text:
Lawyers for James "Whitey" Bulger said Monday that they plan to file within the next few days a motion to postpone the notorious gangster's long-awaited trial, saying they cannot review the thousands of pages of documents involved by the scheduled March trial date.
Bulger's lawyers, led by J.W. Carney Jr., have complained of the struggle to prepare in time for the trial, but on Monday they said they will officially file a motion citing their reasons and legal arguments.
The declaration came during the latest status conference in the case, during which Carney had testy exchanges with prosecutors who accuse him of stalling the trial for Bulger, who is now 83.
Assistant US Attorney Brian T. Kelly, head of the public corruption unit, gave an example of the delays on Monday.
He said Carney recently sent back 2,000 pages of documents, arguing that they were heavily redacted. But, Kelly said, a review found that Carney has received the documents in other forms without the redactions and that he could review a database to find the material. Kelly also said that his review found that many of the documents did not have heavy redactions.
"From the government's perspective, this is a sham," he said. "They're just trying to figure out how to delay this."
Carney argued that he should not have to sift through tangled, confusing documents to prepare for the case.
"We can't keep trying to sort through all of this discovery as if it's a child's game," said Carney, who was recently supported in a Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly editorial saying his call for a trial postponement is justified.
But Carney found little sympathy from US District Court Judge Marianne Bowler, who said Carney has received so much information because he asked for it.
"You wanted everything and you wanted it in every possible configuration," she said. "You have received it every which way. I'm sorry, but it's up to you to organize it. Now the burden is up to you."
She ordered both sides to meet and discuss evidence in the case.
Bulger, accused in a federal racketeering indictment of participating in 19 slayings, was one of America's most wanted fugitives until his arrest in June 2011, after 16 years on the lam.Milton J. Valencia
can be reached at mvalencia@
globe.com. Follow him on
Twitter @miltonvalencia.


text:
Megan Fox Covers Nylon Magazine
Megan Fox takes the October 2009 cover of Nylon Magazine for its "It Girl" issue.
The 23-year-old actress sounded off on her recent rise to fame: "I think that I'm really overexposed. I was part of a movie that [the studio] wanted to make sure would make $700 million, so they oversaturated the media with their stars, I don't want to be in magazines every week and on the Internet everyday. I don't want to have people get completely sick of me before I've ever even done something legitimate."
Tune in to watch Megan Fox hosting Saturday Night Live this weekend on NBC! Bigger cover pic inside…
DO YOU THINK Megan Fox is overexposed?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Texas doctors bust myths about insulin
People newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes often resist taking insulin because they fear gaining weight, developing low blood sugar, and seeing their quality of life decline. Doctors also may be reluctant to start insulin right off the bat.
But a new study suggests that those fears are largely unfounded.
Insulin should not be viewed as a treatment of last resort, Dr. Ildiko Lingvay and colleagues from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas wrote in the journal Diabetes Care.
In their experience, insulin can be safely and effectively used as a first-line treatment in people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes, with high rates of patient satisfaction and compliance.
Our study busts the myths surrounding insulin therapy in type 2 diabetes, Lingvay noted in an email to Reuters Health.
More than 20 million Americans have type 2 diabetes. Obesity and a sedentary lifestyle increase the risk for the disease.
The standard initial treatment for type 2 diabetes is a single drug, often metformin, which helps regulate blood sugar levels, followed by the addition of more blood sugar-lowering agents as needed.
The UT Southwestern team studied the effectiveness of insulin-based therapy as an initial treatment option to newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics. They compared rates of compliance, satisfaction, effectiveness, safety and quality of life among 58 patients, who were randomly allocated to standard triple drug therapy or insulin plus metformin.
After 3 years, the researchers report, patients taking insulin plus metformin had fewer low blood sugar, or hypoglycemic, events, gained less weight and reported high satisfaction levels with the insulin. In fact, all of the patients in the insulin group said that they would be willing to continue this form of treatment after the study.
Insulin is the most effective (blood sugar-lowering) agent in our treatment armamentarium, the investigators note. With the new devices that we're using, giving yourself an insulin shot is not much harder than taking pills, Lingvay added in a university-issued statement.
This study, Lingvay told Reuters Health, suggests that insulin is a safe, effective, well tolerated and well accepted alternative for long-term treatment of type 2 diabetes, even from the first day of diagnosis.
SOURCE: Diabetes Care 2009.


text:
|Send News. Want a reply? Read this. More in the FAQ. News Forum - All Forums - Mobile - PDA - RSS Headlines Twitter
Steam News announces they are now accepting pre-purchases for Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare's upcoming RPG. Just like getting married, this commitment includes a couple of rings: "Get the standard edition Standard Edition or upgrade to the Digital Deluxe Edition and get special bonus content. Both come with 2 special rings when you pre-purchase: 'The Memory Band' and the Steam exclusive 'The Wicked Oath'." Update: Impulse also offers the memory ring preorder bonus.
Copyright © 1996-2018 Stephen Heaslip. All rights reserved.
All trademarks are properties of their respective owners.
Privacy Policy.
News CGI copyright © 1999-2018 James "furn" Furness &
Blue's News.
All rights reserved.
Chatbear v1.4.0/blue++: Page generated 28 May 2018, 06:10.
Chatbear Announcements.


text:
Whether you're a high school student, graduate student, international student, nontraditional student or military service member, now's your chance to discover CMU and put your stamp on the world. More...
Ask us! We're here to help. You'll find mountains of info online plus email addresses and phone numbers if you need to connect with a human. More...
CMU is a diverse and dynamic intellectual community. Make yourself at home, starting with this gateway to campus resources and services for faculty and staff. More...
Welcome to your home for everything maroon and gold. The CMU Alumni Association brings Chippewas together through social media and at events across the country. Catch the Central spirit here. More...
Find out how parents and family can immerse themselves in Central's culture, activities and events, and discover how we support you and your student. More...
We thank you — a member of our local or regional community — for your support and partnership. Come visit. Come be a part of it all. We're here to serve you, too. More...
SAP Business Management Software students, ERPsim International Competition World Champs
The Dow Chemical SAP Award of Excellence to Chris McCormick, Heather Mitchell and Jagan Paudel
"The best thing about CMU and teaching of SAP is how available the teachers are."
The goals of the department are to provide quality undergraduate programs to prepare students for careers in business and
Information Systems and to provide excellence in a graduate program leading to a
Master of Science in Information Systems, as well as graduate coursework in
Information Systems for the
Master in Business Administration and a
Graduate Certificate in SAP.
The technology-intensive courses support all degree programs within the College of Business Administration and provide opportunities for all Central Michigan University students to acquire information systems expertise. The Information Systems programs follow the Association of Information Technology Professional's model curriculum.
Information Systems (IS) is the study of how organizations use people, processes, and technology to effectively manage information. IS majors learn business management and problem-solving skills that are highly valued by employers in a variety of industries.
IS graduates perform a wide variety of functions within an organization. For example, they analyze business processes, manage projects, and provide technical training. IS graduates provide a critical link between an organization's business functions and its technical support staff. As such, IS graduates work in almost every type of organization, small and large, public and private. Specific reasons to major in IS at CMU include the following:
Applied Business Communication (ABC) prepares students with the critical abilities that employers value most: communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking. ABC focuses on the following areas to help students become "job ready":
Students from any major can benefit from the critical skills developed with ABC: applying technology to solve actual problems, using social media in the workplace, and developing effective communication and professional literacy skills.


text:
This Positive Life: An Interview With Robert Cohen
September 15, 2010
Welcome to This Positive Life Video Series! We have with us Robert Cohen. Being diagnosed in 1986 in San Francisco -- the epicenter of the epidemic at that time -- Robert was convinced that he was going to die. He watched so many of his friends pass away, yet he stayed healthy and undetectable over the years, not knowing why. Then in 2000, Robert was told that he was a long-term nonprogressor and an elite controller -- an extremely rare group of people living with HIV for 20 to 25 years or more who have not yet experienced a severe loss of CD4 cells.
So let's start at the very beginning. When did you find out that you were HIV positive?
So in the dark old days?
In the dark old days. It was a few months after the first HIV tests were available. It took me probably six months to get up the courage to be tested. And there was a lot of stuff going on in my life at that time. I had the idea that I didn't want to miss any bit of information, as I sort of threaded my way through the rapids of my life.
And why did you think that you were at risk?
Oh, well, I had been having sex with men since I was 15.
And all the gay magazines and newspapers were talking about how there might be a gay cancer or GRID or something like that.
Sure, even the mainstream media was talking about, but definitely the local gay press was talking about it, my friends were talking about it, doctors were talking about it.
So you were seeing gay doctors?
Where were you living?
I was living in San Francisco in Noe Valley.
So the heart of the epidemic?
Yeah. Not far from The Castro. I just concentrated on work a lot.
After you found out?
Well even before.
Meaning just to deny that.
Exactly. To have something to do to not think about the monster in the room.
And at that point, there were a lot of monsters, because San Francisco was probably seeing daily deaths, so it was pretty bad.
"So months would pass and I would hear from someone, 'Did you know, so and so is sick? He is going into the hospital.' And then it would be a few days and this person was gone. That happened repeatedly."
So were people around you dying that you knew?
Yes, there were just countless people that I lost and oftentimes, at that stage, these were not people that I was really close to, but they were people who were kind of in my orbit, who I knew to some extent.
And one day they would be partying, it would seem. These weren't people who I saw frequently. So months would pass and I would hear from someone, "Did you know, so and so is sick? He is going into the hospital." And then it would be a few days and this person was gone. That happened repeatedly.
How old were you?
I was in my early 30s.
So it's not usual, in your 30s, to have all your friends dying.
Mortality is not something that one thinks about. Five or ten years before that, gosh I was a bartender in Boston for a couple of years right after college at a gay bar. We partied a lot, we played. By the time I came to San Francisco, I had done so much partying and sex.
When you say partying, do you include drugs in that?
Some, not a lot. Drinking and a little dope. But mostly having sex. Mostly it was pursuit of pleasure. You know, I was just really coming out when I went to Boston, and so it was the sort of the place where I first experienced being on my own and being able to do what I wanted to do without having to sneak around.
Where do you come from?
Around Atlanta, Georgia. The Deep South. But you know there is a lot of sex that goes in those places, but in those days we didn't talk about it. Southern boys, southern people, it's a warm climate; people don't wear a lot of clothes.
This article was provided by TheBody.
Add Your Comment:
(Please note: Your name and comment will be public, and may even show up in
Internet search results. Be careful when providing personal information! Before
adding your comment, please read TheBody.com's Comment Policy.)


