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Bricks of Support
Supporting the Ray W. Howard Library Media and Technology Center one brick at a time!
The SCC Foundation raises funds for the Ray W. Howard Library Media and Technology Center through the sale of personalized bricks. At the grand opening of the remodeled library in September 2002, two columns of engraved bricks were unveiled. Two additional columns to the entrance of the library/media center were engraved September 2003. The commemorative bricks are engraved with donor's names, loved one's names, favorite sayings and memorable events. These bricks are now a permanent part of the columns at the entrance to the library, on display for all to see.
In winter 2006 a few additional bricks were engraved, this time outside the columns of the technology center. Additional engravings took place during spring break 2008 and fall 2009. These bricks can be viewed outside the technology center at the lower entrance to the Ray W. Howard Library Media and Technology Center. The last round of engravings was completed in September 2014.
Next deadline for brick orders: Tuesday, July 15, 2016. (Engraving time frame dependent on weather conditions; minimum order required to proceed with engraving.)
Thank you to all who have participated in our Bricks of Support Campaign.


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than a bluetooth douche tag
Would it be?
I think it'd be great!
A few times now I'll be standing in line for one thing or another and someone will go "Hello?" so I turn slightly and say "Hi." And then they go "Are you still at work?" and I go "No, this is the bank, I don't work here" and they go "Oh, well, can I hitch a ride?" and then I go, "Well.. I don't really know you, but how far are you heading?" and they go "Great, see you in about 20 minutes" and I look perplexed for a moment, then I realize.
If everyone who had a bluetooth were able to communicate via their mind to their phone instead of audibly, that would save me a lot of confusion. I welcome it with open arms.
If everyone who had a bluetooth were able to communicate via their mind to their phone instead of audibly, that would save me a lot of confusion. I welcome it with open arms.
I realised recently that when I walk down the street and see someone talking to themself I now assume it's a Bluetooth headset. The other day this led to an interesting run-in with a good, old fashioned, crazy person. Sign of the times.
Had a similar experience on the bus a few weeks ago, five people sitting in a row talking to themselves. I probably wouldn't even have noticed the crazy one if he hadn't been wearing a cape, a trash bag and flip flops (Swedish winter) - and the lack of a phone upon closer observation.
You have to think in Russian. Do you think you can do that?
it would be the other way around, apps that control your thoughts...
I can't believe you missed the chance there for an "In Soviet Russia..." joke.
it would be the other way around, apps that control your thoughts...
I can't believe you missed the chance there for an "In Soviet Russia..." joke.
You mean like:
In Soviet Russia, thought controlled apps control your thoughts.
No, but it might lead to accidental core dump.
Trick question...
You AREN'T!
What do you think I'm thinking right now?
You are greatly concerned that we will not find a place that sells chap pants at this time of night.
Obligatory v2:
Android (paranoid): Think of a number
User: Five
Android: Wrong. See...
User: Ohhh
I'm thinking that there are some words missing from the title. "May not be far...." what?
As evidenced by 3D televisions which are hamstrung by the special glasses requirement, any technology that requires the user to wear a special device on his head without a truly convincing benefit will simply die off.
I have heard of new technologies that can sit in your pocket or attach to a console and read the aura of a person. Since a person's aura is altered by their mental state, this could be a good replacement for the EEG-like devices. And since the aura-readers require direct contact with the person
When they open their mouth, you can hear the music.
It would be cooler than a Wii though; as a game controller.
That could be a good place for it to develop.
Emotive uses brain waves to operate machines.
When my computer is screaming, "Porn, porn . . . and more porn!"
"Oh, it must be a problem with the new mouse, that is about to go meet its maker."
"Where's my hammer . . . ?"
Like a ban hammer? As in it stops them coming back?
This is actually a pretty interesting point to make.
Would we gain more control over our own thought patterns having them public for all to see? I'd suspect so.
Then again, it is pretty hard to stop pure reflexes.
Captcha: annal
Captcha: annal
Well, time to read some chronicles, then.
EEG-based brain-computer interfaces work fine, but there are definite physical limits to what you can do with them.
You absolutely cannot "read thoughts" with EEG. It is not possible, it will almost certainly never be possible. This is a physical limitation due to being on the outside of the skull. The one and only thing EEG picks up is the amount of electrical activity in that general region. Sensitivity and signal-to-noise and environmental noise rejection will place further limitations since they will be somewhat lower on even a good consumer unit. Particularly if you don't want to shave your head before use.
Now, if you realize that, if you respect the limits, you can still do some pretty cool stuff. It's not that hard to make a computer interface based on using an EEG to pick up a P300 response that is absolutely world-changing for people without the physical capacity to use something else. Devices like this have been in research for a bejesus long time now, and the only reason you don't see more use of things like the Emotiv headset for this purpose is that people with that sort of physical limitation generally can't put on the fancy brain-reading hat. (Researchers are currently working on a single-surgery implanted version which will stay in place for decades, so that won't be a problem forever.)
But is this practical for everyday use? Well, for some things. For a smartphone interface, probably not - particularly for more effective headsets like Emotiv which use saline electrodes. The input afforded by an EEG-based interface is very low for a portable device with a smartphone's use scenarios. However, it could be a good secondary form of control for complex systems (starting with games), particularly if it's relegated to things like biosensing for biosensing's sake or mode switching. You can use it for direct input, and humans will learn VERY fast how to work it...but it's not really physically capable of providing the same level of direct input affordances that other methods could. Expecting it to do so is just not very realistic and shows a lack of understanding of the limitations of the physical processes involved.
You think so, do you?
Wait until you find out what the intelligence community has really been up to. [areyoutargeted.com]
Hint: those flu shots in Africa aren't for the kids' health [areyoutargeted.com]./p
wow, there's some advanced TFH thinking there
Just because something sounds like a far-fetched paranoid sci-fi nightmare, goes against all mainstream current scientific knowledge, has no evidence to back it up and is incapable of being disproved, doesn't mean it's wrong.
Apple has had mind control for years... just look at their army of fanboys.
Thought control has been built into iOS for a long time.
How else would you explain this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dikaQjMO388 [youtube.com]
You are not quite sure if the male enhancement drugs are working. Perhaps, it was also a bad idea to down 5 of them with a fifth of vodka. Really, alcohol enhances the effects of all drugs and you were only shooting for a fighting chance.
The slashdot summary is incorrect. Emotiv is made by a rival company, not by (formerly) Jedi mind. Also, Emotiv seems to recognize facial expressions, not read brain signals. So, there's some confusion here.
Well, I can read people's facial expressions also, does this mean I only need to train myself to be a mind controller?
Confusion, indeed.
Well, I can read people's facial expressions also, does this mean I only need to train myself to be a mind controller?
Interestingly, this ability seems to be at least part of the secret behind performers like Derren Brown, so the answer is "yes, sort of".
... should of course be Firefox.
Quite a few of the posts here look like they were the result of a thought inspired app........only problem is they haven't quite got the hang of it yet.
Q: How many IBM CPU's does it take to execute a job? A: Four; three to hold it down, and one to rip its head off.

