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In our second installment of the 3-on-3 series we'll be examining Nene's impact on the future of the Nuggets organization now that he has re-signed. Tom Ley, author of our recent Fan Mail feature on J.R. Smith, is back again after being the quickest to respond on Twitter to our request for someone to participate in this week's 3-on-3. If you want to participate next time be sure and follow all of us on Twitter! And as always, don't be shy to participate by giving your personal responses to the following questions in the comments section below! (more…)
Updated: Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post has broken the story. A trade involving the Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves has finally been completed.
It is a done deal in principle, with minor details to be worked out following a conference call with NBA offices tomorrow. Details are known, but minor parameters such as draft pick protections could be subject to change by then.
The Nuggets have traded Melo, Chauncey, Shelden Williams, Renaldo Balkman, and Anthony Carter to New York. They will receive Wilson Chandler, Danilo Gallinari, Raymond Felton, and Timofey Mozgoz in exchange plus draft picks. Of the included picks are New Yorks 2014 first rounder, which pending lottery protections could go to Houston in multiple scenarios, which means this pick could turn into the "first available" number one pick that New York can send out if not conveyed to Houston by 2014. Via New York, Denver also receives second round picks in 2012 and 2013 from the Golden State Warriors. The Nuggets also receive $3 million in cash considerations from the Knicks.
As part of the trade, the Knicks and Timberwolves exchange Eddy Curry and Anthony Randolph for Corey Brewer. Denver facilitates the transfer of Eddy Curry to Minnesota, allowing the Nuggets to shed some $17.7 million in salary. This is more than enough to bring them below the luxury tax threshold immediately.
The deal is done. Of note is the murky status of the 2014 first rounder Denver receives from New York, the details and protections of which will not be known until the trade is approved by league officials. Anthony Carter is also slated to be traded to the Knicks despite them having two point guards ahead of him – Chauncey Billups and Toney Douglas. Anthony Carter surrenders his bird rights due to being on a minimum one year salary and he can exercise veto power on any trade, similiar to Matt Geiger and Devean George in the past. If Carter indeed invokes his power to block a trade out of Denver, the deal will still be completed with minor changes. It's likely Melvin Ely would be exchanged instead. For now, expect AC to go to New York.
It's an incredibly sad ending to the second Chauncey Billups era in Denver. Thank you so much for your hard work, dedication, and loyalty Chauncey.
Reaction, analysis and more to come from your RMC staff as the dust settles. Share your thoughts and memories here.
Normally this would be where I lay out numbers analysis at the halfway point, look at the strengths and weaknesses of the team and performance relative to expectations for the season. Not that I mind doing that or don't think it's a virtuous exercise or anything, I just don't see the point in getting too in depth about any of it. With Melo's fate holding the team and the NBA in suspense the entire season, it's hard to draw any firm conclusions about a team living on borrowed time, where any day could be its last.
Between moments of daydreaming of sweet Carmelo Anthony trade packages and sleeping on my couch I found out there is some kind of World Basketball Championship contest going on.
The Denver Nuggets have been to the playoffs seven straight seasons and have posted three straight 50 win campaigns for the first time as an NBA franchise. Despite the consistency they have displayed on the court, the front office is once again in a state of flux.
The Nuggets announced today Mark Warkentien and Rex Chapman will not have their contracts renewed and thus will cease to be employed by the club at the end of August (Denver Post article, Tomasson article on FanHouse). This is no surprise as Warkentien has been granted permission to speak with other teams about their front office vacancies. Over the previous four seasons the Nuggets have had quite a few cooks around the fire. Warkentien, Chapman, Bret Bearup and George Karl have all had a say in personnel matters and do not forget Stan Kroenke ultimately determines what he is willing to spend which plays a considerable role in player personnel decisions.
Despite the crowded kitchen Warkentien was the head chef and he made a significant mark on the franchise.
Every TrueHoop Network member site will be posting their season preview today so make sure you check out as many as humanly possible either via the the drop down menu up above or the blogroll along the right sidebar.
Last Year's Record: 54-28
Crystal Ball
The consensus prediction of the TrueHoop Network bloggers … and the best hopes of Roundball Mining Company.
Crowd Says: 53-29
RMC Says: 58-24
Yes We Can!
The sun is out. The seas have parted. The basketball gods are shining upon us!
It is easy to be down on the Denver Nuggets' chances heading into the 2009-10 season. Their response to this summer's Western Conference arms race was to continue to slash their payroll.
Some of you may think the Nuggets were disappointed that Linas Kleiza will play in Greece next season, but I suspect the front office was sending Linas brochures from the Greek department of tourism. Then again maybe it was the fact they never offered him more than the $2.7 million qualifying offer. Whatever they did, the ploy worked, as Kleiza signed with Olympiacos and will not be on the Nuggets' payroll this season.
The Nuggets also were thrilled for Dahntay Jones when he signed his four year, $11 million contract with the Pacers. I think Mark Warkentien showed up the next day and personally carried Dahntay's piano into the moving truck.
It might be difficult to be impressed with a team whose primary goal is to save money, but the Denver Nuggets are becoming quite adept at bolstering the roster while cutting costs. Last season they rummaged through the bargain bin and came up with Chris "Birdzilla" Andersen and Dahntay Jones. This year they brought in more cheap talent in Aaron Afflalo and Joey Graham. They are both cheaper options and better fits than Jones and Kleiza were. Plus the addition of Ty Lawson to backup Chauncey Billups will pay dividends as soon as George Karl chooses to give him the job over Anthony Carter. Above and beyond the players currently on the roster and even though it appears the Nuggets have passed him over, until he signs with another team I continue to think that Wally Szczerbiak might find his way to Denver.
If the upgrade to the bench is not enough to sway you, here is an interesting little fact to keep in mind. The only players still on the roster who exceeded expectations in 2008-09 were Nene and Birdman. It is reasonable to expect every member of the Nuggets, other than thirtysomething Chauncey Billups, to improve on their performance next season. Carmelo struggled with injuries, Nene was still feeling the effects of his chemo treatments in the fall of 2008, Birdman had not played regular minutes in over two years before last season and J.R. Smith is still learning how to exploit opposing defenses with his array of diverse talents.
For those who still doubt me, hear this. The number one reason why Denver will be better next season is they have learned how to win. The team made a commitment to play better defense heading into last season, but they were still a work in progress. They now have a year of playing a more balanced style of basketball under their belts and they experienced how far it can take them.
This Nugget team is hungry and ready to prove their Western Conference Finals appearance was not a fluke like Utah's was in 2008. Common NBA knowledge dismissed the Nuggets prior to last season. Do so at your own peril this season.
No You Can't
A rousing dissent from a rival blogger.
Fun fact: No team has ever won a championship while featuring a power forward with a woman's lips tattooed on his neck. Yes, I'm looking at you, Kenyon Martin.
– Matt McHale, By the Horns
A 140-character insight into the soul of the team.
Here are two tweets from @BirdmanAndersen:
Spent some of my signing bonus. Got a boat. If I was on drugs? A flamethrower. A purple one…with an Ipod dock.
Porn gets a bad rap. It's essentially Discovery Channel for humans. I know I'VE learned stuff from it.
On the Record
Single best quote concerning the team during the last 12 months.
For me averaging 28 points or something like that against the Lakers in this series, that's tough to do. I do not know if you wanted me to average 30 or 35, I really don't know. I am thinking there is nothing else that I can do.
– Carmelo Anthony following the Nuggets' Game 6 defeat to the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals
The 2008-09 Almanac
Some key stats from last season.
Offense: 7th
Defense: 8th
Pace: 6th
Team Factor Strength(s): Free Throws (1st), Shooting Allowed (5th)
Team Factor Weakness(es): Turnovers (25th), Free Throws Allowed (25th), Defensive Rebounding (23rd)
The Play
Down a single point with 9.2 seconds to play in a must-win game. What's the play?
Even with players like Mr. Big Shot Chauncey Billups and J.R. Smith, who can make any shot at any time, you give the ball to Carmelo Anthony and clear out. I might even run seven more seconds off the clock and call a timeout just to increase the level of difficulty. Carmelo has developed a well-earned reputation in the NBA as a Defiler of Dreams. He broke hearts in Oklahoma City twice last season and I am sure you all remember the 3-pointer in the playoffs to beat Dallas in Game 3 of the conference semifinals. Having Melo means you never have to run a play, just get the ball inbounds.
The People's Choice
The fan favorite the crowd will be chanting for to see some action.
Karl has said he does not trust Renaldo Balkman because he cannot hit a jumper — although Karl does not seem to mind playing Kenyon Martin. The truth is Balkman brings energy and makes plays that do not show up in the box score. He helps Denver win games and fans cannot get enough of him.
If You're Watching the Bottom Line, You're Watching This
The single biggest spreadsheet issue hanging over the team.
The Denver Nuggets have done a great job of cutting payroll while still improving the team the past two seasons. The real trouble is going to come in 2010-11 when the Nuggets' current starting five will make about $65 million. As John Hollinger has pointed out, those five players may put Denver over the luxury tax line by themselves with at least eight more players to pay. There could be a fire sale in Denver next summer.
After watching the Indiana Pacers roll over the Denver Nuggets in Taipei, I said I had some growing concerns about the mental state of this team. After one quarter against the Pacers in Beijing, I was not feeling any better. The Nuggets gave up their fourth 30 point quarter in 60 minutes against the Pacers and were down 33-29. The defense was not quite as porous as it had been in the first contest against the Pacers, but it was still lacking.
The frustration multiplied as the Pacers pushed their lead up to double digits a few minutes into the second quarter. The Nuggets finally found a spark with the group of Ty Lawson, Arron Afflalo, Carmelo Anthony, Renaldo Balkman and Nene. The intensity on both ends of the floor increased with that group on the floor and the Nuggets surged from down 11 to up one at halftime and beat the Pacers by 16, 128-112.
The Pacers still managed to score quite a few points, but Denver looked much better and it appeared that when faced with the prospect of falling to 0-3 against NBA competition in the preseason, they decided enough was enough.
