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United in Struggle against Israeli Colonialism, Occupation and Racism Conference, Bethlehem
24-25 October 2009 – the Occupied Palestine and Golan Heights Advocacy Initiative (OPGAI), together with the Alternative Information Center (AIC), organized an international seminar which gathered Palestinian, international and anti-colonial Israeli activists, researchers, and others interested in promoting justice for the Palestinian people. The seminar placed a special emphasis on the economic interests behind the occupation and the potential impact that the international campaigns for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) can make in promoting justices for the Palestinian people. Among other demands, the conference participants called for: firm opposition of the politics and projects of normalization with Israel in the Arab world by activating the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions for Palestine campaign (BDS); emphasising the 2005 invitation extended by Palestinian civil society to conscientious Israelis to support the call for BDS for the sake of justice and genuine peace; and reinforcing a stronger and more efficient position in the Arab states and societies to defend Jerusalem, in addition to boycotting all political, economic and cultural activities complicit with Israeli efforts to Judaize and isolate Jerusalem.
Bahraini Parliamentarians Pass Law to Ban Ties to Israel
27 October 2009 – Bahraini Parliamentarians proposed new law bills entrenching the boycott of Israel. The bills include a penalty of up to five years in jail for any Bahraini who deals directly with Israel; banning any form of relations with Israel or its people at all levels - government, business or private. Penalties would include fines of up to BD10,000 and businessmen dealing with Israel, selling or promoting its products would lose their licenses for up to 10 years. The proposed law would also revive the Israeli Boycott Office, closed to make way for the Free Trade Agreement with the US, and would also ban the government by law from setting up any diplomatic mission in Israel.
Sussex University Students Vote to Boycott Israeli Goods
30 October 2009 – Following a landmark referendum, students at Sussex University have voted to boycott Israeli goods. The decision follows the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel, which calls upon the Israeli state to respect international law and end the occupation of Palestine. The referendum result mandates the Students' Union to remove all Israeli produce from its stores, and review its sources for food outlets. This makes Sussex Students' Union the first in the UK to implement a full boycott of Israeli goods through referendum. The vote was one of the largest and closest contested in the Union's history, with 562 votes for and 450 against the boycott.
New Booklet on Palestinian BDS Campaign
31 October 2009 – The Ma'an Development Center produced an information booklet on the BDS campaign entitled "Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions: Lessons Learned in Effective Solidarity." The booklet can be downloaded from: http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/574
French Workers' Union CNT Joins BDS Campaign
1 November 2009 – Through the intermediary of its international Secretary, the National Work Confederation (Confédération Nationale du Travail or CNT), a French anti-capitalist internationalist union involved in social class struggles, has joined the BDS campaign. The union committed itself to take an active part in the initiatives organized in France. The CNT's international secretary has also invited every union and federation within its confederation to sign on to the BDS campaign individually and to take concrete actions in their own field of activities (education, social work, health, culture, trade, media…) and in their various regions.
Boycott of Ahava cosmetics launched in Montreal
2 November 2009 – Members of Middle East solidarity groups Tadamon! , Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) and the Québec BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) Committee launched a campaign demanding that the Canadian department store "The Bay" take products of Ahava Dead Sea cosmetics off its shelves. Ahava Dead Sea Laboratories is a privately held Israeli cosmetics company that manufactures products using minerals and mud from the Dead Sea. Ahava's products – such as Grape & Avocado Body Wash, Dead Sea Mineral Mud, and Mineral Foot Cream – are widely available in high-end department stores and pharmacies throughout the United States, Europe and Canada.
British Activists Carry Out Week of Action to Boycott of Israeli Settlement Products
9-15 November 2009 – As part of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in the UK implemented a week-long boycott against several large supermarket chains in the UK that carry Israeli products. The week-long boycott targeted the Waitrose and Morrisons supermarket chains, in an attempt to pressure the stores to discontinue the sale of fruits and vegetables grown and processed on Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The week of action came after activists tried other tactics, such as petitioning the stores to stop selling what they call 'apartheid products', but the stores' managers were unresponsive.
New Orleans Middle East Film Festival becomes the first in the US to Join the Cultural Boycott
12 November 2009 – "The first two years we had a very strong presence from Israel. This year, all of the films that deal with Israel are from the point of view of the Palestinians, I was reluctant [to do that] in the first few years of the film festival, because I wasn't doing a Palestinian film festival, I was doing a Middle East film festival -- I was trying to get a very balanced point of view... But after the invasion [of Gaza] and Israel's refusal to let rebuilding materials in, I decided to join the international call for a cultural boycott of Israel... I know I'm going to get heat from it, but ..." –Rene Broussard, Organizer of the New Orleans Middle East Film Festival
Dutch Government to Opens Inquiry that Could Lead to Boycott of Ahava
13 November 2009 – For months, a group called the Badjassen Brigade (Bathrobe Brigades) has worked to protest against the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory by holding demonstrations outside the shops where AHAVA products are sold, under the campaign title 'Gestolen Schoonheid' (Stolen Beauty). The action group is also trying to prevent AHAVA from developing a network of sales points in the Netherlands. The campaign has begun to bear fruit as the Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen has agreed to begin an enquiry into the import of cosmetic products from AHAVA. The company manufactures cosmetics in the Mitzpe Shalem settlement on the West Bank, using minerals and mud from the River Jordan. The products are misleadingly exported under the label 'Made in Israel'.
BNC Calls on Arab States to Cancel Deals with Veolia and Alstom
16 November 2009 – The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) held a press conference releasing information on the illegality of the Jerusalem Light Rail project, and the role that the French companies Veolia and Alstom have been contracted to fulfil in the construction and management of the rail project. At the press conference, the BNC called on Arab states to cut any relations with these two companies until they divest from the rail project. In particular, the BNC called on Saudi Arabia to disqualify the companies from the bidding on the multi-million dollar Mecca-Medina railway contract.
Palestinian Trade Union Movement Unanimously Confirms Support for BDS
25 November 2009 – In reaction to reports alleging that a Palestinian trade union official has stated his reservations about the Palestinian civil society campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS), the full spectrum of the Palestinian trade union movement issued public statements expressing solid and inequivocal support for the BDS National Committee (BNC) and for the global BDS campaign against Israel as an effective form of resisting its military occupation, war crimes and apartheid policies.
US Trade Unionists Call on AFL-CIO President to Boycott Israel
4 December 2009 – Thirty-three prominent US trade unionists issued an open letter to Richard Trumka, President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), which represents 11 million workers. The letter came as a response to a speech by Trumka in which he denounced the BDS campaign, and stated that US trade unions must "divest from State of Israel Bonds; support workers' refusal to handle Israeli cargo; break ties with the racist Histadrut; and oppose U.S. military and economic aid for Israel."
French Appeals Court Confirms Jurisdiction over Alstom Case
17 December 2009 - The Court of Appeal of Versailles confirmed the jurisdiction of the Tribunal of Nanterre regarding the legal claim brought by the Association of French-Palestinian Solidarity (AFPS) against Véolia transport, Alstom and Alstom transport regarding the construction and operation of the illegal Jerusalem Light Rail project.
European Owned Israeli Bank Stops Cuts Funding to Settlements
1 December 2009 – The parent bank of Dexia Bank, owned by French and Belgian interests, notified regional councils in the West Bank that has cut off their lines of credit. The Israeli bank, which is the official supplier of credit to the regional councils, asked them to close their accounts.The Dexia Group bought the Israeli Municipality Treasure Bank and established Dexia Israel in 2001.Dexia has continued to reject anti-apartheid groups' demands to stop lending money to settlements in Jerusalem.
"Pakistanis for Palestine" Launch BDS Campaign in Pakistan
24 January 2010 – A campaign to express solidarity with the Palestinian people was launched in Lahore under the name of "Pakistanis for Palestine." Campaign organizers have focused initially on endorsing the boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions, as called for by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). The have also called upon Pakistani academics, artists, poets, writers, singers and filmmakers to join the growing boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel.
Demonstration in Malaysia Calls for Boycott of Israel
24 January 2010 - More than 100 members of Viva Palestina Malaysia (VPM), a coalition of NGOs participated in a five-kilometre demonstration in Kuala Lampur in support of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination. Demonstration participants wore white T-shirts bearing the words "Boikot Israel" (Boycott Israel) as part of a campaign to boycott the products of four multinational companies alleged to be strong supporters of the Zionist regime.
Danske Bank Divests from Elbit and Africa-Israel
25 January 2010 – Africa Israel Investments and Elbit Systems were added to Danske Bank's list of companies that fail to adhere to its Socially Responsible Investment policy. The bank's Socially Responsible Investment policy obliges it to examine the willingness of potential investments to follow international conventions in human rights and employment standards among others.The two companies have been added to the list, which contains 24 companies, based on their activities in the settlement areas of the Palestinian territories. Elbit Systems provides surveillance systems to the apartheid wall, while Africa Israel Investments has been involved in construction of Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank. Danske Bank's move follows a similar decision from Norway's Government Pension Fund Global to exclude Elbit last September for its involvement in the separation barrier. Danske Bank is the largest financial enterprise in Denmark.
Canadian Students at Carleton University Launch Divestment Campaign
27 January 2010 – Through months of research, the group "Students Against Israeli Apartheid" (SAIA) at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada discovered that the university's Pension Fund currently invests $2,762,535 in five companies that are complicit in the oppression of the Palestinian people. In light of these findings, SAIA has launched a campaign calling on Carleton to immediately divest from the offending corporations: Motorola, BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, L-3 Communications, and Tesco supermarkets, as well as to adopt a socially responsible investment policy for all of its investments. In 1987, Carleton divested from all companies complicit in the apartheid regime in South Africa. The South African victory serves as an inspiring model for SAIA's divestment campaign, which is the first Palestine-centred divestment initiative in Canada. Watch the video at: http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/630
