text:
The risks of flawed and failed elections worldwide
In many countries, polling day ends with disputes about ballot-box fraud, corruption, and flawed registers. Which claims are accurate? And which are false complaints from sore losers?
New evidence gathered by the Electoral Integrity Project has just been released in an annual report which compares the risks of flawed and failed elections, and how far countries around the world meet international standards. The EIP is an independent research project based at the University of Sydney and Harvard University, under the direction of Professor Pippa Norris.
This annual report evaluates all national parliamentary and presidential contests occurring in 66 countries worldwide holding 73 election from 1 July 2012 to 31 December 2013 (excluding smaller states with a population below 100,000), from Albania to Zimbabwe. Data is derived from a global survey of 855 election experts. Immediately after each contest, the survey asks domestic and international experts to monitor the quality based on 49 indicators. These responses are then clustered into eleven stages occurring during the electoral cycle and summed to construct an overall 100-point expert Perception of Electoral Integrity (PEI) index and ranking.
Several major new findings emerge from the EIP report.
- Headlines often focus on problems occurring on polling day. Yet lack of a level playing field in political finance and campaign media were seen by experts as the most serious risk to integrity worldwide. These risks were found in many countries, with campaign finance the weakest part of the electoral cycle.
- Overall, not surprisingly, electoral integrity is strengthened by democracy and development. Longer experience over successive contests consolidates democratic institutions, deepens civic cultures, and builds the capacity of electoral management bodies. Nevertheless electoral integrity was particularly strong in several third wave democracies and emerging economies, including the Republic of Korea, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Lithuania, Argentina, and Mongolia.
- By contrast, experts were critical about flawed elections in several long-established democracies, such as Italy and Japan. Most strikingly, according to the PEI index, the United States ranked 26th out of 73 elections under comparison worldwide, the lowest score among Western nations. Experts highlighted concern over American practices of district boundaries, voter registration, and campaign finance.
- Worldwide, South East Asia was the weakest region. This includes Malaysia, due to its district boundaries and electoral laws, and Cambodia, with concerns about voter registration, the compilation of results, and the independence of electoral authorities. Recent electoral protests and instability in Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia vividly illustrate these challenges. Eurasian elections also raise concern, such as those in Belarus, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. Finally, several African states with restricted human rights and political freedoms were at risk of failed elections, including Equatorial Guinea, Djibouti, the Republic of Congo, Angola, and Zimbabwe.
Subsequent annual reports will cover national elections every year, to broaden the comparison worldwide.
"The spread of elections worldwide during recent decades has been accompanied by widespread concern about their quality," Pippa Norris commented, "Too often elections are deeply flawed, or even failing to meet international standards. This study is the first to gather reliable evidence from experts to pinpoint where contests are problematic- such as in Belarus, Djibouti, and Zimbabwe – and also to celebrate where they succeed, such as in Norway, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and South Korea."
Further information is available at www.electoralintegrityproject.com
The Perceptions of Electoral Integrity (PEI) Index
Source: Electoral Integrity Project. 2014. The expert survey of Perceptions of Electoral Integrity, Release 2 (PEI_2)


text: Hundreds more tropical fish have been added to the exhibit! This week, hundreds of medium and small-sized tropical fish were added to our newest exhibit, Blacktip Reef! This colorful, Indo-Pacific reef will soon be home to over 700 animals, including many species of shark (blacktip reef, zebra and wobbegong), rays and our 500+ green sea turtle Calypso! Meet two of the species of pufferfish added to the exhibit this week: White-spotted Puffer White-spotted puffers are nocturnal - only leaving their staked territory within the reef to feed! Their diet consists of a large variety of hard-shelled prey such as mollusks and crab. Orbicular Burrfish The orbicular burrfish is also a nocturnal feeder. While they may look sweet, these fish have a mean bite! They're mouth structures are built for crushing hard-shelled invertebrates. Did you know? Both species of puffer, can take in water to inflate their bodies when threatened! Be sure to check back every Friday to find out what's happening! Tags: animal-introductions, animal-update-2, behind-the-scenes, blacktip-reef, coral-reef, indo-pacific-reef, orbicular-burrfish, pufferfish, reef, white-spotted-puffer Categories: Animals, News Previous Post Next Post

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Pity those of us who monitor the ups and downs of China's popular microblog platform, Sina Weibo. For every story its users spread in defiance of local censorship, there follows a clampdown. Whether it's the latest strike against rumors, or real name registration, or newly banned keywords, there's always another restriction in the works as the service struggles to keep a lid on sensitive conversations without driving away its user base. "China tightens grip on social media," we might report, as the Financial Times did in April. And last October. (The U.K.-based newspaper also noted China's grip tightening on lawyers in March.) It's not that these headlines are misleading. They simply show how difficult it is to illustrate the grip that always tightens, but never quite suffocates.
To file under tightening grips and continuing clampdowns: Wednesday's news that a Weibo moderator posted a draft document outlining new guidelines for users, according to a translation of the content by Caijing magazine's English-language website. The contract restricts users from publishing information that "reveals national secrets," "spreads rumors," "disrupts social order," or "has other content which is forbidden by laws," among other regulations, according to the Caijing translation. These are terms favored by the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda department to justify censorship, and are vague enough to cover all kinds of sensitive content.
To drive the point home, Weibo disabled several high-profile user accounts in the past week, according to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post. The reason for those closures was not clear, though users like the novelist Hao Qun, who writes as Murong Xuecun, believed his suspension from the site--which he was told would last at least a month--was for his posts on blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng. Another blacklisted user told the Post he had shared speculation about the Chinese leadership, notably a rumor about Premier Wen Jiabao stepping down. Plus ça change.
So what's actually new about this news? Well, the shutdowns were announced directly to users by Sina management, though apparently at the behest of top censors, the Post reported. Recent punitive measures against microblogs, like the temporary suspension of Weibo's commenting features in April, were targeted at the company itself. Perhaps it was the flurry of rumors in the wake of the Bo Xilai corruption scandal; perhaps it was Sina's self-confessed failure to enforce user registration, reported by Chinese Internet expert Bill Bishop on his website Digicha, but the authorities have not been happy with Weibo. The new guidelines look like Sina's attempt to get back in with the propaganda department by better regulating its willful clientele.
And why does it matter? Because if Weibo fails to satisfy the censors, it could still go the way of Twitter, now blocked in China for users without the circumvention tools commonly used to access overseas websites. Or the way of the copycat services like Fanfou which replaced it, and were simply shut down.
For all the challenges journalists face reporting on this power struggle, the biggest struggle is Sina's as it tries to stay profitable while balancing the competing demands of censors versus users. No one is more aware of what could happen when the grip tightens all the way than the company themselves. Via Digicha:
"While the Microblog Rules are not clear regarding the type and extent of punishment that will be imposed on non-compliant microblogging service providers, we are potentially liable...which may result in future punishment, including the deactivation of certain features on Weibo, termination of Weibo operations or other punishments determined by the Chinese government. Any of the above actions may have a material and adverse impact on our share price."


text:
I like to get wet, as you can see I have a shower in my room. I want to spend my time in a good company and love to chat with interesting people. I think that I have a kinky side. Kink can mean a lot of things..
I love to meet people with a good sense of humor, who likes sex as I do! C2C sexy games makes me incredibly wet... I like to imagine your warm hands sliding over my body, your breathing..
Sincerity. Compliments. My excitement grows when a man is confident about what`s next to happen. Something I learned for sure is I am good with teasing and making people forget about their sorrows. Smart, intelligent guys who know how to treat a lady. Show me how kinky you can be. Can you handle me?
What I don`t find attractive is huge muscle and little brain. Other than that I love it all nothing turns me off, Bring it on !!!


text:
Quite frankly sometimes this obsessive focus on jhana tends to be a distraction. While jhana may be for some something fairly easily achieved, for most lay folks, if it is not out of reach, it is very difficult.rowyourboat wrote:I would like to ask the gentlemen here to consider that jhanas (the absorbed type) can arise from both samatha AND vipassana. Sati leads to samadhi. The presence or absence of panna is the difference. I have yet to meet a dry vipassana master who wasn't able to give rise to jhana. There IS only jhana mentioned in the suttas - without the 'samatha' or 'vipassana' qualification.
With metta
What the Burmese vipassana tradition recognizes is that, at least for the attainment of sotapanna, the level of concentration involved is far more accessible and does not require the preoccupation with all the bits a pieces of "attainment" that seems occupy the jhanika's efforts.
An interesting point, however, is that while there are dangers in the vipassana practice, the dangers of jhana practice, especially on one's own, are far greater and far more insidious.
That is not quite so, as has been pointed out by any number of others here at length.There IS only jhana mentioned in the suttas


text:
January 18, 2019
Heather Benjamin
June 22, 2018
Elemental Green
October 27, 2017
Falon Mihalic, Houzz
March 17, 2017
March 10, 2017
Christina Huynh
December 06, 2016
Shruti Agrawal, Excella Worldwide
July 01, 2016
Nora Knox
April 18, 2016
Julia Pergolini
September 04, 2009
Sherri Osaka
Lawns have gotten a lot of bad press lately—and not undeservedly. They use a tremendous amount of water and gasoline, and they pollute streams and other water resources with herbicide- and pesticide-... Read more
Tom Ash
Studies by public agencies across the country show home landscapes waste as much as 50 percent of the water used outside. In addition, residential application of pesticides per acre is typically 20... Read more