The real story of the game however, was Carmelo. He triggered the Nuggets second quarter run with some incredible offense and very good defensive rebounding. Offensively, Carmelo posted a performance that nearly rivaled his 33 point third quarter last season. Melo used a combination of pull up jumpers and piercing drives to the rim to accumulate a spectacular 45 points. The efficiency with which he scored was staggering. He produced his 45 points on only 19 shot attempts and in a mere 24 minutes of floor time. Unlike in the first game the Pacers started doubling Melo on the block, but just like shooting Mongo in Blazing Saddles, it only made him angry. Melo responded by scoring over the double team and he also made a couple of nice passes that resulted in either layups or free throws.
We all know Melo can score as well as anyone when he has it going and as much fun as I had watching hi score, I was equally as thrilled to see Melo make a significant impact on the game on the defensive end too. Carmelo was very intense on defense and the proof came with his eight defensive rebounds. He worked hard to box out and even bodied up Roy Hibbert after a switch and ended up corralling the missed shot. The most spectacular play Melo made came early in the third quarter when he deflected a running layup attempt by Dahntay Jones complete with a, "Get that (expletive deleted) out of here!" Melo also helped off his man and blocked a shot by Troy Murphy at the rim a couple of minutes later.
If Carmelo can play with the level of intensity on offense and defense he displayed in Beijing, there would be a lot of nights where he would only need to play 24 minutes as the Nuggets cruise to victory.
Other promising signs that the Nuggets awoke in this game was that they rebounded as a team. After getting outrebounded 52-40 in the first matchup, Denver won the battle on the boards 50-45. Chris Andersen and Melo tied with a team high nine boards and Arron Afflalo added seven of his own. The one area that they could still improve in though is the guards do need to do a better job of getting to the free throw line when a shot goes up as the Pacers were able to nab a few long rebounds that would have gone to Denver had a guard moved to the free throw line.
Denver also finally appeared to tire of seeing Hibbert dominate the paint. Nene led the effort to slow the second year big man by playing him physically in the second quarter and Denver did a good job of keeping him out of the lane and off the glass.
This was the first time I saw Ty Lawson against legitimate NBA competition and I was pleased with his play. He did make a couple of poor decisions, but did a good job of taking care of the ball, setting up teammates and getting in the lane. His defense is solid, especially for a rookie, as he does a good job of keeping track of his man away from the ball and, that is half the battle.
Afflalo is not great at creating his own shot, but he did drive with his left along the baseline twice and finished one of those drives with a nice lay in on the opposite side of the rim. He also showed some defensive chemistry with Renaldo Balkman as they applied some full court pressure on a couple of occasions that caused the Pacers some problems.
Perhaps the most enjoyable aspect of Melo's offensive performance was to see him completely abuse Dahntay Jones. Jones fouled out in only 23 minutes thanks to his inability to cover Anthony. Seeing as how the Pacers will probably not play the Hornets in the playoffs, I am not sure they are going to get their money's worth out of Dahntay.
Joey Graham would appear to be leading the competition for the thirteenth roster spot with James White as White only played three minutes in the two games against Indiana. Graham has been solid, but unspectacular. I have voiced my support for White as he adds more of a three point threat and has far greater upside than Graham. I value upside in players that fill out the end of the bench.
Denver now gets a week off to return from China and get over their jet lag before they head off to Portland for their next preseason game.
There were two things I could not wait to end tonight. One was the 31-6 beating my less than stellar coed softball team endured and the second was the replay of the Denver Nuggets third preseason game against the Indiana Pacers.
After watching the Nuggets' 22 point loss I am reconsidering my stance on demanding all of their preseason games available for consumption.
Denver dumped one of the most disjointed (or would it be least jointed) efforts I have seen from this team in a long time. Aside from some early offense from Carmelo Anthony they were basically run off the floor by the Pacers.
Offensively the Nuggets looked like they did two seasons ago. A lot of one on one play complete with wild forays into the lane with a healthy dose of take the first open jumper you see. There was not much passing, very little movement and no discernable purpose to anything the Nuggets did.
As insipid as the offense was, the defense was worse. The Pacers killed the Nuggets on open threes and open layups. The rotations were nonexistent on the perimeter, no help came on drives and the Pacers were regularly able to get open looks in transition. In the second half George Karl tried to invigorate his players by having them trap on the pick and roll, but it only served to further expose their lack of help and defensive rotations.
In all honestly, it is difficult to come up with anything positive from that game.
To make things worse the two players I was most looking forward to seeing, James White and Ty Lawson, did not see one minute of playing time. The Nuggets also held Nene out of action.
Individually Carmelo had some nice moments on the block as the Pacers chose not to double him in the post and he tallied 17 points, but it took him 15 shots to do so and he was credited with five turnovers. J.R. was second on the team in scoring with 16 points, but it took him 16 shots to get there. On one hand I liked J.R.'s aggressiveness as he drove into the lane repeatedly and tried to attack the basket. On the other hand, he was driving to score too often and the result was a hoard of misses and blocked shots. He only dished off a couple of times that I remember and as a result the Pacers knew they could collapse on him and force a miss.
Joey Graham was one of the few Nuggets with an efficient offensive night. He showed he is capable of dropping in mid-range jumpers and if he is on the court with players like J.R., Chauncey and Nene he should get plenty of open looks. Other than that Graham is not very adept at creating his own shot and he does not provide much assistance other than his scoring, which is dependent on being set up by other players. Still, he does not force shots and is a smart player. If the Nuggets keep 14 players, he is a lock to stay with the team and due to the fact both he and James White have non-guaranteed deals, it is possible the Nuggets keep both of them for the first month or two of the season until their contracts become fully guaranteed.
Kenyon Martin displayed what was advertised as a new and improved jumper. His stroke is still far from textbook, but he certainly seems to have moved his left hand further back on the ball and as a result his release is not dependent on the same awkward twisting motion by his left hand and wrist that has plagued it in the past. The good news is he should make a few more jumpers than he did last season. The bad news is that may motivate him to take even more of those types of shots.
In the box score Anthony Carter was only assigned two of the Nuggets 21 turnovers, but it sure seemed like he was responsible for at least four. If it were not for a couple of nice plays in the fourth quarter, a clean pick and lay up going back the other way and a drive and kick out to J.R, for a three, his night would have been a complete disaster.
If one player was a bright spot for Denver it was Renaldo Balkman. He just makes things happen. Although he only shot 1-4 he was very active garnering two steals and collecting five boards, which is another stat along with AC's turnovers that I have to question the veracity of. It appeared Balkman had that many boards in the first half alone. 'Naldo was the only Nugget to depart the game with a positive plus/minus with a +3.
Malik Allen continues to move well, but he is so limited on offense. He did squeak in a follow dunk that barely slid over the rim, other than that he too is dependent on teammates to set him up with an open look in order to score.
Arron Afflalo forced his offense a couple of times with poor results. He too needs to work on spacing the floor and only attacking the basket when he can exploit a crack in the defense.
Chris Andersen was fine, but clearly struggled with the size of Roy Hibbert who had a dominant showing.
The only other things worth noting are Karl seemed pretty disinterested in the proceedings as well. I would have hoped that regardless of whether it was a preseason game or not that he would get on the Nuggets for playing with such a lack of focus and purpose.
It is easy to dismiss the Pacers' hot shooting as just one of those nights as Troy Murphy was 4-8, Brandon Rush was 6-12 and A.J. Price was 4-6. I could buy into that if almost every single one of those makes was off a wide open attempt. If you are rotating and closing out shooters and they do that, I am not going to get too upset, but when known shooters like Murphy are consistently left alone I am not going to be very sympathetic.
I get a kick out of watching games where the announcers are not at the arena, but they are clearly not supposed to admit it. The team of Scott Hastings and Chris Marlowe did a good job although there were a few too many comments along the lines of, "Another three by the Pacers" instead of "A.J. Price hits another three for the Pacers." At one point Hastings slipped up and commented on how the Nuggets were "there" instead of "here" which of course I found wildly entertaining.
The replacement referees did a very respectable job. There were not nearly as many fouls called as there have been in other games and at no point did I think they were having a negative impact on the proceedings. There were no calls where I had to wonder how they missed it. If anything, there were a couple of occasions where the whistle came a second or two late as they reacted more to the aftermath of a play instead of officiating the initial contact. All in all, they were not a story and that is what you want.
In conclusion I want to thank Mike Dunleavy, Jr. for wearing a hideous yellow jacket at the end of the bench. The combination of where he was sitting and the angle of the camera put the yellow monstrosity directly in line with the net on that side of the floor. It took me a little bit to figure out why the net had a pea green hue to it, then once I realized it was Dunleavy's attire it was difficult to ignore.
I realize it was just a preseason game, but there are little bits of evidence here and there that are causing me to be concerned about the mental state of this team. We can delve into that as the preseason rolls along, but for now it bears watching. With the difficult opening schedule the Nuggets face and with J.R. suspended the first seven games Denver is not going to simply flip the switch once the games start counting. We need to see something from this team soon.
The Nuggets will play the Pacers one more time, this time in Beijing, on Saturday and it will be broadcast on NBATV and Altitude at 10:00 PM Mountain time. It will give us a nice potentially divorce inducing double header with the Rockies and Nuggets.
John Hollinger might be the most decisive NBA analyst in the business. I assume most NBA fans either think he is a stat geek who does not actually know anything about basketball, or he is one of the most astute observers out there.
I fall under the latter camp. I think Hollinger really knows his stuff and is the only member of the national media who is really attuned to the Nuggets. Sometimes I think he is in my head as I read his commentary on Denver. It almost makes me wonder if he reads my posts although if he were to ever stumble upon RMC, I imagine he would think in some situations I was copying his work. The truth is he watches a lot of basketball with unbiased eyes and that is why he can draw the same conclusions as someone like me who attempts to do the same thing.
