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Posted by lamarzulli on March 31, 2009
Robert Birdwell finds himself suddenly transported from 1860 to the present day, 2009! He is amazed at what he sees around him, cars, planes, television, radio, the computer and all the complexities and conveniences that abound in the modern age.
He is also dumbfounded at other spectacles. He finds it hard to believe the overt display of sexual content everywhere, from billboards, to television ads, like Victoria Secret. He is speechless as he watches his first MTV video where men and half naked women gyrate in time with the thumping music as the singer raps in rhyme, using language that he finds deplorable. He learns that abortion has killed 50 million babies in their mothers wombs and that with all of our medical advances we can now, kill the babies in the ninth month of pregnancy. He discovers that almost 50 percent of all marriages end in divorce and that there is an epidemic drug problem that is ruining the lives of millions. He witnesses his first gay parade, as men kiss other men, openly. He learns of gang violence and witnesses the brutal drive by shooting of a teenage girl who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He is told that this type of crime is common in all of our cities.
He hears from our sitting president that we have to pump another trillion dollars into the economy to bail it out. He wonders where all this money is going to come from and is perplexed at the role that government has taken. It is a far cry from what he remembers.
He goes to his first movie and is amazed at the larger than life scenes that flash before his eyes. To his astonishment there is a scene in the movie that shows two people having intercourse. He is shocked and disturbed by this and leaving his seat exits the theater. He picks up a news paper and sees that the wandering Jew, has finally come home again and the nation of Israel is a reality. He learns about people who blow themselves up killing hundreds of innocent bystanders, he is told that they are the suicide bombers and are part of daily life in the Middle East. He is terrified when he is told about the atomic bomb. He learns of it's destruction and how we now have the ability to destroy ourselves hundreds of times over. He is given a tour of the Internet and realizes that all the knowledge of preceding centuries can be found there. He marvels at how our culture can have so much and yet in some ways behave no better than wild animals. He is shocked to learn that it is against the law to say a prayer in our schools, to mention God in the classroom, and that reading from Bible is forbidden in most schools. He discovers that people are immersed in the occult, as they consult mediums to find out what will happen in the future. That horoscopes, eastern mysticism, gurus and spirit guides are popular. He goes to a mega-church and hears how he can become wealthy and prosperous. Overwhelmed by what he has experienced he has only one wish…. to leave this nightmarish place and return home….
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: prophecy, sign of the times, tine travel, UFO, UFO's | 7 Comm


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This is the intro video for the upcoming mech FPS combat title Hawken. Looks incredible huh?
Hawken Gameplay
Posted by jhgdzfs at 11:24 PM 0 comments
Labels: Cool Video
Lady Gaga Cakes
Want a piece of Lady Gaga? Well you can have one by creating a Lady Gaga Cake or Cupcakes. If you are planning a Lady Gaga Birthday Party you will like some of these Lady Gaga Cakes and Cupcake Ideas others have created to inspire you to create your own for your Lady Gaga Party.
Here are Lady Gaga Cakes in honor of the 25th Lady Gaga's Birthday.
Here are Lady Gaga Cakes in honor of the 25th Lady Gaga's Birthday.
Posted by jhgdzfs at 11:12 PM 0 comments
Toilet Paper Roll Prank for April Fools Day
The worst thing can happen in a bathroom is to find the toilet paper roll like this when you need it the most. Nice Fools Day prank.
Source: instructables
Source: instructables
Posted by jhgdzfs at 11:00 PM 0 comments
Labels: Funny Pictures, Illusions and Tricks
Watch as Catzilla Attacks
Everyone knows that the world will end in 2012. What if the cat-astrophic event will begin with Catzilla Atack?
Source: modcatlove
Source: modcatlove
Posted by jhgdzfs at 10:43 PM 0 comments
Labels: Animals, Funny Pictures
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subset: commoncrawl


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Kotula's catalog — the catalog for "the guys with the goods" — lists all sorts of difficult-to-find items.
Your understanding of this will depend entirely on your level of need to have a solar-powered baseball cap — it has one of those light-catching panels on the top — that uses "the power of the sun" to keep you "cool as a cucumber" with a little fan attached to the brim.
I found it in the latest Kotula's catalog — the catalog for "the guys with the goods" — which lists all sorts of difficult-to-find items. In fact, I hadn't seen such a specialized hat for about 30 years, since my brother gave me what he called a "life preserver cap" that had fishing bobbers on the sides for buoyancy. These sorts of things are rare.
Is it right?
I should tell you right now that I'm not going to get into the moral debate over whether we should be buying solar-powered hats at a time when so many people have no hats at all. I'm aware of that argument. And if the truth be known, if I had a solar-powered hat I'd give it to a person who needed a hat, after I wore it for long enough to show all my friends what an idiot I am for wasting my money on a hat with a fan on it when I work for a place that has plenty of newspapers that I could use to fan myself on hot days.
But, to be honest, I don't personally know too many poorly-hatted people who would want a solar-powered hat. They probably wouldn't wear a solar-powered hat. They might accept it, then sell it to someone who had everything else but a solar-powered hat, and who would pay to complete his collection. People without hats aren't stupid.
So, looking at other things in the Kotula's catalog, let's just get past the point where we have to question about whether it's obscenely wasteful to spend $2,499 on a 10-disk CD jukebox with an iPod docking station. Let's get beyond wondering whether or not it's sinfully prideful to buy one of those lawn-striper attachments for your lawn mower so your yard ends up looking like a big league outfield. And why don't we just ignore any politically-correct thoughts that it might be offensive to animals — birds in particular — if we buy one of those digital messaging light switch plates that records messages to your family and plays them back in the voice of a parrot.
Braawk! What to buy?
If there's one thing I've learned in life it's that people who really want to sound like a parrot will fix it so they sound like a parrot — at all costs — without considering a bad economy, moral goodness or the feelings of parrot-kind.
The people at Kotula's are probably depending on that. And I for one don't mind if they do. They're an American company, based in Minnesota. It's good for our economy if you buy a solar-powered cap, or, regrettably, the cowboy hat in the catalog that has beverage holders on each side, above the brim.
So, I say go ahead and buy those hats. And while you're at it, purchase one of the stars-and-stripes visors Kotula's sells what has something like hair sticking up from the open part at the top. There might be some debate over whether you would look pretty goofy wearing it, but we'll ignore that question, too, for the time being.
Contact Gary Brown at email@example.com.


