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Was it O.J. Simpson, women in the workplace, Reality TV, or did the soaps kill themselves with one bad decision after another? You decide. Our countdown of the 25 Biggest Blunders in Daytime Soap Opera History continues with blunders number 10-6.
10. Making Jill the daughter of Katherine Chancellor on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
Not every soap opera story is a home run. Sometimes they can be boring or even bad. But sometimes they are just wrong.
The Foster and Brooks families were the original core families of THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS when it launched in 1973. The Foster matriarch, Liz, played by Julianna McCarthy, was loving and protective but firm with her children. None needed more direction than Jill, who was always looking for "more" out of life. Their relationship grew and changed over and years and McCarthy and Brenda Dickson were pitch perfect as mother and "daughter".
Jill's bitter feud with Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper) began when Jill bedded Kay's husband, Phillip II. Jill became pregnant with his baby (Phillip III), but was bitterly left out in the cold when Phillip II died in a car crash with Kay driving. The two women started fighting and found one reason after another to keep it going as the years passed.
When Dickson returned to the soap after a few years away in the 1980s, Jill was different. Big hair and shoulder pads and glam replaced the Jill of old, but we still loved her bitter rivalry with Mrs. Chancellor, and Liz Foster would visit to help keep her in line.
It was a tough assignment for Jess Walton to step into the role of Jill in 1987 but she quickly won rave reviews (and Emmys) and the never-ending angst between Jill and Kay continued.
In 2003, written by co-head writers Kay Alden (who had been on Bill Bell's Y&R writing team for nearly 30 years) and Jack Smith (who had been with the show for 20 years), everything changed. Liz, diagnosed with a brain tumor, returned to Genoa City and revealed that Jill wasn't really a Foster after all, she was Katherine's daughter. WHAT?! It was a complete slap in the face to longtime Y&R fans who had invested in these relationships for three decades. The twist made absolutely no sense, and forever changed the Jill-Kay dynamic. The show basically told fans of the Foster family they didn't matter. And we loved them all, especially the Liz and Jill relationship.
This wasn't the end of the destruction though. There were a few years wasted on Cane being the "real" Phillip III, Phillip III returning from the dead after 20 years revealing he was gay, and finding out Cane wasn't related at all.
Then in 2010 Liz Foster returned again. Maria Arena Bell was producing and writing the show by this point and had undone some of the damage done by the previous regime, so surely she would fix the Jill-Kay-Liz rewrite. No such luck. She may have made it worse. It turned out Jill wasn't Katherine's daughter after all, or Liz's. She was the daughter of Lauren Fenmore's father, Neil. Ridiculous! Then Liz died. At least we got a full Foster family reunion but that didn't make up for this humongous blunder.
All of these rewrites have damaged the Jill character and only incredible performances by Jess Walton and her cast mates have made it work on any level. Why did multiple Y&R producers and writers continue to destroy decades of soap opera history? Especially those who really knew the show and worked so long with Bill Bell. The late Mr. Bell's brilliant work did not need rewriting.
9. Hiring Brian Frons to run ABC Daytime and SOAPnet
In the official bio for Brian Frons at ABC.com, what is the first television show mentioned? THE CHEW. Need we say more? Oh, we will anyway.
Frons began his career as the Grim Reaper of Daytime Dramas way back in 1982, when he recommended the cancellation of SEARCH FOR TOMORROW. It had been on the air for 31 years at the time.
SEARCH was a strong, respected property with excellent brand recognition and millions of loyal fans, so it wasn't a surprise when NBC actually jumped at the opportunity to rescue SEARCH. They began airing where CBS left off, and fans rejoiced--but you can't cheat death. Believe it or not, Frons actually followed SEARCH to NBC in the '80s, where he canceled it again in 1986!
When Disney hired Brian Frons as ABC Daytime president in August 2002, ABC's four daytime soap operas--GENERAL HOSPITAL, ALL MY CHILDREN, PORT CHARLES and ONE LIFE TO LIVE--must have felt chills run down their spines. But first—what is the deal with him and SOAPnet?
In 2006, Frons was promoted to president of daytime for Disney-ABC Television Group, and SOAPnet fell into his hands as well. It wasn't all bad. GH spinoff GENERAL HOSPITAL: NIGHT SHIFT still managed a successful two season run on SOAPnet. Also, the channel enjoyed record primetime ratings--for same-day encore airings of AMC and OLTL. And that's where the positives end. Because aside from the daytime repeats, SOAPnet lost its way. Sunday nights were especially misguided, programmed with tired movies that had been repeated for years on other cable networks--there wasn't even some sort of soap opera theme. Then, the name "SOAPnet" was almost changed altogether to reflect a "new direction." He can't even handle the word, "Soap?"
Meanwhile, at ABC Daytime, the soaps began to die. PORT CHARLES was first. It was canceled a just over a year after Frons took over. The remaining three daytime soaps continued to be slowly, methodically, and painfully executed by Frons. He served as a Creative or Story Consultant for all three. It made sense for a network exec to be involved, but the level of interference in story telling, casting decisions, and head writer and producer changes (ie, Chuck Pratt) was unprecedented. Ratings, the soaps' vital signs, continued to fade.
In April 2011, Frons deep-sixed OLTL and AMC. They had aired on the network for over 40 years. Like SEARCH, they were both strong, respected properties with excellent brand recognition and millions of loyal fans. Frons told them he knew better. "We are taking this bold step to expand our business, because viewers are looking for different types of programming these days," he BS'd. How do we know it was BS? Just five months earlier, Frons had proclaimed that ABC supported soaps, saying the network was "still dedicated to ours. We're very proud of them and have big plans for the future."
Moreover, in an act that reminds us of NBC's rescue of SEARCH, production company Prospect Park eagerly snatched up both OLTL and AMC. Even though they didn't even have a channel on which to air them, PP recognized real value where Frons only saw a target.
Fans were outraged over the news, but Frons claimed that ABC needed new shows that were "relatable." If AMC and OLTL had become unrelatable, it was due to years of hands-on creative mismanagement by Frons!
There are so many published stories out there, citing so many respected people, telling how venal, insensitive, and Machiavellian Frons has behaved since the cancellation. These anecdotes describe a man that (is it possible?) publicly enjoys killing soap operas. We choose to end with the following two sources for symbolic reasons.
1. AMC legend Susan Lucci felt a moral imperative to publicize Frons's sinister behavior by issuing a new epilogue for her memoir. The classiest woman in show business has never spoken ill about anyone in this manner, saying Frons appeared "self-congratulatory" delivering the bad news to the cast, and he "has what, for me, is that fatal combination of ignorance and arrogance," adding, "I cannot fathom any network executive choosing to alienate millions of loyal viewers in these economic times."
2. Even OLTL's Erika Slezak had to speak out against Frons: in the current issue of Mental Floss magazine, she sums it all up, saying "I think that Brian Frons, the head of ABC Daytime, doesn't believe in the genre. He never believed they could last. My biggest objection is ABC saying people don't want entertainment anymore; they want information. That's ridiculous. People always want entertainment."
8. Lack of Diversity on Daytime Television
Daytime soaps didn't start with huge budgets but their focus on good storytelling drew fans in and the shows became cash cows for the networks. Pioneers like Agnes Nixon told socially relevant stories on daytime television before many of her primetime counterparts.
Bert's uterine cancer story on THE GUIDING LIGHT, HIV and AIDS storylines, and creating the first African-American super couple Angie and Jessie on AMC (who are still going strong to this day) were just a few example of soaps not only educating but expanding their horizons.
But somewhere along the line, soaps stopped taking chances, stopped being socially relevant and the cast of most shows became more white-washed than ever. Melissa Reeves of DAYS recently told We Love Soaps, "I love Los Angeles and I love that our kids have grown up here, for the diversity of it. Our kids don't see race and color, they weren't raised that way. That's what I love about Los Angeles." She was obviously talking about the real Los Angeles and not the L.A. that is portrayed on THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL. The lack of a major gay character or strong leading African-American, Hispanic or Asian characters during the show's run is unrealistic and insulting. B&B has won the Outstanding Drama Series Award for three years in a row at the Daytime Emmys. And this year, they won it with a homeless storyline. But how many potential viewers is the show missing out on with its lack of a more diverse canvas?
These days soaps seem to be written for "Middle America," and the writers perceive these people as racist, homophobic and not very bright. They are wrong.
Following the overwhelming success of Angie and Jesse on AMC, how many other major African-American super couples have soaps seen over the past two decades? GENERATIONS was a great idea but never given a real chance by NBC. Other that that, not so many. THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS had a wonderful minority cast in the 1990s but in 2011 the stories for these characters are thin at best. AS THE WORLD TURNS had a strong black cast in the early 2000s but quickly made Lamman Rucker's Marshall character a rapist which pretty much ended story for all of them.
If we tune into shows geared toward younger viewers like DEGRASSI or GLEE, the casts are extremely diverse. Daytime claims to want younger viewers but prefers to try to emulate primetime's explosion quota more than its diversity (primetime doesn't get a pass but it's certainly further along than daytime).
