text:
I spend a lot of time crying.
Last week my son, Ethan, was away for an end of summer "boys only" week long bash. Normally I could handle it alright but this year is a different. This year he is five years old and this week he will start school. Without him here last week, I had 194 tear filled hours (give or take one) to flip through the pages of his life, pictures of him and by him: a documentary of a boy. My boy.
I owe my writing to Ethan and apples. You see, few years ago I was trapped in a miserable job working sixty hours a week. I didn't have enough time with him and the little time I had I was too tired to enjoy. Late one night I was watching him play in the middle of the room. He was reading simple words and adding: "Two plus two is four. Four apples. Two plus three is five. Five apples. Mommy! I count apples."
Apples? He can count apples? Foggy and sleepy and confused I thought "When did he learn to do that?" I was sleepless that night thinking of all the things I was missing out on in his life, trying to recount the last time I had giggled for no reason, hating myself for turning into a corporate drone. He was only three at the time but since his birth I tried to impress on him the importance of finding his passion and pursuing it.
But what about me? Writing is my passion but for practical reasons I never seriously thought to pursue it. Utilities, medical, 401Ks, 529s, shoes…argh! I had myself convinced all those things meant working ten hours a day even if I was miserable. Then I thought of the gleam in his big, brown eyes when he announced he could count apples. I wanted him live every day looking at the world with that glimmer in his eyes. If I wanted Ethan to live that life, I would have to lead by example. When the sun came up the next day (I hadn't slept so "waking up" isn't exactly accurate) I made changes the smart way: immediately and without thought. I quit my job and took a significant pay cut to work in a field more creatively challenging. With my extra time, I wrote. And wrote. And wrote.
And cried. A lot.
I cried sad tears when I got my first paycheck – I hadn't thought the pay cut would be that drastic. I cried tired tears through my first NaNoWriMo. I cried a few celebratory tears when I finished my first manuscript and many many more a few months later when I found out my manuscript had sold. I cried happy tears when my book hit the shelves of a bookstore – a real bookstore, a big one with a cafe and couches and everything.
One day when we were scoping out my book, watching to see how many people would buy it (don't pretend like you haven't or wouldn't do the same thing). Ethan announced to a stranger who selected it "My mommy wrote that!" The pride in his voice could not go unnoticed.
So what did I do? I was happy, pursuing my passion and my son was proud of me. So I didn't cry, I smiled.
How do you like them apples?


text: With the disappearance of King Targon, the country Aris also fell into darkness. For a quarter of a century his younger brother Halgan has been ruling with an iron fist. After a near catastrophe on a small island in the east that remained unnoticed by most, another one is brewing in the north.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Volunteers are needed for Toastmasters programs in North Central Correctional Institution in Gardner, MCI Shirley Minimum and Souza Baranowski Correctional Center in Shirley.
The rewards of prison volunteering are many.
"Facilitating Toastmasters in prisons is the most powerful volunteer work I have ever done. I'm inspired by their progress, hope and commitment to self-improvement, against all odds," said Susan Tordella, a prison volunteer since 2008.
Toastmasters is an international self-help movement that empowers people through public speaking, teamwork, leadership and personal growth by following a set format of prepared speeches, extemporaneous speaking and evaluations. Some 280,000 members belong to 13,500 clubs in 116 countries. There are also Toastmasters programs in 14 correctional facilities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The prison Toastmasters programs are facilitated by volunteers, under staff supervision. Inmates attend to learn skills which better prepare them for reentry. Toastmasters emphasizes public-speaking in the development of leadership, critical thinking and teamwork skills, attributes which will benefit them in prison and upon release, since 92 percent of inmates will leave prison.
Volunteers must pass a criminal background check and commit to attending a weeknight meeting once a month, or once a week for a 12-week course. Training is provided. Spanish speaking volunteers welcomed.
For more information, contact email@example.com, 978-772-3930. Visit http://www.district31.org/?page_id=52 to learn about Toastmasters programs at 14 correctional institutions in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. See more at www.toastmasters.org.


text:
I do it
Do it, do it
B-I G, Finally Famous getting money
G.O.O.D. music, look
What up Earl Mac
My nigga Tone say he so Westside
It's a damn shame
Me too, D-Town, D-Town
[Verse 1: Big Sean]
D-Town, Westside
Yeah I said it, Westside
But they yelling big so much
That you would thought it's Bed-Stuy
You are now fucking with the newest nigga best out
Go on, roll that weed nigga, cause I'm stressed out
L-V checked out
Bad bitch, chest out
No wonder why Mrs. Right just keeps on getting left out
Oh well that's everything I'm not concerning, fuck it
I'm on the top floor getting brains, higher learning
Getting higher earnings and my desires yearning
Running through that paper like my attorney
Hundred blunts rolled, you can smell the fire burning
I'm in the fast lane, you can smell my tires burning
Exercise, flex on guys
Model chick
Sex on thighs
Bump a lot
A Lexus drive
I might let Alexis drive
Jesus chain, testify
I over accessorize
Test her out, now she gon' need a stretcher when I stretch her out
When it's time to speak, bet all of ya'll listen
When you up in the party
Why is all the broads missing
And I just drop lines like a nigga gone fishing
Man and I be on them posters like that nigga gone missin'
And I spit that er-retarded shit just call it autism
I'm so Hollywood that I might make your bitch audition
Before we cut
Cut, cut
Movie time, cut
I'ma dick her down, you gon' pick her up
And I'm unusual as shit
I'm Superbad, your girl probably doodling my dick
And it's a couple screws up in my head that could use a fucking wrench
And I'm just looking at the game like
Damn, they could use a fucking bench, bitch
And my name all up in the rafters
She gon' make me cum, I bet that money come faster
Kanye first, then I'm coming after
And Lou' Vuitton shoes ho
Dons and the Jaspers
Who her, I ran through her walls
Made her scream and disappear but hell no my name is not Casper
Boy, what the fuck these rappers sound like
Just a whole bunch of my sound bites
First whip, garbo
Second whip, Largo
Don't worry bout my niggas Thurgood Marshall
Bank account got me feeling Well, Fargo
Balling til I get a Milicic Darko
I did that
I just give them line after line, after line
After line, after line barcode
They looking for my work, Narco
Cause I just black out in the booth, charcoal
Me, Don C, Tone and fifty-four bitches
Since we finna blow, I bet they finna blow nigga
Two pounds of weed, don't act like you don't know nigga
I put that green up, like mistletoe nigga
Yeah boy, boy boy
Finally Famous in this, getting money
F-F ho
G.O.O.D. Music nigga
Say these niggas get off my dick
These niggas sit down
Big Sean released his freestyle over Gucci Mane's 'Lemonade' in 2009. It garnered millions of views in a short amount of time due to the lyricism and punchlines featured in the song
There was a reported incident where Curren$y attempted to rap his version of 'Lemonade' (called Lemon Kush) but the crowd started singing Big Sean's version
This song utilizes Big Sean's trademark "Supa Dupa" flow where a punchline/analogy is made, and the key word is stated after a short pause at the end of the line – for example, "swimming in the money, come and find me: Nemo"


text:
Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936 / Bombay)
» Click to list general statistics » OR, select a date :
The Veterans
To-day, across our fathers' graves,
The astonished years reveal
The remnant of that desperate host
Which cleansed our East with steel.
read more >>
- Hits: Number of visitors who read the poem on the given date.
- Posts: Number of visitors who posted the poem to a friend (via e-mail) on the given date.
- Dates that have "0" hits may not be shown on the list.
- Dates, poems and poets that have "0" hits may not be shown on the list. Statistics are generated daily.


text:
UPATE: Body of Missing Minnesota Woman Found in Mississippi River
ST. PAUL (AP) - Police say the search for a missing St. Paul woman is over.
Authorities say Thursday that a body recovered a day earlier from the Mississippi River in downtown St. Paul is that of Kira Trevino, a 30-year-old Wisconsin native who was last seen alive on Feb. 21.
Her husband, Jeffery Trevino, was charged with second-degree murder, after authorities found large amounts of blood in the couple's home.
Volunteers have been organizing searches for Trevino every weekend.
Authorities said her body was found Wednesday afternoon by someone who saw it floating in the river.


