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This is a really interesting subject and very interesting comments. As homework is done at home, I think there is certainly a great opportunity for teachers (across grade-level teams) and parents to collaborate. While I do not think that parents should dictate how much homework their children receive, I think their input as to the quality and meaningfulness of the homework assignment should be taken into account. I also think that teachers should collaborate when assigning homework to ensure that relatively equal amounts of homework are assigned each night and that large projects or papers are not due in close proximity.
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Dr. Joanne Meier
Along with her background as a professor, researcher, writer, and teacher, Joanne Meier is a mom. Join Joanne every week as she shares her experiences raising her own young readers, and guides parents and teachers on the best practices in reading.
My teacher gives more homework
Do you ever hear this complaint? Kids know which teacher gives the most homework AND which teacher gives almost no homework at all. I think there are two issues here: how much homework is good? And should teachers at the same grade level give the same amount of homework?
How much homework is good? If you've seen the documentary Race to Nowhere, you may be thinking that no homework is good homework. The research on homework, including a summary from a meta-analysis by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics suggests that recommendations vary by grade and subject matter. For example, homework that involves studying for discrete tests such as those at the end of a unit seems to be beneficial for younger students (although the studies didn't examine long-term retention of that information). Outside of preparing for a specific test, homework appears to be only mildly helpful for younger students. For high-school students, there appears to be a threshold of benefits to homework, suggesting a 90 to 120 minutes maximum.
To the second question, should teachers within a grade level at a school give the same (or similar) amount of homework? I can't find any research that answers that question, but anecdotally I think the answer is a resounding YES. I think it presents a united effort to meet curricular goals. I think it also helps parents feel as though their child is getting the same level of preparation, regardless of teacher.
I'm curious! Do the teachers at your school (within a grade level) collaborate on homework? Or is there disparity among classrooms?
Related reading:
Key Lessons: What Research Says About the Value of Homework
What does good homework look like?
Five Homework Strategies for Teaching Students With Learning Disabilities
This might be a silly question, but I am wondering why there is not enough time for students to complete their school work during the 6-7 hours they are in school? My husband teaches high school government and world history and does not assign homework. The students study for tests and prepare for class discussions at home, but this is their choice, not an assignment. His classes score well on tests and he is reguarded as one of the schools best teachers. Is it possible other teachers could re-examine their teaching methods?
At my school, there really hasn't been much collaboration which makes things difficult. I teach at an international school, so our kids have not only homework from the English teachers (who teach most academic subjects), but from the Spanish teachers as well. We did do a survey to learn more about the workload of homework on our students (and did some research) dso there is a greater awareness now, but teachers normally do not know what the other teachers are giving. I would like to see greater collaboration, and more uniformity in homework among the different grade levels.
This is such a great topic! My students were almost over-committed with after-school activities, so homework was a burden on family time for students who did not get home until 7PM. My strategy was to build my relationship with students and parents and prove by what I assigned that my homework was connected to our learning goals. If there was a night when I did not need for students to complete homework, then I did not assign homework. I vowed never to send home "busy work" that is, in essence, disrespectful of students and parents. Because of this, parents helped to make sure my homework was completed and helped reinforce my consequences when something was not done. As a middle school teacher, my students had five or six other teachers. My goal was to make sure my specific assignment took only ten to twenty minutes to complete so that students had time for other subject areas.


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After the past few weeks with only a few new major studio flicks getting DVD releases, this week we've got plenty. Unfortunately, it's stuff like The Three Stooges. It's not all bad though -assuming you like movies with Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, Jon Hamm, Guy Pearce, Clive Owen, Mel Gibson, Ewan McGregor, Willem Dafoe, Tom Hardy, Jackie Mason, Ben Foster, or that dude who played Balki on Perfect Strangers. That's right, they are all in new movies hitting DVD this week. Besides those stars, we've got flicks about vampires and school shootings and even a found-footage haunted house flick. There's even Davy Jones' final film appearance, and how could you pass that up?
The DVDs:
The DVDs:
The Three Stooges
Casa de mi Padre
Friends With Kids
Get The Gringo
Salmon Fishing In The Yemen
4:44 Last Day On Earth
Goldberg – P.I.
Virgin Alexander
Girls Gone Dead
Midnight Son
Hidden Rage
Documenting The Grey Man
The only way to know for certain which film features your favorite Monkee is to keep reading on the next page. If you're more of a Micky Dolenz fan, feel free to skip right to the Netflix suggestions by clicking here.

subset: commoncrawl


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Aggression in Dogs
Aggression is the most serious and dangerous behaviour problem that dog owners may need to deal with. In order to treat the problem effectively, it is necessary to identify the type of aggression the dog displays. Some types of aggression include:
- Dominance or "Leader" aggression
- Fear
- Play
- Possessive
- Territorial or Protective
- Predatory
- Pain-induced
- Maternal
- Redirected
- Learned
- Other
In some cases, more than one type of aggression will apply.
Since there are many different types of aggression, a trained animal behaviourist is the best person to make a diagnosis, determine the prognosis (including the chances of safe and effective correction) and develop an appropriate treatment regime. In some cases, a medical condition can be a contributing factor to aggression so prior to assessment by a behaviourist, we recommend a complete physical examination by a veterinarian, including blood tests to rule out organ dysfunction, if indicated.
Dominance or "Leader" Aggression
One of the most common types of aggression seen by veterinary behaviourists is dominance related aggression. In order to achieve security and cohesiveness within a group or pack, a hierarchy develops. Once a dog develops a position of leadership with a family member (or other dog), any challenge to that dog's leadership may lead to aggression. Dogs use facial expressions and body postures as signals to display dominance, such as standing tall, a high wagging tail, eye contact, or snarling. Aggression towards family members in one or more of the following circumstances along with dominant signaling may indicate dominance aggression; protecting resting areas or resources; restraint, pulling, pushing, discipline, punishment; staring, eye contact; handling by the owner; overprotection of a family member.
Fear Aggression
Fear aggression arises when a dog is exposed to people or other animals that the dog is unfamiliar with or those that have been previously associated with an unpleasant or fearful experience. Although some dogs may retreat when fearful, those that are on their own territory and those that are prevented from retreating because they are cornered or restrained, are more likely to fight. If the person or animal retreats, acts overly fearful or the pet is harmed or further frightened in any way (eg. a fight or punishment), the fear is likely to be further aggravated. Fear aggression towards family members might arise out of punishment or some other unpleasant experience associated with the owners. Many cases of fear aggression are seen as combinations or complicating factors of other forms of aggression (eg. dominance, maternal, possessive etc.) Fearful body postures in conjunction with aggression are diagnostic of fear aggression.
Play Aggression
Play aggression is commonly seen in young dogs that have not been taught appropriate bite inhibition. This can be directed towards people or other animals. Over-the-top excitement when playing, combined with nipping, biting or grabbing, are signs of play aggression. Although this is normal behaviour, it can lead to injury and other more serious forms of aggression as the dog matures. It needs to be handled correctly when the dog is young in order to prevent this.
Possessive Aggression
This type of aggression is often seen when people or other pets approach a dog that has an object that is highly desirable, such as a favourite toy, food or treat. While protecting possessions may be necessary if an animal is to survive and thrive in the wild, it is unacceptable when directed towards people or other pets in the household. What can be confusing for some owners is that it is not always food that brings out the most protective displays. Novel and highly desirable objects such as a tissue that has been stolen from a bin, a favoured toy, human food or a piece of rawhide are some of the items that dogs may try to protect aggressively.
Territorial or Protective Aggression
Territorial aggression is exhibited towards people or other animals that approach what the dog considers its property. This 'property' may be the dog's environment (such as the home or a favourite park) or it may be protective towards an owner or another pet. When a dog is protective of a person, this type of aggression may be exhibited wherever the dog is with that person, regardless of the location. Generally the target of this type of aggression is those people and animals that are least familiar to the dog. Territorial and protective aggression can be prevented with good, early socialisation of the dog as a puppy.
Predatory Aggression
Predation refers to the instinctive desire of dogs to chase prey animals. This type of aggression is characterised by stalking, chasing, attacking, and sometimes ingestion of the prey. This can sometimes be directed at people or other pets. Predatory aggression can often be strongest when the dog is running together with a group of dogs (pack mentality). This is a very dangerous form of aggression which must be prevented early on in a dog's development.
Pain-Induced Aggression
Pain-induced aggression is usually elicited by some form of handling or contact that elicits pain or discomfort. However, even if your dog is not exhibiting pain, certain medical conditions (endocrine imbalances, organ disease, etc) may make the pet more irritable and perhaps more prone to aggression. Fear and anxiety further compound many of these cases. Once your dog learns that aggression is successful at removing the stimulus, aggression may recur when similar situations arise in the future, whether or not the pain is still present.