subset: commoncrawl


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I'll be honest, I had never heard of him and was not going to research where he played, so just shoved him in the middle order. His punishment for not getting his write up to me on time!
Printable View
GK - Eric Cantona
LB - Lionel Messi
RB - Sir Alex Ferguson
CB - Jermaine Defoe
That's what it feels like! :p
Look mate, I didn't realize it was a football forum and wasn't really meaning to have a go at your expense, more so saying how on the money most of the people on this forum are.
Seeing weird batting orders just irks me unless their is a solid explanation.
Count me in if there's a post-1970 draft here and you're struggling to find 18 teams.
I'd vote for LFD and Roadendsmig. Roadendsmig probably has the better team but something about it seems a bit makeshift, perhaps Gavaskar at three.
So, if I have to pick one, I'd be happy to give LFD the nod. Although I don't really rate Afridi all that highly in this format, he's playing a position where it doesn't matter much if he doesn't perform. As he's playing a support role at best, his presence doesn't bother me much.
The rest of those teams have too much wrong with them.
LFD and Remmie went through in Group 2.
Group 3 below:
Group 3
Aussie Scouser
Happy with my team consideing the amount of cricket knowledge i have.
Just a quick basic write up from me.
Mark Taylor(Captain)
Left handed batsman.
104 Caps for Australia.
Scored 7525 Runs at a average of 43.49,Top score of 334, 19 Centuries and 40 half centuries to his name.
157 Catches in the field and 1 test wicket.
Mark Taylor was such a masterful opening batsman, slip fielder and captain for Australia that he was looked upon as an allrounder. A heavily built left-hander who played classically late, Taylor made 839 Test runs on his first England tour (1989) and for most of his 104 Tests remained reassuringly solid. He was equally dependable at first slip, where he cradled most of his world-record 157 catches. After he inherited the captaincy from Allan Border in 1994-95 he began with a pair, but soon added such acute tactical vibrancy that the following year Australia toppled West Indies in the Caribbean to become unofficial world champions. Taylor's leadership and diplomacy marked him out as one of Australia's greatest captains, and saved his place during an 18-month batting slump that ended with a memorable century at Edgbaston in 1997. The following year he made an unbeaten 334 at Peshawar to match Don Bradman's highest score for Australia, then declared. Six months later, still only 34, but with the Ashes again safe and his timing as sound as ever, he retired to the commentary box.
Greg Baum
Gary Kirsten
Left Handed Batsman.
101 Caps for South Africa
Scored 7289 Runs at a aveage of 45.27,top score 275,21 Centuries and 34 half centuries.
His top score came over a 14 hour period showing the concentration and grit that runs through my opening three batsmen.
His average increased when playing in India(52.33) and Pakistan(88.16)
83 Catches and 2 test wickets
Gary Kirsten was never blessed with the flair and the almost pure technique of his half-brother Peter, but his discipline, temperament and his penchant for hard work stood during his days as a batsman, when he became so established at the top of the South African batting order that it's almost impossible to think how they would cope without him. Then, all those virtues brought him rich rewards after his playing days too, as he became one of the most successful and popular coaches of India. The side went to the top of the Test rankings during his stint, which ended, quite fittingly, with India's World Cup triumph in 2011.As a batsman, what stood out was his determination, the ability to concentrate for long periods and a burning desire to score runs. A left-hander with a relatively unique technique, Kirsten simply worked out his strengths and weaknesses and based his game around them. In this respect he was one of the most organised batsman to play for South Africa since their readmission. Calm and level-headed, he brought a healthy degree of common sense to the art of batting, which possibly explains why off the field and in the dressing room the dafter side of his personality came out. Periodically, Kirsten endured patches when he persistently got out in similar fashion - chopping the ball on to his stumps, for instance, or getting himself caught down the leg side.Each time this happened, though, Kirsten worked through the problem, made the adjustments and played himself back into form. He enjoyed particular success on the subcontinent - where other players have floundered against the turning ball. Kirsten, though, was drawn on patience and soft hands to see him through. And if there was any player likely to score a big hundred, then it was Kirsten. His best of 275, a result of batting for over 14 and a half hours as South Africa followed on against England at Kingsmead in 1999-00, was the second-longest in Test history. He then returned to haunt England in 2003 and gutsed out a crucial 130 in the Headingley Test, which South Africa won by 191 runs. His good form in that series persuaded him to postpone his retirement until the end of the New Zealand tour in 2003-04.Fittingly, he scored a century in the first Test of that series - his 99th - and scored a typically gritty 76 in his final game to help South Africa tie the series. After retiring, he spent some time with the Warriors as a consultant batting coach and, in 2006, set up his own academy in Cape Town. In December 2007, he signed up as coach of India, and his quiet and low-profile approach to the job was appreciated by current and past players. After coaching India to World Cup success, Kirsten moved on to see if he could repeat the magic with his home country.
ESPNcricinfo staff
David Boon
Right Handed Batsman
107 Caps for Australia
Scored 7422 runs at a average of 43.65,top score of 200,21 centries and 32 half centuries.
Another superb player against the team from the sub continent especialy India
Averageagainst India 65 in India and 70.82 at home.
99 Catches in the field.
Possibly Tasmania's all-time favourite cricketing son, David Boon was a pugnacious right-handed batsman who served his state and country with enormous distinction. He was not always the most stylish player, but for what he lacked in fluency he more than compensated with his ardour for occupying the crease and accumulating runs when they were most needed. As an 18 year old, Boon played a starring role in Tasmania's history-making Gillette Cup win in 1978-79, the state's first interstate one-day title, and he never really looked back over the course of an elite-level career which spanned 17 years. Among many highlights were his roles in four Ashes series wins, particularly the 1989 triumph and his honour in hitting the series-winning runs; his flawless unbeaten 184 in the Bicentenary Test of 1988; and his Man-of-the-Match winning effort in the 1987 World Cup final. Predominantly in the No. 3 position, Boon's durability was a vital ingredient in Australia's resurgence as a cricketing power in the late 1980s and early 1990s. His courage was often at the core of Australian performances and it was common to see his belligerent square cutting, driving and pulling upsetting the rhythm of even the finest of bowlers.
Aside from a range of triumphs with Australia during 107 Tests and 181 ODIs, Boon also led Durham in the English County Championship between 1997 and 1999, guiding the side to its best finish in the last of these three years. He was also appointed to the post of Tasmania captain at different ends of his career and was at the helm when his state enjoyed a fruitful first-class season in 1997-98. After retiring from all cricket following the completion of the 1999 county program, Boon accepted a position in marketing with the Tasmanian Cricket Association in Hobart and in 2000 replaced Geoff Marsh, his mate and former opening partner, as an Australia selector. In 2011, he took a new step as an ICC match referee, with his first fixture coming in Bulawayo, where Zimbabwe took on Pakistan. His legend also lives on at the NTCA ground in his home city of Launceston where a major stand has been named after him.
John Polack
Aravinda DeSilva
Right Handed Batsman
93 Caps for Sri Lanka
6361 Runs at a average of 42.97,Top score of 267 with 20 Centuries and 22 Half centuries
After the grit and determination of my opening three comes a attacking small statured cricketer.
43 catches in the field
One of the game's best entertainers, de Silva possessed the strengths of many of the tallest short run-scorers: unruffable technique, strong at cutting and hooking, an unrepentant attacker. His record is unrivalled among countrymen, his place in history secure after a match-winning century in a World Cup final. He stands 5ft 3 1/2in and arguably there has not been a better smaller player. His enthusiasm was amazing: he was a virtual ever-present in the Sri Lanka side and also played first-class and club cricket in England, South Africa and Australia. His international career ended with the 2003 World Cup, where he batted with all the verve and panache of old, and bowled his offspinners cannily. Sri Lanka's cricket authorities ensured that his wealth of cricketing experience would not go waste, appointing him a national selector. His other main interests are cakes and cars (usually fast ones).
Simon Wilde
In at 5 is the star of the team and probably the greatest allround cricketer in the draft
Sir Garfield St Auburn Sobers
Left Handed Batsman Bowling/ Left-arm fast-medium, Slow left-arm orthodox, Slow left-arm chinaman
A former Captain with 93 Caps for the West Indies
Scored 8032 runs at 57.78,best score of 365, 26 Centuries and 30 half centuries
235 Test wickets at a average of 34.03,ecconomy rate of 2.22.
He took 6 5 wicket hauls with a best of 6/73
109 Catches in the field
Regulary destroyed England avg 60.64 and India avg 83.47
Rather than me waffle on about him ill leave it to those in the know
Richie Benaud described Sobers as "the greatest all-round cricketer the world has seen". Sobers, wrote Benaud, was "a brilliant batsman, splendid fielder, particularly close to the wicket, and a bowler of extraordinary skill, whether bowling with the new ball, providing orthodox left-arm spin or over-the-wrist spin".
Fred Trueman enjoyed a great rivalry with Sobers and later described him as a "sublime left-hand batsman" who was "one of the greatest cricketers ever to have graced the game, certainly the greatest all-rounder". Trueman went on to say that Sobers as a batsman "has a great cricketing brain and his thought processes are lightning quick"
Mushtaq Mohammad
Right Handed Batsman/Right Armed Spin/Legbreak googly
A former captain with 57 caps for Pakistan
Scored 3643 runs with a batting average of 39.17,Top score 201 with 10 centuries and 19 half centuries.
A spinner with 79 wickets at 29.22 average and a ecconomy 2.63.Best figures of 5/28 and 3 five wicket hauls
42 catches
Mushtaq was not the most talented of the five Mohammad brothers who emigrated from Western India to Karachi, but he scored the most first-class hundreds, more even than Hanif, thanks partly to the greater opportunities he had in county cricket with Northamptonshire. He was also one of the first reverse-sweepers (a stroke he learned from Hanif), and one of the first bat-twirlers at the crease. As a bowler of the legbreak, googly and flipper, he also took more first-class wickets than any of his brothers. Northants were impressed enough to pay him to spend two years in qualifying for them, before instant registration began in 1968
Sir Richard Hadlee
Left Hander batsman/ Right Hand bowler
Another former Captain with 86 caps for New Zealand
The scorer of 3124 runs at a average of 27.16 a highest score of 151,2 test centuries and 15 fifties
A right Armed Fast/Outswing bowler
The first man to break 400 test wickets
431 wickets at a average of 22.29,ecconomy 2.63,best figures 9/52. 36 five wicket and 9 10 wicket hauls
39 catches in the field
Few players in the history of cricket have carried the fortunes of their team to quite the same extent as Richard Hadlee. By the time he retired from international cricket in 1990, at the age of 39 and with a knighthood newly conferred upon him for his services to the game, Hadlee had cemented his place as one of the great fast bowlers of all time, and lifted New Zealand to unprecedented feats in the Test arena.
As the first player to reach 400 Test wickets, Hadlee was always assured of immortality, but in addition to his matchless skills with the ball, he was also a hard-hitting batsman of unquestioned skill, and he is acknowledged as one of the four great allrounders of the 1980s, along with Ian Botham, Imran Khan and Kapil Dev.
One of five sons of Walter Hadlee, the former New Zealand captain, his cricket education began at an early age, and in 1971-72 he debuted for Canterbury, forming a penetrative new-ball partnership with his elder brother Dayle. In those days, however, Hadlee was a tearaway, placing speed far ahead of guile, an attitude that was matched by his unkempt, long-haired appearance. As his knowhow grew, however, so his run-up (and locks) shortened, and all the attributes of the model fast bowler fell into place. His lithe, whippy, side-on action made life uncomfortable for all the great batsmen of his era, as he extracted pace, bounce and movement from even the least responsive of surfaces.
His first great demolition job came in Wellington in February 1978 - five years on from his debut - when his 10 wickets, including 6 for 26 in the second innings, condemned England to a first defeat against the Kiwis. However, it was for the Australians that he preserved his finest efforts, and his 15-wicket haul in Brisbane in 1985-86 remains one of the most talked-of moments in Trans-Tasman rivalry. He needed just 79 matches to reach 400 wickets - a phenomenal strike-rate - and he was still very much at the top of his game when, in 1990, he bowed out against England at his adopted home of Trent Bridge - his second-innings haul of 5 for 53 included a wicket with his very last delivery.
Deryck Murray
Right Hand batsman/Wicket Keeper
Not a flashy pickbut playing 17 years for the west Indies shows his quality.
62 Caps over 17 years for the West Indies
Scored 1993 Runs at a average of 22.9,highest score 91,scoring 11 half centuries
Was only ever required to bat in just over 75% of West Indian innings
181 Catches and 8 stumpings
Deryck Murray was a thoughtful, composed figure in the West Indies side for 17 years. It started when Frank Worrell entrusted the wicketkeeping position in England in 1963 to a diminutive boyish figure, barely out of his teens - and was rewarded with a record 24 victims. Murray's influence on the improved status of cricketers in the Caribbean was immense, and in later life, after retirement, he took that diplomatic role on Trinidad's behalf to the United Nations. His keeping was compact, tidy and, bearing in mind some of his more exuberant successors, generally understated. Nowadays, when more runs are demanded of keepers, he might not have played as much as he did. But his batting was as dapper as his glovework. At Bombay in 1974-75 he made 91 and helped Clive Lloyd add 250 for the sixth wicket. He took to cricket administration and served as president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board. He lost the post to Azim Bassarath in 2009.
Mike Selvey November 2009
Saqlain Mustaq
Right Handed Batsman/ Armed Offbreak/Doosra
49 Caps for Pakistan
Scored 927 Runs at a average of 14.48,highest score 101, scored one test century and 2 fifties
208 wickets at a average 29.83,ecconomy of 2.64,Best figures of 8/164, 13 5 wicket and 3 ten wicket hauls
15 Catches
Pioneer of the doosra,unlcky with Injuries and playing at the same time as Danesh Kaneria
