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WASHINGTON -- When "Frozen" hit theaters last November, fans came out in droves to watch Disney's next classic animated story. The momentum carried over to the retail sector as dolls, dresses and figurines flew out of stores.
Now the shelves are bare, online retailers flash "out of stock" messages and limited-edition Elsa dresses sell for $1,200 on eBay. Parents are furious about the "Frozen" supply, and they're having a hard time letting it go.
"In the month of December, you were actually able to get the dolls and the other toys," says Jim Silver, editor in chief of TTPM, the leading consumer website for reviews, price comparison and product availability for toys, electronics and other merchandise.
As the popularity of the movie escalated, so did the demand for "Frozen" products.
"Retailers were ordering what they thought would be a five-week supply of Frozen,' and they were sold out in five days," Silver says.
Frustrated parents have taken to The Disney Store's Facebook page to let the company know how disappointed their children will be come birthday mornings and weekend playdates.
One parent writes:
Disney is far too smart of a business and marketing machine to face out- of-stock situations like this for the "Frozen" merchandise. After visiting six retail stores, including a Disney Store, and more online stores than I can count in the past two weeks, I am completely disappointed with the lack of "Frozen" merchandise available. I will have one sad birthday girl who only wanted an Elsa costume for her birthday this year. And with the prices for these dresses on sites like eBay and Amazon, it's reminiscent of the Cabbage Patch craze of the 80s. Are you trying to drive demand and prices by limiting supply???
Another says:
This is ridiculous already. You must by now KNOW that "Frozen" became the hottest thing ever. I received a text saying there are items back in stock and I went to the website right away and the Elsa costume dress was already sold out in all sizes. Very disappointing. Ever since the movie came out, that's all my daughter keeps talking about and I never had a chance to get it; as soon as it comes available, it's already sold out.
Twitter is abuzz, as well:
my girl is sound asleep and heres me awake for ages patiently waiting for these queen elsa dolls to go online come on!! @DisneyStore #Frozen— NATALIE DOCHERTY (@xMissNat) April 16, 2014
Utterly disappointed to learn that @disneystore #london sold 30 classic elsa dolls to one customer this morning #outofstock #ebay— Andy Martin (@AndyPMartin) April 15, 2014
Silver says the limited supply is not intentional.
"Companies don't want to leave sales on the table," he says. "They want to sell as much as there is demand and they're doing everything they can to get as much product here as soon as possible. But the demand is far exceeding supply."
And replenishing retail supplies is not as easy as flipping a switch.
Silver says it's typically a three- to five-month process to make the merchandise, send it through the proper safety checks, ship the goods to the U.S. and distribute the products to retailers.
"The manufacturers do not want to miss out on the opportunity, and they are trying to replenish the pipeline," says Silver, adding that the key manufacturers are Mattel and JAKKS Pacific.
Anne-Marie Grill, vice president of corporate communications at JAKKS Pacific, says the company is continuously shipping products to retailers, but the products are selling out as soon as they hit the shelves.
"We knew the movie would be popular, but it's become so successful that we're doing everything we can and working with our retail partners to get more products in stores," Grill says.
An Elsa dress from the Disney movie "Frozen" sells for nearly $1,200 on eBay. (WTOP Screen Shot)
Silver, who predicts it will take four to six months before supplies catch up, compares the demand for "Frozen" retail products to other toy crazes such as Pokémon and Furby.
"It's one of those crazes that the industry sees every few years," Silver says.
"The fans became obsessed with the movie. It's become one of the biggest box-office hits for Disney in the last 20 years, and kids really related to the characters the music was phenomenal. It just engrossed the child."
Silver says the most popular "Frozen" merchandise items are Disney Frozen Music Magical Elsa and Anna dolls and the Elsa and Anna dresses. Grill says role-play accessories -- such as wands, tiaras and shoes -- are also quick to sell out.
And the demand for these items has only continued to increase since the DVD was released in March.
"As [kids] watch it over and over again, they become even more engrossed with the characters, fall in love, and they want to re-live this whole play experience at home," Silver says.