Despite his impressive anecdotal insights he is best known for his statistical analysis, which brings us to today. It is a day that is widely anticipated by many NBA fans as Professor Hollinger has released his PER (Player Efficiency Rating) projections for the upcoming season. If you do not know what PER is, here is an explanation. The short definition is PER is a statistical per minute measurement of a player's effect on a game and the average performance is set at 15.00. Anything higher than 15.00 is solid and anything lower is suspect.
You can see the list from of projections from one through 333 or check out a summary of the Nuggets as a team.
Some quick observations are that Chauncey is slated to play at the same level this season as last season, 18.85, which is promising. Hollinger projects a slight bump up for Carmelo Anthony, although if you read his scouting report (insider subscription required) it sounds like he expects his computed projection to be low as he expects a big season from Melo.
The player who Hollinger expects to make the largest leap forward is J.R. Smith who is projected to climb from 16.84 in 2008-09 to 18.15. Hollinger's system has always been kind to a player like Smith who can get his own shot whenever he wants (usage rate) and score in bunches. However, reading the details it is clear the Professor has a very good read on what J.R. is capable of, primarily his playmaking abilities that most members of the national media have yet to fully recognize.
It is not all sunshine, lollypops and rainbows for Denver. Arron Afflalo has a disappointing projected PER of 9.40. Also, remember how there are 333 player projections? Malik Allen is number 331 with a microscopic projected PER of 6.52.
However, more concerning than that is the play of the Nuggets three key big men is expected to drop off a bit as Chris Andersen, Nene and Kenyon Martin are slated for dips in their statistical production with Andersen slated for the most precipitous drop from 18.16 to 16.58.
Most fans look at these projections and complain that their favorite player or players are not ranked higher. Keep in mind this is all automated based on almost every imaginable statistic and a detailed comparison of similar players performances at similar ages. Because it is stats based I will point out for players like Carmelo (who by the way is ranked 21 overall), Birdman and Nene is that all three are dealing with either an injury related drop last year, Melo, or very poor supporting statistics from previous seasons (Birdman and Nene) that all work to pull down the current statistical projection. This does not mean Birdman and Nene are not capable of playing up to the level they established last season.
Most of Hollinger's player summaries are only available through ESPN Insider. I strongly recommend signing up for Insider so that you can access Hollinger's data. It is amazingly thorough and intriguing to read. You also get a great deal more than just Hollinger's work. Nevertheless, I understand not everyone can though so here are some of the more interesting quotes pertaining to the Nuggets.
Arron Afflalo (Projected PER 9.40): "He'll take over Dahntay Jones' role as the top perimeter defender, and considering he costs less and is a far better shooter, he should be an upgrade for the Nuggets — provided that Afflalo sticks to his knitting as a shooting specialist and takes half his shots behind the arc."
Malik Allen (6.52): "Allen's primary skill is his midrange jump shot, and he did that well enough by making 42.0 percent of his long 2s. Unfortunately, he was terrible at everything else."
Chris Andersen (16.58): "[Signing the new contract with Denver was the right move because] the support network he has in place was more important than the money. Even if he can't replicate the ridiculous block rate of last season, it should be good deal for the Nuggets as well."
Carmelo Anthony (19.36): "While he hit a career-best 37.1 percent on 3-pointers and attempted more than ever, he had trouble when there was more company around. Anthony slumped to 48.2 percent on inside shots after hitting in the mid-50s the three previous seasons. From the right side of the floor, where he prefers to operate on isolations, he hit just 33.8 percent of his 2-pointers — the fifth-worst mark of any player with more than 100 attempts."
"Anthony appears poised to have his best season. The improved 3-point stroke and strong finish last season both point in that direction as well, as do two other factors: He's now 25 and should be hitting his prime, and he didn't suit up for Team USA for the fourth straight summer."
Renaldo Balkman (15.83): "Balkman attained a career-best 16.85 PER by playing with his usual boundless energy, ranking fifth among power forwards in offensive rebound rate and leading his position in steals per 40 minutes with 2.4. Only five players in the league had a better rate of steals, and none were frontcourt players."
Chauncey Billups (18.85): "Last season, Billups was once again the only member of the league's "40-40″ club — 40 percent of his shots originated from beyond the 3-point line, but he still averaged more than 0.40 free-throw attempts per field goal attempt. Usually players who draw lots of fouls rarely shoot 3s and vice versa, but Billups is the exception: He was the only non-center in the league to finish in the top dozen at his position in both categories."
Anthony Carter (9.61): "Carter finished 67th out of 69 point guards in turnover rate, and it made him marginal, at best, as a role player. Surprisingly, he still played over 22 minutes a game, as he became something of a security blanket for George Karl. But combine a miniscule 9.2 points per 40 minutes with a penchant for costly miscues, it's tough to see why."
Joey Graham (11.21): No player comment, which may be a comment in and of itself.
Ty Lawson (-): "Concerns about Lawson's size (6-0) undoubtedly hurt, as did some worries about his practice habits and a tendency to sprain his ankles. Nonetheless, he was the top-rated player in my Draft Rater – even edging out Blake Griffin – and the Nuggets absolutely stole him by nabbing him at No. 18 in a trade with Minnesota."
Kenyon Martin (13.36): "More than a third of his shots came outside the immediate basket area, and he was abysmal at them. Historically, he's converted from these distances in the high 30s or low 40s, but last season he made only 32.1 percent, the worst percentage in the league of anyone with more than 200 attempts."
Nene (17.89): "Nene is still raw enough to envision him improving in coming years. That said, there were elements of last season's performance that look a bit fluky, so we might expect some regression to the mean in his immediate future. It's highly unlikely that he'll shoot 60 percent from the floor again."
Johan Petro (8.65): "He ranked 65th out of 67 centers in true shooting percentage and 66th in field goal percentage. For a 7-foot center to shoot 41.9 percent and 41.5 percent in consecutive seasons is remarkably awful, and a troubling sign that his offensive development has not only ground to a halt but actually been thrown into reverse."
J.R. Smith (18.15): "Smith lobbed nearly half his shots from behind the 3-point line and made 39.7 percent — many of them from well beyond the arc — but still finished in the top third of shooting guards in free-throw rate. Unfortunately, his concentration lapses at the stripe hurt him. He made only 75.1 percent of his free throws, good for 51st among shooting guards, and that's inexcusable given how well he strokes it from outside."
James White (-): "He's a spectacular finisher on the break and he's slowly but surely figured out how to use his athleticism at the offensive end. He turns 27 in October, so it's taken a while, but he's an NBA-caliber athlete and, at 6-7 with a decent jump shot, a prototypical small forward."
The Denver Nuggets dropped their preseason opener to the Utah Jazz 103-87 (box score).
The number one thing I have to say about this game is why on earth could I not watch or listen to it? I can watch every Denver Broncos preseason game, but there is not even a radio feed of a game being played in an NBA arena. Stan Kroenke owns his own television network. I realize the Colorado Avalanche are playing and Altitude showed the Joe Sakic retirement ceremony, and rightfully so, but do you know what was on Altitude after the Sakic ceremony? The Miss Colorado pageant.
I am not asking Altitude to not show the Sakic ceremony or bypass an Avalanche game (which by the way was on Vs. not Altitude) for a Nuggets preseason game. I realize that football games are fewer and more precious, but I can watch a bunch of Colorado Rockies spring training games too. The NFL and MLB do not act like their preseason games are meaningless, why does the NBA?
I realize we get some nationally televised games as the regular season draws closer, but why does the NBA act like these games are truly meaningless? Give us some preseason coverage. I am not saying it has to be a live full production. I would be happy, nay, thrilled with a tape delayed telecast set up the 2008 Summer League with one camera and no announcers.
We need to see these games. I want to see the battle between Joey Graham and James White for what could be the final roster spot. I want to see how Johan Petro does against Kyrylo Fesenko. I want to see if the Nuggets starters were as bad as the stats make it look. I want to see how Arron Afflalo does…at both ends of the floor. I want to see how Chauncey looks one year older against an elite point guard. I want to see if Carmelo has worked on his left hand.
Having a preseason game at an NBA arena completely unavailable for consumption by anyone other than those in the stands is ridiculous.
All we have to look at from this game is the box score. I hate analyzing box scores, but that is all we have to go off of unless you want to draw conclusions from this generic AP story.
Looking at the box score the Nuggets starters were outscored by the Jazz. Were they that badly outplayed? Melo attempted three three pointers, maybe one was at the buzzer. Chauncey had four turnovers, was he picked clean or did he make a pass to a teammate who cut right as Chauncey threw him the pass? Did C.J. Miles light up Arron Afflalo? I have no idea, I did not get to see the game.
Looking at who played and who did not, Kenyon Martin was out resting a thigh bruise. J.R. Smith was not with the team and I have no idea why. (Update: Chris Tomasson has reported J.R.'s absence was cleared in advance.) Ty Lawson played more than half as many minutes as Anthony Carter. James White played almost four times as many minutes as Joey Graham.
Looking at the actual stats, Renaldo Balkman, who George Karl has said may get to play some small forward, which in my opinion is his natural position, had an impressive line scoring ten points, 11 rebounds and compiling four assists. White was only credited with two shots, both threes of which he made one, but he took 14 free throws. I think one assumption we can safely draw from these numbers is that White was attacking the rim and running the floor. I seriously doubt he made it to the line that frequently by shooting jumpers.
Chauncey shot well, but as mentioned above turned the ball over four times and had a team worst -20.
Nene, who struggled with foul trouble last season, was whistled for five fouls in his 16:45 of playing time.
Carmelo was 4-8 on two point shots and attempted six free throws in his 20:27, but he shot and missed three threes.
Afflalo hit his only three point attempt and had the best plus/minus amongst starters with a -4, but he fouled out in just over 22 minutes.
The last point I will make is this was the first of what could possibly be many games officiated by replacement referees and there were 69 fouls called and 88 free throws attempted in the game. The average number of free throws attempted during the 2008-09 regular season in games the Nuggets played in was 57.5 and the season high was 86. Draw your own conclusions from those numbers.
By the way, did anyone see who won Miss Colorado? It was on Altitude.