text:
So, Santos slammed Mockus and appears headed to be Colombia's next president.
On the most basic level, this indicates that the polls undercounted rural residents, who often don't have telephones.
On another, it shows that, while Mockus may be the Obama of Colombia (an intellectual, outsider, without a political pedigree against a military man), Mockus's message didn't match the time. Obama's vacous 'change' mesage worked because Americans were sick of Bush, tired of a frustrating war and fearful for their jobs. In contrast, Pres. Alvaro Uribe maintains astronomical approval ratings (above 70%), Colombians are happy with his military progress against the guerrillas and the economy is growing, despite unjustifiable poverty rates.
In his pre-vote column in El Tiempo, Santos promised more of Uribe's policies and more jobs in the formal economy. Pretty boring stuff, but that's what many Colombians want - security and food on the table.
In contrast, Mockus's column in today's El Tiempo repeated his vague promise of change, and at his post-vote rally the crowd chanted 'I love life!' What's that supposed to mean? Sure, a not-very-disguised attack on Santos' warmaking. But nothign for a voter to embrace.
To the numbers: Santos got 46.50 % of the vote and Santos 21.5 %. All Santos has to pick up from the also-rans is 4 %, and he's president.
Of the others, German Vargas, of Cambio Radical got just more than 10% of the vote. Nearly all of his support will go to Santos.
Next came Gustavo Petro, of the far-left Polo Democratico with 9%. Some of his voters will support Mockus, but others will abstain in the second round, considering Mockus too centrist.
Noemí Sanín of the Conservative Party got 6%, almost all of which will go to Santos.
Liberal Rafael Pardo's 4.4% of the vote will likely split between Santos and Mockus.
All of which leaves Santos with an additional 18% or so, giving him about 64% in the second round. Or more, if would-be Mockus voters abstain because they conclude their man can't win.
This vote also shows the sad state of Colombia's traditionally powerful Liberal and Conservative parties, who for a century traded the presidency between them. It's good seeing the race open up, and means that in another four or eight years, when hopefully the military situation will have faded into the background, a touchy-feely intellectual like Mockus can win.
This blog written by Mike Ceaser, of Bogota Bike Tours


text:
Thank you for your interest in joining the International Society of Unified Science. Please read the site Privacy Policy and Terms of Service before creating a new account on this site, as they constitute a contractual agreement between the site owners and yourself. We are a professional organization of scientists, engineers and other interested parties. We require your real name and country of residence in order to complete this registration, as we have had problems in the past with spoofers and spammers.
The REGISTRATION CODE can be found in the "Website General Information" forum under "Registration Information."


text:
At Randall House we deal in fine and rare books in many fields; this includes collectible books, limited edition books, and out-of-print books. From Shakespeare Folios to Carter's ABC for Book Collectors, from fine bindings to fine press books, from children's books to early Bibles, from incunabula to modern firsts, they are all part of what makes Randall House Rare Books the book collector's paradise.
In addition to books we carry autographs, manuscripts, autograph letters, historical documents and ephemera. We always have a wonderful selection of original paintings, etchings, works on paper, and sometimes sculpture, of renowned artists on display. We also love to have visitors, so make sure to stop in when you are in the area!


text:
Ducks beat Kings 3-0 on Dodger Stadium ice
Corey Perry and Matt Beleskey scored first-period goals, and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-0 at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night in the NHL's first warm-weather outdoor game.
Jonas Hiller made 36 saves in his 20th career shutout as the league-leading Ducks dominated the landmark meeting of Southern California's two hockey teams under the stars in Chavez Ravine. Andrew Cogliano added an empty-net goal with 1:29 left to close this unusual chapter in the NHL's expanded slate of outdoor games.
The league threw a California carnival for the event, filling left field with a beach volleyball court and right field with a fireworks-laden stage where Kiss performed. People in shorts and tank tops played Frisbee and practiced yoga between periods while skateboarders rolled past a ball hockey court featuring youth teams.
Although the temperature was 63 degrees with significant humidity when Wayne Gretzky dropped the first puck, the ice held up fairly well in the night air. The Ducks' outstanding season also remained solid in their 21st victory in 24 games, while the Kings lost their fifth straight game.
The Kings hosted the first official outdoor game west of the Rocky Mountains in recognition of the NHL's near half-century in Los Angeles and their rivalry with the Ducks, who joined the league two decades ago.
And though this game bore little resemblance to the snowbound outdoor contests in northern climes, visiting teams still improved to 7-1-1 in the NHL's slate of outdoor games.
The teams wore specially designed jerseys for the game, with the Kings' crown logo dominating their gray jerseys while the Ducks sported bright orange. After a day filled with fan events and celebrations of the cold-weather sport's rich California roots, Anaheim showed who's currently in charge of this rivalry.
The Ducks followed up their 2-1 victory in Thursday's rivalry meeting in Anaheim by opening a seven-point lead over Chicago atop the overall standings.
Jonathan Quick made 18 saves as the Kings matched their longest skid of an otherwise solid season. After getting a goal in the opening minutes of Thursday's loss, Los Angeles hasn't scored in 116 consecutive minutes against the Ducks.
Hiller stopped a penalty shot in the first period by Anze Kopitar, the Kings' leading scorer, and the Swiss netminder turned away every good scoring chance after that in his fourth shutout and 24th victory of the season.
The Kings came out flying on the temporary ice, generating 20 shots in the first period. But the high-scoring Ducks got all the shots that counted.
Just 2:45 in, Perry scored the first goal in Dodger Stadium history, connecting rather easily on a rebound of Ryan Getzlaf's shot off a faceoff. Less than six minutes later, Beleskey was alone at the side of Quick's net to score on a play set up by Teemu Selanne's pass.
In the last 6 months, Corey Perry
& Cristiano Ronaldo became the 1st players
to score a goal at Dodger Stadium in their
respective sports.
— Greg Beacham
(@gregbeacham) January 26,
Kopitar was awarded a penalty shot midway through the period when Ben Lovejoy hooked him on a breakaway, but the Kings' leading scorer couldn't do much with the puck, and Hiller stopped it.
Cogliano had the best scoring chance of the second period, but lost the puck on a breakaway. Hiller was outstanding after struggling in his last start against Winnipeg, and Cogliano wrapped up the win in the closing seconds with his 17th goal.
NOTES: The crowd was announced at 54,099 — a number that likely made Gretzky smile. … Despite significant public interest, the game didn't sell out until early Saturday. The NHL overpriced many tickets when they first went on sale, forcing price reductions and refunds in the sections that weren't selling. … The Kings have missed both of their penalty shots this season. … Perry joined Cristiano Ronaldo as the first players to score a goal in their respective sports at Dodger Stadium. Last August, Ronaldo scored Real Madrid's first goal against Everton in the stadium's first soccer game.


text:
Best definition
someone in a chat room who bullies women. They copy fonts and screen names in order to harass females in
chat rooms. They spend entire days online without typing anything until females join the chat room, and then begin a campaign of harassment and bullying.
has that waedophile been bullying you again?
Ignore User, they're a waedophile!


text:
Big Game Forever Action Notice – Wolf Wars
I just got this in my email box and I thought it was important enough to pass on to all of our readers!
Big Action Alert today. We need your help to return wolves to state management in yet another state. Here is what is happening. US Fish and Wildlife Service's public comment period for Wyoming's wolf-delisting closes in two days, January 13, 2012.
Anti-sportsmen from all over America have been working hard to post comments in an attempt to derail the return of wolves to state management. They are working hard to outnumber comments from the good people of Wyoming.
Let's even the score.
Here is where it gets interesting. Reportedly, less than 2,000 comments have been made so far. This is because automatic comments are not permitted by Fish and Wildlife's system.
Approximately 20,000 Big Game Forever supporters can turn the tide. This one will take 5 minutes to go through the sign-in process for US Fish and Wildlife's system. It is worth your time to help the good people of Wyoming.
See the message below on how to make a comment. Once you are in the system, you can keep your comments very short. Simply indicate you support the right of Wyoming and all states to manage wolves and other wildlife.
Your comment can make a huge difference. Please take 5 minutes today to protect the future of wildlife in America. We are winning one state at a time.
There is currently two ways in which you may submit comments:
1) – A hard copy can be submitted by U.S. mail to:
Public Comments Processing
Attn: FWS-R6-ES-2011-0039
Division of Policy & Directives Management
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
4401 North Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22203
2) – Via email
To submit comments via email, in your search engine enter the following: http://www.regulations.gov. Once the link opens, look for the box which asks for a Keyword or ID. Enter FWS-R6-ES-2011-0039, then click the search button.
The next screen look for the heading "Document Type" and place a check in the box before Proposed Rule (1).
You should see below a section which should now read: 1 result for "FWS-R6-ES-2011-0039".
Within the orange box titled "View by Relevance", you should see to the right Submit a Comment.
Click on Submit a Comment and complete the form.
There are three Sections; 1. Enter Information, 2. Type Comment, and 3. Upload File(s).
Any information you enter in Section 1 will be available for all to read so use caution in how much information you provide. You may only want to provide a first name and your state. You may want to mention your affiliation with SFW or Big Game Forever. I would discourage you from providing your email address, phone number, etc as anyone with internet access will be able to view whatever you submit.
Your comments do not need to be lengthy but should clearly state you support the USFWS proposal to remove wolves from the list of Endangered and Threatened Species.
Once you have completed your comments click on the orange submit button and you should receive confirmation that your comments have been submitted.
Thanks again for your support and participation in this effort,
Ryan Benson


