text:
In 1987, Professor William Sahlman of the Harvard Business School published a fifty-two page case study, "The Venture Capital Method," HBS Case # 9-288-006. In its most simple iteration, the method provides the following formula for calculating the post-money valuation of seed/start-up companies:
The formula is based on the following assumptions and definitions:
Simple iteration: This approach assumes that no more shares in the company will be issued after this round of funding, so the percentage of ownership of the investors will remain constant from investment to harvest. For high-growth companies, this assumption is unrealistic, but it's useful for illustrating the post-money valuation concept. In practice, such companies will likely require substantial additional cash to fund growth. Both debt (with warrants) and equity sources of cash will dilute founders and early investors alike. Building a management team requires providing option pools that often need to be refreshed. In the article "Seed- and Early-Stage Ventures" also available in the eVenturing Collection titled "Valuing Pre-revenue Companies," Luis Villalobos estimates that this dilution can reduce the return on investment by 3x to 5x.
Post-money valuation: The valuation of the company immediately after a round of investment is closed. The relationship between pre-money investment and post-money investment is as follows:
Pre-money valuation: The valuation of the company just before closing a new round of investment, including the value of the idea, the intellectual property, the assembled management team, and the opportunity.
Terminal value: The valuation of the company at exit; that is, the proceeds of the sale of the company via a merger or acquisition or an initial public offering and at which time the investors' ownership can be liquidated.
ROIn: The cash-on-cash return on investment expected for such an investment in the year of the harvest, or exit. This ROI is commonly expressed as a multiple of invested cash—that is, 10x, for example—regardless of the time since investment (n years).
Terminal Value
The valuation of an investor-funded company at exit in the nth year can be estimated by a variety of techniques. One common method is to (a) estimate revenues in the exit year; (b) use industry standards for earnings as a percentage of revenues; and (c) find price/earnings ratios for companies in the business vertical.
For example, 1) we estimate our target company can achieve revenues of $50 million in the exit year; 2) well-managed companies in this business segment typically earn 15 percent after-tax earnings; and 3) the market value for companies in this business is typically 12x earnings (a P/E ratio of 12). We can then calculate the terminal value in the nth year at $50 million x 15 percent x 12 = $90 million.
Another method for estimating terminal value is to use a multiple of annual revenues. Companies similar to the target company in the previous example might be selling for twice revenues in the nth year. The terminal value by this method, would be 2 x $50 million = $100 million.
These are only two of many methodologies for estimating terminal value. Careful investors often use a weighted average of multiple methods to calculate the estimated terminal value for the formula at the beginning of this article.
Anticipated Return on Investment (ROI)
My target ROI for investing in the first professional round of funding in a seed/start-up company is 30x. This number assumes the company has a first-time entrepreneur building a management team, a prototyped product, identified customers, some intellectual property as a competitive advantage, and no revenues. For companies that have met additional milestones, I might accept a lower ROI for calculating post-money valuation with Professor Sahlman's formula.
"Why so high?" some might ask. Isn't this really greedy? Not at all! Recall that Villalobos estimates investors in high-growth companies are likely to suffer 3x to 5x dilution between investment and exit. This dilution substantially reduces the eventual ROI at harvest. Even so, dilution is only part of the logic behind such a "high" anticipated ROI for seed/start-up investments.
Very early-stage investing is very high-risk investing. In a typical portfolio of ten companies, seed/start-up investors can expect three to five of those companies to fail completely: no return of capital; a total write-off. Another three or four will provide some return of capital or a small return on investment. Investors hope that these three or four companies will return all the invested capital of the original portfolio at exit. For harvesting the funding of seed/start-up companies, investors expect to achieve virtually all of their ROI beyond return of capital from one, or perhaps two, companies.
To provide an ROI for their portfolios that justifies the considerable risk involved in seed/start-up investing, the winners must be home runs yielding 10x to 50x invested capital. And since home runs are so rare, investors must make sure that all companies in their portfolios are sufficiently scaleable to potentially achieve these whopping returns. Expecting a 20x to 30x ROI in the simplified post-money valuation calculation is a necessity for successful seed/start-up investing.
Using the Simplified Venture Capital Metho
So, if the terminal value of a company seeking seed/start-up capital is estimated to be $60 million and we assume the stage of the company is appropriate for investors to expect 30x ROI in year of harvest, then the post-money valuation of this company can be estimated at $2 million. If the required investment is $0.5 million, then the pre-money valuation would be $1.5 million. These calculations are shown in the following formulas:
For the past decade or so, the average pre-money valuations of seed venture capital deals have been between $1.5 million and $2 million. Furthermore, my experience is that typical pre-money valuations for seed/start-up companies are between $1 million and $3 million. Higher pre-money valuations can be justified based on experienced management teams that have more valuable intellectual property and that achieve more milestones than companies with lower pre-money valuations.
© 2007 Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. All rights reserved.
William H. (Bill) Payne Senior Program Consultant Kauffman Foundation


text:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Bazaar Tavern Blacksmith Courier Mission Guild Settings
Jeweller Premium My friends Battlefield
Highscore Game Rules
Knights were the true followers of the king in the Middle Ages who went to battle for the king and for honour, glory and justice. Due to their respectability they became known as Knights of the Light. However, for many honour was not enough and they began to violate their oath and fill their treasure chambers with the loot they stole from the victims of their bloody rampages. These knights were known as the Horde of Darkness. Swear your oath of knighthood and choose your own destiny and allegiance through the decisions you make in-game! Fight for honour, glory, prestige and justice or earn your daily bread by carrying out brutal and immoral assignments. The decision rests in your hand!Game Basics
Once you have registered you find yourself on the overview page of your knight. Here you can find important information about your character and also your personal link, with which you can convert knaves to knights online by placing the link appropriately. For example, you can send the link to your friends, place it on your homepage or use it as a signature in forums. If an unsuspecting knave clicks on your link, you receive 1-3 gold as a reward. If the knave registers for KnightFight and also becomes a knight, you have knighted him/her and you receive 25% of the gold that the knave receives from his/her own internet knaves! For each knight you have transformed who reaches level 3, you receive 250 gold and 1 experience point! When your knave reaches level 10, you receive an additional 100 jewels and 1 experience point! You can invest your Gold in training for your character to improve the character attributes or you can buy better weapons, armour, shields, amulets and rings.
You can directly challenge other knights to a challenge, whereby your character abilities and equipment play an important role. More information is available under "Overview".
List of features:
- Choose from hundreds of weapons, suits of armour, shields, amulets and rings to improve your fighting abilities.
- Buy soul stones to energize your weapon with magical powers and inflict extra damage to your enemies.
- Upgrade your estate to show your wealth and status and increase your rate of healing.
- Establish a guild and erect the largest castle in the entire region.
- Customise your own individual coat of arms.
- Customise your personal character avatar; there are billions of possible combinations!
- Improve your skills for wearing armour and using shields and one- and two-handed weapons.
- Train your fighting abilities to remain a few steps ahead of your competitors.
- Give your weapon a name to stand out from the crowd.
- Undertake various assignments in the tavern and decide for yourself whether you want to be good or evil.
Here you can see all of the vital information for your character, such as how much Loot you have already accumulated, your Attributes, your equipment and how much Gold you currently have available. You also see detailed statistics about your past battles against the enemy race and can find a list of any knights you may have transformed already. You can also train the abilities of your knihgt and improve your character's skills so you can use more advanced weapons and armour.
Here are a few details about the Attributes of your character:Alignment
Your decisions in-game determine your alignment, sending you on the path to good or evil. If your alignment is between -50 and +50, you are neutral. Certain items are restricted to characters with a good or evil alignment.
Strength determines how much damage you do, IF you are able to strike your opponent.
The better your dexterity, the more effectively you are able to use your armour and shield.
Stamina determines how long you are able to fight and how many rounds you can maintain your effectiveness.
Fighting ability
Your fighting ability determines how effective your attacks will be.
Parry affects your ability to repel enemy attacks.
You receive Experience Points when you fight against characters that have the same or a higher level than you. You get 2 Points if you defeat a character of a higher level and receive 1 point every time you fight enemies of the same level, whether or not you win! When you have amassed enough experience, you are promoted to the next level; you receive 3 skill points, your total maximum health points increase, and you receive a Gold bonus.
The skills of your character:Armour Skill
The higher this skill is, the better the types of armour and shields you may purchase.
One-handed Attack
The higher this skill is, the better the types of one-handed weapons you may purchase.
Two-handed Attack
The higher this skill is, the better the types of two-handed weapons you may purchase.
Upgrade Estate
You can upgrade your estate. The higher the level of your estate, the faster the wounds of your character will heal!
Equip character
In your estate you can equip your character with new weapons and other items, such as rings, amulets and armour.
Pray at the Altar
You can pray to your God at the altar and ask for healing. If you offer enough gold, your prayers will certainly be answered! ;)
The merchant will sell and buy weapons, armour, shields, amulets, rings and soul stones. When purchasing weapons and armour, your skill level will determine which weapons are available. Rings, amulet and soul stone availability is determined by your level. Certain items are only available to characters of a certain alignment.
The Items:Weapons
At first you can only buy one- and two-handed weapons. Once you have reached a higher skill level, you will also be able to purchase morning stars and axes. Weapons increase the damage you can deal to your enemies during a battle. Higher level weapons can be set with up to 3 soul stones.
Shields improve your defence and increase the attribute "Parry".
Armour improves your defence.
Rings can improve the attributes of the bearer, depending on the type of magic the ring has been imbued with.
Amulets can improve the attributes of the bearer, depending on the type of magic the ring has been imbued with. They can also defend the bearer against certain types of magic.
Soul Stones
Soul stones can be set in certain weapons that have sockets, bestowing the weapon with the ability to cause magical damage. There are 6 types of magical damage: ice, fire, lightning (can't be purchased from the merchant), shadow (evil alignment), holy (good alignment) and dragon damage.
The bazaar offers several possibilities:Seller's stand
At the weapon stand you will find a selection of 5-7 items available for purchase. You may be offered lightning stones or special weapons that are not available anywhere else in the game and/or you may be offered normal items that can be purchased in the shop but at a different price. Whether you make a purchase or not, all the prices and items shown will be available for 24 hours from the time you were offered them. However, since you are in the bazaar, you should compare the prices with those in the shop, you may pay more than you think!
Buyer's stand
You can offer the buyer any item in your inventory. The buyer will make you an offer for the item; the offer may be more or less than the item is normally worth in the shop, so compare prices carefully! If you accept the offer you can offer the buyer another item right away. If you do not take his offer, you must wait 6 hours before you can can attempt to sell another item in the bazaar.
Game of chance
In the bazaar you can also play the infamous shell game for a wager of 10-100 gold.
In the tavern you can accept various assignments that take between 1 und 12 hours to complete. Your receive gold and occasionally jewels for completing these assignments. Assignments influence your alignment depending on the quest at hand, leading you to the path of good or evil. Choose your assignments carefully!Blacksmith
By clicking on the "Blacksmith" button next to your equipped weapon on the overview page you will enter the blacksmith's shop. There you can give your weapon an individual fantasy name. Furthermore, you can set your weapon with up to 3 soul stones, which causes your weapon to inflict magical damage to the enemy; the type of damage depends on the soul stone type used. Only magical amulets (can be purchased from the merchant) can protect you against magical damage. The blacksmith can also improve each weapon three times by sharpening it; each level of sharpening causes added damage.Courier
The royal courier service allows you to send and receive dispatches to/from other players. Here you can also see your attack and defence reports.Mission
Here you can challenge other knights to a duel to see how you measure up to them. If you attack weaker knights (level -5), you lose experience points; the higher your level, the larger the level range you can attack with no penalty becomes (starting at level 51!). If you challenge equally strong or stronger opponents, you gain experience points. If you fight against Knights of the Light, your alignment shifts a bit towards evil and vice versa. If you win a challenge, you receive about 5-10% of the opponent's gold.
Battle Sequence
Battles take place in rounds. The higher your stamina, the more battle rounds you can endure. During each round a dice roll determines if a successful attack has taken place or if the defender was able to parry the attack; here the attributes fighting ability and parry are very important. The challenger always gets the first attack. If an attack is successful, the damage and damage absorption of the defender will be determined by a roll of the dice. The difference (if positive) will be deducted from the remaining health points of the defender. If the health points of a player fall below 10 points, he/she automatically flees and loses the battle. The player who inflicted the most damage is the winner. Damage can be increased by magical weapons but this magical damage can be absorbed by the proper amulet. E.g., if a weapon can inflict +2 points of ice damage and the opponent is wearing an +1 amulet of ice-damage resistance, then the minimum and maximum damage values are increased by only one point instead of 2. All battle statistics are shown in detail in the battle report.
Here you can also send your player on missions as a robber knight or protector of the weak and poor, changing your alignment correspondingly. Your character receives gold for successful missions but missions can also fail, resulting in nothing!
Here several players can form a guild. Using the "Guild" link you can either search for an existing guild and apply for membership there or, if your character has reached level 5, you can establish your own guild for 1,000 gold pieces. Once you have joined or formed a guild, you will see new menu options under the "Guild" link. As a founder and admin of the guild you can accept new members, set individual permissions and kick guild members. Guild members must wait 7 days before rejoining the same guild once they have left or been kicked out of that guild! You can also upgrade your guild's castle here; each upgrade level increases the number of knights your guild can hold. In order to continue upgrading the castle, your guild will need a great deal of gold that can be donated by the members.
Under the menu item "Guild wars", the admins of your guild can declare war on another guild. Every war starts after a 24-hour waiting period and then runs for 7 days, during which time all battles between members of the warring guilds will be recorded. For each battle, the number of victories, damage done and stolen gold is recorded and after 7 days the guild with the most points in two of these categories is declared the winner. The number of wars won/lost is shown in the guild highscore and on the guild's profile. Only guilds with 5 or more members can declare a war; any time a guild falls below 5 members, any active wars will be ended and recorded as a loss for the guild! The same applies for guilds that lose more than 20% of the members present when a war was declared, the war will be ended as a loss for the guild that no longer fulfills the member requirement. Additionally, guilds may only directly attack other guilds with +/- 70% more/less members than the own guild; any attacks on guilds that are not within this 70% range must be approved by the opposing guild. If a guild member leaves the guild during a war (or at any other time), he/she may not re-enter the guild for 7 days! Guilds must exist for at least two weeks before they can declare a war. Each guild may only carry out 5 wars at one time and may end the war by capitulating to the enemy guild; capitulation will always be counted as a loss for the guild that yields to the opponent! Each war will cost the guild 1,000 gold for each 10 members currently in the guild (example: 50 members will cost the guild 5,000 gold for a clan war).Settings
Here you can change your account settings. For example, you can add some background information about your character or create a text to be sent to victims once they click on your personal link! If you have a Premium account, you can change your character's name as often as you please.Jeweller
Here you can buy the so-called jewel tickets. Each jewel ticket you activate will credit your game account with 500 jewels. Jewels can be used to activate a Premium account or can be traded for special items. You can also exchange jewels directly for gold in a 2:1 ratio. On quest missions (in the tavern) you can also receive jewels as a reward for completing an assignment.Premium
The link "Premium" leads you the area where you can buy a Premium account. If you become a Premium player by exchanging 500 jewels for 30 days of Premium time, the game is free of advertising, you can fight more often, you can customise your character avatar and enjoy many other benefits! A Premium ticket can be exchanged for 500 jewels, which can be purchased at the jeweller.My friends
Here you see a list of the players who have either clicked on your link and registered an account on the same game world or entered your name as their friend when they registered. As soon as someone clicks on your link, he/she has been recruited and you receive 1-3 Gold! If the recruit registers for KnightFight, you receive 250 gold once the recruited knight has reached level 3! Once the recruited knight reaches level 10, you will receive 100 free jewels! WARNING! All attempts to gain free jewels by registering fake/multiple accounts using your link will result in deletion of ALL involved accounts with no warning!Battlefield More information can be found here
On the battlefield you can see how you measure up to other Battle Server participants from all existing KnightFight worlds. To enter the international Battle Server, your character must be at least level 10 and be appropriately equipped and skilled for the current level. The equipment used must also match the character's skill points.Highscore
Here you can see the most successful knights and guilds overall and also find weekly top 1000 statistics in which the best players of the week for various categories are shown; the top 1000 statistics are updated each week on Friday night. This so-called PvP (player vs. player) ranking is based on the fighting activities of the player from the past 4 weeks. Data such as number of victories, number of losses, experience points gained and gold gained are used to determine the PvP ranking. Battles from the past week are more heavily weighted than battles that occured 2, 3 or 4 weeks ago.
The following rank titles with corresponding icons are granted to the players in the top 1000 ranking:
|Rank good
|Rank neutral
|Rank evil
|War Herald
War Herald
|Dark Guardian
Dark Guardian
|Blood Drinker
Blood Drinker
|Vengeful Slayer
Vengeful Slayer
|Field commander
Field commander
|Field commander
Field commander
|Battle Fiend
Battle Fiend
|Field Marshal
Field Marshal
|Field Marshal
Field Marshal
|Prince of War
Princess of War
|Lord Marshal
Lady Marshal
|Lord Marshal
Lady Marshal
|Grand Duke of War
Grand Duchess of War
|Knight of Light
Knight of Light
|Prince of Darkness
Princess of Darkness
1) Players have no legal claim to a game account.
2) Players must heed instructions given by the game operator and the game and forum administration.
3) Spamming or flooding public forums, bulletin boards or chats with Victim Links is forbidden and can lead to deletion of all game accounts involved.
4) All bugs (defects resulting from the game programming) must be reported to the KnightFight Team immediately. Intentional use of a known bug for personal gain will result in the deletion of any accounts involved in the bug-using.
5) Multi-accounts (more than 1 Account per USER per SERVER) and any other form of cheating are forbidden and any game accounts involved in violations of these rules are subject to immediate deletion. Farming (attacks on your own multiaccounts or the accounts of other player who prepare the account(s) for your attack) will result in account deletion with NO warning and NO exceptions!
6) The use of scripts, bots and similar programmes to automate actions in the game will result in deletion of your account. Scripts/Bots include programmes that carry out actions of any kind in the game automatically or through manual control by the user. Such actions include reading data directly from the game-server or the pages making up the game. This includes the use of link exchanges and all internet services that make possible automatic clicking of personal links!
7) The accounts of players who insult other players or members of the KnightFight Team may be deleted without notice.
8) Players are not allowed to sell parts of the game or game accounts on internet auction sites or anywhere else; any accounts involved will be deleted with no warning. Game accounts may be traded for Jewel/Premium tickets or accounts on other RMS game servers, but the players carrying out the trade assume the responsibility for the transaction. Neither RedMoon Studios nor the game support staff will settle disputes arising from account trades!
9) The accounts of players who log into the account of another player without permission or hack player accounts will be deleted.
10) The game and/or game-board accounts of players with offensive, pornographic, illegal, politically charged or right-wing extremist character names or clan names/tags are subject to immediate deletion.
11) The accounts of players sending offensive, pornographic, illegal, sexist, or politically radical (Neo-Nazi, racist etc.) in-game messages or game board PMs or players with such content in their descriptions (whether text or pictures) are subject to immediate deletion.
12) We want to expressly state that each player is solely responsible for the distribution of his/her own Victim Link. We will assume absolutely no responsibility for consequences arising from the improper placement of Victim Links in public chats, guest books, boards or forums if the player has violated any rules by placing the Victim Link there.
13) Unauthorised takeovers of clans after a clan fusion has been completed or ANY takeovers involving logging or hacking into to the accounts of other players will lead to the deletion of your own account!
14) Spamming or deliberately annoying or provoking other players via in-game message or per forum PM is forbidden. You will be warned if we receive complaints from other players and the game accounts of repeat offenders will be deleted! Repeat attacks are NOT a form of harassment!
15) Sending other players in-game messages or forum PM containing invitations to join your clan is forbidden. There are threads in the game forum intended to provide you with a means to advertise for your clan. You will be warned if we receive complaints from other players and the game accounts of repeat offenders are subject to deletion!
16) Bite links must be clearly recognisable as a bite link and the victim must have a chance to decide whether or not he/she wants to be bitten. The use of shortlinks, popups or pages containing multiple bite links that automatically open is forbidden and may result in account deletion! Bite links must be placed in such a manner that the actual address is visible upon mouseover, but you can use a text tag to "disguise" the link.
17) The distribution of any tools/bots/scripts intended to manipulate KnightFight is forbidden and will result in the deletion of the game accounts involved. See also Rule 6)
18) The content of clan or character descriptions may not distort the pages and frames used in the game (Maximum width = 530 pixels!). The use of senseless texts, images or empty space is forbidden if the sole purpose of the content is to lengthen the description and make attacks difficult.
19) Player names and battle reports may be posted in clan or character descriptions BUT must be removed immediately if the player requests removal of the information and using the information in an insulting manner is of course forbidden!
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. ("Google"). Google Analytics uses "cookies", which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. By using this website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the manner and for the purposes set out above.