As far as advice for parents, eager to get their hands on anything "Frozen," Silver says to keep checking online, and to get to know the managers and stock employees at your local retail stores.
Disney didn't speak on the record about the "Frozen" shortage, but released the following statement:
"'Frozen' is a global phenomenon that has truly exceeded expectations on every level," said Margita Thompson, vice president for external communications with Disney Consumer Products. "We are thrilled that audiences formed instant connections with the characters and are working hard to get additional product into stores as soon as possible. Guests will see product continue to flow in throughout the summer (the Elsa dress should be back in stores later this month/early May), and stores are expected to be back in full stock by July/August."
Follow @WTOP and @WTOPliving on Twitter and on the WTOP Facebook page.
© 2014 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.


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Narrow your search
This is the daily tech show to beat all others.
As Tom Cruise repeats the same day over and over, "Edge of Tomorrow" breaks the cycle of post-"Dark Knight" blockbusters.
We can't decide if we love or hate this hybrid standing-slash-treadmill desk. Sure, it's in the shape of a gigantic hamster wheel, and you'll be the laughingstock of your office... but doesn't it also seem kind of fun?
On today's show, we get a good laugh out of the human hamster wheel that's also a standing desk, squeal like tweens over Tokyo Game Show trailers, and marvel at the brilliance of a "bruise suit" created to help Paralympians identify potential injuries.
This drone from the University of Virginia has a Nexus 5 brain, and costs $800 in materials to create. Of course, you'll need some other items to complete it (including a 3D printer), but there's no denying we're inching closer to a sky filled with UAVs.
On today's show, we jump on the hype train for THAW, MIT's seamless multiscreen project, watch a 3D-printing robot get omnidirectional wheels, and check out a drone that can be printed for just $800.
Korean architecture firm Hoon Moon must be feeling pretty great about this futuristic, minimalist structure it designed. It's a little bit Sandcrawler, a little bit Death Star, and a whole lot of awesome. That's no space station... it's a house!
On today's show, Khail and Ashley panic a little about cheetah-bot's untethered evolution, gush about the amazing Korean home inspired by "Star Wars," and send high fives to Mangetsu-man, a Japanese superhero cleaning up the streets of Tokyo.
Researchers at Arizona State University have designed the 4MM, a jetpack designed to help its wearer run a 4-minute mile, and expend less energy doing it. We've never even run a 6-minute mile, so we'll need to crank this thing up to 11.
On today's show, Rich and Ashley discuss a jetpack that helps you run a 4-minute mile, a tiny radio the size of an ant, and Microsoft's $2.5-billion-dollar purchase of the company that created Minecraft.
'Batman v. Superman' director Zack Snyder tweeted out the first official Batmobile photo from the set; lots of people are upset about what looks like a machine gun up front, but Khail has some great theories as to why...

subset: commoncrawl


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The city of Kraków in the southern region of Poland. It covers both banks of the Wisla river and is the second largest city.
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Roberts Chapel
Roberts Chapel provides a peaceful place to worship the Lord. A weekly Chapel service takes place each Tuesday at 11 a.m. and special services occur throughout the semester.
Roberts Chapel provides a peaceful place to worship the Lord. A weekly Chapel service takes place each Tuesday at 11 a.m. and special services occur throughout the semester.
The Lord said to him: "I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there." 1 Kings 9:3
With tree-lined sidewalks and plenty of benches and gathering areas, Johnson Commons is located at the heart of campus and often serves as a hangout spot for students.
You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. Psalms 65:9
Benedum Dining Hall, an all-you-care-to-eat facility, offers a variety of dining options, including a deli station, the grill, home-style cooking, a pizza bar, a salad bar, a vegetarian station and a dessert bar, among others. The Bee Hive Snack Bar, an a la carte dining area with a new Starbucks coffee station, is located in Stover Campus Center.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. Psalms 136:1
The hub of campus life, Stover Campus Center is the home to the bookstore, the Bee Hive Snack Bar, conference rooms for student meetings, a dining area, Guesman Prayer Chapel, a lounge with a large screen television and the mail room, as well as Career Services, the Center for Service Leadership, Student Services and more.
