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Books for Beginners
2006/9/13 12:42
From Altoona, PA
Posts: 16
What books do you recommend for new anglers and why?
I was thinking of the following:
Casting - OK this is actually a DVD by Joan Wulf Dynamics of Flycasting I like Joan Wulff's approach to teaching. It's very clear and she still seems to empathize with new fly casters.
Finding Trout - Reading Trout Streams by Tom Rosenbauer. I still read this every now and again. Great book for knowing what water does when you think you have it figured out. Better for knowing why trout do some of the weird stuff they do.
Hatches/ bugs in general - Aquatic Insects and Their Imitations The identification stuff is way over my head and a totally unneccessary to angling. What is great is how to fis each hatch. What nymphs to use when you are expecting it, what emergers to use when it's starting etc. Most important, how to fish each and where. For instance, a pheasant tail can be almost any mayfly nymph, but you may need to fish in the riffles for one hatch or the quiet edges of a pool for another.
No Hatches - Prospecting for Trout Tom Rosenbauer. Love this guys wit. Anyway, what to do when the trout aren't rising.
Presentation - Presenting the Fly by Lefty Kreh. This is probably in softcover now. Anyway, great book for the most important and overlooked aspect of flyfishing. After reading this, I became convinced that you can very often have the wrong fly (size, color etc) and still catch fish with the right presentation.
Posted on: 2007/3/23 21:47
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Hamilton enthusiastic to begin era with Angels
By Alden Gonzalez / 12/15/12 10:08 PM ET
ANAHEIM -- If you were stunned to see the Angels swoop in at the last minute and sign Josh Hamilton, you weren't alone.
Hamilton was, too.
"Of course I was surprised," Hamilton said about the Angels' late pursuit at his introductory news conference Saturday.
"They like to get after it; they like to get things done."
With Hamilton, the Angels got it done in a manner no other team, especially his most recent one, would. In the process, they took a sizable risk on a gifted outfielder with a checkered past, signing the former MVP to a five-year, $125 million contract that is back-loaded, includes a full no-trade clause and offers no special language that protects the Angels in case of a relapse.
But they've also added a player who gives skipper Mike Scioscia one of baseball's deepest lineups in 2013, gives general manager Jerry Dipoto the opportunity to trade for a necessary starting pitcher and gives owner Arte Moreno a legit chance to win his first title since taking over in '03.
"To get an opportunity to have one of the best players in baseball and put him on our team," Moreno said, "I thought it was a great investment."
Hamilton showed up at the ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney a little before noon PT on Saturday, first to greet the 500 Angels fans who were anxiously gathered outside and then to address the media at a makeshift podium.
With his wife, Katie, seated next to him and his four daughters -- Julia, Sierra, Michaela and Stella -- in the audience, Hamilton spoke about teaming with Albert Pujols and Mike Trout, about following his faith to Southern California and about saying goodbye to the Angels' division rivals.
"It's really cool when a new chapter in your life begins," the 31-year-old slugger said, "and this is exciting."
At the end of his 2012 campaign, a Wild Card loss to the Orioles that capped a late-season collapse, Hamilton openly said he'd give the Rangers the first crack at signing him. Asked about them not taking it, Hamilton said, "I'd be lying to you if I said it didn't bother me a little bit, that they didn't put the press on."
Then he deferred to his wife, who had a much better way of characterizing it.
"If you're going to date somebody and that's going to be your man or your woman, then you make it official and make it known or pretty quick, or at some point, that you want to be with them," Katie said.
"They let us go out and date people and kind of give our hearts away."
Then Hamilton chimed in: "She said, 'You should've put a ring on it.'"
Initial contact by the Angels was made on Dec. 4, Day 2 of the Winter Meetings, when Dipoto and assistant GM Scott Servais had a two-hour lunch with Hamilton, Katie, and his two agents, Mike Moye and Scott Sanderson, in Nashville, Tenn.
"It's been a steady line of communication since, obviously ramping up these last three or four days," said Dipoto, who one day earlier had decided he was not going to meet the contractual demands of Zack Greinke.
Six days later, while on their way to New York, Moreno, his wife, Carole, and president John Carpino made a pit stop in Westlake, Texas, to meet with Hamilton for more than four hours.
The Angels wanted to get it done then, but Hamilton needed time.
"We went in knowing who he was as a player, because everybody knows who he is as a player, and we were trying to get to know him as a person," Carpino said. "We walked away just overly impressed with him."
By Wednesday afternoon, the Angels had decided to kick in a fifth year when no other club was really willing to get into hard numbers. Hamilton was pressed to make a decision quickly.
And by 6 p.m., he agreed.
"I'm not real patient," Moreno said. "Once I put years and money, it really exposes us. So I just asked, 'Is this deal going to get shopped?'"
It didn't get shopped. Hamilton accepted, before the Rangers had a chance to match it. And almost immediately after news broke of Hamilton's deal Thursday, he got a text message from Pujols, who one year earlier signed a $240 million deal that was every bit as surprising as this one.
"I've always loved Albert, and we've talked when playing against each other," Hamilton said. "Just being on the same team is pretty special, not only for just playing, but knowing what a man of faith he is and how much he loves the Lord."
Hamilton was reminded about Pujols' rough start with the Angels, which began with a 27-game homerless streak. Hamilton, with tongue firmly placed in cheek, quipped: "Albert ain't got my pop!"
Over the last five years, Hamilton has proven to be one of the best all-around players in baseball, starting in five straight All-Star Games, taking home three Silver Slugger Awards, and being crowned American League MVP and MVP of the AL Championship Series in 2010, en route to the first of two straight pennants.
During that time, Hamilton ranked 10th in the Majors in batting average (.305) and eighth in OPS (.912). He drove in 130 runs in '08, won the batting title with a .359 clip in '10 and belted a career-high 43 homers in 2012.
But he was also limited to 89 games in '09 due to an assortment of injuries, missed almost all of September the following season because of two fractured ribs and was out for 36 games in early 2011 due to a fractured humerus bone below his shoulder.
Hamilton avoided the disabled list in 2012, playing in 148 games and finishing with solid numbers -- a .285 batting average, 128 RBIs, a .930 OPS and a career high in homers.
But it was a roller coaster.
On Feb. 3, Hamilton publicly apologized for his second alcohol-related relapse since getting clean and first since January 2009. In the first two months, he surged to a .368 batting average and 21 homers, four of which came on one May 8 night in Baltimore. And in the second half, he struggled mightily, striking out 86 times, batting .259, dropping a critical fly ball in the regular-season finale and getting booed in what would be his final home game in Texas.
But Hamilton's skills aren't a question. What could make the signing so risky -- and what limited his market -- are the drug-and-alcohol problems that forced him to miss 3 1/2 years from 2003-06 and seem a slip-up away from returning.
For that, the Angels are bringing in Shayne Kelley, Hamilton's longtime mentor, to continue to be a part of the support system. But mostly, they're showing their utmost faith.
If their words don't show it enough, their pursuit and their contract did.
"I'm so excited and happy to hear an organization say we're so excited and happy we got you no matter what the risk is," Hamilton said. "They're going to help me -- with my support system, as well -- put things in place like I have with the Rangers. Nothing out of the ordinary; nothing that's straining to the organization or our clubhouse. So, I'm excited to be here -- excited to be with people who want me to be here."

subset: commoncrawl


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2012 Scion iQ Five Axis Design. Click image to enlarge
First Drive: 2013 Chevrolet Spark
Manufacturer's web site
Review and photos by Mike Schlee
Photo Gallery:
2012 Scion iQ
Last winter I had a chance to drive the then-new 2012 Scion iQ. It was the latest vehicle to enter the city car segment and combined the Fiat 500's four-passenger capabilities with dimensions closer to those of the Smart ForTwo. At a length of only 3,045 mm, Scion touts it as the smallest four-seat vehicle available for sale in Canada, but taking four people in this car can resemble the circus act of stuffing clowns into a toy car.
Since then, there have been two more thorough reviews of this funky hatchback on Autos.ca, by Greg Wilson and Chris Chase. We have gone over, in depth, every aspect of this car and shared our thoughts and feelings on it. So why then, might you ask, is it back again? Haven't we covered this little guy enough? Well, this time we have a special version. We have the Scion iQ adorned with a Five Axis Design package that dresses up the exterior of the iQ while improving performance marginally. The kit includes FIVE:AD four-piece aero kit, FIVE:AD 18-inch alloy wheels, sport lowering springs, and Five Axis Edition badging.
2012 Scion iQ Five Axis Design. Click image to enlarge
These upgrades address two weaknesses found in the iQ: looks and handling. The whole package improves the car aesthetically compared to a stock iQ, which has an awkward look, especially with the 15-inch hubcap-sporting steel wheels. The iQ looks amazing in white with the 18-inch black rims installed. The body kit, which I usually hate attached to cars, looks very nice here, although it takes away a bit of the forward approach angle. Thankfully though, the car's front wheels are so close to the bumper that it can still handle driveways and speed bumps without issue.
The lowering springs drop the iQ 38 mm (1.4 in.) and do enough to make it look less top heavy while the wider 205 width tires look all business and fill the wheel wells in the square design nicely. In fact, dare I say, this car actually looks cool? If it were up to me though, I would remove the fake carbon fibre sticker stripes on the side of the vehicle.
The second issue this car addresses is handling. A stock iQ is not a poor handler really, but the skinny, economy bias tires do nothing to improve the cornering grip of the iQ. The 205/40R18 Yokohama S.Drive tires do wonders to make this little Scion stick to the road. In fact, combined with the lowering springs the iQ now feels stuck to the road. Exiting off-ramps at high speed becomes a test of your limits; not the car's. Some passengers wondered if the tires would out-grip the iQ's centre of gravity. A byproduct of this lower profile, wider footprint is a more direct steering response that borders on darty when driving down the highway.