text:
BEIJING (Caixin Online) — Chinese customers are buying about 95% of the ore mined by Australia's Fortescue Metals Group FMG, -0.82% FSUGY, -1.21% even though the boom is over.
"China needs us to supply the iron ore," Andrew Forrest, founder and chairman of FMG, said on Nov. 29.
Caixin is a Beijing-based media group dedicated to providing high-quality and authoritative financial and business news and information through periodicals, online and TV/video programs.
• Get the Caixin e-newsletter
Due to the booming demand in Chinese market over the past decade, Fortescue has become the world's fourth-largest iron ore producer five years since its formation in 2003.
In November, Fortescue bought an 18% stake in Oil Basins Ltd., an Australian company. But Fortescue has no plans to further expand its business scope. "We will still focus on the iron ore," Forrest said.
Since its establishment, Fortescue has adopted the development model of expansion with high liabilities. As the iron ore boom is over, Fortescue has been expanding its capacity to lower production costs and needs cash flow to cover its liabilities.
Under the dual challenges, Forrest has stressed the importance of the Chinese market.
Sustainable development
Forrest is optimistic about Chinese demand in the future. He said that when the urbanization level of the United States increased to 50% from 40%, the per capita steel consumption was about 5.2 tons. In China now, the figure is 300 kilograms. The disparity means demand is huge.
Based on the experiences of the United States, the per capita steel consumption surged when the urbanization level rose to 75%, Forrest said. He says the overcapacity in the Chinese steel industry isn't that serious because consumption will continue to rise for next 20 or 30 years.
Forrest predicted that prices will stay at a level to make producers develop in a sustainable way.
In 2009, Hunan Valin Iron & Steel Co., a Changsha-based steelmaker, purchased 17.40% of Fortescue for 1.27 billion Australian dollars ($1.33 billion) AUDUSD, +0.0133% and became the second-largest shareholder in Fortescue.
Valin now owns 14.72% of Fortescue.
Balancing challenges
Fortescue said its production capacity would be expanded to 115 million tons by March 2013 from current 55 million tons.
To meet its target, Fortescue needs to expand the Christmas Creek mine and develop the Firetail project. Both are in Australia.
It also needs to build new ports and railways. In December a railway, linking the Solomon iron ore mine to Port Hedland in Western Australia, opened. It is all part of the capacity expansion plan.
But when iron ore prices hit their lowest level since 2009 — $88.5 per ton in early September — Fortescue decided to postpone two projects until prices rebound.
In doing so, Fortescue's expenditures were reduced to $4.6 billion from $6.2 billion in the 2013 fiscal year, which runs from July 2012 to June 2013.
Besides suspending projects, Fortescue also cut $300 million through staff downsizing and reducing operating costs. Forrest said Fortescue's target was to lower costs by 25%.
Fortescue's gross liabilities were $11.3 billion and total assets were $15.1 billion by the end of June 30, 2012. Its asset-liability ratio was about 75%.
In mid-October, Fortescue received a $5 billion in secured credit financing with five-year terms from Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse to restructure its short-term debt.
But this didn't help Fortescue reduce its asset-liability ratio.
"Fortescue still expects to balance between capacity expansion and lowering its asset-liability ratio," a mining industry source said. "I think it will probably sell a part of its non-core assets."
Fortescue is evaluating proposals from several companies over cooperation. It also said that it was not necessary to sell some of its assets after it obtained the financing.
Read this report on Caixin Online.


text:
Headsets are a must if you are the kind of person that likes to really get into your environment. Be it gaming, music, etc., being immersed fully in it is the job of your headset. If your headset lacks quality your overall experience will suffer. Back in the day quality headsets were both expensive and bulky. Things have changed as of late with headsets getting lighter and cheaper while maintaining or improving on sound quality. Cooler Master's CM Storm division is no stranger to the gaming headset market having previously released their Sirus 5.1 and Sonuz headsets. They've finally entered the entry-level headset market with their Ceres-400 headset. This headset retails for $49.99 w/ free shipping and is backed by a two year warranty.
"The Cooler Master CM Storm Ceres-400 delivers high-quality sound, in a rugged yet comfortable and light weight frame. Built for gamers "on the go", the Ceres-400 delivers great ultra-mobile sound at an affordable price. High Quality 40mm drivers bring out every detail in the game so you can react quickly and hear where the action is. Specially designed sound-absorbing cushions sit comfortably on your ears and help block out distractions or chatter from other gamers. Ceres-400 lets you enjoy the comfort, quality and competitive edge of a professional-grade gaming headset wherever you go." – CM Storm
Large high quality 40mm drivers deliver great sound quality
Whether you're playing a game, listening to music, watching a movie, or just chatting with family, sound is king. Ceres-400 has large, lightweight 40mm drivers in the ear cups that deliver powerful sound fidelity. Now you'll hear every detail and feel every base and treble.
Adjustable headband for a perfect fit
Ceres-400 uses a kind of plastic that can expand while staying stable. You'll be able to find the right fit no matter your head size. The ear cups lock in place to prevent accidental re-adjustment. Soft-touch material lines the headset and provides a comfortable fit.
Swivel Noise-Cancelling Microphone
Cursing at enemies or whispering sweet nothing to a loved one, this sensitive microphone eliminates background noise so your voice comes through with crystal-clear clarity. The mic can be quickly access or put away to fit your situation.
In-line volume control and microphone on/off switch
In-line control capsule allow you to adjust the volume and mute the microphone quickly and easily.
|Driver diameter: ø40mm x 7.5 mm(H)
Frequency range: 20 – 20,000 Hz
Impedance: 32 Ω
Sensitivities(@1kHz): 108 dB ± 4 dB
Input: 100mW
Connector: 3.5 mm headphone jack
Inner Ear Cup Diameter: 90 mm
Cable Length: 2.5m
|Pick Up pattern: Noise-cancelling
Frequency range: 100 – 10,000 Hz
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: 50dB
Sensitivities(@1kHz): -38 dB ± 3 dB
|Hardware Requirements
|Audio Usage: Devices with 3.5mm audio jack
Audio + Microphone Usage: Devices with 3.5mm audio + microphone jack(smartphones)
|2 years
|UPC Code
Full details on the Ceres-400 headset can be found at CM Storm's Ceres-400 product page. Now that we know the basics we can move on and look at the retail box and then the headphones!
Comments are closed.


text:
Ed Bennett's famous Health Care Social Media List is now moving to Mayo Clinic where it is going to have a great place, I think.
Four years ago Ed decided to create a resource for social media advocates in hospitals. He thought it would be great if those facing skeptical administrators could begin the conversation with a list of peer institutions already using Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.
Thus was born the HSNL that Ed has hosted on his Found in Cache blog until now. List maintenance had been a manual labor of love, and yet he didn't have to programming resources to streamline the process.
When Ed decided he had accomplished his original goal and announced his plans for one final update before achiving the list, we approached him about continuing HSNL. See his thoughts on the move.