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The New York Timesleads with word that the Obama administration will announce a new plan to reform the detention system for immigration violators. Detention centers have often been criticized for mistreating detainees and, most poignantly, failing to provide them with proper medical care while often allowing them to linger behind bars for months or years. The Washington Postleads with word that the White House is considering pressing the reset button on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to free the two mortgage giants of hundreds of billions of dollars in troubled loans. Nothing has been decided yet, but this is one of the proposals that the administration will be considering as it decides what to do with the companies that were effectively nationalized in September and have since been given $85 billion in direct federal aid.
The Wall Street Journalleads its world-wide newsbox with, and the Los Angeles Timesdevotes its top nonlocal spot to, the two American journalists who returned to California yesterday after being detained in North Korea since March. The LAT focuses its front-page piece on how former President Bill Clinton's image has been reinvigorated as a result of the successful diplomatic mission. USA Todayleads with a University of Utah analysis that predicts the percentage of households that own homes will drop to around 63.5 percent by 2020, a rate not seen since 1985. Home ownership reached a peak of almost 70 percent in 2004 and 2005, but has since dropped to 67.4 percent.
Overhauling the detention system for immigration violators could take years, but those in charge describe it as an ongoing effort to provide a more suitable environment for the noncriminals facing deportation. The Obama administration wants to consolidate the system that currently has contracts with more than 350 local jails and private prisons, possibly into government-run centers. Oversight will also be increased to try to avoid some of the bad press the system has received, and families will no longer be sent to a former state prison near Austin that has come under particular criticism.
The plan currently under consideration to remake Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sounds quite familiar. The troubled loans—or toxic assets—held by the mortgage giants would go into government-backed financial institutions, or "bad banks," and allow Fannie and Freddie to get a fresh start. Then the government could decide to join the two firms into one government agency that perhaps would step away from the mortgage finance market. Or maybe they will maintain the same structure. Nothing has been decided yet, but it seems clear the Obama administration wants to make sure the private-public hybrid nature of the companies isn't causing them to take on unnecessary risk that could, once again, threaten the financial system.
Now that Euna Lee and Laura Ling are back on American soil, it's becoming more evident that there's still a lot that isn't known about the circumstances surrounding their arrest. Did they actually cross the border into North Korea? Did they realize how dangerous it was? How did the cameraman escape? But everyone made clear that yesterday was not the time for those types of questions as the two journalists were just happy to be home after 140 days in captivity. The welcome-home scene was emotional, and even though Ling did say a few words of thanks, the families made it clear the two journalists aren't ready to talk about their ordeal quite yet.
During her public statement in the airport hangar, Ling described how surprised she was to see the former president in North Korea. "We were shocked, but we knew instantly in our hearts that the nightmare of our lives was coming to an end." That was undoubtedly the high point for Clinton, a former member of his administration tells the LAT. "Talk about affirmation," the former administration official said. "This is the love he needs." Clinton barely spent 24 hours in North Korea, but "it redefined—and in some cases, reinvigorated—several relationships at the heart of American politics," notes the LAT. While this was clearly a victory for the Obama administration, it also helped Clinton rehabilitate his image, which had been badly damaged during last year's bruising primary battle. He may not have had to do much in Pyongyang beyond sticking to the script, but by all accounts his first real job in the Obama administration was a huge success.
At the same time, Clinton's mission to North Korea was also a stark reminder of the former president's ability to overshadow his wife, as well as his vast rolodex of financial and political contacts, which have raised uncomfortable ethical questions in the past. As the Post details in a front-page piece, Clinton asked wealthy business contacts to help carry out the mission and got wealthy Hollywood producer Steve Bing to foot the bill for the plane that took him and his entourage to North Korea.
The WSJ and NYT both devote separate stories to looking at how Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore were reunited yesterday. The two men had a bitter falling out after serving together for eight years, but they hugged yesterday after Clinton got off the plane. Both papers describe the encounter in detail, but the WSJ certainly takes the cake by describing it so meticulously that it almost sounds sexual. It first looked like they were "destined for a routine handshake" and Gore apparently hesitated at first when Clinton pulled him "into a bear hug." The embrace lasted a full five seconds, and included six pats on the back—two from Gore and four from Clinton—as well as "two right-handed strokes," courtesy of the former president.
The administration continued to emphasize that Clinton's trip was a private one and didn't change anything about U.S. policy toward North Korea. But others aren't so sure. USAT talks to several analysts who think this could mark the beginning of a better relationship between the two countries. "It's almost like when China invited our ping-pong team to Beijing," said one. In a front-page piece, the NYT takes a look at how administration officials are trying to determine whether Clinton's trip has opened up new opportunities for nuclear talks. And despite the this-changes-nothing insistence, analysts say North Korea is clearly going to expect at least some form of payback for this, and the United States response to that expectation could set the tone for future relations between the two countries.
The WSJ has the most details about what was discussed in Clinton's meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, and, as expected, it seems clear that the fate of the journalists wasn't the only topic. Clinton apparently talked to Kim about ending his nuclear program and said he could reap ample rewards if he released South Korean and Japanese nationals who have been kidnapped. Many think Kim saw the meeting with Clinton as the first step into direct negotiations with the United States. But one South Korean official takes it even further and says Kim's ultimate goal is to have some sort of summit with Obama.
The WP fronts word that the bipartisan group of senators from the finance committee is making progress on health care negotiations. The senators will brief Obama on the progress of their talks. So far, the bill that would emerge from these discussions would come under $1 trillion, nix the government insurance option, tax generous health care benefits, and expand Medicaid, among other measures. It's still not clear whether they'll be able to reach a deal by the Sept. 15 deadline that the committee's chairman has set. But even if they don't, the Post says Democrats are already analyzing the compromises that have been made to see how they can unite members of their party behind certain measures that could win a few Republican votes.
The NYT takes a look at how it became crystal clear yesterday that the White House made a deal with the drug industry even as it has been insisting that lawmakers were writing legislation from scratch. After House lawmakers suggested they could extract more cost savings from drug companies, the administration was forced to come out and say that it had previously agreed it wouldn't ask the industry for more than $80 billion in savings in exchange for their support. It was an embarrassing admission that angered some Democratic lawmakers, particularly considering it came from an administration that has made a big deal of shunning lobbyists. But if the White House had failed to acknowledge the deal, it could have angered a powerful ally that is spending millions on an advertising campaign to support reforming the system.
Paula Abdul's decision to leave American Idol leads the LAT's Mary McNamara to ask, "What is a reliable train wreck actually worth?" Abdul first joined the show because of her singing career, "but what she actually brought to the show was, well, insanity." She tried to portray herself as the nice one, "but the role that worked best for her was the ditsy, possibly drunken sidekick." American Idol has been the vanguard in reality programming, and "Paula provided the first taste of what the citizenry now gorges itself on: live-action breakdowns." But apparently it was decided that her "reliable unreliability" wasn't worth "as much as the milquetoast stoicism of Ryan Seacrest."


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This is the elite range for larger than life dogs who demand good looks along with strength and quality from their gear. Rogz Fancy Dress Range, 25mm Armed Response Collars feature super-fashion ribbon stitched onto pure high grade nylon webbing. A locking Buckle, the ROG-LOC, the Fort Knox of side release buckles, ensures the buckle stays fastened even during the most boisterous games.
Ergonomic contoured plastic components ensure that every Rogz collar fits like a collar should. Low Load Technology reduces the load on the buckle through a cleverly positioned load ring. Custom-branded die cast ring (no welding) with electroplated chrome for a rust, tarnish free finish. All joins are box stitched for extra strength and a quality finish. Tests done by the WLWF have earned a load rating in excess of 780lbs - serious stuff! The perfect outfit for those very special occasions.
Ultra tough and stylish 25mm Armed Response collars adjust for neck sizes from 43cm to 70cm.
Suitable for Rottweiler, Bouvier, Ridgeback, Labrador and similar sized breeds.
Locking Side Release Buckle, the Rogz-Loc, makes these buckles completely dog-paw resistant. For added security the Low Load Technology (LLT) reduces the load on the buckle. Buckle-Breaking strength tested at 440lbs on a direct pull and 597lbs through the Low Load Technology.


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(First name Karen but she did not leave her surname in her entry)
Every Tuesday and Thursday from October 16 to November 2, I will be giving away TWO 3-month World Explorer Subscriptions to Ancestry.com to one lucky winner. There are two subscriptions being awarded because the winner keeps one and gives one to a friend!
You can read about the ongoing contest at Win an Ancestry.com World Subscription in the Olive Tree Genealogy Giveaway!
The next Olive Tree Genealogy Giveaway begins at 1 a.m. Tues. October 30. If you entered previous contests and didn't win feel free to enter again. Rules and regulations for the Oct. 30 contest will be posted that day.
Good luck to everyone.


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A collection of more than 200 interviews covering major events in the history of the United Nations was launched at the world body's Headquarters in New York yesterday, and will be accessible to the public through a website.
The UN Library's Oral History Collection consists of interviews conducted over the course of 25 years with former delegates, UN staff members and journalists, all of whom recounted their experiences on major world events.
They also discuss various crises and wars of independence, as well as topics such as apartheid, weapons of mass destruction, and what it was like to work with former Secretaries-General Kofi Annan and Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
The audio files and interview transcripts, which were conducted by UN staff and Yale University researchers, also include discussions held during the creation of the UN Charter as well as reflections of staff members who remembered what it was like working at Hunter College before the Headquarters moved permanently to Manhattan's East Side.
The Collection seeks to shed light on the history of the founding of the Organization and its role in conflict resolution since 1945, and to be a useful primary source of information for scholars and the media that spotlights the activities of the UN during turbulent periods in world history.
Source: UN News Centre
The Brussels based United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe - UNRIC provides information on UN activities to the countries of the region. It also provides liaison with institutions of the European Union in the field of information. Its outreach activities extend to all segments of society and joint campaigns, projects and events are organized with partners including the EU, governments, the media, NGOs, schools and local authorities.
United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC Brussels)
Residence Palace, Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 155, Block C2,7th and 8th floor, Brussels 1040, Belgium
Tel.: +32 2 788 8484 / Fax: 32 2 788 8485


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"Outrageous and unsettling" — that's how Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel described a school safety plan proposed by the National Rifle Association.
NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre is calling for armed guards to be placed in every school in the United States.
He says that would have been the only way the shooter in Newtown, Connecticut, might have been stopped before he killed 20 children and six adults.
"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun," said LaPierre. "As brave and heroic as those teachers were, and as prompt as the police were, they were unable to stop it."
Some Democrats, like Congressman Mike Quigley, are calling for the ban of assault weapons such as the one's used in the Newtown shooting.
On Friday, Quigley called called the NRA's plan "a joke, thoughtless, meaningless, an affront, not just to the victims of Connecticut, but for every crisis we've faced."
The NRA's statement has led some to wonder where funds for the security would come from.
"Our high school is over 500,000 square feet. If I had unlimited resources, I'd love to have all sorts of security personnel across my building, but I don't have unlimited resources," said Tom Leonard, Barrington School District 220 Superintendent.
There is a mixed public reaction to the NRA's proposal.
"I think it's the only thing that would have stopped a killer but I don't think we need to go that far, I think it's still a one in a million shot," said Tiny McLaughlin.
"I think it's a bad idea, I want all guns gone period," said Catherine Moss.


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George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) composed 42 operas and 25 oratorios including Messiah with its famous Hallelujah chorus. But he is equally well known for his Water Music and Fireworks Music, which he wrote for the British kings George I and George II.
Handel was born in the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and only around 150 kilometres away in Halle an der Saale. Although he moved away from Halle at the age of 18, Handel's legacy is still very much in evidence all around the town.
Each year in June, Halle stages the Handel Festival – venues include the George Frideric Handel Hall, which hosted its first events in 1998. The Handel House, the composer's birthplace, opened as a music museum in 1948. There's also a statue of Handel on the market square, facing west towards London, the city where his career really took flight.
Handel would never have been able to embark on a musical career without the support of the Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, who allowed the seven-year-old boy to play for him on the organ. This is commemorated by a plaque at Augustusburg Palace in Weissenfels.
Handel's early success as an opera composer was in Hamburg. He had not even reached his 20th birthday when his first opera Almira was premiered. His operas were most appreciated in England, however, which explains why he spent almost 50 years of his life there. The English are to some degree justly proud of 'their' George Frideric Handel.
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» Make sure you have the latest information
Paris, 02 July 2014 - 17:42 local time
Accident of Rio-Paris flight - Referral to Criminal Court: Air France reaction
Air France has just learnt of its possible referral to the Criminal Court in the criminal case relative to the accident of the Rio / Paris flight, whereas the Company has no knowledge of the specific charges likely to be retained against it in court.
Air France would like to state that before any referral to a court, the law gives parties a period of three months from the notification by the investigating magistrates of the notice of termination of information to file new observations and where appropriate make a request for a dismissal.
Air France would also like to state that the criminal case cannot be considered on its merits by a court before the Investigating Chamber of the Court of Appeal in Paris has reached a decision on Air France's request to nullify the expert's report requested by Airbus.