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Submission + - Cloned Horses Given Okay For Olympics (singularityhub.com)
kkleiner writes: "Cloned horses are galloping their way toward the Olympic Games. The Fédération Equestre Internationale in Lausanne, Switzerland, announced their decision in June following a meeting in which up-to-date information on cloning was presented to the federation. Because the ruling is so recent, cloned horses do not number amongst the competition at the London Games. But we're sure to see them at future Olympic Games. The ruling also raises a broader question: how will cloning impact animals in other sports as well?"


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The Ottawa Senators' road to the postseason will be a bumpy one after they learned last week they will be without with reigning Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson for the remainder of the season with a torn Achilles tendon.
While the Sens won't be able to find someone who can replace everything that Karlsson brought to the table, there are a number of defensemen potentially available who the Sens can target as the trade deadline approaches and more teams begin to drop out of playoff contention.
Here is a look at three blue-liners who could be on the Sens' radar:
KEITH YANDLE - PHOENIX COYOTES (2-8-10 in 16 games this season)
It's not often one of the league's most dynamic offensive defensemen, who is just 26 and has plenty of upside, would be made available, but in Yandle's case there have been some rumblings that perhaps the Coyotes would look to shop the two-time NHL All-Star. Yandle's offensive ability isn't quite at Karlsson's level, but he would certainly help make up a lot of the offense that the Sens are now without from the back end.
A great puck-mover who eats up plenty of ice time, particularly on the man- advantage, he seems to have lost the top defenseman billing in the desert to up-and-comer Oliver Ekman-Larsson, which would explain perhaps why his name has been tossed around in potential trade talks.
Yandle is signed through the 2015-16 season with the Coyotes at an annual average salary of $5.25 million, but he does not have a no-trade clause. His name also has been linked lately to the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers.
JAY BOUWMEESTER - CALGARY FLAMES (3-4-7 in 14 games this season)
Bouwmeester is another blue-liner who has seen his name thrown around the rumor mill, although, unlike Yandle, it makes a bit more sense.
It's no secret Bouwmeester has not lived up to the expectations the Flames had for him when they acquired him from the Florida Panthers in 2009, and if Calgary ever finally opted to go down the rebuild path, then Bouwmeester is likely going to be among the first to be jettisoned.
Bouwmeester can sometimes be a liability in his own end and his offensive game isn't quite at the same level as before he joined Calgary, but he does log a ton of minutes and would be able to step right into a top-two role.
Bouwmeester has a no-movement clause and a cap hit of $6.68 million this season and next, but would probably cost the Senators fewer assets to acquire compared to the aforementioned Yandle.
LUBOMIR VISNOVSKY - NEW YORK ISLANDERS (0-4-4 in 6 games this season)
If the Senators are seeking a more temporary and financially viable option, then Visnovsky fits that bill.
The 36-year-old journeyman defenseman is only two years removed from a career season in which he notched 18 goals and 68 points with the Ducks and is still regarded as one of the league's most dependable offensive defensemen and can still log plenty of minutes as he's shown in the early part of this season.
Visnovsky carries a $5.6 million cap hit this season although his take-home salary is significantly less than that. He's also an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, so there are no long-term ramifications to worry about in case things don't pan out the way the Sens hope.
The asking price for Visnovsky should be relatively reasonable and could fall even more as the Islanders start to slip out of the playoff race.


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Did you read today's front page stories & breaking news?
From the Wires
Auctions and Rangemore Commence Production Planning of Live Interactive Auction Television Program
By: PR Newswire
Nov. 20, 2012 04:15 AM
MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA & WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, Nov. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ - Auctions International, Inc. ("Auctions") (OTCPINK: AUCI) is pleased to announce that Auctions and Rangemore Productions Corp. ("Rangemore") have commenced production planning of a live auction television show with real-time online bidding. The television program will be produced from Rangemore's Island Studios on the Isle of Man and will allow viewers to bid on displayed items live via the internet using Auction's real time bidding software. The show will initially be focused on high end luxury vehicles and then expand to include yachts, real estate, fine art and expensive collectibles. The series will start with one episode per week for 12 weeks and then expand as interest and demand grows. The program will be tailored to the high net worth consumer with the end goal being a live 24-hour interactive auction television program for luxury goods.
"This is a perfect marriage of what our two companies do best," stated Doug Mann, President & CEO of Auctions. "Viewers will be able to view luxury items on their television or tablet from the comfort of their own homes and bid on the items being displayed in real-time over the Internet. This adds a new and exciting dimension to traditional and online auctions and gives consumers the ability to purchase high-end goods that they normally wouldn't have access to. We are very excited about this project and the number of the markets we can service is potentially unlimited," continued Mr. Mann.
"Rangmore Productions Corporation is looking forward to creating new television shows at our studios or on location for broadcast incorporating Auctions established software for transmission in 2013." Stated Paul Mullins, President & CEO of Rangemore. "New program content will include auctions for exceptional and unusual items including property, boats, planes, artworks, and high value objects of interest to collectors." Continued Mr. Mullins.
About Auctions International, Inc.
On October 24, 2012, Auctions announced that it had entered into a binding Letter of Intent to merge with Rangemore Productions Corp.
Auctions is a Development Stage Company, as defined by Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 915, Development Stage Entities, and has not yet generated significant revenues from their intended business activities.
For more information on Auctions International, Inc. please call 250.317.8885 or email firstname.lastname@example.com
About Rangemore Productions Corp.
For more information on Rangemore Productions Corp. please visit www.rangemoreproductions.com or call 305.851.2469.
Forward-Looking Statements
SOURCE Smith Jones Capital Corp.
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May 2012
Downton Abbey by Darcy, Staff Blogger
Posted on 25-May-12 14:45
Downton Abbey is the new smash hit written by Academy Award winning actor Julian Fellowes. If you like historical drama, coupled with steamy soap opera elements, you'll love Downton Abbey....
Read More
Gotta Get A Job! by Talia, Teen Blogger
Posted on 22-May-12 09:13
It's the time of year when everyone's starting to get excited about school ending and summer is just around the corner! Do your summer plans this year involve getting a job? Here's how...
Read More
Like Food? Curious about the Culinary Arts? by Eric, Staff Blogger
Posted on 01-May-12 12:19
There are plenty of reasons to learn to cook if you have a passion for deliciousness...or you're fed gross food by well-meaning providers, or ...
Read More


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Paul Lambert insists £7million man Christian Benteke is happy at Aston Villa after dismissing reports that claimed the striker dreams of playing for Arsenal.
The Belgium international has made a massive impact at Villa Park since his summer move from Genk, and has replaced Darren Bent as the team's first-choice forward.
The 21-year-old was quoted in some newspapers as saying he thought Villa "were a London club" when he signed and that he "loves Arsenal", but Lambert is adamant Benteke is settled in the midlands. "Christian has been excellent," the Villa manager said. "He's been a real handful against most of the teams he's faced."
He added: "He's not just doing it for us, he's been doing it for Belgium. People forget he's only 21 and isn't the finished article by any stretch of the imagination.
"But he is going to be one hell of a player, that's for sure, and I think he's worth every penny at the minute."
Regarding Benteke's recent comments, Lambert said: "I think it's been a bit naughty and misconstrued of what he said and been reported in Belgium.
"I know what it is like when that happens so I'll take it lightly. He is a big guy and doesn't say two words.
"In any case, if you ask any young footballer they will have a team and players they have followed.
"Listen, I'll reassure the fans that the big guy is more than happy.
"He is playing really well. If he wasn't happy, he wouldn't be playing the way he is."
Source: PA


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TUSCON, Ariz. – East Carolina junior Drew Reynolds added another piece of hardware to his trophy case when he was named Louisville Slugger Second-Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball, the publication announced Thursday.
The utility player, who earned First-Team All-Conference USA and All-Tournament Team honors last week, Reynolds led the Pirates with a .322 average and 68 hits, while ranking second with 13 doubles and fourth with 30 runs scored.
On the mound the Cherryville, N.C. native posted a 3-2 record with a 2.92 ERA and recorded a league and team-best 14 saves, which also ranks 13th nationally.
In three seasons with the Pirates, Reynolds owns a .313 average (147-for-470) with three home runs, 47 RBI, 21 doubles and 65 RBI. After posting a career-best 14 saves in 2013, he moved into sole possession of second place on the school's all-time saves list and is three away from breaking Seth Simmons (2008-11) record, which stands at 26.
He is a two-time C-USA Player-of-the-Week selection taking home hitting honors on Mar. 13, 2012 and pitching honors on Apr. 15, 2013. In the classroom, Reynolds is a two-time C-USA All-Academic selection and three-time C-USA Honor Roll member.
Reynolds becomes the sixth All-America selection under head coach Billy Godwin and the first since Kyle Roller and Ryan Wood in 2009.


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CHICAGO – This week's unseasonably warm weather may be perfect for Thanksgiving Day football games, but it's a little too warm for Chicago's outdoor ice skating rinks.
The Chicago Park District said Tuesday that four of its seven outdoor skating rinks will open late this year.
Rinks at McKinley Park, Midway Plaisance Park and Warren Park will open Friday.