Dutch BDS activists organize first BDS "Flash-mob"
28 January 2010 – At the sound of a whistle the whole group of activists took an Israeli product and froze, staring at the products in disbelieve that Albert Heijn (a large supermarket in Utrecht, Holland) still sells Israeli products! Other people in the supermarket were quite confused and noticed the green t-shirts saying: "Don't buy Israeli apartheid." The sound of a second whistle started the group to take all Israeli products in their carts and while whistling a song they all moved to the exit where the products were piled up and left with a strong message: We do not want Israeli products in OUR supermarkets. We cant do business as usual with Israel as long as it commits war crimes and doesn't comply with international law. Watch the video at: http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/634
California Residents Call for Severing State Ties with Israeli Government
1 February 2010 – A group calling itself the Israel Divestiture Forum filed an initiative with the attorney general that would require state pension funds to sever ties with Israeli companies or the Israeli government. The measure would need almost 434,000 valid signatures from registered California voters to qualify for the November ballot. Under the proposal, divestment guidelines would be reversed if Israel pulls out of the territories seized during the 1967 war, or the Israeli and Palestinian governments "conclude a peace treaty that leads to the establishment of a Palestinian state that is recognized by the United States Government."
Students Outraged at Invitation of Israel's US Ambassador to Speak on their Campus
8 February 2010 - When Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren came to talk about U.S.-Israel relations at the University of California at Irvine, dozens of outraged students attended his talk and made their objections clear. Oren was interrupted 10 times while trying to give his speech before 500 people at the UCI Student Center, where there was heavy security. Oren took a 20 minute break after the fourth protest, asked for hospitality and resumed his speech, only to be interrupted again. After the 10th interruption, several dozens students who opposed Oren's talk got up and walked out and staged a protest outside. Watch the video at: http://www.bdsmovement.net/?q=node/641
Brussels BDS Activists Impersonate El Al Flight Attendants
7 February 2010 - Eight peace activists entered the Brussels Holiday Fair and impersonated flight attendants of the Israeli airline company El Al. They handed out fake free plane tickets to Israel, which referred to the fact that El Al contributes to the transport of arms to the country (160 million bullet parts, 17 million rounds of ammunition and tens of thousands cartridges, smoke shells and fuses in 2005 and 2006 alone). Upon discovery of the action, Israeli security agents observing the Fair reacted by getting all the "air hostesses" arrested.
University of Arizona Students Launch Divestment Campaign Targetting Motorolla
15 February 2010 – Students at the University of Arizona in the USA have launched a campaign calling on their university to divest from Motorolla corporation. The students of the "University of Arizona Community for Human Rights" have been engaged over the past few months in a campaign calling on their local police department to cancel a $203,000 contract with the Motorola Corporation for radio and communication equipment. The contract was signed in 1999 and is still active today.
Israeli Apartheid Week 2010 – The Biggest one Yet
1-14 March 2010 – Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) this year was the biggest yet, having spread to well over 50 cities across the globe. Since it was first launched in 2005, IAW has grown to become one of the most important global events in the Palestine solidarity calendar. Last year, more than 40 cities around the world participated in the week's activities, which took place in the wake of Israel's brutal assault against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Lectures, films, and actions held during the week highlighted some of the successes of the BDS movement along with the many injustices that continue to make BDS so crucial in the battle to end Israeli Apartheid. More information at: http://www.apartheidweek.org
Dutch Pension Fund Follows Scandinavian Divestment from Elbit due to BDS pressure
19 February 2010 -- ABP announced that it had sold its US $2.7 million shares in Elbit Systems. Following a similar decision by the Norwegian State Pension Fund, Kommunal Landspensjonkasse (KLP), one of the largest life insurance companies in Norway, also divested from Elbit. The move by heavyweights Halvorsen and KLP to divest led Danwatch, the Danish financial watchdog, to add last month Elbit to its blacklist of 35 companies that are disqualified from investments due to ethical considerations. The largest bank in Denmark and a leading player in the Scandinavian financial markets, Danske Bank followed suit a week later. The bank also blacklisted Africa-Israel, a company led by diamond mogul Lev Leviev which has been involved in the illegal construction of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. Kjaergaard noted that the bank is determining whether other companies with activities in the Israeli settlements qualify for exclusion. Danske Bank's decision was followed by PKA Ltd., one of the largest Danish pension funds, selling its shares in Elbit worth $1 million. Other major institutional investors in Scandinavia have also excluded Elbit from their portfolios due to ethical concerns. Folksam, Sweden's largest asset manager, responded to an inquiry regarding its investments in either Elbit or Africa-Israel, that the fund did not have holdings in either company. The two largest Dutch pension funds, ABP and PFZW are the focus of a coalition of Palestine solidarity activists, organizations and concerned citizens who are currently pressuring the two pension funds to follow the Scandinavian example and divest from Elbit and other companies profiting from the Israeli occupation.
EU court: West Bank goods are not Israeli
25 February 2010 - In a ruling touching on the status of the West Bank, the European Union high court ruled that the area is not part of Israel and Israeli goods made there are subject to EU import duties. The court stated that the EU-Israeli Association Agreement has a defined territorial scope, and that Israeli goods made in the West Bank cannot enjoy duty-free access to the vast EU market.
500 Artists Issue Statement Israeli Apartheid
25 February 2010 - A broad spectrum of Montreal artists took a standing in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom and supporting the growing international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli state. Montreal artists are now joining this international campaign to concretely protest the Israeli state's ongoing denial of the inalienable rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties, as stipulated in and protected by international law, as well as Israel's ongoing occupation and colonization of the West Bank (including Jerusalem) and Gaza, which also constitutes a violation of international law and multiple United Nations resolutions. Read the statement at: http://www.tadamon.ca/post/5824
Historic Student Divestment Resolution Passed at University of Michigan, Dearborn
26 February 2010 – The University of Michigan at Dearborn Student Government issued General Assembly Resolution # 2010-003 which states that "the University is known to have several million dollars of investment in corporations that sell weapons, goods, and services to Israel—including BAE, Raytheon, Boeing, General Electric, United Technologies, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman, among others–whom in turn uses the weapons, goods, and services inhumanely … be it Resolved, (1) that the University of Michigan-Dearborn Student Government will lead a movement to collect petition signatures calling on the Board of Regents to form such an advisory committee, and … (2) that the University of Michigan-Dearborn Student Government calls on the Board of Regents to create an advisory committee to determine if any University investments are questionable and in need of appropriate corrective actions, and … (3) that on behalf of the students at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, we will urge this committee to recommend immediate divestment from companies that are directly involved in the ongoing illegal occupation, because we deem these investments to be profoundly unethical and in direct conflict with the mission of this University."
Russell Tribunal on Palestine calls for Sanctions on Israel
3 March 2010 – The Russell Tribunal on Palestine convened in Barcelona, Spain and issued its ruling on six questions concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Tribunal's judgments are not judicially binding but are meant to examine the complicity of the European Union in perpetuating what the Tribunal called Israel's "policy of war, occupation, and colonization for 60 years." The jurists were assembled from around the globe, and among theor conclusions, the jury stipulated that Israel practices a form of apartheid and that states are obliged to place sanctions on the apartheid state until it complies with international law.
Berkeley student government approves divestment against Israel
18 March 2010 - The ASUC Senate passed a bill urging the University of California to divest from companies who have supplied the state of Israel with materials used in alleged war crimes. BDS activists who pushed the bill forward described the bill as the first step in an expected long-term process to convince the UC Board of Regents to pull total investments of about $135 million from five companies currently supplying Israel with electronics and weapons, including Hewlett-Packard and General Electric. On 24 March 2010, UC Berkeley ASUC President Will Smelko vetoed the bill, and the university's senate is expected to decide on whether or not they will allow the veto later this month.
Launch of South African BDS Coalition
28 March 2010 - A coalition of Palestinian solidarity movements joined forced to push forward the BDS campaign in South Africa. Choosing the global BDS day of action as their official launch, the coalition a "Guerilla Shopping" campaign, in which they spread awareness of the Israeli goods boycott. The newq BDS coalition includes: Coalition for a Free Palestine (CFP). These include the Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSC), Palestinian Solidarity Committee (PSM), African National Congress (ANC), South African Communist Party (SACP), South African Council of Churches (SACC) and Cosatu's trade union affiliates such as the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) and others.
Land Day marked across the world with actions calling for BDS against Israel
30 March 2010 - As Palestinians commemorated Land Day, solidarity activists around the world took to the streets to call for a comprehensive campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it complies with international and humanitarian law. Creative and bold actions took place in London, Toronto, New York, Paris, Rome, Cairo, Melbourne and dozens of other cities around the world. For videos and report-backs from creative actions of Land Day BDS actions, see: www.bdsdayofaction.wordpress.com
Swedish pension giant Divests from Elbit
31 March 2010 - Foersta AP-Fonden, Sweden's largest pension fund banned investment in Elbit because it operates surveillance system for West Bank security barrier. Following the lead of Norway's state oil fund, Foersta AP-Fonden said it had banned investment in Elbit because it had built and was operating a surveillance system for Israel's Wall.
Jerusalem Quartet Protestors Cleared of Racism
8 April 2010 – The five Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) activists who faced charges of racially motivated conduct following their protest at a Jerusalem Quartet concert were cleared of all charges. The activists interrupted a concert held by the Jerusalem Quartet – who have historical links with the IDF and are renowned cultural ambassadors for the State of Israel – with shouts of "boycott Israel" and "end the siege on Gaza". Sheriff James Scott ruled that "the comments were clearly directed at the State of Israel, the Israeli Army, and Israeli Army musicians" and not "citizens of Israel" per se. "The procurator fiscal's attempts to squeeze malice and ill will out of the agreed facts were rather strained," he added.