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Free Shipping to store or $7.50 to Your Home Auburn University Anders Bookstore.
Browse all deals at eFollett.com
See more in Colleges & Universities
* This offer may contain time-sensitive information and offers. Please check with eFollett.com to confirm actual price & availability.
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The Ruth's Chris team specializes in exceeding expectations. Let us bring the gold standard in hospitality and give that something extra to your event with our lagniappe style of service.
With rooms perfect for parties, dinners, business meetings, presentations and more, we offer the best service for you and your guests. Our Private Dining Manager will help create an ideal environment for your event.View Menu
Let us cater your next meeting or special event. The food will be unforgettable, just the way Ruth did it. It's how we honor our founder and help you sit back and enjoy a perfect event.
Designed to meet the needs of organizations that host multiple special events and meetings. Our programs provide you and your guests access to the largest collection of upscale steak houses across the country.


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Ever thought of using your iPad to share hand-drawn messages or show off your artistic talents with friends and loved ones even though they're miles away? And in real time to boot? Now you can with the newly released WebPad for the iPad, an innovative app that easily lets users sketch and draw on the device while others are watching on a web browser as it's happening. Here's how it works:
1. Start the App
2. Tell your friends the WebPad URL
3. Draw, doodle, write, drop in your thoughts on your iPad
4. Your iPad screen is being shown on the the webpad web page, realtime, stroke by stroke!
WebPad is rather basic in its features though (several colors and brush sizes are available), so don't expect it to replace the likes of ArtStudio for iPad and SketchBook Pro anytime soon. Still the applications of WebPad are almost limitless, be it a professor making notes during a lecture and sharing them with his/her students or some bloke proposing to his girlfriend in "real-time" (probably not advisable). Take a look at the video showing the app in action after the break.
Ignition Soft Limited, WebPad – $4.99


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The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety apparently likes it like we do — releasing the results over the weekend of the 2006 side impact crashworthiness (we didn't even make that word up!) tests, and now we're treated to 75 articles in papers across the country all saying "Study: Side Air Bags Improve Safety." Well — umm — yeah, that's true, and thank you Associated Press for your hard work in making it clear to the whole world it's better to smack your head into a pillowy cushion of air than a piece of hard industra-plasti-vinyl with metal underneath. Geez.
Oh, the results? Is that what you're asking for? Well...
...the Chevy Impala and Toyota Avalon both received "good" ratings, the Buick Lucerne and Hyundai Azera received "acceptable" ratings and the Buick LaCrosse and Chrysler 300 received "marginal" ratings — all when tested with side airbags. Of the large cars tested without side airbags, the Chrysler 300, Ford Five Hundred and Ford Crown Victoria — all received ratings of "Poor." It should be noted that when the Ford Five Hundred was tested last year with side airbags, it received a Gold Medal — so it's got that going for it.
So remember kids, side airbags save lives.
Study: Side Air Bags Improve Safety [CBS/AP]
New side impact crash test results: Impala, Avalon are top large car performers [IIHS]
$40,000 in Protection: Audi A6, Infiniti M35 Top Frontal Crash-Test Ratings [internal]


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I realize this is not a traditional St. Patrick's Day recipe by any means, but it is a tasty way to use Guinness Stout, the king of Irish stouts, in your baking. Guinness and chocolate are a perfect pair, and they work especially well with the spicy ginger, pepper, and smoky cinnamon. The gingerbread only takes a few minutes to mix up, so it's a quick and easy dessert to serve at a St. Patrick's Day celebration or any time of year.
The gingerbread was a hit at our house and Michael even said it was the best gingerbread he'd ever tasted as he went back for seconds. The flavor and moistness kept us coming back for more.
[Updated April 2, 2011.]
Adapted from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book, by Melissa Murphy.
Makes 1 9x9-inch cake.
9x9-inch baking pan, buttered and floured
small glass measuring cup or mixing bowl
medium mixing bowl
large mixing bowl
stand mixer with whisk attachment (or hand mixer and medium bowl)
2/3 cup (160 ml) Guinness Stout
2 cups (240 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I use Droste.)
1-1/4 teaspoons baking soda
2-1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (88 g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (37 g) firmly packed dark brown sugar
2/3 cup (160 ml) molasses
3/4 cup (180 ml) canola oil
1 cup (240 ml) heavy whipping cream
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon + 1-1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1. Place rack in center of the oven and preheat to 350° F/175° C.
2. CAKE: In the microwave, warm the Guinness Stout in the glass measuring cup, or you can warm it on the stove in a small sauce pan. Bring just to a simmer then remove from heat.
3. In the medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, ginger, white pepper, and cinnamon.
4. In the large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and molasses until smooth. Add the canola oil and whisk until thoroughly combined.
5. Add the dry ingredients alternating with the beer (dry, beer, dry, beer, dry). Whisk as you add, then mix at the end just until combined. Do not overmix.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Place cake pan on a wire rack to cool.
7. WHIPPED CREAM: In the bowl of the stand mixer, beat the heavy cream and vanilla on medium speed until fluffy. Slowly add the sugar in a steady stream and continue beating until the cream forms medium-stiff peaks.
8. Serve while still warm with a dollop of the whipped cream on top.
More Recipes For St. Patrick's Day
More Recipes Using Guinness From Around the Blogs
Simply Recipes - Guinness Bread with Molasses
Pinch My Salt - Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Noble Pig - Guinness Stout Chocolate Layer Cake


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Family Roots
With a granddaughter's love, an heirloom garden gets a new lease on life.
(page 1 of 2)
For nearly four decades, May Moir tended the most extraordinary garden in Honolulu. The gardens of Lipolani, her Nuuanu Valley home, were featured in garden books and magazines around the world. They also generated much of the plant material for the inspirational floral arrangements she and her volunteers provided the Honolulu Academy of Arts. Moir became a gardening icon.
For years, everyone from landscape architects to garden-club matrons paid tribute to the originality and tenacity she poured into Lipolani. It was both a laboratory and an endless source of inspiration to a woman who, as a young tomboy, had driven her mother crazy planting tree seeds in her flowerbeds in Kaimuki.
Moir's books, The Garden Watcher and Flower Arranger's Handbook, attempted to explain what she did so naturally. The Academy's book, Floral Traditions, tracked her dramatically original creations.
Moir's husband, Goodale Moir, had been an agronomist and chairman of the board of Hawaii Sugar Planters Association. In the 1950s, the two traveled to tropical locations all around the world. Most of their travel was in connection with his work, but they always found time to hunt down other plant enthusiasts and exotic species, which they then introduced to the Islands. The giant, yellow heliconia commonly found in floral arrangements and gardens today is just one of the plants they ushered into the Islands.
In his book, Gardens of Hawaii, landscape architect Stephen Haus calls Moir "the godmother of Hawaii gardeners." She was visited by garden enthusiasts and landscapers from as far away as Brazil, Bali and Thailand, and Lipolani was often shown in their own books. But with her passing in 2001 at the age of 93, her incredible garden was left unattended, to go to seed.
Then, a year ago, her granddaughter, Susanne Zola, who had spent many hours at her grandmother's side, moved into the abandoned house. The gardens were now overgrown, and the property had taken on a kind of bleakness and spiritual emptiness. Zola found rotting beds of bromeliads, agapanthus, cymbidium orchids and ferns in need of nutrition and in general disarray. Disease had set in everywhere.
"We had to garden, garden, garden," says Zola, who has the same slim, Spartan frame as her grandmother. But where Moir was taciturn and understated, Zola is ebullient and expressive.
Together with Sergio Vasquez, who Moir had hired for years to help her with the heavy garden work, Zola began the transformation. "We washed the leaves, mulched and fertilized," she says.
Zola took one small section at a time and worked her way through the sunken entrance courtyard filled with bromeliads, tree fern and dracaena, around to the garden beneath the vented (puka puka) tile wall and finally into the much-photographed moss garden room Zola calls "a salad." When she was through, she relaxed and gave the garden six months to rest and heal itself.


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New Year's Eve 2012
Happy 2013 to all of you!! I wish you've had an amazing time wherever you are in the world, and that this new year bring us new fun adventures to share and enjoy together! At the moment i haven't been able to update my blog due to the poor internet connection over here in the north of Scotland. We are in the most amazing place and I will be showing you what I've been up to hopefully starting from tomorrow! Last night was a very special night, and as we all spent in indoors dancing in front of the fire place while we watched the snow fall, I didn't wanted to overdress but still look glamorous in such a special night, I wore a Prey Of London dress with TopShop shoes and YSL red lipstick.