Maternal Aggression
Maternal aggression is directed towards people or other animals that approach the bitch with her puppies. When bitches go through pseudo-pregnancy they may also become aggressive and begin to protect nursing areas or stuffed toys at the approximate time when the puppies would have been born. Once the puppies are weaned and the dog is speyed, the problem is unlikely to recur.
Redirected Aggression
Aggression that is directed towards a person or pet that did not initially evoke the aggression is classified as redirected. This is likely to occur when the dog is aroused and a person or other pet intervenes or approaches. Dogs that are highly aroused must be avoided. Since redirected aggression arises out of other forms of aggression, it is important to identify and treat the initial cause of aggression (eg. fear, territorial, etc) to prevent the problem.
Learned Aggression
Although learned aggression can refer to dogs that are intentionally trained to act aggressively on command (or in particular situations), learning is also an important component of most other types of aggression. Whenever a dog learns that aggression is successful at removing the stimulus, the behaviour is further reinforced. Some forms of aggression are inadvertently rewarded by owners who, in an attempt to calm the pet and reduce aggression, actually encourage the behaviour with patting or verbal reassurances. Pets that are threatened or punished for aggressive displays may even become more aggressive each time the situation recurs.
Other types of aggression
Aggression associated with medical disorders may arise at any age, may have a relatively sudden onset and may not fit into any canine species typical behaviour. Some medical conditions can, on their own, cause aggression, but in many cases a combination of behavioural factors and medical problems cause the pet to pass a certain threshold at which aggression is displayed. Infectious agents such as rabies, hormonal imbalances such as hypothyroidism, psychomotor epilepsy, hyperkinesis, neoplasia, and a variety of genetic and metabolic disorders can cause or predispose a dog to aggression. Painful conditions such as dental disease or arthritis, and medical conditions causing fever, fatigue or sensory loss might increase the pet's irritability.
In rare cases, aggression has no identifiable etiology and no particular stimuli that initiate aggressive displays. There may be a genetic propensity to aggression in some lines of some breeds but many of the cases previously labeled as "idiopathic," "rage" or "mental lapse aggression" have been disputed and in some cases subsequently reclassified. Only when there is no identifiable stimulus or cause for the behaviour, or when an abnormal ECG is documented, should the diagnosis of idiopathic aggression be considered.


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Privacy Tempered Glass Screen Protector - iPhone X/8/7/6/6S/Plus/5/SE
July 19, 2019
It's to see your own screen with this protector on unless your brightness is turned all the way up, and then you can only see it indoors. If it's a bright sunny day you'll have a hard time using your phone with this screen protector. That said, for my purposes it works well. I work at a school at the front desk and this will definitely keep nosy kids from seeing what's on my screen.
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The pants are comfortable, be sure to order a size or two up if you're looking for a more relaxed fit. Not a big fan of the zippered pockets, but that's really a minor comment; overall, the shorts are cool and comfortable.
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June 14, 2019
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Check out the trailer for my first web series, IN TRANSITION, which premieres on Wednesday, July 3rd. I star in the lead role of Tawny Kim in this dark comedy series about a group of women recently released from prison.
SUBSCRIBE to the MARGARET CHO OFFICIAL channel now and watch new episodes every Wednesday.


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Watch the NFL long enough and you're sure to see some ugly things – Theismann's leg, refs being ushered off the field in Cleveland by police after a bad call, the Patriots going 9-0. If you're a Bills fan you have a special collection of such horrors – wide right, the homerun throwback, the Monday night Dallas game just a few short weeks ago.
While it may not have been quite as bad as any of the above examples, Sunday's victory over the hapless Miami Dolphins was Ugly – with a capital U. As a Bills fan I'll take any win, but Sunday's performance was downright putrid.
A look at the stats in the game would have you wondering how any team actually won the game – more a contest of who wanted to lose more than anything else. The Bills ran 50 offensive plays and gained only 214 total yards – an average of 4.1 yards per play. They punted 6 times, were -1 in the turnover ratio, and held the ball 14 minutes less than their opponent.
OK, perhaps the stats don't really convey the ugliness of the game, but if you saw it you were probably tearing your hair out in the first half. The Bills went 3 and out on their first four drives, collecting a measly 18 yards. It wasn't until 5:49 mark of the second quarter that the Bills completed their first pass and made their first first down. They actually put up 41 yards on that drive until J.P. Losman underthrew Lee Evans in the end zone and turned the ball over.
Losman had a terrible game, particularly in the first half. His stats for the first 30 minutes: 4 of 11 for 62 yards and an interception with a passer rating of 18. Unlike seasons past, the poor stats were not a result of defensive pressure and defenders running wild in the backfield. On the contrary, the pass blocking of the offensive line was very good, leaving Losman with abundant time. Losman never seemed to find the receiver he wanted, always being forced to check down to shorter routes. When making the short throws Losman was very inaccurate, missing receivers wide open 6 yards down the field and making easy passes uncatchable. At times Losman held the ball far too long and took a few bad sacks. In short, he did not look like a guy who should be the starting quarterback.
What makes Sunday's disappointing win even uglier is that it leaves more questions open than it answers. I truly thought that Losman would have another solid game to prove that he should be the starting quarterback through the end of the season, but instead I thought he played so poorly I was almost surprised that he wasn't replaced by a rookie after halftime. Yes, the quarterback debate rages on with no end in sight – waiting for the mid week press conference to see who will be under center could become a weekly event. Does Losman deserve yet another chance as a starter? Is now the time to put a rookie in and let him learn the ropes? There aren't many good answers here.
And what ugly game wouldn't be complete without injuries? Marshawn Lynch injured his ankle and will get an MRI to determine the severity – if he's held out of the Patriots game the Bills chances for victory shrink even further (get ready to see plenty of Jauron's good buddy Anthony Thomas running for 2 yards at a clip). Kiwaukee Thomas suffered what appears to be a serious groin injury, leaving an already decimated secondary possibly down another man. And what game would be complete without a tight end going down? Robert Royal suffered a concussion leaving only Michael Gaines and Ryan Neufeld as the only healthy players at the position. Earlier in the season I joked that I was going to play for the Bills this season, but that might seriously become a reality if they continue to lose players at the rate they have been.
Yeah – I'm a pessimist, but it's hard to get excited about the Bills after watching Sunday's game. The optimists are happy that the Bills have won four straight and the national media refers to the team as "hot" and "streaking" – let's not get carried away. The Bills have beat a 1-8 team twice, an 0-9 team once, a 3-6 team and a 4-5 team – anybody notice an incredible lack of victories against quality opponents? The optimists like to think of the record the Bills SHOULD have (7-2) rather than the record the Bills DO have (5-4). The optimists think the Bills have 2 quarterbacks capable of leading the team rather than wondering if either can be successful as the schedule gets drastically harder. The optimists truly believe that the Bills have a good chance of defeating the Patriots in front of a national TV audience, the oddsmakers know that the money says the home team should be spotted 16 points.
I think as Bills fans we would all like to believe that the Bills have a genuine shot to make the playoffs this year – you can see the hopes rising as you look at the faces and read the posts on message boards. Unfortunately, this seems to happen every year – the Bills show just enough to make you believe that they just might be able to do it. They start believing that the Bills can beat several quality opponents and finish 9-7 or better only to see the team go on a big losing streak and miss out on the postseason. Opinions change quickly when the Bills start losing.
I don't mean to be a complete killjoy. I'm going to watch the games and root my heart out for the Bills. I'm going to clap my hands sore when they make a great play and throw my hat at the TV when they do something stupid. But I'm not going to lose sight of my preseason prediction that the Bills are a sub .500 team this year and I'm not going to get emotionally caught up in a team that's let me down every time I've dared to dream about greatness, especially when even the wins are ugly. Call me crazy, but let's see who has more hair at the end of the season.


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A true quilted beauty, the Michael Kors Susannah! My first thought: Chanel look without the Chanel price tag. Of course, there is no way that I am the only one who thinks this. Sure, tons of high-end and even contemporary designers have played with quilted detailing in the past, not anything new. Chanel isn't the only designer who has come out with designs that use the quilted leather and leather woven gold chain shoulder straps, however combined together on the same bag leaves an image that is too iconic to ignore.
Regardless of the similarities, this Michael Kors Susannah is stunning. The size and long straps make it the perfect candidate for an everyday work bag or even as a weekend adventure tote. However one little tiny detail that I can't get over, is that MK logo charm. If I had this bag in my closet, that would have to go. Anyone else? The design should stand on it's own, and that it why I prefer my bags logo-less.