A trend-setter. Saqlain Mushtaq was perhaps the first offspinner to master the doosra, a delivery that spins away from the batsman even though it is delivered with an offspinner's action. Saqlain has a fast, short-stepping action with a halting delivery, and has a propensity to bowl no-balls, unusually for a bowler with such a short run. He is criticised for attempting too much variation and he often throws in the doosra the first time a batsman faces. Saqlain's international career got off to a splendid start - he was the fastest bowler to 100 one-day wickets, and his phenomenal control meant that he regularly bowled at the death. But his finest moment arguably came in a Test match, at Chennai in 1998-99, when his ten-for allowed Pakistan to sneak nerve-tingling 12-run win against India
Javagal Srinath
Right Handed Batsman/Right Armed Fast Med Bowler
67 caps for India
Scored 1009 runs at a average of 14.21,top score 76
236 wickets at 30.49,ecconomy 2.85,Best figures 13/132. 10 five wicket and 1 ten wicket haul
India Second highest wicket taking fast bowler
22 catches
Wisden overview
Arguably the nation's fastest-ever bowler, Javagal Srinath heralded a period of awakening for Indian pace bowling, after Kapil Dev's swing had fired popular imagination. And when he retired from international cricket of 11 years in 2003, Srinath was second only to Kapil in number of Test wickets by an Indian paceman.
Waqar Younis
Right Handed Batsman/Right Armed Fast swing bowler
87 caps for Pakistan
Scored 1010 runs at a average of 10.2,highest score 45
373 Test wickets at 23.56 average and 3.25 ecconomy
best figures 7/76 and 22 five wicket and five 10 wicket hauls
He has the best strike rate for any bowler over 350 wicket
The man who really put the reverse into swing. Waqar Younis bucked the 1980s trend of pitching fast and short by pitching fast and full. Not an obvious recipe for success until you factor in prodigious late inswing, which was designed to smash into the base of leg stump or the batsman's toes. In his youth, he was one of the fastest ever. Waqar's surging run was a glorious sight - and an incredible strain on his body. His method of aiming for the stumps rather than the batsman earned him the best strike rate of any bowler with over 200 Test wickets. It could have been better: back injuries cut short his prime, but determination has always resurrected him, although he was easily pushed over the line that divides aggression and intimidation.
Overall im really happy,i think i have a well balanced team.
The opening three batsman offer alot of grit and determination,DeSilva and Sobers in next should pick up the run rate before then the likes of Mushtaq Mohmammad and Hadlee come in before the tail of Murray,Srinath and Mushtaq who you would hope could add another 50 or so before Younis at 10.
The Bolwers are varied and pretty numerous.
Spin coming from Sobers,Mohammad and Mushtaq.
With Mohammad and Mushtaq both right handers offering variation of Off and Leg break and the left handed Sobers offering everything from orthodox,chinamna to even fast/med bowling.
Plenty of swing in the fast bowling deptartment with Younis and Hadlee with a nice compliment from Srinath.Though all three are right handed Sobers can bowl from fast with the left if a variation is required.
And all this forgetting the three wickets that Taylor and Kirsten has.
Desmond Haynes, opening batsman.
One of the best opening batsman the Windies produced, he amassed 7487 runs in 116 Test matches at an average of 42.29. He was strong against the pace attack and after a few problems early on mastered the art of facing spin. His partnerships alongside Gordon Greenidge paved the way for many a West Indies victory. The fact he went on to score 39 half centuries and convert 18 of them into centuries gives you some idea of his stick-ability in a difficult era when pitches suited bowling attacks.
Bob Simpson, opening batsman.
One of the older batsman who many of you wouldn't have seen. He only played 62 tests but hit 4869 runs at a healthy average of 46.81. He captained the Australian team on three separate occasions and also went on to coach the team which broke the West Indians dominance. he was also a handy leg spinner who Australia often turned to and the fact he took 71 wickets at an average of 42.26 proves his worth with the ball.
Nasser Hussain, number 3 batsman.
Love him or loathe him, you can't knock his ability to stick around at the crease in a difficult batting position for an England team who were struggling to find a number 3 batsman with some guile. In 96 tests he scored 5764 runs at a decent average of 37.18. Hussain showed under his captaincy that England could actually compete against the better teams. He was an excellent fielder with a safe pair of hands.
Mark Waugh, number 4 batsman.
Mark Waugh was an amazing cricketer in my eyes, one of, if not, the best slip fielder the game has ever seen. A gifted stroke player who played the shots correctly and with ease, in 128 tests he amassed 8029 runs at a healthy average of 41.81 and was especially good against spin bowling. He was also a decent turn to medium off break bowler taking 59 wkts at an average of 41.16.
Clive Lloyd, no 5 batsman and captain.
Clive lloyd was my favourite players as a kid. He oversaw the rise of the west Indies to become the most domineering test teams the game has ever seen. Captaining the team for an astonishing 11 years. He is one of the most successful captains of all time and was an amazing middle order batsman hitting 7,515 runs at an average of 46.67 in 110 test matches. A great fielder at middle cover and one of the players who read the game very well.
Chris Cairns, no 6 batsman and all-rounder. Medium fast bowler.
A destructive batsman to have in your middle order and a very good bowler indeed. Shane Warne's opinion is that Chris Cairns was the best all rounder in the World. In only 62 matches he hit 3,320 runs at an average of 33.53 and took 218 wickets at a very healthy average of 29.40. His slower ball foxed many a batsman.
Basil D'Oliviera, no 7 batsman and all rounder. Medium pace bowler.
It might seem strange to have two all-rounders in the same team but i think Cairns above was as good as many number 6 batsman and thus i chose to have a second all-rounder in the shape of Basil. In just 44 tests he scored 2484 runs at an average of 40.06, an average most top order batsman would be proud of. In the same short time he took 47 wickets at a decent enough average of 39.55.
Rod Marsh, no 8 batsman and Wicket-keeper.
Formed a great partnership with Dennis Lillee which yielded 96 wickets. Regarded as one of the best keepers in the game taking 343 catches and scoring 3,633 at an average of 26.51 over 96 test matches.
Jason Gillespie, no 9 batsman and fast-medium paced bowler.
In 71 tests he took 259 wickets at a healthy average of 26.13 making him Australia's sixth highest wicket taker. He also scored 1,218 runs at an average of 18.73, one of the best tail enders who annoyed many a bowler. he once scored 201 not out setting a World record for a night watchman.
Muttiah Muralitharan, no 10 batsman and off break spinner.
Alongside Warne the best spinner the game has ever seen. He holds the worl record for the highest wicket taker in both forms of the game (test/one day), 800 wickets in 132 test matches at a measly average of 24.44.
Courtney Walsh, no 11 rabbit and ****ing fast bowler.
Weirdly he has played the same amount of tests as Muri (132) and has exactly the same average of 24.44 and took 519 wickets. Held his own over a career which spanned 17 years against some great west Indian bowlers. 6'6" and full of muscle...a very economical bowler who took wickets regularly, his natural athleticism ensured he was both accurate and durable, even over very long spells and he extracted vicious bounce, even on pitches which were not exactly kind to fast bowlers.
Summary....i don't have one as such. We all have picked very good teams and it is all down to opinions. I hope you read my write up, took me ****ing ages.
Geoff Boycott
8114 test runs at an average of 47.72. Top score of 246n.o.22 centuries.
Averaged over 100 in 1971 and 1979.33 catches.
Alastair Cook
Current England captain and youngest Englishman to reach 1000,2000,3000,4000,5000 and 6000 runs.Has 6545 runs with an average of 48.48 currently.Top score of 294 in tests 72 catches.
Vinod Kambli
Only played 17 tests but had an average of 54.20 and a top score of 227 and 1084 runs overall.4 centuries.
Greg Chappell(Capt)
Aussie captain for 5 years and one of only 5 Aussies to average over 50,53.86 to be precise.Only lost 13 Test Matches out of 48 and took 47 wickets with 5/61 his best figures.122 catches.
Martin Crowe
5444 runs at an average of 45.36 is pretty impressive for a New Zealand player and captain.Has a first class average of 56.02.Includes 17 test centuries.Top score was 299,a New Zealand record.Shared a 467 run partnership in 1991,a world record at the time.71 catches too.
Mark Boucher(wkt)
Has world record test dismissals for a wicket keeper,532 catches and 23 stumpings.Has 5515 runs at an average of 30.30 and a high score of 125.
Majid Khan
Former Pakistan captain and played from 1961 to 1985.3931 runs at an average of 38.92 with 8 centuries and a top score of 167.One of only 4 players to score a century before lunch,108 off 112 balls in 1976/77.Also took 27 wickets.70 catches.
John Emburey
Off spinner with 147 wickets at 38.40 apiece.Also high scored with 55 v Aussies in their pomp and was arguably Englands best player of Shane Warne in his early days.
Took 5 wickets 6 times and has a best of 7/78 in an innings.34 catches and an excellent slip fielder.
Andy Caddick
234 wickets at 29.91 apiece and 13 five wicket hauls.Best bowling 7/46 and has a top score of 49 n.o.21 catches.
John Snow
202 wickets at 26.66 apiece. Six 5 wicket hauls and one 10 wicket haul with a best of 7/40.Only played 49 tests because of his non conformist nature.16 catches too.
Craig McDermott
291 wickets at 28.63 apiece.5 wickets in an innings 14 times and two 10 wicket match hauls.Best bowling 8/97.19 catches and a top score with the bat of 42 n.o.
Aussie Scouser
Here is the simplified version of the AS XI in batting order (and preferred fielding positions)-
Andrew Strauss (c): 1st slip
Ed Barlow: 3rd slip / gully
Justin Langer: Bat pad / point (also reserve opening batsman)
Jacques Kallis: 2nd slip
Michael Clarke (vc): Gully / point / cover
Rohan Kanhai: Cover / mid-wicket / reserve wk
Denis Lindsay: Wicketkeeper
Shaun Pollock: Mid-off / sweeper / third man
Merv Hughes: Fine Leg / deep square leg (also reserve opening bowler)
Bhagwath Chandrasekhar: Mid-on / mid-off
Bruce Reid: Deep square leg / fine leg
Features of my team-
BATTING: I have 129 x 100's scored by my batting six, a left/right specialist opening batting pair, a top 4 that will grind the bowling opposition down and lay the foundation for a big score, then the stroke-makers from 5-8 to make said big score.
BOWLING: I have left-right opening bowlers who both offer a lot of control and wicket-taking in one, a workhorse who will do the dirty work, a match-winning spinner (supported by a left-handed spinner when the need arises) and all ably supported by two very capable change bowlers, one a swinger and one a seamer of the ball. Quality and variety in an a-****ing-bundance!
FIELDING: Catches win matches and my catching quintet behind the stumps would rival any in history. Good luck snicking something through that cordon!
LEADERSHIP: In my team I have 3 former (Strauss, Kanhai, Pollock) and 1 current (Clarke) successful Test captains, with Strauss being the pick of the bunch and Michael Clarke's steadily increasing reputation as Australian captain earning him the vice-captaincy.
And here is the unabridged version for you cricket nutters (like me!)-
Andrew Strauss (c)- 7037 runs @ 40.91 (21 x 100's) in 100 Tests.
Very solid opening bat who enjoyed occupying the crease taking the shine off the new ball by batting for long periods. When you consider that the majority of his innings were facing the new ball in English conditions, it makes his numbers even more impressive, as was his ability to convert 50's into 100's. Also a shrewd captain who led England to some of its finest results in recent memory (including yes, that annihilation of Australia in Australia in 2010/11, something that hadn't been done in nearly a quarter of a century). Also had a great pair of hands in slips, taking 121 catches.
Eddie Barlow- 2516 runs @ 45.74 (6 x 100's) in 30 Tests
In 140 years of Test Cricket, getting off to a flier has never been as important as seeing off the new ball and laying the foundation for the team. For that reason, Ed Barlow joins his skipper at the top of the order, forming a very gritty, left/right hand batting combination. Quite a handy change bowler (40 wickets at 34) and a great slips fieldsman too, with 35 catches taken there in his brief Test career cut tragically short by apartheid.
Justin Langer- 7696 runs @ 45.27 (23 x 100's) in 105 Tests
A great counter-attacking batsman who spent the first half of his career as a tough No.3 before forming one of the great opening combinations in modern times with Matthew Hayden, where he became a lot more expansive in his stroke play. Had the ability to bat for long periods and was known as a great team man. He was good in the slips, but more importantly, was great in under the helmet at bat pad during Shane Warne's time (taking 73 catches in all), making him ideal in close for Chandrasekhar's spinners.
Jacques Kallis- 12837 runs @ 57.30 (44 x 100's) & 280 wickets @ 32.73 in 156 Tests
Quite simply one of the most complete cricketers the game has ever seen. An impeccable batting technique along with his calm, composed temperament makes him the prized wicket in any game, having scored centuries in every part of the world against all types of bowling. His fast-medium swing bowling has yielded almost 2 wickets per match at a very tidy average, making him the perfect '4th' seamer. His slips fielding is rock solid and his 189 catches are a tribute to his sure hands. Maintaining such a record over 15 years will ensure he goes down as one of the all-time legends of the game.
Michael Clarke (vc)- 6356 runs @ 50.84 (20 x 100's) in 84 Tests
Scoring 151 on debut in India as a 23 year-old and against the spinning greats of Anil Kumble and Harbajhan Singh instantly told the world of the talent (and ability to play spin) of this precocious boy known as 'Pup'. However, a combination of rash strokes, off-field issues and form slumps meant he had a lot of learning to do in order to capitalise on his undoubted talent. That he has averaged 92 since becoming captain in March 2011 and 112 in 2012 (including 2 double centuries and a triple century) shows he has matured into a complete batsman, with a full array of strokes and the temperament to match. He is also a very handy left-arm spinner, with 2 Test 5-wicket hauls under his belt, an ideal partner for Chandrasekhar in the event of a dustbowl pitch or exploiting footmarks on the last day. His 95 catches in slips/gully, along with his deadly left arm make him a great in-close fieldsman. His captaincy record is improving with every Test, hence him being an able deputy to Strauss.
Rohan Kanhai- 6227 runs @ 47.53 (15 x 100's) in 79 Tests
A man who spent most of his career in the shadows of some West Indian greats like Weekes, Worrell, Sobers and Lloyd, he still managed to hold his own, to the point that the legendary Sunil Gavaskar rated him as the best batsman he had ever seen. One of the real flair players of the 60's, he had every stroke in the book and footwork to match. When you consider that he scored centuries in the varying conditions of England, Pakistan, Australia, India and the West Indies, against the frightening pace of Lillee and the subtle spin of Subhash Gupte, all over a 16 year period, Gavaskar's comments make a lot more sense. He kept wicket for the Windies in a number of Tests, making him a handy reserve keeper and an already good fieldsman with 50 catches in all.