text:
This series is a modified version of "Philosophy of Teaching," my final project for a doctoral-level seminar in college teaching. Throughout the semester we wrote four smaller papers, two of which became tdaxp series: "Classroom Democracy" and "Learning Evolved." Therefore, many of the ideas presented during the following week will be recognizable to long-time tdaxp readers.
My philosophy of teaching centers on the fact that the classroom is a society that is oriented towards grades. In the paper below I will explain the importance of grading and the drawbacks of common grading methodologies. Next I will describe an effective way to run classrooms which maximizes positive peer pressure. I will then integrate these into a social-grading system that gets the best out of every student. Last, I will briefly mention some limitations and offer a conclusion. What follows is not a scholarly text, but an applied method to improve the learning of students who sacrifice years of their lives – and often tens of thousands of dollars – to attend an institution of higher learning.
Classrooms Evolved, a tdaxp series
1. Traditional Methods
2. Social Grading
3. Deliberative Learning
4. Overcoming Doubt
5. Conclusions


text:
The problem: I need to select, for each residential building in my table that has say at least 2 pharmacies and 2 education centers within a radius of 1km, all POIs (pharmacies, comercial centres, medical centers, education centers, police stations, fire stations) which are within 1km of the respective building. table structure->
building (id serial, name varchar )
poi_category(id serial, cname varchar) --cname being the category name of course
poi(id serial, name varchar, c_id integer)-- c_id is the FK referencing poi_category(id)
all coordinate columns are of type geometry not geography (let's call them geom)
here's the way i thought it should be done but i'm not sure it's even correct let alone the optimal solution to this problem
SELECT r.id_b, r.id_p
SELECT b.id AS id_b, p.id AS id_p, pc.id AS id_pc,pc.cname
FROM building AS b, poi AS p, poi_category AS pc
WHERE ST_DWithin(b.geom,p.geom, 1000) AND p.c_id=pc.id
) AS r,
SELECT * FROM r GROUP BY id_b
) AS r1
HAVING count (
FROM r, r1
WHERE r1.id_b=r.id_b AND r.id_pc='pharmacy'
count (
FROM r, r1
WHERE r1.id_b=r.id_b AND r.id_pc='ed. centre'
Is this the way to go for what i need ? What solution would be better from a performance point of view? What about the most elegant solution?


text:
An uncompromising design.
Extravagant forms and an eye-catcher in every kitchen - the tang rotated by 90 degrees in a black handle: that is the perfection line.
Safe cutting.
The knives feature nonslip plastic handles for a secure grip when cutting.
Forged from a single piece.
The blade and tang of these knives are precision-forged from a single piece of special steel (a chromium molybdenum vanadium steel). That makes them particularly durable and robust.
Perfectly sharp.
The knives in this lines feature a special polishing removal function. This guarantees perfect sharpness and allows for precise work.


text:
Fun times tonight in Philadelphia when, due to a lack of bench players and a few interesting ejections in a 16-inning game, Philly pitcher Roy Oswalt, who had never played a single out away from the mound in his entire professional career, found himself playing left field. He even made a putout, catching a popup off the bat of Houston catcher Jason Castro, before grounding out to end the game (though he did show good plate discipline on a couple of close-calls).
As you can imagine, everyone had a lot of fun watching the All-Star pitcher hang out in left field. Who doesn't like to see something like that, especially when it seems so much more rare than the reverse (ie, a non-pitcher coming in to pitch)? It reminded me of a post I wrote last year looking at this exact same phenomenon. I've reprinted it below. There have been a couple of instances since then, and I'm pretty sure I missed one or two when I wrote this, but it holds up for the most part. You can see original comments to the article over at the old blog location. Enjoy (especially that Jesse Orosco/Roger McDowell story – too good!).
It's been an interesting year so far, with Greinke's dominance, the plethora of cycles, and everything else going on. One of the more interesting things that seems to be happening a lot this year is non-pitchers coming in to pitch an inning. With it happening again last night in the Reds-Brewers game, I can think of at least three times this year when it's happened. And every time it's happened, the tv guys seem to have a ball with it. After all, it is funny to see JJ Hardy or Gabe Kapler strike out to players who haven't toed the rubber in 5 or 10 years.
But I came across something equally interesting the other day and, seemingly, more rare (though I'm probably wrong about that): pitchers playing a non-pitcher position, such as rightfield or first-base. Reading through a list of pitchers who have had the most career games without a plate appearance over at Recondite Baseball, I wondered about Jesse Orosco and how long he went between plate appearances. His was an historically long career, and much of the last 10 years of it or so was spent as a lefty specialist, so I figured that he could've gone more games between his plate appearances than Buddy Groom had in his career. I wasn't even close, but I did notice something interesting on his BR batting page.
In 1986, Jesse Orosco played one game in right field. That struck me as borderline ridiculous: some manager at one time thought that his best option was to have soft-tossing, portly, and old (even at age 29) Jesse Orosco play rightfield? Wow.
But it's true. It happened on July 22, 1986, with the Mets playing the Reds in Cincinnati. In the bottom of the 10th, Davey Johnson brought in Orosco to pitch. After getting two outs and giving up a single to Pete Rose (which pinch-runner Eric Davis turned into a triple with two stolen bases), Orosco was shuttled to right while Roger McDowell finished off the inning. In the 11th, McDowell was again pitching and Orosco was still in right. Two outs and single into the 11th, McDowell and Orosco switched places again. Orosco finished off the 11th and pitched the full 12th (McDowell actually moved from right- to left- during the 12th). In the 13th, McDowell and Orosco switched places again, and it stayed that way through the 14th, when the game ended. Orosco even made a putout on a flyball by Tony Perez.
There was a lot more to the story than that, though. From the next day's LA Times:
(Click "Read More" to continue reading.)
What would have been a shapeless and forgettable Mets defeat became another extended evening of punches and victory. The Mets lead a division in which the other members have all but given up the fight. The same cannot be said for a team that recently has become as readily associated with brawling as it has with winning.
The banners hanging in Riverfront Stadium last night reflected the Mets' changing image – an image the team does not necessarily dispute. The banners read "Police 4, Mets 0" and "It's not a good Knight" and "Welcome to Wrestlemania 3."
Each was tied to a specific event of the preceding four days – the arrest of four Mets in Houston early Saturday, the role Ray Knight played in the brawl that interrupted the Tuesday night game and the free-for-all that followed.
The fight occurred in the 10th inning. Davis, a pinch runner, stole third base. He and Knight bumped on the slide. Davis appeared to elbow and push the Mets' third baseman. Knight, a central figure in the Mets' May 27 fight against the Dodgers and formerly a Golden Glove boxer, punched Davis, starting the brawl.
Knight and Davis were ejected and each expects to be fined by National League president Chub Feeney. Feeney was unavailable for comment, but another National League executive said yesterday that suspensions were improbable.
"You can't overlook Howard's home run and all the switches Davey {Johnson} had to pull," Keith Hernandez said. "But what I'll remember most is Ray's right hook. He spun Davis around."
The brawl and discussion that followed interrupted play for about 20 minutes. The resulting ejections only added to the bizarre nature of the night. Available bodies were at a premium. By the time the brawl ended and the umpires had made their ejections, each team had used all of its non-pitchers.
The ejections forced Carter to play third base for the first time since 1975 and Orosco and McDowell to alternate between the outfield and the pitcher's mound. "I always wanted to do what Whitey {Herzog} does," Dave Johnson said, "use a pitcher in the outfield."
(I wish I could just put the whole LA Times article here, there's a lot of good stuff in there, but it'd be way too long. You can find another account of the game here.)
Talking about this game with my brother, he mentioned remembering a game where something similar happened to Fernando Valenzuela. Again, I looked at his BR batting page and found these two games (along with a number of pinch-hitting assignments):
- August 17, 1982: Fernando came in to play RF in the bottom of the 20th. After the second batter of the inning popped out to Fernando, they moved him over to left. He then batted to end the top of the 21st. In the bottom half, the Dodgers replaced Fernando in left with Bob Welch (another pitcher, really?). The dodgers won in the 21st.
- June 3, 1989: Fernando came in to play 1B in the bottom of the 21st. The first batter then popped out foul to Fernando. He stayed in to play the 22nd inning, and made another putout on a 1-3 grounder. The Astros scored a run that inning, though, and won the game.
That's three putouts at non-pitcher positions for Fernando. Not too shabby. Of course, Fernando and Orosco are far from the only pitchers to have played in the field at some point. If their tales are at all representative, though, then there are probably some pretty good stories in there. Now, I don't have the time to find the stories for everyone, but I can provide you with a little research.
I did a quick query, looking for anyone who pitched in more than 10 games in a given year and also played some other position. Maybe I missed a few people, but that should be a pretty complete list. Some observations:
- The last pitcher to play a non-pitcher position was Atlanta pitcher Chris Resop, who pitched to all but one batter in the 10th inning of the Pirates-Braves game on April 3, 2008. After walking 2 of the first 3 batters of the inning, the Braves moved Resop to left so Royce Ring could face Adam LaRoche. After Ring got the K, Resop moved back to the mound to finish the inning. He got the loss.
- Before Resop, the last player to do it was San Francisco's Noah Lowry, on June 8, 2007. Interpreting the play-by-play, it looks like Eliezer Alfonzo was injured on a play at the plate by Donnie Murphy in the top of the 10th, so Pedro Feliz moved to catcher, Randy Winn to third, Daniel Ortmeier to center and Lowry came in to play RF. The ball didn't come anywhere near him, though. The Giants lost to the A's that day.
- Since the start of the 2000 season, pitchers have played non-pitcher positions 14 times (if they moved from LF to RF, for example, in one inning, that would be counted as two different positions). If you remove Brooks Kieschnick from the equation (he started his career as an outfielder and was moved to pitcher in 2003), then it has only happened 5 times this decade.
- It happened only slightly more often in the 1990s. In that decade, pitchers played non-pitcher positions 18 times. The most prolific year of the decade was 1993, when 5 different pitchers did it, including Randy Johnson (left-field on October 3) and Pedro Martinez (thirdbase[!!] on September 20).
- Things changed in the 1930s. Since 1930, the decade with the most occurrences is the 1980s, with 62 (if you ignore Willie Smith's 1964 season, when he pitched 15 times and played in the outfield 91). However, it happened 170 times in the 1920s and 207 times in the 1910s. I haven't looked closely at those decades, but I imagine there was a lot of Babe Ruth-type stuff going on, where a player would pitch every few days and bat during the other days.
Finally, the recent pitcher who did it the most is Rick Waits, who DH'd for the Cleveland Indians 9 times in the lates 1970s. The illustrious Jack Morris also DH'd 7 times for the Tigers throughout the 1980s.Of all pitchers since 1930, Bucky Walters played a non-pitcher position the most (13 times in the 1930s), followed by Bobby Reis (11, 1930s), Mike Ryba (10, 1940s), and Johnny O'Brien (10 times, 1957, but he was a middle-infielder being tried at pitcher). [Update: I just did a look at Morris' and Waits' game logs from the times, and it actually looks like they were pinch-running almost every time. I don't know why Baseball Reference classified some of it as DHing (they would pinch-run for the DH, so that must be it), but they did. If that's the case, I guess I have to say that Todd Worrell is actually the recent pitcher who did it most often. In his career, he played RF in 4 different games, totalling 1.2 innings of defense. Roger McDowell also has did it 4 times, for 2.2 innings of defense (some of it detailed above). ]


