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"Argo" took home the top prize as best picture at the Oscars Sunday night, with first lady Michelle Obama announcing the winner from the White House.
"You directed a hell of a film," co-producer Grant Heslov told director and fellow producer Ben Affleck. "I couldn't be more proud of the film and more proud of our director."
Affleck was snubbed in the directing category but humbly accepted the best picture Oscar as one of the three producers on the film. George Clooney was the third.
Affleck thanked Stephen Spielberg and the other best picture nominees and his wife Jennifer Garner for "working on our marriage."
"It's good, it's work," he said, adding, "but there's no one I'd rather work with."
For Full List of Winners
Acknowledging his last Oscar win, as a screenwriter for "Good Will Hunting," Affleck said, "I was really just a kid. I never thought I would be back here."
In the acting categories, Daniel Day-Lewis won the Oscar for best actor, being the first actor to three-peat in that category. As he accepted the award from Hollywood's greatest actress, Meryl Streep, he joked, "I had actually been committed to play Margaret Thatcher. ... Meryl was Stephen's first choice for Lincoln."
He also thanked his wife, Rebecca Miller, for "living with some very strange men," with each new role that he takes on.
"She's the versatile one in the family and she's been the perfect companion to all of them," he said.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Jennifer Lewis won the award for best actress. She tripped on the stairs on her way to accepting her award but picked herself up and made her way to the stage, earning a standing ovation.
"You're just standing up because you feel bad that I fell and that's embarrassing," she said, before rattling off a list of thank-yous and leaving the stage looking slightly stunned.
Related: Oscars 2013 Live Blog
"Life of Pi," which had a total of 11 nominations, was another big winner of the night. Director Ang Lee took home the Oscar for best director over Stephen Spielberg and David O. Russell.
"Thank you, movie god," Lee said, accepting his award.
As expected, the film took home the first technical awards of the night for cinematography and visual effects. "Life of Pi" also won for best original score.
The first big acting awards of the night went to Christoph Waltz and Anne Hathaway in the supporting actor categories.
In one of the biggest tossups, Waltz claimed the award for supporting actor for his role in "Django Unchained." It was his second Oscar for a Quentin Tarantino film; his first was for Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds."
PHOTOS: Stars on the Red Carpet
As expected, Hathaway took home the award for best supporting actress for her role as Fantine in "Les Miserables."
"It came true," she said, launching into a breathy speech, in which she thanked the cast and crew, her team and her husband. "The greatest moment of my life was when you walked into it," she said.
Quentin Tarantino won the Oscar for best original screenplay for his slave revenge western "Django Unchained." He thanked his cast.
"I have to cast the right people," he said. "And boy this time did I do it."
Chris Terrio won the award for best adapted screenplay for "Argo," which also won for film editing.
For only the sixth time in Academy history, there was a tie at the Oscars. "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Skyfall" tied for sound editing.
See Other Ties in Academy History
Oscars 2013: 'Argo' Wins Best Picture
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Author: Erin Summerill.
Pages: 392.
Published: December 27th 2016 by HMH Books for Young Readers.
Source: Publisher on Netgalley, thanks!
Seventeen year-old Britta Flannery is at ease only in the woods with her dagger and bow. She spends her days tracking criminals alongside her father, the legendary bounty hunter for the King of Malam—that is, until her father is murdered. Now outcast and alone and having no rights to her father's land or inheritance, she seeks refuge where she feels most safe: the Ever Woods. When Britta is caught poaching by the royal guard, instead of facing the noose she is offered a deal: her freedom in exchange for her father's killer. However, it's not so simple. The alleged killer is none other than Cohen McKay, her father's former apprentice. The only friend she's ever known. The boy she once loved who broke her heart. She must go on a dangerous quest in a world of warring kingdoms, mad kings, and dark magic to find the real killer. But Britta wields more power than she knows. And soon she will learn what has always made her different will make her a daunting and dangerous force.Ever the Hunted is a story with potential that let me down, because it didn't manage to be something special. There are many cliches that don't have to be problems, but I couldn't overlook them in this book. The writing itself was good and the reason I decided to finish this book instead of DNF-ing it. It's fast and easy, but the true problem is the plot.
There is nothing wrong with a basic plot; it only starts to form a problem when the author truly keeps it basic. The story fails to deliver something more. The characters are only so-so, the plot is predictable and the pacing is on the slow side. It all felt flat and uninspired to me.
Britta's father, the official Bounty Hunter of the King, has been murdered and her best childhood friend is the suspect. When Britta is caught poaching she has two choices: die or join the hunt for Cohen. If she finds him, she will get her freedom back. On her way Britta discovers clues that make her aware Cohen is around; and eventually they meet and run away together. Cohen vows he didn't kill her father and it is up to them to discover the truth.
Britta and Cohen are both unmemorable characters. In the beginning I imagined her to be a little like Meria from Brave, but that really isn't the case. She is great at tracking and she knows her way with the bow. Her father has taught her many things, but most of the times she seemed clueless. There was nothing special about her and she had a slight damsel in distress syndrome. She faints and cries a lot. While I don't object to anyone displaying these emotions (because no, crying doesn't make you look weak), Britta doesn't seem to be able to pick herself up without having a guy around. She is always second-guessing herself and needs a lot of affirmations from the people around her.
Cohen also lacks traits that make him stand out. He is the typical boy-next-door, so I didn't give a crap about their plain romance. I always like the friends-who-turn-into-lover-trope (although I prefer sarcastic/hate-to-love romance), but not if both characters bore me to death. There was also too much emphasis on their growing feelings.
The ending sort of made up for it, but the overall story wasn't enough to make me want to pick up the sequel.

subset: commoncrawl


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CHICAGO - A former Boy Scout who says he was sexually assaulted when he was 10 by his now-imprisoned former troop leader sued the Boy Scouts of America on Tuesday, citing recently released files the group secretly maintained on suspected molesters in its ranks.
The lawsuit claims that the Boy Scouts allowed Thomas Hacker, a Scout leader barred from the group after a 1970s felony sex abuse conviction in Indiana, to rejoin as a volunteer in Illinois in the 1980s, and he went on to molest more boys, including the plaintiff.
Hacker was arrested in 1988 and convicted in 1989 of the aggravated sexual assault of an 11-year-old member of his troop in the southwest suburbs of Chicago.
Now 75, Hacker is serving two concurrent 50-year prison terms as a result of his conviction. His defense attorney in the 1989 case called him "a classic pedophile - and sick beyond that," according to a Chicago Tribune story at the time.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday by a man identified only as John Doe claimed that Hacker sexually assaulted him when he was 10 years old -- after Hacker re-joined the Scouts in Illinois.
"While we have not seen this lawsuit, we deeply regret that there have been times when Scouts were abused, and for that we are very sorry and extend our deepest sympathies to victims," Boy Scouts of America spokesman Deron Smith said in a statement.
The suit draws on details unearthed this fall when the Boy Scouts of America, one of the country's largest youth organizations, was forced by an Oregon Court to release internal documents they kept on scout leaders and volunteers who were suspected sexual predators.
The files go back almost to the organization's founding in 1910 and were known as the "red files," the "perversion files" and the "ineligible volunteer files."
Boy Scouts release secret child abuse files
Roughly 20,000 pages of files, spanning from 1965 to 1985, were released this fall by order of the Oregon Supreme Court, after a jury in the state found the Scouts liable in a 1980s pedophile case and ordered it to pay nearly $20 million in damages.
Ineligible volunteer list
Lawyers involved in the Illinois case said it is one of the first to be filed with evidence gleaned from the massive document release. The records released this fall on about 1,200 "ineligible volunteers" contained a detailed dossier on Hacker.
That dossier included a warning from a Scout leader in Indiana to national officials that Hacker had been "arrested for homosexual activity with many boys both in Scouting and through the school in which he was teaching."
Hacker was subsequently convicted of the felony sexual assault of a 14-year-old boy in the junior high school in Indiana where he worked. In a letter from the national office to the Indiana Scout council, a top official wrote: "Under no circumstances do we want registered in Scouting," according to the complaint.
Lawyer releases list of alleged Boy Scout molesters
Hacker was added on the secret "ineligible volunteer" list the national organization maintained, according to the lawsuit. But a decade later when he left Indiana and moved to Illinois and became active again in Scouting, no one conducted a background check or ran his name against the list of known and suspected pedophiles.
That failure, the lawsuit claims, shows the Boy Scout's efforts to prevent pedophiles from infiltrating its ranks "did not function as it was intended, was flawed, and in many cases ineffective."
The Boy Scouts of America says it now requires even suspected cases of child molestation to be reported immediately to law enforcement and says keeping the old files secret protects victims.
Last week, a Texas appeals court sided with the group, saying the Scouts did not have to turn over its post-1985 files describing sexual abuse complaints against volunteers.
"The Boy Scouts have taken the view that keeping these files secret protects the children," said Christopher Hurley, the Chicago attorney representing John Doe in the case filed Tuesday.
"But in this case it obviously didn't work. It may protect the molesters and the Boy Scouts, but it's not in the best interests of children."
The BSA's Smith said that in the past 30 years the group has added background checks and training programs, and requires law enforcement to be told when there are "even suspicions" of abuse.
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text: XANTHOS Stereo Console Gaming Headset, black SL-4475-BK Intensify your gaming experience and totally engross yourself in the virtual world – whether on the PS3®, Xbox 360® or PC. The XANTHOS Stereo Console Gaming Headset with atmospheric LED lighting delivers sensational stereo sound for games and multimedia on all three platforms. Your friends and teammates will hear you with optimum clarity thanks to the fold-away microphone, plus you can conveniently adjust the volume level and mute the microphone using the in-line remote. In addition, the three-metre cable offers ultimate freedom, while the padded earcups provide maximum comfort – so you can concentrate on the most important thing: the game. Features: Gaming headset for the PS3®, Xbox 360® and PC for voice chat and gutsy gaming sound crystal-clear stereo sound with deep bass and crisp trebles rugged, fold-away microphone for clear voice chat in-line remote for convenient volume adjustment plus microphone muting stylish design with atmospheric LED lighting maximum comfort thanks to the flexible headband and soft padding lightweight at just 310g driverless installation 3m cable for ultimate freedom