text:
Almost three years after the passage of ObamaCare, BuzzFeed's Ben Smith reports that ObamaCare is actually a wealth-redistribution system in the most regressive manner possible. Young workers, who find it increasingly more difficult to find jobs, will end up subsidizing the health care of older workers, who are hanging onto jobs longer and longer. The politics of this wealth transfer is nothing short of perverse, politically speaking:
But the next 12 months are likely to reveal the opposite. Imminent elements of Obama's grandest policy move, the health-care overhaul known as ObamaCare, are calculated to screw his most passionate supporters and to transfer wealth to his worst enemies.
The passionate supporters are the youth, who voted for him by a margin of 60% to 36%, according to exit poll samples of people 29 and under. His enemies are the elderly: Mitt Romney won 56% of the votes from people 65 and over. And while one of ObamaCare's earliest provisions was a boon to the young, allowing them to stay on their parents' insurance through the age of 26, what follows may come as an unpleasant surprise to many of the president's supporters. The provisions required to make any kind of health insurance plan work — not just ObamaCare, but really any plan of its sort — require healthy young people to pay more in health insurance than they consume in services, while the elderly (saved by Sarah "Death Panels" Palin from any serious attempt to ration expensive and often futile end-of-life care) consume far more than they pay in. There is always a push and pull, however, and this year will be spent laying plans to shift the burden further toward the young. …
But politics is about power and resources, not about policy and morality. AARP has no real case to make there. The current young supported Obama; and the current old opposed him.
The near-total silence on this issue is a mark of a class that is either utterly selfless (hard to believe, honestly) or, as usual, singularly bad at seeing and defending its interests.
Hey, you know who predicted this in 2010? Me, and just about everyone else who could do math. In fact, just days after the bill's passage, the Associated Press reported on the expected premium hike for younger policyholders:
Under the health care overhaul, young adults who buy their own insurance will carry a heavier burden of the medical costs of older Americans — a shift expected to raise insurance premiums for young people when the plan takes full effect.
Beginning in 2014, most Americans will be required to buy insurance or pay a tax penalty. That's when premiums for young adults seeking coverage on the individual market would likely climb by 17 percent on average, or roughly $42 a month, according to an analysis of the plan conducted for The Associated Press. The analysis did not factor in tax credits to help offset the increase.
The higher costs will pinch many people in their 20s and early 30s who are struggling to start or advance their careers with the highest unemployment rate in 26 years.
Thanks to ObamaCare's mandates for comprehensive insurance, younger and healthier workers have no choice but to subsidize the premiums of older and sicker workers through their premiums. In fact, I explained this before the passage of the ACA, in December 2009 when "Rock the Vote" proposed to get young people to withhold sex from anyone opposed to ObamaCare, apparently so that they could get screwed in both senses of the word:
First, the young people to whom they're preaching largely avoid buying health insurance, and for good reason. They don't need to spend $3600 per year (Minnesota's average in 2007) to cover a couple of doctor visits every year. They're better off buying catastrophic health insurance, rather than the mandated comprehensive coverage under ObamaCare, and use HSAs to pay for their health care with tax-free cash. That's what Keith Olbermann does, after all, and he's a lot older than the RtV target audience.
Who benefits from this push? The young adults don't; they're going to pay a lot more than they receive. Insurance companies will benefit by forcing them into the system, reducing the risk and spreading the costs over a wider base. I don't consider insurance companies evil, but many of the ObamaCare advocates do — and yet they're pushing their followers to subsidize slight declines in health insurance premiums for the older generations in America. It's just like Social Security, only with a worse payoff in the end.
And in September 2009, I wrote a column for the now-defunct AIP explaining that the combination of HSAs, far-cheaper hospitalization insurance, and retail clinics would not only save younger and healthier people a boatload of money, it would also bend the overall cost curve downward by restoring pricing signals to the consumer rather than third-party payers. That would put more of the actual cost of health care on those who utilize it. I'm no special genius — but I can do math and know that most young people under 35 didn't spend anywhere near enough to justify $3600 a year in comprehensive-insurance premiums, and won't under ObamaCare, either, especially as premiums skyrocket. Where does the rest of the money go in a risk pool? It subsidizes those who do utilize providers more, the older and sicker.
Why didn't Ben (who, by the way, is a nice guy and fun to work with otherwise) do the math himself three or more years ago? Er …
The voices raised against age rating and other policies tend not to be the most credible. They are, first, conservatives who simply see this as another wedge against Obama and his new policy. Outlandish rhetoric about the health-care law's threat to American freedom can make it hard for members of either party to consider policy on the merits; and so the proposal from Georgia Rep. Phil Gingrey (in the news of late for theorizing that " tense and uptight" women, like, say, rape victims, are less likely to conceive children) to leave age discount decisions with the states is generally considered as gimmicky as its name: The Liberty Act. (It's short for "Letting Insurance Benefit Everyone Regardless of Their Youth.")
So no one did math because we conservatives didn't like Obama and didn't trust him? Maybe that's because we actually did the math when it counted. If more younger voters did the math in 2009, 2010, and especially 2012, perhaps they wouldn't be on the hook for subsidies for older, wealthier Americans.
I'd say this gets the Eric "Otter" Stratton Award (NSFW):
Update: Reason's Nick Gillespie points out some other ways in which Obama is sticking it to the younger generation:
As my colleague Matt Welch pointed out yesterday, SOTUs are equal parts WTF and completely forgettable, so it'll all be over soon except for the ardent declarations that we can make lifesaving machines more quickly in a zero-gravity environment.
But if proprietor of the most open and transparent and clean-smelling administration of all time wants to make some real news, he might speak honestly to the segment of the American electorate that he is screwing over six ways to Sunday: Young voters between the ages of 18 and 29. Listen up, kids! Your parents are robbing your futures blind and you're chumps enough not only to go along but to ask – like the adorable title orphan in the classic baby boomer musical Oliver! – please, sir, I want some more.
From virtually every possible angle, Obama is helping to diminish the prospects for today's younger generation. First and foremost, his response to the Great Recession – stimulus and the massive piling up of debt – is slowing the recovery. Massive regulatory schemes such as Dodd-Frank and the creation of huge new soul-and-bucks-sucking programs such as Obamacare weigh heavily on the economy now and in the future too. His refusal to discuss seriously old-age entitlement reform – Medicare and Social Security and the 60 percent of Medicare that goes to old folks – is massive storm front on the economic horizon. His preference for secrecy and overreach when it comes to executive power won't screw young people as obviously as his economic policies, but when he leaves office in 2017, he will have created far more terrorists than he needed to.
Be sure to read it all.


text:
How to convert MKV to WMV for Mac?
As a Mac user, do yo have any problem about how to convert MKV to WMV on Mac? Maybe you have tried many times, but you failed. Now, Mac MKV to WMV Converter point out an easy way to convert MKV to WMV on Mac.
The MKV format (Matroska Video) is an entirely free video format. More precisely, it is a container making it possible to contain video and audio. A WMV file is in most circumstances encapsulated in the Advanced Systems Format (ASF) container format.
Although there are some differe from MKV and WMV, converting MKV to WMV is so easy by using Mac MKV to WMV Converter. With this software application, you can convert MKV to WMV, and convert MKV to other video formats such as MP4, AVI, FLV, 3GP etc.
Besides the above mentioned, Mac MKV to WMV Converter also allows you to edit your MKV videos. The editing functions like crop videos, trim videos, merge videos, add watermark to make your videos more personalized.
Now, the follow is how to convert MKV to WMV with MKV to WMV Converter for Mac.
Step 1. Add videos into this Mac MKV to WMV Converter
After downloading and running Mac MKV to WMV Converter, click "Add" button to upload MKV files which you want to convert from your Mac.
Step 2. Choose the output format and set the destination
In this step, you can chooose the output format form the "Format" drop-down list. Here you can choose "Commen Video" < ".wmv" as the output fornat. Then chooose the destination from the "Output" drop-list.
Step 3. Start converting
Of couser, if you would like, there are some editig fnctions to allow you make you videos before convert MKV files, like add watermark, trim video, crop video. When all things are ready, just click "Convert" button to convert MKV to WMV on Mac.


text:
Dean, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences
Daniel Chamovitz grew up in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, and studied at both Columbia University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he received his Ph.D. in Genetics. From 1993 to 1996 he carried out postdoctoral research at Yale University before accepting a faculty position at Tel Aviv University where he was recently appointed Dean of the George. S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences. In 2002, Prof. Chamovitz was a visiting scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. He is currently the Director of the Manna Center for Plant Biosciences at Tel Aviv University. Chamovitz's scientific career has been characterized by novel and field-defining research: As a Ph.D. student in the lab of Joseph Hirschberg he was among the first to clone a gene involved in the biosysnthesis of beta-carotene. As a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Xing-Wang Deng at Yale University, he discovered the COP9 Signalosome protein complex that was proposed then to be a master regulator of plant development. Later, Prof. Chamovitz's lab was the first to show that the COP9 Signalosome is also essential for development of animals. His lab in Tel Aviv has been spearheading the study of this important protein complex and has shown that it is likely involved in a number of human diseases including cancer. Prof. Chamovitz is among the most prominent researchers in this field and is often invited to give lectures at leading universities worldwide. Currently Chamovitz is developed and was the founding director of the new Program in Food Security and Safety at Tel Aviv University, and does pro bono consultation for governmental agencies on issues concerning Food Security. Daniel Chamovitz has published numerous peer reviewed original research articles and is on the editorial boards of several scientific journals. He is also member of the Faculty of 1000, Biology. Chamovitz is a sought-after speaker and science commentator. He has been interviewed in newspapers and magazines around the world such as The Boston Globe, Scientific American, Ha'aretz (the daily paper of Israel), and Macleans, and also on BBC, NPR, and Australian Public Radio, to name a few, and has appeared on television news shows in Israel. He has given popular talks at venues such as the California Academy of Sciences, Harvard Arboretum and Seattle Town Hall. When not overseeing the research in his lab, Daniel Chamovitz is passionate about teaching, and especially in developing a modern undergraduate curriculum for plant sciences. He has been awarded outstanding lecturer at Tel Aviv University several times. He also volunteers as a teacher in a local junior high school, engages high school students about science careers, and lectures to groups about the role of Plant Biology in feeding a growing world. He has also been known to show up at obscure bars and clubs with a guitar in hand. Danny lives in Hod Hasharon with his wife, three kids, dog and cat.


text:
This was published 5 years ago
Stocks to watch at the close on Wednesday
Stocks to watch on the Australian stock exchange at the close on Wednesday:
ALZ - AUSTRALAND - up 4.00 cents, or 0.9 per cent, at $4.48
A Singapore property group appears set to snare local residential and commercial developer Australand in a $2.6 billion deal.
GFF - GOODMAN FIELDER - down 2.5 cents, or 3.68 per cent, at 65.5 cents
Struggling food maker Goodman Fielder is poised to accept a lower takeover offer from Hong Kong-based investment firm First Pacific and Singapore agribusiness Wilmar International.
LYC - LYNAS CORPORATION - down one cent, or 7.14 per cent, to 13 cents
Rare earths miner Lynas is moving its Sydney headquarters to Kuala Lumpur as part of changes to reduce its costs.
TAH - TABCORP - up five cents, or 1.49 per cent, at $3.41
TTS - TATTS GROUP - up five cents, or 1.48 per cent, at $3.42
Gambling firms Tabcorp and Tatts will have to pay millions of dollars in poker machine levies to the Victorian government after a Supreme Court ruling was overturned.
TWE - TREASURY WINE ESTATES - down five cents, or 1.01 per cent, to $4.48
The maker of Penfolds is being hauled before the Federal Court by hundreds of shareholders angry at how the company revealed major problems in its US business in 2013.
VOC - VOCUS COMMUNICATIONS - up 39 cents, or 8.19 per cent, at $5.15
Vocus Communications, has agreed to buy FX Networks for $NZ115.8 million ($A107.81 million) including debt, gaining a New Zealand fibre optic cable network operator it says will add to earnings in its first year.
WES - WESFARMERS - up $1.14, or 2.75 per cent, at $42.66
Wesfarmers is facing a $774 million hit to its bottom line from its struggling Target chain and the restructure of its liquor business.