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Miami Dolphins coach Tony Sparano stomped off the team plane at 10 o'clock the night of November 29. The round-faced 48-year-old was still wearing the clothes he requires every game day: white cap, white long-sleeved T-shirt, green windbreaker, and pleated khaki pants. Six hours before, the team had lost to the pitiful Buffalo Bills, and it was time for Sparano to begin beating himself up.
The coach planned to follow his usual routine after a loss and head straight to his office to review game tape. But Jeanette, his wife of 25 years who was also on the plane, persuaded him to drop off his bags at home. Then he drove seven miles across town to the Dolphins' training facility, where he sequestered himself in his dark office, a place he rarely allows outsiders. He plopped his stout frame in front of the TV set, which was illuminated by the game tape playing as if on a loop.
The coach had one particularly dreadful play to analyze. It had happened during the opening drive, when Miami appeared ready to score. The offense had lined up in the wildcat formation, meaning there was no quarterback in the backfield. Running back Ricky Williams took the hike and ran to his right. Williams had been running well, but this time he heaved the ball right into the hands of a Buffalo player in the end zone. That throw had cost the Dolphins a touchdown and perhaps the game.
Tony Sparano
Sparano watched the play over and over all through the night.
At his news conference the next day, it was hard to say whether he was angry; he often looks incensed. His mouth curved downward, bringing his thick mustache with it, and his eyes carried a distinct feeling of disappointment. He strode to the podium without saying a word, avoiding eye contact with the two dozen reporters and cameramen. When his glasses slipped down his nose, he pushed them up in the middle with his thumb and forefinger.
Then he talked about the need to succeed on "momentum plays," like the Williams one.
As for the team, he said it was time to regroup. "I'll explain to them where we are right now... what we have in front of us... and how we're going to go about doing it."
Afterward, it was back to the game tape. Sparano didn't allow Jeanette to deliver any food that day. He ate her chicken cutlet — his favorite dish — only when he finally arrived home around 10 o'clock Tuesday night.
He dozed and then returned to his dark office again at 3:30 Wednesday morning. By Wednesday afternoon, Jeanette figured Sparano had slept just three hours in two days. "I don't know how he does it," she says, "but as far as I can tell, he doesn't sleep most of the season."
It's no surprise Sparano fixated on that one play during the week leading up to the December 6 game against New England. He's an obsessive-compulsive who relies on routines. When things don't go as planned, it consumes him.
Though Sparano is a conservative coach, he has also been known to take huge risks. Take, for instance, the time two decades ago when he gave up a high-paying job to earn pennies an hour at his first football gig. Then there was last year, when he introduced the wildcat and nailed the hated Patriots.
But life as a pro coach is precarious. It's unclear how long he'll continue in the role of Dolphins head man. As he prepared for that Patriots game two weeks ago, he faced the real possibility that his second season would be a failure — and a loss would likely have meant missing the playoffs. The question was whether he would go against his instincts and take big risks.
It's Wednesday, four days before the Dolphins' shootout with the Patriots, and Jeanette hasn't seen her husband for more than a half-hour since the team returned from Buffalo. She has just returned from handing out presents at a children's hospital with the wives of players and coaches. She stands in the training facility's lobby, surrounded by trophy cases filled with Dan Marino footballs, a Bob Griese jersey, and the division championship banner her husband won last year.
As she tells the receptionist about the event at the hospital, Tony strides down the stairwell that wraps along the west wall. He's headed to his near-daily news conference, an event he abhors. He's already bitter from the Buffalo loss; now he has to deal with a horde of reporters. She waves, bending only the tops of her fingers; he nods without saying a word.
For Jeanette, it has always been this way during the season. Unlike Tony, she regularly wears a wide grin. She has a bob of chestnut hair that's shorter in the back and a motherly way that's both coddling and confident. She's pretty enough that a couple of kids at the hospital asked if she was a cheerleader.
The Sparanos grew up together in West Haven, Connecticut, a working-class suburb of rundown New Haven. They began dating when she was 13 and he was 16. He played center for the high school football team but stopped growing at five-foot-ten, so his options for college ball were limited. His fallback plan was to become a cop, so he enrolled as a criminology major at the University of New Haven, a third-tier football program. Despite being undersize, Sparano started as a freshman.
He had aspirations to play in the NFL but soon surrendered. "There was a point where he had to say, 'Well, I'm not getting taller,'" Jeanette recalls. "And right there, he decided he wanted to be a coach."
Even that plan derailed during his freshman year at New Haven. His grandmother fell ill, so Tony's parents agreed to move closer to her home in Port Orange, near Daytona. The 20-year-old couldn't afford a college dorm, so he moved with them. Soon he took a job as a line cook at the Days Inn near the speedway and enrolled at the University of Central Florida, a 65-mile drive from his parents' new home. He saved up to return to New Haven for the next football season, but by that summer, it was clear he wouldn't have enough to pay for a dorm. He might have tried to walk on to the Central Florida football program, but it was too far from his home. His playing days seemed over, but he still didn't give up.
"I always felt, one way or another, football was my calling," Sparano recalls of that period. "It was about somebody taking a chance on me."
That somebody was Jeanette's mom, who agreed to an odd arrangement: Her family would put Tony up until he saved enough to move into a dorm. Back in New Haven, he took one job with a moving company and another at a 7-Eleven store. After spending a year at his girlfriend's house, he moved on campus.
On Christmas Eve 1983, Tony and Jeanette were driving to a holiday party when she complained about not having anything nice to wear. He pulled out a ring and told her: "I have something beautiful to wear." They married a year later.
During Sparano's last year at New Haven, a security company offered him a $22,000-per-year job. "At the time, that was all the money in the world for us," Jeanette recalls. He also got an offer to return to New Haven as a part-time graduate assistant for the football program — it would pay $1,100 the first season.
"When we talked about coaching, he became animated and excited," she says. "I couldn't see him doing anything else, but it really was jumping into the deep end." To pay the bills, she took jobs in a law office and as a receptionist for a dentist. Tony worked as a gym teacher for $70 a day.
The Sparanos scraped by for ten years. They have three kids: Tony, now 23, Andrew, who's 20, and a 17-year-old daughter, Ryan. All of them were born during those lean years. Jeanette says, "My kids tell me now that they didn't know how broke we were, and I can't believe it. Because we were broke."
Sparano, speaking to New Times in the training facility lobby after his news conference, says he never regretted turning down the security job. "There was never a time that I second-guessed that decision," he says.
The Sparanos' home became a gathering spot for players. Robert Thompson played for New Haven in the late '80s. Then Sparano hired him as an assistant coach, and Thompson often stopped by for dinner. Jeanette was already taking on her role as team matron. "I told her: 'Jeanette, anytime you're cooking chicken parm, I'm coming,'" Thompson recalls. "And when we'd see Tony outside football, he was a different guy — funny and personable."
In 1994, Sparano landed the New Haven head coaching job. Early on, he developed an obsessive attention to detail. Debbie Chin, athletic director at New Haven, hired the coach and quickly noticed his quirks, such as how he'd recite storied coach Vince Lombardi's "Number One" speech to his players every year. When Sparano was hired by the Dolphins, Chin watched his televised speech and noticed him push his glasses up with his thumb and forefinger. "I thought, Oh my God, you're still doing it the same way. Same old Tony."
It was during the New Haven era on the Friday before a Saturday game in New Jersey when Sparano realized his regular outfit was still at the dry cleaner's. He refused to wear anything else, so Jeanette drove back to Connecticut. She met the owner of the cleaner at 6:30 the next morning and then drove back, five hours roundtrip, and arrived with it just before the game.
Jeanette rolled her eyes while telling that story at the Dolphins training facility. About the same time not far away, Tony Sparano was explaining to reporters why practice lasted longer than scheduled that day. He said he wanted to make sure the team could get a play right, even if it meant staying late — something that rarely happens to Sparano's Dolphins.
Not long after taking the job last year, he timed how long it takes to walk from the practice field to the locker room so that every minute is accounted for. "To be honest with you," he said, "practice ran over about six minutes."
As the news conference ended, Jeanette stepped outside with the other wives. Sparano left the news conference and headed back upstairs, just missing her.
Two days later, on the Friday before the New England game, Sparano took time off from studying game tape to stop by a reunion of New Haven players at Hugh's Culinary, a catering facility in Oakland Park. About 70 of his former charges showed up to eat curried shrimp, beef tenderloin, and molten lava cake. Sparano and Jeanette stayed for about an hour. Last year, the New Haven alumni met up at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, and then Sparano had a few of them back to his house. It was like old times, except that now, the Sparanos live in a $1.7 million home in the gated Stone Brook Estates. But this year, there would be no afterparty on Friday; things weren't going as well this year for the Dolphins.
For Sparano, going out on a Friday is a luxury. In the offseason, he sees movies with Jeanette. They saw The Boys From Brazil with Gregory Peck on their first date. In season, though, it's rare — the last one was Saw IV in October.
The former New Haven players who attend the yearly dinner are Sparano disciples. Many are converts who initially thought him too conservative or eccentric. One of these is Dave Menard, who played defensive end for Sparano and now lives across the street from his old coach. Menard was a redshirt freshman the year Sparano took over, so he didn't travel with the team for its first loss of the season at Abilene Christian University in Texas. But he recalls that three days after the 27-16 loss, on a Tuesday, the players attended a mandatory four-hour study hall. Sparano walked in a few minutes late and randomly picked out six players, including Menard.
The coach ordered the six to walk outside with him. Sparano chewed gum like he was in a hurry, just as he always does. The players were dressed formally because they planned to hit the bars after study hall. They headed for a grassy hill nearby that was slick with mud.
Sparano then told the six to do up-downs — an exercise in which you jump to the ground, do a pushup, jump back up, jog in place, and repeat. Ten will wear you out; 20 will exhaust you. Sparano ordered them to do 100.
"Some of the guys didn't finish. Some of them threw up," Menard recalls. "Then he told us to go back inside. And we just sat there for the next three hours, covered in sweat and mud. Our clothes were ruined. I was just fuming."