Gay characters and couples have been introduced here and there in recent years with stories told at a snail's pace. ONE LIFE TO LIVE actually blamed their gay storyline (Kyle and Fish) for a ratings decline when they had a father tried to rape and impregnate his own daughter (Mitch and Jessica) at the same time. And they thought the gays were more offensive?
Minorities make up a significant portion of the daytime audience but are not represented on daytime soaps in a significant way. With AMC leaving ABC on September 23, the fall looks even worse.
Former Y&R star Victoria Rowell has spoken a lot about the lack of diversity in front of the camera and behind. Sometimes the message got lost in the delivery but the truth behind it is real. Would more minority viewers of all races and sexual orientations tune in if they were represented in a greater way on daytime soaps? And would this segment of the population be just enough to keep the shows alive? It would be nice if a soap tried to find out.
7. Reliance on Soap Cliches
Characters have been coming back from the dead on soaps since the beginning. Other soap cliches like switching paternity results, out of the blue doppelgangers and twins, and drunken one night stands leading to a pregnancy have also dominated soap storylines for ages. But in the past few years, soaps have done very little but use one cliche after another pretty much full-time in stories that were mostly boring, predictable and an insult to our intelligence.
Let's take a closer look at back from the dead stories. 40 years ago it was more of an event. A character would return and fans were shocked. Even 25 years go with James Stenbeck's "Hello Barbara" return on AS THE WORLD TURNS, we couldn't believe our eyes. Unfortunately, James died again and came back from the dead over and over and over again. By the end of ATWT's run it not only was a complete joke, whenever James returned, the characters weren't even surprised. DAYS villain Stefano Dimera is another "Phoenix" who has died many times (although DAYS finally has made him a more well-rounded character in recent years). From 2003-2004 they killed off ten characters who all turned up very much alive on an island.
This summer ALL MY CHILDREN has brought multiple characters back from the dead. We can forgive them, knowing they were writing an ending, but why have soap writers turned soap deaths into something fans can't even believe anymore. Unless a veteran actor has passed away in real life, we never think a character is really dead. Y&R's Cane and Chance are prime examples from earlier this year. Why bother writing a funeral, and have us watching a lover or spouse mourn when we have no faith the show will actually stick with their own plot for more than a month or two? It's nearly impossible to invest anymore.
Doppelgangers are another annoying trend that have gone overboard in recent years, resulting in viewers changing the channel. DAYS painfully experienced this a few months ago when their ratings hit record lows during the Rafe's twin imposter story. In the past few years, Y&R has had multiple doppelganger stories with Michelle Stafford, Tracey E. Bregman, Stacy Haiduk and Jeanne Cooper each playing two roles. At one point, there were two at the same time. Unreal! And to get out of the Cane death storyline, Y&R invented a twin. Tired, boring cliche.
There are too many soap cliches to cover and we will probably create a separate list for those (help us name the most annoying ones in the Comments section).
Soap budgets have shrunk, writing staffs have too, but these writers are still paid to do a job, presumably to write good stories. So why is are they relying on overused cliches more than ever? Stop blaming O.J., respect your audience, and don't create any new doppelgangers or bring anyone else back from the dead for the next year.
6. Marlena's Devil Possession on DAYS OF OUR LIVES
During the summer of 1994, the entire nation was transfixed on the trials and tribulations of O.J. Simpson. His infamous car chase and initial trial proceedings were televised live on daytime television, thereby interrupting the soaps and trumping them in the ratings. James E. Reilly, head writer of DAYS OF OUR LIVES assessed the situation, and decided that instead of trying to compete with the real life courtroom antics taking place everyday, that he would spend the next year going in the exact opposite direction, and telling the story of Dr. Marlena Evans' Devil Possession. The strategy worked, as DAYS received much press coverage during this very controversial story, and was the only soap to rise in ratings during O.J.'s trial.
However, what appeared to be a wise business move in the short run ended up costing DAYS, and many other daytime soaps, in the long run. DAYS spent the next ten years trying to replicate its success by telling absurd science-fiction stories, from art dealing doppelgangers, to a virtual Garden of Eden, to Marlena being brainwashed into thinking she killed half the town (don't ask!) to twins falling from outer space, all with declining ratings.
Other shows followed suit resulting in an embarrassing doppelganger story for Rachel on ANOTHER WORLD, a clone for Reva on GUIDING LIGHT, vampires for Lucy to slay on PORT CHARLES, etc. None of these supernatural fantasies seemed to payoff in building loyal followings for the soaps, while shows based (relatively) in reality such as Y&R, B&B, and GH continued to dominate the ratings.
- COUNTDOWN: 25 Biggest Blunders In Daytime Soap Opera History (25-21)
- COUNTDOWN: 25 Biggest Blunders In Daytime Soap Opera History (20-16)
- COUNTDOWN: 25 Biggest Blunders In Daytime Soap Opera History (15-11)
COMING MONDAY: 25 Biggest Blunders In Daytime Soap Opera History (5-1)


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Bond Salesman Who Wasn't Reveals RBS Human ErrorsKit Chellel
KK Ho appeared out of nowhere last year on the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc's London trading floor.
He had freshly printed business cards identifying himself as a bond salesman. He met with customers and impressed executives in internal meetings with his talk about rich clients he knew, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Then, just as suddenly, he was out the door several months later after bank managers began asking questions about him, questions that led to the realization that he wasn't a bond salesman after all, the people said.
RBS, Britain's biggest publicly owned lender, informed regulators but otherwise kept the matter private, according to another person familiar with the matter. Some details became public when another bank executive mentioned it in a complaint he filed over an employment dispute.
Ho had been a manager in RBS property services facing a layoff, and was given a desk to help him find a new position, according to the three people, who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to discuss it. Ho wasn't assigned to a team, had no manager and wasn't authorized to sell securities or meet clients.
Banks, plagued by probes into interest-rate manipulation and improper sales of insurance and derivative products, remain vulnerable to compliance failings in unexpected places. Edinburgh-based RBS is trying to reinvent itself as a smaller, retail-focused lender after it received a 45 billion-pound ($69 billion) bailout at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.
Human Error
"This is a story of basic human error at many levels," said James Carlton, a regulatory lawyer at Fox Williams LLP in London. "It's difficult to understand how those in senior and management roles both on the trading floor and in human resources could have overlooked such a situation."
Sarah Small, a spokeswoman for the bank in London, said RBS identified a situation where an employee acted outside his given role.
"As soon as this was detected, it was fully investigated, and appropriate actions taken," she said in a statement. "We found no regulated activity was performed by this individual."
A former RBS employee named KK Ho, when reached by telephone, said he wasn't the person at the center of the probe. "That's not me," he said.
He said he worked in strategy and risk at RBS, and couldn't talk about his time there because of a legal agreement with the bank.
Employment Tribunal
The case came to light in an employment tribunal lawsuit filed by a former RBS trader, Alex Mallinson, who claimed he was unfairly fired after being accused of manipulating internal pricing systems.
In a witness statement given to the London tribunal in February, Mallinson described an incident that led the compliance department to treat employees more harshly.
The bank "uncovered a situation where an RBS premises (building maintenance) worker had infiltrated the trading floor" and "posed as a senior bond salesman," he said in the statement.
"Once the situation was uncovered it was dealt with very swiftly, but the fallout was substantial." The compliance department was reprimanded and the incident "sent a number of very senior managers that had been fooled into thinking this individual was a top salesman, into a tail-spin," Mallinson said.
An employment judge ruled in May that while Mallinson was unfairly treated by the bank, he contributed to his own dismissal by breaching RBS valuation procedures. The judge didn't decide on damages, or mention the salesman.
Wealthy Contacts
While the tribunal documents didn't identify the individual, five people familiar with the matter said his name was KK Ho. Ho told traders he had wealthy contacts they could deal with, and was discovered when managers began asking who among them was his supervisor.
RBS reported the incident to the U.K. markets regulator, then known as the Financial Services Authority, and no violations were uncovered, a person familiar with the matter said.
Peter Nielsen, co-chief executive officer for RBS's markets business, and John Hourican, the bank's former chief executive officer for markets and international banking, were both aware of the internal probe, one of the people with knowledge of the investigation said.
Bankers selling investments or advising on them in the U.K. need to be approved by the FSA, which was replaced by the Financial Conduct Authority this year. Lara Joseph, a spokeswoman for the FCA, declined to comment on the matter.
Portfolio Manager
A LinkedIn page for a man named KK Ho said he worked for RBS from December 2003 to April 2012 as a "Real Estate and Manufacturing Portfolio Manager." Before that he was an infrastructure services and facilities director at property group Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., according to the page.
The page also said that Ho has degrees from University College London and is a director of TKS Services.
University College London confirmed in an e-mail that it awarded degrees in architecture and town planning to a man named Kah Kui Ho. A listing on the U.K. companies registry for TKS Service identifies Kah Kui Ho, a 58-year-old Singapore native, as a director.