text:
I've been an avid member of JetsNation since 1979, when both the NHL Jets and I were born. It was a good year all around. I grew up a die-hard Jets fan. For Halloween, I went out in my Hockey gear as whatever Jet I was currently obsessed with. All I wanted for Christmas was more Jets stuff. I was a fanatical fanatic.
Then a bad thing happened. My family upped and moved to Calgary in 1994. Even worse, 2 years later, the Jets left. I cried. A lot. My Heroes were gone. As a result, I set off on a mission. I would right a wrong of the Universe – I would become a billionaire and bring the Jets home. It was a tall task, but I was up for it.
But a funny thing happened. Men with similar visions, and much more success than I at becoming franchise-owner rich, righted the aforementioned wrong and brought back the Jets. I cried for joy. And loss of purpose.
So they're back, and here I am, now living in Vancouver, as avid a Jets fan as ever. Over the last 2 Christmases, I got Jets jerseys, pillows, T-shirts, slippers, license plate holders and both beer and shot glasses. For Halloween, I dressed up as Dustin Byfuglien. I'm 10 all over again.
But there's something different this time. I haven't been to a game yet. Growing up, I went to several games a year. When they came to Calgary, I'd go. I even managed to get back for the last ever Jets 1.0 game – I have proof! But when the Jets came to Vancouver last year, I was I was on a boat headed for Victoria. When I was in Winnipeg last fall, they were locked out. Stymied!
I came to realize I'm not the only one. I've done some thinking, and I estimate Jets Nation to comprise of roughly 1.3 million people. It breaks down like this: Winnipeg has 684,100 people. I figure there's gotta be 184,100 people who are idiots and don't like them for one reason or another. Theres probably another 400,000 across Manitoba who also dressed up as Byfuglien for Halloween. And then add all the ex-Winnipeggers like me who are forever Jet obsessed, of which there has to be at least 300,312. So 1.2'ish million fans seems right.
Now, MTS Centre, the smallest building in the League, has capacity for 15,004. They've had 45 home dates so far, meaning 675,180 souls have walked through the doors. Now we can assume that, with 13,000 season ticket holders, that's not actually 675,180 different people. So, with a little more Grade 4 math, and a lot of guessing, I've concluded that 200,000 actual human beings have seen the Jets play live in Winnipeg, leaving well over 1,000,000 Jets fans without a first-hand Jets 2.0 encounter. This disturbs me.
I still know people from Winnipeg. The Internet is great for that. What it's also great at is allowing you a front row seat into other people's lives. And one person in particular always caught my eye. Bob. We grew up in the same neighborhood. Went to the same school. Forever bound by our Winnipeg-ness. What caught my eye about Bob? Well, he goes to Jets games ALL OF THE TIME. I see his photos from every damn game. His comments. His smile – he's always smiling!
Naturally, I was at first jealous and angry. But in time, I've come to appreciate his fandomness. And it got me thinking. There's at least a Million of us that haven't had the chance to experience what Bob is experiencing. That lucky bastard! We've all heard how great the MTS Centre is, and I thought who better than Bob to give us a first-hand glimpse of the action.
So, I caught up with Bob, and in honor of Teemu Selanne and Kyle Wellwood, asked him these 13 questions to help us unlucky members of Jets Nation who aren't in Winnipeg, and have yet to grace the hallowed halls of the MTS Centre, to understand just how awesome it is there:
Brett: So, it appears you're a Jets season ticket holder. How does it feel to be the luckiest man in the world, and are you aware how jealous I am of you?
Bob: This is actually a question that needs a lengthy answer. First, most people are usually jealous of me because I'm pretty damn awesome and live a fairy-tale life. Second, I'm not actually a season ticket holder in the traditional sense. I'm on the Waiting List and so are 22 of my friends. On the waiting list, you get first access to available tickets after the random draw. I made individual deals with each of my 22 other friends on the wait list that whomever between us gets tickets gives the other first dibs on a seat. Between all 22 of them, one of them is guaranteed to be able to get tickets, so I don't even bother trying to get them myself and always have a ticket available to me if I want it. It's like having season tickets without having to commit to them and not having to do any work.
Brett: That sounds pretty sketchy. I'm going to hide your last name so the Season Ticket Police don't get you. But no season tickets, and still going to all those games – you do live a fairy tale life. Ok, We all hear how the MTS center has the best fans in the game. I remember going to a playoff game at the old Arena in 92 between the Jets and Canucks. My ears rang for 2 days afterwards. So what's louder – MTS center or the old Winnipeg Arena?
Bob: That's a tough call. Back then we were 13 and underage. Everything was loud to our sensitive ears. Now I'm 33, wasted out of my mind before the puck drops, and probably the loudest most obnoxious guy in the section. I really only hear myself. Then again, I am pretty damn loud, so I'd say MTS Center.
Brett: That's amazing that you can get that drunk and still be welcomed back to the Arena. I remember fans like that growing up and always wanted to become one. You're a lucky man. This is why I love Winnipeg. Ok – Name 3 Jets that impress the hell out of you, and why.
Bob: 1. Tanner Glass because he invited me into his living room to have a beer while he had water because of his diet. Plus have you seen his wife Emily? 2. Andrew Ladd because…. have you seen his wife? 3. Ondrej Pavalec. I'd explain why, but you don't live in Winnipeg and haven't heard his radio car commercials. I tried to find a copy online but couldn't. You gotta hear this.
Brett: Winnipeg is great for that. Growing up, I once helped Ed Olcyzk move out of his house. I went to get an autograph, and he said sure, as long as I help him move some things. Smart guy – I took way more than my share of boxes to the truck. I haven't seen Glass's or Ladd's wives, but it sounds like you narrowly avoided a threesome at Glass's house. So I'll blame you for the destruction of the GST line. And of all the people to do car ads, why the Goalie convicted of DUI? Ah, Winnipeg….
Ok, next question – I keep seeing pictures on Facebook of you wearing other teams Jerseys. Not that I'm stalking you or anything. When Pittsburgh was in town the other week, you had a Pens jersey on. What the hell is wrong with you?
Bob: Remember every time the old Jets lost an important game? Remember every time when a Canadian Team lost an important game? I was cheering for them when they lost those games. I'm bad luck. When we got the Jets back, I bought every other teams Jersey and now I always cheer for the Jets opponents and the Jets win. Except when they play Montreal, then I cheer for the Jets. Go Habs Go!
Brett: Well, the old Jets lost every important game, but that's actually pretty brilliant logic. Pardon me as I spit at your Habs comment, though. Ok, next question – Name your 3 highlights of last year. A 4th would be allowed.
Bob: 1 – Remember what I said about Tanner Glass' wife and Andrew Ladd's wife? Meeting them
2 – Asking Evander Kane "who the hell are you?" when he went to shake my hand
3 – Paying for 1 beer in the upper deck and having them hand me 2
4 – Calling Cheveldayoff "Tim Cheveldae" when I was talking to him in the Portage Place Foodcourt
Brett: Is Dancing Gabe still dancing?
Bob: Dude, he was dancing 20 years ago. Now he's shufflin'!!
Brett: Can you send us a picture of your view. Keep in mind hundreds of thousands of us have never been to a game and even a small taste of the MTS center will suffice.
Bob: My view is always different since I don't have traditional "season tickets". But here's a picture of me signing up to be a Budweiser Designated Driver while I was already hammered. I had to put my beer down to fill it out.
Brett: Two thing. 1) The picture you sent didn't work, so I found the best picture of you looking drunk that I could. And 2) JetsNation cannot endorese you as a Designated Driver. All in all, not the sentiment I was looking for, but it'll do. Moving on, what do you miss most about the Old Arena? The giant Queen picture, the ridiculous and dangerously steep upper deck, or Teppo Numminen?
Bob: None of the above! My dad never had to pay for parking at the old Arena. I'm paying $15 a game now! So it's either gotta be the free parking, or the free tickets to every game that my dad used to get for the old arena.
Brett: My cousin got game 1 seats and was offered $2000 apiece for his tickets. What's the craziest thing someone has done to try to get a ticket from you?
Bob: Made a deal with me to give each other first dibs on tickets! haha 22 suckers. Not very crazy eh?
Brett: I was hoping for some kind of offer of a first born or something 'Indecent Proposal' like, so yeah not very crazy. In your opinion, how long until the Jets make the playoffs and win the Cup. (HINT – 2013 is the correct answer).
Bob: I'd say the 2012-2013 season… but really, it's the 2013 Season
Brett: Yeah, that drives me up the wall that they're calling it the 2012-2013 season. Who are they fooling? (hint – Florida fans.) What's the best food served at the Arena?
Bob: I've only ever tried the beer there. It's mighty tasty. Although I don't think the woman sitting in-front of me at the Ottawa game would agree. Beer also gives me gas.
Brett: Beer does qualify as food, especially since I found this picture of a dog drinking some, so answer accepted. Remind me to not get you beer-drunk next time I see you, though. Moving on, which team have Winnipeg'ers decided they hate the most. Or, to put it into better context, if you're Calgary, who's your dirty, rotten Oilers?
Bob: It seems to be me. I'm always being booed for wearing the jersey that I'm wearing to games. The common factor in that is me. Except Habs games, I wear a Jets jersey to those ones.
Brett: That's great how you've been able to galvanize the fan base to hate you like that. I'd recommend everyone there hate the Oilers, Leafs and Wild. Last question; Would you get into a boat with Dustin Byfuglien?
Bob: Are you kidding me? Dude knows how to party! I'll even provide the boat!
Thanks to Bob Phangureh for the insights. Follow him on Twitter at @pimpbob for more crazy Jets learings. And, if you're at a Jets game and see a drunk guy in an Islanders Jersey offering rides home to people, say hello to him and DECLINE THAT OFFER!
If you have any Jets picture or stories, leave a comment!