text:
var i = 5; var s = "Hello"; var d = 1.0; var numbers = new int[] {1, 2, 3}; var orders = new Dictionary();The implicitly typed local variable declarations above are precisely equivalent to the following explicitly typed declarations:
int i = 5; string s = "Hello"; double d = 1.0; int[] numbers = new int[] {1, 2, 3}; Dictionary orders = new Dictionary();A local variable declarator in an implicitly typed local variable declaration is subject to the following restrictions:
- The declarator must include an initializer.
- The initializer must be an expression. The initializer cannot be an object or collection initializer by itself, but it can be a new expression that includes an object or collection initializer.
- The compile-time type of the initializer expression cannot be the null type.
- If the local variable declaration includes multiple declarators, the initializers must all have the same compile-time type.
The following are examples of incorrect implicitly typed local variable declarations:
var x; // Error, no initializer to infer type from var y = {1, 2, 3}; // Error, collection initializer not permitted var z = null; // Error, null type not permitted


text:
Twelve community projects receive almost £115,000 of South Norfolk Council funding
PUBLISHED: 06:30 29 December 2012
Community groups across south Norfolk are celebrating after almost £115,000 was dished out for renovation projects.
Buildings including listed churches, a town centre museum, sports clubs and a boathouse received funding from South Norfolk Council.
Seven projects across the district have been boosted with grants from the council's Capital Grants Panel totalling £99,836 for schemes ranging from roof repairs and extensions, to helping provide a new community meeting place. A further £14,247 was awarded to five projects which came in as applications to the council's neighbourhood fund.
The biggest recipient was Diss Museum, which received £21,000 to tackle structural problems caused by damp and to preserve the building for future generations.
Two churches received funding with £14,070 going to the historic church at Flordon for a project to preserve it's 13th century timber roof to turn it into a community centre. The money will pay for work to remove pews and install a level timber floor, to improve heating and lighting, restore the Victorian vestry, and install a kitchen.
Wymondham Abbey was awarded £10,000 towards the Abbey Experience Project and in particular to enhancements to the church yard. This includes funding for a medieval herb garden with seating, picnic benches, hard standing and display panels explaining the history of the Abbey.
Saxlingham Playing Field Association received £16,000 to fix the leaking club house roof. Another sports club - Diss Rugby Club - was awarded £12,000 to provide changing facilities for the club's youth group. Councillors awarded £15,901 towards the costs of glazing the Whitlingham boathouse. Brooke and District Cricket Club received £10,000 for improvements to irrigation and drainage.
David Goldson, chairman of the grants panel said the awards would make a big difference to life in the community for thousands of residents.
"The projects we have supported are well thought through and have strong supporting evidence. They clearly show how these grants will directly benefit thousands of residents.
"Councils today are under immense financial pressure. To be able to support community projects is a tribute to the way we have managed our budget so that our communities get improved services and the support to enjoy and improve the facilities they need to reach their potential," he said.
The five successful neighbourhood fund applications were £5,000 for the Heart of Gissing charities for internal alterations to the centre in Gissing, near Diss. Diss Youth and Community Centre received £4,000 towards the cost of replacing windows and new flooring. Hethersett Athletic Club received £3,780 for football equipment.
Genesis Housing Association, which manages a homeless hostel in New Costessey received £967 for a cycle shed. And Long Stratton Bowls Club received £500 to replace the club house roof.
If you value what this story gives you, please consider supporting the Eastern Daily Press. Click the link in the orange box below for details.


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We just installed the Bio-Well software on one of our computers running Windows XP and were unpleasantly surprised to find out it did not install on every Windows accounts but only on the administrator account under which we launched the install program. The install program did not give us the choice to install the software on all accounts either.
For security reasons, our computers are set-up in such a way, our day-to-day operations are performed under a "user" account with restricted credentials. The administrator account is merely used to install and update software.
When we logged into the "user" account, the Bio-Well software was not listed in the Start menu programs. We moved the Start menu shortcut from the Administrator's account to "All users", but then only the folder is visible, not the shortcut itself.
It there any way we can use the software under a "user account?
Thank you, in advance, for your attention and reply.


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Johnny Depp's forthcoming re-imagination has found a director who may bring to bear on the film more originality than Depp will know what to do with.
Edgar Wright ("Scott Pilgrim vs. The World," "Shaun of the Dead") has been hired to direct Depp in an adaptation of the "The Night Stalker," reported Deadline.
Back in the '70s Darren McGavin starred in a made-for-TV move about investigative reporter Carl Kolchak, who starts to believe that a serial killer the Vegas cops are after is actually a vampire. The "film" was so popular it spawned a sequel and eventually a series.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
We've had our fill of Depp and his wasting of his own talent, but we loved Wright's "Scott Pilgrim," and his involvement in the project gives us hope. We just hope it doesn't distract him too much from "Ant Man" and "The World's End."