When reached by phone, the KK Ho identified on the LinkedIn page said he had no connection to the events described in Mallinson's lawsuit. He now works at London-based Beehive Capital LLP as a private equity director and fund manager, according to his LinkedIn page.
Plans for RBS
The British government, which owns 81 percent of RBS, is considering breaking up the lender to offload its weaker assets. Stephen Hester, the chief executive officer, who plans to step down in December, has shrunk its balance sheet by 900 billion pounds and cut 41,000 jobs since taking over in 2008.
Operating profit at RBS's core businesses fell 17 percent to 2.46 billion pounds in the first half of the year, the bank announced Aug. 2. It named Ross McEwan, the head of its U.K. consumer unit, as new chief executive officer.
Even without regulatory breaches, the incident will have led to "considerable concern and acute embarrassment" for executives and traders who attended sales meetings with Ho, said Carlton, the Fox Williams lawyer. "Now is clearly the time for RBS to focus root and branch on its systems and controls."
The employment tribunal case is: Mallinson v Royal Bank of Scotland Plc, at the Central London Employment Tribunal, Case No. 2203609/2012.
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The funding, from the Surface Transportation Program, would normally have taken up to 30 days to get to the state, but by fast tracking it, arrived in four.
"This federal funding will help New Jersey Transit get commuter trains running again as quickly as possible," said Lautenberg. "While New Jersey recovers from Superstorm Sandy, we are committed to providing our communities with the resources they need, but this is only the beginning. Our recovery will not be complete without rebuilding our transportation system and expanding rail service to prevent disruptions like this from happening again."
"The federal government remains committed to cutting any red tape necessary to speed our recovery and I am glad we could help in that effort," said Menendez. "NJ Transit is suffering from enormous new costs to restore service, while at the same time, seeing decreases in revenues, so this funding is critical in helping them get through this cash crunch."
NJ Transit has suffered damage to dozens of its locomotives and rail cars. In addition to substantial capital costs, the service is also expending record amounts of operating funds to get service restored and fund complementary service, such as additional temporary ferry service into Manhattan.


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Students from Henderson County and across North Carolina were nationally recognized with top prizes at the National History Day contest held at the University of Maryland College Park campus in the Washington, D.C. area June 9-13.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Students from Henderson County and across North Carolina were nationally recognized with top prizes at the National History Day contest held at the University of Maryland College Park campus in the Washington, D.C. area June 9-13.
Henderson County's St. Dominic Savio Home School students James Dillon, Ethan Byrd, Mead Krowka, Wilson Goins and Larry Thomas took fourth place in the junior group performance category. Their performance was about the Wright Brothers, and their teacher was Lisa Dillon.
The students also won an award for Outstanding Entry Award for North Carolina.
For his documentary on the trial of John Peter Zenger, titled "Unexpected Verdict: The Trial of John Peter Zenger," eighth-grader Richard Hernasy of St. Dominic Savio Home School placed fifth in the junior individual documentary.
He also won the $1,000 Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers Prize for his use of historic newspapers to prove that the Zenger trial was a true turning point in history. The prize recognizes an outstanding entry that utilizes newspaper resources available through the Library of Congress. His teacher was Caroline Hernasy.
Margaret Dillon of St. Dominic Savio Home School placed 11th in the nation for her senior individual performance on Ellis Island. Her teacher was Lisa Dillon.
Placing first in the nation were Mooresville brothers Quinn and Ethan Shneider in the junior group documentary category for their entry about hydroelectricity and economic development.
"This is the first time in 20 years that a student from North Carolina has taken a first-place medal and we are thrilled," said Laura Ketcham, state coordinator for National History Day in North Carolina. "In addition, the array of awards won across a wide spectrum of competitive categories is outstanding. We are proud of all 68 North Carolina students who advanced from the state contest to the national contest in Maryland. Just making it to the national level is a great achievement."
The contest helps students develop skills in historical research, analysis, critical thinking, organization and presentation through an annual competition. Students design an exhibit, write a paper, produce a documentary, create a performance or develop a website centered around the annual theme.
"National History Day was an unforgettable experience that changed my life for the better in many ways — my speaking skills improved by learning how to respond to the judges questions, my video knowledge and research was much more creative, and the competition and activities were incredibly fun," Hernasy said.
Each year, more than half a million students, encouraged by thousands of teachers nationwide, participate in National History Day contests. This year more than 4,000 students from North Carolina participated.
More than 300 historians and other education professionals evaluate the students' work at the national competition. $150,000 worth of scholarships were awarded at the national awards ceremony to select students, and about 100 students took home cash prizes between $250 and $5,000 for superior work in a particular category of judging.
For more information, www.nchistoryday.org.


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Reds' Hamilton could make history in a flash
By Bernie Pleskoff | Archive 11/30/12 12:50 AM ET
The speed of Cincinnati Reds prospect Billy Hamilton may become legendary.
It's possible Hamilton may one day break the modern-day Major League single-season stolen base record of 130 set by Oakland Athletics outfielder Rickey Henderson in 1982 at age 23. Henderson stole a remarkable 1,406 bases in his fantastic career.
This past season, Hamilton broke the Minor League single-season stolen base record of 145, established by Vince Coleman playing for Macon in 1983. Hamilton stole a record-shattering 155 bases playing for Class A Bakersfield (104 steals) and Double-A Pensacola (51).
In addition to blazing a trail on the bases, Hamilton also hit a combined .311 with an on-base percentage of .410 this past season.
It's difficult to grasp Hamilton's speed without watching him play in person.
I saw almost every game in which he played during the recently concluded Arizona Fall League.
While not his only skill, speed is Hamilton's best and most advanced tool. It is a powerful weapon that forces defensive mistakes, as well as putting Hamilton in a position to score runs that are more improbable without his graceful running skills.
Using gliding acceleration as the centerpiece of his game-changing running ability, Hamilton's instincts and self-confidence form the peripheral qualities that complement his best tool.
In the AFL, Hamilton was second in stolen bases with 10, behind only White Sox infielder Carlos Sanchez's 11. Hamilton was caught stealing twice. It happens to the best.
It is not usual for Hamilton to walk, steal second, steal third and score on a routine ground ball or flyout.
But his challenge will be getting on base.
In 2009, the Reds chose Hamilton, now 22, with their second pick in the First-Year Player Draft.
Hamilton was a three-sport star at Taylorsville (Miss.) High School, playing baseball, football and basketball. In fact, he was preparing to play wide receiver at Mississippi State University when instead he chose a career in baseball.
At 6-foot-1 and only 160 pounds, Hamilton has the build of a point guard or sprinter. To say he runs with great intensity on the baseball field is an understatement.
He will have to be careful about losing strength and stamina during the course of the long season. It's an issue that gives me pause.
Running speed from home plate to first base is one of the measurable factors scouts use in evaluating players.
Any player that can run from home to first in less than 4.0 seconds from the right-handed batter's box (3.9 seconds from the left-handed side) is graded an 8 on an escalating scouting scale of 4-8.
This past fall I clocked Hamilton at 3.50 in the Arizona Fall League Rising Stars Game. Other scouts clocked him at 3.48 that evening. Hamilton told me he has run 3.3. Regardless of the fraction of a second differences, he is scary fast. Hamilton advised me that his sister, Felicia, thinks she can beat him in a race. How can that be?
At the time he was selected by the Reds, Hamilton was a right-handed hitter. He subsequently began to switch-hit and is having increasing success from the left side.
In my observation, Hamilton seems much more comfortable, much more confident and even a bit more aggressive from his natural right-handed-hitting position. However, he can shave a tick off his running time to first base from the left-handed batter's box -- especially on drag bunts, where he may flash his fastest speeds.
To be successful, Hamilton will have to keep the ball on the ground or hit the gaps in the outfield. As he has limited power, he will waste at-bats swinging for the fences. When he does get loft on the ball, any hit to the gap should result in at least a double -- probably a triple.
As he has progressed through the Reds' Minor League system, Hamilton has increased his selectivity at the plate, as well as his pitch recognition. There are still times he lunges at outside breaking balls (especially batting right-handed), but he's willing to accept a walk or wait for pitches he can pound into the ground or bunt successfully.
If his patience continues, he could be a high batting average Major League hitter. He will work pitchers deep in counts, forcing them to throw strikes.
Defensively, Hamilton has made a transition from shortstop to center field. I have seen him play both positions.
Highly athletic Reds prospect Didi Gregorius and incumbent Major Leaguer Zack Cozart probably block Hamilton at shortstop. Moving him to the outfield allows for a quicker Major League path.
Playing exclusively in center field in the AFL, Hamilton handled 43 chances, making only one error. He looked natural and comfortable playing the position. One would be hard-pressed to know he was being introduced to a new experience. That's because he's such a gifted athlete.
The most striking part of Hamilton's defense in the AFL was his ability to use his speed to close on fly balls.
In general, balls hit over Hamilton's head became routine outs. He didn't always take the most direct routes, but he closed so quickly that only a couple balls escaped his reach.