text:
The UK is second only to the USA in space science and, although only a lucky few get the chance to become an Astronaut, studying physics can certainly help land you a job in space.
You could become a cosmologist and investigate the evolution of the universe; a planet hunter who searches for habitable planets around other stars; an astrophysicist who searches for dark matter and black holes, or an engineer that designs satellites or robots that land on other planets.
Job Profiles
Catherine uses NASA's famous Hubble Telesco…Read more
Satellite Engineer
Maggie leads a team of scientists and engineers…Read more
Useful Links
The British National Space Centre
Astronomy Technology Centre
The UK centre for astronomical technology.
Find out more about the European space company
Royal astronomical society
Find out more about astronomy
The folowing links are external


text:
Meet Pee Lovers In BO, Italy
Pee Dating has pee lovers in BO, Italy and the rest of the world. If you love the pee fetish and have ever dreamed about meeting men or women who love pee play or pee sex too, then join now to start making your dreams come true! All of the profiles here have been submitted by real people who want to date other pee lovers.
Women and men in BO who love peeing, golden showers, pee sex, desperation, holding, panty wetting, peeing in their clothes. Start meeting local guys and girls who are into watersports pissing fetish as much as you, right here in BO!


text:
Casual, contemporary style meets high quality American craftsmanship to create the perfect resting place for your home or office space. The Dayton Box Back Sofa's timeless style can be used to complete or accent any room, and with over 90 fabrics to choose from you can design the look that's right for you. This style is available slipcovered or fully upholstered. Frame is constructed of 7/8" kiln dried hardwood. All wood joints are interlocked and glued for stability.
The Standard Fill seating is composed of High Resiliency Foam with a Darcron Fiber Wrap in a Down Proof Ticking.
If you don't see the fabric you're looking for don't be discouraged. Our swatch closet is stocked full of options not pictured here. We have solids in every style from chenille to canvas to microfibers. We also have fabulous, unique prints which include a great selection of toiles, florals, coastal, stripes and more. You can also use your own fabric.
If you're going to be using your own fabrics please note the difference between the COM tiers:
Call a Design Consultant to look at more swatches or discuss your own fabrics! 800-927-5164
Need help?
Call 1-800-927-5618 Monday-Friday 9am-6pm or E-mail us anytime, [email protected]
Copyright © 2004-2020 PoshLiving.com, All Rights Reserved. Security & Privacy Statement
Monday, April 06, 2020