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13,200 more Kennedy assassination records released
UPDATED: Thu., Nov. 9, 2017
WASHINGTON – The National Archives on Thursday released more than 13,200 records – some hundreds of pages long – related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.
It's the fourth release so far this year.
Most of the collection comprising about 5 million pages of records has been released to the public, but some documents have been withheld over the years to protect individuals, intelligence sources and methods and national security.
The latest documents are being released according to a law that President George H.W. Bush signed Oct. 26, 1992. That law required all records related to the assassination be released within 25 years, unless the president says doing so would harm intelligence, law enforcement, military operations or foreign relations.
Last month, on the 25-year deadline, President Donald Trump wrote in a memorandum that he had "no choice" but to agree to requests from some government agencies to continue withholding certain information.
Trump, however, directed agencies to again review each of their redactions during the next 180 days. He said agency heads needed to be extremely circumspect in recommending that information still needed to be withheld from the public.
Government agencies have until March to tell the National Archives why any part of their records should still be redacted. The records included in this latest public release have not yet been re-reviewed by the agencies as part of that process.
Local journalism is essential.
The journalists of The Spokesman-Review are a part of the community. They live here. They work here. They care. You can help keep local journalism strong right now with your contribution. Thank you.
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text:
Gateway Specialty Insurance has top rated markets to quote package or monoline insurance for a detox center.
Get a quote for a substance abuse detox center by completing an application.
Coverages for a substance abuse detox center can include:
General Liability
Directors & Officers Liability
Employment Practices Liability
Abuse and Molestation
Special Events
Crisis Intervention
Professional Liability
Equipment Breakdown
Business Income
Employee Benefits Liability
Blanket Additional Insureds
Cyber Liability
Policy highlights can include:
- Defense outside limits
- Separate or shared limits for psychiatrists, psychologists and other MD/mid-levels professionals
- Industry leading broadening forms
- Broad definition of who is an insured
- Easy access to brokers
- Underwriting expertise with limited customer distribution
- Ability to provide admitted and non-admitted terms
- Coverage can be written claims-made or occurrence
- Risk management services
- Separate limits for General Liability, Professional Liability and Abuse and Molestation
- In-house claims experts
Detox centers claim examples
Property Claim:
A fire breaks out as a result of cooking in the common kitchen area of a detox center, which results in extensive smoke and heat damage to both the building and its contents, and forces the detox center administration to seek an alternative facility for a period of one month. The organization suffers a loss of $75,000 in property damage and extra expenses.
Hired/Non Owned Auto Claim:
Holly is a staff member working for a detox center that provides mentoring. While Holly is driving a volunteer for a visit to the supply office she fails to yield at a stop sign and strikes another vehicle. The volunteer sustains a severe bodily injury and sues Holly's personal auto policy. It turns out that the claim amount will ultimately exceed Holly's personal auto limits and a secondary claim is made against the Hired/Non-Owned policy of the nonprofit organization.
Abuse and Molestation Claim:
A man who is volunteering for a detox center receives consent to take a girl he is mentoring on a trip. During the trip, the girl is sexually molested. The girl's family sues the organization's Abuse and Molestation coverage for bodily injury and mental duress.
Employment Practices Claim:
A volunteer at a detox center receives numerous sexual advances from a staff member. The volunteer sues the shelter's Employment Practices policy for sexual harassment.
Directors and Officers Claim:
A donor made a large contribution to a local detox shelter requesting that the money be used to enhance the building's facilities. The board instead votes to use the money to buy a new car for the director. The donor files suit alleging misappropriation of funds.


text:
- Parent Category: News
Former Kankakee Man Sentenced to 1 year and a Day; Pot, Weapons Found at Home
PEORIA — A former Kankakee and Colfax man who admitted to growing and dealing marijuana was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison after a judge reviewed a litany of praise for the defendant from his supporters.
37-year-old Leon Battiste was arrested in February 2010 after McLean County sheriff's police found 180 marijuana plants in a sophisticated grow operation in the basement of Battiste's Colfax home. Police also seized 4 pounds of the drug valued at $20,000 and five weapons.
Battiste, who later lived in Kanakakee, pleaded guilty in August to the manufacture or possession of marijuana with intent to distribute the drug.
In a commentary requesting a minimum sentence, his defense lawyer listed 43 positive traits offered by employers, neighbors, friends, and students of the marshal arts studio where the defendant was an instructor.
Supportes called Battiste "A gifted teacher and a champion of the underdog; a positive role model; and a genuine good person."
The defense also argued that Battiste's "physical appearance would likely make him a target for troublemakers in a prison setting. Unlike many criminal defendants, Mr. Battiste's tattoos, piercings and other permanent adornments are a matter of expression, individuality and style and not related to gangs or crime. This distinction might be lost on inmates in the Bureau of Prisons."


text:
Los Angeles Fashion Week with Marina BerBeryan, March 8th, 2012
Who I Saw:
I rocked the red carpet in a vintage romper which outlined my curves. Accessories were minimal, just a golden cuff and Givenchy earrings. I've tried the latest nail polish trend, painted my ring finger golden and the rest black. Fact: Did you know that people tend to notice your ring finger more often than the rest? Anyway, I paired this ensemble with my satin Jimmy Choo heels. And for a pop of color, I carried my Dole & Gabbana crystal studded tangerine purse.
Overall I had a wonderful time at the Fashion Group International's "Meet the Designer and Muse". It was great seeing so many talented fashion designers, friendly celebrities, friends & "Marina Fans".
PS. Follow My Style At...
Website: www.MarinaBerBeryan.com
Marina-Celebrity Fashion Stylist
Twitter: @MarinaBerBeryan
Instagram: Search Marina BerBeryan
Lookbook: MarinaBerBeryan


text:
Click this messge to hide it.
6 Seater Dining Set 514 - Benches, Rectangular Table
This dining set features a rectangular table with two 3 seater slatted bench seats. The traditional design features sturdy construction and chunky timber throughout. The table features a slatted top complete with a parasol hole. This furniture is delivered and fully assembled on site on the same day. Parasols and waterproof cushions are available as an option in a choice of colours.
- Free same day assembly
- All timber used in the construction of this furniture originates from sustainable forests in Northern Europe
- Scandinavian redwood
- Immersion treatment in oil-based wood preservative as standard
- Table with rectangular slatted top
- Table legs can be easily detached for storage if required
- 2 three seater slatted bench seats
- Sturdy seat framing
- Galvanized fixings
- Smooth planed finish
- Benches can be stored neatly under the table
- Table width 5'9" (1760mm)
- Table depth 3'1" (950mm)
- Table height 2'7" (800mm)
- Bench width 4'3" (1300mm)
- Bench depth 1'5" (420mm)
- Bench height 1'6" (460mm)
FREE SAME DAY ASSEMBLY - THE BENEFITS: Our free in house installation service is not just convenient, it is also your assurance of better quality furniture. This is because any item which includes free installation is invariably better made using quality components. Over time regular feedback from fitters ensures that design faults and weaknesses have been rectified. Same day installation is convenient for you and cost effective because it saves travelling costs. The fitters will deliver your product and then install it, all at the same time. There is also no waste to dispose of. The furniture will be ready for use once the installers have left site.
PINE: All pine is carefully selected timber from responsibly managed sources in northern Europe. The pine is seasoned and kiln dried to achieve the correct moisture content before it is machined.
- Waterproof cushions in a choice of colours
- Footstools
- Parasol - 2.7m diameter hexagonal parasol in a choice of colours
- Parasol base - decorative 455mm diameter bronze coloured cast iron finish 9kg parasol base
- Additional oil-based wood preservative
CUSHIONS: Our cushions feature water resistant polyester fabrics. Cushions with a zip on one side are removable and machine washable at low temperatures. Cushions without a zip can be easily washed by hand in a bowl of soapy water. Occasional cleaning is required if cushions are stored outside for long periods. Your cushions should be stored in a dry environment during the winter to ensure that they remain in good condition.
PARASOLS: Parasols provide shade from direct sunlight and protection from harmful UV rays. Our parasols feature showerproof polyester fabric which is removable and machine washable at low temperatures. Your parasol should be stored in a dry environment during the winter to ensure that it remains in good condition. Parasols should also be stored safely during windy conditions.
PRESERVATIVE: This product is already coated in an oil based wood preservative. Further coats can be added when required to protect against inclement weather.
EXTRA COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS INFORMATION: This item is currently available within the estimated delivery times below, with no delays. Our delivery times are slower than normal due to unprecedented demand.
- Delivery is normally between 1 and 3 weeks after order.
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SCHOOLS, COUNCILS AND BUSINESSES: We supply many schools, local councils and businesses both large and small. The prices and terms are the same so you can order online if you wish. If you want to pay by BACS transfer or company cheque please email us.