text:
Why can't I access my album in Internet Explorer?
You may not be able to access the application if your security level is set to High. To access the application, you can either change the security level to Medium or add the application's URL to your Trusted Sites list.
- In Internet Explorer, from the Tools menu, click Internet Options.
- Click Security.
- Click Trusted Sites.
- In the Security level for this zone box, check your security level. You may need to do one of the following:
- If it is set to High, use the slider to change it to a Medium or lower security level.
- If it is set to Custom, click Default Level, and then use the slider to change it to a Medium or lower security level.
- Click Sites.
- Clear the Require server verification check box.
- In the Add this website to the zone field, type http://app.onlinephotofiler.com.
Note: Although you add app.onlinephotofiler.com to your trusted sites, there is no login page. To log in to your account, log in through your GoDaddy account or go to the domain you set up to work with Photo Album, click Login, and log in to your account.
- Click OK.
- On the Internet Options window, click OK.


text:
The Endless Summer of Gronk rolls on. On Sunday night, Gronkowski hosted a watch party in Foxboro for the Cowboys-Saints game. For $87 a person, attendees received food, two drinks, a photo with Rob, and the opportunity to be playfully stereotyped.
TMZ has published this video of Gronkowski saying of a dancing Asian man, "they told me he could only cook fried rice." He then followed up by calling him Leslie Chow, Ken Jeong's character from The Hangover movies.
That's right around the point that someone grabs the mic to warn attendees that they have to turn over cell phone footage of the night.


text:
Registration can be made
by email – firstname.lastname@example.com
by post, 611 Military Road, Mosman 2088,
by phone 02 9969 4911
by fax 02 9969 7929
or in person.
If you book more than any four classes, pay 50% deposit now and final payment will be due one week prior to each class.
If you book more than six classes, you may bring a friend to one of the classes as my guest. This class must be selected when you book.
Subscribe to our newsletter and you will be advised of last minute class vacancies.
Click here to subscribe
What would you like us to do? Which chefs would you like to hear from? Email us your suggestions at firstname.lastname@example.com
Tessa Kiros was born in London to a Finnish mother and Greek-Cypriot father. She grew up in South Africa and has since travelled the world learning about diverse cultures, traditions and tastes. She has worked in restaurants in Australia, Greece, Mexico and at the famous Groucho Club in London. She and her husband call Italy home.
No one captures the spirit and soul of a place quite like Tessa. Her bestselling cookbooks Twelve, Falling Cloudberries, Apples for Jam, Piri Piri Starfish and Venezia have taken lovers of food and armchair travellers on adventures in her favourite places. Who better than Tessa to take you on a colourful and magical journey into the kitchens of her friends and family, cataloguing the traditional Greek foods for festivals, feast days and fasting in her own enchanting way.
Published by Murdoch Books. RRP $69.95.
Available from Accoutrement.
Check MOSMAN 2088 MAGAZINE for more recipes from Accoutrement every month.
Tomatokeftedes: Fried Tomato Balls - Makes about 15
300g lovely ripe red tomatoes (about 3)
70g (1 small) red onion, roughly chopped
3 heaped tablespoons roughly chopped mint
100g (1 2/3 cup) plain all-purpose flour
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
olive oil, for frying
Cut the top hats off the unpeeled tomatoes and discard. Slice the tomatoes into 6 wedges then chop each wedge into 4 or 5 pieces. Scrape off the board into a bowl but leave behind the excess juice. Add the onion, mint and half the flour to the bowl. Season with salt and pepper and knead in well. Leave for 10 minutes or so to soften.
Make a paste with the remaining flour, the baking powder and 80ml (1/3 cup) of water. Add to the bowl and mix in well. Heat olive oil to a depth of about 1.5cm in a large non-stick frying pan until very hot.
Scoop up a good tablespoon of the mixture and with another spoon, scrape this into the hot oil in lovely irregular fritters. Fry a few at a time, turning them over when golden to fry the other side. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a plate lined with paper towels. Sprinkle with a little extra salt and serve on a clean plate.
Arni Lemonato: Lemon and Oregano Lamb - SERVES 4 to 6
375ml (1 1/2 cups) fresh lemon juice (6 to 7 lemons)
125ml (1/2 cup) olive oil
1 heaped tablespoon dried oregano
1.5 kg leg of lamb, bone hacked in one place and hinged, so it fits in the dish
1.2kg potatoes, cut into nice big chunks
Mix the lemon juice, olive oil and oregano with 375ml (1 1/2 cups) of water in a large non-corrosive baking dish. Rub the lamb well all over with salt and black pepper and put it in the marinade.
Turn it over a couple of times to coat well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours, turning it frequently throughout your waking hours.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Cover the lamb with a sheet of baking paper and then cover the dish tightly with 3 layers of foil. Bake for 1 hour. Turn the lamb over, cover again and reduce the heat to 150ºC.
Bake the lamb for another 2 hours. Now turn the lamb gently as it will be very tender. Add the potatoes to the dish and sprinkle a little salt over them. Cover again and bake for 2 hours, turning the potatoes once during this time. Remove the foil, shuffle the potatoes and put back in the oven at 200ºC.
Roast the potatoes until a little golden here and there, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and rest the lamb for 5 minutes before serving..
Custard and Pine Nut Tart - SERVES 12
120g unsalted butter, melted to golden
12 sheets phyllo*, at least 30 x 38cm in size
280g sugar
1 long strip of lemon peel
225g sugar
75g fine semolina
20g cornflour
4 egg yolks, plus
2 whole eggs
1.5 litres (6 cups) milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
a nice grating of fresh nutmeg
To make the syrup, put the sugar and lemon peel in a small saucepan and add 185ml (3/4 cup) of water. Put over a medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool. Preheat the oven to 175ºC.
For the filling put the sugar, semolina and cornflour in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add all the eggs and beat until thick and pale. Heat the milk, vanilla and nutmeg in a large saucepan to just below boiling.
Add a ladleful to the eggs and mix in. Add another ladleful, mix, and continue until all the milk has been added. Scrape back into the pot and return it to the heat on low for 5 or 10 minutes, whisking often until it is very thick and nothing sticks to the bottom.
When it's thickened and glooping and is just at the point before boiling, remove from the heat.
Have the phyllo sheets ready, covered by a tea towel to prevent them drying out. Brush the base and sides of a 22 x 30cm ovenproof dish with butter.
Lay 1 sheet of phyllo on your work surface and brush with butter. Cover with another sheet, brush it with buter and continue in this way until you have a stack of 6 sheets. Lift them up and fit into the buttered dish, covering the base and sides.
Press them gently into the corners of the dish to make a nest for the filling. Pour the filling on top and smooth the surface.
Make another stack of 6 buttered phyllo sheets. Lift this onto the pie, covering the filling. Press the two overhanging layers of phyllo together, trimming these to a couple of centimetres. Roll these edges over on themselves to seal the filling in.
Using a sharp knife, gently score the top pastry into 12 pieces, only cutting through the top sheet or two of phyllo. Flick a little cold water here and there (to prevent the phyllo curling).
Bake until crisp and golden, about 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, rest for a couple of minutes then pour the syrup over the top, covering all the pie. Now leave for at least 1 hour before serving to allow the syrup to settle as the pie cools.
Will keep for a number of days if left, covered with a tea towel, in a cool dry place (not refrigerated).
*Note: The phyllo sheets need to be large enough to cover the base and sides of a 22 x 30cm dish. If yours are smaller, use more sheets and cut to fit.