text:
Stage listings are compiled by Guardian staff. Performance times may change; call venues to confirm. Reviewers are Robert Avila, Rita Felciano, and Nicole Gluckstern. Submit items for the listings at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Mommy Queerest Exit Studio, 156 Eddy, SF; www.divafest.info. $15-25. Opens Fri/28, 8pm. Runs Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through March 29. DIVAfest and Guerrilla Rep present Kat Evasco (who co-wrote with John Caldon) in an autobiographical solo comedy about the relationship between a lesbian daughter and her closeted lesbian mother.
"Risk Is This … The Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival" Tides Theater, 533 Sutter, Second Flr; www.cuttingball.com. Free ($20 donation for reserved seating). Opens Fri/28, 8pm. Runs Fri-Sat, 8pm. (Starting March 14, venue changes to Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor, SF). Through March 29. Five new works in staged readings, including two from Cutting Ball resident playwright Andrew Saito.
Tipped & Tipsy Marsh Studio Theater, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Opens Sat/1, 5pm. Runs Sat, 5pm; Sun, 7pm. Through April 6. Solo performer Jill Vice performs her Fringe Festival hit.
The Altruists Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.shewolftheater.com. $19-34. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through March 8. She Wolf Theater performs Nicky Silver's "politically incorrect" play that exposes the real motivations behind altruistic behavior.
Children Are Forever (All Sales are Final!) Stage Werx Theatre, 446 Valencia, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. $15. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through March 22. W. Kamau Bell directs Julia Jackson in her solo show about adoption.
Feisty Old Jew Marsh San Francisco Main Stage, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $25-100. Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm (Sun/2, performance at 2pm; March 9, performance will be a reading of Charlie Varon's Fish Sisters). Through March 16. Charlie Varon performs his latest solo show, a fictional comedy about "a 20th century man living in a 21st century city."
Foodies! The Musical Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.foodiesthemusical.com. $32-34. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. AWAT Productions presents Morris Bobrow's musical comedy revue all about food.
Hundred Days Z Space, 450 Florida, SF; www.zspace.org. $10-100. Previews Wed/26, 7pm; Thu/27-Fri/28, 8pm. Opens Sat/1, 8pm. Runs Wed and Sun, 7pm; Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through April 6. Z Space presents the world premiere of a folk rock odyssey conceived and created by Abigail and Shaun Bengson.
An Indian Summer Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy, SF; www.wehavemet.org. $20-40. Thu/27-Sat/1, 8pm. Multi Ethnic Theater presents local playwright Charles Johnson's parable of race relations in the Deep South of the 1980s. On a small stage split into two alternating scenes by a movable wall in director-designer Lewis Campbell's set, two sets of working-class residents of rural Alabama, one white and one black, have their discrete worlds unexpectedly collide. Musician Charlie Ray (a less than convincing Kevin Wisney) is fresh from the pen and living with girlfriend Pearle (AJ Davenport). Plucking at his guitar, he dreams of getting some money to afford time in a recording studio. But his brother Bobby (Paul Rodriguez) has a way of talking him into sketchy schemes, which has Pearle worried, especially after a visit from the Sheriff (Richard Wenzel). For his part, Bobby is hoping to make some money to appease his pregnant wife, Sarah (Bree Swartwood), who wants Bobby to move her and their baby to Maine. Meanwhile, Junior (a forceful Bennie Lewis, alternating nights with Stuart Hall) is a feisty wheelchair bound African American man living in a small trailer. Junior's friend Emmitt (Fabian Herd, alternating with Vernon Medearis) tries to convince him he should put his money in a bank rather than keeping it in his trailer — especially now that Junior is selling his land for a tidy sum — but Junior doesn't trust banks. Next, Junior gets a letter from a lawyer claiming half the profit from the land sale on behalf of a long lost, half-white relative — the offspring of an illicit romance between Junior's father and a white woman, related to Pearle. The situation, of course, spells trouble. But while we see it coming, there's meant to be pathos in the tangled connections among these parallel stories. Unfortunately, the artificial nature of the plot makes it hard to credit, while the desultory pace and uneven acting make the going harder still. (Avila)
Jerusalem San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post, SF; www.sfplayhouse.org. $20-100. Tue-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 3pm). Through March 8. SF Playhouse presents the West Coast premiere of English playwright Jez Butterworth's West End and Broadway hit, a three-act revel led by a larger-than-life rebel, a stout boozed-up drug-dealer, habitual fabulist, and latter-day Digger of sorts named Johnny "Rooster" Byron (Brian Dykstra). The dominion of this Falstaffian giant is the English countryside outside his squalid trailer door, not far from Stonehenge, where he seems to incarnate a rather dissipated version of an ancient English independence, like one of the great mythical beings of rural lore. Aptly enough, it's Saint George's Day, the feast day of England's national saint, but it's not all a party this time around. Authorities have issued a final 24-hour eviction notice on Rooster's tin door; there are luxury apartments in the works; and there's concern in town about the underage teens who flock to Rooster like so many fledglings — one, in particular, has gone missing: Phaedra (Julia Belanoff), who we see at the very outset of the play donning a fairy costume and singing the title song, based on the Blake poem and England's unofficial national anthem. The next 24 hours will be either the breaking point or the apotheosis for all Rooster has made himself out to be. In Butterworth's big-eyed comedy, we are meant to feel a stake in this outcome whether we actually like Rooster or not — his independence, the scope of his life and vision, suggests the outer limit of possibility in an ever more disciplined and circumscribed world. Director Bill English (who also designed the impressive bucolic-trailer-park set) and his large cast (which includes a strong Ian Scott McGregor as longtime Rooster sidekick, Ginger) dive into the comedy with gusto. But somehow the drama, the larger stakes in the storyline, falls short. A certain requisite intensity and momentum are only fitfully achieved. Dykstra, as the expansive antihero, has the biggest burden here. And while he has an appealing swagger throughout, his wayward brogue and unconvincing bellicosity undercut the culmination of the play's (admittedly somewhat overwrought) mythopoeic proportions. (Avila)
Lovebirds Marsh San Francisco Studio, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Thu-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 8:30pm. Through March 15. Theater artist and comedian Marga Gomez presents the world premiere of her 10th solo show, described as "a rollicking tale of incurable romantics."
Napoli! ACT's Geary Theater, 415 Geary, SF; www.act-sf.org. $10-120. Wed-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2pm; Tue, 7pm (Tue/4, show at 8pm). Through March 9. American Conservatory Theater offers Bay Area audiences a rare look at one of the Neapolitan plays by Italy's famed writer Eduardo De Filippo (1900-1984). Set in a humble home in working-class Naples during and just after World War II, amid the transition from Fascism to the postwar order, the play's broad comedy comes with a strong undercurrent of social drama, as well as unexpectedly poignant moments. Its hero is the head of the household, Gennaro (former ACT core company member Marco Barricelli in a boisterous and gently moving performance), whose upright nature proves increasingly out-of-step with the times and indeed his own family, as his wife, Amalia (a commanding Seana McKenna), begins a black-market trade in coffee beans that becomes an all-out family crime ring by war's end. While this dynamic offers fodder for some rather hokey if not unenjoyable comedy, the play gathers itself into a serious and timely indictment of privilege and its corrosion of community, as well as the need for solidarity as the only viable, indeed the only satisfying way forward. If the message and the playwright-messenger (De Fillipo, also an actor, originated the part of Gennaro himself) come across today as somewhat heavy-handed, it remains hard to dismiss Napoli! as just a museum piece. That's due in part to director Mark Rucker's large and graceful cast, as well as a buoyant new translation by Linda Alper and ACT's Beatrice Basso. But it's also the prescience and appositeness for us, all these many years later and miles away, of the play's fundamentally social and political concerns. (Avila)
The Scion Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-60. Thu/27-Fri/28, 8pm; Sat/1, 5pm. Brian Copeland's fourth solo show takes on "privilege, murder, and sausage."
Shit & Champagne Rebel, 1772 Market, SF; shitandchampagne.eventbrite.com. $25. Fri/28-Sat/1, 8pm. D'Arcy Drollinger is Champagne White, bodacious blonde innocent with a wicked left hook in this cross-dressing '70s-style white-sploitation flick, played out live on Rebel's intimate but action-packed barroom stage. Written by Drollinger and co-directed with Laurie Bushman (with high-flying choreography by John Paolillo, Drollinger, and Matthew Martin), this high-octane camp send-up of a favored formula comes dependably stocked with stock characters and delightfully protracted by a convoluted plot (involving, among other things, a certain street drug that's triggered an epidemic of poopy pants) — all of it played to the hilt by an excellent cast that includes Martin as Dixie Stampede, an evil corporate dominatrix at the head of some sinister front for world domination called Mal*Wart; Alex Brown as Detective Jack Hammer, rough-hewn cop on the case and ambivalent love interest; Rotimi Agbabiaka as Sergio, gay Puerto Rican impresario and confidante; Steven Lemay as Brandy, high-end calf model and Champagne's (much) beloved roommate; and Nancy French as Rod, Champagne's doomed fiancé. Sprawling often literally across two buxom acts, the show maintains admirable consistency: the energy never flags and the brow stays decidedly low. (Avila)
The Speakeasy Undisclosed location (ticket buyers receive a text with directions), SF; www.thespeakeasysf.com. $60-90 (add-ons: casino chips, $5; dance lessons, $10). Thu-Sat, 7:40, 7:50, and 8pm admittance times. Through March 15. Boxcar Theatre presents Nick A. Olivero's re-creation of a Prohibition-era saloon, resulting in an "immersive theatrical experience involving more than 35 actors, singers, and musicians."
Twelfth Night Intersection for the Arts, 925 Mission, SF; www.calshakes.org. $20. Thu/27-Sun/2, 8pm (also Sun/2, 2pm). California Shakespeare Theater kicks off its 40th anniversary season with a touring performance of Shakespeare's classic romance, featuring an all-female cast.
Ubu Roi Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor, SF; www.cuttingball.com. $10-50. Thu, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 5pm. Through March 9. Cutting Ball Theater performs Alfred Jarry's avant-garde parody of Shakespeare's Macbeth, presented in a new translation by Cutting Ball artistic director Rob Melrose.
The World of Paradox Garage, 715 Bryant, SF; www.paradoxmagic.com. $12-15. Opens Mon/24, 8pm. Runs Mon, 8pm (no show March 10). Through April 7. Footloose presents David Facer in his solo show, a mix of magic and theater.
Yellow New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $25-45. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through March 23. New Conservatory Theatre Center performs the Bay Area premiere of Del Shores' Mississippi-set family drama.
The World's Funniest Bubble Show Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $8-11. Sun, 11am. Through March 9. The popular, kid-friendly show by Louis Pearl (aka "The Amazing Bubble Man") returns to the Marsh.
Can You Dig It? Back Down East 14th — the 60s and Beyond Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $20-35. Fri/28, 8pm; Sat/1, 8:30pm. Don Reed's new show offers more stories from his colorful upbringing in East Oakland in the 1960s and '70s. More hilarious and heartfelt depictions of his exceptional parents, independent siblings, and his mostly African American but ethnically mixed working-class community — punctuated with period pop, Motown, and funk classics, to which Reed shimmies and spins with effortless grace. And of course there's more too of the expert physical comedy and charm that made long-running hits of Reed's last two solo shows, East 14th and The Kipling Hotel (both launched, like this newest, at the Marsh). Can You Dig It? reaches, for the most part, into the "early" early years, Reed's grammar-school days, before the events depicted in East 14th or Kipling Hotel came to pass. But in nearly two hours of material, not all of it of equal value or impact, there's inevitably some overlap and indeed some recycling. Note: review from an earlier run of the show. (Avila)
Escanabe in da Moonlight Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck, Berk; www.theatrefirst.com. $10-30. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through March 8. TheatreFIRST performs Jeff Daniels' raucous comedy.
Geezer Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $25-50. Thu/27, 8pm; Sat/1, 5pm. Geoff Hoyle moves his hit comedy about aging to the East Bay.
Gideon's Knot Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk; www.auroratheatre.org. $32-60. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through March 9. Aurora and director Jon Tracy's Bay Area premiere of Johnna Adams' two-hander features strong acting, strong enough almost to make us believe in its premise. A harried mother named Corryn (a terrific Jamie J. Jones) arrives at the empty middle-school classroom overseen by a distracted teacher, Heather (a subdued yet agitated Stacy Ross). Corryn, proud but somehow desperate, admits to having not slept. Heather initially doesn't know why she's there — until it becomes clear she's the mother of a recent suicide, who has come to keep her appointment for a parent-teacher conference. The two women await the arrival of the absent principal, but Corryn presses for answers now to the circumstances surrounding her child's final days, which included his suspension from school and a beating received at the hands of fellow students. Heather, who seems to be hiding some separate anxiety or grief of her own (and is, though what we don't learn until nearly the end of the play), does her best to deflect any such conversation until the principal arrives but is soon embroiled in an argument with the headstrong and canny mother in front of her, a literature professor at a major university. Their dance centers on Corryn's son's last assignment, a short story, one his teacher sees as nothing but "hate-filled poisonous attacks," but his mother calls "poetry." In addition to the clash between a teacher's authority and a mother's regard, there's a class component to these differing perspectives, we presume. Yet there is a real issue here, somewhere, about art and education and authority — or would be if it did not end up buried along with the young writer we never meet. Playwright Adams advances the dramatic tension by tacking this way and that around her subject, but loses sight of the shore meanwhile, as her characters debate whether or not the short story contains a virtuous accusation against an instance of child abuse, only to drop this crux a moment later in a hard-to-credit squeamishness on Corryn's part over the potentially homoerotic longings of her deceased son. The final note lands in an even hokier key of mutual sorrow and understanding. (Avila)
The House That Will Not Stand Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $29-59. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat and March 13, 2pm); Wed, 7pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through March 16. July 4, 1836: As a white New Orleans patriarch (Ray Reinhardt) passes from the scene, under somewhat mysterious circumstances, his longtime mistress, Beartrice (an imposing, memorable Lizan Mitchell), and their daughters (the charmingly varied trio of Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Flor De Liz Perez, and Tiffany Rachelle Stewart) — all free women of color — vie for dominance while trying to secure their respective futures in Berkeley Rep's sumptuous and beautifully acted world premiere. Nationally acclaimed playwright and Oakland native Marcus Gardley (And Jesus Moonwalked the Mississippi; This World in a Woman's Hands) brews up a historically rich and revealing, as well as witty and fiery tale here, based on the practice of plaçage (common-law marriages between white men and black Creole women), grounding it in the large personalities of his predominately female characters — who include a nosy and angling intruder (played with subtlety by Petronia Paley) — and lacing it all with a delirious dose of magical realism via the voodoo charms of Beartrice's slave, Makeda (Harriett D. Foy, who with Keith Townsend Obadike also contributes lush, atmospheric compositions to the proceedings). Gardley delves productively into the history overall, although he sometimes indulges it too much in awkward and ultimately unnecessary expository dialogue. When he allows his characters full scope for expression of their personalities and relationships, however, the dialogue sails by with brio and punch —something the powerhouse cast, shrewdly directed by Patricia McGregor, makes the most of throughout. (Avila)
An Ideal Husband Douglas Morrison Theatre, 22311 N. Third St, Hayward; www.dmtonline.org. $10-29. Thu/27-Sat/1, 8pm; Sun/2, 2pm. Douglas Morrison Theatre performs Scott Munson's adaptation of the Oscar Wilde classic, reset in 1959 Washington, DC.
Lasso of Truth Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller, Mill Valley; www.marintheatre.org. $37-58. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat/1 and March 15, 2pm; March 6, 1pm); Wed, 7:30pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through March 16. Marin Theatre Company performs Carson Kreitzer's new play about the history of Wonder Woman.
The Lion and the Fox Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant, Berk; www.centralworks.org. $15-28. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through March 30. Central Works performs a prequel to its 2009 hit, Machiavelli's The Prince, which depicts a face-off between Niccolo Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia.
A Maze Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; www.justtheater.org. $20-25. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through March 9. Following a well-received run last summer at Live Oak Theater, Just Theater's West Coast premiere of Pittsburgh-based playwright Rob Handel's 2011 jigsaw drama gets a second life, courtesy of presenter Shotgun Players, in this remounting at Ashby Stage. Half the pleasure of a play like this is the unfolding of its serpentine plot, which becomes much more linear in the second half but initially seems to hover around three very disparate situations: 17-year-old Jessica (Frannie Morrison), recently escaped from eight years of captivity in the home and cellar of her kidnapper, prepares for an interview with a Barbara Walters-like TV journalist (Lauren Spencer); Oksana (Sarah Moser) and Paul (Harold Pierce), who head up their own highly successful rock band (suggestively titled the Pathetic Fallacy), are in the midst of a tough transition as Oksana checks Paul into rehab; and a fairytale King (Lasse Christiensen) responds to the Queen's (Janis DeLucia) news that they are about to have an "heir" by beginning construction on a gigantic, seemingly endless maze emanating outward from their cozy den to the furthest reaches of the kingdom. Meanwhile, the director of the rehab clinic (Carl Holvick-Thomas) introduces Paul to another artist-resident, a fussy, eccentric author named Beeson (Clive Worsley) at work on a multi-volume graphic novel of maddening intricacy. As the three storylines begin to coalesce, the play asks us to consider questions about artistic liberty, authorship, responsibility, human connection — big themes like that. It does so in a mostly playful, only slightly eerie way, despite the grim central situation revolving around the bright and surprisingly outgoing Jessica. Employing almost the identical cast as last time, again under director Molly Aaronson-Gelb, the proceedings unfold with generally solid acting, if not always persuasive dialogue, at least where things are meant to be more or less realistic (to an extent, the fairytale segment comes across more compellingly for being strictly bound by the artificial nature of its narrative). There's a quirky quality to the play, and the production, that amuses, even as the coy plotline bemuses. And much like an amusement park adventure, the play makes sure no one really gets lost. This is a play that is happy to tell you the various ways the central "maze" might be read metaphorically, for instance, so that everything is tidy and clear — like a fairytale, or a graphic novel — not so mysterious in the end, just tinged with a kind of comfortable melancholy. (Avila)
The Music Man Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College, Berk; www.berkeleyplayhouse.org. $17-60. Fri and March 20, 7pm; Sat, 1 and 6pm; Sun, noon and 5pm. Through March 23. There's trouble in River City! See it unfold amid all those trombones at Berkeley Playhouse.
"The Aftermath Affair" ODC Theater, 3153 17th St, SF; www.odcdance.org. Fri/28-Sun/2, 8pm. $20-35. Blind Tiger Society performs a world premiere by choreographer Bianca Cabrera.
Caroline Lugo and Carolé Acuña's Ballet Flamenco Peña Pachamama, 1630 Powell, SF; www.carolinalugo.com. Sat/1, March 8, 16, 22, and 30, 6:15pm. $15-19. Flamenco performance by the mother-daughter dance company, featuring live musicians.
"Collected Stories" Cartwright Hotel, 524 Sutter, SF; www.collectedstoriessf.com. Thu/27-Sat/1, 8pm (also Sat/1, 2pm); Sun/2, 2pm. $21-28. Expression Productions performs a "pop-up theater" take on Donald Margulies' drama about a university professor and her protégé.
"Dream Queens Revue" Aunt Charlie's Lounge, 133 Turk, SF; www.dreamqueensrevue.com. Wed/26, 9:30pm. Free. Drag with Collette LeGrande, Ruby Slippers, Sophilya Leggz, Bobby Ashton, and more.
Feinstein's at the Nikko Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, SF; www.feinsteinssf.com. This week: Paula West, Thu/27-Fri/28, 8pm; Sat/1, 7 and 9:30pm, $35-50.
"Magic at the Rex" Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter, SF; www.magicattherex.com. Sat, 8pm. Ongoing. $25. Magic and mystery with Adam Sachs and mentalist Sebastian Boswell III.
"The Magic Flute" Center for New Music, 55 Taylor, SF; themagicflute.brownpapertickets.com. Thu/27 and March 7, 7pm; Sun/2, 2pm. $15-20. Waffle Opera performs a stripped-down version of Mozart's classic, with new English dialogue.
"Partyiac Arrest: A Post-Valentine's Hangover Cabaret" Mojo Theatre, 2940 16th St, #27, SF; www.mojotheatre.com. Fri/28-Sat/1, 8pm. $10-15. Raucous variety show (comedy, music, circus acts, short films, and more) with Mojo Theatre.
"Point Break Live!" DNA Lounge, 373 11th St, SF; www.dnalounge.com. March 7 and April 4, 7:30 and 11pm. $25-50. Dude, Point Break Live! is like dropping into a monster wave, or holding up a bank, like, just a pure adrenaline rush, man. Ahem. Sorry, but I really can't help but channel Keanu Reeves and his Johnny Utah character when thinking about the awesomely bad 1991 movie Point Break or its equally yummily cheesy stage adaptation. And if you do an even better Keanu impression than me — the trick is in the vacant stare and stoner drawl — then you can play his starring role amid a cast of solid actors, reading from cue cards from a hilarious production assistant in order to more closely approximate Keanu's acting ability. This play is just so much fun, even better now at DNA Lounge than it was a couple years ago at CELLspace. But definitely buy the poncho pack and wear it, because the blood, spit, and surf spray really do make this a fully immersive experience. (Steven T. Jones)
"The Romane Event Comedy Show" Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd St, SF; www.pacoromane.com. Wed/26, 8-10pm. $10. With Bay Area comedy all-stars Paco Romane, Will Durst, Karina Dobbins, and Nick Palm.
"Black Choreographers Festival: Here & Now" This week: Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon, Oakl; www.bcfhereandnow.com. Fri/28-Sat/1, 8pm. $10-25.The festival, which runs through March 8, continues its 10th anniversary with "BCF Oakland," featuring works by Joanna Haigood, Gregory Dawson, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Portsha Jefferson, and Kendra Kimbrough Barnes.
"The Buddy Club Children's Shows" JCC of the East Bay Theater, 1414 Walnut, Berk; www.thebuddyclub.com. Sun/2, 11am. $8. With acrobat and juggler Dana Smith. Also Sun/2, 11:30am, $8, Kanbar Center for the Performing Arts, 200 N. San Pedro, San Rafael; www.thebuddyclub.com. With magician Brian Scott.
"MarshJam Improv Comedy Show" Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. Fri, 8pm. Ongoing. $10. Improv comedy with local legends and drop-in guests.
"Poetry Express" Himalayan Flavors, 1585 University, Berk; poetryexpressberkeley.blogspot.com. Mon, 7pm. Free. Ongoing. This week: Zora Raab, plus open mic. *