Update: NBA.com has video highlights. There were cameras there. Is it too much to ask that someone send the tape to Altitude and they put it on TV? It does not even have to be next day air, just toss it in the mail so Altitude can air it. I will even offer to pay the postage.
The Denver Nuggets are a staple on the annual series Real Training Camp on NBATV and they already made their appearance for 2009 today.
I love watching the footage, but before I get into what I saw I have to lambaste NBATV for the production. Nuggets fans get to watch a practice once a year. What we do not want to watch during the two hours of televised practice is two guys talking into the camera when there is a five on five drill going on directly behind them. We do not need to see shots of a player leaning against a wall while the team is working on defense. We do need to see as much actual footage of what is going on as possible.
Every year I get excited for real training camp and every year I am left to stew as I miss action on the court that I desperately want to be viewing. Please NBATV, quit broadcasting from a practice without showing us the practice. I promise I will still listen to what Rick Kamela and Bill Hanzlik are saying even if you show the action on the floor.
OK, I got that off my chest, now on to the actual practice. We can finally stop speculating and provide some commentary on real life footage of the Nuggets on the court.
Look for some intriguing video from the practice to show up here sometime over the next couple of days.
It has been a while since I have posted anything and I apologize. I guess the good news is I really have not missed anything. Still, there has not been a word on this blog about J.R. Smith slated to miss the first seven games of the season, former Nugget Allen Iverson signing with the Memphis Grizzlies, the potential referee lockout, heck, I never even finished my player by player recap of the 2008-09 season.
I have made it through another hectic week of work, pieced together two potentially dominant fantasy football teams and I finally have some time to discuss the Nuggets.
Where's Wally?
Nuggets fans received some good news yesterday as it was announced Desmond Mason had agreed to sign with the Sacramento Kings (read about it at Cowbell Kingdom). The bad news for Nuggets fans is that it reduces their leverage with Wally Szczerbiak.
However, there are still several names on the list as the Nuggets have been linked with Rashard McCants, Flip Murray and now Keith Bogans, but I still think Wally is the guy who will end up in powder blue next season. With Chanucey Billups, J.R. Smith, Ty Lawson, Arron Afflalo and Anthony Carter I do not see how McCants or Murray help this team. Chris Tomasson has an excellent article on Fanhouse outlining how J.R. Smith's suspension (discussed below) is playing a role in who the Nuggets bring in to fill the 13th roster spot.
If the front office signs a player simply because the Nuggets will be short handed for the first seven games of the season, I think it is an overreaction. However, Tomasson reports that Denver offered Murray a minimum deal already. Murray is a nice player and I have no problem with Bogans either. Murray can score and Bogans is a very good defender, but what do you do with them once J.R. returns? Over the long haul Denver will be better off with a player like Szczerbiak who can really help for all 82 games than someone who will only provide a significant boost for seven.
Getting back to Wally, should Szczerbiak end up in Denver both he and the Nuggets are playing things cool. With the Nuggets' commitment to saving every possible penny they are not about to toss Wally, or anyone else, a salary figure higher than they are willing to pay just to seal the deal. The Nuggets remain the best match for playing time and competitiveness. The only team who could I could see offering anything better than Denver would be the Lakers who have a couple of open roster spots and might not be planning on giving their spare minutes at small forward to Adam Morrison, plus it was announced today they will bring in.
I do believe Wally would be a very good fit in Denver, but if he ends up signing elsewhere, it is not the end of the world. It would actually clear up some playing time at small forward for Renaldo Balkman. I believe Balkman is at his best playing small forward as he struggles to defend many power forwards due to his slight stature.
Denver can also go small with J.R. or Afflalo sliding over to the three. Backing up Carmelo Anthony only assures you about 12 or 13 minutes of floor time anyway.
If the Nuggets sign Murray and Szczerbiak then I will be ecstatic, but they are serious about minimizing their tax payment and carrying more than 13 guaranteed contracts into the season is unlikely.
Training camp starts in less than a week and Denver has to sign someone. This cannot drag out much longer. Denver has options and the race may come down to which player will agree to play in Denver for the minimum.
The Least Popular Number 7 in Denver
For the third season in a row the Nuggets will be short a player to start the season due to suspension. J.R. will miss the first seven games of the 2009-10 season because of the reckless driving incident that resulted in the death of his friend and passenger Andre Bell. Smith was suspended by the Nuggets for three games to start the 2007-08 season because of the accident and last season Carmelo Anthony missed the first two games as punishment for his drunk driving arrest near the end of the 2007-08 season.
My initial reaction when I heard J.R. had been suspended for seven games was that it was far too severe. With the Nuggets likely locked in a tight battle for playoff position again those seven games could be very hurtful. Three of those seven games are back to back sets and the Nuggets will need all the fresh pairs of legs they can afford, even early in the season.
After reflecting on the situation I cannot argue that seven games is too severe. In fact, it is possible J.R. got off easy. I do not mean to keep dwelling on this, but a person lost his life because of J.R.'s actions. How can you say any amount of games is too steep a penalty?
I realize it is not the NBA's job to punish J.R., after all he spent 24 days in jail isn't that enough? On the other hand, who among us would still have a job, let alone a multimillion dollar paycheck waiting for us after incarceration?
Seven games is significant suspension, but is it excessive? I do not think so.
A Grizzly Outcome
I wrote a little last year about how interesting Allen Iverson's free agency would be. I could not imagine him playing for a non contending team, but I could not imagine a contending team being interested in him.
Now he is a member of the Memphis Grizzlies.
I think I am a pretty astute observer of the NBA, but the Grizzlies would not have been a team I would have pictured AI playing for and honestly with players like O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay and Zach Randolph all wanting the ball, especially Randolph he really wants the ball, I have a difficult time envisioning the partnership panning out.
Iverson signed a one year deal and I doubt AI expects to finish that deal in Memphis. I believe he plans on coming out and proving that what happened in Detroit was not his fault. It was the Pistons that made him look bad, not his declining abilities. If he can play at the level he expects he can, there should be playoff caliber teams banging down the Grizzlies' door at the trade deadline to add a player that can give them a major boost at a low cost.
I never doubted Iverson's ability to score, but we have all been waiting for the day when his body would betray his spirit. The Nuggets clearly decided that he had reached that point during training camp last year and what we saw from Iverson in Detroit certainly made Denver look prescient.
Now that his free agency has played out I think what happens from here will be more entertaining than the process that brought him to of all places Tennessee.
Check out the coverage of AI heading to Memphis over at 3 Shades of Blue.
What's Black and White and Sweaty All Over?
I refereed a few intramural games in college. There were three leagues, A, B and C. I refereed C league games. As you probably figured out A was the top competitive league and C was the recreational league full of people who may or may not have played before. You would think that the C league would be pretty laid back and easy to ref. Some of the guys on my floor played on a team called "Wish There Was a D League." I am pretty sure they never got on the refs.
On some nights you had teams like my floor mates who just wanted to run around and were happy to make fools of themselves, but on other nights the participants seemed to think they were battling it out for the Larry O'Brien trophy and as a result I took quite a bit of abuse. I remember being glared at days after a game when a guy from one of the games I worked passed me on the sidewalk.
The whole point of this is I do not know who on earth would want to be a referee.
Right now the NBA and the referees union are heading towards a lockout and we are facing the specter of replacement referees. David Stern reportedly pulled out of negotiations on September 8 because the referees backed out on an agreement for pension reductions. The league has agreed to a reduced two year contract instead of the regular five year deal, which means the refs can get a better deal sooner as long as the economy turns around by then, and the referees have agreed to $2.5 million of the $3.2 million in reductions requested by the NBA.
David Stern consistently refers to NBA officials as the best in professional sports and brags about their accuracy. If they are truly only a few hundred thousand dollars apart, how is this deal not done? The union is promoting the idea that Stern is trying to make an example of the referees to try to send a statement to the players heading into their upcoming negotiations.
The NBA is moving forward with bringing in replacement referees and things have the potential to get a little ugly.
Whether we are talking about NBA referees or C league referees, they are whipping boys (and girls). I honestly believe the NBA referees have been doing pretty well the past couple of years. Even so, I am willing to bet the majority of fans would disagree with me. If fans are upset with referees that are supposedly the best, how much more upset will they be watching lesser officials?
I doubt the NBA will let this drag out until the regular season, but when you start posturing, if that is indeed what Stern is doing, disagreements can take on a life of their own. How tough will Stern look if replacement referees are a disaster and he has to cave to the union's demands?
The Denver Post is reporting that Linas Kleiza will sign a two year, $12 million contract with Greek team Olympiakos. (Update: The contract is reportedly for $12.2 million and does have an opt out after one season.)
I cannot blame Kleiza because no NBA team was willing to pay him nearly that much, but as I pointed out previously, it only delays his restricted free agency to next summer, assuming he triggers his opt out clause after the first year of the contract.
Whether you love Kleiza or hate him, you have to admit that this hurts the Nuggets' depth. I have no problem with Renaldo Balkman backing up Carmelo at small forward as an offense/defense combo like J.R. Smith and Dahntay Jones last season at shooting guard. Plus Balkman can fill in at power forward as Kleiza did when necessary.
Kleiza's departure also saves the Nuggets an additional $5.4 million in luxury tax and salary and opens up another roster spot. I am sure the Nuggets would have preferred to have Kleiza to sign the qualifying offer, but with the trade of Steven Hunter and now Kleiza heading to Greece, Denver has saved almost $10 million in salary and tax payments, which is significant.
Assuming Anthony Carter returns the Nuggets now have to add two players to their regular season roster in order to field the minimum 13 players.
If you are looking for a reason why the Denver Nuggets struggled to duplicate their relatively easy wins from the first two games of the series against the Dallas Mavericks I will give you three. First Dallas played with more fire and intensity because they were at home. They are a very good home team.
Secondly Dallas finally started running and scoring in transition. In game three the Mavericks were credited with 21 fast break points while the Nuggets only compiled nine. Dallas had only scored 13 fast break points in the first two games while Denver rung up 54. Transition defense has been a weakness for the Nuggets all season and neither New Orleans nor Dallas have tried to take advantage of that aspect of the game.