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10
As a member of the Presidents' Athletic Conference, Waynesburg University offers 18 NCAA Division III varsity sports, nine each for men and women. Athletic facilities include the Athletic Field Complex (softball, baseball and tennis facilities), the John F. Wiley Stadium, the Marisa Fieldhouse and the Robert C. Wiley Armory (wrestling).
Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1
Clubs and organizations, honorary societies and intramural teams, along with traditions like Waynesburg Idol, the President's Breakfast and Pumpkin Bowling, lead to a rich selection of on-campus activities for all students.
At Waynesburg, we connect service with learning, a distinguishing feature in academia. Students develop their skills and talents on their academic journeys and are provided with opportunities to use them to serve others along the way.
Freshman reside in our five traditional underclassmen residents halls. Upperclassmen have the option of moving into one of our five, upscale apartment-style residence halls, which afford the independence of real apartments as well as the accessibility and fun atmosphere of traditional dormitories.
Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Psalms 90:1
The Fitness Center offers students, faculty and staff a 16,000-square-foot facility complete with state-of-the-art aerobic and strength and conditioning equipment.
I can do everything through him who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
Academic facilities include Buhl Humanities Building, the CSI Center and the Marine Biology Lab.
For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:6
The University offers various outlets for creative expression, including theater productions in the Goodwin Performing Arts Center, art classes, student and visiting exhibits, musical performances, choirs, bands, symphonies, concerts and more.
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Psalms 95:1
Stewart Science Hall and the CRED Building house the University's biology, chemistry, forensic science and nursing programs. They include laboratories, science instrumentation and technology necessary for advanced research.
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. Proverbs 3:5


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The following arrest information was provided by the Bensalem Township Police Department. It does not imply conviction.
On Tuesday, March13, made the following arrests:
At 1:35 a.m., Todd Kazee, 20, of the 3300 block of Richlieu Road, was charged with underage drinking at Street Road and Wine Avenue. He will receive a citation.
At 7:14 p.m., Jessie Marie Carey, 18, of the 2000 block of Brown Avenue, was arrested in the 1800 block of Street Road and charged with retail theft. She was issued a citation.
At 11:50 p.m., Carl S. Bailey, 42, of the 2500 block of N. Garnet Street, Philadelphia, was arrested in the 2300 block of Old Lincoln Highway, Trevose on an outstanding warrant out of Philadelphia. He was turned over to Philadelphia Police Warrant Unit.


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Alfonso Soriano
Perhaps we should be encouraged by the Todd Ricketts "Undercover Boss" episode
For those of you who may have missed it, "Undercover Boss" is a show where the presumed "boss" of a company goes incognito and does menial jobs with menial schlubs in his own company, generally fails miserably, then cleans himself up and makes futile conciliatory gestures towards said schlubs, the end. Todd Ricketts was featured in this week's show.
The masses didn't really enjoy it very much. Andy very nicely summarizes for us here.
I choose to be encouraged, and here's why:
In all the other episodes, the "boss" is usually the boss due to his or her own merits. It is not necessary that the head of FedEx be able to wrap a package more quickly than his trained package wrappers, for example. He got to his lofty position because of his other abilities, that far outweigh the abilities of mere mortal men. The show, by and large, is nothing more than a feel-good device for the Tea Party set: a garbageman can handle a garbage can more effectively than the CEO of his company; thus, in some small, ultimately trivial way, Sam Schlub is better than G. Thurston Gotrocks.
Of course, in our specific case, the Ricketts children are nothing more than the lottery winners of the Lucky Sperm club. They did nothing to build the 900 million dollars American it took to buy the Cubs: that was thanks to their father, as well as the butt crazy dot.com economy which eventually crashed and left us where we are at today.
In fact, most of the angst Cub Fan Nation is feeling right now is because none of us really know what the Ricketts kids are truly capable of, outside of swilling Old Styles and picking up chicks in the bleachers. (Yep, that goes for all the kids).