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Google acquired two new Bay Area startups which will beef up its social networking and search engine.
The search titan will purchase the Palo Alto-based social networking company Katango and the San Francisco-based micro-search engine Apture. No terms of the deal were disclosed, according to Forbes.
Katango will join Google+, helping to improve its Circles and group contacts. Katango was known for analyzing and sorting Facebook contacts, according to the Wall Street Journal, so it's not surprising Google+ would want such a technology.
U.S. & World
"Katango was founded a little over a year ago to develop social algorithms that improve people's online social interaction. We're excited to join the Google+ team and carry on fulfilling that mission. Google+ is seeing tremendous momentum, so it's a perfect time to join and make Circles smarter for millions of people," Katango wrote on its site.
Google's vice president of product Bradley Horowitz wrote on his (of course!) Google+ account, "Very excited to confirm that we've just acquired Katango! In the earliest days of Google+, I alluded to the fact that we had big plans for Circles. Are you ready for some magic in your Circles? These folks are magicians!"
Apture offers users in-page searches, where users can highlight a name or word on a page and it immediately brings up a window with more information (although it seems as if the go-to is Wikipedia.) Apture employees will be heading to Google's Chrome divison to help strengthen its browser, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
"We were impressed by the Apture team's approach to enhancing the Web browser experience, and we think their expertise will complement the Chrome team's efforts in this area," a Google spokeswoman told the Mercury News.
Google acquired 57 companies in the first three quarters of 2011, breaking its yearly record of 48, set in 2010. Apparently there's still a lot more room to grow at Google.


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"Our job is to deliver bank products and services to our clientele in the Rego Park community. I would hope that my clients view myself and my staff as experts in our field, the financial field," he said.
He explained that the bank staff takes a holistic approach by sitting down with clients and finding out what their short and long-term financial goals are, which may include buying a car, having children or purchasing a home, and helping them achieve those goals with FDIC or non-FDIC products. The bankers are also licensed to sell insurance.
"My job is not done as a branch manager until I have 100 percent of the market share in Rego Park," said Dolington. "Realistically, that's not going to happen, but that has to be my mindset. That's why my job is never done."
With that being said, Dolington admitted that it's not always about the bottom line. What it is about is building a positive relationship between the banker and the client, which is more intimate than most people know.
He said several staff members have been working at the Rego Park branch for over 20 years, and there have been instances in which clients died and their children or close relatives called up or came in to thank those individuals for being kind to their late loved ones.
"I've certainly got goals I have to achieve, but I also will tell you that at the end of the day if I think we've made a positive difference in someone's life, and that could be by advice or helping them out during a difficult time period, then you know what? We've done our job," said Dolington. "It may not necessarily transfer into big business for the day, but you know what? There's something else to be said for it as well."


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The New York based practice Andrew Berman Architect realised this copper cladded library and writing studio for a historian in Long Island in 2008.
Here is what the architects explain:
"The site is adjacent to the client's home, and is approached on foot through a stand of trees. There is no drive or path. The library sits at the threshold of an open field and a wood. A tidal stream is visible through the woods, at the rear of the site.
The building was conceived as a simple structure with a mutable presence in the landscape. It maps a path from the open field, through a doorway at the edge of the woods, to a light filled space set in the tree canopy.
The interior is defined by douglas fir, books, and light. The exterior, clad in copper, shifts in apparent form and color depending on the light of the day, the viewing angle, and the seasons. The copper can appear reflective and bright, as well as matte and dark. The velvety browns and violets will slowly give way to green."
Project architect: Andrew Berman AIA
Project manager: Julia Neubauer
Project team: Dan Misri Dario Oechsli
Landscape Design: Eleanor McPeck Landscape Design
Structural Engineer: Ramon Gilsanz
Gilsanz Murray Steficek LLP
Mechanical Engineering: CGM Engineering
Daylight Consultant Carpenter Norris Consulting
Acoustical Consultant: Robert F Mahoney & Associates
General Contractor: R.B. Hartwell and Sons
Cabinetmaker: Jim Ledger / Fineline Custom Cabinet