Thirdly, the game was officiated in a way that was beneficial to the Mavericks. That is not a complaint. I thought the referees were consistent from start to finish, or at least from start through the first 11:57 of the fourth quarter. Dallas needs the referees to penalize Denver from playing physical defense and they did. In my opinion they called the game too tightly. The third quarter seemed like it lasted an hour. Dallas shot 21 free throws in the third quarter alone (all in the final 9:20) and the Nuggets shot 12. Thirty-three free throws in a single quarter is just brutal to watch.
However, it is difficult to be upset with the referees (and not because of the way the game ended). After watching the third quarter again the way the game was being officiated, it is hard to argue with the calls. Many of them were on plays where the Nuggets were reaching. Chauncey picked up two fouls trying to make a steal. At one point Melo had switched onto Dirk, he fought for position in the post and forced Nowitzki out to the three point line to receive the pass. Then he banged with Dirk continuing to fight for every inch he could. Then after working that hard, he bails Dirk out by slapping his arms when he pivoted to shoot. The Nuggets committed fouls due to either lazy defense or getting caught out of position.
Foul trouble became an issue in the third quarter as Chauncey, Chris Andersen and Nene all were called for their fourth foul by the midpoint of the third quarter. Andersen committed two bad frustration fouls which gave him five fouls with over three minutes left in the third. He would foul out after playing less than 11 minutes.
As a result the Nuggets were forced to play with a smaller lineup and with the Mavericks forcing their way into the paint more frequently it forced the Nuggets to foul even more to prevent easy shots at the rim.
As the game progressed it was apparent to me that Dallas was playing with just a tad bit more intensity and intelligence at both ends of the floor. As I have written before it is impossible to manufacture desperation and Dallas was playing with desperation. Add in the poor shooting by the Nuggets in the first half, the lackadaisical defense resulting in the free throw parade in the third quarter, the foul trouble born out of sloppy defense and the Nuggets not being able to put together that decisive run we have become accustom to and it was a very frustrating game to watch. The Nuggets did not play their best and everything I was watching convinced me the Nuggets would not pull this game out. They lost a close game three in New Orleans and they were about to lose a close game three in Dallas.
With 34 seconds left Anthony Carter made the horrible decision, as he frequently does, to run at Dirk from behind Dirk in an attempt to steal the ball. Carter left Jason Terry all alone in the corner and in a play you could see happening before everything actually happened Dirk passed over to Terry who hit the open three to put Dallas up 105-101. Game over, or at least so I thought.
From that point on the Mavericks made four big mistakes. First of all needing to run some clock they allowed Carmelo to score on a dunk in only 2.6 seconds. I realize you do not want to foul, but at least make Melo change directions. If they manage to force just two more seconds off the clock, I think Denver has to foul on ensuing possession instead of playing to get one more stop with time on the clock.
The second mistake was made by Dirk. Not only did Dirk take some terrible shots down the stretch, but he probably lost the game for Dallas by shooting far too early on their second to last possession. There was a differential of roughly four seconds between the shot clock and game clock. Dirk shot with six seconds left on the shot clock. By the time Denver corralled the rebound and called timeout there were 6.5 seconds left. If Dirk shoots that shot with just one or two seconds on the shot clock, Denver is looking at only a second or two to tie or win the game instead of 6.5.
The final two mistakes were the inability to foul convincingly, which I have already written about, and the unimaginative inbounds play the Mavericks ran at the end of the game. I thought the final inbounds play by the Mavericks was pretty weak. The Mavs only needed two points to win and running a play for Dirk or Terry to catch running away from the basket, forcing them to turn and shoot from long range was silly. I think Dallas could have had Josh Howard cutting to the rim. They should have known Denver would be focusing on Dirk and Terry which would have allowed Howard, who set a screen for Dirk, but when Howard curled around the backside he ran towards the opposite sideline instead of at the rim plus Brandon Bass was just sitting on the offside block anyway.
If Dallas makes better decisions or better plays in any of those four situations, apart from the final play with only a second left, that is a tough situation to bounce back from, perhaps the game ends up differently.
If you are looking for one thing that turned the game in the Nuggets' favor look no further than a defensive adjustment George Karl made midway through the fourth quarter. With Dirk scoring almost at will off of all the defensive switches the Nuggets were employing Karl changed things up during a timeout with 6:22 remaining in the fourth. From that point on Denver started defending screens straight up with the big man hedging to slow down the ball handler and then recovering back to his man. From that point on I believe Denver only switched one more screen the rest of the game. However, Dallas probably did not realize the Nuggets had changed tactics for a couple of minutes because they posted Jason Kidd up on Chauncey for four or five straight possessions.
Dallas ran their last set with Kidd posting up Billups at the 3:17 mark when Chauncey finally kept Kidd out of the lane and forced a bad turnaround jumper. From that point on Dallas ran their regular down screens and pick and pop sets against the Nuggets more stout non-switching pick defense. The result was out of Dallas' final six shots not one of them came from in the lane. Four of those six shots were badly forced jumpers by Dirk over Kenyon (of course one of them was the final shot of the game where Dirk had no choice, but to shoot a contested jumper).
When the Nuggets switch and Dirk is covered by a guard or Melo, he will back the smaller defender down and get an easy two. If he has a big man on him, he almost always settles for the jumper. By making sure Kenyon stayed on Dirk it ensured Nowitzki will take much more difficult shots.
Denver did hold the Mavericks to 40.0% shooting so from that standpoint it is difficult to say Denver did a poor defensive job, but I will. The Nuggets hardnosed defense we saw against the Hornets has been softened because of all the switching. Denver was forced to foul because the Mavs had the ball in the lane all night long. The Nuggets defensive efficiency in games two and three against Dallas has been their two worst of the postseason.
The Nuggets now have a chance at sweeping the Mavericks tonight in Dallas. How amazing has this run been?
Additional Round 2 Game 3 Nuggets
Mindboggling Game Stats
Pace Factor: 90.7 – Exactly the same as game two.
Defensive Efficiency: 115.8 – Exactly the same as game two as the pace factor was the same and Dallas scored 105 points in both games.
Offensive Efficiency: 116.9 – Once again the offense was solid even with J.R. Smith struggling and Melo shooting a poor percentage.
Featured Blogs: The Two Man Game | Mavs Moneyball
After predictably sleep walking through the first six minutes of the first quarter and falling behind the Golden State Warriors by 14 in the first quarter the Nuggets were able to rouse themselves and run away for an easy win.
George Karl called a timeout with the Nuggets down 19-6 after the first 6:25 of the game. From that point on the Nuggets played with more intensity, but it was not until Chris Andersen entered the game with 3:50 remaining in the first quarter and Denver behind 23-11 that the Nuggets took off. Less than seven minutes later Birdman threw down a vicious slam as he cut down the lane to put the Nuggets up 37-29. In Birdman's seven plus first half minutes he was a plus 20.
As soon as Andersen went to the bench Golden State actually briefly recaptured the lead 42-41. It would be their final lead of the game though as Linas Kleiza hit his first three point jumper in over three weeks on the very next possession to put Denver back up 44-42.
The run that put the Nuggets in complete control of the game was split between the second and third quarters. Denver scored the final six points of the first half and the first 13 of the second half turning a 60-57 game into a 79-57 rout. The Warriors did not get a shot within 18 feet of the rim as the Nuggets did a great job of collapsing on penetration and then rotating and running at shooters. The Nuggets run actually even extended out to a 44-15 stretch ending with 28 seconds left in the third quarter with the Nuggets already having earned three tacos for a dollar on Sunday at participating Taco Bell's even with more than a quarter to play.
The key to Denver sweeping the remaining games against sub .500 teams will be energy. I would like to add focus too, but I do not want to get too greedy. There was a point just a couple of weeks ago where I did not think we could count on the Nuggets to win any of these games and they still have to avoid falling into the trap of taking things for granted. It definitely took the Nuggets some time to wake up tonight, but the fact that they erased the early 14 point deficit by the end of the first quarter was very impressive.
A lot can happen over these final eight games, but if Denver can keep playing like they have over the previous three games I may be in for eating a lot of crow and I will not mind one bit.
Additional Game 74 Nuggets
Mindboggling Game Stats:
Pace Factor: 102.9 – Lightning fast. It was the fastest paced game since the Nuggets game 36 home win against Indiana.
Defensive Efficiency: 112.8 – Not terrible for such a fast paced game. The Warriors scored 17 fast break points and nabbed 19 offensive boards which both hurt this number. I imagine it was much better before Golden State's offensive explosion in the fourth.
Offensive Efficiency: 125.4 – No complaints. Remember, the Nuggets had six points more than six minutes into the game and still managed to score 129.
Featured Blog: Golden State of Mind


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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Maybe they could set it up much they have done right outside of Warsong Hold. The scourge attack, and we fight back defending our base and ultimately taking down Ith'rix. While I understand that this is a scripted event, they could still make it available to loot by all who has damaged/attacked said world boss. They could set this up so that if you are in a raid you get an item from the corpse to bring back to someone who then gives you a bag of nice randomness so there is no loot disputes ninjaing or whatnot. Those who are outside said raid can also loot the boss for an item to be turned in for some sort of badges or other type of reward.
This would give those incentive to help the ones who actually tagged the boss, down him because everyone wins.

subset: commoncrawl


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|Join us for the inaugural MiniU weekend at Herstmonceux Castle!
Experience the Bader International Study Centre - an innovative educational facility located in a 15th century brick castle - and see why hundreds of students take advantage of this learn-abroad opportunity every year.
Learn about Christian Lloyd's work with the new Jimi Hendrix museum in London, discover the archaeological significance of the Castle estate with Scott McLean, and understand the Symphonova project with Shelley Katz...and more!