text:
Sarah Jessica Parker created a stir on the streets of New York City as she filmed scenes for "Sex and The City 2" on Tuesday.
Sarah, who plays writer Carrie Bradshaw, joined her "SATC" co-star, Chris Noth, who stars as her husband, Mr. Big (John James Prescott), on 84th street in Manhattan, Access Hollywood can reveal.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Scenes From 'Sex And The City 2'
The two filmed their scenes around a Mercedes, a possible hint that Mr. Big is still financially secure in the upcoming installment, despite the global financial crisis that hit the world in 2009.
When Chris and Sarah were spotted filming the first "SATC" movie in NYC in 2007, passerbys witnessed screams and tears as the two filmed what ended up being a jilted wedding scene.
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Sarah Jessica Parker
This time around though things seemed much more calm, with the two smiling during the take.
At one point, Sarah put her arms around him and looked into her co-star's eyes.
"Sex and The City 2" is set to open in 2010.
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: Glam Slam: Stars Reinventing Their Wardrobes
PLAY IT NOW: 'Sex & The City 2' Starts Filming In New York City (September 1, 2009)
PLAY IT NOW: Fashion Flashback: Sarah Jessica Parker
MORE ACCESS ON THESE TOPICS: Sex And The City - Sarah Jessica Parker - Movies - Chris Noth - TV


text:
Monday, February 10, 2014
Sports News
and Putin, bask in afterglow of Games gold
Send a link to a friend
[February 10, 2014]
By Mike Collett-White
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) — Russia was
basking in the afterglow of its first gold of the Winter Olympics on
Monday, as the team figure skating victory enthralled the host nation
and banished memories of Vancouver four years ago when the perennial
sporting superpower stumbled.
The inaugural team event, decided at a packed Iceberg Skating
Palace in Sochi on Sunday, was also a personal triumph for President
Vladimir Putin, who has staked his reputation on staging a
successful Games.
State television followed the beaming 61-year-old as he shook hands
with and congratulated the skaters, smiled and slapped hands with
young volunteers, drank beer and urged the Russian team to go on to
greater sporting heights.
After a buildup to the Olympics overshadowed by threats of militant
violence, international criticism of a contentious "anti-gay
propaganda" law and allegations of widespread corruption, Putin
appeared delighted.
He hopes to use Russia's first Winter Games, the world's most
expensive ever held at $51 billion, to project the country as a
resurgent nation that deserves its place among the world's elite
"Good job guys, my congratulations to you all," Putin said to the
victorious skaters around him. "You have a lot of work ahead of you
here, so don't relax."
Kommersant newspaper, which like others splashed the skating story
on its front page, reported that it took Russia five days to
register its first gold at the last Winter Games in Vancouver in
2010, compared with day two this time around.
Russia's three golds in Canada was its worst tally at a Winter
Olympics, and Sochi is seen as a chance to promote not only
political power, but also sporting prowess.
After two full days of competition, Norway leads the medals table,
with two golds, a silver and four bronzes, while Russia shares
fourth spot with Canada.
The first of five events to be decided on Monday is the women's
super combined skiing, and at the halfway stage American Julia
Mancuso leads reigning Olympic champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of
Germany by a healthy margin after the downhill.
Austria's Matthias Mayer won the coveted men's downhill on Sunday
after conquering the treacherous Rosa Khutor run set among the
Caucasus mountains that tower above the main Olympic park in Sochi
on the Black Sea coast.
Champion Alexandre Bilodeau and Mikael Kingsbury are expected to
fight it out for the men's moguls title in freestyle skiing, while
40-year-old Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen will be going for a
record 13th Winter Games medal in the 12.5 km biathlon pursuit,
after winning the sprint event on Saturday.
Back in Sochi, South Korean Mo Tae-bum is bidding to repeat his 2010
success in the 500 metres speed skating.
South Korea-born Viktor Ahn races for Russia in the 1,500m
short-track speed skating after switching nationality following his
omission from the 2010 team. He won the event in 2006 when competing
for South Korea as Ahn Hyun-soo.
[to top of second column]
Looking further ahead over the February 7-23 Games, women ski
jumpers will compete in the Olympics for the first time.
Women jumpers had petitioned to be included in every Games since
Nagano in 1998, but it was not until April 2011 that the
International Olympic Committee announced female athletes could
compete on the normal hill in Sochi.
The clash between the United States and Russian men's ice hockey
teams on Saturday is a mouthwatering prospect that will bring back
memories of the "miracle on ice" clash at Lake Placid in 1980 when
the Americans shocked the dominant Soviets to win 4-3.
A Russian victory in that game would further enhance the mood among
locals. Even some of those worst affected by years of disruption
caused by huge infrastructure projects in Sochi appear to be won
over by the gleaming new Olympic park.
"It's just fantastic," Sergei Klyuyev, from the Adler area where the
park was built, said as he walked through with his family on Sunday,
admiring the state-of-the-art stadiums.
"There's been building work here for five years, but look at all this
around us. We regret nothing, not even the cost."
Putin has also defended the Olympic project, saying it helped shield
Russia from the worst of the financial crisis.
Not all Russians are convinced, however. A recent survey by
independent pollster Levada showed 47 percent of Russians believe
the cost of the Games has soared because funds have been embezzled
or mismanaged.
Norway, bidding to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, said in Sochi on
Monday it would limit the bill to around $5 billion.
Included in Russia's eye-watering Winter Games costs is a major
security operation, as Islamist militants based in nearby Chechnya
and other north Caucasus regions have threatened to launch attacks
on Sochi.
Some 37,000 security personnel are on high alert in and around
Sochi, although officials believe the risk of militant violence is
greater elsewhere in Russia.
A major attack during the Games would embarrass Putin, who launched
a war to crush a rebellion in Chechnya in 1999.
(Additional reporting by Keith Weir in Sochi and Martyn Herman and
David Ljunggren in Rosa Khutor; editing by Peter Rutherford)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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text:
From Aaron Sloman:
One of the things I have recently realised is that even intelligent well educated people don't understand the difference between assessment as a reward mechanism and assessment as a mechanism whose function is diagnostic, educational, and in some cases predictive (e.g. for employers or career choices). Mixing up the latter functions with rewards (and inevitably also punishments) can seriously distort the process and harm the educational process.
Assessing and rewarding/punishing the amount of work people have done, their motivation, the amount of progress they have made, and their attitudes, should never be mixed up with assessing what they have and have not learnt, what they need to learn, where there are confusions that need to be addressed, and what they need to doin order best to make progress.
Whether we can afford an educational system that does the more important tasks will probably be a topic of disagreement. May be the question should be whether we can afford not to perform those tasks.


text:
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Leave the light stand at home and take this lightweight Spiderlite TD3 on location. Attach the included grip adapter with soft grip handle designed to make the unit easily handheld.
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The Spiderlite TD3 offers the ability to switch between cool daylight fluorescent lamps to Tungsten Halogen hot lamps. Be prepared for any situation with one light head that can offer both options!
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The Spiderlite TD3 is designed to fit a 12 x 16" Westcott softbox. Additional softboxes and stripbanks can be attached using the optional 3520 Adapter Ring.
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No need for additional extension cords as this unit comes standard with an extra long 15' removable power cord.
Built in tilter.
The built in tilter bracket allows the Spiderlite TD3 to be tilted to precise angles."