Denis Lindsay (wk)- 1130 runs @ 37.66 (3 x 100's) + (57 catches, 2 stumpings) in 19 Tests
Yet another South African cut down in his absolute prime due to apartheid, Lindsay made the most of his limited opportunities at the highest level, including one of the most spectacular series ever by a wicketkeeper in the 1966/67 series against Australia, which was also the first time South Africa had ever defeated Australia in a series. He scored 606 runs, took 24 catches and, using one of the great indicators of a genuine gloveman, conceded only a staggering 6 byes in 5 Tests. An out and out stroke maker with the bat, he is perfectly placed at No 7, much like Adam Gilchrist in his prime, to flay a tiring attack to all parts.
Shaun Pollock- 421 wickets @ 23.11 & 3781 runs @ 32.31 (2 x 100's) in 108 Tests
The last of my 4 South Africans, Shaun Pollock was express pace in his early days, before easing up the pace (but only slightly) to develop into a McGrath-esque metronomical opening bowler of unerring line and length, as his career economy rate of 2.39 runs per over indicates. As well as being a strike bowler, he was more than useful with the bat, as his numbers suggest. . And something I have made a point of noting, his 72 catches as an almost-exclusive outfielder suggests a very safe pair of hands to go along with a bullet throwing arm.
Merv Hughes- 212 wickets @ 28.38 in 53 Tests
With a heart bigger than his infamous mo, Merv would bowl all day on the flattest of tracks if required. The real workhorse of the bowling attack, he also didn't mind throwing in a few bouncers when the opposition needed roughing up, offering batsmen some 'choice' words of advice or bowling an aggressive spell when his team needed a wicket. Though his bowling average isn't in the low 20's like the absolute elite bowlers, his strike rate of 57 and average of 4 wickets per Test played are certainly in the top bracket.
Bhagwath Chandrasekhar- 242 wickets @ 29.74 in 58 Tests
When Sir Vivian rates you alongside D K Lillee as the hardest bowler he has ever faced, you know you have something special. In pure numbers, there are plenty of bowlers with superior records. However, when you consider that in India's first ever Test match victories in both England and Australia respectively (7 years apart), neither of which are known as spin-friendly, 'Chandra' took a staggering 20 wickets from those 2 historicTests, the English victory also winning India's first ever series in that country and narrowly missing the same result in Australia. A tad erratic at times, I chose this man for his out and out match-winning ability to bowl the unplayable ball, and good luck to the batsmen facing his googlies and top-spinners if it is a last-day turner!
Bruce Reid- 113 wickets @ 24.63 in 27 Tests
Forming a very accurate left-right hand opening bowling combination with Pollock, Reid's career was cut short due to injuries from being overworked in his early career when he was one of the few shining lights in a very dark period of Australian cricket. However, he'd not encounter that problem due to my wide and varied bowling attack. His ability to straighten the ball to the right-hander (are you listening, Mitchell Johnson?) and to get steepling bounce from a good length were the features of his short but nonetheless very impressive Test career. Took his wickets at the very elite strike rate of 55.2
Bill Lawry Hundreds - 13, Fifties - 27, Ave - 47.15
Marvan Atapattu Hundreds - 16, Fifties - 17, Ave - 39.02
Rahul Dravid Hundreds - 36, Fifties - 63, Ave - 52.31
Alvin Kallicharan Hundreds - 12, Fifties - 21, Ave - 44.43
Saleem Malik Hundreds - 15, Fifties - 29, Ave - 43.69
Matt Prior Hundreds - 6, Fifties - 22, Ave - 42.61
Ray Illingworth Hundreds - 2, Fifties - 5, Ave - 23.34; Wickets -122, Ave - 31.20
Chaminda Vaas Wickests - 355, Ave - 29.58
Derek Underwood Wickets - 297, Ave - 25.83
Jimmy Anderson Wickets - 276, Ave - 30.40
Curtly Ambrose Wickets - 405, Ave - 20.99
Lawry The man described as hard to watch as he was hard to dismiss is the person I have opening and I think you need a bit of that in your opening partnership. Averaging 47 as an opener is an extremely impressive average considering the quality of bowlers and untreated pitches he would have been batting on.
Atapattu To complement the dour yet effective Lawry I have one of the most exciting openers in Test cricket to play the game. Very much a boom or bust player, Atapattu could carve up opening attacks in the space of 20 overs with his beautiful cover drive and ever fluent strokes. Once he was in it was very hard to stop him, achieving 6 double hundreds the fourth highest in Test cricket.
Rahul Dravid I really dont know how to describe how much I respect and love Dravid as a player, probably my favourite batsman ever. His stats speak for itself really, 36 hundreds is an astonishing achievement and whilst he may not got the recognition he deserves I have a feeling Dravid likes it that way.
Kallicharan Only a diminutive batsman but one of the most effective for the West Indies in their pomp during the 70s. He had a full array of strokes to put away any bowling attack and his 12 hundreds and 21 fifties account for this. Unfortunately, his career was cut short due to the Packer incident but theres no doubting he was a brilliant batsman in a brilliant team.
Malik Another wristy player to add to my team, I brought in Malik to see off them pesky spinners if the others should have failed. The man who could bat against any spin attack in the world, he even saw off Warne in Pakistan, Malik was a strong choice for my 5th batsman. Ill ignore the match fixing part of his career. *whistles innocently*
Matt Prior One of the most modern players in my team and in my opinion the epitome of a modern day wicket keeper. An extremely aggressive yet extremely good batsman, Prior brings to the team that extra bit of urgency if needed. In my humble opinion hes probably the best wicket-keeper at the moment and his second innings performance in India this week further enforces that.
Illingworth A bit part player who had a decent average batting and bowling but he is there for his ability to captain this team. He had a decent average with his offbreak and was handy with his batting but he came into his element with captaincy, only losing 5 of his 31 games.
Vaas One of my two swing bowlers, Vaas has achieved the most amounts of wickets as a seam bowler from Sri Lanka. His consistent line of length and his ability to nibble it away both ways made him a potent opening bowler and his 355 wickets attest to this.
Underwood Deadly Derek as he was known had racked up the most amounts of wickets achieved by an English spinner and adds to my spin attack with Illingworth. He could probably hit a 50 pence on the pitch if you asked him to such was his accuracy that combined with his spin made him Englands best ever spinner.
Anderson The second swing bowler and one of the best too. Theres not many batsman who can handle Anderson when the ball sings; getting it going both ways and it literally hooping from one side to the other has made Anderson a feared opening bowler. In a period where swing bowlers are being negated by slow/flat pitches Anderson has managed to propel himself to a top class bowler.
Ambrose A giant in every sense of the word. An extremely quiet man off the field yet turned into a different animal when on it, he could destroy any batting order with his brute pace and accuracy. No batsmen ever wanted to face Curtly and its easy to see why.
I feel my team has everything you need in a draft team excellent openers who complement each other, a deep and strong middle order, a brilliant leader, a mixture of seam bowlers and a quality spin bowler. Then again you could say that for all other teams to be honest. What else do I have that could swing it? Erm. How about a player who was suspended for match fixing and a player who was ostracized for joining a rebel tour of South Africa? If that cant convince you then I dont know what will.
1. Graeme Smith (C)
2. Herschelle Gibbs
3. Hashim Amla
4. Allan Border
5. Zaheer Abbas
6. Hashan Tillakaratne
7. Brendon McCullum (WK)
8. Terry Alderman
9. Mushtaq Ahmed
10. Glen McGrath
11. Shoaib Akhtar
All my players have played a minimum of 40 tests, and the position I have picked them in is where they have their best batting average, the top 7 batsmen will all average 40+ in their respective positions(not career average).
Graeme Smith - Averages 50, the guy's a born winner. He was given the captaincy after just 8 test matches and captains my team as he has a better win percentage than Allan Border.
Herschelle Gibbs -Averages 47 opening the batting. Which is far higher than his career 40 where he was poor when further down the order.
As an opening pair, they average 55. Which is higher than any of the top 10 greatest openers. (where the top 10 is based on number of runs scored)
Hashim Amla averages 56, will undoubtedly go down as one of the greats when he retires.
Allan Border averages 50 is Australia's leading run scorer and most capped player. I need say no more.
Zaheer Abbass. One of only 2 players I haven't seen play, but was known as the Asian Bradman. Praise indeed. Averages 53.
Hashan Tillakaratne averages 46 coming in at number 6. I'd settle for an average like that.
Brendon McCullum averages 40 coming in at number 7 and will quickly take a game away from you with an impressive 60 runs per 100 balls.
Onto the bowlers.
Terry Alderman only played 41 matches mainly because of a 3 year ban from Test cricket, he still managed an impressive 170 wickets at an average of 27 and 1 every 10 overs.
Mushtaq Ahmed 185 wickets at an average of 33 and 1 every 11 overs.
Glenn McGrath, ladies and gents, only Monty could argue this isn't the greatest fast bowler of all time, 563 wickets at an average of 21. And a wicket around every 9 overs bowled. I don't even know why I need to argue a case for this true legend. The only bowlers on the all time list above him are spin bowlers.
Shoaib Akhtar, the fastest bowler in test history and a controversial pick. In his limited career he amassed 178 wickets at an average of 25, but crucially a wicket every devastating 7 overs.
That is my team. I'm very happy with the balance. My bowlers bowl. My batsmen bat.
Remmie went through after picking four batsmen? Weak.
Mentions Mark Taylor going into the commentary box as though that's supposed to be some sort of positive. Other than that, this is a top side. Good batting lineup - Murray is something of a questionable pick, but would do a good job at #8 I suppose. He also has a fine spin attack with plenty of variety and the opening bowlers are mint.
D'Olivera should bat #6, and I disagree with his final assertion that everyone picked very good sides. There are better top threes than this - if you're trying to sell me Nasser, just don't mention his average at all rather than try to tell me it's decent - but it bats deep, has a top captain and has one of the best bowlers ever backing a solid pace attack. Not bad at all.
Oh good, I was beginning to miss ripping into these. Kambli has clearly been picked on the basis of the average column alone, Boucher is getting serious nosebleeds at #6 given he was pushing it at #7 for most of his Test career, Emburey has no business in being at this level and there's no star bowler to compensate. It's not like this is comparable to the one that had Krezja in it, but this is the weakest side in the group.
Aussie Scouser
Fine team. Having both Kallis and Pollock on your team means I can't love it, but I can't find a hole in it either. Top notch openers have been a little hard to come by, so Strauss being your weakest link is excusable, especially when you have a third opener ready (who actually did play at #3). Chandrasekhar is a thoughtful addition and taking the time out to nominate fielding positions admirably goes above and beyond.
Illingworth is a risky inclusion, and considering Salkim Malik will have suspiciously run off in a new Jag by the time it's his turn to bat, the batting order pretty much stops at 4. Ambrose is a star lead to the attack but I daresay Underwood would be far less effective having to work with Prior as a gloveman.
This team violates the Graeme Smith clause, so I won't vote for it. Other problems include a tail like a rat, Brendon McCullum and a low-effort write up, but my mind was made up at #1.
Would vote for Kal-El and Aussie Scouser
What's wrong with Brendon McCullum?
Remmie clearly gets through due to his pick of KP's missus IMO.
These teams are better on the whole.
[Aussie Scouser and Kal-El have the best teams out of all 18, so they get through for me too. Pistonbroke is a close third and would have made it through it either of the first two groups, I just like the balance of the team.
BTW, how the hell did Kal-El get Sobers AND Hadlee when its an 18 man comp?
You've got it wrong. Hadlee is at 7 in his team and Murray is at 8. His top 3 are all tough, dependable batsman (excluding Taylor's poor 18 months) and having Sobers adds class to the batting lineup.
A new ball pairing of Hadlee and Waqar is sensational and should never have happened in a draft this big considering he has Sobers too. Srinath is a very solid 3rd seamer and Saqlain is a quality spinner. He also has Sobers and even Aravinda can do a little bowling - it's a brilliant attack and very good batting lineup.
The team has no apparent weak links while LFD, your team had some less consistent players such as Afridi and Hooper. If say we swapped Aravinda and Saqlain for Afridi and Hooper your team would be better, but that didn't happen so Kal-El's team is better in my opinion.
That makes a big difference actually.
Disagree about Saqlain, he is not as good as Macgill who I have. Just a shame he was in the shadow of Warne for the majority of his career as every spin bowler would have been.
Afridi is batting at 8 - how is that weak? He is probably the strongest 8th batsman in the competition. He was a luxury pick.
The guy who picked Jonty Rhodes at 8 or 9 would probably disagree.
My comment was referring to a package deal of Hooper and Afridi vs De Silva and Saqlain. The second package is clearly better and even though you already have MacGill, Saqlain could have also been in your team.
I rate both MacGill and Saqlain, the gap is minimal though. Anyway, your team is still good, but I like these couple of teams better.
The margin between Hooper and De Silva is small. Hooper also had to bat with the tail a lot which didn't help him. I think Macgill is better than Saqlain, a lot better. Afridi as 8th batsman vs Murray, again is better.
I think the problem with my team is it lacks a "big name", but it terms of getting 20 wickets and making runs it is hard to match it.
I agree with you that this is one of the teams to rival it though.
Thanks for your input though, you make some valid points.
How is the margin between Hooper and Aravinda small? Hooper had one of the most frustrating careers of all time, often looked good but would get out stupidly.
Also, I think you are stretching it to say MacGill was a lot better than Saqlain. I liked MacGill's ability to take a swag of wickets and I wouldn't have changed him for Saqlain during Australia's run so I probably would narrowly have MacGill in front, but the other team already has Hadlee and Waqar likely to take a heap of wickets so Saqlain (who could still take wickets at a decent rate) would be very useful and it wasn't a comparison that I was making anyway.
Your team does have big names - Barry Richards, Andy Roberts, Kapil Dev are All Time Greats and Sangakarra and Inzy are big names too.