Preliminary Itinerary*
* details subject to change
|Friday, April 11 - Optional Itinerary
|1 - 2 pm
|Arrive and Check-in
Pick up your Registration Folder
|Bader Hall Residence
|2 - 3 pm
|British Cream Tea
|Chestnut Tea Room
|3 - 4 pm
|Tour of the backwoods, secret garden, and the folly
|Depart from the Chestnut Tea Room
|4 - 5 pm
|5 - 6 pm
|Free Time
|6 - 8:30 pm
|Assemble in Lobby for departure to The Bull's Head (The Bull) Pub for dinner and networking
* cost of dinner is not included in price
|The Bull's Head Pub
| Saturday, April 12 - Main Itinerary
Note: Breakfast and Morning Session are Optional
If you are arriving this morning, check in at Bader Hall Desk to pick up your Registration Folder
|8:30 - 9:30 am
|Breakfast (optional)
|Main Dining Room
|9:30 - 10:20 am
|"The Dreyfuss Affair" (optional) with featured BISC Faculty Speaker David Baguley
|10:20 - 10:30 am
|Restroom Break
|10:30 - 12:30 pm
| Tour of Castle & Walled Gardens
with Mitch Piper
|Castle and Gardens
|12:30 - 1:30 pm
|Main Dining Room
|1:30 - 2:30 pm
|"Hendrix at Home: Researching the Life of a Rock Legend" with featured BISC Faculty Speaker Christian Lloyd
|2:30 - 3 pm
|Refreshment Break
|3 - 4 pm
|"Setting out on an English Journey: Travel Writing in the 1930's" with featured BISC Faculty Speaker Peter Lowe
|4 - 5 pm
1. 'Defend the Battlements' (groups of 10-15 ppl)
2. "Unleash Your Inner Robin Hood" Archery Class
Archery Clubhouse/Gym (weather dependent)
|5 - 6 pm
|Free Time
|6 - 6:45 pm
|Reception with sparkling wine
|7 - 8:30 pm
|Semi-Formal Dinner
|Conference Room
|8:30 - 9 pm
|Concert Performance & Lecture featuring
Shelley Katz, Castle Musician-in-Residence
|9 - 11 pm
|Pub Night at the Headless Drummer
|Headless Drummer Pub
|Sunday, April 13 - Main Itinerary
|8 - 9 am
|Main Dining Room
|9 - 10 am
|"(Un)compromising Chineseness: Chinese Cinema and the American Spectator" with featured BISC Faculty Speaker Rob Hyland
|10 - 10:30 am
|Refreshment Break
|10:30 am - 12:30 pm
|"2000 Years and Counting: A History of the Region from inside the walls of Pevensey Castle" with featured BISC Faculty Speaker Scott McLean
|to be determined
|12:30 - 2 pm
|Lunch, Check-out and Departure
(boxed lunches will be provided)
You are welcome to remain on the grounds to enjoy your lunch...
|pick up in
Main Dining Room


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Every call I get for a helicopter charter always includes one question: "how much is it?". When I tell them, some are suprised, some aren't. It's a tough question to answer; it costs any where from a couple hundered bucks to thousands to charter a helicopter depending on the helicopter, length of flight, destinations, etc. Here is my "basic" guide to figuring out how much your helicopter charter will be. Keep in mind that everything changes depending on the country you are in, the type of helicopter, how busy that company is, the cost of fuel. There's no one-size-fits all response, but this should give you a decent idea of what to expect.
Typically, the helicopter you charter will be based on a "per hour" rate; keep in mind that this is flight time, and could include the flight time from the helicopter's base to your pickup and dropoff. On top of that, you may incur landing fees (usually in the $50-250 range per landing), wait time fees (varies depending on operator, we charge $100 per hour), fuel surcharges, overnight fees, or minimum flight time (depends on how long you'll be tying up the aircraft).
Some companies require you to fly a minimum amount of time to use the aircraft; for example, if you want to fly out to the beach (15 minutes each way) but want to stay there all day and fly back, the company may require you spend X amount of dollars or pay for X number of flight hours. This is because your short flight is keeping that helicopter from being used by any other customers and thus limiting the amount of time that helicopter can fly (and the operator's ability to stay in business).
Make sure you ask the company if they own and operate their helicopters (followed by asking for their air carrier certificate)! I've known brokers to mark up prices by 500% (that being said, a good air charter broker is a great asset in helping you choose the best operator, but find out what it will cost you upfront); professional brokers know the industry, what is the best aircraft and operator for your needs, how much the charter should cost, and will charge a reasonable percentage or flat rate for their services. If they are not willing to be upfront with you, move on.
I hope this helps you understand helicopter charter pricing a bit better! Please message or respond if you have questions; I'm happy to help!
Jessie at Baltimore Helicopter Services
Standard Per Hour Rates (source: http://www.jobs4helicopters.com/index.php?nav=rates):
Type Aircraft Average Rate Low Rate High Rate
Astar B1,B2,B3 $ 1588 $ 850 $ 5500
Bell 205 A1++ $ 2242 $ 1200 $ 3000
Bell 206 L1,L3,LR $ 1432 $ 950 $ 3895
Bell 206B3 JR $ 1297 $ 680 $ 5300
Bell 212 $ 2489 $ 850 $ 3800
Bell 407 $ 1975 $ 1850 $ 2000
Bell 412 $ 3128 $ 2000 $ 4240
Bell UH-1H-703 $ 2478 $ 1600 $ 5600
H500 or MD500 $ 877 $ 600 $ 1800
K-max $ 3311 $ 1900 $ 4200
Robinson R44 $ 691 $ 525 $ 1645
Twin Star $ 1488 $850 $1800
UH-1H or Bell 214 $ 1596 $1300 $2500


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cheap nike nfl jerseys association held in five and ten times the standing council, issued in the past five years China's garment industry statistics. Chinese jerseys association executive vice President of Chen Dapeng said that over the past five years is to promote China's garment industry one of the fastest growing for five years. Over the past five years, in the face of complicated international and domestic economic environment, the increasingly fierce market competition, china nike nfl jerseys industry keep sustained growth in the two markets, progress of value innovation, transformation and upgrading overall acceleration, the industry of the new situation of present the innovation and development.
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Post apocalyptic clothing fashions range from the bizarre to the asinine, and I would like to examine the different styles along with a little sarcastic color commentary.
I am going to discuss the clothing styles of the post apocalyptic movie genre with the purpose of tying it in to the practical reality of actual post apocalyptic survival.
Keep in mind, I just got home from a bar and saw a couple of genetic-dead-ends dressed like they were straight out of Resident Evil that were the the inspiration for this post. So here goes my vaguely coherent analysis of post apocalyptic clothing in movies and then ultimately in reality.
Post Apocalyptic Clothing Styles: Served with a Side of Reality
First and foremost, I know that every asshole and their dad thinks that when SHTF they are going to be riding around on a motorcycle wearing football pads, sporting a red Mohawk like this retard in the famous post apocalyptic film Mad Max 2: Road Warrior.
If they don't fall into that category, a large portion of them fall into the other style that I hate, the uber "tacticool" post apocalyptic soldier category:
You see, I have a different take on post apocalyptic survival. I think it is more important to not get randomly sniped in your head because you look like a threat or even worse, unstable.
I get the whole obsession with cool military surplus gear, I have a woodland camo Alice pack and I will admit it. But what really grinds my gears about that particular post apocalyptic clothing style is that it makes you more of a target than necessary.
Let me explain, if you are walking up my property, even with Jesus-like intentions, and you are sporting some super tactical get up with a red Mohawk, my first reaction is going to be to blast you from a distance.
A. You look like a serious threat to my family even if you aren't.
B. You are a walking advertisement that you have nice gear that could be useful ( I probably would just like you more, but my point is most people will not).
This is why when you are choosing post apocalyptic clothing for your apocalypse survival kit, you should really understand that camouflage doesn't make you invisible and conspicuous survival gear makes you a target.
Also, disregard everything you ever saw in every movie that you love. Post apocalyptic clothing in movies is designed to achieve a look. Here is a nice little chart I have made of several real jobs and their Hollywood representation.
|Hollywood Pirate
|Real Pirate
|Hollywood Cops
|Real Cops
|Hollywood Drug Dealer
|Real Drug Dealer
|Hollywood President
|Real President
Well I guess you could disregard that last one…
Anyway, you get the point, lets get back to post apocalyptic clothing.
To sum it up:
In the Hollywood post apocalyptic fashion world it is always fashion over function. They have the job of creating a feeling in the audience by displaying some sort of powerful visual.
It isn't reality and you know that, seriously just look at this bitch.
I'm sure a lot of you will disagree with me and I encourage you to leave a comment if you do. However I have to think that post apocalyptic survival is about a lot more than how amazing your gear is. It is about human psychology. You want clothing that will actually provide you some tangible benefit and not shock or frighten other people.
You will be dealing with regular people that probably weren't reading postapocalypticsurvival.com or seriously (maybe even humorously) developing skills to survive the breakdown of society.
Real Practical Post Apocalyptic Clothing vs. Hollywood.
Most people will be completely unprepared if the SHTF my friend, so if they see you as more prepared they could consider you a threat or see you as potential prey.
You assuming that you are invisible with your tactical camo gear isn't going to stop Mr. Johnson the farmer from putting a .308 in your skull from 500 yards before you even realize you are on his land.
Do I think camo and tactical gear are useless? Hell no, but like everything else there is a time and a place. I am less likely to pop a long distance cap from my window in a guy who is wearing a flannel lumberjack short even though he might be a bigger threat.
Without further ado however, I will end my characteristically typical rant that never allows me to get to the meat of the post. Here are all of the categories of post apocalyptic clothing and my opinion of them.
For lack of a better term, the first post apocalyptic clothing category is the asshole. This is the guy who looks like he randomly found equipment that is pointless and put it all on because he watched mad max and he's so happy society crumbled so he could flaunt this shitty style.
This style comes primarily from post apocalyptic movies, but you can be damn sure retards will dress like this if they wake up and there is no government. Its like the chance of a lifetime for the goth kids from high school to fit in.
Too bad you still won't be fitting in junior.