In the AFL Championship game, Hamilton suffered back spasms when he crashed back first into the outfield wall. He left the game, but celebrated a championship later with his teammates.
Contrary to the hopes of Reds fans, Hamilton is not a finished product.
He has to continue his work on pitch recognition and patience at the plate. He has to improve on hitting breaking balls. He has more work to do learning to play the outfield.
Once his development is complete, Hamilton may run his way to the record books.


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Undergraduate or graduate courses with public policy content are offered through the departments of anthropology, geological sciences, history, political science, and sociology in the college of arts and sciences; through the Department of Economics and other departments of the Weatherhead School of Management; through the Schools of Law, Medicine, and Nursing; and through the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences and the Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations. Students can engage with policy issues through both courses and the extracurricular programming of the Center for Policy Studies and other university bodies.
222 Mather House


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Saturday, November 12, 2011
Michigan vs. Illinois Open Thread
And in honor of Veteran's Day yesterday and all those who serve and have served before them, I thought this was a very appropriate picture. Thank you for all you do.
30 comments:
- Mikoyan said...
Awesome pic...
- November 12, 2011 12:36 AM
- Yost said...
Yeah, loved that, too, Mik.
Man, I hate waiting for late kick offs.
- November 12, 2011 1:24 PM
- hs8bern said...
Being a vetran myself and even though i am from Ohio it is still a great picture! Love to see those guys all return home safe:)
- November 12, 2011 1:55 PM
- surrounded in columbus said...
the roller coaster of rumor here in cowtown has gone from: "don't wory, Urban Meyer has already bought a house in Upper Arlington" to "who needs Urban Meyer? we got Luke Fickle" to " don't worry, Urban Meyer has already bought a house in Upper Arlington" again in about 3 weeks.
- November 12, 2011 3:46 PM
- Yost said...
Now THAT is how you start the game!
- November 12, 2011 3:47 PM
- Bigasshammm said...
Yeah saw this on Facebook via Michigan Football. Loved it. I'm gonna make it my profile pic or a bit.
- November 12, 2011 4:23 PM
- Bigasshammm said...
Oh and Boiler Up!
- November 12, 2011 4:27 PM
- Bigasshammm said...
Kovacs better get a hell of an education. He's earned every penny of his scholarship.
- November 12, 2011 4:47 PM
- Bigasshammm said...
Jesus Christ Denard.
I'm starting to count the days till his graduation.
- November 12, 2011 4:48 PM
- wingedhelmet said...
Amazing defensive transformation in less than a season.
- November 12, 2011 4:58 PM
- wingedhelmet said...
OK...this has the look of the "letting them hang around too long" pattern.
This just might be the sloppiest game ever.
- November 12, 2011 5:04 PM
- wingedhelmet said...
Nevermind! Defensive TD. All is well.
- November 12, 2011 5:05 PM
- Bigasshammm said...
No defensive touchdown... But.
Everybody with em it's been a long time...
(now your turn)
- November 12, 2011 5:06 PM
- Yost said...
Should've kicked FG to make it 17-0 on 4th and G from 1. THREE SCORES on road is HUGE.
- November 12, 2011 5:11 PM
- wingedhelmet said...
@Yost - Hoke surprised me by not taking the chip shot.
The Red Zone offense is starting to look a little Andy Reid-esq.
- November 12, 2011 5:20 PM
- wingedhelmet said...
Oh how I have missed this defense!
- November 12, 2011 5:35 PM
- Bigasshammm said...
Mattison best hire of this whole ordeal.
This offense will not work with these players.
- November 12, 2011 5:50 PM
- wingedhelmet said...
@bah..I agree. I sure can't blame Borges/Hoke for giving DG a shot.
- November 12, 2011 5:54 PM
- Bigasshammm said...
Woolfolk needs to graduate also. I'm tired of seeing him pull up lame chasing a player. Almost seems like an excise now.
- November 12, 2011 6:26 PM
- Yost said...
This should have never been a game. Ugh. C'mon. Close the door.
- November 12, 2011 6:52 PM
- wingedhelmet said...
@Yost...got your wish ...game offically put away now!
GO BLUE...8 Wins 2 to go
- November 12, 2011 6:56 PM
- surrounded in columbus said...
all's well that ends well, and that ended pretty well. Illinois never got closer than 10 points after we went up. all the miscues aside, they played very solidly.
what can i say? Brady gets it.
- November 12, 2011 7:08 PM
- Bigasshammm said...
- November 12, 2011 7:53 PM
- Bigasshammm said...
and yes I've got my inaugural Christmas Ale a celebration for the victory this year and surpassing 3 years of misery. Hail to the future.
- November 12, 2011 8:11 PM
- Bigasshammm said...
Anybody got a spare Ohio ticket they want to share?
- November 12, 2011 8:11 PM
- DrCatie said...
I swear if I have to listen to Craig James call a game again I am going to turn downt he volume on the TV and turn on the radio.
Nice win Blue! HAIL!
- November 12, 2011 8:31 PM
- Steve said...
I always listen to the live UM feed, of course there's the delay but.....
- November 12, 2011 9:02 PM
- Steve said...
Four missed opportunities in the first half alone. It should have never beena close game til the 4th.
- November 12, 2011 9:04 PM
- Mikoyan said...
I only saw part of the game. sounds like I didn't wnat to see all of it.
- November 12, 2011 9:54 PM
- Ramona said...
Shocked he didn't go for the field goal at first opportunity they had to make the game 17-0.
And I agree wholeheartedly w/Frank Beckmann, instead of all this "undisputed video evidence" how about they "get it right" because if they HAD, we would have had the opportunity for 2pt conversion at Iowa.
oh well
8 wins!
- November 13, 2011 4:15 AM


text:
YRG Branch Informal Meeting and Social
Start:2 September 2013
LocationWest Yorkshire Playhouse, Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2 7UP
Download as vCalendar (for Microsoft Outlook etc.)
A chance to meet up socially and to find out more about your Branch and how you can get involved. With the Annual General Meeting taking place next month, this will be an opportunity to nominate yourself, or someone else for election to the new Branch Committee. Light refreshments will be provided
Further details and contact information
Pete Keal
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Telephone: work 01422 885211
Fax: fax 01422 885211


text:
Major Update
Major Update
The fifth round of the Holiday Havoc 5 has started! Please check here for match-ups.
2-9-13 Update
The fourth round of the Holiday Havoc 5 has started! Please check here for match-ups.
The third round of the Holiday Havoc 5 has started! Please check here for match-ups.
This is the last character release of the war event and it is a big one. This release will simulate the chaotic environment of all out war. A twelve character batch is here for all, as well as a ladder update. The minimum amount of experience you will gain in ladder games has been increased from 15 to 60. The maximum amount of experience you will lose in ladder games has been decreased from 600 to 465. With all that said, good luck unlocking those characters and your renewed quest to reach Hokage!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Zaji (S) is a sensor shinobi from the Hidden Leaf Village. He is also part of the ambush division in the allied shinobi forces.
Maki (S) is kunoichi of the Hidden Sand Village and the student of Pakura. Maki (S) is also a member of the Ninja Alliance Sealing Squad.
Ittan (S) is a Hidden Rock Village shinobi. Ittan (S) is battle hardened and extremely calm during battle.
Kitsuchi (S) is a jounin of the Hidden Rock Village and the son of the Sandaime Tsuchikage as well as the father of Kurotsuchi. Kitsuchi (S) is also the commander of the allied shinobi forces second division.
Atsui (S) is a skilled swordsmen of the Hidden Cloud Village as well as the hot blooded brother of Samui.
Omoi (S) is a Hidden Cloud Village shinobi and a student of Killer Bee. Having been trained by Killer Bee naturally he is an exceptional swordsman.
Darui (S) is a jounin of the Hidden Cloud Village and the right hand of the Yondaime Raikage. Despite his appearance Darui (S) is a formidable shinobi.
Edo Tensei Gari (S) is a former member of the Hidden Rock Village's explosives corps. Edo Tensei Gari (S) has been summoned to do battle in the fourth great ninja war and he seems to be enjoying himself.
Edo Tensei Kinkaku (S) is the other half of the legendary gold and silver brothers of the Hidden Cloud Village. They were the most notorious criminals in the history of the Hidden Cloud.
Edo Tensei Kuriarare (S) was a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and a member of the Hidden Mist Village's Anbu. During his life he committed countless atrocities and he is happy to be back from death to engage his newfound opponents.
Edo Tensei Jinpachi (S) is one of the previous Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and a particularly cruel individual.
Edo Tensei Hanzo (S) has been summoned back from the dead in the middle of a battlefield and he is not happy about it. Edo Hanzo (S) will engage anyone that crosses his path as he did when he was alive.
major update
NARUTO © 2002 MASASHI KISHIMOTO. All Rights Reserved.


text:
Wow.... it actually does seem like a condom and he was certainly really embarrassed by it...
I write erotica about Zac Efron. I'm up for dirty talk on Skype: sirjfrankie. Or, message me on Kik: sirjfrankie.
so our boy practices safer sex! heck, he should be proud! he's setting a great example for all the girls and boys!!!