Awhile later, Menard got the point: Every player would buy into Sparano's system or they all would suffer. "He broke me that day," Menard recalls. "I mean, he just broke me."
Other players bought in later, perhaps as a result of other torture. There were the 100-degree-plus days on the dusty practice field. Firefighters would come out and spray their hoses above the players as they worked. After days like that, Menard recalls kids quitting the program by sneaking out in the middle of the night. "We called them night riders. We'd wake up the next day and they'd be gone."
When Sparano talks football, it can seem like his only mood is bad. Mario Didino, who played offensive line at New Haven, recalls one team meeting after a loss when a player was goofing off in the back of the room. The coach stopped for a minute, looked at the kid, and then put his fist through the wall. "The whole place, you could hear a pin drop," Didino says. "I'm a big guy, six-four with spare change, and I was scared after that meeting."
Sparano also showed a softer side at New Haven. When the team played the rival Owls of Southern Connecticut State, Sparano dressed one of his assistant coaches in an owl outfit and sent him up to the roof of a building next to the practice field. He'd show up during practice, hooting around up there, recalls Jesse Showerda, who played quarterback. "You wouldn't know it looking at him in those press conferences, but [Sparano] really does have a sense of humor," Showerda says.
The night before road games, when New Haven was holed up in a hotel, Sparano showed movies to his players, often his favorite: Braveheart. When the team traveled for a game against University of California-Davis, Sparano assembled them the night before in a conference room. The players were expecting a movie, but instead Sparano turned off the lights. He said nothing for five minutes. Nobody talked. Finally, the coach launched into a speech about his favorite themes, which usually included this line: "I want to teach you football, but I also want to teach you to be a better man."
Menard recalls, "I can't imagine anything more inspirational. I'm getting goose bumps right now just talking about it."
At New Haven, Sparano developed his system of conservative play with occasional big gambles. For instance, the coach pulled something new for a playoff game against Edinboro University. It was a simple trap — where an offensive lineman drops back, tricking the defensive linemen into following him. The running back then bolts through the hole. New Haven had never run it before, so breaking it out in a big game was risky. "We ran that play five times, four of them for big gains, and two of them went for touchdowns," Showerda remembers. "That was just Sparano coming up with something to win."
They went on that year to play in the 1997 Division II college championship game. But 4,000-student New Haven, the smallest school to advance to the playoffs, lost 51-0 to Northern Colorado.
Sparano left in 1999 for the NFL, taking an assistant's job in Cleveland. It was another in a long list of unexpectedly big risks.
The skies were gray when Sparano trotted onto the field at Land Shark Stadium on December 6 for the game against New England. Support for the 5-6 Dolphins was waning, and there seemed to be more blue Patriots jerseys in the crowd of 70,102 than at most games when the Patriots come to town. Sparano, faced with the possibility of a lost season, decided to make what for him was a drastic change: Instead of the usual teal windbreaker, he donned a white jacket with orange trim and Dolphins across his chest in teal.
It didn't fit well and made his squat figure bell-shaped as he trotted the sideline carrying a laminated list of plays. As the game began, Sparano stood near the 30-yard line, away from the pack of players and coaches in the center of the field. Generally, he doesn't interact much with them during the game, but when things go wrong, he shouts to nobody. On this day, things went wrong often, particularly at the beginning of the game.
During the first half, Sparano kept his Dolphins entirely conservative. He ordered a screen pass on third and long. The team's two scoring drives included no wildcat plays, no Hail Mary passes by quarterback Chad Henne, and no double reverses. By halftime, they were down 21-10, and it seemed clear Sparano would need to take risks if he wanted to beat his division rival.
It wasn't the kind of performance expected from a man who for decades has pledged to be more prepared than the other coach. Dolphins tight end Anthony Fasano says Sparano will watch every detail of a play in practice, right down to a blocker not even near the ball, until it's run perfectly. "There are certain situations where he's going to take a risk," Fasano says. "But if he does, he knows it's because it works and it can win games."
Sparano joined the Browns in 1999 as the "offensive quality control" coach. It was a nebulous position without much authority, something many former college head coaches — who are often control freaks — might have difficulty accepting. But Menard, who joined the Browns that same year as a free agent, says Sparano embraced it. "People loved him in Cleveland," Menard recalls. "His integrity is everything, and people saw that."
Sparano spent the next eight years mostly in low-level positions in Cleveland, Washington, and Jacksonville. He landed in Dallas in 2003 as offensive line coach, and Cowboys general manager Bill Parcells immediately took a liking to his need for preparation. Sparano gave his players "homework" after each game. "You had to write up every player you were playing against," he says. "I don't care who it was. If the guy was coming out of the stands, you needed to know it, and you needed to put it on that card and tell me what his strengths and weakness are, then go back and fill in that card at the end of the ball game and tell me how he played you and you played him."
In 2008, the Dolphins brought in Parcells to run football operations, and he quickly hired Sparano to take over a team that had won just a game under head-coach bust Cam Cameron.
In the third contest of the season against the Patriots, Sparano's team surprised New England by running plays from the wildcat. Running back Ronnie Brown lined up where a quarterback usually stands. Williams lined up as a receiver, and so did quarterback Chad Pennington. Usually Brown ran straight up the middle, but sometimes he handed off to Williams, and occasionally he dropped back to pass. Brown scored four times from the wildcat against the confused Patriots defense, three running and one passing. It was the first time the wildcat had been used that frequently in the NFL, and it helped the Dolphins to a 38-13 upset that sparked an 11-5 season.
The Dolphins capped it all off with a win over the Jets to end the regular season atop the division. They were the first team in the NFL to go from a one-win season to the playoffs. The Dolphins went down 20-3 to Baltimore in the first round, but Sparano missed being named coach of the year by only one vote — quite a feat for a guy who, just a decade earlier, was at lowly Division II New Haven.
Fans loved him that year, and so did the players. His team talks about how he can hear a ball drop in practice while he's in the middle of another conversation and how he uses few words to get his point across. Dolphins safety Yeremiah Bell puts it this way: "He's got that Italian demeanor about him. He's fiery and right to the point."
This year, fans have had fewer reasons to love him. Going into the New England game, the Dolphins had an outside chance of making the playoffs. Losing would likely end any hopes.
In the locker room at halftime, Sparano had a simple message about finishing the job. It's a common theme. "He always says for us to play as if we're 17 again," says rookie cornerback Sean Smith. "Just go out like you did when you were a kid and have fun."
At the beginning of the second half, the Dolphins were six yards from the end zone when quarterback Chad Henne called a time-out. Sparano charged onto the field. He slapped his playlist and yelled at Henne: "What the fuck are you doing?"
On the next play, the Dolphins looked ready to run the ball. But Henne dropped back, and receiver Greg Camarillo sneaked across the field into the corner of the end zone with nobody around. Unfortunately the pass fell short.
Sparano put his hands on his hips and turned away, a look of disgust covering his face. He ordered a field goal; still, the Dolphins remained down, 21-13.
The Dolphins had a chance to close in with about three minutes left in the third quarter. Again, there was no risk-taking. Henne dropped back, unloaded, and hit receiver Brian Hartline. The Dolphins scored: 21-19.
Sparano then took one of those crazy risks. He sent the offense back out to go for two. The coach had figured something out: The Patriots had been leaving the left side of the end zone open. So he sent tight end Anthony Fasano there again. Henne aimed for him, but linemen got a hand on the ball, which bounced near no one.
Tom Brady was about to get the ball back with plenty of time left to effectively end the Dolphins' season and destroy Sparano's second year.
But neither team scored for much of the fourth quarter. With about three minutes left in the game, the Dolphins got a chance. Henne connected on a trio of long passes, and the Dolphins found themselves on the Patriots' 28-yard line — nearly close enough for a field goal that would have put them up by a point.
During a time-out, Sparano went over to talk to Henne. Take no chances was the message. Three running plays followed, and then kicker Dan Carpenter nailed a 41-yard field goal that gave the team a 22-21 lead.
With about a minute left and no time-outs, Brady threw the first ball to his running back waiting near the sideline for 11 yards. On the next play, Brady dropped back again. The Dolphins blitzed, and defensive end Jason Taylor snuck up behind Brady. He grabbed the quarterback by the ankles. Brady made one last desperate throw — his season too might be on the line. The pass floated. The Dolphins' Channing Crowder easily grabbed it.
Conservative Sparano had won. His decisions to avoid the wildcat offense and run down the clock near the end of the game suddenly looked brilliant.
At his postgame news conference, Sparano walked up to the podium wearing sunglasses and the white windbreaker. He looked just as disgruntled as ever and said simply: "Whaddaya got?"
In the back of the room, Jeanette stood next to her daughter Ryan and son Tony. Jeanette looked giddy, smiling widely and clenching her hands in front of her face.
The media pool of about 40, characteristically afraid of Sparano, mostly asked him about the game.
"I think the big push this week was just the amount of passion it takes," he responded. "We knew we were in the hump. We had to come out here, and we had to win a big ball game, and we did. We'll see where this thing goes."
Sparano also talked about salvaging a season. "We know that you are only as good as your last at bat," he said. "We just got a good one."
He then turned to leave, and his sunglasses slid down his nose. He used his thumb and forefinger to push them back up.
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A week later, the Dolphins pulled out another close win, over Jacksonville. Sparano's team largely skipped risky plays, and the wildcat offense was never employed in the 14-10 victory.
The following morning, this past Monday, Sparano met the press looking a bit haggard. Without his regular baseball hat, it was clear his hair had thinned considerably in his second year as coach. But the Dolphins are 7-6 now, with a decent shot at the playoffs.
Sparano answered questions somewhat more pleasantly than usual. Asked about the playoffs, he answered quickly. "There's too much football left for a lot of teams. There's still three games left for everybody," he said. "You really are in this little bunker right now. That's kind of where you need to be. You need to live here right now."
Afterward, Sparano headed back upstairs, likely to study the tapes in his dark office, where he'll spend most of his time for the next few weeks.