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Published: 2013/06/21
by John Patrick Gatta
Astrograss: Not For Kids Only
My introduction to Astrograss came about in 2008 when I reviewed the band's debut kids album, Let Me Stay Up All Night.
Founded by songwriter, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Jordan Shapiro, the group's roots arrangements made the songs as palatable for adults as they were focused for young children.
With Sarah Alden (vocals and fiddle) joining and Jonah Bruno (banjo) having a more featured role the music moved into a bluegrass direction, which suits Shapiro just fine. Previously, the Astrograss moniker was used for his "adult" jamgrass outfit.
"We've been performing for four years solid, almost fulltime, same band, really getting tight," said Shapiro. "So, it was very important to make a document of what we've been doing and, hopefully, it will help us out professionally."
That album, The Colored Pencil Factory, finds Astrograss continuing what it started five years ago, making songs such as the title track, "Make It Up" and "Hey Blue Dog" that have catchy melodies as well as capture the imagination of the child inside of everyone.
The final track, "Music Makes Me Feel," is the result of the band encouraging kids to write and submit original poetry. The words are then used as lyrics and combined with Shapiro's music.
When in session, the members play shows in schools. During the summertime, Astrograss moves outside. "Usually, we have a full calendar of park dates, New York area like Madison Square Park, all the different parks in Brooklyn, the other parks in the city, Inwood down on Tribeca, sometimes out in the Island. We keep busy."
In Shapiro's case he doesn't stop at bringing hook-filled songs to kids (and their parents). He's also working on several other projects including Choban Elektrik, which plays psychedelic jazz fusion versions of Balkan folk tunes, a seven-piece ensemble that performs old sea shanties and maritime folk music with a brass quartet and a traditional zydeco band.
Explain the concept of Astrograss because it's kids music but not exclusively kids music.
It started out as an adult band. We started out playing original progressive bluegrass, newgrass, 10 years ago, like 2003, 2004. I've always been a big fan of that style of acoustic music, progressive bluegrass and newgrass and I wanted to have my own band and I wrote some intricate compositions. Then, throughout the years, due to the necessity of finding work that would keep the band going…basically, the need to get paying work we would start doing other types of gigs such as private events, weddings, private parties and different stuff where we got out of that whole progressive bluegrass realm and started doing traditional music, traditional bluegrass and old-time [music].
Then, my writing partner, Joe Grossman, we wrote songs together for the original Astrograss record, the more progressive stuff. Then, we started to write some kids songs because at the time I was substitute teaching at a public school in Brooklyn. This is now 2005, 2006. I just got into this community here as a teacher. People knew me as a musician and I had a band. As a teacher, I became known as someone who would bring a guitar in. So, I just figured that, 'Well, I could bring my bluegrass band here. Astrograss could do some kids shows.' It wasn't that popular back then. Now, it's just blowing up. There's so much kids music available and New York is like the capital of it all.
Back then, there was more of a need. People didn't have 10 options on a weekend to go see a kids band. So, we started doing a couple kids shows in the cafés in the area. We were adapting Shel Silverstein poems and turning them into songs. From there it just took off. We started doing more kids shows. We kept on doing all the bluegrass stuff on the side. It has definitely turned towards more of a kids band doing kids shows or doing party gigs and doing traditional bluegrass or covers at weddings. So, we morphed into a different kind of band then when we started but that's the evolution of the band.
You probably have heard this before but why not just change the name of the band so that the kids band has one name and the adult band has another name? They Might Be Giants get away with it but they were already established…
I don't know. I just always thought that it was a good name for kids. It just seemed like a fun name. I don't know if we were really established but I just figured keep the name for both. I never thought about changing it. I always figured that we've got a website out, we have the CDs out. Made sense to just keep the name.
Now, do you still do any adult shows as Astrograss?
Yeah. A lot of time we do shows — not a kids show — it might be a public park appearance at a town, just family or community event. Sometimes, out of necessity, I need to have a bar gig so I can tell a potential wedding client, 'Come see us play.' That would give 'em an idea of how we sound. So, here and there we'll do a bar gig. Everyone in the band is super-busy, especially at night, so it's hard to make it worthwhile to do a bar gig. In the spring to fall — May to October – we're so busy with kids shows, weddings, parties…we just don't have the energy or time to play the bars. It's not too often that we do the bars anymore.
I wondered if you still kept that going, allow yourself once a month to stretch out in ways that you can't when you're playing the kids music.
We haven't done much of that. We do a lot of different stuff. Sometimes, we'll do a lot of educational stuff with the school systems. During the summer the private stuff keeps us really busy. We all have different projects. I've got a couple other projects that keep me busy, especially during the winter and when it's a slow time for Astrograss, I've always got plenty of gigs with other stuff. So, it seems like it's not dying to go out at a bar for no money, for three hours playing acoustic guitar.
You were a substitute teacher. Do you still do that?
No, I stopped doing that five or six years ago. I had done it for four or five years. That's how I got into kids music. It was just a way to connect with these kids as a substitute teacher. Bring in a guitar and suddenly school became a lot more fun because the teacher had a guitar for the day. Incentive. "You be quiet, we'll have some music time." It was a pretty rough schedule. Those days we were playing more in the bars and the clubs at night. So, I was out 'til two in the morning and then have to get called in at 6:30 or 7 in the morning and then teaching all day. So, I transitioned from doing that into being a private piano teacher. I've been teaching private piano lessons in addition to a couple other programs I work with. I do an after-school class here and there and I've begun teaching a bluegrass ensemble class at Columbia [University]. I took that over from a friend of mine who started that. He started that up as a grad student and now I've been doing that for two years.
The other members of Astrograss, are they grade school teachers or do they give private music lessons as well?
A little bit of everything. The bass player and the fiddler, they're similar to me, a combination of performing and teaching music. Both of them have a teaching artist position at an elementary school where they work in a public school four or five days a week as a music teacher. Then, the banjo player is finishing law school. He's worked for the Brooklyn DA's Office for seven or eight years now. He'll be, probably, continuing to work with them. He's always been working throughout the years that he's been going to law school.
A couple of the other people that play with us, depending on the gig are, like myself, a combination of performing and teaching lessons here and there.
I don't know every single kids album that's out there but I don't recall any bluegrass artists or that many bluegrass artists tackling kids music. When you were thinking about doing this, did it come about naturally or did you think about it and say, "We're filling a niche"?
A little bit of both. It was like, "I have this band. We're a bluegrass band. It's something that's easy for the kids to get into…"
Sometimes we're doing shows outside, so, you don't need a real venue with a back line. You can perform in a cafe. It's easier, and parents are open to the idea more so than, "We're a typical band. We're playing good songs." It's, "Oh, it's a bluegrass band." And probably to these parents it was a little different.
At that time there were some other bands that were playing kid shows with drums and electric guitars and electric bass. So, it was a little different. Dan Zanes has always been, probably, the biggest name in the whole kids music world and he definitely comes from that folk tradition and trying to preserve it and make sure that it's passed on to kids.
We actually got our start in a way through Dan. He was living right around the corner from where we used to play all the time. We had a restaurant/bar gig for a couple years. It was right around the corner from him and around the corner from where the school I taught. So, we got to know him. Around that time, we also started the kids shows and he was real excited for us. He was already very established by that point as a kids performer. He actually told us about the possibility to submit some recordings to Smithsonian Folkways. They were looking for some kids acts. It didn't end up turning out. We submitted the Shel Silverstein material. They didn't want to go there with a copyright. But Dan was generous enough to let us record at his house. We backed him up a couple times at concerts, and then we recorded a song with him. He released it on a compilation that was a benefit CD for Bright Horizons ("Bright Spaces 2").
So, we got a glimpse into what he was doing. It was really great the way he presented these old folk songs and urged families to create music together and to play music around the table, acoustic music. You can make a family band sitting on the sidewalk, sitting on the stoop and play instruments with your family or at the kitchen table and sing these old songs.
That was real inspiring to get that from Dan and to see, also, the great response he got from all across the country. He's really turning into something big. It seemed like, "Oh, this is possible. We can do bluegrass in a kids band." Dan wasn't bluegrass so it made me think, "We are the only bluegrass band that I know of doing this." There might been one…they might have won a Grammy this past year, the Okee Dokee Brothers. They might have won the Grammy for Best Kids record just this year. I don't know if they're totally bluegrass. I think they're in that country, folk, bluegrass world.


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Can you measure shareholder relief? Yes.
News late Tuesday that Chesapeake Energy Corp. CEO Aubrey McClendon is riding off into the sunset triggered nearly a 12% rally by shares early Wednesday. In terms of market cap, that's $1.4 billion worth of relief.
McClendon, co-founder and boss of the nation's second-biggest natural-gas company, has been up against angry shareholders for a couple of years. His freewheeling style, use of the company as a personal piggy bank and, in the end, Chesapeake's dismal share price performance caught up with him, prompting a boardroom coup – led by Carl Icahn — that stripped him of his chairman's title.
McClendon's fall was accelerated by U.S. natural gas prices' plunge last year to a 10-year low, shredding the asset value of production acreage he'd amassed over the years. It also exposed how over-leveraged and under-funded the company had become during his tenure.
But analysts point out McClendon's April 1 retirement doesn't solve these fundamental problems.
This is again stoking speculation Chesapeake might be for sale.
Stifel analyst Amir Arif was among those, citing "expectations that the announcement … could lead to the whole company being put into play or at least, and more likely, a more aggressive shrinking of the asset base, relative to expectations."
What would it cost to buy Chesapeake? According to Global Hunter Securities, about $30 a share.
Chesapeake Chairman Archie Dunham, however, has told employees the company is not for sale. Here's his blueprint:
\"Going forward, the company will strive to continue as a low cost producer of oil and gas while further enhancing and strengthening its balance sheet. Capital allocation and operating decisions will be made with the goal of prudently growing the company\'s intrinsic value per share for the long-term benefit of its shareholders."
No one thinks this will be easy.
Tudor Pickering Holt energy analysts offered the following take on it: "Questions remain for us what Chesapeake can do in 2013, 2014 and beyond to meet funding gaps. Perhaps one of the cleaner ways to eliminate this overhang is to pursue a transformational divestment as selling production by itself is not accretive to multiples (the loss of cash flow generation offsets improved balance sheet). Therefore, the company needs to sell a large, desirable position of undeveloped acreage in order to right-size the balance sheet."
One such "transformational" divestment would involve selling its stake in the giant Marcellus gas field, which they figure could fetch up to $8 billion. But even that might not be enough to avoid $9 billion in new debt piling up on the balance sheet by year-end 2015.
Tim Rezvan at Sterne Agee figures Chesapeake needs to sell at least $4 billion in assets over the next two years to fund spending needs.
"We are cutting production, earnings and cash flow estimates in \'13/\'14 to reflect a more muted spending outlook. We repeatedly stated that current \'13/\'14 guidance is irrelevant because it was never formally blessed by the Board. The imminent departure of CEO McClendon proves that major strategy changes are likely, and we envision a reduced spending environment that is less reliant on asset sales."
Despite several ratings upgrades Thursday by others, Rezvan remains a skeptic. He's leaving his neutral rating on the company unchanged.
– Jim Jelter
Follow TheTell on Twitter @TheTellBlog