text:
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text:
Re: "Town to hire records manager"
Last updated 3/7/2012 at 11:56am
Given the recent decisions of the Coulee Dam Town Council, I must admit that I'm feeling empowered! That I could almost single handedly force the Town of Coulee Dam to create a new position to deal with their legal and ethical responsibility is, well, entertaining if not downright laughable. The mayor, some of the Town Council, and the Town Clerk would like you to believe that my involvement, my probing, my research, is the cause of their own inability to get their day-to-day work done. Of course it is not!
The Public Records Act in Washington has been around since 1972 (a full quarter century before Snow became mayor) and it is true, some jurisdictions do complain about the "burden" of it, particularly those that do not conduct themselves in a way that is transparent to the public. Snow and his ilk should remember that the legislative intent was driven by these words: "The people of this state do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies that serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may maintain control over the instruments they have created. The public records subdivision of this chapter shall be liberally construed and its exemptions narrowly construed to promote this public policy." Just five years ago, these same statutes were changed in order to clarify and redefine "records" in/of the digital age, provide guidance for the "model rules" under the Washington Administrative Code, and strengthened the "better good" rights for disclosure. Furthermore, in 2007, the statutory intent was further reinforced by this legislative inclusion: "The legislature intends to clarify that the public's interest in open, accountable government includes an accounting of any expenditure of public resources…"
In a recent telephonic Town Hall meeting with Sen. Linda Evans Parlette, Mayor Snow was heard to complain about the requirements for public records disclosure and to request that the Washington State Senate water down the effectiveness of this "people's rights" legislation! Why would any agency discourage transparency? The reasons are clear, compelling, and obvious and they have nothing to do with the fact that Greg Wilder is requesting too many public records, and everything to do with the disclosure of the record's content.
Does the town need a new position of "records manager?" This depends a whole lot on the efficiency and "service acumen" of the existing clerk. According to Councilmember Hjorten, the town needs the position because the clerk already has "three busy functions right now and doesn't need Wilder as a fourth."
Let's look at that statement. Starting with the Wastewater Treatment Project Administration Hjorten mentions as one of the clerk's pressing responsibilities, I see that $2,000 has been budgeted for local "administration." The clerk's salary is well over $62,000 per year so, as a percentage, about 2 percent (not 33 percent or even 25 percent) were anticipated for the "administration" of the sewer project. As a footnote, the town will be paying its engineer some $1.2 million for their engineering and "administration." As to/for the "BPA Project" also mentioned, Hjorten would have you believe that the town clerk is practically building the project herself with her own bare hands! Administering permits and agreements is one of the duties and responsibilities typical to the clerk's position - it's day-to-day stuff, and when or if more help is needed because of an unusual or demanding project, you sometimes train, delegate, or hire a project manager for the duration of the overload … you don't use it as an excuse to grow your fiefdom with another employee! Oh, I almost forgot the third "other thing" that Hjorten credits the clerk with doing - "her own all-consuming job!"
I can assure you I don't make redundant requests for records. "If" the clerk releases the right and full record in the first place, additional requests are not necessary. One way to insure we are "honestly" represented is to ask for that which is claimed to have been done. As an example, Mayor Snow claims to have written untold letters and emails to our legislators, practically begging for financial assistance to help with the new $6.2 million sewer project. I asked to see them … sorta like the 1984 Wendy's commercial metaphor, "where's the beef?" They still haven't been disclosed; but the good news is, in the face of this unnecessary sewer plant, overspending for a water treatment plant, super high utility rates, and taking time out to fill our swimming pool with sand, the mayor is "working with a Cajun band!"
You may still wonder why it is that I find the need to review public records. For one thing, to understand "perspective." As stewards of the public's trust and treasury, how do "our" employees perform? How do we compare to others and to our own history without access to records? And from this discovery and disclosure - can we do better? It's not enough, as an example to know that out town clerk is one of the highest paid clerks for a town/city our size in the state. At the end of the Mayor Hartman Administration (in 1993) the position was paid about $32,000 per year with basic benefits. That person then was busy, too, with the same "all-consuming job to do." Today (in 2012), under Mayor Snow and this town council, the position pays $62,754 with enhanced benefits. That's a 94-percent increase far, far outpacing the Consumer Price Index! But maybe with all those additional responsibilities for the BPA project, the sewer plant, and the clerk's "regular duties," there may be a point and purpose for the enhanced salary - as encouragement for her to do the job! There is, however, no point, purpose, or reason to hire a "records clerk" as yet another minion for Snow and expense for us.
As a footnote, I recently needed information from the town's ordinance documents. Rather than strain the clerk's work program, I sorted through those documents myself. I spent from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. doing that — under the watchful eye of our police chief! Personally, I think his time is better spent elsewhere and his unnecessary presence cost us all upwards of over $150. I'm sure now that the mayor (or more likely, the clerk) will advise a compliant council that it needs to hire yet another police officer just because of "Wilder!" Then, not only will I have my own records clerk, I might even get to have my own police officer!
Greg "Wilder"


text:
Effective immediately we are not taking any online orders at the moment.
We will be updating this site soon.
Please keep checking back.
We are working on expanding our products to meet today's fishing demands.
or email: email@example.com
Thank you for your continued patronage.
Here at
Lee's Global Tackle we have the pleasure of bringing
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are called Japanese Domestic Market baits (JDM), because this is where they
By taking lures that
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Soft Plastics-The
JDM soft baits are something you really need to check out if you are a worm
For years I have been
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Never have I seen such
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read the newspaper through, or a
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world of the Japanese Domestic Market.
Shop by Manufacturer


text:
Snap: The first Fridays in the nTelos Wireless Pavilion
The season's first Fridays after Five opened without incident on April 15 in the newly monikered nTelos Wireless Pavilion. The show occurred before the next-day deluge that quashed the Dogwood Festival Parade (and then cost two people in Waynesboro their lives when they tried to walk across a swollen stream).
More Snaps
5 comments
leave it to the hook to bring you up then bring you down with the same story. Feel good about the concert.Then Feel like sh@t about the people losing their lives in a creek. What journalism "Hawes" By the way what kind of name is "Hawes" anyway ? Spoiled rich kid?
How about, "and the concert was a success and hundreds of locals showed up!"
How about, "and the concert was a success and hundreds of locals showed up!"
I surely hope the two events aren't connected.
idont..blah,blah Hawes is obviously the name Sewah spelled backwards. A "spoiled rich kid" would have had that name surgically corrected long ago.
Hawes's fabulous wealth comes purely from his outstanding skills as a writer and editor. From what I can surmise from your frequent posts here, your lack of wealth also comes from your skills as a writer.


text:
The Ohio State University's Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum was established (then named Milton Caniff Reading Room) in 1977 under modest circumstances. With a founding donation by alumnus Caniff, best known as creator of the seminal comic strip "Terry and the Pirates," it was originally a mere two converted classrooms.
The Ohio State University's Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum was established (then named Milton Caniff Reading Room) in 1977 under modest circumstances. With a founding donation by alumnus Caniff, best known as creator of the seminal comic strip "Terry and the Pirates," it was originally a mere two converted classrooms.
Today, the library and museum retains the foremost collection of original cartoon and comic art, and has for years. Only now does the institution have the space and resources to properly present it.
"We have the largest collection of cartoon and comic art in the world," said Jenny Robb, curator of the museum. "In our old space we were hidden underground and didn't have proper exhibition space to show the artworks. So the goal here was to be more visible and provide more accessibility to our collections."
The first two exhibits, "Treasures"- a permanently displayed "best of" from the entire collection - and "Substance and Shadow: The Art of the Cartoon," showcasing the methods, tools and techniques cartoonists use, will open Nov. 16.
In 2009, the library and museum was named for Billy Ireland, an early 20th Century editorial cartoonist who worked at the Columbus Dispatch, when the Elizabeth Ireland Graves Foundation gave the lead gift for the renovation project.
The previous 6,800-square-feet space was located in a basement and unfortunately under recognized. For the most part the public, and even Ohio State students, were unaware of its existence. The archival space couldn't even house all of the artwork, using offsite storage.
No longer will the museum be a hidden gem or have to hold its collections somewhere else. The 30,000-plus-square-foot space in Sullivant Hall is a vast improvement and offers the chance for people from the university, Columbus and even across the country and world to experience it. And that's the idea.
"We want to be the center of the comics' universe," Robb said.
So how exactly does the museum and library plan to accomplish this lofty title? First and foremost through its collection - nearly 3 million pieces of original work. (See the By the Numbers sidebar for specifics.)
Notables include original art from Bill Watterson ("Calvin and Hobbes"), Will Eisner ("The Spirit") and the entirety of the International Museum of Cartoon Art and San Francisco Academy of Comic Art collections.
The International Museum of Cartoon Art, founded by "Beetle Bailey" creator Mort Walker contained more than 200,000 original cartoons. The story behind the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art is even more impressive; the lifelong and incredible work of one man.
Bill Blackbeard began collecting newspapers from libraries in the '60s as they were being discarded once converted to microfilm. He amassed 2.5 million clippings and tearsheets from the late 19th Century to the mid '90s - all in his home.
Blackbeard dubbed his home the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art and established it as a non-profit. The story is, anyone could show up any time to view the collection, which was mainly oriented in hoarder-like, yet mostly-organized stacks and piles.
In 1997 Blackbeard learned the owner of his residence would not be renewing his lease - yep, he rented. So he contacted then-curator Lucy Caswell, who started everything back in 1977, about transferring the six semi-trucks of material to Ohio State.
Obviously the library and museum has long featured a substantial and impressive assembly of works, but when the renovation project and expansion was announced, other institutions, private collectors and family collections took notice.
"We'd consistently received huge collections even before we were moving to this space," said Caitlin McGurk, visiting curator and engagement coordinator for the library and museum. "Now people are coming out of the woodwork."
The first collection received since the expansion was the family collection of Chester Gould, the creator of "Dick Tracy." More collections are being sought out, while others are contacting the "center of the comics' universe" about taking theirs. Robb said some big things were in the works, but couldn't give details at this time.
While the massive collection at the museum and library is the highlight, the public access is nothing to sneeze at. Every original work can be viewed and held (with Mickey Mouse-like cloth gloves) in the Lucy Caswell Reading Room. Contacting the staff to make prior arrangements is required for sizeable requests.
Besides the collection and its accessibility, there are plans to hold more events, designed for cartoon scholars and researchers as well as the general public and enthusiasts.
"The other big thing with the expansion is programming. Over there … we'd constantly partner with the Wex to do bigger events," McGurk said. "Now we have a big seminar room … [and] a shared theatre space. We're going to have regular workshops, bring people in on book tours and give talks for exhibit openings."
Hence, the weekend-long Grand Opening and Festival of Cartoon Art (Nov. 14-17), featuring a multitude of events. The highlights are discussions at Mershon Auditorium with Jeff Smith (creator of "Bone"), award-winning comic book writer/artist Paul Pope on Friday and The Hernandez Brothers (creators of "Love and Rockets") on Saturday.