subset: commoncrawl


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MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. - This weekend the Georgia College & State University soccer program and head coach Juan Pablo Favero look to make an impact on the field as well as across the world, as the Bobcats host the second "Little Feet Friendlies". The four exhibition contests take place Saturday, April 18 at Bobcat Field. The public is invited to attend.
Georgia College will open and close the event, with games at 9:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. The two contests will mark the end of the Bobcats' spring season. Joining GCSU will be the Georgia Futbol Club (Lawrenceville, Ga.), Augusta Arsenal (Augusta, Ga.), Norcross Soccer (Norcross, Ga.), and College Experience (South Carolina).
The event is designed to promote Little Feet, an organization that distributes soccer balls to underprivileged children all over the world. For every soccer ball purchased through Little Feet, a ball is donated to a third-world country. To date, Little Feet has sent over 23,000 soccer balls across the globe.
The GCSU soccer program supports Little Feet, as the Bobcats became the first team in the Peach Belt Conference (PBC) to purchase all of its soccer balls through the organization. The Bobcats hope to spread the word about Little Feet in a big way this weekend, as members from the company will be on hand to speak with the soccer clubs in attendance.
The Bobcats are coming off the best season in program history, making their first trip to the NCAA Tournament, entering the NSCAA Division II National Poll and reaching as high as No. 19. Georgia College was 13-3-4 for the best winning percentage in school history.
Visit www.GCSUBobcats.com to nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GCSU Athletics Hall of Fame. The GCSU Department of Athletics sponsors 10 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, GCSU prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the Bobcats' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at Twitter.com username GCSUSID for up-to-the-minute reports.


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US stocks ended mostly higher today, with the S&P 500 closing at a record on Apple's bullish results, though Boeing weighed on the Dow and conflicts in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip kept the broader market's gains in check.
Biotech stocks ranked among the day's biggest gainers, boosted by some strong results and drug trial data. The Nasdaq Biotech index jumped 2.2 percent in its fourth straight day of gains.
Apple Inc gave one of the biggest lifts to the market, rising 2.6 percent to $97.19 as concerns faded about the iPhone maker's margins. Dow component Microsoft Corp rose 0.1 percent to $44.87 after the company said it aimed to get its money-losing Nokia phone unit to break even within two years.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 26.91 points or 0.16 percent, to end at 17,086.63. The S&P 500 gained 3.48 points or 0.18 percent, to close at 1,987.01, surpassing the record set on July 3. The Nasdaq Composite added 17.68 points or 0.4 percent, to 4,473.70.
While the S&P 500 ended at a record close, the Dow was kept under pressure by Boeing Co, which fell 2.3 percent to $126.71. The US aircraft maker reported a 52 percent jump in quarterly profit, but investors were spooked by rising costs in its military tanker program.
About 55 percent of stocks traded on the New York Stock Exchange closed higher while 47 percent of Nasdaq-listed shares ended in positive territory.
About 5.33 billion shares traded on all US platforms, according to BATS exchange data, compared with the month-to-date average of 5.55 billion.
Portugal's stock market outperformed other European bourses, rallying after investors bought stakes in the country's troubled lender Banco Espirito Santo.
Lisbon's benchmark PSI-20 equity index rose 1.7 percent, beating the 0.2 percent gains on the benchmark German and French markets, as investors took heart from late Tuesday news that two major U.S. institutions now held a combined 5 percent interest in BES.
BES has been hit by concerns about its exposure to the debts of its founding family, but the arrival of new investors sent shares in BES up by 14.4 percent.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which touched six-and-a-half year highs in June and early July, closed up by 0.1 percent at 1,375.69 points.
The FTSEurofirst 300 has retreated over the last week after a Malaysian passenger plane was shot down on July 17 over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine, where Kiev is struggling to quell a pro-Russian separatist rebellion, killing 298 people.
Meanwhile, Japan's Nikkei share average edged down in choppy trade as investors sought to avoid geopolitical risk such as the Gaza crisis, dragging down index-heavyweight SoftBank Corp and exporters such as Honda Motor Co.
The Nikkei ended 0.1 percent lower to 15,328.56. The broader Topix dropped 0.1 percent to 1,272.39, while the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 was also down 0.1 percent at 11,587.07.


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WASHINGTON, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Campaign finance reports named some of the names behind the deluge of ads that are part of the Republican presidential primaries.
Third-party super political action committees, known as super PACs, were mostly anonymous as voters were bombarded with television ads in early primary and caucus states for weeks, but Tuesday's midnight Federal Election Commission deadline for campaign finance reports offered a glimpse of who's behind the efforts, USA Today reported Wednesday.
Filings revealed Dallas businessman Harold Simmons donated $5 million to American Crossroads, and Simmons' company, Contran, donated $2 million.
Simmons also backed super PAC Winning Our Future that supports former House speaker Newt Gingrich, donating $500,000 in December to the group, filings indicated.
Strong America Now super PAC, which supports Gingrich, was funded solely by $101,000 from Mike George, a Dallas management consultant, FEC documents said.
Wyoming investor Foster Friess supported two super PACs -- the Leaders for Families Super PAC and Red White and Blue Fund -- that back former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, documents indicated.
Comedian Stephen Colbert, who started his own PAC to point up lax campaign finance laws, raised more than $1 million as of Monday.
A group of high-tech executives, including PayPal co-founder and Facebook investor Peter Thiel, supported U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas through the Endorse Liberty super PAC. Thiel contributed $900,000 in December, FEC documents indicated.
President Obama's campaign disclosed Tuesday the names of 446 individuals and couples who raised at least $74.4 million for his re-election through "bundling" contributions from family, friends and business associates, USA Today said.
Bundlers represented slightly more than half of the $139 million Obama raised in 2011.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign raised the most among Republicans in 2011 with $57.1 million. Paul raised $26.1 million, Gingrich collected $12.7 million, and Santorum raised $2.2 million.


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Shane Dawson needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 121 designs submitted by 48 freelance designers.
We are looking for a simple, bold design. It should use dark blue, gray, silver to compliment the colors in our website, http://www.dawsondisantis.com.
Dawson & Disantis, LLC
Desired Color Scheme:
Blue, grays, silver
Accepted File Formats:
Standard Web Formats (.jpg, .gif or .png)
The winning design needs to be bold and convey strength and inspire confidence in clients. Our firm is a small boutique specializing in employment and workers' compensation defense. Our clients are almost exclusively employers of every size, from huge multinational corporations to small, local, "mom & pop" companies. We pride ourselves on providing clients with highly effective legal defense that strives to be efficient and watch out for the clients bottom line.
The colors should use blue, gray and silver in keeping with the website colors. Keep in mind, this is a law firm, not a night club or even a retailer. Our clients want to feel that their attorneys are smart, more than just competent to look out for their best interests. Our logo needs to say that.Â
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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Small Single Beds
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© 2015 Haskins Furniture. HFSM - Haskins Furniture Shepton Mallet,
64 High Street, Shepton Mallet, Somerset BA4 5AX. HFSM all rights reserved.
Please note that images are for illustrative purposes only.
Haskins Furniture ® is a registered trademark under UK No. 00003058167