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Four Loveland businesses that have collaborated in the past are now teaming up to rent an office downtown.
The four have divided up 1,200 square feet inside 239 E. Fourth St. and will open their individual offices Friday, Dec. 14, in time for Night on the Town.
E.L. Events, formerly Engaging Loveland; Fred's Used Websites; Fyn Public Relations; and Perfect Square graphic design company have been reconfiguring the 1886 storefront that for most of its life was a jewelry store.
The large clock on the sidewalk outside the building once advertised the business inside.
Most recently, the space was used by Loveland-based Western Heritage Co. for custom embroidery work. Western Heritage, which still owns the building, retains a small space in the back.
"It's a big move for all of us because we've all been growing, and it's come at a perfect time," said Nicole Yost, president of Fyn Public Relations.
Some of the companies have worked on projects together, and some have worked for each other. For example, for nonprofit events promoter Engaging Loveland's new identity as E.L. Events, Perfect Square designed the logo, Fred's created the website and Fyn handled the press release.
The business owners said they will retain their separate identities but are excited to have the opportunity to collaborate. "It was a no-brainer to office together," said Maryjo Morgan, co-owner of Fred's Used Websites.
Perfect Square owner John Metcalf designed the remodel of the historic building, being careful to preserve the pressed-tin ceiling, wood floors and vintage hanging light fixtures.
On the main floor, he created walls for Fyn PR and Perfect Square with modernistic translucent polycarbonate panels to create some privacy but allow light to pass through.
In the back of the building, Fred's Used Websites co-owner Fred Richart has a workstation with no walls. His wife and business partner, Morgan, shares the open loft with Kristine Koschke, executive director of E.L. Events.
There's also open space on the main floor for the companies' other staff members and interns, a small kitchen area, a bathroom and a little conference room.
Koschke said she plans to provide local information for people who walk in. "It will give a space in downtown where people can get information about what to do in Loveland," she said.
"It is so exciting to be in this space," Morgan said, "especially because I've admired it for years."
For more information, call E.L. Events, 980-4764; Fred's Used Websites, 663-4184; Fyn Public Relations, 682-2420; or Perfect Square, 290-7061.
Craig Young can be reached at 635-3634 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him on Twitter: @CraigYoungRH.


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It's been a brutal season in terms of injuries for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and it got a little worse Tuesday as wing Ryan Shannon was sidelined for the last 10 games after surgery to repair his right shoulder.
No other information was immediately available.
Shannon left Saturday's loss to the Blues in the second period, though it is believed he aggravated a injury with which he already was dealing when he missed three games in February. He missed 15 games in December and January with a knee injury.
Shannon had four goals, 12 points and was minus-11 in 45 games this season.
In other news, goaltender Sebastien Caron, who on Monday signed a prorated one-year deal, cleared waivers. He will be Dwayne Roloson's backup Thursday against the Oilers.
As expected, Dustin Tokarski was reassigned to AHL Norfolk. He was 1-3-1 in five games with a 3.44 goals-against average and .879 save percentage.


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Bulls get mad in loss to Heat in round 2, Game 2
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Bulls get mad in loss to Heat in round 2, Game 2
The Chicago Bulls, who thrive on literally knocking their opponents off their game, fell on the same sword in a monumental playoff loss Wednesday night.
Not only was the 37-point margin of defeat to the Miami Heat the largest the Bulls have ever suffered, they were assessed six technical fouls and had two players ejected.
After the 115-78 drubbing, the Bulls let it be known that they were frustrated by their own play, their inability to stop the Heat and also with calls that werent going their way.
Youre competitors, youre going to go out there and do everything you can. If you feel like youre getting cheated, youre going to say something about it, Carlos Boozer said.
All the frustration boiled over early in the fourth quarter as the Heat rout turned into a runaway. After Marquis Teague was called for a foul on a Ray Allen layup, Bulls center Joakim Noah said something to official Scott Foster. He was immediately hit with his second technical foul of the game and ejected.
-- South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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You can follow my adventure over in my blog Itsy Bitsy Balabusta. When life gets messy, the best way to step back and regroup is by creating a messy kitchen! There's nothing like mixing bowls and measuring cups strewn about & the smell of warm Challah or cupcakes baking! I cook & bake to preserve the memory of & celebrate the incredible Balebustas in my family! Next to them, I'm still an itsy bitsy balebusta, learning what it takes to make a home & how to take the batches life gives us with a grain of salt (& lots of chocolate too!).
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Pioneer DEH-33HD pinouts
The connector/pinout information provided here is applicable to the following device:
Manufacturer: Pioneer
Device name: DEH-33HD
There is one pinout found for Pioneer DEH-33HD.The pinout (pin-out) is a cross-reference between the contacts (pins) of an electrical connector and their functions. The link to apprpiate pinout shown as a table or diagram are listed below.
- Pioneer DEH-1300MP pinout CDP1269 (16 pin connector), for Pioneer car stereo produced from 2010 onwards