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Saab has received two serial production orders for the Integrated Defensive Aids Suite (IDAS) for the Indian Advanced Light Helicopter, Dhruv. The combined value of these orders from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is approximately SEK 196 million. These two production orders follow initial orders for development and prototype deliveries as well as the first series production order for the Indian Dhruv helicopter.
When countering the highly unpredictable threats of the modern battlefield, Saab's IDAS greatly enhances the chances of mission success. Designed from the outset as a fully integrated modular system, it combines radar, laser, UV missile approach warning and countermeasures dispensing functions in a single system controller. Its modular system architecture allows IDAS to be configured for any one or any combination of the three sensor types. The suite will be installed on India's weapon systems version of the Dhruv to provide the platforms with Electronic Warfare self-protection. The development and production will take place at Saab Avitronics in Centurion, South Africa.
Micael Johansson, managing director for Saab Avitronics, commented, "We are proud of being a supplier for this advanced helicopter and look forward to continuing our cooperation and long-term relationship with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited."


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Spreadtrum Leads ADRs' Weekly Decline: China Overnight
Chinese stocks traded in the U.S. posted their first back-to-back weekly declines since November on speculation policy makers are shifting their focus from supporting the economy to curbing asset prices.
The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index of the most-traded Chinese equities in the U.S. fell 0.4 percent to 96.35 last week, after losing 4.2 percent in the five days to Feb. 8. Chipmaker Spreadtrum Communications Inc. sank the most in two months. LDK Solar Co. led gains among solar stocks on optimism alternative energy demand is growing. Mainland Chinese markets resume trading today after the week-long New Year holiday.
China's new leaders, to be installed at the National People's Congress starting March 5, are set to announce fresh measures to damp growth in the property market before the meeting, the Shanghai Securities News reported Feb. 6. While the government has refrained from easing monetary policy to push the economy out of its slowdown, data this month showed new home prices rose the most in two years in January.
"The government doesn't want an overheating housing market and there's a slight worry that they will take action sooner rather than later," Elena Ogram, who manages $50 million in emerging-market assets, including Chinese stocks, at Bank am Bellevue AG in Zurich, said by phone Feb. 15. "Housing prices are one of the sensitive indicators."
American depositary receipts of Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. fell 0.5 percent last week to $20.78, after rallying to a six-year high Feb. 1. The ADRs traded 1.2 percent below the Macau casino company's Hong Kong shares, the biggest discount since Feb. 6. The U.S.-listed stock traded at a 5.1 percent premium to Hong Kong Feb. 8, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Ambow Rebounds
ADRs of Spreadtrum, based in Shanghai, slumped 4.2 percent in the week to $15.49, the lowest level since Feb. 4.
Ambow Education Holding Ltd., a Beijing-based education provider, rallied 21 percent to $1.64 in New York, the biggest gainer on the China-US gauge last week. Ambow has tumbled 56 percent since July 5, when the company said it would conduct an internal investigation into allegations by a former employee of financial impropriety and wrongful conduct in connection with the purchase of a training school in 2008.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.1 percent last week, climbing for a seventh week in the longest stretch of gains since January 2011. The iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund, the biggest Chinese exchange-traded fund in the U.S., climbed 1.2 percent in the week to $40.32, the highest level since Feb. 6.
The decline in Chinese stocks listed in the U.S. is a "healthy correction" after the equities rallied about 8 percent over December and January, Bank am Bellevue's Ogram said. "I don't expect a huge slump overall."
Probable Rally
The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of Hong Kong-traded stocks added 1.7 percent to 11,845.20 over the two days that the market was open after the holiday. The iShares FTSE A50 China Index ETF, which tracks the mainland stocks, gained 0.7 percent in Hong Kong.
Mainland stocks will probably rally Feb. 18 to catch up with the gains in Hong Kong, Steven Leung, an institutional sales director at UOB Kay Hian Ltd. based in the city, said by phone Feb. 15.
New home prices in China rose 1 percent in January, the biggest increase since January 2011, SouFun Holdings Ltd., the country's biggest real estate website owner, said Feb. 1.
Some of China's largest cities may curb sales approvals for housing projects in in the first half to tame price-growth "momentum," the China Securities Journal reported Feb. 7, without citing anyone. First-tier cities, including Beijing, will institute new restrictions on the market, according to the Feb. 6 Shanghai Securities News report, which cited an unidentified person close to the city's housing commission.
Suntech Jumps
Sales at shops and restaurants during the New Year holiday increased 15 percent from a year earlier, from a 16 percent growth in 2012, China's Commerce Ministry said on its website Feb. 16. The People's Bank of China hasn't cut key rates since July and last reduced banks' reserve requirements in May.
LDK Solar's ADRs surged 21 percent to $1.88 in the U.S. last week, the steepest advance in a month. Suntech Power Holdings Co., the biggest solar-panel maker globally, climbed 6.2 percent to $1.54 in the week.
Wacker Chemie AG, a Munich-based polysilicon producer, said Feb. 11 that it's boosting output as orders from solar makers exceed production. Polysilicon prices rose above $16 per kilogram for the first time in three months, according to a Bloomberg Industries report Feb. 7.
Pavel Molchanov, an analyst at Raymond James & Associates Inc. who rates Suntech equivalent to "sell," said the gains in Chinese solar companies may be short-lived because there's still a glut of supply in the market.
"It's a junk rally," Molchanov said by phone from Houston Feb. 15.
China, the world's biggest supplier of solar modules, has provided subsidies and assistance to manufacturers as European nations cut back on aid for alternative energy. LDK has slumped 66 percent in the past year, while Suntech is down 55 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ye Xie in New York at firstname.lastname@example.com
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Emma O'Brien at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Mary Louise Rose, 57, Lagro, died at 2:10 pm, Thursday, Nov. 28, at Wabash County Hospital. She was born Nov. 1, 1956 in Wabash, to Richard and Shirley (Farmer) Parker.
Mary was a 1975 graduate of Northfield High School. She married David W. Rose in Wabash on June 15, 1991. She enjoyed spending time with her son, Donovan.
She is survived by her husband, David W. Rose, Lagro; four children, James Williams, Donny Williams, and Mary (Dennis) Clark, all of Michigan, and Donovan Parker, Wabash; brothers and sisters, Barbara (Chuck) Tyson, Wabash, Helen Hile, North Manchester, Grace Parker, Wabash, Rosie (David) Lackey, Fort Wayne, Shirley Logis, Buffalo, Ind., Louise (John) Paul, Greensburg, Richard (Judy) Parker Jr., Wabash, Donald (Rachelle) Parker, Huntington, and Rosanna (Ricky) Hancock, Peru, and several grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, and sister, Dorothy Skinner.
Friends may call 4-7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, at Grandstaff-Hentgen Funeral Service, 1241 Manchester Ave., Wabash. There will be no service. Private burial will be in Lagro Cemetery.
The memorial guest book for Mary may be signed at www.grandstaff-hentgen.com.