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My sister is a fearful flyer. Not just mildly bothered, but full-out aggitated, stresses herself, cringes at every bump of turbulence kind of fearful. Despite that, her love of Italy, desire for some sister time and need of a vacation drove her to stuff a suitcase, zonk down Xanax, and board a plane across the ocean.
She didn't have many things on her sightseeing program but was decisive about a few things: meals she wanted to eat and beaches she wanted to visit. Having come mostly in spring or autumn, she hadn't really been able to see Italy's coast in sunny, warm weather before.
This turned out to the be Trip of the Three Seas. She dipped her feet into all three of Italy's surrounding bodies of water in her two-week trip.
The first was the Ionian, which flows into the instep of Italy's boot. Located an hour from my village, it's the closest sea to us but is -I hate to admit- a fairly unimpressive flat plain flanked by concrete block towns. The redeeming value is that there are some natural beaches backed by pines and dunes where only a few of the beach establishments are allowed, where few tourists flock, and where you can relax to the sound of the surf.
If you head to the Ionian Sea, bypass the squalor of Scanzano and the low-class mediocrity of Metaponto and park yourself at Marina di Pisticci. Here you'll find better exposure to breezes, long stretches of sand, and stands of woods to break the beach monotony. Our favorite parking place is the Riva dei Ginepri, a summer vendor with thatch umbrellas, lounge chairs and a snack bar that also serves up decent lunches. I figure if it's good enough for the guests of Francis Ford Coppola's swanky hotel, then it's good enough for me. Or, at least, they don't turn me away. Granted I don't get to garner one of the luxurious curtained cabanas that are set aside for the Coppola crowd, but it's a nice place to spend a day at the beach.
Dazzling white legs of sister Cara in the Ionian Sea
Cara didn't want to swim, so we strolled the shoreline, evading several medusas (jellyfish) that were washed up on the sand, and she snapped a photo of her feet in the water to prove she was at the Ionian, the soemtimes forgotten of Italy's seas.
We headed uphill afterwards to Bernalda, home of the hotel that is gaining fame to have an aperitivo in Coppola's Cinecitta' Bar, where we were warmly welcomed and graciously served by a top-notch barkeep who chose a great local white for us to try.
A piece of local gossip that we heard is that the Palazzo Margherita will soon be the site of the big-splashy wedding between Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel (next week, they say). We'll see if the Bernalda rumor mill turns out to have credence.
Next time...the Mediterranean.


text:
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text: The songs, dancing and drumbeats of Destiny Africa Children's Choir enthralled Warwick Mall patrons Saturday. The group is on an extended tour from their home in Uganda to help raise funds and awareness of the Kampala Children's Centre and its goal is to eventually house, educate and care for at least 1,000 orphans. Mary Lou Lamontagne of Warwick is tour manager and arranged for choir members to stay with community hosts while in Rhode Island. The choir held other performances in the state during its visit as well. All choir members are orphans, said Lamontagne. She said the Centre opened in 2005, and is now home to approximately 120 children. The Centre is a community of homes, a school, a farm, youth center, workshop and other resources where these children live, learn and thrive. "Their lives have been transformed and now these children sing a new song, one of hope, restoration, freedom and joy and they are bringing it on tour," she said. To learn more about the Destiny Africa Children's Choir and their home in Uganda, go to www.destinyafrica.org and www.kampalachildren.org. (Warwick Beacon photos)


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SKF hybrid bearings
Mixing materials for more fan compressor uptime
Silicon nitride is an electric insulating ceramic that also has a lower coefficient of thermal expansion, making the hybrid bearing less sensitive to temperature gradients at high temperatures. The capability to run under poor lubrication enables design of low friction solutions in which the bearings run cooler, design is simpler and friction significantly reduced. Thanks to the lower material density of the ceramic rolling elements and lower inertia, higher speeds and more rapid starts and stops are possible.
An excellent multi-functions-in-one solution, SKF hybrid bearings offer several benefits:
- Greater reliability
- Reduced maintenance
- Extended service life
- Lower operating costs
- Effective electrical insulation
- Global availability and support
SKF hybrid bearings
Longer lasting under extreme conditions
Featuring a very smooth service finish and low conductivity, SKF hybrid bearings cut lubricant consumption and open up a wide range of possibilities for rolling bearings. Features include:
- Lower density - Silicon nitride balls have a density of only 40% of similar steel balls, enabling higher speeds, less weight, lower inertia, plus more rapid starts and stops.
- Low friction - Silicon nitride's low coefficient of friction enhances wear resistance, allowing bearings to run cooler even when they are poorly lubricated.
- Higher modulus of elasticity - Ceramic balls have 50% higher modulus elasticity than steel for increased bearing stiffness.
- Low conductivity - Ceramic balls act as a barrier to electrical current passing between inner and outer rings, thereby delivering a simple method of insulation.
- Lower coefficient of thermal expansion - Ceramic balls have a thermal expansion only 29% of similar steel balls, which allows less sensitivity to temperature gradients for more accurate preload control.