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Welcome Back 909 Coffee & Wine/913 Spirits with this Great '$5 Off' Coupon!
We'd like to welcome back Advertiser 909 Coffee and Wine, and their 'place next door' – 913 Spirits – both of which are offering an exclusive '$5 Off' Coupon!
909 is a cozy, neighborhood gathering place located in the heart of Olde Burien. They serve up great coffee, fresh-baked pastries, excellent meals, fine wines and a cozy atmosphere. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, and even have live music on certain weekends.
One other reason to frequent this great, locally-grown establishment is this – an exclusive B-Town Blog $5 Off Coupon! (limit one per table, after 5 p.m. only and Happy Hour excluded; expires 10/12/13):
BTB Publisher/Editor Scott Schaefer is a regular here, and it's not just because of his usual great triple grande mocha and fresh handmade scones they serve him every morning.
It's the people.
Owners Frank Ricci and Kelly Ricci have hired an amazing staff of friendly, hard-working (and fun) people, and this are one of the keys to their success.
When you step inside the 909 you're almost always greeted by one of their friendly staff, who either seat you at one of their sturdy wood tables, overstuffed leather chairs near a fireplace, outside on the deck or offers you something to go. If you only have time for a quick glass of wine, or are waiting for your table, you'll find their granite-topped bar area very comfortable.
It's usually very busy in the mornings, and it's no wonder why – they make great lattes, mochas, espresso, coffees and teas (by Luxe Tea), and offer a full breakfast menu (see all menus here), including quiche, crepes and paninis to more traditional eggs, sausage and toast. Many people bring their work, newspapers, magazines, iPads or other readables while enjoying the bustling and friendly morning atmosphere.
The most recent addition to the 909 family is 913 Spirits, located next door. After a total remodel and installation of possibly the best outdoor dining courtyard in Burien, the 913 expands the Ricci's offerings to fine dining and much more. With a cozy bar inside and heated outdoor dining, the 913 is a great, very classy addition to Olde Burien.
Here's more about 913 from their website:
Small but quaint, this bar has it all! The place next door offers our wide variety of wines by the glass, specialty beers from the northwest and beyond and our handmade signature cocktails. We also offer the delicious 909 dinner menu, so you can enjoy the whole evening at the 913 Bar.
Adjacent to the bar is our spacious, heated courtyard situated between the 909 and 913. Equipped with heaters and a fountain, it's the perfect place to hang out year round.
Make your next special occasion, special
The 913 is also available for private parties. If interested, please contact us for availability and menu selections.
Here's more from the 909 website:
909 Coffee & Wine opened its doors in May 2007, the 3rd restaurant operated by the Ricci Family. The Riccis brings over 50 years of restaurant experience to our latest venture. As Angelo's Restaurants have become Burien and Bellevue institutions where generations of families come together, so is our hope for 909.
909 is a warm and cozy neighborhood gathering place. If you don't know anyone when you walk in, you'll certainly have made a new acquaintance by the time you leave. We don't have a television or offer Wi-Fi because we want 909 to be a place where our guests come together to share, not only food and drink, but themselves.
The 909 family is passionate about what we do and offer. That passion is why we take pride in serving locally roasted Caffé Umbria coffee, bread from Macrina bakery and gelato from Gelatiamo. We make all of our pastries and desserts in house. Our soups and salad dressings are all made from scratch. And we change our menu seasonally to take advantage of the freshest ingredients available.
We want our guests to be able to try a variety of dishes when they come in, so we offer numerous "small" plates as well as larger "entrees." Our wine selection changes frequently, and we always have 20-30 glass pours, with several tasting flights available. We offer 8 beers on tap, with a focus on local and micro-brewed beer.
We believe that our guests deserve the best food and service we can provide. We want 909 to be more than just a place to satisfy your hunger – we want 909 to be a place to satisfy your soul.
Reserve the 909 for your special event!
For your next event or get together, have it catered by the 909 or better yet, have it at the bistro! Sundays can be reserved and catered for up to 50-60 people. To get more info, just give us a call or email.
To view our catering menu, click here.
Here's a video review:
909 Coffee and Wine is located at:
909 SW 152nd StreetBurien, WA 98166
(206) 243-7909
913 Spirits is located at (you guessed it…) 913 SW 152nd in Olde Burien.
Hours of Operation
- Mon-Thu: 8a-10p
- Fri-Sat: 8a-Midnight
- Closed Sundays
[Would you like to have a Blogvertorial story, Ad and/or Event Listing like this on a popular, fast-growing website seen by over 80,000 interested Local Readers every month? Email us for more info, or check out our Advertise page!]


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(Photo by Gabriel Christus)
A Cyclist rides his bike through Fairgrounds Park on Monday. (Photo by Gabriel Christus)
A cyclist rides on the bike trail through Fairgrounds park on Monday. (Photo by Gabriel Christus)
Allison Fleischersits in her classroom at with a bucket to collect money to send to Red Cross for the Japan tsunami relief effort on Monday at VanBuren Elementary School. Fleischer collected more than $400, many notes of encouragement and 2 pieces of oragami. (Photo by Gabriel Christus)
Tara Clarken, lead therapist at Massage Heights, works some knots out of Colorado Ice player Eryk Anders back Wednesday during the Loveland Chamber of Commerce Business Expo at The Ranch in Loveland.
Former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, speaks about the state of the Middle East, foriegn policy and education Tuesday at Moby Arena in Fort Collins. (Photo by Gabriel Christus)
Former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice waits to take the stand Tuesday at Moby Arena in Fort Collins. (Photo by Gabriel Christus)
Danny Byerly measures a stone he had set in what will be the the front entrance of the Loveland Public Library on Monday at the corner of East 4th Street and Adams Avenue. (Photo by Gabriel Christus)
Scott Muirhead shoots tar into cracks while Brad Nazarenus smooths it out on Cleveland Avenue between East 10th and 11th Streets. The City of Loveland Streets Division works from November to April to repair cracks in the cities streets. (Photo by Gabriel Christus)
0408COFFIN.jpg Ed and Gina Gazvoda with the Coffin Spa, an environmentally better way to dispose of a body after death in Lafayette, Colorado April 8, 2011. CAMERA/Mark Leffingwell
Mark Pemberton, left, and Dee Pemberton of Omaha, Neb. look at Navajo jewelry on display at Page, Arizona resident Alice Hudson's booth on Sunday during the Spring Contest Powwow and Indian Art Market at the B.W. Pickett Equine Center in Fort Collins.
A.J. No Braid, left, and her daughters Larissa, 17, middle, and Lara, 13, get ready to participate in the grand entry Sunday during the Spring Contest Powwow and Indian Art Show at the B.W. Pickett Equine Center in Fort Collins.
Bill Reed Middle School eighth grader Cosette Klingler, 14, works on a acrylic painting last Friday in her Loveland home in preparation for the Art for a Child's Sake art show.
Linda Lewis holds a sign on Eisenhower Boulevard before a Tea Party rally Saturday at the amphitheatre in North Lake Park. (Photo by Gabriel Christus)
Members of the Northern Colorado File and Drum Corps play music at the start of a Tea Party rally Saturday at the amphitheatre in North Lake Park. (Photo by Gabriel Christus)
Robb Smith during the opening ceremony of a Tea Party rally Saturday at the amphitheatre in North Lake Park. (Photo by Gabriel Christus)
Jacob Whitler, 13, left, holds a trash bag for his sister, Amanda, 15, while volunteering along with their mother, Lisa, for the City of Loveland's Annual Waterway Cleanup in Chubbuck Ditch.
Sandi Nelson, left, and her son, Cole Nidiffer, 14, clean up garbage along the Chubbuck Ditch near the Chilson Recreation Center on Saturday morning during the City of Loveland's Annual Spring Waterway Cleanup event.
Head cook Chuck Orona, , prepares a veggie omelet for a customer Saturday at Johnson's Corner. The veggie omelet is one of the few items on the menu that comes with tomatoes due to a shortage of produce out of California. (Photo by Gabriel Christus)
Nine-year-old Christina Vasquez, left, and Gavin McDonough, 5, make leather necklaces with the assistance of Dwight Carlson, right, and Tom Hoffman during the Church of the Nazarene's Ninth Annual Easter Marketplace on Saturday.
Fort Collins resident John Farrell poses with several of his kites April 12, 2011.
Aims Community College art instructor Victoria Lisi, back left, draws model Sierra Sabin, back right, while demonstrating figure drawing Friday during a free college day event where the public was invited to sit in on any of 150 sample classes at the school.
Aims Community College art instructor Victoria Lisi shows students the various drawing tools she uses during a sample drawing class Friday for the school's free college day event.
Fort Collins resident Jason Reid uses a conte crayon to sketch a live model Friday during a sample class at Aims Community College in downtown Loveland as part of the school's free college day event.