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Beijing's builders relied on ice roads centuries ago to transport the massive carved stones of the famed Forbidden City from quarry to construction site, an international engineering team reports. The find confirms folklore long discounted by textbooks.
Lubricated with water, the ice roads were built during winter months and extended 43 miles (70 kilometers), concludes the team led by Jiang Li of the University of Science and Technology Beijing.
A World Heritage Site, the Forbidden City in the center of Beijing was the seat of Chinese imperial power from 1416 to 1911. Once forbidden to outsiders, the city's palaces were built of massive stones in the 15th and 16th centuries. (See "Forbidden City—China.")
"How in the world did they get these massive rocks to Beijing?" says Princeton engineer Howard Stone, a co-author on the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences report. "It raises tremendous engineering questions."
Carved with dragons and clouds, the "Large Stone Carving" that graces the stairway to the Hall of Preserving Harmony, for example, weighs more than 300 tons (272 metric tonnes).
A tourist attraction today, the Large Stone Carving is 55 feet (16.8 meters) long, 10 feet (3 meters) wide, and more than 3 feet (about a meter) thick. Once only Chinese emperors, borne by porters, were allowed to traverse its carved surface.
Engineering Enigma
Ancient cultures from Egypt to Stonehenge to Easter Island have employed masses of men and animals to haul colossal statues or stones using rollers or sheer muscle power. And placards in the Forbidden City mention ice roads being used to shepherd its stones to Beijing. (See "Stonehenge Revealed.")
But engineering histories don't mention the icy innovation, Stone says, instead stressing that Chinese inventors had created the spoked wheel by 1500 B.C., enabling wagons to do the job.
So Stone, Li, and colleague Haosheng Chen of Tsinghua University in Beijing—the latter two are experts in the study of friction—decided to investigate the story after a visit last year to the Forbidden City.
Not an Ancient Chinese Secret
After a search for archival documents, Li found a 500-year-old Chinese record claiming that in 1557, a 123-ton (112-metric-tonne) stone was transported over 28 days to the Forbidden City from a quarry by ice sledge.
The same document recorded a dispute among imperial officials in 1596 over how to bring more stones to the Forbidden City. Mules and wagons were cheaper, some argued, but men and sledges were safer ways to haul the expensive stones.
In fact, the study team's analysis finds that Chinese wagons of the 16th century couldn't have hauled stones heavier than 96 tons (87 metric tonnes).
Analysis of various sledge techniques, such as rollers, wooden planks on the ground, or even ice roads alone, finds that these methods provide too much friction to be practical.
Ice Highway
Instead, the team concludes that an "artificial ice path" was created in the winter along the roads from a quarry 43 miles (70 kilometers) away from the city. The path was lubricated with water as the sledges passed carrying the stones.
The ice highways stretched from quarry to city and crossed several rivers. The stones were pulled by teams of as few as 46 men. The teams would lubricate the ice roads with water from wells spaced every half-mile along the road, as reported in the documents.
"Some people have asked if the wells are still there. It would be interesting to look for them," Stone says. Keeping the ice wet would cut friction down to one-seventh that of bare ice.
Lubricated in this fashion, the stones would have slid along at a stately 0.18 miles (0.29 kilometers) an hour, the analysis finds. That would be fast enough for the ice road's surface to remain wet as the stones passed, before the water refroze.
Analysis shows that the 25°F (-3.7°C) average winter temperatures in Beijing in January at the time would have produced hard enough ice to easily bear the weight of the stones.
Monumental Tasks
"I'm not surprised. If you get enough people, enough rope, and enough time, you can move just about anything," says archaeologist Charles Faulkner of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who was not on the study team. "And they had a lot of time. And a lot of people."
The historic ice roads represent an elegant solution to an engineering problem, Stone says. The cold winters of northern China and the country's imperial organization resulted in the creation of an "ice lubrication" technique that preceded its scientific development in the 18th century, Stone says.
"The Chinese organized the Great Wall and other huge public monuments," Stone says. "They certainly knew what they were doing."
Follow Dan Vergano on Twitter.


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November 11, 2013
Part of designing effective systems is knowing the range of options available for interacting with the physical world and evaluating their relative merit.
I often struggle with the exact definition of an embedded system. At first glance it seems like it ought to be a computer embedded in something else, right? You might define it as a computer with no user interface, but many embedded systems now do have user interfaces. You might try saying that it is a system that doesn't use a workstation, but that fails sometimes too. I'd say that a PC with data acquisition boards and motor drivers is closer to an embedded system than a traditional application developer's realm. What about a computer that has sensors and effectors that interact with the real world? That's probably my favorite definition, but I have decided that it is probably best to borrow U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart's famous statement:
"I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description…But I know it when I see it."
Of course, he was talking about pornography, but it applies just as well to embedded systems.
Although it isn't perfect, I am partial to the definition that embedded systems have sensors and effectors that interact with the real world. Part of designing effective systems is knowing the range of options available for such things and evaluating their relative merit.
Of course, merit is a subjective measure. For example, consider tires on your automobile. Do you want tires with treads or slick tires? There is no right answer to this question. To get an answer you have to (even if unconsciously) ask another question: What is my goal?
Drag racing cars want to go fast. They use slick tires because they make the most contact with the road. So why don't you use slick tires on your car? One word: rain. Without treads, water would not channel away from the interface between your tire and the road and you'd slide over the road in a decidedly unsafe fashion.
Twice this week I've had to think about detecting a physical object. Once was for one of my projects where I need to see if a door is open or closed. The other was a colleague who was working on a bean bag toss game for his son's school. That got me thinking of how many ways there are to sense a physical object.
The tasks are fairly different. The door is reasonably well aligned so something as simple as a microswitch with a striker would do the job. The bean bag game has targets passing through a hole at varying rates of speed with some variability in position. So a microswitch might not be the best option there.
Just for fun, I decided to make a list of the ways I could think of to sense an object: mechanically, optically (including infrared), magnetically, capacitor/inductor schemes, acoustically, or via radio frequency techniques. I'm sure there are other ways (and many of these cover multiple different ways — for example, I can think of at least three optical methods ranging from a camera to measuring light bouncing off the object in question).
A mechanical switch is cheap and easy, but — as with the bean bags — not always a good solution. They are also prone to fail since they are electromechanical. You could argue that at least some magnetic solutions are mechanical as well. A reed switch is basically a relay contact that reacts to an external magnet. This would work well in my door design. A magnet on the door gets close to the reed and causes it to open (or close). This requires no wires on the moving part of the door and is reasonably cheap. It is also electromechanical, but somewhat more reliable since the entire reed can be sealed (granted, switches can be entirely sealed, too, at greater cost).
However, there are other ways you might do a magnetic sensor. For example, the reed switch could be replaced with a hall effect sensor. These may not be as cheap as a simple switch (especially when you add the circuitry to read them), but they are certainly reliable. You can get integrated sensors for a buck or two (for example, sensors from Melexis or Allegro).
Speaking of magnetics, I have seen schemes where a door changes the capacitance or inductance of a circuit element. Usually, that element controls an oscillator so that the change in value changes the frequency of the oscillator. That might sound overly complex, but a digital level that changes frequency is easy to detect since your processor can easily measure the time an output is high or low. This is especially interesting if you need to not only know something is present, but how far away it is.
Acoustics can also tell you how far away something is by using SONAR (or SODAR). Some old Polaroid cameras used this scheme for autofocus, and you can still get similar-looking modules from Senscomp and other sources (in fact, I used one a few months ago to detect a person sitting at a computer). If you did this with radio frequency, you'd have built a RADAR.
There are many ways to do optical detection. A vision system with a camera is probably overkill most of the time, but there are two common optical schemes that work in a lot of cases. One is to build a large optointerruptor. A beam of light crosses to a sensor and the object breaks the beam (this assumes, of course, the object is opaque). Another common scheme is to let the light bounce off the object and sense the reflection (a crude form of LIDAR).
Obviously, if you have a sensor and you are depending on a beam break, you have to shield against ambient light and ensure the alignment of the beam and the sensor. The reflected case is less of a problem with alignment, but you still have to be careful of ambient light.
For most applications, just using a simple light and sensor won't work well. Most applications use an infrared light (IR) and modulate it at some frequency. Certain common lights emit infrared modulated at 100 or 120 Hz (based on the 50 or 60Hz AC where you live), so the frequency is usually much higher than that. Because IR remote controls use a 38 kHz modulation (for historical reasons), that's a common frequency. You'd think it would be hard to filter and demodulate the incoming signal, but there are ICs that will do that for you (Vishay has many choices for these, for example).
You do have to be careful, though. All that filtering and processing means that it takes a certain amount of IR to trigger the sensor and there may be some "recovery" time to wait before it will see another event. It was important to do the math to see if the bean bags, for example, would go by so fast that the sensor would just consume the event as a glitch.
Another way to use IR is to use an IR pyrometer or PIR device. These are commonly used in alarm systems because they really detect motion. Two pyrometers measure the IR emissions of what they can see. If nothing is moving, the difference between the two sensors will remain steady. Anything moving will cause a difference that can be detected. This isn't really a good choice for object sensing, but it is a possibility. Like the other IR sensors, there is some finite time to respond.
Another radio frequency method — although a bit of overkill — is to use RFID tags. This has the advantage that you can also know which object is nearby. I used this once in a museum display that sensed different cast rubber livers and displayed information about what was wrong with each one (or, why the one good liver was healthy). You can find inexpensive RFID readers, but be aware that different RFID types have different ranges.
So what's the right method? It is like slick tires — nothing is always right, it depends on your goal. For the liver project, the RFID method made sense. The door project will use a magnetic reed switch and the bean bags wound up using reflected IR, I think. One of the most important parts of our jobs as designers is selecting technically feasible methods that fit the overall system goals: cost, reliability, accuracy, or whatever drives your design.
I'm sure I've missed some methods — feel free to post a comment to remind me of any you've used. In the future, I'll talk about some other physical interfaces and the trades involved with them as well.