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Let $X$ be a smooth variety, $\mathcal D$ the sheaf of algebraic differentail operators, $\Omega$ the algebraic deRham complex and $\mathcal M$ a quasi coherent $\mathcal O_X$-module.
Now there is a bijection between $\mathcal D$-module structures on $\mathcal M$ and $\Omega$ dg-module structures on $\Omega \otimes_{\mathcal O_X} \mathcal M$.
For example given a $\mathcal D$-module structure on $\mathcal M$ we can define the corresponding differential by imposing the rule $d(m)(X)=X.m$ on $\Omega\otimes_{\mathcal O_X} \mathcal M$. (X denotes a vectorfield and $m$ a local section of $\mathcal M$.
A similar statement holds if one takes instead $\mathcal D=U(\mathfrak g)$ the universal envelope of a Lie-algebra and $\Omega=\bigwedge \mathfrak g^*$ the standard complex.
Now in both of there cases $\mathcal D$ and $\Omega$ are Koszul-dual, meaning that there are equivalences between carefully defined versions of their "derived categories". Yet formulations of Koszul duality I am aware of, seem not to extend the above correspondence. Roughly speaking they are $\mathcal M \mapsto Hom(\Omega, \mathcal M)$ instead of $\mathcal M \mapsto \Omega \otimes \mathcal M$.
So my questions are:
What does the above observation have to do with Kosul duality?
Is there a formulation of Koszul duality extending the above correspondence?


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The "Spider-Man" reboot will be landing in theaters worldwide on July 3, 2012 – and the web-slinging action is going 3-D!
Jeff Blake, Chairman of Sony Pictures Worldwide Marketing & Distribution, announced the news on Wednesday and said production on the Marc Webb-directed as-yet-untitled movie will begin later this year.
"Spider-Man is the ultimate summer movie-going experience, and we're thrilled the filmmakers are presenting the next installment in 3-D," Blake said in a statement to Access Hollywood. "Spider-Man is one of the most popular characters in the world, and we know audiences are eager and excited to discover Marc's fantastic vision for Peter Parker and the franchise."
As previously reported on AccessHollywood.com, Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee is excited for the new web-slinger movie – and he's already thinking about his cameo.
"I think [the reboot] is a good idea, personally. I think that after a while, things seem a little the same. You feel, well, it's like the one I saw," Stan told AccessHollywood.com's Laura "Dish of Salt" Saltman in January. "I think, when it comes out, it's going to be great! And I'll have a cameo, so how bad can it be?"
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
VIEW THE PHOTOS: A-dorkable Stars Of Hollywood!
PLAY IT NOW: Topher Grace On 'Valentine's Day' & Possible 'Spider-Man' Spin-Off
PLAY IT NOW: 'Percy Jackson' Star Logan Lerman On Possibly Playing 'Spider-Man': 'It's One Of My Favorite Characters Ever'
MORE ACCESS ON THESE TOPICS: Movies - Stan Lee - Spider-Man - News - Dish Of Salt


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TechVenue.com: Your Business Technology Events Calendar - Events, News and Networking Since 1998
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Sunday, October 11 2020
4:30pm - 6:30pm
***ONLINE*** Whiteboarding & Algorithms Workshop - Weekend Edition
Because jobhunting and preparing for job interviews by yourself sucks. It's better to do it with a community! Come to Noisebridge and practice whiteboarding, algorithms, and other interviewing techniques together with others!! =D (This is also a support group for job-hunters.) This event will be in the Hackitorium, but will be at Church classroom if Audiochurch is happening, and will be hosted by Bernice & by Ishan. This version will be a more structured version of the Wednesday version!! ^_^ All experience levels are welcome. (For newcomers, this is how you get in: to go inside, please ring the doorbell at the gate, then go to the 3rd floor.) This workshop was inspired by "Whiteboarding Wednesdays" at Dev Bootcamp.~~~~~~~~~~My Personal Opinion About Whiteboarding Interviews:
But unfortunately, this is the world that we live in. ~~~~~~~~~~My personal tips to get good at interviews:There are actually 2 different skills being tested in interviews, especially whiteboarding interviews. The first skill is public speaking / communication skills, and the second skill is technical proficiency. Both of these skills need to be practiced in tandem, and are equally important. These are what you need to do:1) Practice public speaking / communication skills- Get used to speaking in front of others and narrating your thoughts. Going to whiteboaring interview practice gets you used to talking in front of other people, so instead of associating the emotions of nervousness and anxiousness with public speaking, you associate public speaking with familiarity. 2) Know your stuff- Be very comfortable and familiar with your skills, because it's hard enough to do public speaking, while trying to remember the technical parts.- Good way to get better at programming is to work on something you want to make, or work on something that you really care about. Example, I love videogames, and I want to make videogames, so that's how I got better at programming. ~~~~~~~~~~List Of Resources:~~~~~~~~~~
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Carefully consider the Funds' investment objectives, risk factors, and charges and expenses before investing. This and other information can be found in the Funds' prospectuses which may be obtained by visiting the SEC Edgar database. Read the prospectus carefully before investing.
Common shares for most of the closed-end funds identified above are only available for purchase and sale at current market price on a stock exchange. A closed-end fund's dividend yield, market price and NAV will fluctuate with market conditions.The information for these funds is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell Fund shares.
There is no assurance that the Fund will achieve its investment objective. The Fund is subject to numerous risks, including investment risks. Shares of closed-end funds often trade at a discount from their net asset value. The Fund is not a complete investment program and you may lose money investing in the Fund. An investment in the Fund may not be appropriate for all investors.


text: Soccer standout turning some heads - Question serving Whistler and Pemberton September 5, 200812:00AM PDT Previous Next By Ian Jacques From the age of four, Cailin Perry knew she would be a soccer player. The 13-year-old midfielder from Gibsons has played soccer for as long as she can remember, and her hard work and dedication to the sport is starting to pay off in a big way. Last winter, Cailin was a member of the Sunshine Coast U13 rep United and played an integral role in the success of that team. During the season, she attended three prospect camps with the Vancouver Whitecaps Mountain FC youth team in the Super Y League. That set the stage for a final tryout with the team at the end of the rep season. She made that squad and played her first summer season in the Super Y League. "It was a really good experience," she said, "with top-notch coaching, and the Whitecaps are so professional. They treat you so well." Much like the pro teams, the youth teams are treated the same way — right down to player introductions before the game and the singing of the national anthem. "You also have a regimented diet — mayonnaise on your sandwich is a no no," she recalled with a laugh. About midway through the Y-League season, Cailin was named a team captain — an honour she relished. "I welcomed the role and the chance to step up," she said. "I was asked to take charge of the warm-ups and the cool downs. It was a lot of fun. It's a role I'm familiar with because I'm used to being a leader on the teams that I played with on the Sunshine Coast. It doesn't faze me." The Y-League team finished in fourth spot, and Cailin added a goal and two assists in 12 games with the team. While playing with the Whitecaps, Cailin also tried out for the North Shore Metro League Sounders and made that squad. She will play with the Sounders this coming soccer season in September. "The Sunshine Coast has been great. I've been coached by my parents since I was six, but it's time to move on to a higher level," she said. Her parents agreed that it's good to get new coaches, new challenges and new opportunities. "We just want the best opportunity for her to excel," said mother Jackie said. "You have to get yourself out there to get noticed by other coaches, and that's what we're hoping with Cailin." Cailin played her first tournament last weekend with the Sounders in Penticton and had another tournament with them on the Labour Day long weekend before starting the season. And the soccer success doesn't end with these two teams. Cailin's Whitecaps coach has recommended her for a tryout with the provincial team. "It's just a recommendation, but still, it's pretty cool. I've always wanted to play for the provincial team," Cailin said. And her ultimate goal is a scholarship to an NCAA school in California. "The summer has been a fantastic experience," she said. "Sure, I've missed some time with my friends at the beach, but I'd rather be playing soccer." Previous Next


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Brad Pitt left Germany today after a visit to Documenta. As mentioned yesterday, it's an art exhibit that only happens every 5 years. A big deal. Not sure if he bought anything. Remember a few years ago when he dropped over a million for a Banksy?
If I were Gwyneth Paltrow and if it were available for sale, I would go with Korbinian Aigner's Apples. See attached - 400 small paintings of apple varieties that he came up with when he was thrown in prison for preaching against Nazis. Beautiful, right? And then she could throw it in his face:
Oh so you're an art collector? Well check out this piece I just acquired - considered one of the best - and profoundly moving considering what I called my firstborn.
How's that for a segue?


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The response to my One World One Heart giveaway has been overwhelming to say the least. There just aren't hours enough in a day to respond to everyone (at this time over 480 comments) but I will try to visit everyone over the next few weeks, or maybe months. I will certainly be visiting my followers to say hello.
Drop in on Monday 15 Feb at 6:00 p.m Sydney time when I announce the winner.