text:
marketing junk
Unverified Voracity Explores Combovers
- dave brandon
- denard robinson
- denard robinson NFL running back possibility
- devin gardner
- FREEDOM trophy
- gene keady
- gregg doyel
- illinois
- John Beilein
- larry foote
- marketing junk
- military tributes are often self-pleasing
- penn state awful thing
- tim beckman's terrible horrible no good very bad habit
- unverified voracity
Tonight! Or rather this afternoon. Evening? What is 5PM anyway? Ace is stopping by Tisch Hall to talk about his experience as a history major who made his way in the world. He's "ventured into the real world with remarkable success!" in fact.
Free dinner, too. And some other non-Ace persons you've never heard of like… uh… one of the co-founders of Zingerman's. Wow. Should have done history.
Gardner journey'd. It is bleakly appropriate that they took him to his now-closed high school.
The amazing true story of Gene Keady's combover. This is the best work Gregg Doyel has ever done: [UPDATE: now with link even]
"I had extensions," Keady tells me, at which point I put the phone down and started throwing up. OK, not really. But still. Extensions?
"Well sure," he says. "Men were just starting to get extensions, so why not?"
I've never known a man who had hair extensions.
"Now you do," Keady says.
Keady had twice-weekly appointments to keep is his 'do on the cutting edge of late night hair replacement commercials at $300 a pop. He is willing to admit this in a newspaper, so he is a better, more extended man than I.
Also, Keady's shotgun wedding sounds like it claimed all present, including said combover:
"Kelvin Sampson gave the bride away. The best man was Bruce Weber. He was the flower girl, too."
Neither was ever the same.
This isn't about the here and now. This is about how it all happened. This is John Beilein. http://t.co/t40F3RBAXv pic.twitter.com/YQzpRz4i74
— Brendan F. Quinn (@BFQuinn) November 12, 2014
You can tell it's important because it has a screen-wide picture. Big ol' profile of John Beilein on MLive with most John Beilein thing about a big profile ever:
More than anything, he's one of the best college basketball coaches in America, creating a tug of war between the twilight of his days and the pinnacle of his career.
Here he is.
"So what is the point of all this?" Beilein asks, wondering why anyone would fuss to retrace his steps searching for who he actually is.
"Well, I just don't get it," he says. "I can't imagine why anyone would care."
I don't think we're getting memoir after he's done.
The amazing pfffffffttttt hahahaha. If this was true, Tim Beckman wouldn't have been allowed to coach the Illini at all.
Beckman says academic standards at Illinois are higher than other B1G schools. He says it's the biggest issue in recruiting for Illini.
— Dan Murphy (@DanMurphyESPN) November 11, 2014
"It took me two weeks to figure out how the door to my office works," continued Beckman. "That's how hard the academics are at Illinois."
a short play in one act
FAN examines DOOR. FAN turns to BECKMAN.
FAN: "This is a normal door."
BECKMAN: "Cleverly disguised as a trick door!"
BECKMAN: "Real tricky doors, too."
FAN: /burns degree
How you dismantle Michigan State. SBN's Ian Boyd takes a look at a clobberin' MSU hasn't experienced since… well, Oregon. But not for a long time before that. OSU used a similar playbook:
They attacked the Spartan outside linebackers for playing the edge against the run:
The announcers highlighted the route combination but ignored the play action component that made the play a one-on-one matchup, where a missed tackle meant total breakdown. With pop and play-action elements attached to basic run plays, the Buckeyes are able to make the passing game simple for Barrett.
The play of his receivers has been huge as well. He never had to make a read on that throw, staring down his intended target. The sam linebacker is sucked in by the run action, leaving the safety and corner to account for the two receivers without help. The slot receiver runs a post route that the safety follows, which leaves the corner on an island playing press coverage against the outside receiver. Michael Thomas beats the corner with the inside move, and that's all she wrote.
The Buckeyes ended up getting the ball again before halftime and once again dialed up play action off zone slice.
This time, Ohio State caught the Spartans in a blown coverage. MSU uncharacteristically mixed a single-deep safety coverage on a non-blitz, and free safety Kurtis Drummond failed to get over the top in time to stop the deep post to the speedy Devin Smith.
The result of all this was Ohio State gaining 89% of available yards. Against Michigan State. Without Braxton Miller, Carlos Hyde, and four of last year's OL.
Some people are so bad at being people. Like Spaghetti O's tweeting about Pearl Harbor, here comes the most generic trophy ever assembled:
There's not actually a gallery. Don't click unless you enjoy useless activities. Wait… you probably do.
Cloak yourselves in that flag, marketing geniuses. Dan Wetzel manages to say the thing about all this military stuff without touching the third rail:
The Freedom Trophy? What is that? Was there ever any doubt in the freedom of Wisconsin or Nebraska? Has anyone tried to invade either place and establish totalitarian rule – we're looking at you Iowa.
Big Ten marketing person No. 1: This is ham-fisted and meaningless. Fans are going to make fun of us.
Big Ten marketing person No. 2: Call it the Freedom Trophy and say it honors veterans. The trophy will consist of two massive football stadiums merged together with an enormous American flag coming out of it. They can't make fun of that.
You don't like freedom? You don't honor veterans? You don't like big stadiums and big flags? You Pac-12 commie.
A lot of the time it feels like Honoring Our Heroes is done to have some of that military mojo rub off on whoever's doing the honoring. It's a way to signify you're a good person in the safest way possible, and is thus the place please-everyone rubes run to when they don't have any ideas. No coincidence that as people started hating on Dave Brandon more and more that the military tributes became a literally every-game occurrence.
Hooray Denard. Denard Robinson is a legit NFL running back after a difficult first year, and he did it in the Denard way:
Early in the offseason, Robinson knocked on the door of head coach Gus Bradley.
"I don't want to go through another season like that one," he told him. "Tell me what I need to do to get on the field."
Bradley laid out a plan for Robinson. The Jaguars believed Robinson, who weighed 194 pounds when he first reported, had the frame to carry considerably more weight. The diet and training program he embraced resulted in him getting up to 215, his current weight.
Next, they wanted to enable him to make his new muscle functional. In the offseason, Richardson worked with Robinson on running violently. Robinson was naturally elusive. Richardson wanted him to be able to combine elusiveness with violence. "We worked on using a stiff arm or shoulder drop in combination with making cuts," Richardson said. "I call it use of weapons."
It helps to be unreasonably humble at all times.
I guess we'll say he's outspoken. The quotable Larry Foote:
Foote said, "They better change up their recruiting. They better get some eyes in there that can find some NFL talent. Michigan better go back to the hood (recruiting). They've got too many trust fund babies and they look like that when they're playing. They've got guys out there – they're just happy. They're happy they're playing at Michigan. But that's not Michigan football; the attitude has to change."
When Stanford, Notre Dame, and even Duke have significantly outperformed Michgian of late I don't buy that argument. It's about what happens after the recruits get to school, not before.
Backlash backlash backlash backlash. It's turtles all the way down in the Penn State case. I remember being uncomfortable at the time with Penn State's punishment, because having the NCAA step in on such a heinous thing was like giving Charles Manson a traffic ticket.
But they did, and then one of the lawsuits still pending against the NCAA showed that officials were uncertain if they had the power to do the thing that they did. A lot of people went LOL NCAA at this, but I'm with John Gasaway:
You'll also have to forgive me for not being troubled to find that NCAA staffers questioned whether they were doing the right thing. In fact I would feel far better about the process behind the Freeh Report, for example, if emails surfaced wherein investigators were fretting over whether they were really doing justice to Penn State president Graham Spanier. My worry is precisely that there are no such emails because there were no such qualms.
Whether it was a good idea or not, a bluff or not, Penn State signed the consent decree and took its steadily declining lumps. Was it PR to look like the NCAA doesn't accept the idea of harboring a Sandusky? Or was it the NCAA not accepting the idea of a Sandusky? They're the same thing.
Where are they now: Dave Brandon edition. A Domino's in Saginaw saw a tense standoff between a pissed-off customer and the manager devolve into a shouting match featuring these words from the manager:
Apparently a manager at the helm of this Saginaw, Michigan, Domino'scursed out a customer who confronted him over hanging up on her son. The kid reportedly complained after getting a lightly sauced pie instead of one with "white" sauce. Hence this exchange: "Did you come in for your money back? Because I really don't care about your opinion," the manager says.
I appreciate the fact that Brandon was trying to lessen the financial blow of his buyout by getting outside work, but maybe next time get a job that doesn't involve customer service.
Etc.: Saturday doesn't look any prettier in advanced stats. Jack Kennedy talks to the Big House Report about Saturday and Hoke's status. Sounds reasonable. Les Miles on… economics! Fired Domino's manager says some bad stuff at customer including "I really don't care about your opinion."
MVictors on Willie Heston.
Unverified Voracity Quits English
Touchdown Billy Taylor. A trailer for Dan Chace's upcoming Billy Taylor documentary:
More Yost pictures. From new M hockey blog Yost Section 25:
The first Sunday matinee game is going to be a trip.
Game: stepped up. OSU just announced a series with TCU starting in 2018, which is somewhat notable since they've already got Cincinnati on the docket. If TCU is notable, this is jaw-dropping:
"We will play two more BCS games that year," [OSU AD Gene] Smith told Yahoo! Sports via email Wednesday, using the parlance for a quality top six-conference opponent.
Even if those are Colorado-style one-off guarantee games, dang. OSU may be done with the Little Sisters of the Poor:
"That year [2018] is a snapshot of future years," Smith said. "As we move forward, from 2018 and out, our goal is BCS only. We are looking at top ranked teams, 1-50 teams."
Here's a thing I never thought I'd say: Gene Smith, I am impressed. If OSU puts together a full slate of BCS opponents in 2018, that will be their first time since 1995 (4-8 BC, 7-4-1 Washington, and 2-9 Pitt) and second time since 1990.
Michigan's last all-power-conference lineup was in 1997, and Dave Brandon has a lot of work to do to keep up with the Joneses what with the Notre Dame series ending*.
*[ : ( ]
Playoff: a motivator. Wetzel points out a key motivator behind the sort of scheduling seen above:
In 1988, before the creation of the Bowl Alliance, the precursor to the BCS, there were 15 non-conference games where both teams were ranked in the AP preseason top 20. This year there were just two featuring AP preseason top 20 teams: Alabama-Michigan and Clemson-South Carolina.
While one of the BCS's oft-repeated talking points was that it protected the regular season, it was, in fact, destroying the non-conference portion.
Now it's back to the future as athletic directors across the country place their faith in a selection committee that will rationally analyze a body of work, not just blindly follow records.
For example, Oregon was ranked fifth in the final BCS standings last season, one spot behind Stanford. The Ducks had two losses, but one was to then top-ranked LSU on a neutral field. Stanford had just one loss, but it was to Oregon, by 23 points at home. The Ducks also won the Pac-12 title.