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Writer Rick Edgerton talks #MHFBeanie Round, the harrowing statistics behind Brain Cancer - and what...
37 hours ago
My Mountain of Rankings – Round 14
by Patrick Zammit
After two weeks without a full slate of games we're blessed with eight brutal contests this week. Even though my lifeless body has succumbed to the dreaded man flu, I will soldier on to deliver these completely top-notch non-bias rankings to the best of my ability. Let's hope that the blokes who completely blew their load last week can get back on the straight and narrow.
#1 – The King of the Hill - Melbourne Storm
It seems the Storm are back to their old selves after they completely annihilated the Sharks this past weekend. There were no sign of any post-Origin tiredness or sleepy-headedness so they were just able to do what they do. Which is generally blow the other team off the part with little-to-no sense of remorse. This is no shot at the Sharks, but the Storm are just too damn good for them, they are too good for most teams actually.
Expectations for Round 14: All the Storm have to do is continue from where they left off last week and they'll be able to run up a score on the average Knights. Seriously, can you imagine how bad the Knights would be if they weren't coached by Wayne Bennett? But anyway, I expect Storm will carry on and beat the Knights.
#2 - South Sydney Rabbitohs
The news coming from the Souths camp was pretty dull throughout their bye week so I don't really know what to expect from them this weekend. I'm sure I can trust that they'll be well drilled from all that rest they've been doing so I expect nothing but big things from the Redfern Rascals this weekend. They did pretty damn well without their stars two weeks ago, imagine what they'll be like with a week's rest?
Expectations for Round 14: Now that they've had their week off to get reacquainted with each other and all of that male-bonding goodness it's time to get back to business for Souths who hopefully haven't wasted a minute of the extra time they had to prepare, because they're going to need every little bit of skill to topple the Titans this week.
#3 – Sydney Roosters
The Roosters probably played one of their more disappointing games of their 2013 campaign this past weekend, but still managed to count for a spirited Eels side while only breaking into a slight sweat. I'm not sure if they've peaked too early but they are certainly making things difficult for themselves with a lot of amateur errors still remaining in their game. They really need Moa and JWH back in their line-up. As good as Kennedy and O'Donnell are it's hard for their halves to get anything going at the moment.
Expectations for Round 14: It feels like every game between these two sides is an absolute cracker, with the Warriors in what seems like scintillating form this should follow the same script. The Roosters have been up and down of late so they could get beaten by the Warriors, or they could send them back to reality with a beat down of their own. I'm expecting option 2.
#4 – Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles
The Sea Eagles bit off a bit more than they could chew when it came to taking on the Warriors over the weekend. The game was messy at times but despite their many shortcomings the Warriors managed to hold out the Sea Eagles and do their thing which was pretty damn cool. Like i've said previous weeks, the Sea Eagles are one of the better teams in the comp; they just fall asleep sometimes and fail to do what is required to put teams away.
Expectations for Round 14: This game is one I am definitely looking forward to. The Doggies are in some pretty encouraging form, and the Sea Eagles are, well, the Sea Eagles. The winner will depend on which Sea Eagles team turns up, although I wouldn't be surprised if this ended in a draw.
#5 – Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs
These guys did a pretty handy job on the Cowboys and managed to lift themselves up the Rankings to the number five spot. They're still not at their best and they tend to snooze in defence here and there, but they've been playing well and they've got one hell of a formidable line-up. The thing about the Doggies is, that I feel like it's their unknown players who are stepping up and showing their stuff rather than the guys who are on the big dollars.
Expectations for Round 14: Manly are going to be a tough ask for the Doggies, although much like the Sea Eagles, the Doggies are prone to lapses in concentration and stupid errors. It's hard to pick a winner and the game could really go either way. But the Doggies can definitely get it done if they can contain the Eagles attack.
#6 – Gold Coast Titans
Much like Souths, the Titans are coming off a pretty relaxing week off which is usually a good thing. However, much like Penrith, the Titans were on a bit of a roll heading into the bye, so it may or may not have put them off their game slightly. It's hard to say how they'll perform but I'm thinking that the Titans may struggle to find their groove again after this week off. For what it's worth, I'm hopeful that they will put in a good performance.
Expectations for Round 14: I expect that the Titans will be a little flat this week, half of it's because of their week off, the other half because they're taking on the freaking Rabbitohs who seem to be a pretty damn professional club at the moment. I hope it's a close game but I'm expecting a comfortable win to Souths.
#7 – Penrith Panthers
What a disappointing effort by the Panthers, absolutely horrendous. How do you lose to the bloody Tigers? As rubbish as their performance was, at least it confirms what the entire world knows regarding byes. They're great when you're playing rubbish or consistent footy. But when you're riding a high of good performances then it is one hell of a way to stop your momentum. Hopefully the boys from the foot of the mountain can get back on track.
Expectations for Round 14: Had the Panthers not been embarrassed by the Tigers last weekend i'd think they'd be a shoe in to upset the Raiders who are in a sneaky bit of form. But alas they played like their boots were filled with sand and for that I'm expecting they'll get the same treatment from Canberra that they got last week.
#8 – New Zealand Warriors
How about them Warriors? Knocking the big boy Sea Eagles of their high perch is a task which many a team has failed to execute. Much like the Tigers, these guys are playing with an unbelievable passion which is pretty inspiring to watch. Their attack is able to score points when it matters (kind of) and their defence steps up and allows them to hold out the opponent for a win. At the start of the season there is no way in the world that the Warriors would have won that game.
Expectations for Round 14: With the Warriors in form and winning games, it's hard to know for sure how this game will play out. But the Roosters have been pretty sweet at home this season (mostly) and after witnessing firsthand what the Warriors are capable of I doubt they'll take them lightly. I expect a Roosters win but beware the Warriors.
#9 – Canberra Raiders
These guys were pretty damn impressive last weekend which gives me hope that they may be starting another impressive run of form which leads to them taking out a bunch of the teams in their way over the next few weeks. Being without dynamic winger Edrick Lee is going to harsh their vibe a little bit but I'm confident they can get past it and keep their awesome winning streak alive at least until their next bye week.
Expectations for Round 14: Despite the loss of town favourite Edrick Lee, I think the Raiders have got what it takes to overpower the Panthers and grab the two points. Of course the fact that they're playing in Canberra is a massive bonus. The Panthers definitely have a shot at winning, provided they completely forget about last week's performance.
#10 – Cronulla Sutherland Sharks
I'm assuming the Sharks medical services went into overdrive last weekend as they applied ice packs and lotion to many of the body parts of the players who got absolutely spanked by the Storm. These guys were not good at all, and even that might be a little bit of an understatement. They were pretty bloody woeful. I really hope they bounce back next week because I don't know if I could handle seeing them under-go another violent defeat next week.
Expectations for Round 14: This is certainly a danger game for the Sharkies. Parra were half decent last week against the Chooks so if the boys from the Shire don't watch out they may find themselves run-over by the Hayne-less train that is the Eels. I hope they can fix themselves though
#11 – Newcastle Knights
This side is so bloody frustrating to watch it makes me sick. They play a decent first forty and just decide to slacken off in the second half and let the opposition back into the game. This is not what a Wayne Bennett coached football team looks like. Aside from the Knights complete collapse the other talking point from the match was Josh Dugan's ability to win the Dragons football games by himself. The Knights are not amused.
Expectations for Round 14: If the Storm and Knights both play like they did last week then the Storm will probably take it by 50 points or so. However i've never known a Wayne Bennett coached side to be so shitty so often, so I'm going to assume that the Knights have something up their sleeve and are going to have a go.
#12 – St George Illawarra Dragons
Having a player who can actually score points must be a foreign concept to all you Dragons fans. I know he only managed a feeble effort of two tries last week, but for a player wearing the Red and White that's one hell of an effort. While it remains to be seen if keeping Newy to a low score is actually an achievement. I think the Dragons deserve a bit of credit for keeping opposing attacking plays in check, at least for one week.
Expectations for Round 14: If this game doesn't scream out "As boring as a dentists waiting room" then I don't know what does. If Josh Dugan and JT weren't playing, the attendees would probably have a more exciting time watching customers order at the food truck. Get your pillows ready folks, this one will be a snoozer.
#13 – Brisbane Broncos
Wow this team is supremely average. I said last week that Anthony Griffin might have to have a sneaky look over his shoulder to make sure that the Broncos management isn't lurking in the shadows, and it's not unreasonable to think that because of their efforts last week his time may be nearing an end. If the Broncos players want him to stay they'll have to gear up and start putting in quality performances.
Expectations for Round 14: The Broncos have been pretty damn average of late, they'll need to find a way to get back on top of their game if they are to have any chance of beating a Tigers side who is sick and tired of being thrashed week in and week out. Also, the Broncos kind of need to win to save their coach. No biggie.
#14 – Wests Tigers
Man these guys have been impressive. They aren't playing lights out footy or anything like that, but they're showing sheer guts and determination to grind out hectic nail biting wins and it's truly showing. I thought it was impossible for them to play a decent game of footy without Farah in the line-up and they proved me wrong with that as well. Whether they can keep up this run of wins is another issue however.
Expectations for Round 14: The Tigers have been encouraging of late, but a trip up north will be a pretty hard test for them. They'll need to be at the top of their game to overcome a Broncos side who has been down on their luck for what seems an eternity. Benji Marshall, it's time to stand up and be counted.
#15 – North Queensland Cowboys
The Cowboys actually surprised me last week, to their credit they actually gave the Doggies a bit of a scare which is a good sign of things to come. However as usual their defence did their usual swiss cheese impression and allowed the opponent to rack up points when they shouldn't have. Because of this, it was nigh on impossible for them to pull out a win under such circumstances. Hopefully JT is back this week and delivers the spark the Cowboys fans have been craving.
Expectations for Round 14: Pretty much dead on with the Dragons expectations. It will be a boring game unless JT can find his mojo and light up the Dragons. I kind of hope he does because there is nothing funnier than the Dragons getting smashed down in Wollongong.
#16 – Parramatta Eels
The Eels tried their heart out against a complacent Roosters side and nearly made them pay. But then Mini remembered how to run and 60 metres later he was popping the ball down over the try line. I think a lot of the Parra players needed Ricky's wake up call to realise how much they loved playing football because they certainly dug in there. It's a pity Hayne didn't get to see out the game, as he could have lead the Eels to victory with his skills. The Eels will miss him in the weeks to come.
Expectations for Round 14: After last week's heroic effort against the boys from Bondi. The Eels will be heading into this week's clash with a bucket load of confidence. However facing a Sharks side hungry for redemption is never easy so I expect it will be a close clash. I expect the Sharks will take it by a whisker.