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2 more events today...
Monday, May 21Today's Hours:
Courier Article by Kate Linderman
Sunday, December 7, 2008
'Chick Lit' Writers Shedding 'Lit Light' Reputation
You've seen them in the bookstores, and even at the library ... the soft pink covers, the lilting script, the catchy titles that scream "mindless drivel!"
Since the publication of the blockbuster "Bridget Jones' Diary" by Helen Fielding in 1996, literature of its kind has been slapped with the moniker "chick lit" and marketed to appeal to women in their 20s, 30s and even 40s.
While many people despair of the lack of good popular fiction written for women by women, "chick lit" continues to grow in popularity, depth and message as the preeminent writers of the genre age and experience life as mature women.
In other words, "chick lit" is growing up and out of its nickname. The five biggest chick lit authors, now in their late 30s to mid 40s, are married, have families, and all have published new books in the past six months.
"This Charming Man" is Irish writer Marian Keyes' latest novel.
It is the story of four women and their various encounters with a man who is, by all accounts, at the surface charming, perfect and literally unforgettable ... but also toxic and abusive.
Told from four different points of view, "This Charming Man" is one of the best books I've read this year.
Emily Giffin's new novel, "Love the One You're With," explores that moment some married people have when they inevitably ask themselves, "E what about 'the one who got away'?" "Love the One You're With" explores the emotional roller coaster that goes along with wondering whether or not you married the right person, and what to do about it if you didn't.
Jennifer Weiner returns with "Certain Girls," the follow-up to her enormously successful debut novel, "Good in Bed." Weiner brings back Cannie Shapiro, the heroine of "Good in Bed," and flashes forward 13 years to explore her life as a (sort of) successful writer, the mother of a teenager, and the wife of a doctor.
Is "Certain Girls" as good as the original? It's definitely worth checking out.
Jane Green's "The Beach House" explores the world of an eccentric, lonely Nantucket woman who opens her house to boarders and rediscovers life and love. Green is a British author who routinely writes about life on both sides of the Atlantic.
Sophie Kinsella's "Remember Me?" is lighter fare. It's the story of a successful, shrewish young career woman who loses her memory.
Much like Christina Applegate's character in ABC's "Samantha Who?," amnesia ends up changing this heroine's life for the better, and Kinsella makes her journey of self-re-discovery fun and funny.
So when you're browsing for a book, don't judge it by its cover, even if it happens to be pink and girlie.
"Chick Lit" might sound (and look) mindless, but it continues to broaden its horizons and grow, along with its authors.