"Don't wait for the world to be ready. Find what you're looking for."
Joey Graceffa
......maybe it was a bag of coke....
Wouldn't be so embarrassed if a condom fell out I guess he was embarrassed cuz it was at a kids movie premier.
But i do like the duet they sang, was WAY better than I thought it would be.
Of course.... it's not a big deal... having a condom, or dropping a condom. Not a big deal.
But, it's kind of cute how embarrassed he gets... how quickly he recovers... I'm sure that mostly thinking about the photographs of him reaching to pick up a condom... what we got isn't quite the headliner that we might have gotten.
I think that part of it is, also... I think that some people have claimed that the brand of the condom (or the wrapper, I suppose) is of the xtralarge sort... confirming what I have always suspected...
Zac Efron has a massive, massive cock.
I write erotica about Zac Efron. I'm up for dirty talk on Skype: sirjfrankie. Or, message me on Kik: sirjfrankie.
The condom thing looked a little staged to me
I had that thought too... I get the feeling that a lot of his little mishaps in public are really just staged in order to influence his image... or tied to movie openings and all that.
But, dropping a condom at a Disney premier seems... to difficult to think up in advance. I'm inclined to doubt that it was staged.
Also... I'm not sure I see the point. To be honest, nothing about it shocked me. Of course Zac is sexually active... he's 24. That's pretty much the point of being 24. Did we really need that illusion shattered? And, of course he carries around condoms... again, not so shocking.
Maybe this would have done the trick when he was 18, but now... not so much.
Pretty much the only thing that would shock us or change his image now would be a sex tape... but even that... it would probably only help his image.
A gay scene in a movie... a role which wasn't so... vanilla...
But, those are probably five years away.
I write erotica about Zac Efron. I'm up for dirty talk on Skype: sirjfrankie. Or, message me on Kik: sirjfrankie.
BREAKING: Zac's now on twitter. verified and all. @ZacEfron
He also now has a Tumblr and Facebook that were confirmed to be his. But sadly they are run by his team and are for promotions.
idk, i'm thinking he's a grower not a show-er.
staged? maybe at an older audience movie, not at a kids movie
isn't neone wondering for whom/what situation it was intended...??? why did he bring it to a premiere...???
"Don't wait for the world to be ready. Find what you're looking for."
Joey Graceffa
i dk why he had it at with him there... but he must be all time prepared i guess^^
and yeah.. for a 24 old there is nothing special about that only that he dropped it :P
i would love to know for what size it it exactly XD
the most hoked part for me was how sweet he reacts and that smile.. like he saw himself as a baddy xD and that he thought "oh my gosh... how could that happen to me here. i hope taylor didn´t noticed..."
didn't know that zaccy did an episode of baywatch
i barley remember that i read a story, that this was taken when he was on a vacation... so no big deal... just hang out at the beach (how he mostly loves it^^) and get a call by someone...
truth is... he is dame sexy and i would love to see him in a baywatch episode^^
i can't believe no pictures showed up of it in HQ or something... hundreds of photogs and no one got a pic of him dropping it?
Zac Efron Talks Red Carpet Condom Drop on 'Today'
Zac also addressed his recent red carpet appearance at the premiere, where he dropped a condom on the carpet.
I never really had a pocket-checking policy when I was going on the red carpet before, but now weve fully instated one, Zac laughed.
Link to the interview http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/261848...24824#46587783
they are right its a great massage...
"better be protected than sorry" thats a good one...
even i cant help myself to start laughing when they realized the joke with zac's own "production company"^^
and yeah he blushes^^ sweet.... also how hard it was for the interviewer to say "condom".... nice interview
Meh, after watching a few interviews I'm not so sure it was an accident. But who cares, it was still adorable how he was acting all embarrassed after.
IMHO, the condom incident did look kind of staged. Zac is trying to put more distance between himself and his Disney days. Regardless, though...he's just fucking hot.
He was on the Today show and Matt Lauer asked him about it.
Everyone is so cynical. I think it was probably a mistake...not intentional....because dropping a condom on purpose at a kids more is pretty douchey and I don't want Zac to be a douche.
Yes I am THAT kind of gay.....deal with it.
Wafflefakes Celebrity Nude Fakes
He looked is best with longer hair in my opinon
same for me....
i hope you are wrong too... but yeah... maybe there is some feeling... i you look deep inside yourself you can see it...
but i still hope its not true
i like zac to much to want that to be happen
on the TALK they told what fell out of his pocket i will fnd out
Love a bit of sneeky pit mmm
thats a nice one... don´t know them both....
can you tell me where they were made?
I need to take Me and Orson Welles for another spin. The dude playing Welles steals the show, but I appreciate Zac was trying to do something different and deeper by choosing a modern-history period project.
Re: Matt Lauer
LOL "production company"
"Don't wait for the world to be ready. Find what you're looking for."
Joey Graceffa
i liked charlie st. cloud ... it´s a good movie i think... and yeah its kind of depressing but also has some funny parts and a big romantic and kind of weird connection between the brothers and also between charlie and the girl (sry forgot the name XD)
so its defiantly worth a try... if you ask me... and some scenes are hot and sexy as well... if you like zac in a wet white t-shirt
I enjoyed "Me & Orson Welles" if nothing else than a fictionalized account of how he might have been or the dynamics of the time - and I know the actor, Christian McKay, got great praise for taking on a pretty important figure. Also if I can show my JUB membership card and dish fashion, I'm a total sucker for period clothing and Zac had some great fashions in that film including some great checkered coats which I loved.
I have always wanted to see that film but never seen a copy anywhere. Thanks for the review now I will actually track it down.
Cool I will Breaking Dawn Part 1 comes out here next Thursday as does The Hunger Games at the movies so I will buy Breaking Dawn and that one if I can find it.
our library system has "M+OW" and "C St.C", but i still haven't bothered. besides, the last time i was there they had "Abduction"!!!! (Woohoo!!! My sweetie!!) and as sexy as The Zefron is, he ain't no TL!!!!!
i love some vintage clothing as well, and know what u mean by watching movies and admiring the clothing
@"Matt89": when u go see "The Hunger Games" u shuld see the trailer 4 "BD Part 2". i heard the new trailer premieres before it.
"Don't wait for the world to be ready. Find what you're looking for."
Joey Graceffa
his eyes are captivating i cant help but stare at the pics of his eyes close up
sounded less creepy in my head lol
Me and Orson Wells was the only movie from Zac so far that has any merit on its own. I hate to put it that way, but most of his movies have been tailored for vapid audiences.
I write erotica about Zac Efron. I'm up for dirty talk on Skype: sirjfrankie. Or, message me on Kik: sirjfrankie.
too bad Zac was not picked to star in Magic Mike with Channing, guess Channing did not want anyone hotter around then he is..LOL... you know the naked butt scene for Zac is cumming up soon..just hope its not a let down like Timberlakes flat ass was in FWB!


text:
The railway, being proposed by G Seven Generations Ltd. (G7G), would provide access to Pacific tidewater for the import and export of commodities, including oil sands products.
"The greatest strength of our Alberta-Alaska railway concept is the support it has received from First Nations along the route," G7G CEO Matt Vickers said. "Studies have already demonstrated that a rail link to Alaska is a viable alternative to the oil pipelines currently being planned through British Columbia. This approach is timely because it promises significant economic benefits to First Nations communities and all of Canada, while avoiding many of the environmental risks associated with current pipeline proposals and related supertanker traffic off BC's West Coast."
A key advantage of G7G's rail link is that it would utilize the existing marine terminal in Valdez, Alaska, which is facing a declining supply of oil from Alaska's North Slope. The estimated 2,400-kilometer (1,500-mile)-long railway would run northwest from Fort McMurray, AB, to connect with the Alyeska Pipeline at Delta Junction, approximately 130 kilometers (80 miles) southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) currently carries oil from the North Slope to the Valdez marine super tanker terminal.
G7G will now complete the project's feasibility study and community information meetings. The next phase is the approval process, which will include full community consultation and accommodation and lead to the development of the business plan.


text:
After two weeks of gloomy news, Thursday was a good day for the financially strapped Flat Rock Playhouse.
After two weeks of gloomy news, Thursday was a good day for the financially strapped Flat Rock Playhouse.
First, county Commissioner Larry Young, the most vocal critic of financial management at the Playhouse, helped broker a tentative deal to release $50,000 of county funds to the theater company in exchange for greater fiscal oversight.
Meanwhile, corporate and private donors stepped forward with $150,000 in commitments, said Producing Artistic Director Vincent Marini. That's on top of $43,700 collected already during a theater fundraising blitz.
All together, Playhouse leaders have said they need $250,000 by the end of the year to survive the winter.
Young met with Playhouse leaders, county staffers and roughly 15 other stakeholders — both Playhouse critics and supporters — for three hours on Thursday morning in his office at the Historic Courthouse in Hendersonville.