The BCS didn't care. It claimed Stanford was better. An informed selection committee would never make that decision and thus penalize Oregon for playing a challenging non-conference schedule. Conversely, a weak non-conference schedule might cost you on selection day.
Even Wisconsin says it will seek out "at least" two major opponents in the non-conference schedule. Man, the BCS sucked. Not only did it pick the wrong team about half the time, it also created the worst scheduling practices since things like Iowa Pre-Flight stopped existing.
Money is another factor, of course. With ticket prices rising along with guarantee requirements the money has started coming in on the side of actual games.
Trouba: the devil on skates. Three tweets from the immediate aftermath of Jacob Trouba's first practice at Michigan:
Couldn't sleep last night, kept having nightmares @jacobtrouba was going to put me out for the year in practice today
— Alex Guptill (@alexguptill) October 4, 2012
With @jacobtrouba hope he doesn't eat my laptop..barbarian #JMFT #killer
— Adam Janecyk (@ajanny30) October 4, 2012
With the man, the myth, the legend. JMFT! #openicehits #killer @mchiasson3 twitter.com/ajtrea23/statu…
— Aj Treais (@ajtrea23) October 4, 2012
I think we are going to like Mr. Trouba.
Goalie: ack. In less sunny news, Red Berenson revealed that projected starting goalie Jared Rutledge had retina surgery recently and may not be available early in the season. Meanwhile, top backup Steve Racine is also coming back from injury:
Racine underwent an offseason surgery that limited his physical activity, Berenson said.
"He's just starting to get close to 100 percent, but he looks pretty good," Berenson said.
Racine is 21 after a long junior career and will be a nice guy to have on the roster—not every 5'6" walkon is going to be the statistically-best goalie in Michigan history.
Ain't got no headset. Hoke on WXYT:
"It is overrated," Hoke said Thursday on an interview with the Stoney and Bill Show on WXYT 97.1-FM. "You ever watch guys on head sets and they don't say a word? This gives me an opportunity to coach kids during a game.
"The game is a mental game, it's a game of motivation and enthusiasm and teaching. Not wearing a headset, I get to teach on the sideline and be a part of it."
As for the question of whether or not he knows what play offensive coordinator Al Borges is sending in, Hoke says he doesn't need a headset to hear that.
"I do know what the calls are, because there's a guy standing right behind me who tells me every call that's going in," Hoke said.
People keep bombing the Vincent Smith call, but when two linemen don't pull that's not really on the playcall.
Also Hoke likes "Smoke on the Water," surprising no one. I would watch a sitcom based around the misadventures of 20-year-old Brady Hoke in Muncie. I would break that thing down.
Oh for the love of God. Two sentences from two PR things I received today:
Heart of Dallas, a newly minted nonprofit, exists to inspire Dallas millennials to become the next generation of influencers and philanthropists by leveraging a consistent calendar of sports and entertainment events. Proceeds from Heart of Dallasactivities will be used to invest in collective impact strategies that make Dallas a better place.
make it stop
Flagstar had an interest in co-branding with our digital properties and we're excited to have them partner on our website and student loyalty program. We look forward to having Flagstar as a partner in our top-rated digital space on the collegiate level.
if you roll your eyes too hard do you evaporate into a mist of condescension
AAAAAAAAH!!! Do you need to bore someone to death? LITERALLY TO DEATH? DO YOU NEED SOMEONE SO BORED THEY MELT?!?!?! THIS IS WHAT YOU NEEEEEED.
Etc.: Ed O'Bannon lawsuit forces ESPN to release a ton of contracts. Go Ed O'Bannon lawsuit. GLI would move back indoors if the Winter Classic is lost to the NHL lockout. Game preview from Hammer and Rails. Guys don't have names like Adolph "Germany" Schulz anymore.
Unverified Voracity Summons Chris Hansen
So there's this.
Screening. Very cool article from Mike Rothstein on the increasing use of ball screens and pick-and-roll in college basketball going all the way back to the days when LaVall Jordan was helping run it at Butler. It comes complete with pithy epigram:
The ball screen forces defenses to choose where they want to recover.
John Beilein has started using it frequently, getting Jordan Morgan a wide array of dunks and others various open shots—I wonder if that's Jordan's influence? Here is where we compare and contrast Beilein's program reboot after last season with Rodriguez's defensive flailing. [comparison] [sadness/frustration] [basketball team swept state] [woo]
Literally less than nothing. I was away when SI came out with a story about college football criminals heavy on the research and light on the context. The blogosphere duly blew it up. I'm with Braves & Birds in that I'd rather have a big media organization doing research instead of, you know, not doing it, but I'm also with Orson when he rips it. Two main takeaways:
- Journalists are terrible with numbers. It's appalling. I bet there isn't a journalism program in the country that requires a statistics course. They are the equivalent of dog groomers once you bring out a decimal point.
- Journalists will not stand for doing a lot of research and declaring "nothing to see here."
SI found nothing but still made the monkey dance:
Of those seven percent, "nearly 60 percent…were guilty or paid some penalty". If we assume "nearly 60 percent" means 57% (shockingly, the actual numbers and survey methods aren't given), then 4% of players on top 25 football teams have been actually convicted of, or plead guilty to, a crime.
The number of average college students with the same criminal record? According to this article from Corvallis, Oregon's Daily Barometer, 3.45%. That's right: Your typical college football player is one-half of one percent more likely to have a criminal conviction. To put that in perspective, a team of 85 players has half a person more convicted criminals on it than a sample of 85 students drawn randomly. Hide yo kids, hide yo wife.
"Nothing" is actually generous. Consider that the kids on college football teams are disproportionately male (duh), black (45% as of 2006), and poor (presumably, right?) and that male, black, and/or poor groups tend to have more criminal activity. SI really discovered that putting someone on a college football team is a good way to keep them out of trouble. Which, duh. You're giving them something to lose.
Braves & Birds criticizes a lack of "solutions" in the SI problem, but how do you solve the opposite of a problem? (Other than hire Greg Robinson.)
BONUS: Remember the Free Press going ape that Michigan didn't do a juvenile background check on Demar Dorsey? Yeah…
…when the nut graf of the piece mentions that only two out of 25 programs conduct background checks on their incoming recruits, there's two instances of serious slippage here. First, programs probably don't do them out of negligence and cost, not because they know that juvenile records searches are sketchy business at best. Second, they assume this means anything when they also write this in the middle of the piece:
Nor did SI and CBS News have access to juvenile arrest records for roughly 80 percent of the players in the study.
The issue of background checks for most recruits in most states is dead before you finish the first page of the article.
BTW, Feldman's latest features a bunch of quotes($) from coaches and administrators citing the same problems bloggers did.
The way it had to end. MSU's hockey team did get swept in Fairbanks, ending Rick Comley's career, but it wasn't easy. Both games went to overtime. On Friday Michigan State had a potential game-winner ruled out and suffered a seemingly controversial UAs game winner. This caused an epic fit of bitching on MSU player twitter feeds—Derek Grant hashtagged "awful," "embarrassing," and "disgraceful" in a single tweet—that suggested Comley had complained to his players about the call in the locker room. The disgraceful event: the MSU net lifted up momentarily but was settled on its moorings before the shot was taken.
MSU's season ended the next night with another overtime goal, and thus ends Rick Comley's career. That's karma. This is something beyond it:
Michigan State hockey head coach Rick Comley reportedly was involved in a physical confrontation Friday night in the Carlson Center with Alaska Nanooks fans Robert Downes, a Fairbanks Superior Court judge, and his daughter, attorney Amy Tallerico. …
Downes, during a telephone interview Saturday, said he talked to Comley after the game. "It was a comment on his complaining about every goal that was scored," Downes said.
The confrontation reportedly turned physical and Tallerico allegedly was struck. Speaking Saturday night, Tallerico said they exchanged shoves. Her father said she filed a complaint with the CCHA.
I'm not inclined to believe a random fan who dispenses frontier justice over Comley—never been anything but stonefaced in my experience—but for Comley to get into a confrontation with a fan in the last weekend of his career is a weird echo of the Kampfer incident that was the beginning of his end. May it haunt his dreams.
Meanwhile. Other than State getting swept it was a bad week for Michigan on the TUC cliff. OSU and NMU both lost, ending their seasons. Michigan's 5-1 record against them is now gone. Compounding matters, NMU's loss against BGSU sends the Falcons to Yost for a second-round series that can't do much to help Michigan. Sweeping gets them .001 for their RPI.
mfan_in_ohio broke down the comparisons in a diary bumped yesterday, but a brief recap:
- Michigan is still the last one-seed but lost a comparison against UNO. That will be tough to get back unless Bemidji State starts winning games.
- Denver lost over the weekend, keeping them behind M. Michigan can probably stay in front of them by doing at least as well as they do but pulling BGSU complicates things. Denver has a much better opponent this weekend and could pass Michigan in RPI if they win the WCHA.
- Any chance of stealing the BC comparison is gone after the Eagles swept UNH.
- Miami will be dangerously close to passing M if they sweep this weekend but since one or the other will have to lose it's kind of a moot point.
- Ferris is safe as a TUC.
- Lake State can become a TUC by beating ND.
In simple terms, if Michigan wins the CCHA they will very probably be the last one-seed. If they don't they'll be a two.
More dudes. A local newspaper article on 2013 commit Tyler Motte lists offer-type substances:
Motte committed recently to the University of Michigan, choosing the Wolverines over Miami (Ohio), Ferris State, Western Michigan, Ohio State and Michigan State.
It's even more difficult to sort fiction from reality when it comes to college hockey offers since their recruiting cycle is so accelerated, but Miami was Motte's "second choice" so that's probably legit. They're a good team to snatch a recruit from. Knock on wood, but Motte does not sound like he'll give the OHL half a thought. Backing that up: his older brother is ticketed for Ferris.
Michigan continued its run of getting commits from kids who will hit campus after the Mayan apocalypse with 2013's Alex Talcott, a teammate of Alex Kile on Honeybaked's U18 midget major team. He had an 0-10-10 line at the recent Select 15 camp and was the seventh-best forward there according to USHR. All they said was "good hands," though. Michigan Hockey Net has a full googlestalk of Talcott waiting for you; FWIW, The Scouting News claims he's an NTDP "cinch."
This is a bit convoluted. But Simmons's latest column on the NFL is a compelling takedown of the sort of shortsighted thinking that plagues NFL owners specifically and, more generally, anyone who is obsessed with getting the highest Financial Oligarch Pacman score at the expense of the future. That people like Daniel Snyder and Dan Gilbert can own incredibly expensive sports franchises is a condemnation of the whole system. If those comic-sans-deploying, Mark-Shapiro-hiring idiots can make billions of dollars just so they can prove their ineptness in games with a score the idea this is a meritocracy is fanciful, isn't it?
Etc.: Yost introduces $38 "all you can eat" seats. Seriously. Red Berenson will be honored by the Blues today. All Big Ten teams from UMHoops; Morris second, Hardaway third, Morgan and Hardaway all-frosh. Kellen Russell wins a Big Ten championship in wrestling. Even tackles can be too tall.