So this particular episode of "UB" took on far more importance than the usual weekly doses of "Freaky Friday" schlock. I don't give a rip if a billionaire isn't a very good panhandler. But, hey, I DID want to see what one of the Ricketts kids is made of.
It wasn't real encouraging that Toddy didn't know how to operate a hose, or a hand truck. But I don't hold it against him that he wanted to spend as little time as possible in the Wrigley Field bathrooms. I usually dash in and out of there myself, holding my breath as long as possible. I don't always give the best high-fives, either, although I would know better than to try to give one to an authentic black guy. An enthusiastic nod and a loud "YEAH" always seems to work.
But what made me sit up in my chair and take notice was his hot-dog vending effort. After several hours sitting in his heated box, Todd (rightly) determined that the last four weiners were no longer fit for human consumption, so he dipped into his own pocket to "buy off" the Foul Four, and surreptiously dumped them in the trash.
Now, it may have had nothing to do with the condition of the dogs, he might have just been lazy, but hear me out:
Aren't the four lousy hot dogs an apt metaphor for the expiring utility of Fukudome, Zambrano and Soriano? Or how about the financials of Crane Kenney's and Jim Hendry's employment? Yes, $15MM+ is a ridiculous amount of money to waste on a player contract, but $4.50 is a ridiculous amount of money to waste on a skinny hot dog in a soggy bun. Might Todd be setting a precedent here, one where the Ricketts are encouraged to dip into their pockets, pay down the bills, and throw out some of their more useless employees? Put some new baseball people in charge; let another set of eyes look at the organization, and determine whether we should be buyers, sellers, or builders?
I think the Great Hot Dog Toss might be a small first step towards something much more substantial: namely; rather than sitting on their asses and waiting for the bad Hendry contracts to expire, maybe the kids are gonna go out a year or two sooner to try to win?
In the meantime, I'll just be sitting here, waiting for the economy to bounce back. Should be any day now.
Who plays 1B in 2011?
The trade of Derrek Lee to Atlanta has thrown 1B into a state of flux. Charitably speaking, the Cubs now have three first basemen on the roster: Xavier Nady, Micah Hoffpauir, and Tyler Colvin. The Cubs will want a full time first baseman entering the 2011 season. I'll present some of the options before the Cubs, along with pros and cons for each option.
Tyler Colvin:
Tyler has the power to succeed as a major league regular, if not the plate discipline. His .356 season wOBA has been 19% better than league average. However, his on base percentage is a subpar .314, and he's rocking 4 strikeouts for every free pass. He's had a successful rookie season, but I want to see more.
- He's already on the roster and makes the league minimum. Putting Colvin at 1B allows the Cubs to use their resources elsewhere. For instance, a 9 year contract extension for Castro....
- He hits for enough power to not be a liability at the position. Tyler leads all major league rookies with 19 HR in only 333 plate appearances. Averaged out over 550 plate appearances, that's 31ish HR. If Colvin is a 30 homer hitter, bat him sixth in the lineup and forget about his mediocre plate discipline.
- If Colvin plays 1B, Fukudome won't be the world's most expensive sub. We all know Kosuke's faults, and I won't reiterate them here. Instead, lets focus on what he does well: He reaches base. This season he's gotten on base at a .374 clip. That's second on the team behind only Soto and his outstanding .403 OBP. In limited PA's, Kosuke has still been worth 1.4 WAR on the season. Yes it's nowhere near what he's being paid, but his contract is a sunk cost. Better to get him off the bench and in the lineup, where he can contribute. Plus, it'll allow the Cubs to audition him for a trade.
- Can he play 1B at the major league level? No one knows because he hasn't played there with any regularity in over five years. I'm inclined to believe he can do it, as he plays an average corner outfield. However, the uncertainty might scare the Cubs brass into looking elsewhere.