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The Ruhr Valley Cycle Route covers 230 exciting kilometres from the Sauerland to the Ruhr region. It is rated as a four-star premium route by the German Cyclists' Federation.
Forests alternate with meadowland, castles give way to medieval townscapes, and interspersed amongst it all are the industrial monuments. Former winding towers, blast furnaces and gasometers now double as cultural venues and places of recreation. The banks of the Ruhr river are lined with impressive sights including Arnsberg with its medieval old quarter and classical district, the cradle of Ruhr mining in the Muttental valley, Lake Baldeney in Essen and, last but not least, the river docks in Duisburg, which have been converted into a complex of shops and restaurants.
Terrain: the vast majority of the route is traffic-free and runs alongside the river. Some steep climbs, mostly in the first 35km; the sections that follow are predominantly flat. Very good transport links.
Scenery: beautiful riverscapes, densely wooded uplands in the Sauerland, the Ruhr conurbation with monuments from the days of heavy industry and mining.
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Daha fazla yardım için aşağıdaki simgeye tıklayarak sağlayıcınızla bağlantı kurun:


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Return to Transcripts main page
Aired July 27, 2013 - 22:00 ET
MORGAN SPURLOCK, CNN HOST (voice-over): They're undocumented immigrants, and they know where it comes from, because they pick the oranges that are in it. They also pick the tomatoes in your salad, mow your lawns, clean your hotel rooms, hang your drywall, even help raise your children. Right now, there is an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living in this country today. RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: It was possible for 11 million illegals to come here. Why is it impossible for them to leave? SPURLOCK: People who oppose immigration reform say these workers are just feeding off the system. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The vast majority of illegal aliens are consuming welfare programs. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have illegals coming here, taking jobs. We have people at home that need these jobs. SPURLOCK: But are businesses really ready to get rid of such cheap and dependable labor? How many jobs are immigrants really taking away from Americans? It may be a policy debate in Washington, but in the orange groves of Polk County, Florida, it's a life of fear, back- breaking labor, and the looming threat of deportation. This is the hardest I've ever worked for 93 cents. Florida, Palm trees, retirees, manatees, and one of the largest communities of farm workers in the country. On any given day, about 400,000 farm workers are tending to crops and fields. In fact, Florida produces about 63 percent of all citrus grown in the U.S., and Polk County produces more of it than any other county in the state, with about 30 million boxes harvested per year. Chances are pretty good that if you had an orange today, it came from Polk County and a migrant worker picked it. The thing for me that I don't understand is everybody says well, we have got all these high unemployment rates, but there is all these jobs that no American citizens will actually go apply for. People could go and pick strawberries, pick, you know, oranges, pick whatever, but they don't. So, today hopefully I'll kind of start to gain some insight into why exactly that is. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning. Welcome to Polk works. How may I help you? SPURLOCK: Yes. I want to speak to someone about getting a job in agriculture. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. SPURLOCK: Polk works is a job placement center for Polk county residents. They help place workers in all kinds of industries, including the agricultural industry. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. SPURLOCK: It's the perfect place for me to find a job. People who pick produce like oranges can come here and basically find out what jobs are available within the community. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Morgan Spurlock? SPURLOCK: Yes. So, what I want to find out is how hard is it to get one of these jobs? Are there not enough Americans to fill these jobs? MOLLIE BROWN-FERRIER, EMPLOYMENT COUNSELOR: So you're looking at citrus harvesting. SPURLOCK: Correct. And why aren't there if that is the case? Why do we have to get visa workers from Mexico to come over to do these jobs if there are so many people unemployed in states right now? So how many jobs in citrus and agriculture per calendar year do you have? BROWN-FERRIER: Last year we had about 7,000 different job openings. SPURLOCK: Wow. And these jobs are open to Americans? BROWN-FERRIER: Absolutely. SPURLOCK: And how many people came in and applied for those? BROWN-FERRIER: Actually about 1500 came in and applied for this and out of this about 336 were hired. SPURLOCK: How many of them stay? BROWN-FERRIER: I think technically, about five percent overall are the ones that actually stay. SPURLOCK: Five percent out of 336? I mean, that's like 15, 16 people. BROWN-FERRIER: Yes. SPURLOCK: Sixteen people for 7,000 jobs. So who take those jobs? BROWN-FERRIER: They usually come from outside the United States then. SPURLOCK: Right. I just can't believe only five percent. That's incredible. BROWN-FERRIER: But in this, may be part of the reason why. The worker will carry an 18 to 20-foot ladder to the particular area of the grove to be harvested. Fully loaded picking sack weighs between 80 and 100 pounds, depending on the variety of the fruit. SPURLOCK: Wow. And what is the pay for something like that? BROWN-FERRIER: Valencia oranges, we're looking at 95 cents per 95 field box. SPURLOCK: So, per giant sack, you would get, would be 95 cents? Wow. BROWN-FERRIER: All right. So are you still interested? SPURLOCK: Yes. BROWN-FERRIER: You are. OK. SPURLOCK: I am. BROWN-FERRIER: We're going to actually refer you. SPURLOCK: The thing that I want to do now is see what this job is really like. Go out, work in the field, and just see how difficult and strenuous it is and try and get a better sense of why people aren't taking these jobs. Of course, some people are taking these jobs, immigrant labors. There is mainly two ways that farms and citrus groves find workers. One way is the H-2A guest worker visa program, a sort of stopgap measure designed to get immigrant workers in the field without granting them permanent residency. It's neither a path to citizenship nor particularly popular with the agriculture industry. So that leaves undocumented immigrants. After surviving a dangerous border crossing, they take whatever jobs they can find and generally live life in the shadows to avoid being deported. Most see the risk as the only way to make a better life for themselves and their families. CARLOS, UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT: Make a left up here. SPURLOCK: Carlos is a 20-year-old undocumented immigrant. Born in Mexico, Carlos was brought to America as a 6-month-old infant with his migrant farm working family. Since he was 9 years old, he has been working in the fields with his father, Pascual, picking tobacco, oranges, and onions. Despite living here his entire life, Carlos still lives under the same constant fear of prosecution and deportation. He and Pascual have agreed to teach me how to pick oranges before I start my first day of work tomorrow. CARLOS: Have you ever picked oranges or done any kind of field work? SPURLOCK: I mean, I've picked things off trees, but you pick one, you know, you pick it you eat it. I've never, you know, had to pick 2500 to fill a tub. I think I'm going to be sore by the end of the day tomorrow. CARLOS: Well, my dad, he is 49. SPURLOCK: Wow. CARLOS: I know people that are 70 picking oranges, because it's a necessity. SPURLOCK: Yes. CARLOS: You have to. But hopefully, if I can better myself, I can help my family. What he did for me, I'll do it for him. SPURLOCK: What do you want to do with your life? CARLOS: I really want to go to law school. SPURLOCK: You want to be a lawyer? CARLOS: Yes. A lawyer. SPURLOCK: Amazing. Even with his good attitude and grades, it's going to be tough for Carlos to become a lawyer. As an undocumented immigrant, Carlos is prohibited from practicing law in the United States. Where do I pull? The driveway? CARLOS: This is it. SPURLOCK: He can't even get a job except as an illegal hire. So he still works in the fields just like his father. That is a very heavy ladder, very top-heavy ladder. You know what I think is easier for me? I think I want to carry this ladder like this. So where are we going? Carlos' father Pascual has been working in American fields more than 20 years. And to celebrate, last year he had open heart surgery. But he didn't have much time to recuperate. He was back working in the fields six weeks later. As an undocumented immigrant, he can't file for disability payments. So if he doesn't pick, he doesn't get paid. With a family to feed and a hospital bill to pay, not working is not an option. And so where should you start when you're picking a tree? (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) CARLOS: Climb the ladder. SPURLOCK: And you pull them straight off? CARLOS: Kind of like twist it. SPURLOCK: Pascual, have you fallen off a ladder? CARLOS: No, thank God no. SPURLOCK: So, that's one sack. How many more sacks to fill it up? PASCUAL: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) CARLOS: Ten and a half. SPURLOCK: Wow. SPURLOCK: How long do you think it would take you to do one of these barrels? Dos oras? T BROWN-FERRIER: res oras? PASCUAL: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) CARLOS: One hour. If you don't do the barrel in one hour, then do something else. SPURLOCK: Then do another job. CARLOS: Yes. So, you put it right there. SPURLOCK: Put it right here? CARLOS: Yes. Watch out with his ladder. But always put it next to a big limb, you know, that it's going to hold your weight. SPURLOCK: How do you get the ones that are up in the top in the middle of the tree there? CARLOS: Just climb right in the middle of the tree. SPURLOCK: You have to climb up the tree? CARLOS: Yes. SPURLOCK: Oh, man there is a bunch in here. I can't believe how much I'm learning. For example, did you know orange trees have thorns? These thorns are the ones you want to stay away from. It took me 15 minutes to fill up this one bag. Stop trying to make me feel bad! PASCUAL: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SPURLOCK: I have to fill this bag in five minutes? PASCUAL: Yes. SPURLOCK: That's a lot of work. Mucho trabajo. PASCUAL: Mucho trabajo, si. (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE). SPURLOCK: You said you were crazy? PASCUAL: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SPURLOCK: I though he said $15 he would do it? PASCUAL: Yes. SPURLOCK: So give me some advice tomorrow. Since I'm going to be working all day tomorrow. PASCUAL: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) CARLOS: You're going to be really, really tired. You're not even going to be able to sit on a toilet. (LAUGHTER) (COMMERCIAL BREAK) SPURLOCK: I'm on my way to meet the crew I'll be picking with tomorrow. And after my lesson with Carlos and Pascual, I'm feeling pretty confident. Luckily for me, you know, I'm like a good foot and a half taller than Carlos and Pascual. So, I have a little bit of reach. So, I might be able to get the hard to reach oranges. The workers I'm picking with are all H-2A guest workers. They are all here legally and temporarily. H-2A visas require the employer to provide housing and transportation for the guest workers, so workers have virtually no expenses while they're here. They send most of the money they make straight back to Mexico. And when the picking season is over, they'll return to their homes, their families, and their lives, all in the hopes of getting another h-2A visa next season, even though it does not provide a pathway to citizenship. So, what is the quickest way to become an American citizen? Well, short of being born here, it's just like most things in life. It comes down to whom you know. If you want all access to the exclusive club USA, your best bet is to be related to someone who is already there legally, like a parent, a child, or spouse. They can sponsor you. And that at least gets your name on the list. Of course, if you don't have family here, there is still some ways to get your foot in the door, like the EB-5 investor visa. This one is pretty easy to get, as long as you have a million dollars sitting around to invest in a new American startup. Great for business, but kind of rules out your tired, your poor, and your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. But if all else fails, you can sponsor yourself. You've got to be pretty special, though, to get into the club that way. In fact, you've got to be positively extraordinary. People with certain skill sets or knowledge, you know, rocket scientists, entrepreneurs, and mathematicians for example, can get an alien of extraordinary ability visa. It makes sense. We need brilliant people who excel in their fields to help push the country forward. The only problem is that extraordinary is pretty subjective, meaning those visas have gone to professional bikini models, squash players, magician, even "Playboy" playmates. None of that helps Carlos. Since he was brought here illegally, he is ineligible for any of these visas. It seems the U.S. government doesn't think fruit pickers and farm workers are extraordinary, even though a multibillion industry believes them to be invaluable. Home sweet home. CARLOS: Home sweet home. SPURLOCK: I start work tomorrow. So tonight I'm moving in with the pickers and staying in the crew housing. How many guys stay in this house? CARLOS: Ten. So you're 11. SPURLOCK: Hola. I'm Morgan. Mi llamo Morgan. Eric is the crew leader and my new boss. Just 23-years-old, he is an American citizen whose parents were pickers. Are you guys in charge of cleaning it too? ERIC, 23-YEARS-OLD: Yes. SPURLOCK: As a foreman with tough quarters to reach, it's his job to make sure he gets the absolute best out of every person in the field, including me. SPURLOCK: Nice. ERIC: Standard issue. SPURLOCK: Standard issue. That's a good-looking brand-new bag. See that? ERIC: All American. SPURLOCK: That's an all American, red, white, and blue. What is the secret to go faster? ERIC: Just move your hands. SPURLOCK: Just move my hands. Don't even pay attention? Like Mr. Miyagi style. Just like be the orange. If you spend six months living and working with ten guys, you want to make sure everybody gets along. What can I help with? So all responsibilities for cooking and cleaning are shared. SPURLOCK: Cooks? Sure. So who did the most tubs today? ERIC: Nate did. The guy you're helping. SPURLOCK: Yes? ERIC: He did ten. SPURLOCK: Ten? So, it is a good day? ERIC: That's a great day. SPURLOCK: Yes. So, guys, why did you decide to do the H-2A visas rather than come into the country illegally? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SPURLOCK: How does the money compare here to the money you could make in Mexico. Like say this week you made $500. How long would it take you to make that in Mexico? A month? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. SPURLOCK: So you can make a month's wages in one week? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SPURLOCK: Wow. You have family? You have a wife in Mexico? An esposa? And hijos? How many? So you'll be here when the baby is born? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SPURLOCK: So, you will be here when the baby is born? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. SPURLOCK: Is your wife mad? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Porque? (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SPURLOCK: Yes. How many tubs do you guys think I'll be able to do tomorrow? (LAUGHTER) SPURLOCK: ONE? Come on. Just one? Really? OK. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Five. OK. We'll see who is right. ERIC: Are you nervous? SPURLOCK: No. ERIC: You're not nervous? SPURLOCK: Why? Should I be? ERIC: I'm just saying like -- SPURLOCK: I should be nervous. That's what you're saying. ERIC: A little bit. SPURLOCK: A little bit. Work starts before dawn. While most people are still sleeping, we're heading out to the fields for the day. So it's 5:45 in the morning. I got up almost an hour ago to help make lunch for all the guys are going out today and for myself. Good morning. And we'll be on the field and picking by 7:00. Most workers are young men with wives and children back home. Yet they leave those families for at least half the year to work in these fields. ERIC: Here is your ladder. SPURLOCK: Right. Which way should I head? Just where everybody else is going? ERIC: Yes. Just head straight down. SPURLOCK: OK. ERIC: And I'll meet you down there. SPURLOCK: OK. Carry my ladder. Got to carry it about, I don't know, a quarter mile, half mile to where I'm picking today. This is my line of trees right here. So I'll work down until I meet whoever that is on the other end somewhere in the middle. It's around $9.50 per tub. So my goal is to get at least six. If I was going to really make a living wage, I need to have that first tub filled in an hour. Right here, go ahead and do these. Pascual recommended from picking from the top of the tree down, but I'm going to try my own technique and start at the bottom. I just feel like from the ground I can get a lot without having to get on the ladder. ERIC: You can get two at a time if you want. The faster you move, the more. SPURLOCK: -- the more you pick, OK. I'm going to kill it today. ERIC: I have never had a white person on my crew. I've heard stories where Americans don't cut it at this job. They expect an easy job and it's really not that easy. It's heavy work. SPURLOCK: See how that didn't even cover the bottom of that? At least the oranges that we were picking yesterday were about that big, you know. These, look at this. It's like a nectarine. I think I need to get the ladders now. I finally understand Pascual's strategy, because the last thing I feel like doing right now is climbing up the damn ladder. I have a feeling that is going to fall. Let's see. This ladder, this sucks. Is that going to stay? I think one more bag; I'll be done with my first bin which isn't bad. ERIC: Almost full, Morgan? SPURLOCK: How many more bags does that need? ERIC: It looks like it needs two more. SPURLOCK: Two more? ERIC: I'm going to help you out with one, though. SPURLOCK: Something tells me Eric doesn't have much faith in me. But if he is going to help me fill the tub, I'll take the pity. How many tubs have guys gotten done so far? ERIC: Each guy like around roughly two or three. SPURLOCK: In the time it's taken me to do one? ERIC: Yes. SPURLOCK: Right. ERIC: You'll be all right. SPURLOCK: Eric, he is one to rub it in how slow I am. Is that one? ERIC: Yes. SPURLOCK: Nice! Two hours for my first tub? ERIC: Yes. SPURLOCK: Is that pretty terrible? ERIC: Just about. SPURLOCK: All right. See you in a bit, man. ERIC: All right. SPURLOCK: So it took me two hours to fill one tub, which it's $9.50. So I made $4.75 an hour for my first two hours. Now it's time to get back to work. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) SPURLOCK: So far I've been picking oranges for three hours. I can honestly tell you it does not get easier as the day goes on. For so- called unskilled labor, it's a lot tougher than it looks. That's two down. Lots more to go. I'm not just the worst picker in the field today. I'm also the only American citizen. Every single worker here with me today is a foreign citizen on an H-2A visa. But H-2A is unpopular with most employers. In fact, only four percent of businesses that can use it do so. Riverfront packing is the largest grapefruit distributor in Florida, and they don't participate in the program. DANIEL RICHEY, PRESIDENT, RIVERFRONT PACKING: We have an adequate local workforce that we have not been forced into or pushed into participating with the H-2A program. SPURLOCK: Like many businesses as they find the regulations that come with H-2A to be expensive and burdensome. RICHEY: The housing is a cost. The transportation to get them to and from, and sometimes they don't stay. I think it was noble effort, but we need to recognize that it's a much broader issue. We don't really know the level of illegal immigrants working here. Do we have everybody here properly documented? And do we meet the letter of the law? Absolutely. But as I was told once when I asked this question at a seminar, well, what if I see a document that I'm not sure is legal. The question I got was, are you an immigration officer? If you question that, you could be subject to discrimination charges. I think if all the undocumented workers were all to be deported; the people that think food comes from the grocery store would be in for a rude awakening. SPURLOCK: And in 2011, Alabama and Georgia made an effort to do just that. Crack down on all the undocumented immigrants in the workforce. They did with a campaign of tough new laws, like making it a crime to transport or harbor immigrants who are in the country illegally, as well as mandatory use of the federal E verify system to check a worker's documents against the federal database. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe we have the strongest immigration bill in the country. SPURLOCK: Undocumented workers were spooked by the laws and left for other states that haven't passed such harsh immigration policies. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I told many people this is actually probably the largest economic development job creation bill that the state of Alabama has ever passed. SPURLOCK: Sure, if by economic development he means states and businesses losing billions of dollars in income and tax revenue. With no undocumented immigrants working, crops literally rotted in the fields. After half a day, I can tell you firsthand why nobody came to replace the immigrant workers. The work is excruciating. I've been here since 7:00, and I've still only finished two bins. Ah (bleep), look at that. They're falling out of my bag. Yes, absolutely. It's lunch time. How many tubs do you have? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cinco. SPURLOCK: Cinco. So what was the quota today you have to hit? ERIC: I have to hit three trailers and that's like eight tubs per person. SPURLOCK: I don't think I'm going to hit eight tubs. ERIC: Morgan's pace compared to everyone now, it is like on one to ten, he would be two which is as many tubs as he should all day. SPURLOCK: Have any of the guys out here worked with Gringos before? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SPURLOCK: And how long did they last? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SPURLOCK: So I'm already doing as good as that guy. ERIC: He is coming to meet you, so you better --. SPURLOCK: I better pick up the pace. (LAUGHTER) SPURLOCK: I'm going to get four today, at least. At least cuatro. Another half hour of hard work and I've only got about halfway through my third bin. But before I can even celebrate -- ERIC: You almost done, Morgan? SPURLOCK: Eric, the foreman is back, pushing me to meet the quota. Third one is almost done. So, I'm about more than half way. How much time have we got left? ERIC: Another hour and a half. SPURLOCK: OK. I'm so tired. I'm missing my own bag. I don't feel it in my legs. But boy, right in my lower back. I tell you, there and in my forearms, just from like this repetitive motion of like -- so one of the workers asked me, what do you think it would take for an American to come out here and do this job. I think it would take like $30 an hour, guaranteed, like not even based on the buckets that they get. And then when you go to the grocery store, your orange juice would cost $12. Because after being here, I tell you what, I don't think most of you would do this job. That's the fact. Sounds like it's time to go. So I couldn't get paid for this one today because it's not full. Oh, man. So now if you look at what I made today, I only finish lead bins, $28.50. $2.85 an hour over ten hours. ERIC: Morgan, time to go. SPURLOCK: That's like 3 2/3. ERIC: Yes. So was it easy? SPURLOCK: Absolutely not. It was even harder than I expected it would be. ERIC: But you exceed my expectations. SPURLOCK: I did? ERIC: I figured you would have quit. SPURLOCK: Thanks for having so much faith. ERIC: You pulled through. You pulled through. SPURLOCK: Let's go home. ERIC: Let's go. SPURLOCK: I couldn't even imagine, like, having to do this every day, six days a week for your whole life, very hard. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many? SPURLOCK: Three and two-thirds. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not too bad for a first day. SPURLOCK: But not too good. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know. SPURLOCK: Not too good. After an incredibly long day picking oranges, I can't wait to go to bed. But it's Friday, and that's payday. So the bus makes a last stop at plaza Mexico. Plaza Mexico is a one-stop shop for H-2A workers. It's a shopping center, restaurant and bank, all rolled into one. This place is busy. How many guys come into and cash their checks? ERIC: Like at least 600 or more. About 200 are from our company. SPURLOCK: OK. They wire money home as well? ERIC: Yes. Over there, Sigue. SPURLOCK: How much do most guys send home? ERIC: He would have to leave like 50 for groceries and like 20 for like laundry. SPURLOCK: So guys, are usual I will only keeping back 60, $70? ERIC: Yes. SPURLOCK: It's like a casino in here. It's like -- so much money changing hands. When we do head back to the camp, I discover a little keepsake from my day. I hit my leg on the bus. Why did that hurt so much? I pulled up my pant leg, and I have a thorn stuck in the side of my leg. So, let's see if we can't take that out now. Look at that. A little souvenir I can keep forever to remind me of my long day of back-breaking labor. You know, I feel like what I got to experience, you know, was something most people will never get to. And I think it's eye- opening, because it does give you a tremendous more respect for these guys and what they do. I will be thinking about them every single time I have a glass of orange juice for the rest of my life. ERIC: I'm going to miss you! SPURLOCK: Thank you for everything. ERIC: You're welcome. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) SPURLOCK: By most people's standards, picking oranges is low pay for hard work. But for the H-2A worker, it's a decent paying job. While it isn't luxurious, it's safe and it's legal. With H-2A workers making up less than five percent of the workforce, the other 95 percent have to live somewhere. Carlos and Pascual, the men who taught me how to pick oranges, have invited me home to meet the rest of the family. Hey, how are you? CARLOS: And this is my mother. SPURLOCK: A lot of people think undocumented immigrants are somehow abusing our social system. But in reality they're not even in the system. CARLOS: This is my home. SPURLOCK: They aren't eligible for benefits, even if many of them live well below the poverty line. CARLOS: This is our kitchen. SPURLOCK: Yes. CARLOS: Sometimes when it rains, it leaks. But we still keep warm during the winter when it does rain. SPURLOCK: Hi! How are you? Kumusta? CARLOS: And this is my room. Like I said, it's not the best of rooms, but here is where I've been able to get straight A's from this desk. I'm really thankful for that. SPURLOCK: So what do you think over the course of the year, like the total salary, both you have bringing in for the whole year to support your family? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) CARLOS: Together, like with her working in the egg factory or the egg farm and him working in still as a migrant worker, it's like $25,000. SPURLOCK: And that's to support a family of one, two, three, four, five, and plus your sister. So it's like to support a family of six? CARLOS: That's -- yes. You see where we're at. SPURLOCK: Do you guys pay taxes? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) and you still got to pay taxes. SPURLOCK: And does your employer take it out, or do you pay it? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SPURLOCK: They take them out of the check. CARLOS: Yes. SPURLOCK: So you pay taxes to the state of Florida. So what do you get in return for paying those taxes? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SPURLOCK: Do you still believe in the American dream? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) CARLOS: We can become something else other than being a farm worker. We can be lawyers. We can be doctors. We can accomplish anything we set our mind to. SPURLOCK: Would you be happy if he became a lawyer? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SPURLOCK: Pascual's family wants to live the American dream, and they're willing to work hard to achieve their goals, no matter the obstacles. And believe me, there are a whole lot of obstacles. If you're an undocumented immigrant, you can't get a Social Security card. And Without one of those, you can't get Medicare, Welfare, Social Security or unemployment benefits. You can't apply for most jobs and you can't get most credit cards. You can't even get a fishing license. You are not illegible for financial aid for college, federally funded health insurance or an employment-based health plan. What you are eligible for is the draft. You also get to pay taxes. Apparently the one thing that is easy for an undocumented worker to get is a bill from the IRS. In fact, in most states you can't even get a driver's license, which means that every single time you get behind the wheel, you risk losing everything. So, you have never been pulled over before? CARLOS: Thankfully, yes. SPURLOCK: If Carlos or any member of his family is pulled over for even a minor infraction, they could be jailed for 48 hours until an immigration enforcement officer comes to interrogate them. They could be subject to any number of punishments from getting a ticket to being deported and banned from returning to the U.S. for an entire decade. Pascual, do you worry when he drives the car? PASCUAL: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SPURLOCK: Right. Because he could get pulled over one time and that could be it. PASCUAL: Yes. SPURLOCK: For Carlos' family, immigration reform isn't a political issue. It's the difference between a life lived with hope or a life lived in fear. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) SPURLOCK: I'm in Claremont, Florida this morning with Carlos, who is here today to participate in a march, organized by forward with your promise, an immigration rights group. CARLOS: We're out here to make sure that Obama keeps his promises. SPURLOCK: When Obama campaigned for the presidency in 2008, he promised an overhaul of immigration in the United States and he did just that. President Obama deported nearly as many undocumented immigrants, 1.5 million, in his first term than George W. Bush in both his terms combined. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we're trying to do is not just raise awareness about the broken immigration system, but to say stop with the deportations until you fix the problem. SPURLOCK: Right. Now that Obama has been reelected, he is making another promise that a comprehensive immigration reform will be in place by the end of his first year of his second term. But not everyone believes that will happen. What is holding up these things getting pushed through? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They just don't want this crowd, you know, in the ascendancy mix. SPURLOCK: Right. Why is that? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My personal opinion is in part because they're brown. SPURLOCK: No brown people in power? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, you know, it's the demographic is changing, you know. And this -- if this crowd gets legalized, you know, it's a young community with children. They're voters. SPURLOCK: So just how important is the Latino vote? As the fastest growing minority group in the U.S., Latinos make up 16 percent of the population. In you want to be president of the United States, you need their support. And savvy politicians are already going after it. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ben Venidos, welcome to the White House. NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SPURLOCK: In 2008, 67 percent of the Latino vote went to Barack Obama. And in 2012, they voted to reelect him, with 71 percent of their vote, a vote they expect to lead to change. CROWD: Hey, Obama, don't deport my Mama! Hey, Obama, don't deport my Mama! SPURLOCK: But immigration reform is too big of an issue for just one party. So the marchers have made their way to Orlando, Florida, where they have assembled outside the office of Republican senator Marco Rubio. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In front of senator Rubio's office, we ask him to stand up and champion our cause. SPURLOCK: They're giving a couple of speeches. A lot of the local media have shown up. The plan is for them to march inside and get Senator Marco Rubio to make a statement. The son of Cuban immigrants, Rubio has the youth, energy, and background story that connects with many Latinos. SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: My grandfather was born to a farming family in rural Cuba. SPURLOCK: And for a party that is woefully out of touch with 60 percent of the population, Rubio is the GOP's best shot at reaching this crucial vote. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His parents were Cuban exiles, and, you know, they did everything they could to guarantee him a better tomorrow. SPURLOCK: Right. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So we're trying to say, you know, champion the cause. Whether he is here or not, nobody ever says anything. SPURLOCK: Sure. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, it's like we'll get back to you. You're an elected official. You should be available for the people. SPURLOCK: Marco Rubio, 350. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can only have one group in the elevator at a time. SPURLOCK: Many of these marchers are undocumented, and they're taking a huge risk just coming here today. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. We would like to speak to Mr. Rubio. SPURLOCK: Because an arrest could lead to being held and deported. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi there. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse us. Excuse us. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You all just step back for a second? I was told there are six of you out here. Our room is not big enough to accommodate everybody. So if I could get five or ten of you that we could meet with, that would be great. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We would be glad to. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is Marco Rubio going to address the crowd? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The senator is in Washington today. SPURLOCK: In Senator Rubio's absence, a few of us have been selected to have an audience with Todd Reed, the senator's state director. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need the Republicans to step forward. And we need them to help us. CARLOS: I grew up here in Florida most of my life, but we migrated. I work with the youth. I've learned we're stuck in a position where we have to take the opportunities that are there. TODD REED, SEN. RUBIO'S STATE DIRECTOR: I don't know if any of y'all have had a chance to hear the senator talk about this issue. This is a very personal issue for him. And I think this year he is going to be taking a bigger approach. So I appreciate you guys coming. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much for your time. REED: Thank you all very much as well. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're welcome. Thank you so much. REED: Appreciate it. Thank you for being here. SPURLOCK: It was kind of like a very, very exciting democracy in action moment today. REED: I'm going to get the senator on this, but I would anticipate in the next few weeks you're going to hear him speak very clearly where he is on this issue. SPURLOCK: Maybe this is just a first step for them. So, we will see what happens in the next few weeks. But I think this could have been the catalyst toward something bigger happening. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) SPURLOCK: As planned, the forward with your promise group marched on to Washington, where they got their meeting with Senator Rubio. But they had to wait a few more weeks to finally get a taste of what they all came to Washington for. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here to announce a set of bipartisan principles for comprehensive immigration reform legislation. SPURLOCK: The Gang of Eight are a group of senator, including Senator Rubio, who have joined together across party lines to agree that immigration reform needs to happen, and it needs to happen now, maybe not for the best reasons. SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: The Republican Party is losing the support of our Hispanic citizens. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For the first time ever, there is more political risk in opposing immigration reform than in supporting it. SPURLOCK: But if reform is the result, that's all that matters to people like Carlos. It's a pretty campus. CARLOS: Yes. It is. SPURLOCK: All of Pascual's sacrifices have paid off, because with the help of private donations, Carlos has been able to enroll in a local college, where he can work toward earning a law degree. CARLOS: This is (INAUDIBLE). I had to come and see you, Dr. Murphy. This is my father right here. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice to meet you. CARLOS: I'm showing him around the campus. Can I introduce you to my dad? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello. Nice to meet you. You should be very proud of Carlos. He is definitely one of our prize students. SPURLOCK: A kid as dedicated as Carlos deserves the chance to contribute to society. And if immigration reform becomes a reality, the possibilities are endless. PASCUAL: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) SPURLOCK: Right there. CARLOS: Yes, on that hill. SPURLOCK: How long ago was that? PASCUAL: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) CARLOS: He has never imagined that I'd end up coming here to go to school. SPURLOCK: When you're here at school, you'll always have a reminder of the sacrifice that your dad made. CARLOS: Yes, especially if one day I become a lawyer. I can't forget where I came from. SPURLOCK: Yes. Congress is currently debating the plan to create legal pathways for undocumented immigrants, and a new guest worker program which would better meet our labor needs. But it could still be a long road, if and when these ideas are passed into law. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Soccer practice. SPURLOCK: For Carlos, Pascual and others who risk their lives to work for the American economy and the American dream, time is of the essence. CARLOS: This is one way to reach out to the community, because there is drugs and violence. People love soccer, so. SPURLOCK: These immigrants are part of the fabric of our daily lives. Thank you. Thanks for your time. Thank you very much. And it's time they're allowed to live openly and work toward making a legitimate life for themselves and for their children. I think that Carlos will work every day and night to become a lawyer just so he can hear his father say look at this, look at my son, the son of a fruit picker became a lawyer. That's -- that's powerful. From the company I worked for in Florida picking oranges, there is my check, $86.73 big ones. Now in actuality, I only should have gotten paid for three tubs, $28.50. But since they can't pay you below minimum wage, I got the minimum wage adjustment, which is $65.47. This is probably one of the hardest jobs I've ever done in my life, yes.