text:
The lights are on
This isn't the gateway into the Mushroom Kingdom, but it's just about the next best thing. Enter a world where you can discuss all things Mario and never feel out of place for wearing red overalls.
here we will disscus your favorite mario enemy and power up for the enemy.
my favorite would hav eto be dry bones because the yare imposible to kill and my favorite power up would have to be the bat wing ones because they are impossible to kill and they fly
The Goombas!
I always liked Blargg and the Microgoomba
I love Microgoomba blocks from Super Mario Bros. 3. All the ease of stomping a goomba, but now it's actually FUN!
I'm also a big fan of Shadow Mario from Super Mario Sunshine, as well as Cosmic Mario/Cosmic Luigi from Super Mario Galaxy. What can I say, I'm a sucker for dark versions of the protagonist.


text:
Full Episode
Tom Spencer and Bob Barth from the Austin Cactus & Succulent Society illustrate ground-hardy agaves. On tour, a San Antonio gardener replaced dead grass with dimensions of hardy succulents and cacti. Daphne answers: can a plant get sun scald? Her Pick of the Week is Ruby Crystals grass. Jeff Pavlat demonstrates how to repot cacti and succulents.
Visit the Website: http://www.klru.org/ctg/
Episode #1833 / Length: 26 minutes


text:
|מאגר מידע » Aliyah-עלייה » Aliyah Statistics
|כותב המאמר: Sue Tourkin-Komet
This is the story of the immigration of Iraqi Jewry, the oldest Jewish Diaspora on our planet, and their settlement in Israel.
On Friday, May 19, 1950, at 2:00 p.m., nine years after the two-day, bloody pogrom against Baghdadi Jewry on the Shavuoth holiday of 1941, a remarkable event took place:
A plane with eighty-six Jewish immigrants, accompanied by an Iraqi police officer, prepared for take-off at the Baghdad Airport. It headed for Nicosia on the island of Cyprus, touched there for a brief landing, and after a short stay, took off again for Lydda [Lod Airport, later renamed for Ben-Gurion]. Six hours after leaving Iraq, it landed at Lod. An hour later, another plane landed in Israel with another eighty-nine immigrants, also from Iraq. These pioneering travelers, most of whom had never been abroad nor on planes before, were the first of some 120,000-130,000 to be airlifted in the relatively short time span of 1950-1952, with most coming to Israel in l951. They were elderly and anxious adults, excited teenagers, many young children, and infants. They were uprooted from their homes, jobs, friends, schools, neighborhoods, environments, and their native tongue, and headed for a voyage into the unknown, to the Land of Israel and the State of Israel which filled their dreams but of which they knew very little.
The massive airlift Aliyah of Jews from Iraq, dubbed by the "Ma'ariv" newspaper as "Operation Ezra and Nechemia," was the name that stuck. Others called it at that same time the "Ali Baba Operation," the "New Magic Carpet," and "Operation Babylon"-indeed the title of Shlomo Hillel's fascinating book on such events. Each unique name is a window on the drama and excitement that such Aliyah provoked.
The Iraqi mass Aliyah and the successful absorption of "Bavli" [Babylonian Jews] immigrants is not an inconsequential number, as today it is estimated that there are more than a quarter million Jews of direct Iraqi birth or descent in Israel. It is the fourth largest ethnic group in Israel, superceded only by Russian Jews, Moroccan Jews, and by a tiny margin of Rumanian Jews. Other ethnic groups in Israel, of lesser numbers than the "Bavlim," in descending order, are Polish Jews, Yemenite Jews, and Iranian Jews-1999 statistics. Indeed, the size of the emigrating Iraqi community, some 120,000-130,000 thousand Jews, was equal in size to the number of Jews in the greater metropolitan Washington, D.C. Jewish community of the l970's-for comparison's sake.
More statistics-in 1950 there were 137,000 Jews in Iraq, including 10,000 from Iran, and 5,000 who did not register with the Jewish community. In 1950, some 31,627 Iraqi Jews arrived in Israel; in 1951 some 88,161 Iraqi Jews arrived in Israel; and in 1952 some 282 Iraqi Jews arrived in Israel. Sub-divided again, of 110,618 who flew to Israel, 38,000 flew via Cyprus and 72,618 flew directly to Israel. Some 9,352 refugees escaped from Iraq to Iran and then went to Israel. Some 8,000 Jews of Iranian origin, in Iraq, flew to Iran, and from Teheran to Israel. And some 9,030 Jews stayed behind in Iraq after the mass emigration.
The depletion of the Jewish community did not go unnoticed by the Iraqi [Arab] administration and its economy. The Jewish community of Iraq had had six guaranteed seats in the Iraqi Parliament-unheard of civil rights in other Arab nations-with three seats saved for Baghdadi Jewish representatives, two seats for Basra Jews, and one seat for Mosul Jews. Thus, it was debated in a January 1952 session in the Iraqi Parliament, if such seats should still be reserved for a "turn-coat community," abandoning a country that had treated them so benevolently. It was suggested during that debate that Iraqi Jews should be held in concentration camps and be divested of their rights.
Such background information sheds light both on the status of Iraqi Jews-who could become Members of Parliament-and yet also live in the shadow of the threat of concentration camps, loss of rights, and certainly the loss of their property and their wealth.
By 1997, only about sixty Jews were left in Baghdad, mostly elderly, centering their lives at the only remaining "Meir Tweig" synagogue. Apart from them, who else was left? The tombs of the Prophets Yechezkel and Yona, the tombs of the Scribe and the Prophet Nachum Alkosh, and the tombs of many of the great Rabbis of the Babylonian era. Also left were [the estimated] 180 Jews killed in the 1941 Shavuoth pogrom, as well as Yousif Basri and Shalom Saleh, Jews executed in public on January 21, 1952. They supposedly threw bombs on Jews at the Masooda Shemtob Synagogue on January 14, 1951 and killed some of them, in order to "speed up" the registration process of the masses to exit Iraq. Also left behind were the graves with the bodies of Iraqi Jews hung in 1969 in the Public Square, to the dancing and cheering of the Arab masses.
To understand this once glorious and ancient Jewish community, one should know that as long ago as 1864, when the USA was ending it's Civil War, and President Lincoln had grown up in a log cabin; and Russian Jews still had 4-6 more decades of lives to be lived out in the "Pale of Settlement"-also in wooden huts-in that year of 1864 Alliance Francaise, for Jewish students, with European and modern education, was inaugurated in Baghdad-along with European clothing. By the 1920's, there were Iraqi urban Jewish brides dressed in wedding gowns that imitated the "Charleston" dancers flappers' dresses-sleeveless, relatively short straight shift dresses, with European blunt haircuts and European cloches on their heads. By 1951, a typical urban Iraqi immigrant to Israel might be fluent in Arabic, English, French, and Hebrew, or at least two or three of those languages-giving him or her a great head-start over other "oriental" Jews from North Africa and Asia. It was not at all unusual for an Iraqi Jewish man living in a "ma'abarah" [tent camp in Israel, in the early 1950's] to dress in his own European clothing and go out to work each day as a Bank Manager, especially as such man had been a bank manager back in Iraq!
More statistics that would help explain the upward mobility of Iraqi Jews in Israel and thus their typically successful absorption-by 1900, a full century ago, there were already 600 modern education pupils in Iraq, by 1920 there were 7,000 such modern education pupils, and by 1949, before the mass Aliyah, there were 20,000 such pupils. As for graduates of Higher Education, between 1880-1920 there were 40 such graduates, between 1921-1940 some 300 such graduates, and in the decade of 1941-1951 some 650 such grads. The "traditional" Jewish school system in Iraq [i.e. religious schools and Yeshivahs] almost held their own, with a small decline from 2,500 in 1900 to 2,300 in 1920 to 2,000 in 1949. However, the Modern Schools expanded during those decades in explosive numbers-500 pupils in 1900, and 5,500 by 1950, and some 16,000 by 1949. By 1950, before the Iraqi Diaspora liquidated itself, the distribution of the main Jewish Baghdadi institutions were: only two large Yeshivahs, twenty-one synagogues, twenty-three Jewish schools, and two Jewish medical institutions-including a Jewish hospital and a Jewish medical clinic.
Indeed, some 11% of teachers in the young State of Israel and 17% of the doctors in Israel also, during those years, were Iraqi Jewish immigrants -dispelling the stereotype that Ashkenazim totally dominated the educational and medical infrastructures of the young State of Israel. One generation later, the 1970's, Iraqi-born infants or Iraqi immigrant babies came of age, and entered "the system" in Israel in droves-in academia, law, politics, business, medicine, literature, music, the arts, the civil service, and the security forces.
Other clues as to why the Iraqi Jews integrated so well in Israel-they refused to be treated as "pitiful souls," which became the tragic stereotype to this day of Moroccan Jews in Israel. Also, the great mass of Iraqis preceded the Moroccans by half a decade to a decade in settling in Israel, getting a head start in housing, jobs, education, and the armed forces. Young Iraqis, such as Shlomo Hillel, were courted by the Mapai/Labour Party Establishment-the ruling party of Israel for decades. Hillel became a member of the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, at age twenty-seven, before he and his wife gave birth to their first child. As for successful integration into Israeli society, Iraqi Jews were more likely to marry fellow Ashkenazim, than other "oriental" ethnic groups in Israel, giving them a jump-start into mainstream Israeli Ashkenazi society. Both of the well-known Israeli Iraqi Jews Shlomo Hillel and Mordechai Ben-Porat each married women who were Ashkenazi Holocaust survivors.
Typical Iraqi immigrants "owed allegiance" and gained "protexia" from the then Israeli ruling party--the Labour party--due to it's inroads in Iraq via the Hagannah's and the Jewish Agency's presence in Iraq. They also gained "protexia" from the local "illegal" Zionist Movement in Iraq, with twenty-four branches all over Iraq, during the decade of 1942 until the mass Aliyah in 1951.
Logistically, most Iraqi Jewish immigrants refused to be re-located from the immigrant tent cities towards the peripheries-the under-developed "development" towns--insisting on remaining in the Tel Aviv area or in Jerusalem-closer to urban white-collar work, such as in banks, government offices, commerce, education, medical professions, etc. Other "oriental" minorities were more easily relegated to areas where they became factory workers or moshav [village co-operative] farmers-or unemployed.
Decades later, the Iraqi immigrants' children lived in the shadows of Tel Aviv University or the Hebrew University, close to such institutions where they would study.
At the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center in Or Yehudah, one can see a letter written in French, by Iraqi immigrants, to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, insisting on their right to own a coffee house and not to be given a horse and buggy and live on a moshav.
Of all the "oriental" immigrant groups, the Iraqis are the least religiously observant, thus also "finding favor" with the establishment in Israel and enhancing their altogether successful absorption process into the young State of Israel.
Some of the more famous Iraqi Jews in Israel are: Mordechai Ben-Porat--founder of the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center and former Member of Knesset; Shlomo Hillel-retired Speaker of the House of the Knesset; Dalia Itzik-Member of Knesset and government minister; Zadik Bino-a self-made millionaire who recently co-purchased the First International Bank; Shmuel Moreh-Israel Prize Laureate in Arabic literature; Sami Michael-leading novelist; Sassson Somekh-professor of Arabic literature at Tel Aviv University; and Moshe Levy-former chief-of-staff.
|גירסת הדפסה | שלח לחבר
שליחות בחו"ל | ארגון ציוני | ההסתדרות הציונית העולמית | יהדות התפוצות | שירותים רוחניים בתפוצות | פעילות בתפוצות | הר הרצל | הרצל | החטיבה להתיישבות | עלייה למדינת ישראל | שליחות חינוכית בחו"ל | דה לגיטימציה של ישראל | הוראת ישראל | חינוך ציוני | אנטישמיות בעולם | הסברה ישראלית | מאמרים נוספיםMaking Aliyah 2013 | Google + | מתחם הרצל | Google B|


text:
If you're an Android owner and a fan of capping the undead, you might have been a little disappointed by last month's news that Black Ops Zombies was only available exclusively on Sony Xperia devices. Unless you happened to own Sony's Xperia S or Xperia Ion, you were out of luck. Fortunately, that exclusivity window has closed and now any Android player can get their zombie fix.
The game is now available on Google Play, and will cost you $6.99. It features an upgradable perks system like the console title it's based on. It also includes a handful of maps for single- and multiplayer modes, and a gauntlet "Dead Ops Arcade" mode.