- If the power isn't for real, he'll be a black hole of suck. That's the largest issue with Colvin. 353 career PA is a small sample size, and we know he has holes in his swing that pitchers can exploit. If Colvin can't improve his plate discipline or reproduce his power output, he'll be one of the worst 1B in the majors.
Alfonso Soriano:
Most Cubs fans seem to think that Soriano's eventual move to 1B is fait accompli. If that's true, wouldn't it make sense to move him now, when there is an opening at the position?
- Playing 1B might keep Sori healthier. Alfonso can still hit, even if he can't run, and keeping him healthy and on the field will be the key for the remainder of his career. A shift to 1B means less running, which should help preserve his legs for launching the bat at the baseball.
- It makes sense to move him before his defense collapses. As he gets older, Soriano will cover less ground in LF, which means more fly balls will fall in and more runs will be scored against the Cubs. Soriano will be here for another 4 seasons, so it seems reasonable to make the move now, before he becomes an epic liability in the outfield.
- As noted above, there is an opening at the position, so the time seems ripe to let Alfonso start getting comfortable there.
- Putting Soriano at 1B allows both Colvin and Fukudome to start in the outfield.
- This may come as a shock to you, dear reader, but Soriano is still pretty good in the outfield. This season, his play has been worth 12.3 runs saved over 150 innings, versus the average outfielder. In layman's terms, he is still contributing with the glove, no matter how ugly he looks doing it. Last year he was below average in the outfield, but he was hurt and I'm prepared to give him a pass for it. In 2008, he was worth an impressive 25.5 runs saved above average over 150 innings. The guy is nowhere near the statue that his reputation would have you believe, and moving him from LF next season might actually weaken the outfield defense.
Aramis Ramirez:
Aramis is likely to exercise his $14.6 million player option in the offseason, and return to the Cubs. I'll be happy to see him stay, as the guy is still capable of being a great player. This season was atrocious, but he was playing hurt for much of it and has been victimized by bad luck on balls in play. I fully expect a bounce back 2011 from Rami.
- Ramirez's health is an issue as much as Soriano's is. Moving across the diamond to an easier defensive position might help keep him on the field and productive at the plate.
- Unlike Soriano, Ramirez is pretty bad in the field. He hasn't posted a league average or better UZR/150 since 2007, and that was 3 years and multiple injuries ago. Moving Ramirez to 1B might improve the Cubs defensively.
- Moving Ramirez shakes up the rest of roster, and probably necessitates a free agent signing. Legend has it that Blake DeWitt is an excellent 3B, but his bat would be pretty pathetic at the hot corner, and I don't see the Cubs going in that direction. There aren't many quality 3B free agents this coming offseason. The class is headed by Adrian Beltre, who I covet, but he'd be expensive and is already 32 years old. Long term, big money contracts to older veterans is the kind of shoddy roster construction that I've accused Cruller Jim of on dozens of occasions around here. I haven't had a sudden change of heart, and dropping millions on a free agent when this team is 4 or 5 players away from contention seems foolish.
Adam Dunn:
I expected the Cubs to sign the big donkey after the 2008 season. Instead, they opted for Milton Bradley. That didn't work, and the popular speculation is that the Cubs won't pass on Dunn twice.
- Dunn seems like a panacea for this roster. He's a left handed slugger who has hit historically well at Wrigley Field (although that might be an indictment of our pitching staffs of yore.) He's always featured old man skills like walking and hitting for power, so he may age more gracefully than players who depend on speed or athleticism. His full time position change to 1B has even made him an average defender. Dunn used to remind me of a buffalo on ice skates in the outfield. He was that comically terrible. This year, as a full time 1B, he has been worth 2 full wins more than last season, with almost 6 weeks left to play. The difference is in his defense, which has been about average at 1B.
- Money and length of contract. MLBTradeRumors speculates that it will take a 4 year offer to get Dunn to sign a contract. That's a lot of years for a guy who is already 31, and should be entering the downside of his career. 4 years/$50 million seems likely to me, and it wouldn't surprise me if that was low. Anybody else think Dunn will fail to produce to the level of that contract?