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'The Voice' Recap: Knockout Rounds, Part 1
Monday, October 29, 2012
John Kubicek
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
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Things are moving fast and furious this week on
The Voice
, like the weather on the East Coast. In four hours over two days, the field of singers will be cut in half from 40 down to 20 thanks to the new Knockout Rounds.
Each coach on
The Voice
pits two singers against each other, then picks one as the winner to move on. By the end, only five singers will remain on each team heading into the live performance shows where America gets to vote.
It might sound insensitive, but my fingers are crossed that someone decides to sing "Rock You Like a Hurricane" by the Scorpions.
So let's get ready to rumble on
The Voice
'The Voice' Knockout Round #1 Performance Rankings
It's Team Adam and Team Cee Lo tonight, which means we'll get Xtina and Blake Tuesday night.
Here are my pre-show predictions on which five singers will make it from each team
Joselyn Rivera vs. Kayla Nevarez
It's a battle of young pop stars, including one Adam Levine stole from Christina Aguilera (Joselyn). Will the stolen artist have an edge or not?
Joselyn Rivera ("Love on Top by Beyonce)
: It's good, for the most part, but with a few problems here and there. It's not all that fun, though. I think the song is too big for her.
Kayla Nevarez ("Shark in the Water" by V V Brown)
: She does a great job with the vocals and with conveying exactly what Adam is looking for, a cool young pop star. This one's a no-brainer for me.
Blake thinks Joselyn took more chances and risks, which she did, but not all of them paid off. The other coaches all agree that Joselyn was the winner.
The Winner Is...JOSELYN RIVERA!
It turns out song choice is all that matters and Joselyn won because she was more ambitious. I still think Kayla was better.
Joe Kirkland vs. Bryan Keith
Poor Joe, I feel like he's being sent to the slaughter. Adam claims he only wants one unique pop singer.
Joe Kirkland ("Mean" by Taylor Swift)
: As someone who saw Puck sing this on
, I'm not as shocked by the song choice as Adam is. The problem is he tries to morph it into a punk rock song, and the result is so weird and kind of awkward. Part of me really likes it, but it's the same part of me that can't stop watching
Bryan Keith ("(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams)
: Ugh, what an unfortunate song choice. The fact that there's only about a three second window between Joe's wild man song and this slowl, heartfelt one is mind-blowing. Literally, my brain can't adjust that quickly. But Bryan does exactly what this overly melodramatic song needs to make it work.
The coaches find it even, with Bryan as a great singer and Joe with great charisma (and beautiful eyes, according to Xtina).
The Winner Is...BRYAN KEITH!
OK, the fix is in. Adam Levine even admitted Joe was great and Bryan wasn't that good between these two performances. So obviously Adam chose the winner before hearing it and the performances didn't matter at all to him. He would've chosen Bryan over Joe no matter what happened.
Amanda Brown vs. Michelle Brooks-Thompson
Amanda was stolen and shined in the battle. She's definitely Adam's favorite going in, so the songs don't matter.
Amanda Brown ("Paris (Ooh La La)" by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals)
: Wow, she manages to impress me more and more with every performance. She rocks, she's sexy and she kills it. How did she slip through the cracks in the blind auditions?
Michelle Brooks-Thompson ("Spotlight" by Jennifer Hudson)
: She does the expected big, diva, gospel thing on this song. There's no denying she's an AMAZING singer, but she doesn't have that extra spark that Amanda has.
The other coaches all seem to think Michelle won. I think they're trying to sandbag Adam's team, because they know Amanda Brown is a bigger star.
The Winner Is...AMANDA BROWN!
Yup, the performances and the other coaches' comments are meaningless. Adam is just going with whoever he chose to pick before the knockout battle began. Although it makes me happy this time, because I think he actually made the right call.
Loren Allred vs. Nicole Nelson
Nicole is obviously Adam's favorite and she's gonna win. This is all a formality. He even admits Nicole knows who she is as an artist and Loren doesn't.
Loren Allred ("You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse)
: Vocally she's fine, but she smiles too much and acts too bright and cheery for the darker, more haunted Winehouse. It's just an incongruous song choice for who she is.
Nicole Nelson ("If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys)
: Like her "Hallelujah" blind audition, this feels way too easy for her, like shooting a lay-up. Yeah, she does a great job, but I'm not sure I buy her as a current artist.
Blake thinks Loren just had her "a star is born" moment. Wow, I'm not watching the same show. The other coaches agree she was a revelation.
The Winner Is...LOREN ALLRED!
Wow, that was a surprise, mostly because it shows Adam Levine is actually willing to change his original plan. Adam even admits he was going to pick Nicole before the singing began. I may need to rewatch Loren's performance several times, because I didn't see what the coaches saw.
Melanie Martinez vs. Sam James
Will Adam really go with four women and only one guy into the live shows?
Melanie Martinez ("Bulletproof" by La Roux)
: Ugh, the stupid hair bow is back. She actually starts to sing the song instead of using that annoying raspy baby voice all the time. But it doesn't make it any better for me. Sorry, but I'm NEVER gonna like her.
Sam James ("Walking in Memphis" by Marc Cohn)
: This is a solid singing competition song, though Sam has issues pronouncing "Memphis." I get Adam's point, because the singing is good, but I don't think his phrasing is very good/
Personally, I don't think either of them really deserves to go to the live shows over Kayla, Joe, Michelle or Nicole. The coaches are pretty split.
The Winner Is...MELANIE MARTINEZ
Yikes, I have to listen to her voice yet again. I guess Adam is banking on a woman finally winning since he has four in the live shows.
I only got three of Adam's Top 5 correct. I wrongly predicted Kayla and Joe would make it over Joselyn and Loren. In all fairness, I bet not even Loren's parents thought she'd make it.
Avery Wilson vs. Cody Belew
Goodbye, Cody.
Avery Wilson ("Yeah 3x" by Chris Brown)
: Two David Guetta songs, now Chris Brown, Avery knows EXACTLY who he is as an artist. I may be biased in favor of him, but I can admit the vocals aren't that strong. But his sweet dance moves more than make up for it.
Cody Belew ("Jolene" by Dolly Parton)
: I love this song, but it doesn't matter. He does a very weird thing with it and I don't think it's all that great. Though I finally realized he looks like a hot, young Jeremy Davies.
The coaches seem to agree Cody was great and Avery was off.
The Winner Is...CODY BELEW!
WTF?!?!? I picked Avery to win the whole damn thing! I guess screwing up once really does matter. Cee Lo Green made the right choice based on these individual performances, but he made the wrong choice moving forward. I still think Avery had a better chance to actually win than Cody, but he got eliminated because, for about a minute and a half, he was off.
Mackenzie Bourg vs. Daniel Rosa
Go, Mackenzie! Though now I'm terrified my favorites are marked for death.
Mackenzie Bourg ("Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen)
: Weird. And cool. I'm in love. Totally in love. This dude is just plain awesome and I loved it.
Daniel Rosa ("Back to December" by Taylor Swift)
: So two guys singing girl songs, and the second dude to take on T. Swift tonight. Funny, because
is having country music week with Taylor Swift as well. I actually think this is the best he's ever sounded, but I still prefer Mackenzie.
Adam prefers Daniel's magic while Blake and Xtina like Mackenzie's artistry.
The Winner Is...MACKENZIE BOURG!
YAY! Bourg, Bourg, Bourg! Resistance is futile, you will all be assimilated!
Terisa Griffin vs. Trevin Hunte
Oh hells no. They're both amazing and this is just a foolish pairing because both should go to the live shows.
Terisa Griffin ("Saving All My Love for You" by Whitney Houston)
: This is a tall order and she slays it. There's nothing bad to say at all.
Trevin Hunte ("Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" by Phil Collins)
: It's tender, emotional, beautiful and amazing. These are two of the best performances of the entire night so far, and one of them has to go home. Seriously, how is Cody Belew going to the live shows and one of these singers isn't?
Everyone thinks this is a hard call, but Xtina speaks volumes when she says she wishes she could co-coach Trevin because he's that good.
The Winner Is...TREVIN HUNTE!
Without Avery Wilson, Trevin Hunte is my new pick to win
The Voice
season 3. He's so emotional and he and Terisa had a great relationship, which will only make fans vote for him even more.
Mycle Wastman vs. Nicholas David
I don't think either of these guys belongs in the live shows.
Mycle Wastman ("Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" by Elton John)
This feels like a predictable and uninspired song choice. It's pretty good, but his hat makes me think of Andre from
The League
, which makes me not like him at all.
Nicholas David ("Put Your Records On" by Corinne Bailey Rae)
: There's a whole lot of guys singing girls songs tonight. I don't quite understand his voice, but I really wanna here him do the
Family Ties
theme song for some reason.
The coaches are split and it seems to come down to personal preference. Neither of them seems that commercial, so it doesn't matter, because the winner is going home next week anyway.
The Winner Is...NICHOLAS DAVID!
Caitlin Michele vs. Diego Val
Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg
vs. Florence and the Machine. This is certainly a battle of theatricality.
Caitlin Michele ("Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence)
: It's wonderfully Gothic and operatic, but I still think she suffers from sound-alike syndrome.
Diego Val ("Are You Gonna Go My Way" by Lenny Kravitz)
: It's fun and energetic, but I don't think it's very good.
Xtna agrees that Caitlin was a sound-alike and Cee Lo admits neither was all that good.
The Winner Is...DIEGO VAL!
Holy crap. So Cee Lo picked five guys to go to the live shows. That might be pretty smart.
For Team Cee Lo, I did even worse with predictions, only getting two right (Mackenzie and Trevin). That's a pitiful 50 percent for the 10 singers who moved on from tonight.
Tomorrow on
The Voice
: It's the Knockout Rounds for Team Blake and Team Xtina in a special two-hour Tuesday episode. Hopefully I'll do better than 50 percent on predictions.
(Image courtesy of NBC)
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text:
Boy, it sure would suck to have a name as an amalgamation of those. It'd be like being named Kellen Gholsbertson.
Did any of those 3 guys visit the endzone? Gronkowski, Welker and Woodhead had pretty pedestrian afternoons.
Oh the irony!
Boy, it sure would suck to have a name as an amalgamation of those. It'd be like being named Kellen Gholsbertson.
Where is that dude....? Probably won't hear from him for a while.
Gisuggbrady is a good candidate.
I love it that he (or any of the Brady BrownEye Club) are missing today.
Bit we wuz 14-2 ......14-2.....homefeeld adbantage thruout!!!
Last edited by HitSomeone41; 01-17-2011 at 12:07 PM.
As to me not having the balls to come back here and face the music from the fellowship of the miserable, well, here I be.
Funny thing is, John 0515 begged me to leave the site yesterday a few hours before game time and in the interest of not peeing in anybody's Wheaties I did exactly that. Yet about 2 hours later I was permabanned by an anonymous Mod. Funny how I was reinstated only after the Jets won. So who's the real chickenchit there I ask you?
Jets fans should enjoy the next year of bragging rights. God knows you've waited a long time for this position. There are actually some guys on JI that I'm honestly happy for. The others? Well, try and pretend you know how to win gracefully, like you've almost been there before. You know who you are.
or whether you are just lying and making s--- up as usual to cover up your time in the very crowded chowd troll hiding cave
one other request, vinny
in deference to Joe Theismann you need to properly change your user ID to


text:
Use the Right Doctypeby Eric A. Meyer
For literally years now, authors have been faced with a difficult dilemma: should we write pages to conform to the W3C standards, or write them to account for browser bugs? There are strong cases to be made for either approach. In the former case, your pages will be more likely to work in the future, and are certainly more "pure," but typically browser didn't display them very well. In the latter case, the display was a little more predictable for contemporary browsers, and it was certainly easier to sell to management, but what about the future? Would a new browse r-- one with stricter standards compliance -- break the display of the pages due to their bugwards compatibility?
Not an easy choice for most of us. Well, guess what? There's a simple way to escape the vicious cycle of proprietary bugs and behaviors, and the first people to give it to you are none other than the Microsoft MacIE team. Its called "doctype switching," and it's going to make your life much easier.
What's a Doctype?
In case you aren't familiar with the DOCTYPE element, it's quite simply an element used to declare what language (and its level) a document uses, and optionally what document type definition (DTD) is to be used in its handling. In other words, the document type. For example, a fully compliant HTML4 document would bear this doctype:
On the other hand, a "loose" or transitional HTML4 document could have:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
These element, by the way, usually appear on the very first line of a document.
Until now, DOCTYPE has been used mainly by HTML validators, so that they know which DTD to use in validating the document. Most authors probably didn't give DOCTYPE much thought, if any, and it's quite likely that the vast majority of pages which have a DOCTYPE got that way thanks to a point-and-click Web authoring program filling it in without asking. In a great many cases, Web pages don't have a DOCTYPE element at all.
Putting Doctypes to Use
Well you might wonder what difference this makes. From a purely practical standpoint, almost none at all: the Web obviously still works, either with or without doctypes.
But consider a browser which actually paid attention to the document type, and chose a course of action based on it. This browser could look at a document and say, "This document is declared as strictly compliant HTML, so I'll hold it to that standard. If it's malformed, I won't display it. If it's valid, I'll use the W3C standards to display it." This same browser could read a document and think," This document doesn't have a declared doctype. I'll assume that it's old, bugwards-compatible, and needs to be displayed as old, buggy browser would have displayed it."
This browser is Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 for the Macintosh.
Now authors can choose the rendering model they want to follow. Feeling pure? Write your documents strictly to the standards and give them a Strict DOCTYPE. MacIE5 will display them according to the standards. Would you rather follow the behavior of older browsers? Author to the bugs, use a less strict DOCTYPE, and MacIE5 will emulate legacy behaviors in displaying your documents.
The beauty of this mechanism is that it will preserve the look of most legacy documents while fully allowing authors to start authoring to standards. It gives everyone a chance to start over. Authors can learn the standards, not the browser bugs, and produce better documents. Vendors can implement standards without being forced to "break" existing pages. Everyone wins.
On page two, we'll see how doctype works and give you a few examples.
Pages: 1, 2


text:
An Amarillo man died Wednesday night after the pickup he was driving rolled over on Interstate 40 just east of the split between I-40 and U.S. Highway 287, Department of Public Safety troopers said.
The driver was the only person in the pickup, trooper John Alonzo said.
Steven Earl Lovelady, 48, was driving west on I-40 on the inside lane when his 2001 Ford pickup hit the side of a tractor-trailer traveling west in the outside lane, troopers said.
About 9 p.m., the pickup ricocheted off the 2010 Great Dane trailer, crossed over the median and both lanes of eastbound I-40, and rolled several times, troopers said.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, David Anthony Anderson, of Norman, Okla., wasn't injured, troopers said.
The pickup wound up on its tires facing east in a ditch about 30 feet from the shoulder near mile-marker 80 of eastbound I-40.
Lovelady, who was wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene by Justice of the Peace Debbie Horn, trooper Daniel Hawthorne said in a news release.