It doesn't matter to this type that their gear serves no functional purpose, they want the Mad Max look so bad that they will strap on random sports gear and cut their hair into some asinine style. If I see you sporting some stupid punk haircut dressed like a cluster fuck, I am going to assume you are one of the bad guys from Road Warrior and blast you.
"Emo" haircuts better be the first thing to go extinct when society collapses. If you want to rebel against society, don't do it with your haircut you fucking pussy.
It's not because they look "scary" and rebellious it's because I want to take people like that out of the human genome. Society in a post apocalyptic world will be bad enough. We don't need a bunch of shit eating, wrist cutting, makeup-wearing, emotional-wrecks sporting dyke haircuts to be reproducing and making it even shittier.
If you were a walking billboard for your dislike of society and authority before the apocalypse, what the fuck am I supposed to expect from you after society has collapsed? At least keep your contempt for modern society and the government inconspicuous like the rest of us, or find a way to display it that doesn't make you look like a fucking three ring circus act.
Next on my list of post apocalyptic clothing styles is the "tacticool" post apocalyptic soldier wannabe's. This is the type of person who will be running around in their air-soft gear, their only combat experience is call of duty on Xbox, but they will appear threatening through a rifle scope.
Tacticool!!! Fuck Yeah!
If it is just one of them I might try to have a conversation, but if they are with their air-soft buddies or Xbox live friends, my wife and I are picking them off at 500 yards just to be safe. Who knows, they could be modding or have hacks and I am not taking any chances. You could be a higher level than me, and that is unacceptable.
I am going to do something I would almost never do right now, because I have to. I am going to repost the same image from before with a different meme slogan. Sue me.
I understand you might be scared and think military and paintball gear is really cool because you can blend in. Having some camo gear for hunting and maybe even recon is smart. Having a wardrobe of tactical camo and full black outfits that you plan to wear every day could be suicidal.
A big aspect of post apocalyptic survival is blending in and not making yourself a target. Camouflage is not always the best way to "blend in". I urge you to keep that in mind when you are preparing your kit for after the apocalypse. It is really tempting to just get the most tactical oriented gear possible and try to be the terminator.
Post apocalyptic gear doesn't make you the terminator. Being a robot that comes back from the future makes you the terminator. Don't forget that post apocalyptic clothing is not about looking cool, it is about surviving. I just hope you realize that just like in modern society, you can dress however you want and people can and will judge you for it. Which leads us right into our next category of ridiculousness.
The next post apocalypse clothing trend I ran into while researching post apocalyptic clothing was actually "post apocalyptic fashion" as in models and catwalks. Inspired by the post apocalyptic movie genre, designers have started to create post apocalyptic clothing lines. Yea, they made cowboys gay and now they have begun to try to make the post apocalyptic genre gay.
Not on my red blooded, gun toting, Constantina-wire-eating, napalm pissing American watch they won't.
Don't get me wrong, I am as pure a libertarian as the good Dr. Ron Paul, but apocalyptic fashion on runways makes a mockery of the severity of what we could potentially be facing. Ahh, who really gives a shit I am just drunk and tired of the softening of America.
Thank God I get emails from so many of you out there who operate on the same wave length as me and believe that being a man requires a certain rugged individualistic toughness that is increasingly absent in modern society.
Shit, they don't even keep scores in kids sports now what kind of shit is that. How can you expect a kid to grow up and be productive and hungry for success in society when he grows up thinking everyone gets a trophy and there are no losers? Winners don't exist without losers.
I have beaten ass, and got my ass beaten in my younger days so many times that a modern liberal psychologist would probably think I was damaged goods. But I learned from it, I learned that there will be people bigger, faster, stronger, smarter and we are not all equal except under the law (supposedly).
This constructed a model in my mind that enabled me to overcome anyone, anything or any obstacle by outsmarting or being more imaginative than my competition. This was survival of the fittest to me and it was in line with Darwin's theory of the origin of species that my teachers crammed into my head.
Ironically, I found it to be odd that the very people who instilled this voracious appetite for dog-eat-dog scientific analysis of how the world worked, were so vehement in their quest to relinquish the Christian teachings I had learned at home. When I was politically inspired by their natural message of "survival of the fittest" in a social Darwinist sense, and explained my views based on natural law, it became incorrect. Their blatantly liberal political, inconsistent framework contradicted itself so glaringly that perhaps this is what led me to major in political science and get involved in politics?
That last paragraph shitted on all grammar education I have ever received, but on the bright side it reminded me of three things:
- This post is probably chock-full of spelling and grammar mistakes that I am not going to correct before I post this.
- I am about as far off topic right now as the U.S. Government is off of a balanced budget.
- I am hammered.
So watch how I cleverly re-weave this eloquent transition.
(We are talking about post apocalyptic clothing, specifically fashion models on the runway and other shit that pisses me off.)
This is the style you see hitting the runways with men who look like women and women who look like little boys donning this super "cool" new trend to dress like its the end of the world. If you can look at this picture without wanting to beat this guy mercilessly, you should probably get off my website. You don't belong here, you are among men.
I don't even want to talk about this anymore. It makes me wanna throw up, then kill a large animal, field strip and consume it.
So lets try another post apocalyptic clothing style and see if I can keep my blood from boiling.
This post apocalyptic movie clothing style is the desert wastelander look. Dirty trench coat, finger tip gloves, basically trying to look as close to homeless as possible. Shit, you probably will be standing around some oil drum barrel fire warming your hands, so I guess when in Rome…
This style is pretty functional and practical though. No crazy random shit hanging off of you. This is the first one in our lovely post apocalyptic clothing list that doesn't really press any buttons with me. This is really what people will probably wind up dressing like.
But if you really wonder what post apocalyptic survivors will look like, just spend a week in Appalachia.
These fuckers are tough as nails and are the closest thing in modern American society to post apocalyptic society. People make fun of em', but I don't.
I know they will probably be the last ones left, those rugged mountain bastards.
I spend a lot of time primitive camping in the Appalachian mountains and I am amazed by these people. Especially when I have driven miles off road through trails and down streams to set up a camp way out from society only to realize up the mountain near me there is a full house built out of scraps.
Everybody in the house has a beard to their knees, even the women and children. I don't fuck with these people and to be honest I am in awe of them.
Ok I guess I am at the point where I should wrap things up, I don't even think I read posts this long so I have no idea why I write them, but if you have read this whole thing I am impressed. This is probably more of a personal grumbling than anything else, but I hope you get some insight into where I am coming from in this post. For all I know, I will read this shit tomorrow and be pissed I posted it. So to the bottom line:
People will probably wear post apocalyptic clothing like this:
Functional, warm clothing that works and doesn't look to flashy or too tactical. When selecting your post apocalyptic gear don't go overboard on the tactical, think practical tactical and how you can best conceal your weapons and gear without looking too prepared.
In summary, get the proper post apocalyptic clothing and don't be this guy:
Post apocalyptic survival fans found this searching for:
- post apocalyptic clothing
- post apocalyptic fashion
- post apocalyptic clothes
- apocalyptic clothing
- emo meme


text: Warning: Declaration of vB_ProfileBlock_vBSEOLikes::block_is_enabled() should be compatible with that of vB_ProfileBlock::block_is_enabled() in ..../vbseo/includes/functions_vbseo_ui_profile.php on line 52 View Profile: Hapimeses - Cartographers' Guild Remember Me? Register Help Home What's New? Forum Forum Home New Posts FAQ Calendar Community Groups Albums Member List Forum Actions Mark Forums Read Quick Links Today's Posts View Site Leaders Donate Blogs Gallery Album Gallery Picture Gallery Advanced Search Member List Hapimeses Hapimeses Professional Artist Home Page Find latest posts Find latest started threads View Articles View Blog Entries Likes Received (0) Likes Given (0) Mini Statistics Join Date 03-12-2008 Last Activity 02-08-2012 11:24 AM Blog Entries 0 Avatar 0 Groups Hapimeses is not a member of any groups Join Groups 1 Permission Groups Professional Artists Recent Visitors The last 5 visitor(s) to this page were: Belfigor, song, StephJones, SteveMildred, torstan This page has had 1,913 visits Tab Content Hapimeses's Activity About Me Post AreasLikes ReceivedAwards Tab Content All Hapimeses Friends Photos New Activity () Please reload this page to view the 200+ new activity items that have been created. Older Activity More Activity No More Results No Recent Activity About Hapimeses Basic Information Date of Birth December 6, 1975 (38) About Hapimeses Biography: I've played games all my life. Now I'm a housedad. The rest you can figure out. Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Interests: The three 'r's: reading, writing, and roleplaying; the primary motivations for my maps. Occupation: Freelance artist and writer Software Used: Photoshop Signature Hapimeses.com Contact This Page http://www.cartographersguild.com/members/hapimeses.html Statistics Total Posts Total Posts 63 Posts Per Day 0.03 General Information Last Activity 02-08-2012 11:24 AM Join Date 03-12-2008 Referrals 0 Post Areas Top Areas Of Posting 0 Likes Awards Showcase - 1 Awards Image Description Name: Tutorial Author Awarded for hosting a 5-compass rated tutorial at this site. Issue time: 05-09-2008, 06:02 AM Issue reason: For Contributing Simple Mountains Tutorial -- Cartographer -- Default Mobile Style Contact Us Cartographers' Guild Archive Advertising Top All times are GMT -4. The time now is 09:46 AM. Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.2 Copyright © 2014 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.1 Site Copyright © Robbie Powell 2006-2014All posted content is the sole property of the poster and may not be reused without permission, except for cross-site promotions.Digital Point modules: Sphinx-based search


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Shamrock salad
Community Recipe from
- 3 oz package(s) Lime jello
- 1 cup(s) Boiling water
- 2/3 cup(s) Evaporated milk
- 9 oz can(s) Crushed pineapple With juice
- 1 tablespoon(s) Fresh lemon juice
- 12 oz container(s) Cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup(s) celery Finely chopped
- 1/2 cup(s) Mayo
- 1/2 cup(s) pecans Finely chopped
- In med bowl, stir jello in boiling water. When jello completely dissolved, stir in evaporated milk, pineapple, lemon juice, cottage cheese, celery, mayo and pecans. Pour mix into 1 1/2 qt square dish. Chill overnight or til firm.