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For years, Sade Singh, a Brooklyn-born, self-proclaimed "activist" teenager who lives in Hollis, Queens, watched from afar as individuals around her who identified as gay, lesbian and transgender were harassed — by overt displays of bigotry in her community and occasional incidents of intolerance at her school, Queens Collegiate High School in Jamaica. "I know [...]
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Chevy Vintage Corvette - Vette Race 2007
This is a discussion on Chevy Vintage Corvette - Vette Race 2007 within the Corvette forums, part of the Vehicle Specific category; Chevy Vintage Corvette - Vette Race 2007 We asked regular historic-Corvette racing front-runner Eric Dolson what his advice would be ...
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Chevy Vintage Corvette - Vette Race 2007
Chevy Vintage Corvette - Vette Race 2007
We asked regular historic-Corvette racing front-runner Eric Dolson what his advice would be to an enthusiast thinking about going vintage or historic racing with a Corvette. His anwer, "Don't!" He then went on to explain, "a period Corvette is a handful at the best of times, and is way too powerful and way too fast to be anyone's first race car. At 160 mph, a lot can happen very quickly. The way to approach vintage or historic racing would be to start off with an MG Midget or something similar with no real power at all, and to learn to race before going anywhere near a track with a Corvette." He has a very good point.
Watching Eric driving Yellow Jacket-his black-and-yellow '69-is a useful lesson in itself. For a start, it's easy to watch him because he's about five hundred yards out in front of anybody else. He's smooth, and you can hear his throttle opening progressively as he comes past the apex of a corner and boots it for the next straight. When the next few Corvettes come along, they look OK going into the corner, but then you just hear a "blap roar" as they floor it and watch the rear ends wriggle as the tires scrabble for grip, and then the visceral thunder as a dozen full-race V-8s open up and hurtle past you down the next straight. That's why Eric is five hundred yards in front and cruising; having 550 bhp under the hood helps too, of course.
If you start racing with a Midget, you have perhaps 95 hp to play with, and you have to learn how to make the most of it. You have to judge how late you dare brake into a corner, and you have to keep it silky smooth, as you're balancing on the edge of grip all the time. If you don't keep it smooth and retain as much momentum as possible, you're going to have to recover all that lost speed by pushing the little engine flat out and waiting for the speed to build up again while everybody else overtakes you. So Eric's advice is sound: budget some time and money to learn to race before you learn to race a Corvette. It's possible to muddle through and to go quite fast by using a Corvette's power just to point and shoot, but that way you'll be in the middle of the pack at best and in the barrier at worst.
Can you afford to race a Corvette? If you stick to vintage racing, there's more of a possibility than with racing any modern Corvettes. Ken Petersen races the red C2 pictured, and candidly says it costs him about two grand for every weekend's racing, provided that nothing goes wrong with the car. Ken also keeps a few spare engines on hand, which is quite a commitment. however, he maintains that racing a historic Corvette is better than drinking or chasing women, and that he can always go out to his garage and just look at something gorgeous.
Almost nobody in the vintage-racing scene tries to drive their race car to the circuit, race it, and drive home again. It's regarded as courageous and eccentric if you do. That means you need a rig comprising of a motorhome or pickup/camper and a trailer for your race car. You'll need something like seventy gallons of race gas and maybe 300 gallons of pump gas for the motorhome, depending on how far away each circuit is. I don't know what gas is going to cost by the time this is printed (about $3 a gallon), but this is not a poor man's sport, whichever way you look at it. Race tires are another thousand bucks a set, and some people with big power and big credit cards will trash a set of sticky race tires in each of the four races of a weekend. If an engine lets go, you can add another twenty grand to that weekend's bill. However, somebody like Eric will get two seasons out of an engine and three or four races out of a set of tires because he's using them to the optimum and not to the maximum.
On the up side, the better of the vintage racing series organizers are keen to keep the spirit of the sport intact, and that means you won't have to keep up with the big spenders by fitting hugely expensive twelve-pot AP Racing calipers and rotors the size of garbage can lids on your car. If you do, you'll be excluded. The same applies to suspension-if your car came with a transverse leaf spring, you'll be running a transverse leaf on the track, albeit flatter and stronger than stock.
When it comes to repairing breakages or damage, you're in luck with a Corvette compared to most vintage and historic racing cars. replacing a GM differential pinion is cheap and easy compared to that of a '63 Alfa Romeo, and if you have an incident you're looking at $2,000 to replace the Corvette front end panels rather than $20,000 for an E-type front end. Bodywork has to be built and rebuilt to original spec, so while a Corvette owner can take advantage of cheap and easy GRP repairs, all the bodywork on an E-Type must be steel.
Choosing the right Corvette to race is a matter of picking which series you want to enter, and looking at the rules carefully to pick the most competitive year and model. There is an option that allows you to pick a "point-in-time" and claim, for example, that your '66 car is prepared to FIA rules for the '67 season, so careful research could get you an advantage.
There can, of course, be other reasons for picking a particular model-Eric Dolson built a '69 Stingray roadster largely because he thinks it's one of the most beautiful cars ever to put rubber on the road. He also likes lots of 160-mph wind in his face, although, aerodynamically, the gain from removing the windshield was probably balanced by the loss of the roof and the ducktail. The open roadster cockpit must be left open according to the rules, so a hard tonneau cover isn't an option. Eric's roadster started off as a small-block, automatic T-top, with the top and ducktail cut off with a Skilsaw and replaced with roadster panels, and the drivetrain changed for a big-block and a four-speed. It was influenced by the '60s/'70s Owen Corning SCCA big-block A Production cars, but was mostly built to emulate the V.V. Cooke big-block Corvette based on the converted 350 that used to beat Porsches and Jags, and was known to many as the "Winningest" Corvette. That concentration on handling, rather than power, has paid off-much of Eric's commanding lead is down to good smooth driving, but he couldn't do it without first getting the car right.
In the Pacific Northwest, many people race with SOVREN, the Society of Vintage Racing Enthusiasts (www.sovren.org). Picking the best Corvette for their race series would require a study of their rules, and also period FIA rules which can apply as well or instead. In essence, you're choosing between Corvettes built up to 1962, which are in the Vintage group, and then from 1962 to 1969, which are in the Historic group. You can use a '70 car if its design continued unchanged from 1969, but it has to comply with '69 specs. There were no pre-'62 Corvettes in sight last summer, which suggests they're not that competitive. The Vintage Sports Car drivers' Association (www.vscda.org) is another such organization with different rules.
To some extent, preparing the car is kept from being madly expensive because you can only use mostly period-correct parts. You can't have titanium, Heim-jointed, inboard-suspended A-arms; you can only have stock steel Chevrolet pressings. You can, however, use an aluminum cylinder block and heads because they were FIA-approved and used when the cars were raced new. Eric runs an aluminum ZL-1 big-block engine, and says it balances the car beautifully. However, he also says that the iron block is stiffer and can be more powerful, and that several other drivers have achieved a very similar weight balance even with an iron engine, so an aluminum big-block is not a guaranteed winner.
Cheating is rewarded by a DNC notice (Does Not Comply), which says publicly that you've been cheating. Repeated significant cheating gets you sent home. However, it's fair to say that most people have their own creative ways of massaging several of the rules up to a point. For instance, you can't help noticing that many of the SOVREN race cars have rollcages that contribute substantially to torsional rigidity. Given the agricultural design of the earlier Corvette chassis, this change would be of considerable help in keeping the wheels parallel. Preparation also involves a cutoff switch, fire extinguisher, trim removal, harnesses, a fuel cell, firewalls, a tow cable attachment, a wired fuel cap and oil drain plug, and a paint job-these cars all look pretty good and are required to look good.
You can't add flares or chop the bodywork, and your tires should stay within the wheelwells. They also have to be vintage-style racing rubber, so although they're grippy, they're also bias-belted or cross-ply, and you're going to spend quite a lot of your racing time sliding gently sideways. The good thing is these tires start to let go progressively and relatively early, so the slides can be controlled. Seriously grip race tires hang on much longer, and then spit you off into the kitty litter much harder when centrifugal force finally overcomes the friction coefficient of the tires, or when somebody bumps you from the rear.
Bumping in vintage racing is an absolute no-no. SOVREN will impose a 14-month ban on anyone who causes an accident through deliberate bad driving. A careful look at the rules and standards of the various racing organizations will reveal who you want to race with. Some people enjoy a more cowboy approach; nothing wrong with that as long as you know where you stand.
Is SOVREN racing just safe exhibition driving, then? Absolutely not. Drivers generally race to about 90-percent flat out. They stop short of Schumacher-style rammings, but up to that 90-percent limit they are genuinely racing. Just go and take a look-they're not trundling around at pace-car speeds; they're giving it some real stick. One competitor has trashed a diff, gearbox, and engine in one season, as well as the usual minor breakages, so a Sunday treasure hunt this ain't. Treasure is definitely not involved at all, in fact, as there's no prize money to win, just points. SOVREN supports a local children's hospital, so charity fundraising is part of their organization's aims.
Friendship and gamesmanship are also part of the fun. asking a close competitor if that's blue smoke or white smoke coming out of his engine and telling another that you've broken your glasses and had to borrow your Grandpa's is within the rules. On the other hand, if you've broken something on your car and the same close competitors can help out, they will.
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Shooters set sights on new talent
A former British shooting champion from Norfolk has set up a scheme to help find and train the next stars of the paralympics.
Carole Darnell has coached the GB disability target shooting team for the last five years and is now on the look out for new talent. Kate Prout reports


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A Port Macquarie grandfather fought off two armed men who broke into his home in the early hours of Saturday.
The 84-year-old disarmed the thugs and even turned their weapons on them during the home invasion at Cornwallis Close.
About 2am yesterday two men, armed with a hammer and metal pole, grabbed a kitchen knife as the entered the man's bedroom.
When the pair demanded money he told them his wallet was on a nearby chest of drawers.
One of them pushed the elderly man down when he tried to get out of bed and hit him with the pole.
When he tried to get up, he fought with the other man, who was armed with a knife and hammer
They fell to the floor and the man was able to break the blade off the knife.
As the offender tried to strike him with the hammer, the elderly man stabbed the offender in the stomach area.
He then disarmed the offender with the pole and used it to defend himself. The offenders were chased from the home with only the man's wallet.
The man was treated at the scene and later taken to Port Macquarie Hospital for treatment to cuts to his head and leg.
Police searched the area and investigations are ongoing
The offenders are described as both having heavy builds, one very tall at almost 205cm, the second was shorter. Both wore dark hooded jumpers and had their faces concealed.
Anyone with information about this incident should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the Crime Stoppers onlinepage.


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BATAVIA – The Gammon Coach House is hosting a Breckenridge Beer Dinner and pairing at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 4 at the restaurant, 3 S. Batavia Ave., Batavia.
Beer and food pairings include shrimp cocktail with Agave Wheat, Lobster Bisque with Extra ESB Imperial Bitter and a Bacon Wrapped Filet with Pandora's Box, just to name a few.
Tickets cost $48 and include tax and tip. Advanced purchase is recommended due to limited seating.
For more information or to purchase tickets, call 630-482-3663. The next beer dinner will take place April 1.


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Had originally wanted to do at least ten miles today but time constraints got the better of me. Was originally going to take tomorrow off, but since today's run was short, I'll try to get in another short 5-6 miles if I get back from Boston in time (field trip with the kids I'm mentoring).
The route I ran today, know as the Dump Loop, basically features a pretty big and gradual climb until midpoint followed by a little bit of a sharper downhill on a dirt road before leveling out the last 8/10 of a mile or so.
Pace progressed pretty nicely, and I don't mean to sound like I'm boasting or anything, but hitting the faster paces on this run and all runs recently has felt pretty easy. I had run mile five in 6:45 pretty effortlessly and then ran the last 6/10 of a mile at a 6:06/mile pace and felt great. Granted, some gravity assistance on mile five, but that area is actually a bit more rolling rather than all downhill. It's great to see my training plan truly working and coming together with results that are pleasantly surprising me so far.
Worth noting that there were no deer flies on that dirt road section. Despite it once again being quite warm out, they were non-existant. I'm sure they're still active in parts, but usually they're gone for the season in the first week of September, so their days are definitely numbered. Woohoo!
Ran 5.6 miles @ 7:25/mile pace.
Paved and dirt roads.
Very hilly.
Upper 70s, sunny.
Saucony Kinvara, shorts, short sleeved shirt.


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Full Episode
Tukufu Zuberi tallies the facts on a 1940s Jackie Robinson All-Stars scorecard. Black and white athletes played this game before Robinson became the first black major league baseball player. What role did this game play in the integration of major league baseball? Then, we see the name 'Toby' worked into the weave of this basket. Could that be Toby Riddle, the woman congress honored as a heroine of the Indian Wars of the American West? And, why would J. Edgar Hoover endorse a crime radio drama? Does the script portray actual events?
Visit the Website: http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/
Episode #809 / Length: 56 minutes


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|Do you know where your variables are?
Comment on
|( #3333=superdoc: print w/replies, xml )
|Need Help??
Being Perl 6, I can't help but be attracted to 6/6. I'm tempted to say 2006-6-6, but I think a lot of people will be happy with a 1.x version while work is ongoing... even if it's v0.9, a lot of us will be using it! So what constitutes a "release"? Parrot will continue to become more and more useful long before the design of the language is finished!
So I'll say 2004-6-6, since the digits add up to 6 (2+0+0+4).
In reply to Re: Perl 6 release date
by John M. Dlugosz