A fisherman waits in his warm car with his pole in the water as snow covers the rocks on the southeast shore of Lake Loveland Thursday morning.
Area high school students who attend the Prom A Rama at the Chilson Recreation Center will be given Saraha Bucks that they can use to purchase a variety of donated items during the event.
Mountain View High School junior Patrick McQueen, 16, right, and his father, Gordo McQueen, carry a craps table that will be used during the casino-themed Prom-A-Rama event at the Chilson Recreation Center for area high school students.
Project Self-Sufficiency advisor Fran Richburg, center, and executive director Mary Carraher, right, comfort Dr. Mary Cahill after Cahill was presented with an award during the Victim Service Awards of Distinction ceremony Wednesday at the Larimer County Justice Center in Fort Collins. Other award recipients, from left, are Tamara Folley, Sue Johnston and Val Macri-Lind.
Sunday at King of Glory Lutheran Church. (Photo by Gabriel Christus)
Fort Collins resident John Farrell flies a 4-line Revolution Zen kite Tuesday afternoon at Fossil Creek Park. Farrell will demonstrate kite ballet to music during Kites in the Park on Sunday at Spring Canyon Community Park in Fort Collins. The event is free and runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Loveland resident Jon Chevalier, hugs his daughter that he met for the first time on Tuesday, April 12 at Denver International Airport. (Photo by Gabriel Christus)


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The father of a young man fatally assaulted outside a Melbourne nightclub said he still cries for his son every day, as police revealed footage of a man who may be his attacker.
Shannon McCormack died after an assault on May 27, 2007, where he was knocked to the ground during an altercation with three men outside Melbourne's Queens Bridge Hotel nightclub.
Despite an extensive police investigation, continued appeals to the public and a $100,000 reward, the case remains unsolved.
But on Friday, Homicide Squad Detective Inspector John Potter said a painstaking review of 150 hours of CCTV footage had revealed a promising lead.
The footage shows a man who matches witness descriptions of Mr McCormack's attacker.
His parents, Cheryl and Bill McCormack, are urging anyone who can identify the man to come forward.
"For you it's six years, for us it's like it's six minutes," Bill McCormack told reporters.
"It doesn't go away, it's always there.
"It's like losing an arm or a leg. Every time you look it's still there.
"I have a little cry every day."
Mr McCormack said the family had been traumatised by his son's death.
"I blame myself. It was my job to protect my child and I failed," he said.
Det Insp Potter said the footage showed a man in his 20s, who was in the area at the time of the assault, talking to other men.
"This is the time now for whoever knows (this man) to come forward, have the courage of their convictions, to understand the grief that this has caused people," he said.
"It's time now to give the person up."
Mr McCormack was trying to break up a fight outside the hotel when he was king-hit.
He underwent several operations for a serious head injury, but did not regain consciousness and died a week later.


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The Tomahawk community lost one of its finest young men Thursday when Tyler Kahle, son of Tom and Michele Kahle and 2006 graduate of Tomahawk High School, fell to his death in an industrial accident at an open-pit gold mine near Nome, Alaska.
The 19-year-old Kahle was a gifted athlete, all-conference baseball player and MVP of the 2006 Hatchet diamond squad. Much more than that, though, he was a devoted son and considered his many friends to be "family."
An adventuresome kid, Tyler loved to hunt and fish. He spent many days each fall chasing deer with archery gear.
In fall 2005, he visited Alaska with his parents and girlfriend (now fiancee) Amanda Roberts and went on a moose hunt. His love affair with "the last frontier" began in earnest.
In October 2006, his mother became critically ill with blastomycosis and slipped into a coma. Tyler spent many days and nights at the hospital sitting in a bedside chair praying for her recovery. His prayers were answered in late November when Michele awoke and started her healing process.
Tyler returned to Alaska earlier this year and got a job working for Alaska Mechanical Inc., the prime contractor on the Rock Creek open-pit gold mine construction project. He planned to work there for eight months and then return to Tomahawk with a healthy bank account.
During his off time this spring in Alaska, Tyler was able to go bear hunting and harvested his first bruin. After working his daily shift, Tyler often went fishing in the Nome area with co-workers. He planned to hunt moose again this fall.
"Tyler was doing what he wanted to do where he wanted to do it and loving it," said his father. "He was living his dream."
The young Kahle did a lot of living in his 19-and-a-half years and thrived on new adventures. Had he been born 200 years earlier, he probably would have volunteered to accompany Lewis and Clark on their expedition of discovery across North America to the Pacific Ocean.
Those who knew Tyler appreciated his leadership and motivational skills. He had a positive effect on everyone he met.
Like a shooting star, Tyler's life lit up the darkness for too brief a moment before burning out. He will truly be missed but never forgotten.
Tyle Kahle – a shooting star
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Re: Tyle Kahle – a shooting star
I am suprised & dis-heartened that no one has taken the time to write about Tyler. He was in a place that he loved during his accident - only thing is his loved ones were not around him. His parents, wife to be & multitude of friends have lost a wonderful soul. He will live on forever in their hearts.
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Technical FAQs
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Symmetra RM UPS: SYRMXR4B4.
Symmetra LX UPS: use any combination of SYARMXR3B3, SYAXR9B9, SYARMXR9B9, or SYRMXR4B4. SYXR12 and SYXR4 cabinets are compatible only with the use of the DC cable adapter, SYOPT3, which is discontinued.
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Palladium Hotel Group offers its clients a transfer service* that will come pick you up at the airport on the day of your arrival and bring you to the hotel and will pick you up on time to make your return flight. (Estimated trip of 15-20 minutes each way).
This service will allow you to get to your destination without having to wait in line at the taxi stop, especially in July and August.
Reserve your transfer service* along with your hotel reservation through our website www.palladiumhotelgroup.com or through our CallCenter. Prices will appear with the hotel reservation.
Reservations subject to availability and upon request.
Enjoy your holidays!
By car: From the airport follow the highway to IBIZA-SAN ANTONIO-SANTA EULALIA. Follow the highway towards San Antonio. It is clearly indicated by signs. Before arriving to San Antonio, you will find a round-about where you can take the exit to Santa Agnes/Santa Inés/Cala Salada on the right. Continue straight, pass the first round-about , and in the next one get off at the exit to your left into John Sebastian Bach street. Go straight and turn right into Cala Gració street. You will see a sign pointing to the hotel. The Fiesta Hotel Tanit awaits you!
By taxi: From the airport taxi stop the hotel is about 20min /20km away.
By bus: From the airport take bus # 10 to Ibiza city and then take the #3 to San Antonio. There is a night bus called the "Discobus Ibiza" in the summer.
Santa Eulalia: 20Km / 20min
Ibiza City: 20km/ 13min
Airport of Ibiza: 25km/ 15min
Port of Ibiza: 20km/ 13min
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Cave of Can Marça 27km/ 25min
Dalt Vila: 20km/ 13min


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South Africa is one of the best whale watching destinations in the world. Every year, these marine mammals migrate from the cold arctic waters to the warmer climates of South Africa. There are dozens of locations along the coast in and around Cape Town to observe the whales, either from land or on the water.
Whale watching season runs approximately from June through to the end of November, but peak whale watching time varies from location to location. Approximately an hour and a half by car from Cape Town lies the village of Hermanus, the self-proclaimed whale watching capital of the world. Here you will encounter a large number of whales from June to December (peak season is in September and November). The warm water on the coast of Hermanus attracts large numbers of whales that come here to play and mate. The top 3 whale watching spots from Cape Town to Hermanus are listed below.
The best whale watching spot in Cape Town is on the False Bay side of the Cape, where the water is warmer. The whales migrate here from mid-August to approximately mid-October. Along the coastal route are several lookout points where you can stop and take your binoculars to look for these enormous marine mammals. Tip: the whales are a lot easier to spot on days with little wind (when the seas are calmer).
The picturesque village of Gordon's Bay with its magnificent beaches lies approximately halfway between Cape Town and Hermanus. The best time to spot whales here is between July and September. A great lookout point is Steenbrasdam, a wonderful picnic spot that also offers a great view of Gordon's Bay. Gordon's Bay is also on the beautiful Clarence Drive coastal route that runs all the way to Betty's Bay – well worth the drive just for its large penguin colony.
The final destination of Hermanus is one of the best locations for watching whales from the shore and on the water. The whales are easily spotted from the viewpoints along the picturesque walking trail above the cliffs, sometimes no more than 25 metres from shore. Boat tours provide an even closer look. Every year in September Hermanus organizes the Whale Festival, an event that celebrates the migration of the whales with many concerts and culinary activities.