text:
Real quick, Star Citizen is:
- A rich universe focused on epic space adventure, trading and dogfighting in first person.
- Single Player – Offline or Online(Drop in / Drop out co-op play)
- Persistent Universe (hosted by US)
- Mod-able multiplayer (hosted by YOU)
- No Subscriptions
- No Pay to Win
For more information, there's a lot to read down below, and there's our 'living document' The Star Citizen Project you can comb through also. Also - all games come with a digital copy of the Manual.
Here's the deal. We're doing crowdfunding on Kickstarter and on our own website (over here)
The great news is that we've already raised enough money to ensure this project will happen! But we don't want to stop there. We have a lot more we want to add to Star Citizen and we need your help to do it!
The money raised on our site and here on Kicktstarter are combined to determine which of the main stretch goals we've met, but Kickstarter has its own unique set of stretch goals! These will be ADDITIONAL to the main ones.
Check out the newest updates here! We're releasing updates quite regularly, so the best place to stay abreast of all the new information is here.
Here's how to customize your reward tier even more.
(Thanks to the teams at Uber and Obsidian for setting the stage for this)
For a more detailed explanation please go here:
Detailed Add-On Instructions
Add the following prices on to your pledge using the Manage Pledge button at the top of the Star Citizen Kickstarter site.
Digital Add-Ons
Please note that all digital add-ons require the base pledge to be $30 or higher.
- Digital Electro Skin Hull Enhancement +$5
- Exploration Skin: +$5
- Military Skin: +$5
- Blackbeard Stealth Skin: +$5
- False Colors Skin: +$5
- Add-On Ship: Aurora +$25
- Add-On Ship: 300i +$55
- Add-On Ship: Hornet +$110
- Add-On Ship: Freelancer +$110
- Add-On Ship: Constellation +$225
- Digital Download: Star Map +$5
- Digital Download: Full Star Citizen Soundtrack +$10
- Digital Download: 42 page book "Squadron 42 Manual" +$10
- Digital Download: 42 page book "The Making of Star Citizen" +$10
- Digital Download: 42 page book "Engineering Manual for Modders" +$10
- Digital Download: Star Citizen Novella written by Dave Haddock, the man behind the Time Capsule and Spectrum Dispatch lore. (delivery TBA) +$15
- The Pirate Pack: +$100
NEW - FINAL DAY ADD-ONs
- "Star Citizen" t-shirt [$25]
- "Squadron 42" t-shirt [$25]
- "Shut Up and Take My Money" [$5]
- Addon Ship: Anvil Gladiator Bomber [$150]
- Addon Ship: ORIGIN M50 Interceptor [$85]
- Addon Ship: MISC Starfarer Tanker [$175]
- Addon Ship: Drake Interplanetary Caterpillar ($225)
- Addon Ship: Retaliator Heavy Bomber [$250]
- Addon Ship: Vanduul Fighter [$300]
- Addon Ship: Idris-class Corvette [$1000]
Physical Add-Ons
Please note that shipping is required for tiers below $125 in the US. If outside the US shipping required if not already included with the tier.
- Fold up glossy full color map of the game universe +$10
- CD of game soundtrack +$20
- Hardback bound 42 Page Book "Squadron 42 Manual" +$20
- Hardback bound 42 page Book "Engineering Manual for Modders" +$20
- Hardback bound 42 page book "The Making of Star Citizen" +$25
- Spaceship shaped USB stick +$30
When the Kickstarter campaign concludes you will receive a survey that will allow you to select how you would like the add-on money assigned.
"The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated"
The traditional publishers don't believe in PC or Space Sims. Venture Capitalists only want to back mobile or social gaming start ups.
We say they're wrong. We say that there is a large audience of PC gamers that want sophisticated games built for their platform. And inside this audience, a significant group of people that have always loved space games, and if given a quality one again will be happy to play it.
Ask not what your genre can do for you, but what you can do for your favorite genre.
Let's put high-end PC gaming and Space Sims back on the map!
Star Citizen brings the visceral action of piloting interstellar craft through combat and exploration to a new generation of gamers at a level of fidelity never before seen. At its core Star Citizen is a destination, not a one-off story. It's a complete universe where any number of adventures can take place, allowing players to decide their own game experience. Pick up jobs as a smuggler, pirate, merchant, bounty hunter, or enlist as a pilot, protecting the borders from outside threats. Chris Roberts has always wanted to create one cohesive universe that encompasses everything that made Wing Commander and Privateer / Freelancer special. A huge sandbox with a complex and deep lore allowing players to explore or play in whatever capacity they wish. That universe is Star Citizen.
The Reasons You'll Want to Play Star Citizen
- A huge universe to explore, trade and adventure in
Space is unending, endless and so are your opportunities. Strike out to make your fortune amongst the Stars or sign-up for a tour of duty in the UEE Fleet.
- Constantly expanding and evolving universe
We're committed to making Star Citizen a living, breathing universe that is its own entity. It will be a constantly shifting and evolving place for players to explore and affect.
- Micro updates rule!
We're not interested in having yearly updates. Once live, we will have a team of people adding content on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. So we'll always be adding data, stories and campaigns as well as reacting to the needs and actions of the players.
- Squadron 42 - A Wing Commander style single player mode, playable OFFLINE if you want
Playable offline or online, co-op with friends, you sign up for a tour of duty with the UEE fleet, manning the front lines, protecting settlements from Vanduul warbands.
- Life during wartime
If you distinguish yourself in combat, you might be invited to join the legendary 42nd Squadron. Much like the French Foreign Legion of old, they can always be found in the toughest areas of operation and always snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, regardless of the odds.
- The conflict never ends
Upon completion of your tour you'll re-enter the persistent Star Citizen universe with some credits in your pocket and Citizenship to help you make your way. But in the universe of Star Citizen when one conflict ends, another is just around the corner. You'll have opportunity to spend more time with your squadron mates as additional Campaigns are released as part of the content update plan.
- Actions of the players impact the universe and become part of its history and lore
The universe will change based on the players' actions and adventures allowing them to become part of the history of the universe. As an example, players can scan for gravitational anomalies while out in space. If one is discovered and the player manages to successfully navigate this uncharted jump point, they'll be able to sell their Nav- Computers recording of their jump flight path for a great profit to a space company for other users to download. But the real prize is getting the system or jump-point named after them!
- Allowing user generated content is a key design goal
Our modding tools will allow players to design new ships for both submission to the persistent RSI ship dealer network or to build custom ships and items for the self-hosted multiplayer mode.
- It's about the gameplay and your interactions with others
We plan to put a lot of social ideas in the universe. Since the universe is dynamic, it will create some divisions and factions. For example, it's a perfectly valid choice not to be a Citizen and operate outside the protection of Earth. We think there will be people that gravitate to crime or helping enforce the law or defending the galaxy from the alien raiders or just accumulating as much money as possible. We want to include all these social divisions so players will gravitate to one or the other much like the real world operates.
- Fully dynamic economy driven by player actions
If too many people fly iron ore to the smelting plants of New Pittsburgh, steel prices will drop. Buy low… sell high… you hope.
- The cost of society
In game trade landing and trade tariffs pay for law and order in the civilized systems. Want to make a bigger profit? Try the outer world - outside earth's infrastructure and protection. The downside? No military or local police to protect you from an opportunistic pirate!
- Money isn't everything
You could be a trader, a miner or an industrial magnate. Amass great wealth or just run enough missions to earn a comfortable living and upgrades for your ship.
- Space is empty but you're never really alone
If caught alone in an online ambush, send a distress broadcast to your friends and if they're nearby they can jump in-system to save your bacon. In each combat instance player slots are reserved for your friends so you can rally forces to join you in combat!
- Bigger ships offer bigger multi-player action
On larger ships, friends can join you to man turrets, repair systems, or switch with you on the pilot's chair. Think the Millennium Falcon with Han-Solo piloting and Luke on the turret.
- Full rigid body simulation of all spaceships
You wanted proper Newtonian mechanics. You got it! Spaceships adjust their trajectory and orientation just like the real thing.
- Intelligent Flight Control System (IFCS)
Like a modern day F-35, the ships have fly by wire systems which take the player's inputs and then translate them into the commands for the ship's engine and thrusters to articulate and deliver the required thrust to achieve the pilot's request.
- Dynamic Ship Maneuverability
Ship's performance is calculated dynamically based on various physical variables and the ability of your jet maneuvering to deliver thrust towards a requested vector. What does this mean? Infinite customization with component damage, mass or energy changes affecting maneuverability on the fly – allowing for endless combat strategies and results.
- Ship Components matter!
Because we are fully simulating the physics and flight dynamics, the actual components matter. If a port thruster is damaged, it will affect your maneuverability organically. If you upgrade your thruster package with enhanced thrusters that gimbal faster and deliver more thrust it will affect your performance. Dump cargo, you may be able to get the edge in turning in a dogfight.
- 10X the detail of current AAA games
Most current gen "AAA" games have around 10,000 polygons for a character and 30,000 or so for a vehicle. In Star Citizen, the characters are detailed at 100,000 polygons, the fighter at 300,000 and the Space Carrier 7 million! This allows unparalleled detail, making the visuals more immersive than has ever been achieved before.
- Everything you would imagine would move or articulate on a spaceship or a device – does!
Every spaceship is built from 100s of sub-components, many of them moving and articulating just like they would in the "real" world. If a component gets damaged during combat be prepared to feel the effects on your ship.
- Range of scale never seen before in a game
From a vast 1km long carrier to a 27m fighter, to your 1.8m tall pilot, Everything is rendered and to the same level of detail. Zoom in to the paneling of the carrier and its texel density is the same as the 27m fighter. All without a load screen or loss of visual fidelity.
- Really feel the scale of ships and space battles
Because of the ability of the game to scale seamlessly you could be looking out the windows on the bridge of a carrier watching the battle unfold or jump into a cockpit and take the fight to the enemy.
- Joystick, gamepad, mouse, keyboard are all supported.
We've all got our preferences, so why be forced to choose?
- Advanced peripheral support
As part of commitment to high end gaming we are dedicated to supporting the more exotic enthusiast peripherals; HOTAS, flight chair, rudder pedals. It's all about the immersion and if you've got the equipment we want to support it!
- Virtual Reality is here!
We have backed Oculus Rift and will support it in Star Citizen / Squadron 42. Who doesn't want to sit in their cockpit, hands on your joystick and throttle, swiveling your head, to track that enemy fighter that just blew by?
- Next generation, TODAY
Built on top of Crytek's award winning CryEngine3 technology, Star Citizen's engine is built to scale for the PC's of today and tomorrow.
- A PC gaming enthusiast's friend!
As you upgrade your PC, Star Citizen will take advantage of your extra processor cores, memory or GPUs. This is why you're a PC gamer – you love being on the cutting edge, not stuck in the past!
Today's game publishers, like their Hollywood counterparts, want predictable returns from sequels to last year's hits. A game in an out- of-favor genre, set in an original universe is viewed as a bad investment. And the concept of developing a new product exclusively for the PC sends publishing executives and most Venture Capitalists running for the exits.
And that hero is you, the unappreciated PC gamer. The ignored Space Sim fan.
This is your chance to have your voice heard. To tell the world that high end PC gaming lives. That you want to sit in the cockpit of your space fighter defending the galaxy or making your fortune as a wily entrepreneur.
Star Citizen is meant to be everything you ever dreamed you could have in a Space-Sim, all in one glorious ever-evolving package.
We know it may not look like this, but we do!
What you've seen was put together by a very small team over the past year. We felt that this vision needed to be shown rather than talked about so we invested our own money to build the technical and visual prototype that shows just how Star Citizen is going to push the limits of PC games.
Instead of taking this prototype to a publisher for a green light, we are cutting out the middleman and taking it to you.
You as the customer get the ultimate vote in whether we make this game. Your dollars are your votes and the better we do the more resources we'll have to bring you a great game.
We have investors that have agreed to contribute the balance we need to complete this game as long as we can validate that there is a demand for a high end PC space game. By meeting or surpassing our target on Kickstarter you tell the world that you want a PC based Space Sim and allow us to make this game.
But we're offering more than just the chance to support the platform and genre.
As an early backer, you'll also be getting a lot more than just the finished game.
For the people who pledge for their spaceship in the Star Citizen universe, you'll be part of a select club that has exclusive access to early gameplay and behind the scenes development updates.
The people who pledge for their spaceships will get to test-fly them long before the general public. 12 months in, we will allow the early backers to play the multiplayer space combat Alpha, and then 20-22 months in they will get to play the Star Citizen Beta, adventuring around the huge open galaxy, well before the general public. We are going to limit our alpha slots to 200,000 as we want to stress test the game with real users, but will not be ready for the full load until we have finished Beta.
In addition, part of the money we are asking for is budgeted to maintain the Roberts Space Industries site with constant updates. Our goal is for the game's website to be live from day one, constantly giving information about what's happening in the galaxy even before the game is live, sharing interesting insights into the development process and canvassing the early backers for their opinions. Roberts Space Industries should be the first stop into the Star Citizen universe. When we say we want to involve the community, we really mean it!
Finally we are offering the pledge slots a discount to what the final digital price will be. Like Guild Wars 2, the basic game will be $60, but for the very early backers we are offering the entry tier at $30. But hurry! Slots are limited!
Our hope is that these benefits are compelling enough for you to pledge for your spaceship today.
Please support us, tell your friends and participate in the discussion. An amazing Interstellar adventure waits!
Can't use Kickstarter? Visit the Roberts Space Industries site to use Paypal or a credit card.
Kotaku - You Loved Wing Commander. Now Meet Wing Commander's 21st-Century Successor
Risks and challenges
We are aiming for a AAA game experience. But depending on the funding levels reached, we may have to limit the experience for the initially released game version. Nonetheless, Chris Roberts and his teams have shown consistently that they are able to develop epic story-based games. Even with our very limited self-funding we have been able to do already a lot of work which is why we can show you not just concept art and a cinematic trailer, but an extensive demo of actual game play. So, we are confident that even with limited means we will be able to deliver an amazing experience.Learn about accountability on Kickstarter
Funding period
- (32 days)


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In Progress Artist Tiana LaPointe works with middle school students at Highland Park Middle School, teaching the art of digital storytelling October - May, 2017. Students learn how to work with cameras, craft stories and edit. Completed artwork is then shared with their fellow students.
Monday - Thursdays 2-4PM
This activity is not open for registration. Please contact In Progress with any questions.
- Posted in digital me, communities & schools