text:
News Archives - 2010
Tammy McGee named Vice President for Finance and Administration and CFO
Augsburg College announced Tuesday that it has named Tammy McGee to serve as its Vice President for Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer.
McGee, who has a strong background in higher education, will assume a key leadership position at Augsburg. She will work on the college's continued long-term financial planning, oversee facilities and human resources, and work with faculty and staff colleagues to assess new opportunities for program growth.
"I am thrilled that Tammy McGee will join Augsburg as our new Vice President for Finance and Administration and Chief Financial Officer," Augsburg president Paul C. Pribbenow said. "Tammy brings to this critical position a combination of extensive finance experience in higher education, a passion for teaching and learning, and a deep commitment to the role of a college of the church in a city. Tammy has the skills to build on our strong foundation of financial discipline and to bring her own vision and innovative spirit to bear as a partner in moving Augsburg to an even stronger position with its human and financial resources."
McGee has served as CFO, Vice President for Finance and Administration at St. Catherine University in St. Paul since July 2004. Before that, she held a similar position in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.
"I have watched the progress made at Augsburg for quite some time," McGee said. "I really look forward to working with President Pribbenow, the Board of Regents and new Augsburg colleagues, to advance the college's distinctive mission and vision of access and excellence in higher education."
McGee succeeds Vice President and CFO Kevin Myren, who is now the CFO at CommonBond, a housing agency in St. Paul
McGee has degrees in finance and economics from St. Cloud State University and a MBA from the University of St. Thomas.
Inside Augsburg showcases the experiences of Augsburg College students, alumni, staff, and faculty. Send your story idea to email@example.com.


text: Born and raised in small town upstate New York in 1955. William is a self taught artist and has received no formal art training his talent is God given. Employing techniques learned from trial and error experience and talent is still evolving and growing. Williams illustrations have appeared in several magazines and he has been a featured artist on several internet websites where his work is displayed. His work has won several art competitions and he is highly sought after for commission pieces. Currently co owner, with his wife, of Broken Rock Studio where he sells and displays his pieces. The studio, located in upstate New York, was created in 2010 and has been his main interest since. William has currently turned his attention to the medium of acrylic and has been creating a wide array of portrait work with a musical / celebrity theme. Limited Edition prints are available.Message me for details or questions.


text:
Developing and valuing environmental assets
Developing my property
Some landowners may seek to develop their property to take advantage of emerging opportunities.
Where this development requires clearing of native vegetation or is a significant change of previous use then the proposal may require an area of land be offset to minimise the impacts on biodiversity of the development.
A Biodiversity Offsets Scheme has been established to govern how biodiversity offsets will be calculated and credits used to ensure they deliver clear conservation outcomes. The requirements for landowners under the Scheme will be assessed using the Biodiversity Assessment Method (BAM).
The assessment must be carried out by an accredited assessor who will make a determination about any required offsets or payments a landowner must make to compensate for biodiversity losses as a result of development.
The Scheme also provides opportunities for land owners to earn income by conserving vegetation on their property and generating offset credits that can be sold on the open market and allows land owners to purchase offset credits and develop land without the need to establish set aside areas on their property.
For more information:
Valuing environmental assets
Voluntary financial incentives will be available to support land owners to actively manage high-value environmental assets on private land by establishing conservation agreements or stewardship sites.
Establishing offset sites or entering into a conservation or stewardship agreement to protect native vegetation will generate a financial return on these important assets.
The NSW Government has committed an unprecedented $240 million over five years to support conservation on private land and $70 million in each following year, subject to performance reviews.
A new Biodiversity Conservation Trust (BCT) will be established to administer the new private land conservation program. A Biodiversity Conservation Investment Strategy (BCIS) will guide the BCT in delivering the Government's investment in private land conservation. It will set out proposed objectives, priority investment areas and investment principles.


text:
well worth a little drive in the country.
Hoover's Farm Market and Greenhouses opens in April of each year
with spring flowers including bedding plants, geraniums, perennials
and hanging baskets. Fresh fruits and vegetables are grown
right here on the farm including strawberries, melons, tomatoes,
string beans, peas, squash, potatoes and much more. Hoover's
Farm Market specializes in homegrown sweet corn, fresh picked every
morning. Take a little drive on the country roads of scenic
Lancaster County... We'll see you at Hoover's.
Hoover's Farm Market & Greenhouses, Featuring:
Greenhouse............ April - June
Produce Market....... April - November
Mon. - Fri ............. 8:00am - 8:00pm
Saturdays ............. 8:00am - 5:00pm
Sundays ............... Closed
Located at:
30 Erb's Bridge Rd
Lititz, PA 17543
(Rothsville Area)
Click map to enlarge.
Phone: (717) 733-1048
All rights
reserved. Website design by
Web Tek Computer Company, Ephrata PA


text:
You have no items to compare.
Welcome to My Buddy's Nuts | Gourmet Nuts
You have no items in your shopping cart.
8 Item(s)
Starting at:
Starting at:
Address:10612-D Providence Rd. Suite #567 Charlotte NC 28277No storefront provided at this location. It is only for mailing services only.
Working Days/Hours:Mon - Fri / 9:00AM - 5:00PM
Sweet and Super Crunchy precisely describe this fabulous, 4 oz. bag of pecans! Did we mention they're Super Crunchy? Well they are! It's all in the secret process! They're the perfect treat to eat one by one or dee-licious on salads, desserts, even pasta!
Get all the latest information on Events,Sales and Offers. Sign up for newsletter today.
Enter your e-mail Address


text:
Yesterday we saw pictures of an amazing crash where a driver survived after her Ford Ranger did a barrel roll off a bridge and into a lake. Here's the video and it's as nuts as you'd expect.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation released this surveillance camera video yesterday urging drivers to slow down for icy bridges and ramps like this one near St. Paul. I'm going to consider buying a Ford Ranger.