text:
New Zealand's biggest blue whale is one of the highlights of the Canterbury Museum's collection.
For many years visitors to Canterbury Museum could see the largest blue whale skeleton on display anywhere in the world.
The 26.5 metre long whale was stranded at Okarito, on the South Island's West Coast, in 1908. After preparation, the skeleton was put on display in 1909, and remained on show until 2001.
The museum is now in the process of conserving the skeleton to get it ready to be put on display again when the museum's redevelopment is complete.
You can read more about this huge project in the Records of the Canterbury Museum.


text:
"Do you think Ma has a cut on his head?"
This from the little voice beside me, as I stared in incredulous horror at the screen, watching the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquake in minute-by-minute detail, as, I suppose, did most of the country.
Ma, which is what my son calls his grandfather, who lives, with his Granny, in Christchurch.
I had forgotten as I sat dumbfounded, that even at four the child might be able to put two and two together. He of course came up with five, but he could have just as easily been on the button.
In the event my in-laws were ok, I was relieved to report to him. But I was dubious about how we would be able to go and visit them in the foreseeable future.
Not only is the city in disarray, but frankly, I am scared to take my children into a known earthquake zone. I can't imagine what the parents of that city are going through as they try and explain the deadly might of nature to their young kids - and how random and unpredictable it is.
The issue, for my son at least, wasn't the buildings collapsed, the roads upended and the water gushing down roads.
It was the people crying, and those with blood all over their heads, which - it has to be said - were lingered on by the news crews on the scenes and producers back in Auckland. He couldn't stop asking questions about it.
Finally I had the good sense to turn it off, but probably not before the images of those broken heads were imprinted on his memory.
Soon after, his father was sent down himself to become part of the media contingent on the scene.
"Don't cut your head!" my son chirped as his father walked out the door with his notepad, and fresh water and food for his holed-in parents.
The question is, should young children be shielded from watching a real disaster unfold, or is it better to be exposed to the (often confronting) reality of life?
Rolling television coverage of big events through the day and into the night is a relatively new thing, and - by extension - there is little time and inclination to edit hours and hours of footage.
Some people call it "disaster porn", others - news junkies, in the main - appreciate knowing every gruesome detail.
Being a journalist myself, and married to one, we have always been in the latter category.
But I must admit as a mother I wondered about how it might affect the littlies. And another thought occurred: what if we had tuned in and inadvertently seen the kids' grandparents being carried out, crushed and moaning and covered in blood?
Whatever the case, there is no doubt we are lucky that we can turn the TV off, walk away from the set and try and distract easily distractable minds from the horror unfolding (while remaining deeply affected by it ourselves).
It's not a luxury the terrified and traumatised people of Christchurch will have for a long while.
"Do you think Ma has a cut on his head?"
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text:
IDs are anchors, too.
While browsing the internet these days, I see a lot of this:

- Back to Top -
There's an easier, better and prettier way. CSS Signatures are all the rage these days. If you're not familiar with a CSS Signature, it's basically nothing more than an ID on your body tag, like this:

The fundamental purpose of the CSS Signature is to allow a user to specify style adjustments to your site in their own user style sheets. Whether or not users are actually capitalizing on this is a discussion for another day, but doing this has other benefits like having an extra id to use when dealing with CSS specificity.
Additionally, we can use this to capitalize on a little known fact about HTML and anchors: you can use anchors to jump to any element on your page with an ID attribute.
Let me repeat that: You can jump to any element with an ID attribute on any page.
Here's an example, if you don't believe me: Nowhere on CNN.com's homepage will you find a link to their footer, and you'll find no mention of
 in the code but if you follow this link to CNN (404 link removed 2015/12/31) you will in fact find yourself staring at the footer on the CNN homepage. This is because their footer
div has
"cnnFooter" "
cnn_ftrcntnt" as the ID which allows me to jump directly to that element.
Update: CNN keeps changing their page structure and removing/renaming the page IDs. Frankly I'm tired of updating this post every time their developers decide to change things, so I'm removing the link to the CNN page. Hopefully you get the idea of how anchors work even without a live example ;)
Oh sure, I know what you're thinking: "Great, so how do I get this to work in IE?" Surprise: it works just fine in IE, at least as far back as IE 5.5 and maybe further. So, here we have a nice, tidy little tidbit with no cross-browser issues.
So, we can do away with the empty anchor element at the top of our pages and instead do this:

- Back to Top -

Trying to be all kinds of accessible with the "Jump to Content" link? Try this:
- Jump to Content -

Neat, huh?

Also works well on comments:
Based on so and so's comment...

On Day X, so and so said:

Blah blah blah...

…and comment forms:
2 Responses
- Jump to Comment Form -
<form id="comment-form" method="post" action="">
Using this approach will streamline a lot of your code, allowing you to get rid of a ton of those empty anchor elements. It also allows for greater flexibility when linking to content on other's sites. Not to mention that using it means you can sit at the cool kid's table.


text:
ALL Suzie Katter wants for Christmas is for her husband to dress better and talk less. Husband Bob has other things on his Christmas list: winning 12 lower house seats and five Senate spots in the federal election due next year.
Bob Katter is convinced he can achieve what Pauline Hanson couldn't - become the new third force in Australian politics. ''Pauline was a lady who had run a fish and chip shop. She didn't have the skills, the experience or the background you are sitting here talking to,'' Katter says, eyeballing me across the dining table.
The target for Katter's Australian Party in the 2013 federal poll, he volunteers with characteristic frankness, is 15 per cent of the vote.
Big ask. Have you got the money? Not yet, but Katter has mining magnate Clive Palmer in his diary for January. Katter has known Palmer since their adolescence, when Palmer was a surfie on the Gold Coast, and Katter was pursuing his own young man's dream of becoming a mining oligarch.
Queensland being Queensland, they were in the same clique. History of course records that Palmer gave up the surfing and took up the billionairing. Katter got cleaned up in the 1970s, and after a few career digressions - cattle, insurance - stormed into politics.
Palmer's bitter and public falling-out with the Liberal National Party in Queensland is an opportunity potentially for Katter and his burgeoning political insurgency. And risk, given that would be two big bulls in a small paddock.
Katter reckons he needs $4 million. That kind of cash is obviously beyond a grassroots fund-raising operation.
Happily for Katter, his wife Suzie is energised. A visit to Charters Towers reveals that she is his secret weapon.
She's a vivacious blonde who recently slugged him with a cardboard cylinder when he refused to wear a new suit she'd acquired for him. Katter thought it too Queen Street. She begged to differ.
They bicker throughout the day of our visit, with deep love and affection. The practice is long standing. Katter once cut down a tree Suzie had planted in the backyard. She retaliated by smashing his favourite Salvador Dali print.
Mrs Katter has loathed the minority parliament in Canberra. ''I was really coming to the end of it. I got calls from daylight 'til dark - Bob has to do this and Bob has to do that. Then when he wanted to start the new party I was up in arms. We'd had enough. We'd done our bit. We were retiring, and we were going to enjoy the grandchildren.''
Then she went to a meeting. She read the Katter's Australian Party platform. ''It was everything I believed in. I've taken up the fight, too.'' ''She's got the biggest branch,'' Katter interjects, probably proud, possibly afraid.
Consumers of politics might conclude Katter's populist, protectionist movement is all a bit of a novelty act - but Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott and their party organisations have a different view.
Katter's Australian Party, with dollars and professional organisation, could peel blue-collar votes from Labor and Abbott, who has spent a term courting blue-collar disaffection. And there are valuable preferences up for grabs.
''All I can say is [Gillard and Abbott] are tremendously friendly towards me. Both very friendly,'' Katter laughs.
Katter has spent the weeks before Christmas courting political support along the Murray-Darling Basin corridor - which would hurt the Coalition.
He sees opportunity in Newcastle and Illawarra - which would hurt Labor. And the Queensland rural heartland.
In the meantime, it will be a very Katter Christmas: the children and grandchildren - and lots of bickering.
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text:
Troops from across the Sunshine State are now heavily involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Many of those soldiers call the Capitol City home.
They are members of the 124th Infantry Division of the Florida National Guard.
They make up a group of young men committed to one another and our country. We've seen them ship off, prepare for battle and now the families they left behind pick up the story.
The call came the day after Christmas, Alpha Company was moving out. In February Eyewitness News caught up with the troop at Fort Stewart Georgia, preparing for battle.
Now less than two months later they are overseas fighting for freedom. Soldiers like Josh Odom who will celebrate his 21st birthday in Kuwait and miss his sister's wedding defending America.
Since his son left Ft. Stewart, Randall Odom has gotten one phone call, and one letter.
Nancy Suber is also praying for their safe return. Her son 20-year-old Shane Suber is a part of Alpha Company. She's hasn't heard his voice in four weeks.
Soldiers like Josh Odom, Shane Suber and Karen Swain's husband, Jeff, make up the piece of Tallahassee that has been committed to the war.
Even though most of the young soldiers had never seen combat, they are the face of freedom.
We spoke to soldier Josh Mears' family who said they talked to him just days before war broke out and he seemed to be in high spirits.