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May 31, 2011 | ISBN 9781583942482
"Fighting Cancer reveals approaches to cancer treatment that have worked for many individuals, but which are not widely known in the United States. Cancer is not a single disease, and there is no single approach to treatment that is right for everyone. This book provides important information and options that can empower individuals to make wise therapeutic decisions when faced with the dreaded diagnosis of cancer."
—Larry Dossey, MD, author of Healing Words and The Power of Premonitions
"This long-awaited guide from two masters of integrative medicine gives people the choice to participate in their own healing. The self-guided mind-body exercises are real gems—I know I'll be turning to them again and again in my efforts to help cancer patients and survivors."
—Dianne M. Shumay, PhD, clinical psychologist and assistant clinical professor at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California-San Francisco
"One of the darkest, well-kept secrets in medicine is how the debilitating toxicity of conventional cancer treatments (chemotherapy and radiation) create side effects so severe that the treatment often winds up killing the patient before the disease does. Finally, with the arrival of Fighting Cancer by Robert Gorter and Erik Peper, the growing number of people struggling with cancer can turn to this life-affirming, credible resource. The science-based Gorter Model is effective, humane, nontoxic, and stunningly successful for a wide range of cancers. Supporting the immune system has always been a compelling argument, but few have had the courage and clinical wisdom to chart the exact pathway and redefine cancer treatment from the ground up. Fighting Cancer encourages millions to take action and restore hope."
—Meg Jordan, PhD, RN, chair and professor of Integrative Health Studies at the California Institute of Integrative Studies and editor-in-chief of American Fitness magazine
"In a thoughtful manner, Dr. Robert Gorter and Dr. Erik Peper offer cancer patients new options that are useful adjuncts to conventional treatment. Their extensive research demonstrates the scientific basis for this comprehensive approach to immunotherapy that focuses on supporting and stabilizing the immune system. These authors also provide advice on self-care techniques founded in mind-body science. This is a book every patient should read."
—Kenneth R. Pelletier, PhD, MD(hc), clinical professor of Medicine and Family and Community Medicine and professor of Public Health at the University of Arizona and University of California-San Francisco Schools of Medicine, chairman of the American Health Association, and author of New Medicine: Integrating Conventional and Alternative Medicine
"Robert Gorter's and Erik Peper's forward-thinking contributions are a must-read for every physician treating cancer and every patient with cancer. As they so adeptly point out, the healing journey includes, but is immensely more than, a sterile scientific process that manipulates biochemistry. Engaging the full participation of our inner healer in conjunction with immune stimulation and intelligent self-care is a commonsense and much-needed evolutionary milestone in an era of failed cancer management."
—Len Saputo, MD, founder and medical director of Health Medicine Forum and author of A Return to Healing
"Erik Peper has been a mentor and pioneer to many of us in the field of healing whose view goes outside the box of conventional medical treatment. His and Robert Gorter's Fighting Cancer is a brilliant book, a must-read for anyone who has cancer or has friends and family members who are struggling with this disease. The authors describe a methodology for helping the body to heal itself, and for those of us in the field of alleviating the suffering of the body, this is the essential focus for any effective treatment."
—David Wise, PhD, director of the National Center for Pelvic Pain Research and
co-author of A Headache in the Pelvis
"I recommend this book not only to those facing the sentence of cancer, but to all those interested in a broad view of how wellness (and the occurrence of illness) comes about; how the occurrence of illness can be viewed as a means of examining ourselves in new ways; and how general health and wellness can be encouraged and implemented. I also recommend the book to physicians, not only because of the information and professional resources it contains but because it provides evidence that how they respond to their patients in terms of openness and caring can influence the path to recovery."
—Maria C. Linder, professor of Biochemistry, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at California State University Fullerton and author of Nutritional Biochemistry and Metabolism with Clinical Applications
"This important, innovative book offers hopeful strategies to improve your immune function so your strongest ally in the war on cancer is maximally mobilized. I'm giving it to a friend who has recurrent metastatic disease."
—Kathi Kemper, MD, MPH, FAAP, Caryl J. Guth Chair for the Center for Integrative Medicine and professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, and author of Mental Health, Naturally, The Holistic Pediatrician, 2nd edition, and Addressing ADD, Naturally
"This is what I have been waiting for! Grounded in solid, evidence-based practice, this thoughtful collection illuminates the many complementary methods available to patients to support and nurture their own health. By drawing on all the healing forces available, patients can tap into their own innate healing mechanisms to fight their cancer and finally reclaim their lives. Giving patients this knowledge and these tools can and will benefit their outcomes, and they won't be the only ones to benefit. Health care providers will learn new ways of understanding their role, the reasons for developing broader attitudes about health, and how to better facilitate healing. This book is an inspiring reminder of the power of the body and mind to make healing a reality."
—Cybele Pelcher, RN, Dermatology nurse
"A must read. Fighting Cancer provides provocative insights into the workings of the immune system through an alternative to toxic methods of cancer treatment. The authors, who both experienced cancer personally, offer many essential practices for stress release and self-healing. This book will be remembered as a pioneering turn in the treatment of cancer."
—Gay Luce, PhD, founder of The Nine Gates Programs
"[Robert Gorter, MD, PhD, and Erik Peper, PhD offer] a refreshing relook at the way medicine regards [cancer]. …. Fighting Cancer is a book that offers not only a radically different paradigm; it is also one that offers hope. It effectively moves the responsibility of surviving and curing cancer from the medical practitioner to the patient, who after reading this book should be substantially empowered. For clinicians who work with cancer patients, this book provides numerous concepts and practical advice."
—Tim Brunson, PhD, founder and executive director of The International Hypnosis Research Institute
"Fighting Cancer describes an approach to fighting cancer that integrates traditional western academic medicine with innovative, nontoxic treatments specifically tailored to the patient and the tumor. The Gorter Model includes treatments with dendritic cells, adult autologous stem cells, various forms of hypothermia, thymus peptides, Viscus album, orthomolecular medicine and intestinal flora. The patient's immune system is mobilized, and the treatment is designed to have little or no serious side effects. The book is organized into three parts – presenting a comprehensive summary of the model, the research to support it and tactics that strengthen natural immunity."
—Western Edition


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Wisconsin Graduate Programs
Here are graduate programs in Wisconsin on the related fields of public administration, non-profit management, mediation and conflict resolution, and communication.
Public Administration/Affairs. Non-Profit Management
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Public Affairs. M.P.A. and International Public Affairs. M.I.P.A.
- Many La Follette students come with undergraduate degrees in political science and economics, but some have come from such fields as business, history, English, or communications. Some come directly from college, while others arrive with several years of experience in government or the private sector. Diversity of the student body is an attractive feature of La Follette public affairs education. The La Follette School actively seeks students with exceptional backgrounds and experience.
- M.P.A. Specific course prerequisites: an introductory course in microeconomics, an American government course, and an introductory course in statistics and/or a course in calculus.
- M.I.P.A. Specific course prerequisites: a course in international relations or comparative politics, an introductory course in statistics, two courses in economics: one in microeconomics and one in macroeconomics, twelve additional credits drawn from economics, political science, business, or non-American history . Students from English-speaking countries must have taken four semesters of a foreign language or demonstrate competence in a language other than English. It is highly recommended that an applicant from an English-speaking country have had two additional courses in the social sciences or humanities of a country or area in which the student has language proficiency; or have had extensive work experience or study abroad in the region.
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
- Public Administration. M.P.A. and Public Administration/Urban Planning. M.P.A./M.U.P.
There are no fixed prerequisites in terms of prior academic training; but background in public administration, American governmental institutions, economics, statistics, and computer applications in social science is beneficial. Each student's academic preparation is evaluated at the time of application. Applicants may be admitted with specific program-defined course deficiencies provided that the deficiencies amount to no more than two courses.
- Non-Profit Management, Graduate Certificate
Those students who wish to earn the Graduate Certificate in Non-Profit Management can be admitted for the certificate program as non-degree graduate students provided they possess a bachelor's or higher degree with a minimum overall undergraduate grade point average of 2.75.
University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh
- Public Administration. M.P.A.
The MPA program is designed for people with work experience in public and not-for-profit agencies and requires that applicants have work experience in agencies fitting these categories. What constitutes sufficient work experience for admission is determined on a case-by-case basis, but, generally, work experience refers to first-hand involvement in an agency that is sufficient to provide knowledge of the structure and operating procedures of a complex organization. It may include volunteer work. Questions about eligibility should be addressed to the MPA Coordinator. Applicants must hold a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university. Applicants must meet the UW Oshkosh Graduate School requirement of a 2.75 overall grade point average or a 2.9 grade point average for the last half of the baccalaureate program. Admission on probation may be considered if applicants have a 2.25 overall G.P.A. and a 2.5 G.P.A. for the last half of their college work. Knowledge of descriptive statistics and basic social science concepts is desirable but not required.
Mediation and Conflict Resolution
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
- Mediation and Negotiation, Certificate
Students applying for the Certificate Program in Mediation and Negotiation must hold a bachelor's degree and must have earned a 2.75 GPA overall or must furnish substantial evidence of ability to succeed in graduate level work.
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee
- Communication. M.A.
Emphases: Organizational/Professional Communication, Intercultural/International Communication, Interpersonal Communication/Mediation, and Rhetoric/Public Communication
Applicants should have an equivalent of an undergraduate major in speech, speech communication, or related areas.
University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point
- Communication. M.A.
Emphases: Organizational Communication, Public Relations, Interpersonal Communication, Mass Communication.
Organizational Communication: People who pursue a graduate degree in organizational communication have Bachelor's degrees in such areas as organizational communication, psychology, sociology, and business and/or have extensive work experience.
Public Relations: people with a Bachelor's degree in PR should obtain at least several years of job experience in PR before pursuing an graduate degree in PR. Also, any student pursuing PR at the graduate level should already have a Bachelor's degree in PR (and/or significant experience in PR) which taught them the fundamentals of such issues as campaigns, desktop publishing, etc.
Mass Communication: the students in mass communication who have done well in our program have entered the degree with extensive undergraduate coursework in mass communication and significant media experience.