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- Code Commit - http://www.codecommit.com/blog -
Scala for Java Refugees Part 5: Traits and Types
Posted By Daniel Spiewak On February 4, 2008 @ 1:00 am In Scala | 26 Comments
One of the mantras repeated throughout this series has been that Scala is Java, just better. Thus it stands to reason that Scala would at a minimum support all of the features and power that Java offers. So far you've seen things like object-oriented constructs [1], the power of methods [2] and even dabbled a bit with pattern matching [3]. Through all this, I've deliberately avoided a particularly obvious Java construct: interfaces.
Scala doesn't have any direct analogue to Java's interfaces. This answer may seem a bit surprising, given what I've been saying about similarity to Java. The fact is that Java's interfaces are really a very weak mechanism and a paltry imitation of their forebear: multiple inheritance.
Back in the days of C++, when the power of the dark side waxed full, object oriented languages commonly had support for inheriting from more than one superclass. In C++, you could see this in examples like the following (shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia [4]):
class Person { public: virtual Schedule* get_schedule() const = 0; }; class Student : public Person { public: Student(School*); Schedule* get_schedule() const { return class_schedule; } void learn(); private: Schedule *class_schedule; }; class Worker : public Person { public: Worker(Company*); Schedule* get_schedule() const { return work_schedule; } void work(); private: Schedule *work_schedule; }; class CollegeStudent : public Student, public Worker { public: CollegeStudent(School *s, Company *c) : Student(s), Worker(c) {} };
Looks fairly standard right? The question comes when you call the get_schedule() function on an instance of CollegeStudent? Think about it, what should happen? Should you get a class schedule or a work schedule?
The answer is that nobody knows. This is called the diamond problem [5] and it's something which annoyed computer scientists to no end in the early days of OOP. Of course one solution to the problem is to just never use multiple inheritance. Unfortunately, this becomes extremely restricting in certain situations which really call for the feature.
Java's designers recognized the need for multiple typing (e.g. CollegeStudent is both a Student and a Worker), but they wanted to avoid the issues associated with inheriting conflicting method definitions along multiple paths. Their solution was to design the interface mechanism, a feature which allows multiple typing without the complications of multiple inheritance. So in Java you would represent the above sample like this:
public abstract class Person { public abstract Schedule getSchedule(); } public interface IStudent { public void learn(); } public interface IWorker { public void work(); } public class Student extends Person implements IStudent { private Schedule classSchedule; public Student(School school) {...} public Schedule getSchedule() { return classSchedule; } public void learn() {...} } public class Worker extends Person implements IWorker { private Schedule workSchedule; public Worker(Company company) {...} public Schedule getSchedule() { return workSchedule; } public void work() {...} } public class CollegeStudent extends Person implements IStudent, IWorker { public CollegeStudent(School school, Company company) {...} public Schedule getSchedule() {...} public void learn() {...} public void work() {...} }
Holy long examples, Batman!
If the sheer verbosity of the example wasn't enough to convince you of its flaws, direct your attention to the CollegeStudent class. We've achieved our primary goal here of creating a class which is both a Student and a Worker. Unfortunately, we had to implement the learn() and work() methods multiple times. Also, we complicated our hierarchy by a factor of two and introduced the much-despised IRobot convention. Finally, our hierarchy is less constrained than the C++ version in that there's nothing to prevent us from creating workers which are not people. Logically this makes sense, but our specification says that all students and workers should be people, not insects or computers. So we've lost flexibility, been shouldered with verbosity and introduced redundancy, all in the attempt to avoid a trivial logical disjunction.
Scala recognizes that interfaces have their issues. So rather than blinding creating a reimplementation of the same problems found in either Java or C++, Scala takes a new approach. Inspired by a combination of Java's interfaces and Ruby's mixins, the designers of Scala have created the trait construct.
trait Book { def title:String def title_=(n:String):Unit def computePrice = title.length * 10 }
Scala's traits are quite nice in that they can not only define abstract members, but also full method definitions. At the same time, they allow inheriting classes to inherit from more than one trait. They pass on their type information and implementations to their children, as well as enforcing the abstract members. At first glance, this seems like it would be just as bad as straight-up multiple inheritance, but it turns out the problems have been mitigated in some very clever ways.
To start with, there's that ever-annoying override keyword. I mentioned back in the article on basic OOP [1] that any method which overrides a method in a superclass must be declared with the override modifier. At the time, I likened it to the language mandating the use of the @Override annotation, with its primary purpose being to enforce the good practice. The keyword however serves a far more important purpose, as we'll see in a second.
The real key to the power of traits is the way in which the compiler treats them in an inheriting class. Traits are actually mixins, not true parent classes. Any non-abstract trait members are actually included in the inheriting class, as in physically part of the class. Well, not physically, but you get the picture. It's as if the compiler performs a cut-and-paste with the non-abstract members and inserts them into the inheriting class. This means that there's no ambiguity in the inheritance path, meaning no diamond problem. We can rewrite our CollegeStudent example in Scala without redundancy or fear of paradox:
abstract class Person { def schedule:Schedule } trait Student extends Person { private var classSchedule:Schedule = ... override def schedule = classSchedule def learn() = {...} } trait Worker extends Person { private var workSchedule:Schedule = ... override def schedule = workSchedule def work() = {...} } class CollegeStudent(school:School, company:Company) extends Student with Worker { // ... }
Now if we make a call to the schedule method on an instance of CollegeStudent, the compiler knows that we're referring to the implementation of schedule in the Worker trait. This is because Worker was mixed in after the Student trait. We could just as easily reverse the order and make the Student implementation the dominant one:
class CollegeStudent(school:School, company:Company) extends Worker with Student { // ... }
Now Student#schedule is the dominant implementation while the implementation in Worker is overridden. This is where the override keyword becomes extremely useful. It's sort-of the last stop fallback to ensure that no ambiguities sneak into the hierarchy without glaring compiler errors.
The absolutely most important thing to notice in the example, aside from the multiple-inheritance, is that CollegeStudent is actually a proper sub-type of Person, Student and Worker. Thus you can operate on an instance of CollegeStudent polymorphically as an instance of one of these super-traits. In fact, other than the whole mixin thing, Scala traits are pretty much just like abstract classes. They can declare abstract members, non-abstract members, variables, etc. They can even extend other classes or traits! The one catch is that Scala traits cannot accept parameters in their constructor.
This means that in one sense, the C++ version of our CollegeStudent snippet is more powerful than the Scala translation. In Scala, the Student and Worker traits cannot have constructor parameters, so there's no way to specify a School or Company as part of the inheritance. If you ask me, it's a small price to pay for all of this power. And no matter which way you slice it, traits are still far more flexible than Java interfaces.
You may not have realized this, but Scala is a statically typed, object-oriented language. There are many such languages (C++, Java, etc), but they all have a common problem: accessing instances of a specific type from within a container written against a supertype. An example serves better here than an explanation:
ArrayList list = new ArrayList(); list.add("Daniel"); list.add("Chris"); list.add("Joseph"); String str = (String) list.get(0);
The last line requires the cast because although we know that list only contains String(s), the compiler doesn't know it. As far as the compiler is concerned, it's just a list of Object(s). From the beginning though, this has been a problem for Java. It has lead to mountains of ugly code and nasty casts to try and trick some type-safety into generic contains. Enter type parameters.
Java 5 saw the introduction of a feature called "generics". Just about every other language calls them "type parameters", so I tend to use the terms interchangeably. Java's generics allow developers to specify that an instance of a generic type is specific not to the supertype but to a specific sub-type. For example, the above example rewritten using generics:
ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<String>(); list.add("Daniel"); list.add("Chris"); list.add("Joseph"); String str = list.get(0);
Not only have we avoided the cast on the final line, but we have also added type-checking to all of the add() invocations. This means that the compiler will only allow us to add String instances to the list. This is quite nice of course, but it has its limitations.
Because Java 5 was striving to maintain backward compatibility with old code-bases, the generics implementation isn't as flexible as it could be. Most of this inflexibility stems from the decision to implement generics using type erasure [6], rather than reified types [7]. However, there are other issues which make working with Java generics weird, such as the incredibly cryptic and inconsistent syntax. In short, Java generics are a language afterthought, whereas Scala type parameters were designed into the language from day one.