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Email: email@example.com for more information.


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Richard Silverstein
Eurasia Review
Eurasia Review
November 6, 2011
Ynet reports that Ephraim Halevy, a former Mossad director, said yesterday that Iran poses no "existential threat" to Israel and that attacking it must truly be a last resort. Anyone considering such a strike must realize that it would impact not just Israel, but the entire region for the next 100 years. If this was all Halevy said it would be important, but mere reinforcement of views already expressed forcefully by Meir Dagan, the most recent past Mossad chief. What renders the former's views even more interesting is that he identifies what he considers an even greater existential threat to Israel: the Haredim (ultra-Orthodox):
Haredi radicalism has darkened our lives. It endangers us even more than Ahmadinejad.
His attack on Haredim is shorthand for an entire range of social developments within Israeli society that includes, but goes beyond merely the ultra-Orthodox. Halevy, who himself was raised in the moderate Orthodox Bnai Akiva youth movement, refers to the increasing religious and political radicalization of the entire Orthodox movement in Israel. There has always been friction between secular and religious within Israel. But in the past, there were streams within the Orthodox movement which held moderate political and halachic views. Parties like the National Religious Party were ones which accepted a separation between synagogue and state. They participated in governing coalitions and were statist in orientation. They didn't believe the State should be subordinate to the Jewish religion orhalacha. Leaders like Josef Burg (Avrum Burg's father) were also sober-minded and incorruptible.
Today's Orthodox are increasingly extreme in their views. The moderate religious parties are long extinct. In their place are the ultra-Orthodox, who are much more socially separatist and militant. They view Israeli secular society as a world–and a state apart from them. They participate in politics because of the spoils it brings them in financial subsidies, and not for patriotic reasons. For them, the State of Israel is not an end, but a means toward a successor regime that fulfills the tenets of Judaism as they see it.
Haredim generally don't join the IDF and receive dispensation from military service as long as they are studying in yeshivot. When Haredim do join the army they serve in military units which are among the most brutal in their treatment of the Palestinians. Which brings us to Haredi political activism. Many of them are the extreme among the settlers. Their yeshivotand settlements produce the most virulent and homicidal of the Jewish terrorists in places like Yitzhar, Tapuach, and Itamar (among others).
So when Halevy calls the Haredim an existential threat the term is shorthand for a whole set of phenomena that have developed inside Israel over the past few decades and moved Israel from a place which suffered from a divide between secular and religious; into a society in which, while the secular still existed, they had been co-opted and subsumed into a state that moved more and more in the direction of racism, intolerance, and authoritarianism. These noxious elements, while always present even among secular Israelis, became far more pronounced as Haredi culture did.
Though Halevy doesn't mention this explicitly, I'm sure he'd liken the increasing militancy of the Haredim and their settler members with that of militant Islam. Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda have their counterparts in Israel's most violent settler rabbis and Kahanist MKs like Baruch Marzel, Michael Ben Ari, and a number of others. While it is true that Jewish terror has not achieved the level of violence of the terror acts of Al Qaeda, that is because Jewish religious extremism has had to struggle against the secular, democratic values of Israel to find traction. That's why the process of radicalization has been gradual within the nation. Within Muslim states like Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, there were few countervailing influences to hold back this fundamentalist tide.


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Water Quality
Technical Resources
/ Joe Bagdon, Agronomist / Pest Management Specialist
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Joe is the Nutrient and Pest Management Team Leader on the National Water Quality and Quantity Technology Development Team. He is also the Windows Pesticide Screening Tool (WIN-PST) Team Leader. Joe is located in Amherst, MA at the Massachusetts NRCS State Office. He lives with his wife Jeanne and his son Connor on part of the family farm where he was raised in Sunderland, MA.
Joe graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a Bachelor of Sciences Degree in Plant and Soil Sciences in 1980. He ran a small vegetable, tobacco and dairy farm before he began his career with the Soil Conservation Service in 1985. He spent two years as a County Executive Director for the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service and then came back to the Soil Conservation Service as a Soil Conservationist. He continued on as a Resource Conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service and then became the Project Leader for NAPRA: National Agricultural Pesticide Risk Analysis. Since 1994, Joe has served as a national Pest Management Specialist and he has helped develop and deliver Nutrient and Pest Management Considerations in Conservation Planning training, CORE 4 training, and Conservation Boot Camp training.
In his current position, Joe is responsible for NRCS pest management related technology and technical policy. He represents NRCS on the Federal IPM Coordinating Committee and works with CSREES, ARS, EPA and the pesticide industry to help coordinate NRCS activities in the pest management arena. Joe's main focus is providing technology support to NRCS field staff nationwide so they can evaluate the environmental risks of pest management activities and recommend appropriate mitigation in the conservation planning process.
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The view from the narrow kitchen window in the house I grew up in was a fairly stark scene, even in the spring when things began to grow green after those long, cold Kansas winters. Looking out while doing dishes, all I could see was a patch of unenthusiastic grass, some scraggly bushes and behind those, assorted dilapidated farm buildings.
However, just about this time every year this scene faded into the background when the lilac bushes burst onto center stage, decked out in their finery, singing bright, happy songs, cheering up the whole world. They were giant bushes of white and purple blooms, the branches joining with one another to make an arch under which we could walk.
Standing beneath these bushes, breathing in that scent, feeling the small flowers fall down upon my head when a breeze came though, I felt rich beyond belief. These opulent jewels hung heavy and I gathered them in my arms and breathed in their scent. My best friend E and I would sometimes play under the bushes, plucking large blossoms to place behind our ears and laughing at our exotic treasures.
This year the bush seems even smaller than most years and the blooms have not been abundant at all. Their smell is not as strong. I stopped a couple of times, but then started passing by without smelling the blooms. I was in a hurry to finish my walk and there were so many other colorful flowers popping up along my route.
Sunday my best friend E, that same one I played with under the lilac bushes, called to tell me that she most likely has a terminal illness that will slowly, painfully, take her life in the next six years.
So this is what a hard kick in the stomach feels like.
E and I became best friends in first grade and she has been a part of the landscape of my life for the past 44 years. Grade school, high school, college, marriage, children, and the loss of parents—we've been through it all together. "It's only half-time!" I told her when we turned 50 together.
Now, well, maybe not.
I am here, 2000 miles from her, helpless, scared, speechless and bruised. I can do nothing at this point except be the best friend I know how to be. I send her a hand-written note through the mail every day and I dedicate my morning walks to her. I send her energy through my walks. I walk hard and I walk fast and I chant, "This is for you. This is for you. Can you feel it?"
And I stop, every single day at the small lilac bush, to touch its less than perfect blossoms, to smell the fading scent, to appreciate the beauty that is still there.
This morning I stopped and stood before it, crying at the sight of the few flowers that remain there. I cried because it is rare to find this kind of beauty on life's route. I cried because I know that it is fleeting. I cried because I know someday it will be gone.