- To serve cut into squares and serve on lettuce leaves
May 2013
This recipe is a personal recipe added by Jhwatts and has not been tested or endorsed by MyRecipes.
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It's Data Privacy Day! How Are You… Um… Celebrating?
"Data Privacy Day is an effort to empower people to protect their privacy and control their digital footprint and escalate the protection of privacy and data as everyone's priority… In our online world, data is free flowing. All of us - from home computer users to the largest corporations - need to be aware of the personal and private data others have entrusted to us and remain vigilant and proactive about protecting it." National Cyber Security Alliance
For the past five years, January 28 has been designated as Data Privacy Day, intended to raise awareness and promote greater understanding of the importance of protecting personal and private data.
To celebrate, we've compiled a list of legal updates and commentary relating to data privacy in three areas of ongoing concern: health care, personal information, and privacy in the workplace. For your reference:
1. Health Care:
New HIPAA Breach Notification Rule May Prove Costly for HIPAA-Covered Entities (Duane Morris LLP):
"Every data breach is unique, and any assessment determining the probability that PHI was compromised will be highly fact-dependent and will incorporate a significant degree of subjectivity. However, the new low-probability standard is likely to be hard to meet and strongly indicates that HHS intends for the vast majority of breaches to be disclosed. Thus, with this heightened burden on risk-assessment analysis and notification, it is vital that all covered entities and business associates examine and update their current policies and procedures to ensure that they can detect and respond to potential data breaches in an appropriate and compliant manner." Read on»
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Announces First HIPAA Breach Settlement Involving Fewer than 500 Patients (White & Case LLP):
"On January 2, 2013, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") settled its first case involving the unauthorized disclosure of the electronic protected health information ("ePHI") of fewer than 500 individuals…Pursuant to the HIPAA Security Rule, health plans, health care clearinghouses, and healthcare providers who transmit information in electronic form, collectively defined as 'Covered Entities' under the law, are required to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of ePHI." Read on»
Hospitals Need To Focus On Data Privacy And Security (Michael Volkov):
"The Department of Health and Human Services has mandated that hospitals (and other service providers) conduct a risk assessment for evaluating data security. HHS has not defined what type of risk assessment or how such a risk assessment should be conducted. When it comes to data security, hospitals face external and internal risks. External hacking incidents are rare. Theft and unauthorized disclosures are the primary risks. Administrative and physical protections often are the best way to minimize such risks. Technological protections against a hacking incident may be needed but often are a lower priority solution." Read on»
2. Personal Privacy:
Complying With COPPA Under The FTC's New Children's Online Privacy Protection Rules (Polsinelli Shughart PC):
"On December 2012, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued updated rules to the Child's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), … which governs the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information from children under 13 online, [and] requires operators of websites and online services that are directed to children or that have actual knowledge that they are collecting information from children to provide notice to and obtain consent from the child's parents prior to collecting personal information from the child. The new rules – which are effective July 1, 2013 – broaden the type of information covered by COPPA, apply to a much wider group of website and online service operators, and impose new data security, protection, retention, and deletion requirements." Read on»
CA Attorney General's Report Highlights Best Practices For Mobile App Developers (Pepper Hamilton LLP):
"On January 10, 2013, California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris released a report that provided recommendations and guidelines for strong privacy practices for developers of smartphone and mobile device applications, systems, platforms, and networks. The report, 'Privacy on the Go: Recommendations for the Mobile Ecosystem,' was based on input from multiple large companies in the mobile application industry…As the attorney general's report points out, one of the key challenges to consumer privacy mobile applications present stems from the fact that our mobile devices are 'always-on,' 'always-on-us,' and may store types of potentially sensitive personal information not typically found on our personal computers, such as call logs and location data." Read on»
Lame Duck Congress Acts on Privacy Bills, Mostly With an Eye Toward 2013 (BakerHostetler):
"The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the Location Privacy Protection Act of 2012, S. 1223, on December 13. Sponsored by Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), the bill would require mobile device (phones, tablets, car GPS) service providers to get prior consent from customers before collecting their geolocation information or sharing it with third parties. It also includes provisions designed to prevent so-called 'cyberstalking': Service providers that fall into one of the bill's exceptions (to help a parent locate a child, provide emergency services, protect customers from fraud, etc.) must nonetheless notify the individual about the tracking and how to revoke consent. Further, the bill makes it a crime to intentionally operate a stalking application and provides for a study of the use of geolocation data in violence against women." Read on»
3. Workplace Privacy:
New State Laws Prohibit Employers and Academic Institutions from Requesting Usernames and Passwords to Monitor Social Media Activity, Creating Complications for Compliance with Federal Securities Regulations (Ropes & Gray LLP):
"An increasing number of states are passing laws that prohibit employers and academic institutions from requesting or requiring employees, job applicants, students, and prospective students to turn over their social media usernames and passwords. To date, six states have enacted such legislation: California and Michigan laws apply to both employers and academic institutions, while Illinois and Maryland laws apply only to employers and Delaware and New Jersey laws apply only to academic institutions." Read on»
What Employers Need to Know About New York's Beefed-Up Social Security Number Protection Law (Holland & Knight LLP) :
"New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently signed an amendment to the state's Social Security Number Protection Law. The amendment — which is designed to strengthen consumer privacy and protect against identify theft — became effective on December 12, 2012. Before the amendment was passed, the law prohibited persons and entities, including employers, from intentionally making available to the public an individual's Social Security number… The new amendment takes these protections one step further, imposing additional limitations on the ability of business entities to collect an individual's Social Security number in the first place." Read on»
Criminal Background Checks? The FTC Knows There's an App for That (Ifrah Law):
"This month, the FTC took another major step in that direction with a groundbreaking settlement applying the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to app developers Filquarian Publishing, LLC, Choice Level, LLC, and Joshua Linsk… The complaint against them cited numerous FCRA violations: (i) regularly furnishing reports to individuals who did not have a permissible purpose to use them, (ii) failing to maintain any procedures for assuring maximum possible accuracy of information provided in the reports, and (iii) failing to provide required notices to users of the consumer reports. The agency concluded that the disclaimers were not enough to absolve the company of FCRA liability, especially when the disclaimer directly contradicts express representations in the company's advertisements." Read on»
See also: A Cautionary Tale for Data Privacy Day - Ifrah Law
Find more on data privacy at JD Supra»


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Through 44 years in the chocolate business, Master Confectioner Tom Cinnamon gathered a wealth of knowledge about chocolate and candy making. In April of 2000, we (Tom & wife Kathi) used that talent and experience to begin our own shop, Cinnamon's Chocolates. We and our staff have made thousands of delicious home style, handmade chocolates and other confections from the freshest and finest ingredients available over the years.
Tom trained in Belgium, Pennsylvania, California, and Vancouver and has also taught and consulted around the world including a trip to Russia on behalf of the California Almond Board. He also consulted for several folks who wanted to start their own chocolate businesses, needed help with recipes etc. During one of those consulting jobs, he needed to make something to test out a cooker. He made his peanut brittle. When he brought it home to the family, we all said you have to share this with other people! So it's the peanut brittle that started it all. With all the wonderful opportunities to travel, for Tom, nothing ever beat his return to work with his own small, hands-on operation and the deep and personal satisfaction each day in the fine chocolates that are produced.
All three of our kids (his two, my one)helped at different times in the candy kitchen and while they supported us doing what we loved and they all loved it too, they quite sensibly came to the conclusion that owning your own small chocolate business is a challenging way to make a living. While they've gone on to other things, their support and participation (and bragging) made this a truly family experience for us.
Lots of our employees have been like family too, they've worked hard, made us laugh (and laugh) and shown such dedication. We've been so lucky to have such great people come work here time after time. Lots have been students who themselves have gone on to bigger things. We've been several people's first jobs and like to think we've helped some young folks on their way to growing into wonderful adults. We've made friendships that will last the rest of our lives.
We've had wonderful support from our community too – both customers, fellow business owners, local papers and associations. Our landlord and his family have been such great friends and colleagues. We've been so proud to use Avalon Dairy organic dairy in our chocolates – we think it's made a huge difference in the taste and quality of our chocolates and confections. Although you might not expect it, we have also had great support from other chocolate folks – who are the best kind of people. Cinnamon's would not have continued to exist without the support of the Charlie's Chocolates family. And all our friends who have helped in so many ways, one in particular who we think does not want to be mentioned here – we couldn't have done it without you either!
After several years of challenging times in the life of our small business, Cinnamon's Chocolates is closing it's doors as of end of day Easter Sunday. We've been so fortunate to have had this experience and are grateful to everyone who participated in it. We are ready…. not to stop working but certainly to stop worrying.
We're going to continue to make treats and take them to market. We've re enlisted for the Friday night Shipyards market and new this year have been accepted for the Ambleside market Sunday mornings. We'll see how that goes before we add more. Please stop by and say hi if you're in the area. We'll be in the booth called "Munch" and we're working on a bit of a website at munchbytomandkathi.ca.
Thank you all so much! Tom and Kathi


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Microsoft Buy Opens Pay-Per-Call Possibilities from ClickZ looks briefly at how Microsoft's acquisition of VoIP firm Teleo might feed into a pay-per-call system to integrate into its planned paid search service. It picks up from the brief observation Jupiter Research analyst Gary Stein made about this on his blog.
The Original Search Marketing Event is Back!
SES Denver (Oct 16) offers an intense day of learning all the critical aspects of search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search advertising (PPC). The mission of SES remains the same as it did from the start - to help you master being found on search engines. Register today!


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Richard Bacon on the BBC Three Blog
"It turns out that the level of vitriol I was receiving was mild by comparison with what hundreds, probably thousands, of people around the UK were subjected to."Richard Bacon on the BBC Three Blog
Richard gives an insight into living with online bullying in his blog for BBC Three.
- Presenter
- Richard Bacon
- Presenter
- Richard Bacon