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Vatican City, Jun 6, 2011 / 01:12 pm ().-
The first phase of the apostolic visitation investigating clergy abuse in Ireland has concluded with the announcement that an overall synthesis of its results and recommendations will be published by early 2012.
The report will focus on the nationwide mission of renewal announced by Pope Benedict XVI in his March 2010 pastoral letter to the Catholics of Ireland, the Vatican said June 6.
The investigators, known as "visitators," had set out to examine the effectiveness of the present response to cases of abuse and the current forms of assistance provided to abuse victims.
They also considered the prospects of the "profound spiritual renewal" presently being pursued by the Church in Ireland.
Because of the initial evaluation, the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for Catholic Education do not envisage further apostolic visitations. The visitors meetings with various organizations and individuals, including the local bishops, provided "a sufficiently complete picture of the situation of the Irish Church" concerning the areas under investigation.
The relevant Vatican dicasteries, or departments, will give indications to the bishops for the "spiritual renewal" of the dioceses and seminaries. The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life will provide similar recommendations for the religious institutes.
The congregation has analyzed responses to the visitation's questionnaires sent to all institutes with religious houses in Ireland. Visits to some religious communities will follow.
The Vatican said that the visitation to the four metropolitan archdioceses of Ireland, the seminaries and the religious institutes was "very useful" because of the cooperation of everyone who took part.
"The Holy Father's sincere thanks goes to them, especially to the four Metropolitan Archbishops," the Vatican said.
In April media reports speculated that the visitors would recommend the closure of the national seminary at Maynooth in county Kildare. The seminary authorities dismissed the reports as "without foundation."
The four-man team heading the investigation into four of the key dioceses of Ireland consisted of Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston, Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto, Archbishop Terence Prendergast, S.J., of Ottawa and Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the former Archbishop of Westminster, England.
A parallel investigation has examined religious institutes.
The apostolic visitors have conducted penitential services in Ireland seeking forgiveness for the abuse of hundreds of children by priests and religious over several decades.
In February, Cardinal O'Malley spoke of a "window of opportunity" to build a "holier church" in response to the abuse crisis.
And a spokesman for Archbishop Dolan told CNA that after his interviews with 113 Irish seminarians he sees "much hope for the renewal of the faith in Ireland."
Pope Benedict's 2010 pastoral letter to Ireland asked victims' forgiveness and expressed "shame and remorse" over the abuse.
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Highlights: Visit Boston, Corning, New Haven, New York, Niagara Falls, Philadelphia, Washington, DC.
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We're constantly adding new departures dates and times, as they're made available to TakeTours by our local suppliers.
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|Activity Option 1Surcharge
|Date / Date Range
|Day 1 - New York City Night Tour
|Year round
Admission (Optional): Adult $25; Child (3-12 yrs) $15; Senior (Over 65 yrs) $25
Admission (Optional): Adult $30; Child (0-12 yrs) $30; Senior (Over 62 yrs) $30
Admission (Optional): Adult $39; Child (6-12 yrs) $32; Senior (Over 65 yrs) $36|Opening Hours: 9:00am - 10:00am|Duration: Approx. 50 Minutes
Admission (Optional): Adult $29; Child (3-12 yrs) $17; Senior (Over 65 yrs) $24|Duration: Approx. 50 Minutes
Admission (Optional): Adult $33; Child (5-12 yrs) $24; Senior (Over 65 yrs) $31|Opening Hours: Mon - Sun 10:00am - 5:00pm, Holiday hours apply.|Duration: Approx. 1 Hour
Admission (Optional): Adult $25; Child (3-12 yrs, under 12 with adult) Free; Senior (Over 65 yrs) $17|Opening Hours: Mon - Sun|Duration: Approx. 1 Hour 15 Minutes
Opening Hours: Mon - Sun 6:00am - 1:00am
Duration: Approx. 40 Minutes
Opening Hours: 7:00am - 6:00pm
Duration: Approx. 30 Minutes
Opening Hours: 9:00am - 7:00pm|Duration: Approx. 15 Minutes
Opening Hours: 9:00am - 7:00pm
Duration: Approx. 45 Minutes
Opening Hours: 10:00am - 7:30pm, Open daily except December 25|Duration: Approx. 40 Minutes
Admission (Optional): Adult $23; Child (3-12 yrs) $17; Senior (Over 65 yrs) $23|Opening Hours: Mon - Thu 12:00pm - 6:00pm, Fri - Sun 10:00am - 6:00pm
Opening Hours: Fri - Sat 8:30am - 4:30pm|Duration: Approx. 15 Minutes
Duration: Approx. 25 Minutes
Opening Hours: Open 24 Hours
Admission (Optional): Adult $19.50; Child (Under 17 yrs) Free; Senior (Over 55 yrs) $16.60|Duration: Approx. 1 Hour
From 2018-04-27 to 2018-11-04
Admission (Optional): Adult $19.25; Child (6-12 yrs) $11.20; Senior (Over 65 yrs) $19.25|Opening Hours: Maid of the mist is open usually during mid/late April to early November.|Duration: Approx. 1 Hour
Admission (Optional): Adult $69; Child (Under 12 yrs) $59; Senior (Over 55 yrs) $69|Opening Hours: .|Duration: 45 Minutes to 2 Hours
Admission (Optional): Adult $25; Child (3-12 yrs) $15; Senior (Over 65 yrs) $22
Admission (Optional): Adult $19; Child (6-12 yrs) $16; Senior (Over 65 yrs) $19|Opening Hours: May - Oct
Admission (Optional): Adult $12; Child (6-12 yrs) $8; Senior (Over 65 yrs) $12|Duration: Approx. 30 Minutes
Duration: Approx. 45 Minutes
Duration: Approx. 15 Minutes
Opening Hours: Sun 12:00pm - 4:30pm, Tue - Sat 10:00am - 4:30pm|Duration: Approx. 10 Minutes
Admission (Optional): Adult $32; Child (3-12 yrs) $32; Senior (Over 65 yrs) $32|Duration: Approx. 1 Hour 10 Minutes
Opening Hours: Tue 12:00pm - 8:00pm, Wed - Sat 10:00am - 4:00pm
Opening Hours: Mon - Sun 9:00am - 7:00pm
For those who choose to leave JFK/LGA/EWR airport, We'll visit Yale University on the way back to New York.
Admission (Optional): Adult $22; Child (3-11 yrs) $17; Senior (Over 65 yrs) $20|Opening Hours: No service on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day|Duration: Approx. 1 Hour
Admission (Optional): Adult $25; Child (3-12 yrs) $15; Senior (Over 65 yrs) $25
Admission (Optional): Adult $20; Child $16; Senior $20|Duration: Approx. 1 Hour
|Boston, MA
|Boston Harbor Cruise (Optional)
|$17 (3-11 yrs)
|$20 (Over 65 yrs)
|Boston In-depth Tour (Optional)
|$15 (3-12 yrs)
|$25 (Over 65 yrs)
|Boston Lobster Meal (Optional)
|$32 (3-12 yrs)
|$32 (Over 65 yrs)
|Corning, NY
|Corning Museum of Glass (Optional)
|Free (Under 17 yrs)
|$16.60 (Over 55 yrs)
|New Haven, CT
|Yale University In-Depth Tour (Optional)
|New York, NY
|Central Park Horse Carriage Tour (Optional)
|$15 (3-12 yrs)
|$18 (Over 62 yrs)
|Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum (Optional)
|$24 (5-12 yrs)
|$31 (Over 65 yrs)
|NYC Night Tour (Optional)
|$15 (3-12 yrs)
|$25 (Over 65 yrs)
|One World Trade Center (Optional)
|$32 (6-12 yrs)
|$36 (Over 65 yrs)
|Rockefeller Center (Optional)
|$30 (0-12 yrs)
|$30 (Over 62 yrs)
|Statue of Liberty Cruise (Optional)
|$17 (3-12 yrs)
|$24 (Over 65 yrs)
|The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Optional)
|Free (3-12 yrs, under 12 with adult)
|$17 (Over 65 yrs)
|Niagara Falls, NY
|Cave of the Winds (Optional)
|$16 (6-12 yrs)
|$19 (Over 65 yrs)
|Jet Boat Ride (Optional)
|$59 (Under 12 yrs)
|$69 (Over 55 yrs)
|Maid of the Mist (Optional)
|$11.20 (6-12 yrs)
|$19.25 (Over 65 yrs)
|Niagara Falls Adventure Theater IMAX (Optional)
|$8 (6-12 yrs)
|$12 (Over 65 yrs)
|Niagara Falls In-Depth Tour (Optional)
|$15 (3-12 yrs)
|$22 (Over 65 yrs)
|Washington, DC
|Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (Optional)
|$17 (3-12 yrs)
|$23 (Over 65 yrs)
Booking and Reservation
All tours are for early booking, tour operator suggests the each passenger should book tour at least 3 weeks before departure date. Passenger may make reservation via email; however, seats will not be assigned until the deposit has been paid. At time of reservation, passenger may require to provide name, phone number and address and specify designated tour and date of travel.All seats are pre-assigned with numbers; seat assignment is based on a first come first serve basis after down payment.
Travel Documents
Each passenger must carry a valid travel document. (Valid visa for countries needed) (E.g. Green Card, Passport, Re-Entry Permit, and etc.) Tour operator is not responsible for lost or stolen personal items.
Cancellations and Cancellation Fees
Regardless of reason, cancellations result in costly charges from our travel and hotel providers covering penalties and fees incurred by canceling confirmed and pending bookings. Therefore, cancellation penalties and or fees will apply. Time of cancellation will be determined when notice is received and confirmed by our office. Notice of cancellation must be made directly to TakeTours by email or through web mail at Contact Us .
Tour Departure: This tour has 100% guaranteed departure; if the tour is cancelled there will be refund of 120%. Restrictions apply; due to weather conditions, State Emergencies, Airport Closures or anything beyond the control of the tour operator the 120% refund will NOT apply.
Cancellation penalties per person (Notification day and departure day are not counted)
NOTE: We cannot grant any refunds more than 30 days after completion of tour.
Broading Time and Location
All passengers must arrive 30 minutes before departure time. All passengers must show photo ID and boarding pass or tickets for boarding; absolutely no boarding without tickets. Departure time and boarding location will be confirmed after reservation is made.
Travel Insurance
Tour operator is not responsible for any loss of or damage to personal items, or personal injury that may occur on or during the tour. It is optional that passengers to buy travel insurance, for more information, please consult your travel agent.
Luggage Restriction
1-4 Days Tour: Each passenger may carry one check-in luggage and one carry-on bag.
Itinerary Variations
We constantly strives to improve tour itineraries and features. If such improvements can be made, or unforeseen circumstances beyond our control make changes necessary - we reserve the right to vary itineraries and to substitute hotels. At certain peak periods duplicate departures may operate, and sometimes in reverse order in which case hotels may vary from those stated on the itinerary pages.
Tour Cancellation
We reserves the right to cancel or re-schedule any tour departure in accordance with operating requirements or circumstances beyond its control.If cancellation is made any time prior to departure* of the tour, Taketours' only liability will be to refund to the passenger the amount it has received for the tour booking. We are not responsible for any other travel arrangements affected due to our cancellations.