text: Floating wetland islands offer a way for shorelines that have been converted to hardened structures to regain some of the ecosystem benefits typically provided by natural tidal wetlands. These benefits can include improving water quality and clarity, removing excess nutrients from the water, reducing the incidence or severity of low dissolved oxygen events, and providing habitat for a variety of beneficial plants and animals. Baltimore's Inner Harbor offers an ideal place to use these islands, as the entire shoreline has been converted to manmade structures, with very limited opportunities to restore a natural shoreline. In August 2010, the National Aquarium assembled, planted, and launched a floating wetland island in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Since then, the Aquarium has monitored the island's plant species and animal colonization, and has worked with the University of Maryland's Maryland Sea Grant program to perform nutrient uptake experiments. Overall, the island appears to be capable of supporting a lush and diverse community of wetland plants. The island is also colonized by a large and complex assemblage of estuarine organisms, including many filter-feeding species, with a source for fish and crabs. Back to the Top


text:
Kenny did say he's be willing to make some additions if the Sox take advantage of a relatively easy June schedule and get back in the race.
UPDATE: Gregor:
"I don't have a deadline," Williams said. "I just hope we put together something that resembles a streak of some sort. But I don't have a date; I don't have a deadline.
"I still believe in these guys and the ability that they have. We just need to play better and be more consistent."


text:
Date(s) - 23/02/2020
6:30 pm - 7:45 pm
Barclay Viewforth Church
On a Sunday evening at Barclay Viewforth Church we gather to worship God together. This is a relevant, contemporary service where the worship team leads us in times in seeking God in more corporate worship, spontaneous song, prayer and times of prophetic listening. We look to God's word and see how it brings application to our lives. We also have space for prayer and have Prayer Ministry after where we pray for one another. Join us for a tea/coffee/.. beforehand at 6.15pm.
Whether you've been to church or not why not come along and find out more of God.
We'd love to see you and get to know you better.


text:
The Renewal of All Things (Psalm 98:1-9)
2018.12.09__10.34 (download)
Preacher: Rev. Paul Edgar
During his twenty-eight years as principal and teacher at our school, Mr. Edgar has developed an appreciation for the glorious uniqueness of each student and a passionate desire to give them the very best possible experience in Christian education. "I am thankful for the opportunities we have here each day to impart a sense of… (read more)
Bible Passages: Psalm 98:1-9


text:
WasWatching.com Stat Glossary
One of the things that I've always wrestled with in doing this blog is the use of some of the sabermetric measures that I like to throw around. It's not me using them that's the issue – it's knowing whether or not that people understand the terms that concerns me.
Should I use the full term or are acronyms OK? Do I need to provide the definition each time that I use them? Stuff like that.
So, I've decided to create an entry here where I can list some of the terms that I use – and link to it at times (when I mention some of these sabermetric measures). It seems like a good Band-Aid now for this issue of mine.
Here are some of the terms that I use here frequently and the skinny on each:
Bases Per Plate Appearance [BPA]
The formula is (TB+BB+HBP+SB-CS-GIDP)/(AB+BB+HBP+SF).
Baserunners Per Nine Innings [BR/9]
The total number of batters reaching base against a pitcher divided by the number of innings pitched and multiplied by nine. It measures how many batters reach base on a per game basis against a pitcher.
A league best figure for this category is typically between 9 and 10.
Blown Saves [BS]
When a relief pitcher enters a game, he may be said to have a save opportunity if his team currently has the lead and he would be awarded a save if he finished the game. If, while he is pitching, his team loses the lead, either by way of the score becoming tied or by falling behind, that pitcher is said to have "blown the save." He is charged with a blown save, even if his team should eventually win the game, because he was entrusted with the responsibility to preserve his team's lead, and he failed to accomplish that.
Command Ratio [K/BB]
(Strikeouts / Walks) – A measure of a pitcher's raw ability to get the ball over the plate. There is no more fundamental a skill than this, and so it is accurately used as a leading indicator to project future rises and falls in other gauges, such as ERA. Command is one of the best gauges to use to evaluate minor league performance. It is a prime component of a pitcher's base performance value.
Benchmarks: Baseball's upper echelon of pitchers will have ratios in excess of 3.0. Pitchers with ratios under 1.0 — indicating that they walk more batters than they strike out — have low probability for long term success.
Defensive Efficiency Record [DER]
The rate at which balls put into play are converted into outs by a team's defense.
Game Score [G Sc]
A measure of pitching performance for starting pitchers. Developed by Bill James. The formula consists of eight parts:
1. Start with 50.
2. Add 1 point for each out recorded.
3. Add 2 points for each inning the pitcher completes after the fourth inning.
4. Add 1 point for each strikeout.
5. Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed.
6. Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed.
7. Subtract 2 points for each unearned run allowed.
8. Subtract 1 point for each walk.
Consider this pitching line:
8.1 5 2 1 2 7
The game score for the performance shown would be 72 (50+25+8+7-10-4-2-2).
An average start would score 50. One start in 300 reaches a score of 90 or better, and an all-time great performance would reach 100.
Isolated Power [ISO]
A player's slugging average minus his batting average. Bill James provided its current name. Branch Rickey championed the stat, calling it "Power Average." A measure of a player's ability to hit for power considered apart from his ability to hit singles.
For an individual, ISO under .080 means he can be considered a singles hitter; ISO over .200 is very good power.
Neutral Losses [NL]
It is a projection for how many losses a pitcher would have if he was given average run support, considering the amount of actual decisions.
Neutral Wins [NW]
It is a projection for how many wins a pitcher would have if he was given average run support, considering the amount of actual decisions.
Offensive Winning Percentage [OWP]
A player's Offensive Winning Percentage equals the percentage of games a team would win with nine of that player in its lineup, given average pitching and defense. The formula is the square of Runs Created per 27 Outs, divided by the sum of the square of Runs Created per 27 Outs and the square of the league average of runs per game.
Park Factor [PF]
This is an estimate of a ballpark's effects on batting and pitching and is expressed as either a decimal or a whole number. A neutral ballpark has a park factor of 1.00 or 100. Park factors are those used in many publications include three-year averages unless a ballpark was in use for fewer than three seasons. Park factors are also adjusted to reflect the fact that a batter or pitcher does not face his own team. Thus, different park factors are provided for a team's batters and pitchers.
Production [OPS]
Sabermatricians (baseball statisticians) consider the ability to get on base (OBP) and the ability to hit for power (SLG) to be the two most valuable offensive abilities of a player. Thus one measure of a player's prime offensive talents, his "production" or PRO, is to simply combine OBP and SLG.
Pythagorean Winning Percentage [PW%]
Developed by Bill James, is the predicted winning percentage based on runs and runs allowed. The formula is as follows: Runs^2/(Runs^2+Runs Allowed^2)
Here is the calculation for the 1999 Yankees. The Yankees scored 900 runs and allowed 731 runs:
Thus, the Yankees would be predicted to have a .603 winning percentage. In actuality, the Yankees had a .605 winning percentage. A more precise calculation uses a factor of 1.83, but a factor of two works almost as well. From Pythagorean winning percentage it is possible to figure Pythagorean wins (PW) and Pythagorean losses (PL).
Range [RNG]
This is an unofficial measure of a defensive player's fielding ability. In effect, it indicates how many defensive chances a player is able to convert into outs on a per game basis. Range for 1B, C and pitchers is not a meaningful stat. It is calculated as:
where SC is successful chances and INN is innings played on defense.
Performance differs by position. Typical season range factors are: 2B-4.5 to 6.0; 3B-2.0 to 3.3; SS-4.0 to 5.3; RF- and LF-1.5 to 2.5; CF-2.3 to 3.2.
Runs Created [RC]
A Bill James statistic. An estimate of the number of runs that a player would produce based on his offensive statistics. Runs created is an attempt to measure total offensive contribution in terms of runs (see also Runs Contributed). Divided by the runs required per win (in professional baseball, approximately 10), runs created becomes the total wins created by this player's offensive performance.
Note: The formula shown here is the modern formula in current use by sabermetricians. Bill James created many variations of the basic formula to adjust for available data and other factors in bygone eras.
RC typically ranges from 0 to 120 in a 162-game season. Only players who play a lot can have a very high season total, since the number is dependent on total stats. For a team, runs created is a projected estimate of the runs the team should have scored given its number of hits (by type), walks, stolen bases, and times caught stealing. Comparing team runs created to actual runs scored gives an indication of other factors at work, factors that effect the efficiency of a team's offense. For instance, high efficiency — consistently scoring more runs than projected — could be explained by good clutch hitting, good baserunning, good managing, or good luck (or maybe cheating). The more consistent the two figures, the less luck is probably involved.
Runs Created Above Average [RCAA]
This is a Lee Sinins creation. It's the difference between a player's runs created total and the total for an average player who used the same amount of his team's outs. A negative RCAA indicates a below average player in this category.
Runs Created Per Game [RC/G]
Runs created is an accumulation stat; the more a player bats, the more runs he creates (assuming he makes some positive contribution). Converting runs created into runs created per game provides an indication of how valuable this player is to have in the lineup. RC/G is somewhat like ERA is for pitchers; it recasts the offensive contribution of the player in the context of a nine inning (in this case, 27 out) game. To calculate RC/G, multiply RC by 27 and divide by the number of outs the player is responsible for (OM), thus:
[Note: The formula shown here is the modern formula in current use by sabermetricians. Since data is available to account for all outs made, it is appropriate to use 27 outs as the context. In earlier periods, data on some kinds of outs (GIDP and CS are examples) are incomplete or unavailable. Consequently, applying the formula to other eras requires use of 25.5 or 26 outs per game.]
One way to look at RC/G is to imagine a lineup with the same player batting in every spot. A team made up of nine 1992 model Barry Bonds, for example, would be expected to score 11.34 runs per game on average. (Bonds had 147 runs created in 1992.)
Runs Saved Against Average [RSAA]
This is a Lee Sinins creation. It is the amount of runs that a pitcher saved versus what an average pitcher would have allowed. It is similar to the statistic Pitching Runs detailed in Total Baseball – except (1) both have different ways of park adjustments and (2) Total Baseball added a procedure to take into account the amount of decisions the pitcher had while RSAA does not. A negative RSAA indicates a below average player in this category.
Secondary Average [SEC]
Developed by Bill James to measure a player's offensive contributions beyond batting average. Secondary Averages of leagues are always very similar to the league batting average, but player secondary averages run from .100 (for truly inept offensive players) to upwards of .600. The formula is: (Total Bases-Hits+Walks+Stolen Bases)/(At Bats)
Total Average [TA]
A ratio of the bases a player accumulates for his team and the outs he costs his team. Total Average is a Thomas Boswell statistic included in his book "How Life Imitates the World Series."
If a player has a TA over 1.000, that's very good.
Win Shares [WS]
A Bill James creation that aims towards allowing player evaluation across positions, teams and eras. It measures the total sum of a player's contribution expressed as one number.
Zone Rating [ZR]
STATS Inc. devised their own system of zones to track locations of batted balls. They use this data to measure a fielder's range in the field. Zone Rating areas of responsibility do not span the entire field — some areas (for example, deep in the gap between CF and RF) are considered to be a "no man's land" that is ordinarily beyond the reach of fielders, and thus a ball hit there is not considered an opportunity.