"I think it was a very productive meeting," Young said. "I think it's going to save Flat Rock Playhouse and put them on a better path. They've assured me they're going to make financial changes, and that's all I wanted; just throwing $50,000 out there, that was like spitting in the ocean."
During the meeting, an anonymous donor said she would commit $100,000 to the Playhouse if matched, dollar for dollar, by new private or government donations. Those in attendance said the surprise offer pushed negotiations over the top.
"It changed the whole discussion in the room," said businessman Jeff Miller, who described early parts of the meeting as a "slugfest ... Then people started anteing up and before you know it, the whole tone changed."
The parties hashed out an agreement in which Young will encourage the release of $50,000 remaining from a $100,000 allocation the Board of Commissioners had budgeted for the Playhouse last summer if certain steps are taken.
Chief among those steps is that the Playhouse first use the county funds to hire a "new financial overseer for the Playhouse corporation, who will have day-to-day control over its fiscal operations."
Marini and Bill McKibbin, president of the Playhouse's board of trustees, said the 60-year-old theater company has been looking for a financial manager skilled in nonprofit operations since October, when General Manager Dale Bartlett resigned.
"They can do some things that I can't, which include things like giving us more opportunities to export our product to other places and creating a strong business plan for the future," Marini said.
McKibbin said the organization already has job descriptions and is ready to start advertising for the position in the coming week, both locally and in theater industry publications. At the meeting called by Young, he also outlined a business plan for 2013 that calls for cost-cutting and increased revenue streams.
"They're also going to produce plays that the public around here can support, with no foul language or sex or anything like that," said Young, who said he was concerned about the increasing tawdriness of Playhouse performances. "So we got that solved, too."
On Nov. 21, commissioners voted 4-1 to freeze the remaining Playhouse funds, citing concerns about the nonprofit's financial management and long-term viability. But board procedure required a second vote before the cash would be withheld or disbursed in two more quarterly payments. That decision will now likely occur Jan. 7.
In acquiescing, Young also called upon the Village of Flat Rock to match the county's $100,000 contribution, arguing that no other area of the county benefits from the Playhouse more than the village. The village council will meet Monday to discuss a vote it took last month to ban further contributions to nonprofits such as the Playhouse.
"What we accomplished today was huge," said Miller, "and it was people from each side of the fence involved here. There were some very passionate arguments, but the bottom line is, there is a very solid business plan in place."
Though thrilled with Thursday's windfall, Marini stressed the $100,000 has to be matched by other donors. The theater is on its way after Mission Health System committed $25,000 Thursday, and two unnamed donors together anted up $25,000, Marini said.
Marini added that the Playhouse needs to sell enough tickets throughout the 2012 season and yield enough season subscriptions for 2013 if the theater is to survive.
Traditionally, the Playhouse renews $150,000 to $175,000 in season tickets each December, Marini said. "If people don't renew those and buy tickets to the Nutcracker and Celtic Christmas, it makes our fundraising burden even greater," he said. "We're really at a tipping point."
He also said the theater's future viability will not change if the Playhouse doesn't meet its long-term goal of raising $1 million, which will provide it "with the foundation for the next five years. We don't want to just kick the can down the road. We want to permanently solve the problem."
Reach Axtell at 828-694-7860 or email@example.com.


text:
Ultimate Guide to Kitchen Decorating and Design
Be inspired to design your dream kitchen with decorating ideas from photo galleries, remodeling tips, guides to appliances, countertops, cabinets, and more.
Our 10 Favorite Idea House Kitchens
With a splash of blue or an etch in chalk, these kitchens, collected from Idea Houses around the country, bring a lot of flavor to the tastiest room in the house.
Contemporary Kitchen
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Transform your home with quick, budget-friendly ideas from across our network of sites.
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text:
Strategico is an engine for running statistical analysis over groups of time series. It can manage one or more groups (projects) of time series: by default, you can get data from a database or CSV files, normalize them, and then save them inside the engine. The first statistical analysis implemented inside Strategico is the "Long Term Prediction": it automatically finds the best model that fits each time series. Some of the models implemented are mean, trend, linear, exponential smoothing, and Arima. Strategico is scalable: the statistical analysis over each time series (of a project) can be run separately and independently. It is suggested that you set up an HPC Cluster (High Performance Computing) and/or use a resource scheduler like slurm. It is developed with R, one of the most famous statistical languages.
uterus is a codec library for financial tick data with an emphasis on market data integrity and maintainability. It comes with a set of tools to convert (mux) and print (demux) data from some sources, and to perform standard tasks like selecting instruments, creating snapshots and candles from tick data, etc. Special care is taken to provide longevity and consistence. All timestamps are internally converted to coordinated time, and price and quantity quotes are converted to a monetary datatype which doesn't suffer from rounding errors. Most importantly, meta data is stored along with the payload data in an inseparable unit, to provide self-contained and self-documenting files or network streams.


text:
abcde is a frontend to cdparanoia, wget, cd-discid, id3, and your favorite Ogg Vorbis (the default), MP3, FLAC, Ogg Speex, or MPP (Musepack) encoder. It grabs an entire CD and converts each track to the desired format, then comments or ID3-tags each file, all with one command. It supports multiple output in a single CD read, the creation of a single track from a CD, resume operation, CD concatenation, volume normalization, gapless encoding (with LAME), parallelization, SMP, proxies, customizable filename organization and munging, playlist generation, distributed encoding via distmp3, and more.
AMaViS (A Mail Virus Scanner) scans e-mail attachments for viruses using third-party virus scanners available for UNIX environments. It resides on a UNIX (Linux) machine and looks through the attached files arriving via e-mail, generates reports when a virus is found and sets the delivery on hold.
Apache Toolbox provides a means to easily compile Apache (IPv4/6) SSL, PHP(v3/v4), MySQL, Jakarta, a large number of modules (61 3rd party modules and 36 default Apache modules, static or as DSOs), and GD libraries with PNG+JPEG+Freetype2+zlib support. It is fully customizable and menu-driven. Everything is compiled from source, and wget is used to download any missing modules. It can also check for RPMs that might cause problems and create an RPM with your selections.
AutoGen is a tool designed for generating program files that contain repetitive text with varied substitutions. Its goal is to simplify the maintenance of programs that contain large amounts of repetitious text. This is especially valuable if there are several blocks of such text that must be kept synchronized. Output is specified with a Scheme-enhanced output template. Input, if required by your template, may come from AutoGen definitions, CGI data, or XML files.
AutoOpts is an integrated part of AutoGen. Based on a very simple option description file, it will process configuration files, environment variables, command line options, text strings passed by client programs, and will make the results easily accessible to the client program. It will also produce a man page and the info-doc invoking section automatically.
A SCXML to C++ compiler.
A survey tool.


text:
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Sparty On!
According to official and eyewitness accounts, the large Cedar Fest gathering -- which was banned in 1987 exactly because of parties like this -- was more or less peaceful until things began to get out of hand at around 1 a.m. when police waded into the mob to break up fights and detain two girls who flashed their breasts. The crowd began pelting the officers with bottles, cans and beer.
As things got worse, reinforcements were called in but the East Lansing police chief said at the time, "We're going to solve this without a drop of tear gas."
Uh, how long have you been the East Lansing police chief, Chief?
Even more amazing, according to the Detroit Free Press article linked above, this desire by the police chief to not use tear gas came even after "his officers had been chased east on Waters Edge Drive by a now-riotous mob yelling obscenities."
So instead of tear gas, what did the ELPD try first? "Flash bang" grenades.
Yes, "flash bang" grenades. You know, the things Delta Force uses as they enter a suspected Taliban hideout in Kandahar.
Yeah, hey, no tear gas -- which is made for mobs like this -- let's break out the special forces and S.W.A.T. team toys first.
Unfortunately, the "flash bangs" didn't work as the police were up against a group more hardened and dangerous than radical terrorists: Michigan State students and East Lansing townies, who began chanting "We want tear gas! We want tear gas!"
Yes, spring is in the air in East Lansing.
36 comments:
- Dezzi said...
They need that truck with the huge firehose on it... saw that on a video somewhere (can't find it now) they were using it to break up a soccer riot in a square... people were getting pounded by it!!
I'm glad Lansing PD "detained" the girls flashing their breasts... I once saw that in a movie....
- April 07, 2008 5:27 AM
- Bigasshammm said...
This isn't that uncommon to have riots without sporting events. For years here the local college (Akron U) has a "May Day" event where the entire campus becomes one huge party with couch burnings and the eventual tear gas breakups. I don't know if this still goes on as I'm well out of the partying age but it was good times back in the day.
On a side note::
From just your typical uneducated uninformed citizen in OH most everyone declares that Michigan is in "serious trouble." One family member of mine asked if I had heard that 3 lineman from MI quit to go to TUO$ because MI didn't land TP. Even my own father was saying that apparently this new coach (RR) was a horrible idea because of all the problems. I tried to explain what really is going on with the new S&C coach and harder practices and that in the end it will be a much better team and they just scoffed. I hate the media and always will because it reports whatever it wants to whether truthful or not
- April 07, 2008 7:20 AM
- TitleIX said...