text:
So much for the wait-'til-next year talk that began before the season.
So much for the wait-'til-next year talk that began before the season.
The scene of last season's biggest meltdown and lowest of lows became the latest clue that Illinois returned from the dead. Instead of splintering like last winter, the Illini held together to upset No. 9 Purdue 71-67 in overtime Tuesday at Mackey Arena, knocking off the preseason favorite and sending a message in the Big Ten Conference opener that Illinois just might be as good as its record.
Illinois placed five players in double figures, lost only two turnovers after halftime and shut down Purdue sophomore Robbie Hummel, the league's preseason player of the year. Illinois defeated a top 10 team on the road for the first time since the Final Four season in 1989.
A team that frowned and pointed fingers last season is now pointed up. Illinois improved to 13-1 overall and 1-0 in the Big Ten before playing at No. 23 Michigan Sunday (11 p.m., Big Ten Network). The celebration in the locker room was just the opposite from last year, when the Illini came apart in a loud tirade heard down the hall.
"It was the lowest of the lows,'' said Illini senior guard Chester Frazier. "It was like a dysfunctional family. This year, we love each other and play for each other. We play as a team, and we're more resilient.
"Losing isn't fun. When you're winning everybody is smiling. I would hope to keep everybody smiling, winning games and proving people wrong. It's a good start, coming out on the road and getting a win against a top tier team in the Big Ten. Now we see if we can go get Michigan and take it from there.''
Illinois dodged a loss when Purdue center JaJuan Johnson missed the second of two free throws with 1.9 seconds left to send the game into overtime. The Illini scored nine consecutive points in overtime, then held off the Boilermakers when guard Demetri McCamey hit six free throws in the final 28.7 seconds.
"This is a gutsy win in a tough place to play where they played well,'' said Illinois coach Bruce Weber. "They won't lose a lot of games. We weren't pleased when the schedule came out, but we said if we can find a way to win, the positive side is we'd be one up on everybody with an extra day of rest.
"(After the game), the kids put on the board, 1 of 18. They're flying a jet and looking ahead. Whoever put it up there, it's a good thing. It's a marathon. We have a long way to go.''
Actually, the note came from Dr. Jeff Kyrouac, but the message stuck.
Sophomore center Mike Tisdale led the Illini with 18 points. He also had six rebounds before fouling out in regulation. Sophomore guard Alex Legion, playing aggressively for the first time since becoming eligible four games ago following his transfer from Kentucky, scored 12 points. Forward Mike Davis had 12, guard Trent Meacham, 11, and McCamey 10. The Illini had 21 assists and only six turnovers.
"We stayed together and made some big plays down the stretch,'' Meacham said. "We thought we had it in regulation. He hit the free throw to go to overtime. We believed we can win.''
Frazier finished with just two points, but he had seven rebounds, seven assists, one block and just one turnover in 41 minutes played. Despite giving up 6 inches on Hummel, Frazier served as the lead defender on the Purdue sophomore, who entered as one of two Purdue players averaging 14.4 points per game. Hummel finished with seven points on 3-for-7 shooting.
Illini assistant Jerrance Howard thought putting a guard on Hummel would be effective. Perhaps Hummel's back pain also had something to do with it.
"We thought Robbie was the key,'' Weber said. "He makes plays, runs the break. They run things through him. Chester is our best defender. We made the decision, then even before the game I said to coach Howard, 'Should we do it?' We stuck with it.
"We took a gamble, to be honest.''
The Illini bench came up big in the overtime. Trailing 60-56 after Purdue scored on its first two possessions, reserve guard Calvin Brock hit a jumper and Legion followed with a jumper from the wing. Brock converted an alley-oop for a 62-60 lead with 2:30 left.
Davis' baseline jumper extended the lead to 64-60 on the following possession, and the lead grew to 65-60 when Legion made one free throw with 57.1 seconds left.
Purdue (11-3, 0-1) trimmed the lead to 65-64 before McCamey finished it off at the line. That's where the Boilers didn't help themselves, shooting just 15-for-27 from the line. Guard E'Twaun Moore had 17 points to lead Purdue. Johnson finished with his first career double-double with 16 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.
"Illinois played a great game,'' said Purdue coach Matt Painter. "Their ball control was the key to the game. To have 21 assists and only six turnovers is incredible.''
NOTES: Illinois hadn't defeated a top 10 team on the road since an 89-73 win at No. 8 Michigan on March 11, 1989. . .
John Supinie can be reached at email@example.com.
Illinois report card
Front court A
Mike Tisdale put up big numbers and equalized the big effort by Purdue sophomore JaJuan Johnson, who might be considered Purdue's top NBA talent. Mike Davis made some clutch plays down the stretch, such as two blocked shots on one Purdue possession in overtime.
Back court A
Chester Frazier earned the game ball with a solid line and remarkable defense on Robbie Hummel despite giving up 6 inches. Meacham and McCamey were solid. McCamey bounced back from sitting the bench down the strethc to seal the win with six free throws.
Bench A
Alex Legion played aggressively and showed he might be ready to live up to some of those lofty expectations. Calvin Brock gave the Illini a boost in the closing minutes.
Overall A
OK, so it's one game in the Big Ten, but the Illini showed they're back from a dismal season a year ago. This is an entertaining team that's earning the attention of its fans. It might also be impossible to forget them when it comes to the top 25 rankings. Before the next vote, the Illini play at No. 23 Michigan.