text:
During the Genea-Blogger games, one of the categories involved learning how to properly format and use citations. Though I cite correctly in my professional life, when it comes to genealogy, I'd been very laid back, so this gave me an opportunity to start to clean up my citations in my trees.
While doing this, I used two tools to help make the formatting part easy – Worldcat & EasyBib.
WorldCat – is an online database of what libraries all over the world have in their collections. Therefore, if there is a book you are trying to track down, this is one of the best sources to consult. Previously, I've blogged about the Lists feature, which I find very helpful. But the citation feature was particularly helpful for this category of the games. When you do a search in Worldcat and retrieve a record, there is a link that you can use to get the citation of that book (or item) formatted for you in multiple ways.
When you select "Cite this Item," you then get a pop-up screen that lists the citation for you in MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard & Turabian styles. All you then have to do is copy and paste. It's great!
The other site I used was particularly usefulfor non-book formats. Need to cite a website? Newspaper article? Some other format? EasyBib comes to the rescue.
EasyBib – uses a fill-in-forms to create your citation. It is free if you want MLA style, but costs 7.99/year for the MyBibPro if you want APA style. Not a bad price, but for my genealogical needs, not worth it. I'm okay with MLA. 🙂
The first step with EasyBib is select what type of format you have -they offer over 50 to choose from, including podcasts, blogs, letters, comics, and more.
Once you select a format, you are given fields to fill-in and you only have to fill-in what you know. So, no worries if there is a part of the citation for which you don't know. Then, there is also a section you can click on to expand the form if you retreived to document the method in which you found it – online? an abstracts journal? Just select your source
There are also several other tools and features on the EasyBib site. If you register you can share your lists, and use some of the other features. They even offer a widget you can put on your website to create your citations without even having to go to the EasyBib website. That's coolness!


text:
Toddlers hate going to bed because life is endlessly fun in the living room and — well, let's face it — pretty darn boring in the bedroom!
So some tots vault over the side of the crib like little commandos and emerge, bleary-eyed, into the festival of light and activity just outside their door. Others keep reappearing after lights-out, like an actor taking extra bows at the end of a play, saying, "I'm thirsty," "I'm scared," "I have to pee-pee," and "I need Daddy to kiss me."
If your little artiste refuses to leave the stage, it's time to get your sleepy-time routine back on track … quickly and lovingly. Here's how. First, remember that nighttime success starts with daytime encouragement.
Then, try out one of the following sleep-training tricks:
"Twinkle Interruptus"
Bedtime was frustration time for Aaron because two-year-old Emma would make him sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" over and over for an hour, until she fell asleep.
To save Aaron's sanity, I taught him a simple trick based on patience-stretching. For a week, I had Aaron do two things to prepare Emma for success:
1. Use rough, rumbly white noise for all Emma's naps and night sleep.
2. Practice patience-stretching five times a day. Soon Emma was able to wait a whole minute without complaining.
Now Aaron was ready to start the "twinkle interruptus" strategy.
That first night, Aaron put on the white noise, snuggled with Emma, and sang her song for a few minutes. Then he shot his finger up into the air — as if he'd suddenly remembered something important — and announced, "Wait! Wait! I forgot to kiss Mommy. Here, hold teddy. I'll be RIGHT back." He hurried out for five seconds.
Emma's practice with patience-stretching during the week gave her the confidence to wait those few seconds. She remembered that when Daddy said, "Wait! Wait!" and left, he would be right back.
Soon Aaron slid back into the room whispering, "Good waiting! Good waiting!" He immediately cuddled up with his little girl and started singing again. After another few minutes, he repeated the same "Wait! Wait!" routine, but this time he disappeared for fifteen seconds. Again, Emma tolerated it fine, and when he returned, he repeated, "Good waiting! Good waiting!" and sang to her until she fell asleep.
The next night, Aaron repeated the same actions — but his first exit lasted for thirty seconds and his second lasted for a full minute. When he tiptoed in at the end of the second time, Emma was fast asleep. And she stayed asleep for the night!
If your tot cries when you leave, immediately return to comfort her — she may be experiencing some special stress, anxiety, or fear. Over the next few days, keep doing patience-stretching during the day and white noise for all sleeping times, and make sure she has a lovey to hold when you go away. Next, when you try "twinkle interruptus" again, don't leave the room. After saying, "Wait! Wait!" simply go across the room and pretend to be searching for something. Then return to the bed again and say, "Good waiting!"
Gradually increase the amount of time you spend on the other side of the room. If she tolerates that well after a couple of days, try leaving the room for a short period again. Please don't think of this as devious. Everyone is tired and has low frustration tolerance at bedtime, so this is a better time to be a little tricky than to enter into a battle of wills.
Putting Demands "On Hold" (for Kids over Eighteen Months)
If your tot runs over your rules like a steamroller, try this technique (another twist on patience-stretching) to put her unreasonable demands "on hold."
First, spend a week practicing patience-stretching five times a day and using white noise for all sleep. Once your tot gets used to all this, you're ready to put her unreasonable demands "on hold."
When your sleepy tyke toddles up to the night gate in her PJs and pleads for water, come immediately and say, "Okay, sweetheart, Mommy's here, Mommy's here." Listen to her request and say, "Sure, honey, sure." But then raise one finger (as if you just remembered something important) and exclaim, "Wait! Wait! I forgot something! I'll be back … really fast!" And tell her to cuddle her lovey until you come back.
Hurry out of view for five seconds. Then, return and innocently ask, "Honey, I'm so sorry I forgot — what do you want?" Or say, "Oh darn! Silly Mommy! I forgot the water! I'm sorry, honey. I'll be back in just a sec!" Then leave for ten seconds, but this time actually get it for her.
The next time she summons you, do the "Wait! Wait!" routine again, but this time disappear for fifteen seconds. When you return, ask what she wants, but then do the routine again and return thirty seconds later with the water.
Over a few days, you can build the waiting period up to one and then two minutes. Eventually your tot will discover that asking for things has turned into a pretty boring, no-fun game.
If your sweetie gets impatient and starts yelling, wait five seconds, then return and acknowledge her frustration (in your best Toddler-ese). Then repeat your "Wait! Wait!" routine and disappear for another fifteen seconds.
Taking It to the Next Level
If these simple approaches don't work and your tot still demands your presence while she's falling asleep, it might be time to consider a more direct method of sleep training.
There are two different approaches: pick up/put down and longer-and-longer (this is the old Ferber-style graduated extinction, or "cry it out," method). Regardless of what you do, you should be prepared for extra friction from your tenacious little cave-kid if you choose to use the "cry it out" method. Here's a look at both.
Pick Up/Put Down, Toddler Style
Play a strong white noise in the room and sit quietly next to the crib or bed, responding to your tot's cries by picking him up and cuddling — but only until he calms. Stay in the room until he falls deeply asleep. Then, over the course of several days, as he gradually cries less and less, move your chair farther from the crib or bed and closer to the door.
And now you can add "twinkle interruptus" to this routine. Practice patience-stretching five times a day for a week. Then at night, once your lovebug seems to be doing better and falling asleep with less picking up, begin saying, "Wait! Wait! Hold your teddy! I'll be right back!" and go to the other side of the room — or leave the room completely — for short periods.
If he's already sleeping in his own bed, make a rule that you'll stay in the room … but only if he stays in his bed. If he gets out of bed, have a family meeting with your tot to discuss it.
At this meeting, say something like this:
I know sometimes you want Mommy to come back and be with you after you go to bed, but the rule is that kids, pets, and mommies have to sleep so we can be happy and play the next day!
So let's make a plan. When I tuck you into bed, I'll give you two special passes. If you call me back to visit you for water or an extra kiss or for a back scratch or to pee-pee, or even for any reason, I'll come fast — but you have to give me one of your special passes.
In the morning, if you still have your passes, you can exchange them for a special gift. What would you like? Stars? Special stickers? A shiny new quarter? A cookie?
"Longer-and- Longer" or Cry It Out, Toddler Style
If you're at your wit's end and need help fast, CIO may be appropriate. Be aware that toddlers and preschoolers can be tougher to train. Why? Because they're much more tenacious. They can scream for an hour or more and vomit every time! And once they're out of the crib, they can go right to the door.
To increase your odds of success, use white noise at bedtime for a week beforehand. Then follow this drill. Once you close the door, let your darling cry for three minutes and then pop your head in just to make sure she's okay and let her see that you haven't deserted the planet. Say, "I love you, sweetie, but it's time to sleep … so night night, sleep tight."
Some parents find that a longer visit works. However, this is more likely to give your child false hope that you'll rescue her and thus encourage more shrieking. After you close the door again, wait five minutes and repeat step one. After that, wait ten minutes and do it again. Then peek in every fifteen minutes until she falls asleep. If she wakes in the middle of the night, you can do a feeding if you want — but then repeat the same longer-and-longer method.
The first night, stubborn little kids can cry for an hour or more — and the second night, they may go on for even longer. But don't lose your determination. If you give in after an hour of crying and pick your angel up, you'll end up teaching her exactly the wrong lesson: if you just yell long enough, you'll get what you want.
So if you can, hold out. Usually the third night is much better, and by the fourth night, your tot should be falling asleep fast and sleeping through the night.
If things aren't better by the fourth night, step back and think about whether your bedtime is too early or too late; if there's some special stress in her life; or whether you're sending mixed signals by talking to her too much or staying too long when you pop in.
Also, if you have a cautious, sensitive child, think about whether she may need a gentler approach, with more visits and a little patting and reassurance when you enter or one of the no-tears sleep techniques. If, on the other hand, you have a spirited, tenacious, defiant cave-kid, offering too much attention will just encourage her, so make your visits cheerful but brief. Hang in there!
If you do need to use CIO, try to keep some perspective (and a sense of humor) during this mini ordeal. Remember that while these scream-filled evenings seem endless, they'll be over soon — and all of you will be sleeping better in just a few days. So stay focused on your goal, and do some magic breathing to help you relax. And keep telling yourself that millions of parents have survived this experience (they're the ones who passed on the classic advice, "Put cotton in your ears and gin in your stomach"), and you'll survive it, too!
Excerpt from THE HAPPIEST BABY GUIDE TO SLEEP: Simple Solutions for Kids from Birth to Five Years, by Dr. Harvey Karp. Copyright June 2012, William Morrow. Published with permission.


text:
Amherst Lawmakers Clarify Chicken Rules | News
AMHERST, N.Y. -- Chickens ruled the roost, or at least some of the debate at Amherst Town Hall Tuesday night.
The town board approved a bill that defines guidelines for homeowners who want to raise chickens on their property.
See the legislation by clicking on the .pdf file to the left of this article
The chickens must be used for non-commercial purposes, homeowners have to get a special use permit, and are limited to no more than six of the animals. They also have to keep the area the chickens live in clean and free from a strong odor.
"What this is doing is it's taking it to the next level to put some actual standards and conditions into the ordinance itself," said building inspector Thomas Ketchum.
This issue first surfaced last year when a resident, Karen Marks, was asked to remove a coop at her home. Raising chickens at home has become popular in many areas, because of the eggs they provide.