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Furniture Sales Associate
Cleveland, Ohio
Crate and Barrel Furniture Sales Associates have a passion for helping customers see what is possible with the latest on-trend merchandise. They do this by building meaningful and long-term relationships with their customers, and use their comprehensive knowledge to guide and advise customers looking to furnish an entire room or simply add an accent piece. Our Furniture Sales Associates are up-to-date on the latest trends, and are trained to work with a range of design styles from classic to contemporary. If you enjoy working with customers in a competitive team environment, have a passion for helping customers with their home interiors and have a proven ability to drive sales, this position has the potential to offer you a creative and rewarding career.
- Full-time + Part-time
- Level: Mid
- Travel: No
Success Profile
What makes a successful Crate and Barrel Furniture Sales Associate?
Check out the top traits we're looking for and see if you have the right mix. Additional related traits listed below.
- Good Listener 10
- Problem-Solver 9
- Presenter 8
- Visual Thinker 8
- Strong Sense of Style 7
- Technologically Savvy 6
Addtional Traits
- Competitive
- Detail-oriented
- Persuasive
- Outgoing
- Team player
- Creative
- Trustworthy
- Confident
My favorite thing about my job is that I get to work with product I believe in. When I started this job (knowing I was commissioned) I was super scared to see if I could be successful. I was very happy to get realistic expectations about what to expect as well as a good amount of training time with knowledgeable associates. The thing that ended up putting my mind at ease about the job in sales was that I truly enjoyed and wanted the product I was selling for myself.Jovita, Furniture Sales Associate
Crate and Barrel, Store Opportunities & You
We have everything we need to become the most talked about store in the country. Except You. Come be a part of a fun, energetic, fast paced environment.
Design it (so they love it)
As a Design Expert in the CrateDesignStudio, you'll take our customer's inspirations and show them how our furniture, fabrics and décor can bring them to life. Whether you're helping to build a digital Mood Board in the store or creating a custom floorplan during an In-Home Consultation, your amazing vision for design will transform our customers' homes.
Learn More
The Picture of Health
From medical to dental to vision, we've got you covered.
We offer competitive salaries and incentive programs.
Balancing Work and Life
You'll enjoy paid vacations and holidays, flexible schedules and more.
Planning Your Future
From 401K with company match, to life insurance, we are always looking out for your future.
We provide extensive education and development programs through one on one coaching, classroom style training and online tools to make sure you reach your true potential.
Crate and Barrel Furniture Sales Associates have a passion for helping customers see what is possible with the latest on-trend merchandise. They do this by building meaningful and long-term relationships with their customers, and use their comprehensive knowledge to guide and advise customers looking to furnish an entire room or simply add an accent piece. Our Furniture Sales Associates are up-to-date on the latest trends, and are trained to work with a range of design styles from classic to contemporary. In addition, Furniture Sales Associates utilize digital tools and technology during in-store and in-home consultations to show our customers how our furniture, fabrics and decor can bring their vision to life. If you enjoy working with customers in a competitive team environment, have a passion for helping customers with their home interiors and have a proven ability to drive sales, this position has the potential to offer you a creative and rewarding career. Speaking of rewarding, on average our Furniture Sales Associates have the potential to earn $50K in commission on top of their base salary.
- Maximize company sales growth and profitability through the use of creative selling skills, teamwork and customer service, in order to deliver an engaged experience to every customer, every time.
- Actively listen to and engage customers , using appropriate selling skills to match the customer's needs, and ensure their decisions build long-term relationships.
- Motivate self to stay accountable to individual sales and service goals, as determined by store management.
- Keep customer well informed about orders and any status changes; update notes on customer sales to keep sales associates informed, remaining attentive to customer needs.
- Support and actively utilize customer acquisition methods available to the store.
- Maintain strong relationships with existing customers, as well as prospect for new customers.
- Communicate company loyalty services, when applicable.
- Develop, share and apply product expertise by staying informed with the marketplace and industry trends.
- Maintain knowledge of all product information, intranet communications, and current advertising and marketing initiatives.
- Maintain sales floor coverage and follow posted schedules with regard to area assignments.
- Assist the Assistant Store Manager, Sales with ensuring furniture product and displays are maintained per the sales floor maintenance guidelines.
- Maintain flexibility with schedule to meet the needs of the team and overall business.
- Support and model excellent service by exhibiting a positive attitude and enthusiasm toward the job and company to both internal and external customers in all forms of communication.
- Communicate customer feedback to store management team concerning policies and/or product requests, problems and suggestions.
- Actively participate in store meetings and training sessions.
- Maintain an awareness of all available resources for training and development, and actively participate in self development and growth through company resources.
Euromarket Designs, Inc., which does business as Crate and Barrel and CB2, will be referred to as "the Company". The Company is deeply committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application process, or in order to perform the essential functions of a position, please contact the location you are applying to here and ask to speak with a manager regarding the nature of your request.
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Friday, October 11, 2013
Searching the Web: Specific to General or General to Specific?
Why is this better than putting in all the information you know? The answer is not really very simple and depends on the way the search engine is designed. Usually, the search engine (i.e. Ancestry.com's search or FamilySearch.org or whatever) will try to match as many fields as possible with records in the database. That will usually result in either false positives (responses that look similar to the one you are searching for but are not the right person) or no responses at all. Let me illustrate this with a couple of searches on Ancestry.com.
The first search will be for my Great-Grandmother, Eliza Ellen Parkinson Tanner. In the first pass, I will put in only her first name, no surname, the location as Arizona, her gender, and her spouse's first name Henry.
That's it. That's all I put into search on Ancestry.com. Here is a screen shot of the search fields filled in with this information:
Now here are the results of the search:
You can see that my Great-Grandmother and her family came up on the first page of results in the 1930 U.S. Census. Could I force the entries to the top? Yes, probably by adding the surname. But why do that when you have found the family?
Another example of searching from the general to the specific is when using the FamilySearch.org Research Wiki. When searching in the Research Wiki, you are not looking for a specific person, you are looking for types of record sources that might help you find an ancestor. The Research Wiki is an analog of the real-world way of recording and storing records. The key to searching on the Research Wiki is to work from the general to the specific. If you wanted to find a marriage record for your ancestor who lived in the United States, you would start with an article about United States Marriage Records. Then move to the State, the County and ultimately a smaller jurisdiction. In this way, you would learn about marriage records and be knowledgeable enough to find any actual records or substitute records that might exist in the jurisdiction where your ancestor got married.
Learning to search the Web is a skill, just like any other learned skill, such as playing piano or swimming or riding a bicycle. There are some genealogists who have a talent for searching, just as there are those who have a talent for music or other skills, but nearly everyone can learn to search more skillfully.
1 comment:
- Adrian BruceOctober 12, 2013 at 12:30 PM
We agree about starting with a general search and going more specific. I have a practical reason for that - suppose you do a tight search and get a single answer. The temptation is to believe that is THE one. But if the search were slightly more generic, then you might have seen that there's another 2 records satisfying your criteria just up the road. Doing the more generic search first, you're starting your analysis with the question - which is it? Doing the more specific first, you might never look further.ReplyDelete
Just one point - I would ALWAYS set "Match all terms exactly". Maybe Ancestry's attempts to provide inexact-but-relevant matches work better on US datasets but I find that for the UK records the inexact-but-relevant matches often put poor matches ahead of decent marches.
Setting exact matching also means it pays to use the more complex settings for the name items


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A Chicago native and life long Cub fan, Scott Simon, the host of
Weekend Edition Saturday on NPR is an award winning author and commentator.
Scott is a proud graduate of Senn High School, a Chicago Public High
We were delighted that Scott wrote "A Christmas Story for the
Times" for the broadcasto on Saturday, December 27th featuring Oprah, Warren
Buffet and Eli's Cheesecake. Thanks Scott!
by Scott Simon
A Christmas Story For The Times
Weekend Edition Saturday,December 27, 2008 ·
Joseph and Mary got off the bus in Detroit. He had worked as a
carpenter for 20 years, but lost his job. His pension was
invested with Bernard Madoff, and there was no federal bailout for
He and Mary had no place to live, and Mary was
She told Joseph that he would be the child's father, but he
wasn't the child's father. She said that spark that began their child — well,
her story was just too embarrassing for Joseph to repeat. It sounded impossible
and ridiculous.
Friends told him he was being taken for a fool. But Joseph loved
Mary and knew that the past few months had been hard for her.
There was no room at a homeless shelter, but a man said they
could unroll their blankets on the floor of his garage. The garage was cold, but
it had a wireless Internet connection.
That night, Mary gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. He had a
nice, loud cry. Mary laid their baby down in the back of a prototype of an
electric car, swaddled in a recyclable grocery tote. A stray gray dog, still
grimy from the streets and whimpering with loneliness, crept into the garage and
kept watch over their baby, keeping him warm with his panting.
That night, a star appeared in the East. Three Wise
People — Warren Buffet, Oprah Winfrey and David Axelrod — came to see Joseph and
Mary's baby, bearing gifts of Frontera Chipotle salsa, Eli's cheesecake and
asparagus, for fiber. Joseph was glad they didn't bring stock
The infant saw the gifts and smiled.
Mary saw the look of delight in her child's face and said to
herself, "He's happy to be here with us."
But she saw Joseph sitting off by himself at the far end of the
garage. She knew he was worried about how he was going to make a life for their
child. When Joseph came back to the car, his eyes glimmered.
"I think I finally understand," he said. "It doesn't matter
where a child is born, or who their father is. Every child born cries for our
love and deserves our care: Every child who's hungry in Darfur, Detroit or
Zimbabwe; every little girl who's been abandoned by a roadside in China; every
little boy in Congo who has a gun taller than he is thrust into his arms; every
little boy and girl who are threatened by an empty stomach, a cruel tyrant or an
epidemic — I must love them as a father loves his child."
Mary and Joseph sat with their arms around each other and around
their baby boy. The dog — they decided to adopt him on the spot — hopped up in
the seat beside them and put his head gently onto Joseph's lap. The star that
had found them seemed to stay for a moment, while their child breathed softly,
safely, peacefully, as they looked out into a new year.