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Make Your Voice Heard: Online The Bowerman Fan Voting Begins Today
NEW ORLEANS – Fans of collegiate track & field will have their voices heard in the next two weeks as online voting for The Bowerman — the nation's top award for collegiate track & field student-athletes — got underway as of noon ET on Monday, July 29.
Voting will take place at TheBowerman.org through Tuesday, August 13, to help narrow the three male and three female finalists down to a men's and women's winner who will take home the iconic The Bowerman trophy. The results of the online fan vote will account for one full vote in the overall balloting process.
Voters will choose between women's finalists Arizona's Brigetta Barrett, Stanford's Kori Carter and Clemson's Brianna Rollins; and men's finalists Derek Drouin of Indiana, Lawi Lalang of Arizona and Julian Wruck of UCLA. Quick recaps of their seasons can be found below.
When placing votes, fans should only consider performances that occurred from the beginning of the indoor season through the end of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships. Any performance that occurred during that timeframe — even if it wasn't a purely collegiate competition — can be counted. Anything before that time (cross country) or after (USA Championships, select Diamond League meetings, etc.) should not factor into the decision.
To further the cause of your favorite finalists, be sure to spread the word on Twitter by following @thebowerman and using the hashtags found in each of the finalists' biographies below. Encourage your followers to #VoteBarrett, #VoteCarter or #VoteRollins on the women's side, and to #VoteDrouin, #VoteLalang or #VoteWruck for the men.
Online fan voting started in 2009 with more than 163,000 votes having been cast since, and more than 25,000 votes have been cast each year.
Paper balloting by The Bowerman Advisory Board, past winners, selected media personnel, statisticians, and collegiate administrators, is also underway until later this month. An independent accounting firm will collect, tabulate, and certify final results and will keep the result secret until the envelope is opened in December.
The award, in its fifth year of existence, will be presented in a ceremony at the USTFCCCA Convention on December 18 at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes in Orlando, Fla.
The Bowerman Finalists, 2013 Women
Brigetta Barrett, Arizona
High Jump | Wappingers Falls, N.Y.
Season Recap & Full Bio
Barrett claimed the NCAA Division I high jump crown at both the indoor and outdoor championships, placing capstones on a season that saw her go undefeated against collegians in ten competitions en route to a new collegiate record. Her winning jump of 6-6¼ (1.99m) at the Pac-12 Championships broke the previous outdoor collegiate record of 6-6 (1.98m) held by Amy Acuff of UCLA and Kajsa Bergqvist of SMU. She also toppled Acuff's dual meet record by a centimeter with a leap of 6-4¼ (1.94m) at the Arizona-Arizona State-Northern Arizona tri-meet.
Kori Carter, Stanford
Hurdles | Claremont, Calif.
Season Recap & Full Bio
Carter became a hurdling force to be reckoned with not only at the collegiate level but also on the world stage during her 2013 outdoor campaign, winning an NCAA Division I title in the 400 hurdles in a collegiate-record 53.21 and finishing runner-up nationally in the 100 hurdles in 12.79 — both against some of the best competition the world has to offer. She defeated 2012 Olympic finalist Georganne Moline of Arizona — who finished fifth in the 400 hurdles in London — in each of their five meetings, including both rounds of the NCAA Finals.
Brianna Rollins, Clemson
Hurdles | Miami, Fla.
Season Recap & Full Bio
Rollins ended her final year at the collegiate ranks the exact same way she started it: with a collegiate record. The Tiger hurdler set the collegiate record in the indoor 60 hurdles in her very first final of the season with a blazing 7.78 and ended her campaign with the 100 hurdles collegiate record outdoors at 12.39 (+1.7m/s) en route to an NCAA Division I title in the event. Her outdoor record came at the expense of the collegiate record of 12.47 (+1.2m/s) she had set two days earlier in the prelims. In total, her season featured five of the ten fastest times in collegiate history in the 60 hurdles; three of the seven fastest 100 hurdles all-conditions time in collegiate history; and an unbeaten streak of 17 races between the two events.
The Bowerman Finalists, 2013 Men
Derek Drouin, Indiana
High Jump | Corunna, Ontario (Canada)
Season Recap & Full Bio
It was a banner year for Drouin — the indoor and outdoor USTFCCCA Indoor and Outdoor National Field Athlete of the Year — as he became the first to sweep both the indoor and outdoor NCAA Division I high jump titles in one academic year since he last did so in 2010. The Canadian won at heights of 7-8 (2.34m) or greater and took cracks at collegiate records at both championships. He finished unbeaten in nine collegiate high jump finals between indoors and outdoors, with his only overall loss coming in a tie with fellow The Bowerman semifinalist and rival Erik Kynard of Kansas State at the Nike Prefontaine Classic Diamond League Meeting, where both posted the No. 2 outdoor mark in collegiate history at 7-8¾ (2.36m).
Lawi Lalang, Arizona
Distance | Eldoret (Kenya)
Season Recap & Full Bio
Though Lalang did not compete as frequently as the other Finalists due to the nature of his events, he made every race count with four NCAA Division I individual titles — two indoors and two outdoors — two NCAA DI Indoor Championships records, four all-time collegiate top-10 marks indoors in two different events, and a 2013 collegiate-best at 1500 meters, an event he elected not to run at the NCAA DI Outdoor Championships. He swept both the mile and 3000 meter races at the indoor championships and took both the 5000 and 10,000 meter events at the outdoor championships, joining 2009 The Bowerman winner Galen Rupp of Oregon and Suleiman Nyambui of UTEP in 1982 and '83 as the only male runners to win four individual NCAA DI distance titles in one academic year.
Julian Wruck, UCLA
Discus | Brisbane, Queensland (Australia)
Season Recap & Full Bio
A national contender and 2011 champion in the discus in his days at Texas Tech prior to his transfer to UCLA, junior Julian Wruck had a breakthrough year in a big way in 2013, re-writing the record books en route to his second NCAA title in the discus. He finished the season not only undefeated but nearly untouchable in eight collegiate events in 2013, registering the top 27 throws by any collegian in 2013. He officially owns four of the top 10 throws in collegiate history and is No. 4 all-time at 217-7 (66.32m), and produced an all-time collegiate best 223-7 (68.16m) mark at an exhibition throws meet among four other throws that would have ranked in the all-time collegiate top-10.
The Bowerman Voters will receive ballots listing each of the finalists and must rank them by first, second and third choice. First-place votes will receive three points, second place will notch two, and third will receive one point. The finalist with the highest point total will be declared the winner.
The Bowerman Voters consist of:
- The Bowerman Advisory Board (10 members)
- Select media personnel, statisticians, and collegiate administrators
- Galen Rupp, 2009 men's winner of The Bowerman
- Ashton Eaton, 2010 men's winner of The Bowerman
- Ngoni Makusha, 2011 men's winner of The Bowerman
- Cam Levins, 2012 men's winner of The Bowerman
- Jenny (Barringer) Simpson, 2009 women's winner of The Bowerman
- Queen Harrison, 2010 women's winner of The Bowerman
- Jessica Beard, 2011 women's winner of The Bowerman
- Kimberlyn Duncan, 2012 women's winner of The Bowerman
- Online voting by the public will constitute one collective vote (ranking of choices will be made by order of total single votes)
- Online voting by USTFCCCA members will constitute one collective vote (ranking of choices will be made by order of total single votes)
Paper balloting will conclude in the coming weeks while online voting will begin on Monday, July 29 and will last until Tuesday, August 13. An independent accounting firm will collect, tabulate, and certify final results and will keep the result secret until the envelope is opened in December.
The Bowerman, which debuted in 2009, is presented annually by the USTFCCCA to the most outstanding male and female collegiate track & field athletes in the nation.
Southern Utah's Cam Levins and LSU's Kimberlyn Duncan are the reigning winners of The Bowerman, which is named for legendary Oregon track & field and cross country coach Bill Bowerman.
Past winners include Olympic gold medalist and decathlon world-record holder Ashton Eaton (2010), 10,000-meter Olympic silver medalist Galen Rupp (2009), and 2011 IAAF World Champion at 1500 meters, Jenny Simpson (2009).
Bowerman served the sport of track and field in numerous ways. His leadership in the USTFCCCA's predecessor organization, the National Collegiate Track Coaches Association, and his contributions to NCAA track and field and the running community as a whole are among his many lasting legacies.
For more information on The Bowerman, the award, the trophy and Bill Bowerman himself, visit TheBowerman.org.
The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) is a non-profit professional organization representing cross country and track & field coaches of all levels. The organization represents over 8,000 coaching members encompassing 94% of all NCAA track & field programs (DI, DII, and DIII) and includes members representing the NAIA as well as a number of state high school coaches associations. The USTFCCCA serves as an advocate for cross country and track & field coaches, providing a leadership structure to assist the needs of a diverse membership, serving as a lobbyist for coaches' interests, and working as a liaison between the various stakeholders in the sports of cross country and track & field.


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30 yards of red color jute packaging twine, wound a a spool.
We love this twine for tying papers and packages - natural and heavy duty! Great in natural wedding settings with other burlap items, white cotton and natural colors. We used ours to wrap glass jars and tie, also for stringing for photo bunting.
Twine is 1/32" string (thinner than standard twines), deep blossom pink, with loose, "hairy" fibers (see photo).
You can use twine to add a special look to brown paper packages, strung tags, glassine bags, tags... always keep some on hand for those quick wrapping jobs. Looks great with the brown kraft swing tags!
You will receive a single spool (30 yards+) of olive green jute twine.
"love you MADLY" is a stamp we have designed that is available for sale; twine shown in photo with this stamp is not the twine sold here, but just a suggestion for tying gift tags. :) Also shown are our spools of velvet (red) and seam binding (teal).