text:
"....According to this perspective, definitions of literacy in the secondary grades must be anchored in the specifics of individual disciplines. Disciplinary literacy highlights the complexity, literacy demands, and differentiated thinking, skills, and strategies that characterize each discipline.
Disciplinary literacy is built on the premise that each subject area or discipline has a discourse community with its own language, texts, and ways of knowing, doing, and communicating within a discipline (O'Brien, Moje, & Stewart, 2001). It moves beyond the notion of "every teacher is a reading teacher" and literacy as an "add-on" set of generic strategies used to improve the reading and writing of subject area texts. Rather, it situates literacy as an integral part of content (Moje, 2008) so that "literacy within the discipline" becomes the goal of disciplinary literacy." (Zygouris-Coe, 2012, p. 4)...."


text:
"AIDS-Free Generation" Possible With Available Tools for Prevention, but Not Without Political Will
July 30, 2012
Noting that "[t]he XIX International AIDS Conference [AIDS 2012] has just come to a close amid much talk of the beginning of the end of AIDS, turning the tide on HIV and even a potential cure," Julio Montaner, former president of the International AIDS Society (IAS) and director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, writes in a Globe and Mail opinion piece, "It is now more certain than ever that we have the tools, medicines and expertise to stop this epidemic." He continues, "However, without the political will to expand antiretroviral treatment to everyone in need, the audacious goals set before us in Washington last week will never be met and infection may spiral out of control once again." He writes, "Politicians have paid little more than lip service to supporting the rollout of antiretroviral treatment in their home countries and around the globe," and concludes, "Treatment as prevention represents the fundamental building block to achieve our goal. We must find the resolve to deliver on the promise of an 'AIDS-free generation'" (7/30).
Back to other news for July 2012
This article was provided by Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. It is a part of the publication Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report. Visit the Kaiser Family Foundation's website to find out more about their activities, publications and services.
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text:
December 10, 2008 > The Plumed Serpent
Anxiety about the environment touches us all. The fact that hundreds of species of animals vanish from the earth every year is a large part of that concern. We don't know what we're losing: scientists have not yet documented all of the earth's species of birds. When the naturalist impulse to document is fused with an accomplished artist's passion the end result is powerful art.Ohlone College's Louie Meager Art Gallery presents "The Plumed Serpent" an installation by David Tomb that features the large mixed media ornithological works by David Tomb complimented by an installation of plants and sound designed by the artist. This gallery wide installation is inspired by Tomb's birding trips to Mexico and research from the California Academy of Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, and the Los Angeles Natural History Museum.In the gallery Tomb recreates the sights and sounds of this Sierra Madre region. Large-scale drawings (11'X 8') of birds in trees will be installed with actual trees and native vegetation. Bird specimens will be on loan from science institutions and recorded bird calls from western Mexico will fill the gallery to add to the atmosphere of this artistic and educational experience.The El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve located among the remote peaks of the Sierra Madre Mountains in Southern Chiapas is enveloped in an almost constant mantle of fog. This 300,000-acre reserve is considered one of the most pristine and diverse natural areas remaining in Mexico. El Triunfo is home to about 400 species of birds, including two of the rarest bird species in Latin America-the endemic Horned Guan and the Azure-rumped Tanager. The journey to El Triunfo is a real adventure that requires local guides, wranglers, cooks and pack animals for the trek into the preserve.David Tomb and Ohlone College collaboration will extend beyond the gallery as well. In conjunction with the show, other Bay Area educators, and the artist will be giving a series of talks and workshops in Ohlone classrooms as well as the gallery. Dr. Gessica Johnston MD will be giving a talk on scientific illustration and Professor Phillip Hofstetter of CSEUB will be giving an art historical talk on how the exhibit relates to Mayan Art specifically in reference to the Quetzal (also known as the Plumed Serpent).You can help! Electric Works Gallery in conjunction with the El Triunfo Biosphere Reserve have released a series of limited edition prints by David Tomb inspired by his most recent trip to Mexico. Proceeds from the sale of the print go directly to El Triunfo Reserve.Please contact Electric Works Gallery or visit their website at (415) 626-5496 or visit their website at www.sfelectricworks.com.The Plumed Serpent Ongoing till December 20Gallery HoursMonday-Thursday12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.Also open during all events at the Smith CenterThe Louie Meager Art Gallery at the Smith CenterOhlone College43600 Mission Blvd., Fremont(510) 979-7916


text:
Hunters as young as 12 will be able to hunt deer, elk and bear with firearms under legislation signed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm.
The legislation lowers the minimum age for hunting large game from 14 to 12. The bill also lowers the minimum age for hunting small game such as squirrels and rabbits from 12 to 10.
The bill calls for younger hunters to hunt only on private property and with a parent, guardian or authorized adult age 18 or older.
Another bill Granholm announced signing Monday establishes an apprentice hunting license, letting new hunters temporarily bypass a safety class and go on hunts with experienced mentors.
The bills are designed to help Michigan recruit new hunters.
Supporters of the legislation say getting children involved in hunting at an earlier age teaches them proper stewardship of the state's natural resources and encourages children to stay active in outdoor activities.
The number of Michigan hunters has remained roughly the same for 40 years, but the percentage of the population that hunts is down.


text:
STOCKTON - It would be a nice story, but not much more, if Kenya Hernandez's saga this week was simply the heartwarming tale of a 15-year-old girl traveling to the nation's capital to speak her mind to U.S. policymakers.
STOCKTON - It would be a nice story, but not much more, if Kenya Hernandez's saga this week was simply the heartwarming tale of a 15-year-old girl traveling to the nation's capital to speak her mind to U.S. policymakers.
But because of who Kenya is - and because of who students in the United States increasingly are - her journey represented much more than a feel-good visit.
The trip by the Roosevelt Elementary eighth-grader, her teacher and her principal was financed by the College Board Advocacy & Policy Center. It coincided with the College Board's release of a 36-page report titled "Teacher Voices: Immigration, Language and Culture."
The report includes pertinent data, including these snippets:
� 64 percent of limited-English students were born in the United States.
� 80 percent of the children of immigrants are born in the U.S.
� The nation is home to 15 million children of immigrants.
Kenya fits into each category, and so she was an apt choice to go to Washington, D.C., to help raise awareness of the ever-growing need to ensure that students like her receive the education needed to succeed.
Kenya, teacher Brandy De Alba and Principal Renee Sweeden were part of a group from around the country seeking to impel their listeners to ponder this question: What if the U.S. fails to educate its growing population of second-language students? De Alba painted a troubling picture when asked to answer this question the day after her testimony.
"We're going to continue with that gap of the haves and the have-nots," she said. "Those who have wealth, that group is going to be so far from the have-nots that this country is going to become very, very unstable. We're going to be an uneducated society."
For Kenya, the brief visit to Washington provided what travel inevitably provides: education at its most vivid and accessible.
The trip included her first airplane flight since she was a baby, her first ride on a subway, her first taste of a room-service breakfast, her first stay at a fancy hotel. It included a tour of the U.S. Capitol and meetings with Reps. Jerry McNerney and Dennis Cardoza. In a return gesture, Cardoza has scheduled a visit to Kenya's class next week.
Kenya took in Washington with awe. Many national landmarks were brand-new to her. She marveled at the height of the Washington Monument. A visit to the museum that memorializes the horrors of the Holocaust provided a consciousness-raising experience.
Sweeden said, "I wish I could effectively express the growth that I saw in Kenya in just the three days that we were there: amazing young lady who represented her culture, her peers, her community, her school, and her district very well. I was proud and honored to be a part of Kenya's experience."
Born in Los Angeles, Kenya was named after the best friend of her Spanish-speaking immigrant mother. At 3, Kenya moved with her family to Stockton. Despite being born in this country, Kenya was classified an English-language learner when she began school.
To speak to Kenya is to converse with a warm, funny, innocently sweet teen. On a social level, Kenya is fluent in both of her languages. But according to De Alba, Kenya is not unlike many from second-language households - be they Mexican, Hmong or Pakistani - in that she has "basic interpersonal communication skills" in both her languages but in each language is behind in "cognitive academic language proficiency."
De Alba said such students function smoothly in social conversation but struggle when using language to learn academic content through listening, speaking, reading or writing. The challenge is to improve these students' ability to use and learn from academic language.
For De Alba and the other teachers who spoke this week in Washington, writing is one tool to teach second-language students. The teachers all have learned about using writing as a teaching strategy through the Berkeley-based National Writing Project, whose federal funding recently was eliminated by budget-slashing legislators.
The National Writing Project has provided an avenue toward education for many second-language students, Kenya among them. It is through writing that Kenya has found her voice, both at Roosevelt the past few years and this past week in Washington, where her trip provided an actual teenager who punctured - in a small way - the capital city's insulation.
"Writing, to me, has always been something that I've been able to connect to people with," Kenya told her D.C. audience. "I could write how I feel, I could tell stories, it really doesn't matter. I've just always been able to express myself in writing. Writing is just a part of me."
Sweeden said she hopes those who met and listened to Kenya learned that the potential of second-language students far exceeds the labels some of them receive after taking standardized tests - and that teachers ought not be judged by the test results of second-language students whose personal lives often include myriad social challenges.
"Kids who are smart are being categorized and they're not being categorized appropriately," Sweeden said. "Teachers who are good teachers, the same thing is happening. What I saw in Washington is there is truly a concern with how we have gotten away from teaching to the whole child. That is one of the big things that has become a detriment to how we teach English learners and to their success in school."
Contact reporter Roger Phillips at (209) 546-8299 or firstname.lastname@example.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/phillipsblog.