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Psigate payment gateway
Shopify supports Psigate to accept payments in Canada
PSiGate doesn't believe in one-size-fits-all, which is why this payment gateway offers customizable and scalable options to merchants. It's best known for secure and real-time transactions, recurring billing, top reliability and a fully hosted payments page. You've chosen PSiGate as your preferred payment gateway but now you need to integrate it with your online Shopify store. Have no fear. The process is fast, easy and hassle-free and the Shopify team is here to help you every step of the way. Soon you'll be accepting credit card payments and shipping orders to customers.
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Saffron on the Park brings a rare level of prestige, style, and sound investment potential to this fast-growing Richmond location. These high-quality one to three bedroom craftsman-style homes are accented by European influences, and beautifully crafted for an ideal home life. Created by Ledingham McAllister û a BC builder with a celebrated 100-year history of quality û the community will raise the bar for the entire area.
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Hope on the horizon for Houston
Bevy of young stars look primed to brighten the Astros' future
By Zack Cox / Special to MLB.com | November 8, 2012 5:32 AM
Though the Astros again finished at the bottom of the standings in the Majors in 2012, the club's farm system underwent a drastic transformation. Six of Houston's eight Minor League affiliates finished .500 or better this season, with three advancing to the postseason just one year after the organization didn't have a single winning record.
Class A Advanced Lancaster carried the torch, posting a 74-66 regular-season record and riding a punishing offensive attack to the franchise's first California League championship. Corpus Christi (81-59) and Tri-City (51-25) both won their respective divisions before being eliminated in the semifinals, with the short-season ValleyCats setting a single-season club record for wins. Oklahoma City (78-65) missed the playoffs in the Pacific Coast League by a mere 1 1/2 games and Class A Lexington -- which finished an even 69-69 -- played host to one of the best pitching performances of the year, with right-hander Chris Devenski striking out 16 Rome Braves en route to a no-hitter on Sept. 1.
Houston has also seen the emergence of a new crop of young talent in recent months. This season there was a total turnover in the Organization All-Stars -- a list that features five of the Astros' top 20 prospects.
Astros Organization All-Stars
Catcher -- Tyler Heineman, Tri-City (55 games): Drafted in the eighth round out of UCLA in June, the switch-hitting backstop had no trouble adjusting to pro ball. Part of a potent ValleyCats lineup, Heineman led all New York-Penn League hitters in batting average (.358) and ranked second in on-base percentage (.452).
While his offensive production turned heads in his debut season, scouts feel that Heineman's greatest value lies in his skills behind the plate. The 21-year-old excelled in that department as well for Tri-City, throwing out 13 of 19 potential base stealers.
First base -- Jonathan Singleton, Corpus Christi (131 games): The Astros' No. 1 prospect lived up to his billing in his first full season with the organization, putting up solid power numbers while racking up numerous league and national accolades.
The top offensive performer on a Corpus Christi team that was the best-hitting squad in the Texas League, Singleton placed in the top five in the circuit in total bases (229), walks (88) and OPS (.893) while slugging 21 home runs with 79 RBIs -- all four were career highs. A Texas League All-Star and 2012 Futures Game participant, the 21-year-old also garnered Player of the Week honors in the Arizona Fall League, batting .292 with two homers and five RBIs in his first five games for the Mesa Solar Sox.
Honorable mention: Zachary Johnson
Second base -- Delino DeShields Jr., Lexington (111 games), Lancaster (24 games): Had it not been for Billy Hamilton's historic season on the basepaths, the Astros' Minor League Player of the Year would have been the Minors' stolen base king. The speedy leadoff man swiped 101 bases during the regular season but also showed that he brings much more to the table than just quick feet .
After tearing up the South Atlantic League (hitting .298 with 10 home runs, 52 RBIs and 83 steals in 111 games with Lexington), Houston's No. 5 prospect played a key role in Lancaster's run to the California League championship. DeShields' six hits, five runs and four stolen bases in the three-game championship series earned him Finals MVP honors as the JetHawks outscored Modesto, 21-8.
Honorable mention: Jimmy Paredes
Third base -- Matt Duffy, Lexington (134 games): After a strong debut season with Tri-City, the big third baseman found his power stroke in 2012. The Tennessee product blasted a team-high 16 home runs for Lexington (after hitting just two in 63 games with the ValleyCats) while hitting .280 and ranking second on the team with 70 RBIs.
The 23-year-old's finest performance of the season was overshadowed by an even more outstanding feat. Duffy went 3-for-5 with two home runs, five RBIs and three runs scored on Sept. 1 -- the same day his teammate Devenski threw a 16-strikeout no-hitter that earned the Fans' Choice MiLBY Award for Game of the Year.
Shortstop -- Angel Sanchez, Oklahoma City (107 games): After spending all of 2011 in the Majors, the 12-year veteran returned to Triple-A this season and proceeded to put up some of the best numbers of his career. Sanchez's .320 average -- good for third in the organization -- and .390 on-base percentage were career bests, as was his .797 OPS.
George Springer, Lancaster (106 games), Corpus Christi (22 games): Judging by his performance in 2012, it's surprising to realize Springer had played just eight professional games prior to this year. The Astros' No. 3 prospect and 11th overall pick in the 2011 Draft homered and drove in five runs on Opening Day for Lancaster. He went on to lead the JetHawks' high-powered offensive attack in his first full season, hitting .316 with 22 homers and 82 RBIs before earning a promotion to Double-A in August.
Springer also showed a prowess on the basepaths, ranking fourth among Astros Minor Leaguers with 32 stolen bases across two levels. The Cal League All-Star joined Singleton in this year's Arizona Fall League, where he has hit .400 through 15 games with an OPS of .804.
Domingo Santana, Lancaster (119 games): Patrolling the outfields of the Cal League with Springer, Santana introduced himself with authority in his first full year in the Astros organization. The 20-year-old discovered his power potential, ranking in the system's top five in home runs (24), RBIs (97) and triples (six) -- all career highs.
Houston acquired the 6-foot-5 right fielder from the Phillies last July in the trade that also brought in Singleton and top pitching prospect Jarred Cosart in exchange for two-time All-Star Hunter Pence.
Brandon Barnes, Corpus Christi (44 games), Oklahoma City (62 games): Barnes had a disappointing campaign last year after earning an Organization All-Star nod in 2010. But the eight-year veteran rebounded to have the best season of his career, hitting .321 between Double-A and Triple-A and earning his first September callup.
Spending the bulk of his time in center field, Barnes began his season with a torrid April, earning two consecutive Texas League Player of the Week honors. He went 11-for-18 with seven RBIs and six runs scored over a four-game span from April 10-14, then 8-for-14 with three homers, nine RBIs and six runs scored over another four-game stretch just a week later. The 26-year-old did not miss a beat after his promotion to Oklahoma City, hitting .323 with 10 multi-RBI games -- including a season-best five-RBI performance on July 18.
Barnes is spending his offseason in the Venezuela Winter League, where he's hit .291 with three home runs and 13 RBIs in his first 20 games.
Designated hitter -- Erik Castro, Lancaster (128 games): Along with the Singleton, the best pure power hitter in the Astros farm system is probably the 24-year-old Castro, who put up career highs in every major offensive category in his third professional season. Castro's 27 homers and 108 RBIs ranked third and first respectively among players in the system. These numbers also put the San Diego State product in the top three in both categories in the California League -- a notoriously hitter-friendly circuit.
Castro was among the league leaders in walks as well with 78, but he's still looking to cut down on his strikeouts. His 168 K's were second-most in the organization.
A 10th-round Draft pick in 2009, Castro started 66 games at first base this season but is not known for his defensive prowess. Fortunately for him, the Astros' impending move to the American League means they will require the services of a designated hitter beginning in 2013.
Right-handed starting pitcher -- Mike Foltynewicz, Lexington (27 games): Houston's third-ranked pitching prospect came into his own in his second stroll through the Sally League, posting a 14-4 record with a 3.14 ERA that earned him the circuit's Most Outstanding Pitcher honors as well as recognition as the Minor League Pitcher of the Year within the organization. The Astros selected Foltynewicz out of high school in 2009 (19th overall), and the 21-year-old showed great improvement in his third professional season, lowering his ERA by nearly two runs (from 4.97 in 2011) and racking up a career-high 125 strikeouts.
The gem of his season came on June 3, when the right-hander allowed one run on one hit over a season-high eight innings in a win over Rome.
Honorable mention: Nick Tropeano, Aaron West
Left-handed starting pitcher -- Brian Holmes, Tri-City (13 games): Tri-City boasted the best pitching staff in the system with four starters posting sub-3.00 ERAs. Holmes was the top southpaw in the ValleyCats rotation, finishing 7-4 with a 2.57 ERA in his first season in the Minors. Opponents hit just .165 against the 6-foot-4 Wake Forest product, who was chosen in the 13th round of June's Draft.
Holmes nearly etched his name in the New York-Penn League record books on July 27 when, in his seventh pro start, he retired the first 18 Hudson Valley batters he faced before allowing a single to open the seventh -- the only blemish in a one-hit shutout.
Relief pitcher -- Jason Stoffel, Corpus Christi (56 games): Stoffel was dominant out of the bullpen for the Hooks, converting a Texas League-best 27 of 29 save opportunities while also leading the circuit in batting average against (.196) and baserunners per nine innings (9.16). After two seasons with an ERA above 4.50, the right-hander lowered his mark to 2.33 in 2012 and did not allow a run in his final nine appearances, scattering two hits over nine innings while picking up five saves and a win.
Zack Cox is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues or its clubs.View More


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Inspired by the timeless silhouette, combines a durable heathered fabric with our signature repurposed billboard material. Shoulder straps include a small 'hint' of billboard material to fit your style.
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This is a big step forward in terms of protection from any Cross Site Scripting attack - and potentially other browser based attacks - ensuring that even if one occurred, each page could control exactly what pages it can talk to so that there is no possibility of data leakage resulting from the attack.
This has been eye-opening as we've implemented it. It has a reporting infrastructure built in so you can see exactly what requests are being blocked. We've already seen over a dozen unique bookmarklets caught in our CSP blocking net.
Does this mean the end of bookmarklets? Any site with sensitive data will ultimately implement CSP, making even our own bookmarlet for logging in obsolete. Now is the time to start requesting browsers support overrides to the CSP to keep your favorite bookmarklets working everywhere.
Today, CSP is only deployed on Firefox 4, but the LastPass extension should support it on a number of other browsers in our next release.
We haven't fully locked down our CSP yet; today we're allowing every page from LastPass.com to talk to LastPass.com, but soon we'll lock this down further so that https://LastPass.com/?securitychallenge=1 can ONLY talk to https://LastPass.com/?securitychallenge=1, which will be another big step forward.


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Rochas Review | Fashion Week 2013
Rochas Fall 2013
Rochas Fall 2013
Marco Zanini clearly had volume and proportion on his mind when he designed Rochas's Fall 2013 collection. The offering, which came down a staircase and then down a runway in Paris on Wednesday, was filled with generous circle skirts, oversize outerwear, and jackets so big they had to be cinched in with wide belts to create a waist.
See the entire collection here.
That doesn't mean this collection was shapeless, though. In fact, perhaps one of the strongest statements Zanini made was about how clothes can change a woman's figure — like the enlarged hourglass shape he created with a Prince of Wales check blazer and circle skirt. Some of the looks were quite tailored, like a brown blazer paired with cropped maroon trousers and a turtleneck, while others resembled luxurious pajamas layered underneath robe-like coats.


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John McCain's VP Governor Sarah Palin hasn't lost the election yet, but she did lose the 1984 Miss Alaska pageant to Maryline Blackburn, coming in second.
According to her website, Maryline "is a singer with a wide spectrum of performing experiences." Maybe she'll perform at the RNC in St. Paul on Monday.