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I've noticed that the poo piles left by Larry Jr (or the later stage unnamed twin worm-like things) can be broken for hearts and soul hearts. Is there a limit to how many drops can be made from Larry poo, or how many poo piles Larry can drop?
If not, one could potentially fill the health meter with soul hearts, right?


text: Architecture is a language, one used by institutions to say something about themselves. The same basic principle is true for the world's spy agencies. All show their secrecy in their buildings, while some may appear starkly utilitarian, and some may even be frightening and alienating. But they also have their quirks and differences, whether it be an isolated complex hidden by trees, in a location that's never been officially disclosed, or a prominent complex built by superstar architects and put on prominent display in the middle of a capital city. From Virginia to Berlin to Moscow, here are nine of them. Above: United States: Central Intelligence Agency [caption id="attachment_101029" align="aligncenter" width="660"] If John Brennan becomes the next CIA director — a likely event — he'll be working from inside a complex that could blend into a business park anywhere in America. But this park contains the headquarters of America's foreign intelligence agency. Protected from prying eyes by a wooded belt in suburban Langley, Virginia, just northwest of Washington, D.C., the complex is actually two sets of buildings connected to a central core, with each set built at different times. The first half of the building and designed by New York architecture firm Harrison and Abramovitz — who had a role in designing the United Nations headquarters — dates back to 1963. It's a sign of its times, and built from sterile pre-fabricated concrete. Though the Headquarters Auditorium (seen at top), also known as "The Bubble" took its cue from post-war futurism. But by the 1980s, the agency was running out of space. Today, the complex is much larger, with an added west wing of two glass office towers, designed by Detroit architects Smith, Hinchman & Grylls in the 1980s. The CIA also has a penchant for art and assorted knick-knacks. The agency has a chunk of the Berlin Wall on display, and an A-12 Oxcart spy plane. There's a museum inside the building with all sorts of weird memorabilia inside, from a robotic fish to a Cold War-era mini-submarine (seen above). Outside the cafeteria on the grounds of the headquarters' new wing is the copper sculpture Kryptos, containing 869 encrypted characters on four plates. The final plate, with its 97 characters, is still unbroken. The cafeteria is remarkably pleasant and airy for a government building, actually, with enormous windows and green views. (The food, however, is not quite as pleasing.) Photos: Central Intelligence AgencyUnited States: National Security Agency There are clear views of the National Security Agency's headquarters off the Patuxent Freeway, just skirting Fort Meade, Maryland, about 15 miles southwest of Baltimore. But we wouldn't advise getting any closer, as the NSA is the highly secretive agency responsible for the U.S. government's codebreaking and collecting communications from around the world. The NSA's headquarters also fits the part, rising blank and expressionless above a desert of parking lots. Completed in 1986, it resembles a collection of stubby, black, reflective monoliths like from 2001: A Space Odyssey. And according to the Center for Land Use Interpretation, the complex has an estimated 10 acres of underground space. But like the CIA during the Cold War, the NSA in recent years has outgrown its own building. Fort Meade altogether has grown extremely rapidly as defense agencies relocate there and the NSA boosts its Cyber Command headquarters. Defense and government contractors now have offices surrounding the place, and contract and government jobs have surged, largely due to growth at the base more generally, and partly because of growth at the NSA. The Baltimore Business Journal reported that the base is expected to add an eye-popping 42,500 jobs by the end of the decade. The Defense Department even paved over part of the base's golf course for the headquarters of the Defense Media Activity organization, the Pentagon's media wing. Hopefully the Pentagon and the NSA will include a lot more parking. Photo: NSAUnited Kingdom: Secret Intelligence Service There's perhaps no spy headquarters more recognizable than the SIS Building, headquarters of the British Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6. It's not only smack-dab in the middle of London, but has been featured in six James Bond movies, and blown up in two of them. Designed by architect Terry Farrell, the structure has been compared to a cross between a Babylonian ziggurat and a power plant. And it's built like a veritable fortress, capable of withstanding bomb attacks. There are also reportedly extensive underground areas. It's also put its defenses to use. In September 2000, militants suspected to be from the Real Irish Republican Army — a splinter faction of the Irish paramilitary group — fired a rocket-propelled grenade round at the building's eighth floor, causing no injuries. In a demonstration of just how heavily armored the building is, the rocket reportedly bounced off a glass window. Photo: Ďuncan/FlickrRussia: Federal Security Service The Lubyanka building — the yellow, neo-Baroque former headquarters of Russia's spies — is still the most recognizable symbol of Russian secrecy, even if the bulk of their office space has moved elsewhere. Dating to 1897, the building once housed an insurance company before becoming the headquarters for the feared Soviet spy agency KGB. It was remodeled by Stalin. (The basement contained a KGB prison.) The building was then transferred to the KGB's successor agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB), after the collapse of the USSR. According to cybersecurity analyst Jeffrey Carr's book Inside Cyberware: Mapping the Cyber Underworld, the building today houses the FSB's Communications Security Center, which oversees and encrypts Russian government computer security systems; and the Center for Licensing, Certification, and Protection of State Secrets, which handles export licenses for cryptographic and surveillance technology. Twin suicide bombing attacks in 2010 also came close to the building — one of the blasts exploded at the nearby Lubyanka metro station. Photo: Andrei SoldatovAfghanistan: National Directorate of Security There's a reason why Afghanistan's domestic spy agency (NDS) is headquartered at an armored compound that is "big ... and very, very sensitive, with a very high-security installation and system," as one agency official phrased it to the Daily Times. As U.S. troops withdraw from the country, the agency is expected to play a great role against the Taliban. It's also increasingly come under attack. On Wednesday, the headquarters compound in central Kabul was assaulted by a suicide bomber in a minivan, who detonated himself and his vehicle at the front gate. The Wall Street Journal's Nathan Hodge and Habib Khan Totakhil reported the blast was followed by a team of armed men who "then tried to assault the compound, but were shot dead by security forces." At least one guard was reportedly killed, and injuries are said by news outlets to number at least 33 people. Tucked inside a high-security zone in Kabul near several embassies, the Afghan interior ministry and the national police headquarters, it's mixed in with a number of street-level shops, some wrecked by the blast. Wednesday's assault was also not the first time the NDS facilities and agents have come under attack. Agents have been targeted by the Taliban and killed. And in December, the agency's director was put into the hospital after a suicide bomber blew himself up at a guesthouse while the director was there greeting visitors. Photo: The aftermath of a Jan. 16, 2013 suicide attack against the National Directorate of Security. AP.Israel: Mossad The Israeli Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, known around the world as Mossad, is one of the most difficult spy agencies to locate. In Israel, it's a closely guarded state secret, and attempts by amateur sleuths on the internet have frequently misidentified its headquarters. But there are some indications its location has been figured out. An apparent former Mossad agent claimed to have revealed its location in at a highway intersection called Glilot Junction in 1987. In journalist Patrick Tyler's 2012 book Fortress Israel, he located Mossad's headquarters as a "partially hidden campus of low-slung office buildings sandwiched between the Glilot highway junction, a Cineplex, and a shopping center." The buildings seen above appear to fit the location and description, and the building at top is indeed a Cineplex, but it's not for certain whether it's really Mossad. Photo: Google MapsGermany: Federal Intelligence Service Germany's chief spy agency, which in German goes by the name Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), is proud of its spiffy new headquarters. ABC has reported that it's "set to be one of the most technologically sophisticated buildings in the world" once it opens in 2014. Located within walking distance of the Reichstag building in Berlin and on the site of a former East German soccer stadium, the BND has even gone online to show off of its facades of "natural stone, render, fair-faced concrete, brick or metal." It has room for 4,000 employees, and has weird blob art. The agency is also touting its architect, Jan Kleihues, the son of famous architect Josef Paul Kleihaus, who was known for museums in Germany and Chicago. But the design is also perhaps more open than the Germans would like. In July 2011, Munich news magazine Focus reported that the building's blueprints were stolen from the construction site. According to Focus, the blueprints contained "the exact function of every single room, the thickness of each wall, the exact position of every toilet and every emergency exit and every security checkpoint." The theft hasn't ended Berlin's plans. However, it was reported to have forced an estimated $1.8 billion interior redesign. Photo: APFrance: Directorate-General for External Security This walled compound doesn't stand out — because it's not supposed to. It would be an ordinary and undistinguished complex of buildings, that is, if you ignore the high walls topped with spikes and a tall sensor tower. Located on the eastern edge of the Paris city limits is the headquarters for the French Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE), the agency responsible for France's overseas intelligence works. It's headquarters also nicknamed "the swimming pool" for its proximity to a facility used by the French Swimming Federation, and Google Maps has even blurred its image in satellite photographs. Photo: Google MapsChina: Ministry of State Security The building seen above is not the main headquarters for the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS), but a regional office in China's central Hubei Province. The official headquarters is a little harder to spot. Attempts to track it down have led to frequent — but mistaken — associations with the Ministry of Public Security: the giant Borg-like structure in downtown Beijing which houses China's national police command. A closer bet for the main MSS offices is a low-key compound in Beijing's northwest. The MSS is also different from many Western intelligence agencies because it handles both foreign and domestic intelligence, instead of splitting them up like the CIA and FBI. Hence the reason why it has regional offices inside China, in addition to carrying out Chinese espionage overseas. The Hubei office also sends something of a statement, with its imposing columns, wedding cake facade, sensor dishes and observation perch. Another photo shows what appears to be a police officer on duty, in case anyone gets the wrong idea and wanders a little too closely. Photo: Vmenkov/Wikimedia