Scala type parameters have a lot of nice things going for them. Perhaps number one on the list is a more consistent syntax. Rather than a generics-specific wildcard character ( ? ) and an overloading of the extends keyword, Scala type constraints utilize operators and meta-characters which are consistent with the rest of the language. But I'm getting ahead of myself…
This is how the list example might look translated into Scala:
val list = new ListBuffer[String] list += "Daniel" list += "Chris" list += "Joseph" val str = list(0)
Passing over the operator overloading ( += ), the important thing to notice is the syntax of the ListBuffer type parameter. You'll notice that Scala uses square brackets rather than greater-than/less-than symbols to denote type parameters. This is a bit counter to the traditional syntax (handed down from C++), but it turns out to be quite clean and powerful. Here's a simple, parameterized class:
class MyContainer[T] { private var obj:T = null def value = obj def value_=(v:T) = obj = v } val cont = new MyContainer[String] cont.value = "Daniel" println(cont.value)
With the exception of the square brackets, the syntax is remarkably similar to Java's. Unlike C++, there's no weird template typing; no mind-numbingly verbose method prefixing. Just solid, clean code.
Now Java allows generics to implement type constraining, which forces the type parameter to satisfy certain conditions. (extending a certain supertype is a common example) This can be accomplished easily through Scala, and as I said before, without overloading a keyword:
import scala.collection.mutable.HashMap import java.awt.Component import javax.swing.JLabel class MyMap[V<:Component] extends HashMap[String,V] val map = new MyMap[JLabel] map += "label1" -> new JLabel() map += "label2" -> new JLabel()
In the class MyMap, the single type parameter must be a subtype of Component, otherwise the compiler will throw an error. This of course is specified using the <: operator, rather than the extends keyword as it would be in Java. This has two advantages. 1) it avoids overloading the definition of a basic keyword, and 2) it allows for lower type bounding without unintuitive constructs.
Lower type bounding is when the type parameter is constrained such that a certain type must inherit from the type parameter. This is accomplishable in Java, but only by doing some extremely weird rearranging of the generic definition. In Scala, it's as simple as switching the direction of the type constraint operator:
class MyMap[V:>CollegeStudent] extends HashMap[String,V]
In this declaration, type parameter V can be any type which is extended by CollegeStudent (from our earlier example). Thus the parameter could be Student, Worker or even Person. Obviously, this is a lot less useful than specifying an upper type bound, but it still has applications, especially in some of the core Scala classes.
Just like Java, Scala allows type parameters on methods as well as classes:
def checkString[A](value:A):A = { value match { case x:String => println("Value is a String") case _ => println("Value is not a String") } value } val test1:String = checkString("Test Value") val test2:Int = checkString(123)
As you can see, Scala extends its type inference mechanism to type parameters similar to how Java does. I could just as easily have left the explicit type declarations off of the two values and Scala would have properly inferred the types from the return types of the corresponding checkString() invocations. This is of course very similar to how Java allows method type parameter inference (see the Arrays#asList(T…) [8] API).
Again much like Java, Scala allows explicit specification of method type parameters. For example, this is the unsafe idiom to cast objects in Scala (the "sanctioned" syntax is to make use of pattern matching):
val obj:Object = "Test String" val str:String = obj.asInstanceOf[String]
Here we are explicitly specifying String as a type parameter to the asInstanceOf method. This method returns an instance of class String generated from the instance of class Object in the obj value.
In truth, we've barely scratched the surface of the capabilities of Scala's type parameter mechanism. If you're looking for some brainf*ck [9] of an evening, I suggest you read up on Scala type variances [10]. If there was any doubt that Scala is a more powerful language than Java, it will be quickly dispelled.
Oh, as a side note, Scala type parameters are currently (as of version 2.6.1) not quite compatible with Java generics. While you can use parameterized Java classes, specifying the type parameters using the Scala syntax (e.g. new ArrayList[String]), you cannot actually declare parameterized Scala classes to be usable from within Java. According to the mailing-lists however, the next release of Scala will indeed have full cross-compatibility between Scala and Java in the area of type parameterization.
The deeper we go in the Scala language, the more we realize the truly awesome power of its syntax. What's really amazing though, is that the designers were able to create a language with such flexible constructs without sacrificing the underlying clarity and consistency of the syntax. At first blush, Scala continues to look a lot like Java and remains extremely readable to the average developer. Somehow this clarity is retained without coming at the expense of capability. Traits and Scala's type parameters are just one more example of this fact.
Coming to you in the sixth and final installment: a few steps into the wonderful world of Scala-specific syntax [11].
Article printed from Code Commit: http://www.codecommit.com/blog
URL to article: http://www.codecommit.com/blog/scala/scala-for-java-refugees-part-5
URLs in this post:
[1] object-oriented constructs: http://www.codecommit.com/blog/scala/scala-for-java-refugees-part-2
[2] power of methods: http://www.codecommit.com/blog/scala/scala-for-java-refugees-part-3-methods-and-statics
[3] pattern matching: http://www.codecommit.com/blog/scala/scala-for-java-refugees-part-4
[4] Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_inheritance
[5] diamond problem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_problem
[6] type erasure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generics_in_Java#Type_erasure
[7] reified types: http://gafter.blogspot.com/2006/11/reified-generics-for-java.html
[8] Arrays#asList(T…): http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/Arrays.html#asList(T...)
[9] brainf*ck: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainf*ck
[10] type variances: http://www.scala-lang.org/intro/variances.html
[11] Scala-specific syntax: http://www.codecommit.com/blog/scala/scala-for-java-refugees-part-6
Click here to print.
All content copyright © 2010 Daniel Spiewak. Distributed under Creative Commons.
All code (unless otherwise stated) is licensed under the BSD License.


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Prepare: The Tests
Following a review of your application, you will be invited to take a written exam. These tests are not intended to assess your knowledge of specific skill sets or procedures unique to policing.
Written Test
The written exam measures reading comprehension and vocabulary skills, similar to those you have probably taken in school. A COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY WILL ALSO BE GIVEN AT THE WRITTEN EXAM AND SHOULD BE REVIEWED PRIOR TO ARRIVAL.
Physical Agility Test
Standards 1 through 3 as listed below are minimums established by the Police and Fire Commission (PFC) that MUST be met as a condition of employment.
- Abdominal Strength: 25 sit-ups in 1 minute.
- Cardio-Vascular Endurance: 1-1/2 miles in no more than 16:57.
- Upper Body Strength: 15 "perfect protocol" push-ups
Candidates who fail the physical assessment will be given a second attempt to pass, if a future testing date is available.
Good Luck!
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Everyone knows that NFL kickers are getting better. The numbers make this obvious. We saw an all-time high for field goal accuracy in 2013: over 86%. And that's despite many more long attempts. Field goal tries from over 50 yards have increased 57% in the last decade.
When ranking kickers, we have to take into account the new landscape. For an example, just look close to home. After his first three seasons, Alex Henery is tied for fourth all time in overall field goal accuracy among players with at least 80 attempts. But if you check out the top 20 on that list, 17 of them played in the last two years. This is like the late 1990s in baseball -- everyone's breaking records.
More to the point, we can't quote field goal accuracy without taking distance into account. As Jimmy Kempski noted, Henery doesn't look nearly as good when you compare him to his peers. Among full time kickers since 2011, Henery is tied for the fewest attempts over 50 yards (5). He also has the shortest "long field goal" (51). If everyone else is taking longer attempts and making them, Henery's value is significantly lower than his overall accuracy would suggest.
Last offseason, I took a deep dive into Henery's value, comparing him to other kickers in 2012. By generating an estimated value for every kick, we could plot how much each kicker actually contributed to his team as compared to the league standard. The results put Henery just a hair above average, with the noted caveat of having not a single make over 50 yards.
This year I wanted to go deeper. To start, I pulled all 2013 field goal attempts and plotted them out. While upgrading from last year's 5-yard buckets required a little smoothing, the granular data this year should be more exact:
Cool, right? As you can see, kicks from in close are automatic and everything up to about 32 yards out is a 90% success rate or higher. But perhaps even more impressive, kickers in 2013 maintained over 80% accuracy up to 45 yards out -- and 70% all the way to 55 yard attempts. The data gets meager from there, but the graph is proof of how great NFL kickers have become.
Anyway, with this data, it becomes fairly easy to generate an estimated point value for every field goal attempt. For example, a 35 yard try is worth 2.63 points while a 50 yarder is worth 2.1 points. If a kicker makes a kick from that distance, he adds points to his team above the expected value. Missing, he loses his team the expected points. (The only major caveat here is weather conditions. Certainly a field goal into strong wind would have a lower expected value than one in a dome.)
This year, we'll also add kickoff analysis. I spent some time playing with large data sets of kickoffs and ultimately was disappointed by the many problems in the NFL's play by play data. So at least until Football Outsiders releases its always-awesome game charting this summer, I can't work with the type of granular data on field goals above. The next best thing is Pro Football Focus' kickoff stats. They track distance, touchbacks, and average yard line start. I adjusted that data to eliminate the effect of onside kicks, but there are other variables (including weather) which still exist outside the scope of the investigation.