text:
"My head was running everywhere," Johnson said, in describing the transition to the professional game.
Considering his first NFL assignment, understanding Johnson's perspective becomes a bit simpler. Johnson received a trial-by-fire introduction to the NFL as a rookie, as he was tasked with defending Detroit's Calvin Johnson—the league's leading receiver in 2012—in his first professional game.
The veteran receiver grabbed six passes for 111 yards against Johnson and the Rams that day, but the second-year cornerback made quick progress in the weeks following that not-so-typical initiation. In his fourth game, he grabbed in first career interception to help key a 19-13 win over the Seattle Seahawks. He completed his rookie season with two interceptions and eight passes defensed in 16 games, including three starts.
Under the tutelage of secondary coach Chuck Cecil, Johnson's game has quickly advanced after taking over for an injured
Johnson, who has started 11 of the Rams' 15 games in his second year, has posted career-bests in nearly every statistical category. His three interceptions are a team-best, and has shown a penchant for creating the key turnover, a knack he exemplified with a red zone interception of Drew Brees in the first quarter of the Rams' 27-16 win over New Orleans on Dec. 15. He also hauled in a red zone interception in the Rams' 38-8 win over Indianapolis in Week 10.
"He's come around (and) he's got a much better feel," Head Coach Jeff Fisher said. "Technique's much improved over last year. He's anticipating things and he's got two huge red zone stops for us."
Johnson is part of a youthful secondary that includes second year players
"We're young right now, but we're coming in together," Johnson said. "I know those guys, what they can do, and now we can build off of it."


text:
DFSConnect is an add-on license available for 10, 25, 50, and 100 client versions of ExtremeZ-IP Server. Unlimited client, cluster, and enterprise license versions of ExtremeZ-IP include DFSConnect in the base product and do not require this add-on for DFS support.
Department/Small Business Solutions
Division/Corporate Solutions
Enterprise Solutions*
|Please contact GroupLogic at 800-476-8781 (international customers please call +1-703-528-1555) or click here to request a quote.
- GroupLogic, Inc. licensing policy states that each server requires its own unique DFSConnect license and serial number.
- "Client" means the license will support up to that number of Macintosh computers.
- All prices include one year of Maintenance and Support which includes email and telephone support as well as all major updates and upgrades.


text:
Remember the awkward attempt at a kiss that 50 Cent tried to put on Fox broadcaster Erin Andrews last year at the Daytona 500?
Of course you do. How could you forget?
MORE: Pucker up, Erin | NASCAR spoofs 50 Cent's kiss attempt
While he got the cold shoulder from the Fox broadcaster, 50 Cent apparently hasn't soured on NASCAR.
SMS Audio, a consumer electronics manufacturer founded by Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, will be an associate sponsor on the Swan Racing cars of Parker Kligerman and Cole Whitt in 2014.
"Swan Racing and its up-and-coming drivers are the perfect match for SMS Audio," Jackson said in a news release. "They are as passionate for the sport of racing as we are for our audio products, and we're confident that the music-loving NASCAR fan base is going to enjoy our headphones – whether at track or at home."
The team expects 50 Cent to come to select races during the season.
Erin, you have been warned.


text:
Sponsored By
Police: Cutler Bay Murder Suspect Targeted By Ex-GirlfriendTwo arrests have been made in connection with the murder of a South Florida teacher whose body was found in Cutler Bay on Thursday morning and the circumstances surrounding the murder sound like something right out of a movie script.
Teacher's Body Found On Street In Cutler BayThe body of a Cutler Bay teacher was found lying on a road. Now police are trying to figure out what happened.


text:
Computer hackers hijacked the website of the Steubenville High School football team late Sunday, threatening to release the personal data of school officials, coaches and every player on the team if those involved in a suspected rape did not publicly apologize to the girl and her family.
Computer hackers hijacked the website of the Steubenville High School football team late Sunday, threatening to release the personal data of school officials, coaches and every player on the team if those involved in a suspected rape did not publicly apologize to the girl and her family.
A group calling itself Anonymous, a hacker collective, and KnightSec posted a note and a video on the Web page of the Big Red, a program known for its dominance. The note stated that the city was protecting its beloved football team by charging only two players with the rape of a girl �when everyone present was guilty.�
In the video, a person wearing a Guy Fawkes mask said that the names, Social Security numbers, addresses, names of relatives and phone numbers of people connected to the case were being compiled and would be made public if an apology from those involved did not come before Jan. 1.
�This is a warning shot to the school faculty, the parents of those involved and those involved especially,� the person said in a computerized voice.
Anonymous is a hacker group that has coordinated cyberattacks on the websites of major corporations, such as MasterCard, and the government, including the U.S. Justice Department.
The hackers� crusade against the football team on Sunday ignited activity on the Web about the rape case. The video that Anonymous posted on the team�s website was removed from the site Monday morning.
A statement from Steubenville City Schools said the school system does not have any connection with the hacked website, Rollredroll.com.
The unauthorized video posted on the team�s website referred to the case of a 16-year-old girl who prosecutors said was raped on the night of Aug. 11 at a series of parties in and around Steubenville. Twitter comments, a photograph on Instagram and at least one video that was posted on YouTube that night documented the rape, prosecutors said.
Trent Mays, 16, of Bloomingdale, Ohio, and Ma�lik Richmond, 16, of Steubenville � two sophomore standouts on the football team � remain on house arrest on charges that they had raped the girl when she was too drunk to resist. Their trial has been set for Feb. 13 in juvenile court.
The case has shaken the team and divided Steubenville. The night of the party, residents began taking sides, with some blaming the girl, saying she was trying to defame the team with her accusation. Others said the suspected rape occurred as a result of a hero-worshipping culture of a city obsessed with high-school football.
At a hearing in early October, two football players and one wrestler testified for the prosecution at a probable cause hearing, with one witness stating that he had seen Mays rape the girl in the back seat of a car while the girl was slurring her words and was unable to walk on her own. That witness said he videotaped the rape, but later deleted the video from his phone. Another witness testified he saw Richmond rape the girl while she was motionless and naked on the basement floor at one party.
The hackers posted the names of those witnesses, as well as the names of other witnesses they said saw the rape. They referred to those witnesses as �targets.�


text:
Don't Turn Away From the World's Most Violent Region
29 Aug 2011
Even though the era of civil conflict in Central America is over, the region has the highest murder rate in the world: 44 per 100,000 people, 11 times the worldwide average of four per 100,000. This means more than 18,000 homicides in 2010 and 79,000 in the past six years.
The late 1990s saw new democratic consolidation and economic growth in Central America, with admittedly mixed results. But the absence of outright war failed to bring peace, and sustained global efforts are now essential if we are to prevent the region's already grave security crisis from worsening.
Citizens feel unsafe on the streets, and even in their own homes. For their part, governments have to tackle the threat of drug-trafficking, kidnapping, organised crime, gangs, arms-dealing, and human-trafficking.
Direct costs include loss of life, disability, and the illicit trade that results from crimes against property. Huge social inequality and under-employment among younger citizens form the backdrop for this insecurity, which goes beyond the domain of the war against drugs.
Insecurity exacts a grimly quantifiable toll on both GDP and human development, thwarting the capacity both of individuals and of whole societies to fulfil their potential in this ever more global economy.
The most vulnerable people in any country, of course, bear a disproportionate share of this cost, which also directly impacts national budgets. In 2006, violence cost the region roughly 7.7 percent of total economic output, or about US $6.5 billion, according to the World Bank.
And the costs are rising. In 2010, Central American governments spent some $4 billion in security and justice, a 60 percent increase over four years, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where I serve as Director for Latin America & the Caribbean. For countries with a small income-generation capacity, this represents a considerable proportion of their resources—greater, in fact, than what they receive in international aid.
Spending on security won't help if it comes at the expense of education or social welfare—quite the opposite, and violence will simply worse. Reducing crime and promoting security requires strengthening the technical and institutional capacities of governments towards "smart" strategies of citizen security. These include preventive and coercive actions, enhancing police services, combating corruption, reforming the justice and correctional systems, and promoting a more inclusive economy and society, especially for young people.
Measures recently adopted by some Central American countries to raise taxes and generate resources, both for social investment and for security, constitute steps in the right direction.
UNDP has been working closely with several Central American countries to advance national policies on security matters with commitments that go beyond a single presidential mandate and involve the participation of all sectors of society as well as neighbouring countries and allies.
The International Conference in Support for the Central America Security Strategy, held in Guatemala late last month, also marked a step forward. Nine heads of state from the region came to the conference with one shared message: While security is, above all, a regional responsibility, international cooperation and support are essential. Also at the conference, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton committed almost $300 million in funding for "Central American-led efforts to address deteriorating citizen security."
Reducing insecurity in Central America is possible, but it will require political commitment and resources from inside and outside the region. In our increasingly interconnected world, the worsening violence in Central America should alarm us all.
Heraldo Muñoz, a former president of the UN Security Council, serves as UN Assistant Secretary-General and UN Development Programme Director for Latin America and the Caribbean.
Talk to Us: What kind of actions would you like to see your government take to reduce violence in your country?


text:
Click here if you are unable to view this video.
Visitor Comments: 14
(13) josephBaruhovic, March 10, 2013 8:04 PM
pressure on UN in a view to change right direction
(12) Anonymous, March 5, 2013 1:03 AM
On the Brink
The shiniest "Light" always attracts the deepest darkness. This is a deeply shameful "turn of events" and it is very well reported. Should the West allow adhesion to accepting values by countries violating human rights, systematically, for any reason, and systematically indulging in unethical practices, we can all, as the Human Family kiss good-bye to true peace and respect between Nations. It is deeply disturbing that violators of Human rights, Human Life, and its' respect and evolution should gain any kind of ascendancy, anywhere. The Jewish Peoples are usually the first Peoples under attack whenever there is a danger within the Human family, for as "Guardians of the Ten Commandments," they are generally "in the way" of any entity, country, mindset, and or system which wishes to establish itself as "all-powerful." the Adage: "As goes Israel and the Jewish Peoples anywhere, so goes the world, is very apt, and a true litmus of the state of Human Life.
(11) Anonymous, March 4, 2013 3:30 PM
Apple of His Eye
(10) CB.Wells, March 4, 2013 5:18 AM
All rights to exist.