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Up the middle positions (catcher, short, second, and center field) are some of the hardest positions to fill because the defensive requirements force many players off to the corners. Shortstop and second base have been filled at the major league level for the past decade by Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley, but they have moved past their prime and the organization needs to look to future at the positions.
Again for those that haven't read it or would like to refresh themselves on the end of season discussion, here is gregg's end of season report card
Second Base:
Second base is a tweener position, often second baseman are short stops that don't have the range or arm or third baseman who have the defense to play second and do not have the offensive profile for third. Teams recently have been moving players in from the outfield to second base early in their careers with some success. Second baseman have to hit, because there are no back up second baseman on the major league level. In order to be a back up a player has to be able to handle short stop to have a utility profile.
Cesar Hernandez (22): Hernandez is a solid player but he lacks the tools to profile has a first division regular at second. At the plate Hernandez makes good contact and hits with a high average with a decent walk rate, but it is a relatively empty average has Hernandez's power is limited to the gaps and while he has good speed he is a poor base runner and he doesn't steal bases at a successful enough rate to add value. In the field Hernandez is a good defender at second. The good news is that Hernandez is almost in the majors right now and scouts think he can handle shortstop enough to be a utility player as long as you aren't relying on him at short for an extended period of time.
Alejandro Vilalobos (21): An under the radar middle infielder who put up good numbers in both 2011 and 2012. Not a lot of power but little swing and miss with a good approach at the plate. He will need to keep hitting to continue to move up but his numbers so far indicate that he will continue to get that chance.
Tyler Greene (20): Greene got an above slot bonus in 2011, and then made his debut in the GCL where he showed good all-round skills but with a very high strikeout rate. Greene's 2012 was a disaster starting in Lakewood and then dropping back to Williamsport. He has good power but there is a ton of swing and miss in his game, otherwise he has good raw tools. He can play shortstop right now but he likely fits at second or third base long term. Greene's future will depend on his ability to make contact, if he can't his future in the organization may be very short.
Andrew Pullin (19): Pullin was the Phillies 5th round pick in 2012. He is a classic tweener in the outfield, he just barely lacks the speed to play center, and doesn't have the arm for right, and doesn't have the bat for left. The Phillies plan on moving him to second base where his profile should play. Pullin does not have star level tools but could be a solid to above average regular at second base if he can stick there defensively. At the plate Pullin is a polished hitter who can generate good line drive power to all fields, and on the base paths he adds average speed. There are few reports on how Pullin's defensive transition is going but he has the tools to be good there defensively.
Jairo Cardoza (18): Typical light hitting fielding middle infielder, it will take another year to see if there is anything there or if he is not long for the organization.
Shortstop is the most demanding defensive position in the majors. Outside of a few examples the bar to play shortstop defensively at the highest level requires that a player not just be average defensively but you need plus defense at short to stick in the majors. Shortstop is thin in most systems across the majors, often players can either hit or field at the position and a prospect that can do both is very special.
Edgar Duran (21): Duran was signed as a defense first shortstop. He has made small improvements each year and he is still young. He will likely move up to Reading where he will have a chance to keep improving. There are not a ton of reports on him but the Phillies have moved him up each year and given him the primary shortstop ABs at each level.
Roman Quinn (19): Quinn is the probably the most exciting player in the system. In the field Quinn is still learning how to play shortstop and there have been growing pains. There are mixed reports on whether he can stick there but he has all of the tools to be good. At the plate Quinn has good discipline and a good contact rate (which plays up due to his speed) and has line drive gap power that plays up with his speed. The speed is the difference maker, it is a true 80 tool and Quinn knows what to do with it on the base paths. The speed can be game changing and if he is forced off short, could make him a plus defender in center field. Quinn has plenty of room for projection as he matures, additionally 2012 was his first year switch hitting and he should continue to improve with reps.
Angelo Mora (19): Mora made good contact in a small sample size and played decent defense at shortstop. He will likely move to Williamsport where there will be a chance to see if he can repeat his numbers as well as better scouting reports on his approach and defense.
The Graduated:
Just because a player is no longer rookie does not mean the developmental process is over. For some positional groups there are players in the majors who fit into the developmental outlook of the system.
Freddy Galvis (23): Galvis is a tremendous defensive player, at short he is one of the best in the majors and in his short time at second base he was arguably the best in the league there. The question has always been can he hit. At the plate Galvis is weak on secondary skills in that he does not draw a ton of walks and he is not a burner who is going to steal a ton of bases. The good news is that Galvis showed more power than expected even if his average was very poor. At short Galvis does not need to be anything more than replacement level at the plate but at any other position his bat will have to improve to be anything more than a utility player.


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Complex Vs. Cortez (Murda Ave) Rap Battle Pt. 2 (Iron Solomon Guest Judge)[Grind Time N.Y.]
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Program Purpose: Engineering is the practical application of science and mathematics. Students completing the program will identify and solve a wide range of problems, applying techniques, skills and modern engineering tools. Students will conduct experiments, analyze and interpret data and effectively communicate results.
Program Description: Ventura College offers a two-year lower-division engineering program that prepares students for transfer to colleges and universities in California and across the nation. The first two years of the engineering curriculum, at most colleges and universities, are similar with specialization commencing in the junior year. Completion of the lower division core courses listed is essential in facilitating progress as an upper division engineering transfer student. It is important that engineering students meet with an engineering transfer counselor and/or the Engineering Department for specific requirements for transfer.


text:
Climate change seems to supersize at least one animal species, according to a paper published in Nature on Wednesday. A study of the yellow-bellied marmot used data going back over thirty years to show that the animals are growing not only in number, but in size: their body masses are up significantly from ten years ago, after holding mostly steady for 24 years.
Scientists have been tracking the yellow-bellied marmots in the study since 1976. The collection of critters lives in the Upper East River Valley in Colorado, where they hibernate during the colder months every year, emerging to reproduce when the weather warms up. Because the data on the marmot population goes back before the climate started warming quickly, researchers decided to break it down to see if they could isolate any effects of recent changes on the animals.
The data showed that the mass and number of marmots was fairly steady from 1976 until 2000, with the population oscillating between 50 and 75. But, by 2006 the population had tripled from its 2001 level, reaching 150 marmots, and adult marmots had a six percent higher body mass on average.
Researchers think this growth in numbers may have to do with the changing climate. The marmots seem to be emerging from hibernation earlier and giving birth earlier in the season. This allows the baby marmots a longer initial period to grow before their maturation is slowed by winter, and a longer overall time before maturity sets in, resulting in their larger size.
The authors note that the two statistics are likely related, as the larger marmots seem to have higher rates of survival. The surrounding environment also seems to have changed in a way that supports the demands of a larger number of larger marmots: tall bluebells, a favorite food of the yellow-bellied marmot, are flowering at higher rates.
Of course, marmots are only a tiny portion of the local environment, and their reaction to warmer weather may not be general. The bump may even be short-lived, as researchers speculate that increasingly long and dry summers will raise the mortality rates, canceling out the population benefits of larger body sizes.
Nature, 2010. DOI: 10.1038/nature09210 (About DOIs).


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Symptoms such as weakness, feeling tired, shaking, sweating, headache, hunger, nervousness and irritability are signs that a person's blood sugar is getting dangerously low.
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