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Phone: (570) 429-0678
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Specifications subject to change without notice. Honda's fuel economy estimates are based on EPA exhaust emission measurement test procedures and are intended for comparison purposes only. Your actual mileage will vary depending on how you ride, how you maintain your vehicle, weather, road conditions, tire pressure, installation of accessories, cargo, rider and passenger weight, and other factors. Suggested Retail Price (SRP) excludes destination charge. Visit powersports.honda.com to view applicable destination charge amount.
The Right Bike For A Great Start.
So much in life depends on getting a great start. A good education. A caring family environment. Establishing solid values early on. We're all going to learn our lessons, but it's critical what lessons we learn. So if you're looking for the right dirtbike to get a young rider started right, go with the proven choice: a Honda CRF50F.
Lesson one: You need to put your young rider on a bike that fits. The CRF50F is our smallest model, and we have plenty of other models in our lineup so he or she can have the right bike as they grow.
Lesson number two: Go with quality. The CRF50F offers up an ideal combination of features: Its tough, reliable four-stroke engine develops smooth, easy-to-use power. Its three-speed transmission uses an automatic clutch, so a rider learns to shift, but never has to worry about stalling. Its tough suspension stands up to youthful enthusiasm.
Lesson number three: Responsibility. The CRF50F offers an adjustable throttle limiter and a keyed ignition. That means you control who rides, when, and how much power they have on tap.
And here's a final thought. At the end of the day, your kids will remember their first motorcycle forever. Make sure it's a good memory. And there's no better way to make those good memories than by putting them on a Honda CRF50F.
Be A Responsible Rider: All parents need to consider their youngsters' age, size, ability and maturity before allowing them to ride. Obtain a copy of "Off-Road Safety Tips" from your local Honda Dealer.
Honda's Famous Reliability: If there's ever a bike that needs a durable, reliable, low-maintenance engine, it's a bike like this. And nobody can match Honda's reputation for trouble-free operation.
Take Control: Parents understand the needs of younger riders like nobody else. That's why the CRF50F has a parent-friendly adjustable throttle limiter, so you can decide how much power your rider can use. It's simple for you to adjust too.
Making Your Life Easier: The CRF50F's automatic clutch makes learning easier, because young riders never have to worry about stalling or a handlebar-mounted clutch lever. They just shift gears with their foot when they're ready.


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Pocket-sized PDAs can help you run your business from the job-site.
At the recent National Electrical Contractors Association trade show in Seattle, personal digital assistants (PDAs) were front and center. Many attendees and exhibitors were using these devices on the show floor, and several vendors were promoting business software products designed specifically to help electrical contractors get the most out of their PDAs on the job site.
The most basic features of a PDA include contact management, scheduling, rudimentary word processing and spreadsheet functions. But many of these units now offer Web access, e-mail and project management capabilities.
For instance, one NECA vendor introduced a full suite of mobile computing software that can be run on PDAs. Seattle-based Dexter + Chaney, unveiled its Forefront Payroll for Palm, which allows project managers and other field personnel to enter labor, payroll, equipment and production data at the job site. The software also has a daily productivity report that keeps project managers posted on job progress.
PDAs aren't cheap - they can cost anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to more than $1,000. More expensive PDAs have additional storage capacity, built-in modems and more on-board software; the less expensive models usually just have a contact manager, scheduler and basic word processing programs.
When shopping for a PDA, you must first decide how you want to use the device. If all you really want to do is keep track of phone numbers, appointments and a to-do list, don't buy the most expensive PDA on the market. But if you want to browse the Web and stay connected to the office via e-mail while you are on the job-site, you will have to invest in a unit equipped with a modem or buy a modem as an accessory.
Modems open up a whole world of possibilities. With the wireless communication that PDAs can offer, you can send purchase orders to suppliers, update time sheets and keep track of office e-mail without having to stop by the office or home.
Before buying a PDA, spend some time on the ZDNet Web site. Just type in "PDA" in the Search Tool and you will find a wonderful treasure trove of useful information provided by Computershopper.com. PDAs have several key features that you should learn about before making a purchase: data synchronization capabilities, communications, and data manipulation, Web access and e-mail capabilities, handy accessories, rechargeable batteries and screen quality. Here is a brief summary of these features:
Synchronizing data. To ensure that the data on your PDA matches similar data on your office computer such as your address book, calendar or to-do list, you will have to synchronize data. All PDAs "sync" data. To do this, you connect the PDA through a docking cradle to the PC's serial port.
Communications. You can communicate with PDAs by using standard telephone-line modems, wireless modems, and networks. As mentioned earlier, only more sophisticated models are sold with internal modems as a standard feature. You also must check to see if the PDA you want to buy comes with the necessary software to browse the Web or send and receive e-mail.
Manipulating data. You can write short notes, list expenses and do other simple word processing tasks, but don't depend on a PDA to handle major word processing or spreadsheet work. PDAs come with a stylus, enabling you to "type in" letters on the PDA's onscreen keyboard. You can also use the handwriting-recognition option, where you write letters onto the PDA screen using the stylus.
Web access. Don't expect full-featured Web browsing with PDAs just yet. Most devices are limited to basic Web browsing of text-only versions of content. The small screens will also make extensive Web surfing difficult.
Accessories. If you are going to be a "power user" with your PDA, you may want to look into purchasing extra memory, according to Computershopper.com. The magazine's Web site said that internal RAM expansion can cost a great deal, as much as $50 per megabyte with some designs, but generally about $20 to $25 per megabyte. Other useful accessories include additional docking stations/battery chargers, extra rechargeable-batteries, protective cases, external keyboards, barcode readers and extra styluses.
Screen quality. When shopping for PDAs, make sure you buy a unit that has a good-quality screen. In this sense, buying a PDA is much like buying a personal computer: If you can't easily read the screen in the store, or if it's too dim or doesn't fit enough data, you will not enjoy using the PDA. Try to check out the readability of the screen in daylight because you will be using your PDA outdoors much of the time.
Rechargeable batteries. Most handhelds come with rechargeable nickel-cadmium, nickel metal-hydride, and lithium-ion batteries; they also run on AC current with an AC adapter.
Like any other type of consumer electronics equipment, PDA manufacturers are continually adding new features. Industry experts believe that built-in wireless modems will be a standard feature in a year or two. They also think some units will add telephone and pager features in the near future.
PDAs aren't for everyone because of their relatively high price. But they definitely have found a place on the job site with electrical contractors who aren't afraid of relying on an electronic device to help themselves become more organized, run the business from the field and communicate with office staff, electrical distributors, general contractors and other members of the electrical community.