text:
Help, discussion, magazine feedback and more
Moderators: ChriThor, LXF moderators
linuxgirlie wrote:Its makes the UK look sooooo small though!!
linuxgirlie wrote:lol, yeah but it makes it look like a 30 minute drive to your house
linuxgirlie wrote:Do you think I could get a loan?
ollie wrote:I would but google maps doesn't seem to know about Australia
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


text:
Video Archive
The United States is the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases. If global warming is to be slowed and ultimately halted, the U.S. needs to be a major part of a global move toward more sustainable practices. However, for this to happen will require serious actions by the federal government, which so far has resisted calls for change from scientists, citizen organizations, and other nations.
A panel of elected officials, environmental leaders, and political analysts will explore the relationship between domestic politics in the U.S. and the prospects for policy change. Panelists include Congressman Barney Frank; Congressman James McGovern (D-MA); Kevin Knobloch, President of the Union of Concerned Scientists; Brian Cook, professor of government, Clark University. The panel will be moderated by Jim Gomes, director of the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise at Clark.
Congressman Barney Frank; Congressman James McGovern (D-MA); Kevin Knobloch; Brian Cook, James Gomes
"Global Warming and American Politics"
March 20, 2008
Tilton Hall, Higgins University Center, Clark University
RT: 90 minutes
Sponsored by:
The Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise and Difficult Dialogues
Press Release


text:
- News
- Business
- Sports
- Entertainment
- Lifestyle
- Health
- Travel
- Technology
Allen Cameron
Calgary Herald
Four years ago, a Calgary Stampeders rookie named Juwan Simpson arrived at Olympic Stadium in Montreal to play in the Grey Cup.
He would make three tackles that day and celebrate long into the Montreal night with his Stampeder teammates after their 22-14 win over the Alouettes, and likely headed home the next day to Calgary believing that this might be a fairly regular occurrence in an eight-team league.
On Sunday, though, Simpson will finally make his return appearance after three seasons of playoff setbacks with the Stampeders, and, rest assured, he knows now what he didn't know then — trips to the Grey Cup don't happen often, so you'd better take advantage.
"This ain't my first rodeo," said a pensive Simpson on Friday after the Stamps went through their final full practice in preparation for Sunday's 100th Grey Cup when the Stamps take on the Toronto Argonauts.
"I understand what's going on here, I understand what's at stake. I'm all in, man. We'll have six months to think about this. Gotta get it."
The Stamps arrive here riding an emotional wave, having won six straight games (four straight down the stretch of the regular season to finish with a 12-6 record and then twice more in the post-season), and having the sense that after having roadblock after roadblock thrown at them with injuries, they can accomplish just about anything.
The word "destiny" has been tossed around in the past few weeks, and it's fair enough, because based on the way the Stamps have won games this season — three times, teams had a chance to kick game-winning field goals against the Stamps, and three times, they blew the opportunity — it's hard not to wonder if there is something at work here.
But, suggested defensive tackle Corey Mace, the Stamps' efforts to get better, to overcome injuries, to find ways to win, can't be discounted.
"Some of those things year, I've been like, 'Oh my God — how in the hell did THAT happen?' " agreed Mace. "But at the same time you can't just show up. You have to make your own destiny."
And yet, even Mace has a sense that it was meant to be for the Stamps to be playing for a CFL title on Sunday.
"I feel personally like there's a reason I'm here," he said. "It's been a long road to get where I'm at right now, and I just think the 100th is the one for me. No. 99 (his uniform number) and my first Grey Cup? Shoot, that equals 100. I don't know. Just small things. Just a feeling."
Simpson was new to the Canadian game when he arrived in Calgary for the 2008 season and didn't have a sense of what winning a Grey Cup means. Rookie defensive back Keenan MacDougall, meanwhile, grew up in Saskatchewan and knows about teams enduring heartache when it comes to this game. He also knows there are no guarantees.
"Exactly. Exactly," he repeated. "You can't take this kind of stuff for granted. Guys who were here who went to the Grey Cup in 2008 in their first year, and they think, 'Oh, this is easy.' But they haven't been back since, right? So you have to make the most of it."
Simpson, who's become the emotional heart and soul of the Stampeder defence, knows that now. He couldn't play last week because of an ankle injury, but insisted early this week that nothing would keep him off the field on Sunday, and he's making good on that promise.
"I was talking about it to some of the guys — as a young guy coming in, I don't think you really understand," said Simpson. "The young guys (in 2008) came into a great situation — the first year and we're winning. It must be EASY to get to the Grey Cup. It's not until you've been through a lot of things, on the field, off the field, a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears into this football stuff. So now, you embrace and love everything about this week.
"Even talking to the media — it takes so long, but you learn to enjoy it. You realize, shoot, six teams are at home right now. Six teams just had (U.S.) Thanksgiving at home.
"As veterans, we understand that you might not get here again. So leave it all out on the field."
The 2008 team was a steady group, a group that didn't have to deal with a pile of significant injuries and simply built steadily to that memorable evening in Montreal.
This team, on the other hand, had to scrap its way to Toronto, but the achievement has been no less significant. The same can be said about the level of belief that this team belongs on the big stage on Sunday, and will take advantage of the opportunity.
"You don't want to walk in that locker-room (after the game) knowing that you gave yourself the best chance to win for 21 weeks, and then let it slip away," said slotback Nik Lewis. "It doesn't come along very often. For a lot of guys, this is their first one. For a lot of guys, this is their last one. You just have to focus in and say, hey, let's do it.
"If we're a great team, then we should be great on Sunday."
firstname.lastname@example.com Allen Cameron on Twitter/AllenCameronCH


text:
Some residents reported a foul odor coming from a local park. Police have determined it was the body of a missing Valdosta man. The Valdosta Police Department is still waiting for the autopsy result, but for now they are treating the death as a homicide.
Residents in the 800 block of Woodlawn Drive reported a stench coming from the wooded area next to Valloton Park.
"Maybe we need to talk to the city, maybe there's a dead dog, we don't know, all we know we were smelling something terrible," says Bessie Williams, a resident.
Valdosta police officers arrived at the scene, but were unable to pinpoint what caused the odor.
"It's unfortunate we couldn't find it the first time we came over here, but the odor wasn't that distinct at that time," says Lt. Brian Childress.
Wednesday, detectives came to check the odor once again and found the deceased body of 27-year-old Daryl Hamilton of Valdosta, who had been reported missing by his sister since last week.
"It bothered me really bad, just to know it was a dead body and it was right there, you know what I'm saying and so close to my house," says Bessie.
The cause of death has yet been determined, but investigators say they will be working on the case until they get some answers.
"Is it unusual to find a body in a wooded area? Yeah it is, we saw a similar incident happen a couple years ago, but you don't see a lot of this," lt. Childress says.
Park officials did not close the Vallotton Park complex. Although the odor is now gone, the crime tape is still up and folks need to stay away from the crime scene. His brother was not willing to talk on camera, but he is positive that Daryl was murdered, and as far as him being missing since last week, witnesses say they saw him eating at Wendy's on Wednesday and he was at a local dance club Friday night.


text:
Jump to navigation
Geren Auditorium, Architecture Building B, Room 101, Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
United States
Lecture by Nancy Klein, of Texas A&M University.
Our modern view of the Acropolis is focused on the magnificent temple of Athena Parthenos, built under the leadership of the Athenian statesman Pericles in the 5th century BC. In the early 19th century AC, the fledgling country of Greece devoted itself to establishing a national identity that reflected its classical heritage. The Acropolis of Athens was central to this vision and became a symbol of the birthplace of democracy and the humanistic arts. While this vision reflects the acme of Athenian culture, it also eclipses thousands of years of human activity before and after the Parthenon. In the 19th century, efforts to free the classical monuments of the Acropolis from the overburden of later history saw the removal of many post-classical buildings and an excavation from modern ground levels to bedrock. An unexpected result of these excavations was the discovery of thousands of fragments of architecture, sculpture, pottery, and small finds from the early history of the Acropolis.
In this lecture, I present the architectural evidence for small limestone buildings whose remains were uncovered in the 19th century excavations, as well as an overview of the development of monumental architecture in the sanctuary on the Acropolis from the archaic to the classical periods. In particular, I examine the 'life-history' of these buildings, from formal evidence for their design and construction to an examination of archaeological context of reuse. My conclusions suggest that the architecture of the archaic and early classical Acropolis introduced a variety of forms echoed in later Periclean buildings. Moreover, the programmatic reuse and recycling of damaged or redundant buildings in the second half of the fifth century suggests a complex approach to the rebuilding of the Acropolis as an expression of constructed memory.
AIA Tours


text:
UH Manoa Center on Disability Studies presents PacRim 2005
International conference on disabilities features guest speaker Clay Aiken, co-founder of The Bubel/Aiken FoundationUniversity of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Center on Disability Studies
Kristen Bonilla, (808) 956-5039
External Affairs & University Relations
HONOLULU — The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's Center on Disability Studies presents its 21st Annual Pacific Rim Conference on Disabilities, "A Rainbow of Abilities," February 28-March 1, 2005, at the Sheraton Waikiki. The two-day event features an international spectrum of discussions, exhibits and guest speakers, including multi-platinum recording artist Clay Aiken.
Aiken, a former special education teacher and mentor, founded The Bubel/Aiken Foundation in 2003 with Diane Bubel, a parent and disability activist whose son, Mike, has autism. The mission of The Bubel/Aiken Foundation is to provide services and financial assistance to facilitate fully the integration of children with disabilities into the life environment of those without.
Other keynote speakers include Dr. Siegfried M. Pueschel, a leading expert and well-known advocate for people with Down syndrome, and Joseph M. Valenzano, Jr., president, CEO and publisher of EP Global Communications, Inc., a 33-year-old publishing and communications company that produces Exceptional Parent Magazine. The magazine provides practical advice and emotional support to parents of children and adults with disabilities and special healthcare needs, as well as the physicians, allied healthcare and educational professionals involved with their care and development.
The conference will focus on topics, or strands, of importance and current trends that reflect changing perspectives on disabilities. Conference strands include an international strand; secondary, postsecondary education and employment opportunities; self-determination and ways to put people with disabilities in charge of their own lives; health and wellness; innovative classrooms; technologies and disabilities; and early childhood, including health, education and development.
Since the first Pacific Rim (Pac Rim) Conference in 1985, the scope and size of this premier event has grown to include participants from the U.S. Mainland, Alaska, Pacific Islands Nations, Japan, Australia, the Philippines and numerous other countries. Persons with disabilities, family members, researchers, and service providers join policy-makers and nationally recognized speakers in the field of disabilities to participate in the PacRim Conference to learn from each other and to share resources for communities to fully accept and support persons with disabilities. For more information, visit www.pacrim.hawaii.edu.
For more information, visit: http://www.pacrim.hawaii.edu