text:
Homeowner: "I woke up and this guy was in my living room standing in front of my bookshelves with this huge knife!"
Cop: "Did he threaten you? Did you feel threatened?"
H: "No . . . mostly I was bored and frustrated."
C: "How so?"
H: "Well, I just wanted to see the f**kin' book he was talking about but he was going on and on and on about some other sh!t and I couldn't skip ahead 'cause it's live right there in my living room."
C: "What an asshole."
H: "Book was super cool though."
C: "What did he do with the knife?"
H: "Other than almost cut off a finger? Nothing. Just cut the tape on the box. I think he overcompensating for something with that knife, if you want to know what I think."
C: "Hahahaha what a loser!"
A few production notes: We're getting Mike Flanagan to direct!! We were going to have Idris Elba play me but the social media reaction was just awful and the producers caved to the pressure. It wasn't a racial thing like it was with DT. The public just felt he was wrong for the part, being toooo damn sexy to play me convincingly. So now we're having tough time casting for my character. I might have to play myself.
Has this thread been irredeemably derailed?? I do this in meetings all the time.
I said I would try to snap some photos of my Billy Bookcase display shelves with lights. I am gradually replacing a mishmash of different bookcases. Currently in the Den I have a desk that runs one whole wall with shelves on the top. That will not change and everything I do will need to blend with that. The room also has some rather strange dimensions. The Bill cases will allow me to better use the space. I currently have some oak cases from Costco and some Sauder cases mixed in. They will eventually be replaced with more Billy cases.
Sorry for the quality of the pics. I probably will not take the time to get quality photos until I complete the transition:
The top shelf on the Billy cases is a glass shelf with LED lighting. I will post side by side photos with flash and without:
Looks great, Martin! Love all the little accessories that make a fun and impressive visual presentation(s).
Very nice, Martin! I really like the lights in the case. It's starting to make me rethink my decision! Thanks for posting the pics.
Thanks guys. The photos do not do them justice.
Those are some awesome shelves! Love the way you display everything. Thanks for showing!


text:
Attention drivers with a CDL license The practitioners in Lawrence General Hospital's Occupational Health office are ready now to conduct certified DOT exams. Call to make your appointment today: 978-683-4000, Ext. 2343.It goes without saying that employers want to do everything they can to keep their employees healthy and safe. After all, a healthy work force is an energized team. And the benefits to the employer are obvious – less absenteeism, fewer health claims, higher morale and greater productivity.
Lawrence General Hospital offered the first Occupational Health Services in the Merrimack Valley. We have been caring for the employees of local businesses for over 20 years and currently, we are the largest and only hospital-based Occupational Health program in our region. More than 200 Merrimack Valley employers of all sizes, including other health facilities, count on us for efficient, high quality service.
The Occupational Health medical professionals at Lawrence General work with you to determine what suits your company. We can help you choose from a broad array of services, tailoring a program that is right for your work force and your budget. You pay only for the services you need and no more.
Our one-stop comprehensive service means your employees are treated promptly and return to work sooner.
Our doctors, nurse practitioners and nurses have an average of 10 years experience in the occupational health profession. They are committed to the Lawrence General Hospital program of service excellence, meeting your needs skillfully and on a schedule convenient for you and your staff.
The services we provide include the following:
For more information, contact 978-683-4000, Ext. 2343.


text:
Tracy Sugarman told a small group of about 30 Wabash students — mostly freshmen and sophomores — that he wrote his most recent book because "we do a lousy job of teaching history in America."
Sugarman has been an active participant in American history since he stormed the beaches in World War II — his vivid drawings and descriptive prose have documented much of that history.
But he believes an entire generation of Americans is growing up without realizing the heroic sacrifices people like his friend Charles McLaurin made in pursuit of basic civil rights. "We've allowed it to slip," he said.
"All of you didn't know about Charles McLaurin or Fannie Lou Hamer or me until you read this book," he told the Wabash students, who have read We Had Sneakers, They Had Guns: The Kids Who Fought for Civil Rights in Mississippi.
"I learned about their sacrifices by going to the South, being a messenger of the civil rights movement, and bringing my drawings to the nation.
"It's important for people to know about Charles McLaurin."
Sugarman and McLaurin are Wabash's featured guests in celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Their visit is sponsored by the advisory board of the Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies.
The students who read Sugarman's book were allowed to pick his brain over lunch on Thursday, and though he's nearing 90 years old, Sugarman answered every question with a thoughtful answer.
"My inclination as a young person was to express myself through my drawings," he said. "By drawing, I was able to find truth and understand what I was looking at. It was of great value to me. "
After serving in World War II, Sugarman began his career as an illustrator at the height of the magazine industry in New York. His drawing appeared in literally hundreds of magazine ads, books, and record covers. And just as the growth of television began to impede on the magazine industry's advertising revenue, television news also began to bring frightening images of segregation into the homes of Americans.
"As a father and a husband, I began to be concerned by what we saw on TV," he said. "It shocked the hell out of me. I thought World War II had settled certain things like 'a master race.' I'd given two years of my life fighting against this, and I come back and discover racism in the American south. It infuriated me and my family."
Sugarman said his work as an illustrator for corporate giants like General Electric and AT&T celebrated "the greatness of America." Then at age 44 — having lived in an all-white neighborhood, attended an all-white university, and served in an all-white navy, he headed south.
"I headed south… to discover Dixie. Dixie was rotten with apartheid — violent, unfair, terrible apartheid. To see it up close was a shock to my system that I hope I never get over."
Using the bulk of his time to inspire the Wabash students to make the most of their lives, Sugarman — with a little help from McLaurin, who sat in on the book discussion — tried to convince the Wabash men that motivated people can change anything.
"The great legacy of Charles McLaurin and the civil rights movement is the history written in blood of the young people who dared to stand up and demand change," Sugarman said with passion. "Those young people created a climate for change everywhere, all around the world. People everywhere learned to organize for change.
"Sadly, a lot of this is like mythology now."
And that's exactly why Sugarman published We Had Sneakers, They Had Guns in 2009 — 45 years after he wrote his first book about the Freedom Summer, Stranger at the Gates: A Summer in Mississippi. He wants to wake up a sleeping generation of young people who either believe there is nothing left to change or are unwilling to take a stand.
"People pay dues; they invest their lives in things they are committed to," he said. "It isn't a matter of ideology, it's a matter of commitment.
"There's a lot of unfinished business in America."
One student said he wasn't sure there was anything great left to change. Sugarman quickly rattled off several nagging issues in our society, including the two million people who are incarcerated in American prisons. "Like in the sixties, people are just looking the other way at this problem. We've got two million kids who should be learning, teaching, raising families, and making a contribution to society."
Another student asked Sugarman why he, a college-educated, wealthy white man, got involved in the civil rights movement.
"I was motivated by a speech I heard from Martin Luther King, Jr., when he said, 'Don't sleep through a revolution,'" Sugarman recalled. "So I went to Washington with my two kids, and I was worried. Washington was still a southern town, a segregated town in 1963. And yet 250,000 blacks and whites got together saying 'we shall overcome' and we changed history that day. That was the turning point. Good got enlisted to fight evil, non-violently."
McLaurin spoke up, too, saying involvement is about motivation. In his case, the motivation to join the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee was anger. "I was selfish in the beginning, but it seemed like every place I went, I faced it: some white person wanted the space I was in," McLaurin said. "I accepted the invitation to join the movement only after I had faced racism and segregation."
Sugarman ended the talk by reminding the Wabash men that they stand on the edge of a technological revolution. No longer will media be required to bring attention to growing societal problems. Using the events in Tunisia, Lebanon, and Iran as examples, Sugarman said young people can be held down for only so long.
"You're a the beginning of a whole generation of revolution," he said. "You just can't keep young people bottled up any more."


text:
Welcome! I'm Pet Psychic, Animal Communicator Terri Wallace- Let's talk!
One of the fundamental concepts of inter-species communication, either animal communication or with insects or plants, is: All living beings have their own thoughts, personalities, needs and perspectives. Our ability to communicate with other species, such as animals, opens up whole new possibilities for sharing and learning from their wisdom.
My role as an Animal Communicator & Holistic Healer is communication, guidance and mentoring. Even though I am based in Arizona, USA, I offer training and workshops in various locations, as well as consultations via phone, Zoom and email for out-of-state clients. As a Holistic Healer, I offer Reiki and other energy healing modalities for both humans and animals.
Check out my Services page for all offerings.
Book a 1-1 Animal Communication session now over Zoom. I'll record the session, and you'll get to the bottom of what's going on with your furry companion.
Here are what a couple of my clients are saying:
"We met Terri at Dog Days last year. First let me say that she is an amazing human being. She is kind and I do believe she has a special gift to share. Out of curiosity we tried this on a whim and were shocked at how right on she was with specifics. My dogs love her and she has really given us insight as to how to remedy some critical issues we were having with a couple of adopted dogs. I trusted her insight and was not disappointed. It's cool to be able to communicate with your fur babies. Very interesting to say the least! The more of an open mind you bring with you the more fluid the 'conversation' becomes. This is pretty amazing."
— Lucinda A. (Buckeye, AZ)
"I have had the joy of working with Terri both as a client and with another client. She has a very gentle spirit and laser focus, which allows her to get to the heart of the matter. She is very gifted and really enjoys what she does as is evidenced by her connections with people and animals. My dog loves her and she has hit the mark with him each time. She is a Blessing."
— Eve A. (Phoenix, AZ))
Need to know more? Check out my FAQs page.
For all my offerings, as well as more testimonials, go to my Services page.
I look forward to working with you soon!
Love and light,
Weeds, weeds and more weeds-
Is It Spring? The flowers, plants and birds are shouting yes! Here they come-weeds, weeds and more weeds! I don't know about you, but, as much as I love spring, I'm not quite... READ MORE
Animal chat-messages
Animal chat-messages is a new column that I have added to my newsletter. I will be channeling these messages from a different group of animals, plants, insects and rocks each newsletter. – A... READ MORE
Insect Armageddon-Fact or Fiction?
Armageddon, Apocalypse or business as usual? Is there a difference between the insect Armageddon and Apocalypse and are we headed in that direction is the question many people ask. Is it true that... READ MORE