For kickoffs, the goal is to reach a similar expected value score. With help from Derek Sarley, we calculated a quick and dirty correlation between touchbacks and starting drive position of .67, suggesting that kickers have about two-thirds of the responsibility on kickoffs. Using that, we can multiply each kicker's total drive start yardage difference from the league average by .67, then by the approximately 0.06 expected points each extra yard is worth. Again, it's not a perfect score, but it will give us a good estimate.
Got all that? Click on the table below to enlarge the full results:
Hopefully the table isn't too confusing. Let's break it down. The left hand side is kickoff data, and you can see adjusted kickoff distance and drive start. From there you can calculate points generated in relation to the average kicker (KICKOFF PTS). On the right side are field goals, first the basic data then the estimated values based on the calculations above, leading to the FG PTS above or below average. Finally, TOTAL PTS combines the two scores and ranks all kickers (including those who only kickoff or attempt field goals).
The best kickers of 2013 did well on both metrics. Dan Bailey of the Cowboys, for example, helped force opponents to start their drives 1.9 yards further back than average. Over the course of the season, that was worth just over a touchdown in field position. On field goals, he made over 93% of his attempts, when the average kicker would have only made 84.5%. That was another 8 points he generated for Dallas, bringing Bailey's total points over average to a league-leading 15.1. If we can translate that using Brian Burke's data at Advanced NFL Stats, Bailey was worth about as much in expected points added as the 25th-ranked quarterback.
On the other end of the spectrum, Henery ranked third-worst in the NFL last year. He lost the Eagles approximately 10.8 points, split about equally between kickoffs and field goals. Henery was near the bottom of the pack in kickoff distance and average drive start, losing 1.6 yards per kickoff. Meanwhile, his 80% field goal accuracy should have been better, given he took mostly shorter kicks. The league average accuracy for his attempts would have been 85.8%.
Though Henery has some ardent supporters, it's tough to find any silver lining for him in these numbers. Only two kickers in this sample had worse results: a historically-bad rookie and a veteran who was fired in December. Maybe Henery can improve this offseason and post a better effort in 2014. But I wouldn't count on it. At the very least, the Eagles must bring in competition for what is clearly one of their weakest positions.


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No. 90,0001
CHARLES SIMMONS and
1. Transfer pursuant to the Interstate Corrections Compact of an inmate serving a Kansas sentence to an out-of-state institution does not cut off administrative grievance procedures in Kansas for any claims arising from confinement in Kansas, nor does it excuse the requirement of exhaustion of administrative remedies pursuant to K.S.A. 75-52,138.
2. K.S.A. 75-52,138 is not unconstitutional in conferring certain quasi-judicial powers on the administrative agency.
3. Mandamus does not lie to redress discretionary acts. Since the act of transferring an inmate to, or returning an inmate from, an interstate prison is discretionary in nature, such actions are not properly the subject of a mandamus action.
4. Interstate transfer of an inmate is no deprivation of a liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause.
Appeal from Shawnee District Court; THOMAS R. CONKLIN, judge. Opinion filed November 21, 2003. Affirmed.
Patrick C. Lynn, appellant pro se.
Linden G. Appel, of Kansas Department of Corrections, for appellee.
Before PIERRON, P.J., GREENE, J., and JONES, S.J.
GREENE, J.: Patrick C. Lynn appeals the district court's refusal to permit the filing of his petition for writ of mandamus, which complained of a retaliatory transfer to Oklahoma. We affirm.
Factual and Procedural Overview
Patrick C. Lynn was convicted of aggravated burglary, aggravated kidnapping, rape, and aggravated criminal sodomy. On appeal, his convictions were affirmed, but his sentences were vacated and the case remanded for resentencing. See State v. Lynn, Case No. 78,565, unpublished opinion filed March 24, 2000, rev. denied 269 Kan. 938 (2000). Lynn was subsequently resentenced, and those sentences were affirmed on appeal. See State v. Lynn, Case No. 86,942, unpublished opinion filed March 21, 2003, rev. granted September 24, 20032.
In August 2002, Lynn filed his "Petition For Writ of Mandamus" against Charles Simmons and the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) in the district court of Shawnee County. Lynn stated he was serving an illegal sentence in the custody of the KDOC and had been involuntarily transferred without notice to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections (ODOC).
Lynn claimed the KDOC transferred him "in retaliation for past, pending, and forthcoming litigation, and other exercises of his 1st Amendment activities" with the intention to silence or prejudice him. He listed 11 cases that he had filed against state entities and personnel in various state and federal courts. Lynn stated he had also filed more than 50 prison grievances in the past 12 months and assisted a dozen prisoners with their litigation.
Lynn stated that a mandamus action was appropriate because the KDOC could not retaliate against a prisoner who exercised his or her First Amendment rights or right of access to the courts, and he could not meet the "'physical presence'" requirement for filing a habeas corpus petition under K.S.A. 2002 Supp. 60-1501 as set forth in Hannon v. Maynard, 3 Kan. App. 2d 522, Syl. ¶ 2, 597 P.2d 1125 (1979). Lynn requested the KDOC be ordered to immediately return him to Kansas.
After the State filed its answer and asserted numerous defenses including failure to exhaust administrative remedies, Lynn filed a "Rebuttal" pleading, arguing that exhaustion of his administrative remedies with the KDOC would be an act of futility. Lynn explained that the personnel who would decide his KDOC grievance had a personal interest as he had sued them and that litigation was still pending.
The district court concluded that Lynn's petition had no merit. Specifically, the court refused to permit the filing because: (i) Lynn had not exhausted his administrative remedies with the KDOC; and (ii) mandamus was inappropriate to challenge the KDOC's discretionary decision to transfer a prisoner to another state. Accordingly, the court expressly prohibited Lynn from filing his petition. This prohibition was exercised pursuant to the injunction against Lynn in Case No. 97 C 6900, which included in relevant part a provision that the court review any petition proposed for filing by Lynn in any Kansas court for a determination whether the petition is lacking in merit, is duplicative, or is frivolous.
Ten days after the file-stamped date on the district court's decision, Lynn filed his KDOC grievance complaining about the transfer to Oklahoma. Lynn timely appeals the district court decision and requests that we review the district court's action in prohibiting the filing of his petition.
Standard of Review
Whether a party is required to or has failed to exhaust administrative remedies is a question of law, and our review is unlimited. In re Habeas Corpus Application of Pierpoint, 271 Kan. 620, 622-23, 24 P.3d 128 (2001). Whether mandamus lies is dependent upon an interpretation of the applicable procedural and substantive statutes, over which this court has unlimited review. See Williamson v. City of Hays, 275 Kan. 300, 305, 64 P.3d 364 (2003).
The District Court Did Not Err in Finding that Lynn Had Not Exhausted Administrative Remedies
K.S.A. 75-52,138 provides:
"Any inmate in the custody of the secretary of corrections or in a county jail, prior to filing any civil action naming the state of Kansas, any political subdivision of the state of Kansas, any public official, the secretary of corrections, the warden, the sheriff, or an employee of the department of corrections or the county, while such employee is engaged in the performance of such employee's duty, as the defendant pursuant to the rules of civil procedure, shall have exhausted such inmate's administrative remedies, established by the rules and regulations promulgated by the secretary of corrections or by county resolutions, concerning such civil action. Upon filing a petition in a civil action, such inmate shall file with such petition proof that the administrative remedies have been exhausted."
The Secretary of the KDOC is authorized to adopt rules and regulations regarding the prisons. See K.S.A. 75-5210(f)-(g); K.S.A. 75-5251. The KDOC grievance procedure for inmates is set forth in K.A.R. 44-15-101 et seq. An inmate is required to file a formal grievance form. See K.A.R. 44-15-101(b); K.A.R. 44-15-102. The KDOC grievance procedure applies to complaints "regarding policies and conditions within the jurisdiction of the institution or the department of corrections," and "[a]ctions by employees and inmates, and incidents occurring within the institution." K.A.R. 44-15-101a(d)(1)(A),(B).
Lynn contends the KDOC effectively "slammed the door shut" to the administrative grievance procedure when it transferred him to the ODOC. He argues he was not required to exhaust because he was not "within the jurisdiction of the facility or the department of corrections" as required under K.A.R. 44-15-101a(d)(1)(A), (B).
Lynn has cited Hannon, 3 Kan. App. 2d 522, Syl. ¶ 2, as support for his position that his confinement at the ODOC does not require exhaustion of administrative remedies. We find Hannon inapplicable, however, because it addressed a civil action pursuant to K.S.A. 2002 Supp. 60-1501 and turned on the express "physical presence" requirement of that statute. Moreover, Hannon addressed mootness, not exhaustion of administrative remedies.