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Astros see six as likely candidates for top pick
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The lack of a clear-cut top pick could play into the Astros' hands Thursday when the team will choose first in baseball's amateur draft for a record third straight year.
The week of the amateur draft begins for the team with a workout for potential picks Monday at Minute Maid Park.
A meeting is planned for early in the week, with all the team's amateur scouts, the front office, special assistants and owner Jim Crane on hand to discuss the first selection. A smaller front-office meeting will follow ahead of Thursday, when the Astros have three picks in the top 50, including the 37th pick, which they received from Baltimore last summer in the Bud Norris deal.
The Astros took a college pitcher, righthander Mark Appel, with the first selection last year, and a high school shortstop, Carlos Correa, in 2012.
"We're downstairs right now setting up the boards, getting the magnets in place," amateur scouting director Mike Elias said Friday. "We start by breaking it down by position. We rank within positions and then we start moving the players into rounds where they roughly fit and ranking them by round.
"When it comes to our picks at Nos. 37 and 42, we will rank probably about 50 players and rank each one of them individually and wait during the draft to peel off magnets."
Elias said this year's draft is dominated by pitchers.
The team has narrowed its choices at No. 1 to six potential players, a person familiar with the club's thinking said: college pitchers Carlos Rodon and Aaron Nola, high school pitchers Tyler Kolek and Brady Aiken, high school catcher Alex Jackson and high school shortstop Nick Gordon.
Rodon was the industry's consensus best available player heading into this spring, but the North Carolina State lefthander might have been surpassed by a younger southpaw, Aiken, a polished San Diego product who draws Cole Hamels comparisons.
Outside the box
But the Astros could always think differently, and they might capitalize on the uncertainty by signing their preferred player for cheaper than they would be able to if there was an obvious selection.
"It can be," general manager Jeff Luhnow said when asked if ambiguity could be beneficial, "theoretically, if you were indifferent between two players, three players."
More than the 2013 draft, there's at least the potential for the Astros to structure this draft as they did in 2012, when they took Correa and saved enough money to take righthander Lance McCullers Jr. at No. 41.
Each team has a designated pool of bonus money available to sign players selected through the first 10 rounds, with penalties for clubs that exceed their pool. Although the Astros pick first, they have the second-highest amount of money available to them, $13,362,200. The Marlins, who have four of the first 43 selections, have the most money, $14,199,300.
Every pick has a recommended value in the first 10 rounds, and if a team doesn't sign the player, it loses that value. The No. 1 pick this year has a value of $7,922,100. If the Astros could get that player to sign for, say, $5 million, they'd have about $3 million to spend elsewhere, perhaps on a talent that slipped in the draft because of signability questions.
Maximize worth
"We're going to look at how to extract the most value from our draft board and from this draft," Elias said. "And if we feel there is a lack of separation between two of the options and perhaps we feel we may be able to sign one of those options for less money to get some extra major league prospects because of it that we wouldn't otherwise, we're going to consider that."
The problem is so much is out of the Astros' control after the first pick.
"It's hard to hang your hat on that, with the uncertainty of the draft and the uncertainties of the signability process," Elias said. "It worked perfectly a couple years ago. We're thrilled with the results.
"But last year's draft wasn't a situation where we felt that was quite as possible. We didn't see the depth in the class and didn't see the candidates for high school players that were first-round talents that might fall through to the second, third, fourth round. This year I do feel it's a deeper class, so it's going to be something to consider."
Luhnow didn't see this year unfolding like 2012.
"I would say the 2012 draft was unique in that, the player that we thought was the best player in the draft, the industry consensus was not first, second, third," Luhnow said. "More like fifth, sixth. I don't see that happening this year. But we're going to take who we believe is the best player in the draft and then let the chips fall where they may.
"If it happens to be an opportunity to do something unique, we'll look at it. But the focus is going to be taking the best player."
Whether the Astros choose a high school or college player is another intriguing question. The company line is always that they will take the best player available, but a player who arrives in the majors sooner is inherently less risky.
The safest bet
In a simplistic breakdown, college pitchers have been shown to be the safest bet in the draft, followed closely by college position players, followed by high school position players, followed by high school pitchers.
Working against Kolek is the fact there never has been a high school righthander taken first overall.
A college player, too, would fit in with the group of prospects the Astros are moving through the system, the Correas and Appels of the world, who are at High Class A Lancaster and could both finish the year at Class AA Corpus Christi.
Look to the future
"The thought of taking a polished and now effective college player knowing that the guy can be in Houston helping out the waves of arrival that we'll be getting from Double A, Triple A and the Lancaster squad in the next two years and slot right in, that's going to be very attractive, and we're definitely going to be thinking about that, and weighing it," Elias said.
"But just like in any, and this doesn't just apply to baseball, any economic scenario you're in, money sooner is worth more than money later, and in a sense talent's like that, too.
"If we're so compelled by the high school talent that we're willing to invest the time and the patience in and absorb the risk involved, then we're not going to be afraid to do that. Our view with the whole thing is we want to look back at this pick in six, seven, eight, 10 years and be happy with the pick, versus the quick jolt just for the sake of the quick jolt."
On the other hand
Luhnow made the counterpoint that because the Astros have so much talent in the middle of their system, drafting a younger star would be logical to add balance.
"You could actually make the opposite argument, that we don't have any superstars kind of on the rookie-ball level, so why not put someone there so you can sequence it better," Luhnow said. "But we'll get the best player."


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We have a table that is used as an Audit Log. When a row is inserted via
a store procedure which is a FatalError / ImportantInformation, then I call:
RAISERROR (90000, 9, 1, @FullDescription), which causes the SQL Alert mechanism
to succesfully perform a NetSend (via a SQL Server event alert).
However if two RAISERRORS are called within say a minute[eg 'Test system
down' and 'Live system down'], then although they are both in the EventLog,
and both in the SQL Log, only one Alert is sent.
This may be due to the Alerter not wanting to send multiple alerts for the
same event, or cause recursive alerts. However the descriptions of the alerts
are different!
I have tested different values for the Delay between responses (0 seconds
and 30 seconds), but that doesnt help.
It is important for us to get an Alert on ALL RaiseErrors, even if they are
one directly after another. How can we configure this?
ps. Another question on alerts: The operator information is stored in the
msdb database in sysoperators. If I want to add additional columns to this
table, is it a good idea? (It is for storing a cell(mobile) phone number
for sending SMS (Short Message service). The SQL Server pager mechanism does
not work in South Africa for cell phones).