Nice picture. I especially like the cross...WWJDWithBoobies???
did any one see the South Park episode Major Boobage???
The one where the kids 'cheese' ie, get high on male cat urine?
pretty funny.
rest assured, the sky is not falling up here. Mike Barwis is EXACTLY what this program needed. Come fall when we see fast, fit athletes underneath the winged helmet who move the ball upfield, using ALL parts of the field, you will think that manna has fallen from heaven.
Those Who Stay WILL Be Champions
Oh yeah--and regarding Spartyville?
Gosh you kids make it easy.
- April 07, 2008 7:35 AM
- Bigasshammm said...
I never had any doubts. What I was pointing out was that the media is turning a storied program into a debacle because they can. I really hope RichRod gets those kids to come out there and win the Big Ten this year. I know it's highly unlikely but it's a hope. I'm also feeling good about the TUO$ game this year. They know they probably won't be competing for a NC this year so why not stress every minute in practice into winning that one game?
- April 07, 2008 7:57 AM
- whetstonebuck said...
"I'm also feeling good about the TUO$ game this year."
Lay down until the feeling passes.
Word on the street is we gave up on NC's 'cause we can't win them so we're stressing every minute in practice to beating you guys.
Surrender, Dorothy!
- April 07, 2008 8:48 AM
- whetstonebuck said...
Nice catch on the jewelry. I wondered who would pick up on that first.
More irony: my WF ends with bxm. All that's missing is you.
- April 07, 2008 8:52 AM
- Joshua said...
Damn T9- you beat me to it. But......here were my options:
a)That pic's enough to make a guy buy into "intelligent design".
b) Someone might want to check Sparty for steroid use, because Little Brother has great boobage!
and my personal favorite:
c) HOLY MOTORBOATIN' CHRIST!
- April 07, 2008 9:40 AM
- Out of Conference said...
Flash bangs?!? The kids grew up making better homemade firecrackers than that.
WV = npleuya
Man, the google/blogger gods have a pretty funny sense of humor.
- April 07, 2008 9:41 AM
- Feelin' Blue said...
At least those Spartans know how to have more fun than we arrogant asses at scUM, whose city is a prostitute.
- April 07, 2008 9:45 AM
- GoBlueBob said...
It must be normal for the females at "moo u" to show off their udders.
- April 07, 2008 9:56 AM
- Vadatripp said...
"I see you are enticed by my daughter's awesome rocking t!ts."
Gawd, Sparty just makes it all too easy.
- April 07, 2008 10:50 AM
- zen wizard said...
I can't believe this"cultural event" is still allowed to go on--I thought the Dean put an end to it in the late Eighties when I was there.
It is a total black eye on the school.
Relations between East Lansing and the school are already strained--and everyone wonders why the cops are such a bunch of dicks.
I guess you could barricade the area off, but that would be prior restraint.
A lot of the mischief is started by "townies" that don't really go to the school.
But that's no excuse.
- April 07, 2008 11:03 AM
- Sgt. Wolverine said...
"They need that truck with the huge firehose on it..."
Or, even better, the people-scooping trucks from Soylent Green. (Video here; the trucks are about 3:05 in.)
- April 07, 2008 11:29 AM
- Killing My Liver said...
I just had to say that is a rather fine display of genetics. Bless that young lady's family.
- April 07, 2008 11:30 AM
- Adam said...
And I thought my school was hated by the local community.......
- April 07, 2008 12:41 PM
- surrounded in columbus said...
two unrelated thoughts-
first, i'll bet she started wearing the cross because everytime she pulled her shirt up, someone said something to the effect of: "sweet jesus!".
second, where are all the moosu trolls, commenting about how we're losers, stuck up, how they "own" us (b-ball, at least), and (most importantly) how they really don't care what M fans say about them???
seriously, last week Yost posted the Crew game riot and got multiple tuos trolls calling names, lashing out. the tuos apologists all chimed in that Michigan fans are the ones obsessed and we should expect that kind of reaction.
i guess that's the difference between saying you don't care, and actually not caring, huh?
- April 07, 2008 12:57 PM
- TitleIX said...
thanks whetstone (?)
- April 07, 2008 12:59 PM
- melmat said...
Hey Hammer! Glad you enjoyed your time at the U of A and the bottle throwing atmosphere. I was on the other side of the line. Maybe I bashed you with my BIGASS nightstick! Sad that is the type of student my local university puts out. At least we both bleed "Blue".
- April 07, 2008 1:49 PM
- benjamin2840 said...
Uh I'm willing to bet ALL the trouble is started by townies who don't go to the school...
- April 07, 2008 2:14 PM
- TitleIX said...
yeah, when in doubt blame the townies....since that's who mostly lives in the Cedar-ville apartment complex
- April 07, 2008 2:51 PM
- TitleIX said...
football...not for dummies
personally, I love the image of football players as a lipid layer in the cell membrane.....
- April 07, 2008 3:00 PM
- Mathew said...
It's been entertaining, on the local radio shows, in the State News and on the website allmsu, there has been a lot of back and forth between the two camps of "Damn kids, quit ruining the image of the city/university, you should all be arrested and expelled!" and the "They were just having a good time, the cops are Nazis, eff the police!" with absolutely no middle ground.
- April 07, 2008 3:07 PM
- benjamin2840 said...
Actually titleix, much of the kids in cedar village are townies, it has no official affiliation with the university. It is a magnet for kids who don't go to msu to come to east lansing and cause trouble.
- April 07, 2008 3:49 PM
- Yost said...
According to the Free Press article...
"Of those arrested, 28 were MSU students. About half the tickets also went to students."
I only mention that because while it wasn't all MSU students, it wasn't all local kids either.
- April 07, 2008 3:55 PM
- Joshua said...
Quick survival tip:
If you ever find yourself stuck in a zombie film and are in East Lansing Cedar Village is the perfect place to make your last stand. The streets are narrow, it's tucked away with only 3 ways in or out, and the backside is protected by the river. Plus there are 2 liquor stores, a 7 Eleven, a pizza place, a Qdoba and a Baskin Robbins all within a block. Excellent for those "Oh-My-God-We're-All-Gonna-Die!" moments when you decide your last meal should be a burrito and a Big Gulp, or for those MacGyver-ish moments when you discover you can fight off Zombies with cheap vodka and a stick of beef jerky. Plus I live like a mile away, so you could stop in and say Hi!
- April 07, 2008 4:10 PM
- Bigasshammm said...
A thought just occurred to me about the whole situation. Is it just me or is it ironic that the police used Flash-Bangs to break up a group of kids who were flashing? I'm sorry that was lame.
Melmet I never attended the U of A (the Roo) but I did frequent the annual Mayday festivities. One year I ran down Brown st naked. Almost arrested. Other years I would get lost and ask cops for directions since at that time they would be the only humans on the streets. Usually not fun when you're an inebriated 18 year old but they never gave me any problems.
Are you in the Akron area now?
- April 07, 2008 5:14 PM
- MGoBlue93 said...
In all fairness, after the Chris Webber timeout game, the masses poured out onto S. University. It was a mostly quiet affair until some starting assaulting a mounted officer's horse. Tear gas flew shortly thereafter. The people arrested were from Detroit and Inkster.
Of course, we were not chanting "We Want Tear Gas". And there aren't too many boobies you'd want to see in A2.
- April 07, 2008 8:07 PM
- MGoBlue93 said...
< threadjack >
The hockey team is having a silent auction. Check out http://auctions.michigan-hockey.org/
< /threadjack >
- April 07, 2008 8:30 PM
- Joshua said...
True, but I saw several pair I rather enjoyed after we emptied out onto S. University after beating Kentucky. Some of my shots included police in riot gear. I think I still have the videotape somewhere.
- April 07, 2008 8:30 PM
- zen wizard said...
If approx. 28 were arrested who were students and there were 52 arrests, I guess 54% were students--but I went to MSU so I'm not sure.
(Just kidding.)
I guess the point is not the ratio of students to non-students.
The point is the lack of foresight in committing sophmoric acts that are not really that "fun"--with no regard how you are going to explain, e.g., "assaulting a police officer" in a job interview or to a licensing board in about five years--which is why you went through the UNBELIEVABLE level of bureaucracy it takes to get enrolled into MSU in the first place.
Like I said, I thought they put the kibosh on this purported "social event" the year I graduated, which was 1987.
At one time, Cedar Fest debatably had a modicum of cultural value (it is my understanding).
But it has denigrated into an event that has no redeeming social value, and simply further strains the already strained relationship between the school and the city of East Lansing.
When I was there, they barricaded off the area and basically said, "We don't give a damn if it's prior restraint or not."
You had to prove you lived there to get into the facility.
- April 07, 2008 9:43 PM
- Catie said...
Thread Jack!
I keep wondering just exactly what the scene is going to be like for Spring Graduation, honestly folks 40,000 people in (?) the diag!! That is not even humanly possible (planning to set up 30,000 chairs) And ummm....yeah, where are we parking all of these people??? (certainly they will shuttle from other parts of the city) ( I do highly doubt of course that anyone is going to flash their boobs, and that there is little risk or rioting) I for one, plan to stay home in my apartment on that day......oye.....I can not even begin to imagine!
