bishop's recent failing to report a priest that may have posed a danger to children calls into question the church's generally strong efforts over the past 10 years to create a safe environment for young people. It also didn't help that the Philadelphia archdiocese failed to publicly condemn Msgr. William Lynn when he was found guilty last year for his role in covering up past abuse. In fact, the archdiocese even continued to fund his legal bills throughout the trial.
The church needs more leaders like Archbishop Gomez, who are willing to take a stand even when it means taking action against their fellow priests and bishops. No one is above the law, and when it comes to crimes against children, there's simply no excuse or justification from a moral standpoint for not taking action. The crimes of the past can't be undone, but there's still time to take whatever steps are possible to hold those who committed them accountable, and to prove that such actions will never be tolerated in the church--no matter how high ranking the perpetrator may be.


text:
Want to remind yourself or a friend about this program? Fill out this simple form and klru will email you a reminder on the day that it will air.
Episode Details
series: Muddy Waters & The Rolling Stones Live
air date: 3/02/13 8:30 PM
On November 22, 1981, in the middle of their mammoth American tour, the Rolling Stones arrived in Chicago prior to playing three nights at the Rosemont Horizon. Long influenced by the Chicago blues, the band paid a visit to Muddy Waters' club the Checkerboard Lounge to see the legendary bluesman perform. It didn't take long before Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Ian Stewart were joining in on stage, and later Buddy Guy and Lefty Dizz also played their part. It was a unique occasion that was fortunately captured on camera.
WARNING: Email reminders for this program have already been sent out. Your reminder may not reach the intended address in time for this program's airing.
Back to TV Schedule


text:
Honey Locust
One of the most popular landscape trees, the Honey Locust transitions from bright green foliage in the Summer months to a spectacular show in Fall when its half-leaflets turn a rich golden yellow. Hardy and fast-growing, the Honey Locust is often used to beautify parking lots and sidewalk squares, but makes a stunning addition to a yard as well, to provide wind blockage and light shade. A fitting gift for any occasion that not only last for years, but will grow to an impressive 60 feet tall and 40 feet wide when fully matured.