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As a life coach, I help people figure out not only what they want most, but what they need to let go of to discover who they really are. To do this, I use what I like to call the "Michelangelo method," based on a story about the famous sculptor. Legend has it that when Michelangelo finished the statue of David, a local patron of the arts, awestruck by the work, asked how he did it. The artist responded simply, "David was always there in the marble. I just took away everything that was not David." By using a similar approach to clutter clearing, we end up with more than a tidier, well-organized home; we get a clearer idea of who we are now and who we're becoming.
With warmer weather fueling the natural drive to spring clean, there's no time like the present to start chipping away at the "stuff" -- in your closets, your drawers, your attic, and so on -- that may be holding you back from the life you really want. On the following pages, I'm going to help you go room by room to figure out what's important and what's not, what you really need (that one great suit) and what you don't (those beads you got in Jamaica), what makes you feel heavy and draggy (that god-awful coat), and what makes you feel light and upbeat (your favorite green bag).
Sound exhausting? It won't be. With a little effort, focus, and the right approach, you can chisel your way through all the extraneous marble that stands in the way of your very best self. Are you ready? Let's roll up our sleeves and start on your plan for clearing out the old and bringing in the new -- one step, one decision at a time.
What You Need
- Sturdy garbage bags and cardboard boxes (To start things off, label one "trash," one "donations," and one "sell." Designate another for old threadbare towels and T-shirts that you can use for cleaning.)
- A box of gallon-sized Ziploc bags to store single items for giveaway or small items like jewelry
- Masking tape to seal boxes or bags, mend tears, and secure notes to the bags or boxes
- A pad of medium-sized sticky notes to label your bags
- A waterproof marker
What Do You Want to Look Like?
Since who you are begins with how you see yourself, the place to start spring cleaning is your bedroom. After all, that's where you keep the clothes, jewelry, and accessories that collectively represent your identity to the world. How would you describe your style? What would you like to change or update? Finding (or in some cases, reinventing) your best self begins with identifying the "you" that you want to present to the world -- and that involves clearing out the clutter. You can always revisit some old looks later if the spirit moves you. But right now, we're moving forward.
Go for the Low-Hanging Fruit
We all have things that we know we don't want anymore but simply haven't taken the time to purge. What obvious clothing items, handbags, or dated cosmetics have to go? Start with unused or broken costume jewelry (if you haven't found the other earring, you probably won't anytime soon), mismatched or matchless socks and gloves, company shirts and hats from your last job, and shoes that haven't seen the light of day in a year. Gather up these things and put them in a pile.
Do a Wardrobe Walk-Through
Now peel away the next layer. Open all your drawers again and examine the clothes, shoes, and accessories you find there. Be honest: What do you tend to pass over (and as a result, haven't worn in years)? What no longer serves a real purpose in your life? What about those dated suits? Or those too-small sweaters your sister-in-law keeps giving you for Christmas? How do some of the items make you feel? We can't all run out and buy a new wardrobe, but we can gradually edit out the stuff that no longer makes us feel good. Identify these things and add them to the pile.
Sort It Out
Look at what you've purged and decide where it will all go. Mark boxes destined for Goodwill, reusing (old socks make great dusters), passing along (your friend Susie might like that old bracelet), or the trash, and sort the piles accordingly. Put shoes, old jewelry, and small accessories into boxes or Ziploc bags, and label everything with your sticky notes and waterproof pen. To avoid having the boxes sit around (more clutter!), go, right now, and deliver them to their respective destinations.
What Are You Hanging On To
Attics (or basements or any other storage area) are bittersweet places. That's why we spend years talking about how we have to go up there and throw stuff out but somehow never get around to it. The attic houses things we don't otherwise know what to do with, such as old mattresses and box springs, fading photographs, and mementos. But it's not just simple clutter; it's also chock-full of memories, items that call up good times and bad, all of which elicit emotions. Clearing out the clutter comes down to deciding why you're keeping what's there.
Keep the Good Vibes, Chuck the Bad
House only the positive memories. Anything that reminds you of a difficult or negative experience or a time when you felt bad has to go. I don't care how valuable it is. What we surround ourselves with -- even if it's stashed way up in the attic -- influences our thinking.
Give Each Item the Three-Question Test
Do you really love it? Do you need it now? Can you imagine yourself or anyone in your family ever loving or needing it in the foreseeable future? If you can't answer yes to any one of these questions, sell it, donate it, or recycle it.
Stem the Flow Stop clutter before it happens by checking yourself the next time you go in there to stash something new. Ask those same three questions. If it doesn't pass the test, rather than bring it up the stairs (or down), turn around and take it to the curb, where someone else can pick it up.
Kick the "Shoulds"
While it can be difficult to fight those voices telling you to hold on to things (especially the one that sounds a lot like your mother's), giving in to the notion of what other people think won't do your decluttering efforts any good. If you feel yourself caving under advice to keep that old, saggy bed or splintery shelf, dig in your heels and don't look back. Out it goes -- to someplace where it will enjoy a fuller life than it would have in your attic.
What Do You Want to Do
Desk clutter can prove physically and mentally overwhelming. Sure, you need a place to put bills, but your desk is also mission control for your life and your career. How much of this stuff has anything to do with who you are now and who you're becoming?
This is where your "brand" comes in. When you know who you are at your core and what distinguishes you, you can more easily let go of the stuff that no longer "fits." What's your brand's promise? What do you love doing, and what are you committed to delivering every time? Maybe it's your ability to come up with fresh ideas, to connect with people, or to solve the unsolvable. Anything and everything that doesn't fit with that description is ripe for the decluttering bins -- both mental and physical.
Clear the Decks
Start with the surfaces. What's taking up precious real estate that you don't need or even use regularly? Try removing everything and putting back only the must-haves, such as your pens, a pad of paper, your datebook, checkbook, calculator, stamps, and so on. Take a fresh look at the tchotchkes and photographs -- even the container you keep your pens in. If you no longer like them, share them with people who could use them, or post them on craigslist.org or freecycle.com to find others who want them.
Chip Away at What Isn't You
Next, look beyond your desktop. Go through each shelf and drawer and remove absolutely everything that detracts from your brand or drags you back to some old idea of yourself. This includes old files you haven't looked at in years; half-done projects you've lost interest in; books you never read and don't plan on reading. Let it all go -- straight into the recycling bin.
Streamline Your Records
Of course, some paperwork needs to stay: bank statements (only what you need for tax purposes); bills (one year); credit-card records (seven years); pay stubs (one year; then shred once you've received your W-2 form); tax returns and records (seven years). But feel okay with shredding the rest.
Go Digital
Consider reducing paper overload by digitally scanning and storing important documents, which ensures that they're accessible and safe (and out of the way). Check out sift sort.com, just one of a few companies that digitize your important documents and give you easy online access.
How Do You Want to Feel?
I believe we are what we surround ourselves with. And that goes for our bathrooms, which are jammed with things that may influence us in less-than-healthy ways. Take a look inside your medicine cabinet. Chances are you'll find some very old personal-care products and dried-out tubes of over-the-counter drugs whose expiration dates have long since passed. It doesn't seem healthful -- physically or mentally -- to keep this stuff around. Who wants to be reminded of old ailments?
So you have to decide whether you need to keep these things "just in case," or if you intend to be well and not need them again. If you actually intend to be well, then decide, right here, right now, how you're going to create that reality.
Check the Dates
After their expiration dates have passed, certain medications (both prescription and over-the-counter) may lose their potency and no longer work. Anything that's quite visibly old (crusty, sticky, oozing) should go. Don't flush pills down the toilet, as this could contaminate the water supply; ask your pharmacist about how to dispose of them properly.
Determine What Purpose It Serves
If you take those supplements daily or use the products every morning, you know they're worth keeping. But what about the Ace bandage from your knee surgery five years ago? Same goes for the gauze you took home from the hospital. If you don't need it anymore, pass it on to someone who does. Some charities and shelters accept hospital-supply donations. Call your local groups to find out more. If it's used or otherwise unfit for donation, then recycle or repurpose.
Tackle the Beauty Goo
Don't overlook the rest of your bathroom drawers and cabinet. Ditch the dried-up cans of hair spray, the used-up lipsticks, and old beauty tools (brushes, combs, and so on). Note, too, that some makeup, especially liquids and gels, can develop bacteria once exposed to air (particularly anything you use your hands to apply). Who wants a petri dish in her bathroom?
Host a Party
One fun way to get rid of cosmetics and other personal-care items you've never used is to invite your friends over for a beauty swap. Ask everyone to bring their unused or barely used items (the wrong color lipstick, perfume samples), and shop for free -- all while giving good products new homes.
Let Go Of...
Unhealthy Assumptions
We really do underestimate the power of our intentions. If we intend to be well, then we have to create that reality. What notions do you have about your health? Do you assume you'll never lose those last 10 pounds? That you'll throw your back out again? Write down all the things that stand in the way of your well-being, and let them go.
Feelings of Inadequacy
Let go of the overwhelming tendency to compare yourself with others. In fact, forget the phrase "as good as" altogether. Decide to appreciate who you are and what you contribute to the people and the world around you.
Old Regrets and Mistakes
We've all had those middle-of-the-night moments when we castigate ourselves for not knowing better, not trying harder, not being perfect. Throw out the word "perfect." You can't succeed big time if you're not willing to fail -- big time. Spend all your energy reliving things that didn't work, and you'll have no energy for finding new ways to be fulfilled.
The Need to Feel Secure
We all have those times when we don't know where we're headed or who we are. But you can't grow if you stay in your comfort zone. Step into the unknown. Release your need for guarantees. Your life will evolve into something better than you can imagine, if you give it half a chance.
Decluttering 1, 2, 3
How do you decide what to throw out? Keep these three key guidelines in mind:
1. If it (the pair of shoes, the hat, the picture, the memory) weighs you down, clogs you up, or just plain makes you feel bad about yourself, throw it out, give it away, sell it, let it go, and move on.
2. If it just sits there, taking up room and contributing nothing positive to your life, let it go. If you're not moving forward, you're moving backward.
3, If you agonize over it for too long, throw it out. Don't make the decision -- whether to toss it or keep it -- a hard one.


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Kiwis craft first iPod-integrating bed
What do you give the iPod owner who has everything? An opportunity to listen to their favourite digital music player while they sleep with none of that tangled-in-the-duvet earphone misery, that's what. And now you can, courtesy of New Zealand bed maker Design Mobel. The company's Pause bed incorporates not only an iPod dock, but a pair of Bose speakers and - just for the truly media obsessive - a built-in LCD TV.
The bed is sprung in two sections to ensure what's called "minimal partner disturbance" and fabricated using "non-toxic natural manufacturing processes" from "crafted from sustainable New Zealand Rimu with aluminium detailing". Design Mobel will also fit "minimalist side lamps and aluminium storage trays" if you fancy.
Just so you know where these folk are coming from, here's what the Pause's designer, Dan Gillingham, has to say about it: "In designing Pause we explored the notion of 'rest' (whether it be while awake or through sleep) and how we choose to create our own personal bedroom space. In doing so, the conceptual design of Pause aimed to challenge the conventional definition of the bedroom environment."
The Pause is available through the local Bedpost chain and a number of independent stores, and in Australia through Capt'n Snooze. Design Mobel said folk overseas should get in touch directly for pricing and shipping costs. Rimu wood doesn't come cheap, mind, Vulture Central's antipodes correspondent points out, and with the LCD TV integrated into the foot, you'll need a large room to put it in, too. ®
Thanks to Reg Hardware reader Brendan for the tip.


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Are you one of those who always ask about the availability of a Windows Phone 7.x version of a particular app? One quick way to stop worrying about whether or not an app works is to make the jump to Windows Phone 8. There are inexpensive paths like the Nokia Lumia 520. But if you're yearning for a device with slightly higher specs you might want to take advantage of the following deal for the Samsung ATIV S.
Over at Expansys USA, they're selling an unlocked 16GB version of the ATIV S. It's a device that we really loved when we reviewed it, but we just wish Samsung put a little more effort into marketing the device to consumers. Instead, the limelight was really split between the HTC 8X and Nokia Lumia 920 when Windows Phone 8 launched last year. Either way, Expansys is selling it flat out for $259.99.
It's a solid device and not a bad price at all. In fact it could be considered a steal.
Grab the deal at the link below. Have a Samsung ATIV S? Sound off below with the pros and cons of the device to help your fellow readers out.
Source: Expansys USA
Thanks for the tip Tumultus!


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Just FYI, the minimum charge is annual, not monthly. On my true up statement I have a Minimum Charge Adjustment credit for all the months I had a minimum charge.drees wrote:100% sure, I'm looking at my SDG&E NEM Summary right now - I also true-up in May. There is a "Minimum Charge Adjustment" line which covers the months where my system generated enough energy that I had a net credit (thank to TOU rates, I generated a credit despite being a net consumer of electricity. Those periods are billed at the minimum rate of $0.17/day. My Minimum Charge Adjustment for the year will be about $31.philip wrote:Are you sure about that? If you consumed $120 over the course of a year, any minimum charges that accrued should be wiped out at true up. I'm not 100% sure on this, as i am only going off what I have read over at solarpaneltalk. My true up is in May, waiting to see what happens there.drees wrote:But even at 90% overall, you still get stuck with the minimum charge in the months you overproduce, which is about half the year.
Now, you can have your minimum bill offset if your system generates more energy annually than you use. That energy is credited regardless at a rate of something like $0.04 / kWh. If you generate enough to offset your minimum bill, you can ask for a check.