- April 08, 2008 3:05 AM
- TitleIX said...
actually catie, I think that graduation will be kinda cool--although a lot like Art Fair in terms of the number of people congregated in a small space. people will be bussed in as there is absolutely no campus parking. But the Grads get to go thru the Arch (kinda like the Tunnel) to get to the ceremony. The stage will be up on the steps of the Grad Library. From a safety standpoint, there are enough points of egress from the Diag for it to be safe. It's what the students wanted--once they were asked.
I hope it doesn't become a new tradition tho because it is a logistical nightmare!
- April 08, 2008 7:48 AM
- Catie said...
Yes T9, I realize it is what the students wanted and I do feel good that the U accommodated their wishes and worked with them. It just seriously is a logistical nightmare and I am grateful that I don't have to attend! And honestly Kudos to the admins, if I were them and the students suggested the diag, I wold have shot that down so quickly, very nice to know we have admins that can play outside of the box!!
I am working on about 2 hours of sleep at the moment, so my thought process could be very skewed.
- April 08, 2008 8:58 AM
- Mikoyan said...
This reminds me of a review I keep trying to post on Amazon for 300 Spartans, but alas someone keeps pulling it down:
I forget the year now, but Michigan State lost in the final four. To celebrate this event, Michigan State fans burn the city down. The cinematography for the East Lansing burning scene is just fantastic. Watch the drama, as the film follows four different fans on divergent paths....
Ah well....
Riots in East Lansing. Riots in Columbus. What's next, a peace march in Ann Arbor?
- April 08, 2008 9:20 AM
- god of the whoppers said...
BAM, yeah, may day still goes on, though i don't think it is a big as it was when you were there. i don't go there, i work in mogadore every other semester.
- April 08, 2008 12:28 PM
- Bigasshammm said...
What I remember most fondly of Mayday was the ability to drive at a high level of speed on the freeway those nights. Since every police officer within 50 miles was downtown at the University.
Good times. Nice to find out some of my locals are on here as well.
- April 08, 2008 12:51 PM


text:
"Every time I turn on the faucet, it's in the back of my mind that this is poisoned water," said Paula Janes.
"Every time I turn on the faucet, it's in the back of my mind that this is poisoned water," said Paula Janes.
The Dana resident lives in the middle of a red zone off of Academy Road on a state water investigation map. The zone is listed as an area contaminated by a dangerous chemical outlawed in the 80s. State groundwater experts say dieldrin, once used as a pesticide in row crops in the 50s, is hydrophobic in nature.
"It tends to bind to soil," said G. Landon Davidson, regional supervisor of the N.C. Division of Water Quality's groundwater protection section. They were initially shocked to find the chemical in such a prevalent amount in the area's drinking water.
Twenty-three of 74 wells that have been sampled so far show above state standards for dieldrin. Four of the 23 have also tested above standard for heptachlor epoxide.
Now, Davidson said, they have learned that the chemical's "persistence in the environment makes it show up."
The state standard for dieldrin is no more than 0.002 parts per billion in drinking water. Janes' test revealed dieldrin at a level of 0.11, 55 times more than the state's allowed limit. Five other contaminants were also found, but were below the standard, she said. The Janes family moved to the block 26 years ago.
"When we first found out and I read the letter, it was just a really sick feeling in my stomach," Janes said. She thought of her daughters, who are now grown.
"The girls I raised were gone, but they had grown up drinking the water. I had almost a guilty feeling as a parent, like I should have done something to have caught this," she said. "It was sick feeling… and angry feeling because you feel like somebody should be responsible for it and you kind of want to blame somebody because of it being there… You didn't know it was there, and you feel all of these emotions because it's something in the past that you can't change."
Janes suffers from peripheral neuropathy, a condition caused by nerve damage, which leads to pain in both of her feet. The condition – often seen in diabetics – can result from problems such as "traumatic injuries, infections, metabolic problems and exposure to toxins," according to the Mayo Clinic.
Janes is not diabetic. The doctors don't know what's causing it, she said, but she wonders if the nerve damage could have come from her water.
Side effects
Dieldrin builds up in the body over time, according to the Center for Disease Control's Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry, which notes that poisoning can damage a person's nervous system and kidneys. Exposure to moderate levels over a long time causes headaches, dizziness, irritability, vomiting or uncontrollable muscle movements, according to the ATSDR.
The Environmental Protection Agency has determined the chemical to be a "probable human carcinogen."
Judy Pressley moved onto East Hill Drive on Dec. 3, 1981.
"I have a lot of problems that have not been answered… (but I'm) not saying it's the water," she said. "I'm old enough. My damage is done."
At 70 years old, battling arthritis, she relies on the help of others to lift and open the 5-gallon jugs of water that are now delivered to her house for her daily needs. But the jugs, she said, do not take care of showers or washing clothes or dishes – tasks she still must perform with tainted water.
Sitting on her shower chair, she times her exposure as carefully as she can. Water quality experts have urged residents to limit their showers to no more than 5 minutes.
Pressley said she first suspected a problem when state inspectors showed up last year and asked to check the water in her well. Weeks later, she received a notice that it had dieldrin in it.
"One of the state people told me this was the way it was when we bought the house," she said. It should be a mandatory requirement that the quality of water is tested before a person moves in a new home, she added, so "that nobody gets in a predicament like us."
Pressley said she sold her home at 3 East Hill Drive to her daughter, Donella Pressley, about five years ago.
"I thought it would be a good investment," she added.
Now her daughter jokes that the property is valued probably next to nothing.
Rawonda Milner of 2 East Hill Drive wonders how long their property values will be affected. "Nobody wants to go where they can't have water," she said.
A single mother of three daughters ages 15 years, 11 years and 11 months, she said they moved to the neighborhood around Christmas 2008.
The chemicals were first noted in wells sampled in the area after groundwater complaints led to testing in 2000. Twelve years later, the chemicals were still there.
"I'm upset these tests were done before 2008… why would we wait so long to retest?" she asked.
An aerial photograph from 1951 projected on a wall inside Dana Elementary's cafeteria at a community meeting in March showed a row crop in the area now found to be contaminated along Academy Road.
Brett Laverty, a hydrogeologist with DENR, said the row crop could have potentially been corn.
He said that when they began a countywide investigation into possible sites where groundwater could be vulnerable to pesticides and insecticides in 2008, they were looking for old orchards – not corn fields.
The Academy Road site was the third study that DENR did and the first one to show such high levels for dieldrin.
'Big adjustments'
Milner said it was "devastating" to learn their water was contaminated. "You don't realize how important clean water is until you don't have it," she added. Life, since knowing, has been a series of "big adjustments… unpleasant adjustments."
"One day I needed some ice. It's just second nature to take an ice tray and fill it with water. Now I have to remind myself, 'don't go to that sink,'" she said. "Then when you're cooking, you automatically think of going to the sink."
"I have to remind them, too," she added, thinking of her daughters, "don't be in the shower long. Try to stay out of the water as much as you can."
She was trying to train her infant not to be afraid of being in the tub for baths. "Now, I'm not putting her in the tub," Milner said.
They use bottled water to brush their teeth.
DENR officials suspect the chemicals could have entered the wells from soils due to fractures in the bedrock, improper well construction, damage to wells, spills or an accidental back-siphoning of the pesticide into a well.
"If they've tested other places in the county and they couldn't find it, then it just makes me think this was an area where they dumped it," Janes said. "You really can't blame it on the farmers because they didn't know. They were told the chemicals were safe. You can't blame it on the developers because it wasn't required they test the wells."
"It's none of our faults," Pressley said.
Finding the one to blame is "water under the bridge now," Milner said.
"The thing is whether or not somebody's going to go and pick up the reins and do what" needs to be done, Joe Suarez of 6 East Hill Drive said at a community meeting Monday night. "We want to get this situation resolved."
"I know they're going as quick as they can, but being a homeowner, you can't go quick enough," Janes said.
Members of the community quizzed Hendersonville City Utilities Director Lee Smith when the city would start working.
If we know we have a commitment for grant funds, why can't we go ahead and just start doing the work? Suarez asked.
Smith told the group that some grants will not reimburse work that has already been done in a project, but told them he would check on the grants for which the city and county are applying. County commissioners agreed to apply for a $300,000 N.C. Rural Center grant, but have yet to send the application into the state. The application is due May 15.
After a required second public hearing May 2, the city will be applying for a Community Block Development Grant.
For many, living with the reality of limited clean water, relief cannot come fast enough, but homeowners are grateful to have city, county and state officials who care.
"I'm so glad that the City Council and county is trying to help us get grants to get that," Milner said.
"We wouldn't have even known about it if it wasn't for you," Donella Pressley told Davidson at the meeting Monday night.
"Thank you, Mr. Smith," Suarez said as he left the meeting.
Reach Weaver at email@example.com or 828-694-7867.