The critical factor is that Lynn is serving a Kansas sentence. He was convicted in Kansas of several felonies and sentenced to imprisonment. Felony sentences are served in the custody of the Secretary of the Department of Corrections who has the authority to supervise and manage correctional institutions and designate the place of the inmate's confinement. See K.S.A. 21-4609; K.S.A. 75-5202(d); K.S.A. 75-5205(a); K.S.A. 2002 Supp. 75-5206; K.S.A. 2002 Supp. 75-5218.
Moreover, under the Interstate Corrections Compact, K.S.A. 76-3001 et seq. (the ICC), inmates confined in another state "shall at all times be subject to the jurisdiction of the sending state." K.S.A. 76-3002, Article IV(c). Further, "confinement in a receiving state shall not deprive any inmate so confined of any legal rights which said inmate would have had if confined in an appropriate institution of the sending state." K.S.A. 76-3002, Article IV(e). Lynn's confinement in the ODOC did not cut off the administrative grievance procedure for any of his civil claims against the KDOC.
Lynn next contends exhaustion of his administrative remedies is a futile act because the KDOC official who will decide his grievance is biased. According to Lynn, the KDOC official who reviews inmate grievances is the same person who acts as the ICC coordinator and Lynn has sued that person in other pending litigation. For those reasons, Lynn claims he cannot receive an impartial decision for any grievance, which violates his due process rights.
K.S.A. 75-52,138 does not set out a grievance procedure, but requires an inmate to follow the grievance procedure established by the KDOC. The KDOC regulations allow each inmate to file a grievance, see K.A.R. 44-15-101(g), regarding its policies and conditions and actions by employees and other inmates. See K.A.R. 44-15-101a(d). Remedies include action by the prison director or the Secretary of KDOC to have the problem corrected or to remedy an objectionable condition or to change an institution policy or practice. K.A.R. 44-15-101a(e). The regulations also address possible bias. "Any inmate or employee who appears to be involved in the matter shall not participate in any capacity in the resolution of the grievance." K.A.R. 44-15-101a(f). We decline to find that the administrative grievance procedure was legally inadequate.
Lynn next argues the Kansas Constitution grants exclusive jurisdiction to the district court for all civil matters and K.S.A.75-52,138 divests that jurisdiction from an administrative agency. He asks this court to follow Pope v. State, 792 So. 2d 713, reh. denied (La. 2001), and declare K.S.A. 75-52,138 unconstitutional. At the outset, we note that the Louisiana constitutional language in Pope differs significantly from the Kansas language in Article 3, § 1. In Louisiana, the constitution vests "original jurisdiction" in courts, whereas the Kansas Constitution merely vests "judicial power" "exclusively" in our courts. Our Supreme Court has held that the term "exclusively" in Article 3, § 1 was never intended to prevent the legislature from conferring quasi-judicial powers on administrative agencies when necessary to enable them to carry out their functions. Behrmann v. Public Employees Relations Board, 225 Kan. 435, 443, 591 P.2d 173 (1979). Moreover, exhaustion of administrative remedies in such quasi-judicial bodies is a fundamental and well-established legal precept, grounded in both statutory and common law. See, e.g., K.S.A. 77-612; Pecenka v. Alquest, 232 Kan. 97, 652 P.2d 679 (1982); Stephens v. Unified School District, 218 Kan. 220, 546 P.2d 197 (1975). Lynn's challenge to the constitutionality of K.S.A. 75-52,138 is rejected.
Having carefully considered Lynn's arguments in support of error, we conclude that the district court did not err in finding Lynn's action barred due to failure to exhaust his administrative remedies, and we affirm as to this issue.
The District Court Did Not Err in Concluding That Mandamus Was Inappropriate
Although our resolution of the procedural issue should be sufficient to affirm the district court's prohibition to file Lynn's petition, we find it in the interest of judicial economy to address the remaining issue within the framework of this appeal. The second issue framed is whether mandamus was appropriate for Lynn's complaints.
Mandamus is defined as "a proceeding to compel some inferior court, tribunal, board, or some corporation or person to perform a specified duty, which duty results from the office, trust, or official station of the party to whom the order is directed, or from operation of law." K.S.A. 60-801. The Kansas Supreme Court has explained
"'that the remedy of mandamus is available only for the purpose of compelling the performance of a clearly defined duty; that its purpose is to require one to whom the writ or order is issued to perform some act which the law specifically enjoins as a duty resulting from an office, trust, or station; that mandamus may not be invoked to control discretion and neither does it lie to enforce a right which is in substantial dispute, and further, that resort to the remedy may be had only when the party invoking it is clearly entitled to the order which he seeks.'" (Emphasis added.) Arney v. Director, Kansas State Penitentiary, 234 Kan. 257, 260-61, 671 P.2d 559 (1983).
Discretionary acts are defined "as those acts wherein there is no hard and fast rule as to course of conduct that one must or must not take and, if there is a clearly defined rule, such would eliminate discretion." Dougan v. Rossville Drainage Dist., 243 Kan. 315, 321, 757 P.2d 272 (1988).
Here, the district court determined that the ICC gave the KDOC discretion in deciding whether to transfer an inmate to another state prison. The pertinent provisions of the ICC are:
"(a) Whenever the duly constituted authorities in a state party to this compact, and which has entered into a contract pursuant to article III, shall decide that confinement in, or transfer of an inmate to, an institution within the territory of another party state is necessary or desirable in order to provide adequate quarters and care or an appropriate program of rehabilitation or treatment, said officials may direct that the confinement be within an institution within the territory of said other party state, the receiving state to act in that regard solely as agent for the sending state.
. . . .
"(c) Inmates confined in an institution pursuant to the terms of this compact shall at all times be subject to the jurisdiction of the sending state and may at any time be removed therefrom for transfer to a prison or other institution within the sending state, for transfer to another institution in which the sending state may have a contractual or other right to confine inmates, for release on probation or parole, for discharge, or for any other purpose permitted by the laws of the sending state." K.S.A. 76-3002, Article IV.
K.S.A. 76-3003 authorizes the Secretary of Corrections "to do all things necessary or incidental to the carrying out of the compact in every particular and he or she may in his discretion delegate this authority to a deputy secretary or other appropriate official." K.S.A. 2002 Supp. 75-5206(a) further provides "the secretary shall have authority to order the housing and confinement of any person sentenced to the secretary's custody to any institution or facility herein placed under the secretary's supervision and management or to any contract facility, including a conservation camp."
These statutory provisions utilize broad language for interstate prison transfers and impose no conditions or standards that restrict the KDOC's discretion to transfer an inmate to another compact state. There are no KDOC regulations governing interstate transfers. See K.A.R. 44-1 through 44-16. We conclude that the act of transferring an inmate to, or returning an inmate from, an interstate prison is not a legally specified duty that is properly the subject of a mandamus action.
In his reply brief, Lynn disagrees that these statutes control. He claims he has a protected due process interest under K.S.A. 75-5201 and K.A.R. 44-15-104(a). According to Lynn, that protected right was violated by the KDOC when it transferred him to the ODOC in retaliation for exercising his First Amendment rights and his constitutional right of access to the courts. Lynn's argument misses the pointthe issue in a mandamus action is whether the KDOC had a specified legal duty to perform an act, not whether an inmate has legal cause of action for a constitutional violation.
The United States Supreme Court addressed interstate prison transfers and due process rights in Olim v. Wakinekona, 461 U.S. 238, 75 L. Ed. 2d 813, 103 S. Ct. 1741 (1983). The Court in Wakinekona rejected "a holding that 'any substantial deprivation imposed by prison authorities triggers the procedural protections of the Due Process Clause'" because it "'would subject to judicial review a wide spectrum of discretionary actions that traditionally have been the business of prison administrators rather than of the federal courts.'" 461 U.S. at 245. The Court held that an inmate had no justifiable expectation that he or she would be incarcerated in any particular state. 461 U.S. at 244-45. The Court concluded an interstate transfer did not deprive an inmate of any liberty interest protected by the Due Process Clause. 461 U.S. at 248.
We embrace the rationale and holding of Wakinekona in concluding that Lynn had no protected liberty interest to remain in a Kansas prison.
The district court did not err in holding that mandamus does not lie for the discretionary act of interstate prison transfer.
1REPORTER'S NOTE: Previously filed as an unpublished opinion, the Supreme Court granted a motion to publish pursuant to Rule 7.04 (2002 Kan. Ct. R. Annot. 46). The published version was filed with the Appellate Court Clerk on July 28, 2004.
2 REPORTER'S NOTE: Following its grant of review, the Supreme Court issued a Show Cause order on December 23, 2003, vacating defendant's sentences for rape and aggravated criminal sodomy and remanded for resentencing.