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A Douglas County middle school was evacuated and dozens of students were decontaminated as a precaution Tuesday after one youth brought mercury to school.
No serious injuries or illnesses were reported at Pau-Wa-Lu Middle School in Gardnerville, the Douglas County sheriff's office said.
But an emergency response team from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regional headquarters in San Francisco was on the way to the scene Tuesday night and the school was likely to remain closed on Wednesday as the clean up continues, EPA spokesman Mark Merchant said.
"Our response team will determine the extent of the contamination," he told The Associated Press late Tuesday.
Local hazardous materials experts were called and the school was locked down when the toxic material was discovered about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sheriff's Sgt. Tom Mezzetta said.
One student apparently brought about one-fourth cup of the mercury from home and other children joined in playing with it, Mezzetta said.
Several students handled the mercury on the bus ride to school and the substance was spilled in several areas inside the school property, he said.
It is "extremely unlikely" any of the students will suffer ill effects of exposure, he said. But they all were supplied with written materials outlining exposure hazards and possible reactions, including coughing or wheezing, muscular tremors, loss of appetite, nausea or diarrhea.
Mercury is a heavy metal liquid that gives off vapors at room temperature. Experts say it can be inhaled into the lungs or passed through the skin into the bloodstream and cause an array of health problems, including coughing and breathing difficulty.
Very high exposures to mercury vapor in the air can cause acute poisoning and possible death.
Mezzetta said students were separated into two groups - those who were exposed to the element and those who were not.
Between 60 and 75 children were kept on school grounds to be decontaminated, a procedure that involved a shower and a change of clothes, Mezzetta said.
"We've had parents bringing down clothing, or other types of temporary clothing are being provided," Mezzetta said.
"Once we get them all cleaned up, they'll be sent home or picked up by parents."
Other students who had no contact with the mercury were either allowed to walk home or were taken to the Douglas County fairgrounds for about an hour before being bused home.
Mezzetta said parents should check with the Douglas County School District Wednesday morning to determine if the school will be open.
EPA officials will be on hand at the school Wednesday to hand out additional written materials to parents, Merchant said.
School officials were not immediately available for comment, and several parents complained about a lack of information school officials were providing about the status of their children more than four hours after the exposure.
"We have not been allowed to see our kids or talk to our kids," Cindy Fencl said about 3 p.m. Tuesday.
She said her 9th-grade daughter was among those on the list to be decontaminated and her 12-year-old son had been bused to the fairgrounds.
"I asked them what the decontamination would entail and they couldn't tell me anything," she told The Associated Press.
"The attitude at the school has been that the kids should not have been around it (the mercury). But if another child brings mercury to the school, my kids wouldn't know what it is," she said.
Fencl said she started telephoning school officials about the incident shortly after noon and was told they would call her back, but she said they never did.
"It's just unacceptable. They say the policy is that the child belongs to school until it is time to release them. Anytime we have an emergency it's like pulling teeth for information," she said.
Mezzetta said the school district called a private company, which will arrive Wednesday to monitor the school's air quality.
He said once those tests are completed, the EPA will conduct a final check of the grounds for contamination before the school reopens.


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University Launches Device-Friendly Uvm.edu
- 01-07-2013
- By Megan Morley Thomas
Users might not realize that uvm.edu has drastically changed, that is unless they are looking on a tablet or mobile device where they'll see a more streamlined, easily navigable and appropriately-sized site (device-dependent). The Web Team launched a responsive uvm.edu on Jan. 7 after concluding that the higher ed web landscape was on a precipice.
"Institutions are increasingly aware that the public front door of their university -- their website homepage -- is being accessed from any number of devices now: smartphones, desktop computers or tablets -- all of varying screen sizes," says Tatjana Salcedo, Web Team strategist. "In order to provide the best possible user-experience, we opted to rebuild the site in a responsive way."
"Responsive web design" is a method of web design developed by Ethan Marcotte that uses CSS and other techniques to allow the layout and content of pages on a website to respond according to the screen resolution and orientation of the device viewing the site. This means making your design and images shrink and grow to the browser window and altering the layout (often the number of columns) at specified resolution thresholds. Additionally, responsive web designs allow easy interaction when using a touchscreen and contain video and audio that plays across a wide range of devices. The result, when implemented well, is a highly functional and attractive website that scales elegantly, regardless of the device used to access it.
The project -- completed in-house by the Web Team -- had to consider every aspect of the homepage, from buttons better sized to fit fingertips to navigation appearance and behavior to content prioritization.
"Responsive design keeps the visual integrity of a page as it changes shapes and rearranges content. This allows the user to have a better experience on any device," says Deb Goller, Web Team graphic designer.
Enrollment management implications
Of the many audiences who visit uvm.edu, there's one audience in particular whose mobile usage is skyrocketing.
A 2012 E-Expectations Report* conducted a survey of 2,000 college-bound juniors and seniors about their expectations for college websites, mobile usage, e-mail, and social media. The report indicates that 67 percent of college-bound students have access to a mobile device. Fifty-two percent of college-bound students have looked at a college site on a mobile device while 20 percent of them have looked at a college site on a tablet.
The Jan. 7 responsive launch included the undergraduate admissions web pages.
Bringing your unit into responsive design
Starting Monday, Jan. 14, the UVM Web templates offered online will be responsive upon download. Retrofitting an existing site is a different story, although if a site has stayed true to the offered publishing system features, the transition to responsive should be fairly simple. Webmasters can view online documentation and make appointments with the team for support. In addition, the Web Team will host an open info session on Monday, Jan. 28, 2013 from 9-10 a.m. in the 113T Waterman computer lab. Highly customized sites, such as the colleges, will be addressed one at a time with a great deal of assistance from the Web Team.
"The more customized a site, the more complicated the transition," says Megan Hack, team developer. "We'll plan to tackle those sites one at a time."
*E-Expectations Report conducted and published by Noel-Levitz, OmniUpdate, CollegeWeekLive, and NRCCUA® (National Research Center for College & University Admissions).


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It was inevitable. Having fulfilled his Rule 5 requirements, Adam Stern -- the pride of London, Ontario -- was sent down to Pawtucket and Willie Harris was called up. "I'm not going to sulk ... I realize why they're doing this. You've got to play. You don't want to be a young outfielder and be the fourth outfielder and not get many at-bats."
Tampa Bay has employed an extreme shift against David Ortiz in these two games. The third baseman moved out to left field, and all three usual outfielders shifted over to the right. The second baseman went into shallow right field and the shortstop was in shallow center, to the right field side of second base. It gave the Devil Rays, in effect, six outfielders. Ortiz: "Man that's crazy. But whatever they do, they can't catch the ball if you hit it off the Green Monster."
Here's a crude drawing of the shift that someone posted to the SoSH Game Thread:
Ortiz has yet to lay down a bunt, but he has doubled twice off the Wall.
Steven Krasner of the Providence Journal has been writing a cool sidebar called "Inside the Game" in which he dissects several plays from the previous night's game.
On Wednesday afternoon, Jonathan Papelbon watched as Mariano Rivera closed out the Yankees' 3-1 win in Toronto. "I don't try to pattern myself after any closer. But I watch how other guys get guys out. I'm a student. I'm learning every day out here." ... Herald readers' choice for Papelbon's closer theme? AC/DC's "Thunderstruck".
April 20, 2006
Stern Sent Down; Rays Get Shifty
by allan at 11:40 AM
2 comments:
- Peter N said...
In a report in today's Globe (Thurs.) he said the lubricant shots that have alleviated the pain in his knees is already wearing off, 3 weeks or so after he got them. They are supposed to work for months. At least that is my personal experience with friends who had the procedure. Go to my blog for more, if you wish. It's linked. This was the last kind of news I wanted to hear about him. He could be such an invaluable set up guy in our 'pen. It sucks.
- April 20, 2006 at 4:02 PM
- Peter N said...
And I was talking about Keith Foulke.
- April 20, 2006 at 4:03 PM
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Wednesday at the Storm Dome is "A Night for Willy and Madeline."
The university will retire the late Willy Mathis' No. 42 jersey while giving all gate proceeds to Madeline's Mission. Mathis averaged 12 points and eight rebounds when he played for the Hurricanes in the early 1970s. He was inducted into GSW's Hall of Fame in October 2007 before losing his battle with cancer the following month.
Mathis is the first basketball player in school history to have their jersey retired.
Madeline's Mission began when Mathis' first granddaughter - Madeline Anne Wildes - passed away after she contracted meningitis at seven months. The Mission's goal is to show the importance of organ donation as hers were. It will donate teddy bears to transplant patients at Egleston Children's Hospital in Atlanta and to children hospitalized at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital and Sumter Regional Hospital.
GSW hosts Armstrong Atlantic, with a tip of 5:30 p.m. for the women. The men's game will follow the jersey ceremony.


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Installation issues / Re: Working Install??« on: November 22, 2010, 04:06:43 pm »
read thy super installer "mythtified"
read thy super installer "mythtified"
Rule #1 - Be Patient - Rule #2 - Don't ask when, if you don't contribute - Rule #3 - You have coding skills - LinuxMCE's small brother is available: http://www.agocontrol.com
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Lincoln Medical Center is among six hospitals in the Tennessee Hospital Association's network recognized for outstanding work in reducing the number of early births scheduled without a medical reason, also known as early elective deliveries (EEDs).
Occurring between 37 and 39 weeks of pregnancy, EEDs are associated with an increased risk of morbidity and increased hospital stays for both mothers and newborns. Some studies suggest that reducing EEDs will result in healthier babies being born who can feed, digest, and breathe better. The long-term impact is children with higher performance in math and reading in school.
The Tennessee Hospital Association (THA) Partnership for Patients Hospital Engagement Network has committed to reducing EEDs among its 32 birthing hospitals. Reporting a 36% decrease of EEDs with no medical indication ≥37 weeks and ≤39 weeks gestation through October 2012, the network is making rapid progress and is on track to meet its goal. Seventeen of its 32 birthing hospitals have already achieved EED rates of less than 5 percent.
"We are very honored to accept this recognition as an exemplary hospital in having a 0% early elective delivery rate," said Stefanie Brown, director of Med Surge and OB at Lincoln Medical Center. "We developed our policies and protocols based on research and evidence based practice that babies delivered at 39 weeks' gestation have better outcomes.
"It was a team effort, including myself, physicians and the OB nurses to standardize our health care processes to wait unless medically indicated to deliver babies at 39 completed weeks gestation," she added. "Here at LMC's Family Centered Birthing Unit, we want to provide the best, quality care for every family and their baby.
THA partnered with the Tennessee Initiative for Perinatal Quality Care, Tennessee Department of Health Maternal-Child Division, and the March of Dimes in efforts to reduce EEDs. The Hospital Engagement Network participates in the Healthy Babies are Worth the Wait public awareness campaign, webinars, and a state-wide push for 100 percent participation on EED hard stop policies. Participating hospitals receive access to free educational materials, media templates, and posters.
In addition to Lincoln Medical Center, five other hospitals noted outstanding EED results, all of which reflect zero percent EEDs at 37-39 weeks gestation period. Those facilities include Baptist Memorial Hospital Desoto, Southaven, Miss., from May-October 2012; Baptist Memorial Hospital Union City, from May-October 2012; Hardin Medical Center, Savannah, from May-November 2012; Maury Regional Medical Center, Columbia, from May-September 2012; and Saint Francis Hospital Memphis, from May-November 2012.
Outstanding progress at the national level is being made to reduce EEDs as well. These results are a product of multiple federal and private efforts, including the March of Dimes, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Hospital Association, Strong Start, Hospital Engagement Networks, National Priorities Partners.
The most recent EED data from 20 hospital engagement networks reporting on the Joint Commission's measure of EED shows a 48% decrease among reporting hospitals compared with baseline.