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Department of Revenue News Release
June 19, 2014Cape Girardeau License Office contract awarded
JEFFERSON CITY - The Office of Administration, in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Revenue, has awarded the management contract for the Cape Girardeau License Office to License Office Services LLC in Jefferson City. All license office contracts in Missouri are awarded through a competitive bid process.
The Cape Girardeau License Office will remain at its current location at 112 S. Spanish St.
In fiscal year 2013, more than 67,700 transactions were conducted at the Cape Girardeau office, generating $228,454 in agent processing fees. License Office Services' contract includes an annual commitment to return 4 percent (approximately $9,138) of future processing fees to the state.
All local license offices are overseen by the Missouri Department of Revenue, but each is operated by an independent agent.
Follow the Missouri Department of Revenue on Twitter @MoRevenue


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Inclement Weather Policy: If there is any doubt - please check it out.
It will be posted on this website on the Calendar page (unless of some unavoidable circumstance).
Call: (615) 974-0246 or (if busy signal) (615) 974-0245. The telephone is monitored 24 hours/day.
Usually, it will be answered by a live person. But if not, there will be a message on the voice mail. There are a number of types of weather conditions for which classes might be cancelled. We understand that our "Closing Circumstances" policy may seem extremely trivial, especially to our friends and neighbors from the North. But for those of us whom have been here a while, we always remember the tragic ice storms of the past. The reason is, that
Tennessee's freezing conditions are so unpredictable, and the temperature can change so rapidly, usually resulting in treacherous driving conditions. And we do not want any of you to take that risk! We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you and we hope you all will understand. Another (loose) indicator is to see what Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools are doing. Click below to link to this website:
Give Us A Call:
(615) 974-0246


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The CUBEFuse Series of Class CF fuses for solar and wind power generation installations features a finger-safe design and offers up to an 80% smaller footprint compared to similar fuses on the market, according to the company. Listed to UL 2579, the PVCF photovoltaic fuse withstands extreme temperatures cycling conditions from -40°C to 90°C and is available in 600VDC ratings from 35A to 100A. Recognized to UL 248, the WCF wind power fuse is rated at 690VAC and available in ampacities from 1A to 100A along with special 30A, 60A, or 100A 690V-rated ampacity rejecting holders to help prevent overfusing.
Cooper Bussmann
For more information, visit www.cooperbussmann.com.
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Position Battles
As we inch closer to Spring Training, one thing to look forward to every year is position battles. Last season, Toronto's roster was pretty much locked in. That's not the case this year, as there are a few positions that are up in the air.
Here's a few spots where compeition may heat up:
1. STARTING ROTATION: Obviously, Roy Halladay, A.J. Burnett and Gustavo Chacin are locks. John Thomson has also been given a starting job, which is his to lose this spring, as well. So that leaves the No. 5 spot up for grabs.
Leading candidate: RHP Shaun Marcum — He started for the first time as a rookie last year and impressed Toronto down the stretch.
Other candidates: RHP Casey Janssen, RHP Josh Towers and RHP Dustin McGowan.
2. BULLPEN: Six spots seem set with closer B.J. Ryan, and relievers Brandon League, Jason Frasor, Jeremy Accardo, Scott Downs and Brian Tallet. That leaves one spot open.
Leading candidates: There doesn't appear to be one pitcher that's a frontrunner for this job. It could be RHP Francisco Rosario, who is out of options, or LHP Davis Romero, who impressed Toronto last year, but would give the Jays four lefties in the 'pen.
Darkhorse: RHP Geremi Gonzalez — Toronto manager John Gibbons said recently that Gonzalez could be a candidate for a bullpen job. He's had a good showing in the Venezuelan Winter League and has Major League experience as a starter and as a reliever. He could provide a veteran arm to an otherwise young bullpen.
3. BACKUP CATCHER: Gregg Zaun signed a two-year deal to be Toronto's starter and he has a vesting option for 2009 based on games caught. So he'll garner most of the playing time. But the backup job appears to be a battle between two veterans.
Leading candidate: Jason Phillips appears to be the frontrunner for the job. He spent much of 2006 at Triple-A, but spent some time up with the Jays. One plus with Phillips is he can also be a backup at first base.
Other candidate: Sal Fasano recently signed with the Jays and would like to compete for the backup job. He doesn't mind playing at Triple-A for Toronto, if needed, though. The reality is that the Jays will likely need a third catcher at some point during '07 and Toronto's top catching prospect, Curtis Thigpen, isn't Major League ready, yet.
4. FOURTH OUTFIELDER: Toronto is set with Reed Johnson, Vernon Wells and Alex Rios in left, center and right, respectively. The fourth outfield job could become a competition this spring, though.
Leading candidate: Matt Stairs — Toronto signed Stairs to a Minor League deal in December with the hope that he could be their fourth outfielder. It seems likely that he'll make the roster, but as with anything, things could change.
Other candidate: Adam Lind — With Johnson set to play everyday in left, Toronto would prefer to get Lind more at-bats at Triple-A. That doesn't mean that Lind, who impressed Toronto last season, won't try to crack the Major League roster. If the Jays wanted to platoon in left, Lind would likely split time with Johnson. That doesn't appear to be an option at this point, though.
5. UTILITY INFIELDER: Toronto is set around the horn with 3B Troy Glaus, SS Royce Clayton/John McDonald, 2B Aaron Hill and 1B Lyle Overbay. Beyond that, though, the Jays could have a few players vying for a job.
Leading candidate: Jason Smith — Toronto picked Smith up in the Rule 5 Draft, hoping he could emerge as their 25th guy — a player who could provide depth at third, short, second and maybe even first. With Smith, though, third base lacks a true backup for Glaus.
Other candidates: Maybe John Hattig? He was decent in his short stint with the Jays last year and he would provide a switch-hitting option off the bench. Toronto also recently claimed switch-hitting shortstop Ray Olmedo off waivers from the Reds. In all likelihood, though, the super utility infielder job is Smith's, barring something happening this spring. Russ Adams could also have an outside chance at making the roster. He's set to start the year at Triple-A and Toronto manager John Gibbons sees him as a second baseman now, but he could play either short or second off the bench. He'll have to show a lot this spring to have a shot at the Opening Day roster, though.
Of these, the starting rotation, bullpen and catcher jobs appear to be the only ones with competition set to take place. The fourth outfielder and utility infielder jobs appear set, but things could change. It'll be interesting to see how they all pan out, though.
How do you think it will all play out? And who do you like as the top candidates for these positions?
ON ANOTHER NOTE: Congrats to my hometown Chicago Bears on making it to Super Bowl XLI. Maybe after the big game in two weeks, Chicago can have something else to talk about other than the '85 Bears. I'm very much looking forward to seeing Manning vs. the Monsters.
8 Comments
I'd personally like to see some surprises during spring training. Like Lind using his bat and defense to demand a spot. Or someone like Adams or Smith outshining MacDonald and Clayton.
Basically I'd like Gibbons have to make some tough decisions.
The others who don't make it WILL be needed. For example there may only be one starting spot open but I wouldn't be surprised to see McGowan, Janssen, Marcum or maybe Downs or someone else all make starts. Injuries happen and it is good to have depth.
These battles in the rotation and at short are what with make or break the Jays this season. I want someone shine in spring training, but everyone will be needed.
There has been some talk about the Blue Jays getting Tomo Ohka.
However, if he doesn't sign with them, I predict that McGowan will eventually get the fifth slot. I actually think he can become a top notch pitcher along the lines of Carpenter or Halladay.
I would also like to see the Jays send one of their excess players for another outfielder. Casey Blake, apparently, is on the block.
BTW, I think Rosario is a lock for that spot in the pen.
Are Russ Adam's days with the Jays over? Given the players the Jay's have picked up over the off-season, it is very unlikely that Adams will be given a chance to start at short or second – no matter how well he hits during spring training. On the other hand, every time he has been sent down to AAA-Syracuse, he has always hit over well over .300. It just seems to me that there is virtually nothing that he can do in order to win a starting job.
I agree with the first post, I really would like to see some suprises as well. I think this team needs some of their young players too step up too take them too the next level. As we sit right now I dont know if we are much better than last year, I wouldnt say we are worse, the loss of Lilly isnt as significant as some may think. We still have our best players.
If the jays do end up signing Okha, does that mean that Marcum and possibly some of the other pitchers the Jays were projecting for the 4th and 5th spots in the rotation are now possibilities for the penn? If so, the Jays could have one of the best penns in baseball wrt to depth.
Would Ohka bat left handed during interleague away games?
Another question:
Now that Ohka is signed, what is the likelihood that one of our other pitchers will be dealt?
I mean, I was thinking that maybe we could get another established starter (to replace Thomson) in the starting 5. Not that I'm against Thomson, or anything!
I'm willing to bet 90%. Thoughts?
WOW thanks goodness we got Ohka. Jays were looking like a worst team then last year, then ol JP came through for us ! I'm thinkin a healthy Thomson is much better then a healthy Tomo. Both players love the D/L. I like Thomson's SO ratings, but quite honestly i think Riccardi is gonna wait until spring training. If both guys show hot stuff then hopefully we can trade Towers for Penny ! Jk …. a guy can dream. We might have to throw in Lind too.
Seriously, good stuff JP