- Signing Dunn will cost the Cubs their second round draft pick. Washington intends to offer Dunn arbitration. Dunn projects to be a type "A" free agent, so if the Cubs subsequently signed him as a free agent, they would forfeit a draft pick. Because of their dogshit play this season, the team is projected to have the #6 overall draft pick, which would be protected, and the Cubs would instead lose their second rounder. Although with Pauper Tom in the owners box, the Cubs will probably squander their draft picks on bad but cheap amateurs. Scratch this one.
Some other free agent?
The corner infield cupboard is bare in the Iowa and Tennessee, so the Cubs will have to grab a different free agent if they don't go any of the routes suggested above. This is not an ideal situation.
Lets hear your preferences. How should the Cubs fill their 1B vacancy next season?
All statistics, as always, from fangraphs.com.
Top Ten Lessons Learned in 2010
Goat Riders of the Apocalypse is not going so strong, lately. But, GOOD LORD? Can you blame us?
Even the most optimistic, blue sky Cub fans could not possibly enjoy what they are seeing on a daily basis? Losers of 13 of the last 16? As it happens, Hendry and Piniella are pretty much doing what I asked them to do earlier this week - treat the rest of this year as if it is Spring Training 2011. It began when Derrek Lee and Lou himself removed themselves from the proceedings - neither of them are going to Mesa next spring. We have brought up the freshest produce from the farm.
But, once again, it goes sour, because pretty much everyone we brought up has sucked so far. It would have been nice to see Micah the Hoff hit a few quick welcome-back dongs, or a Marcos Mateo pitch lights-out. It is early in our extended Spring Training, but it doesn't appear that any of our recent call-ups are going to help us anytime soon. So, as was the case going into this season, it appears that most of the heavy lifting in 2011 will be done by the men currently on the roster, a roster, once again, that is last in the majors in one-run losses.
So what have we learned thus far in 2010?
10) Alfonso Soriano may not be the most overpriced sixth hitter in major league history - but then again, he might just be.
As a longtime student of the intangible and the psychological, I understand why Hendry signed #12 back in 2007. The interim owner gave him permission to spend whatever it took, and Alf was the premier free agent that winter. Jim was convinced that the Cubs would win a World Series that year or next, and figured if we had, that people wouldn't care that the club would then owe Soriano $18 million a year for all perpetuity. It was a crap shoot, and the first two years, Jim shot eights, but then last year, the dice came up seven, and now we're stuck with a number six hitter with degenerative legs, a miserable glove, and absolutely no knowledge of situational baseball. For the next three years.
9) Carlos Zambrano and Carlos Silva are the yin and yang of miserable free agent pitching judgement
A few years back, officials at two separate organizations took a look at two big, strong, tough Venezuelan guys named Carlos and decided that yes, these guys were Quality, they would eat innings, win games, and lead men. It would be the wisest thing to sign them to long term contracts worth nearly 8 figures, because everyone knows the work ethic of South Americans is second to none.
Ahem. So it was inevitable that a few years later, los dos Carloses would both be Cubs, serving as twin anchors, keeping us firmly tethered to the bottom, representing the main sunk costs to the most miserable team contract picture in MLB history.
The difference is: Silva the Hutt is a follower, and Z is a leader. There is no way to reign in #38 with the Cubs, none. He appears to respect nobody but himself, which is the very reason why it is going to be so painful when he inevitably moves on to the Yankees a couple of years from now and starts winning games again (hey, Kerry Wood? How YOU doin'?) #52, on the other hand, is a follower, and I honestly feel that in the right situation, with the right guidance from the right pitching coach and staff, that Silva could be poked, prodded, and coaxed in a useful direction. However...
2010 is the death knell of the Larry Rothschild Era
Several of my knowledgeable friends, like the boys over at HJE have called for the head of Rothschild for years now. I personally was torn. For every Wood and Prior who caved in, a Dempster or Marmol seemed to rise up. Maybe, I have always thought, Rothschild wasn't part of the problem.
But lately? Outside of Dempster, Marmol, Marshall, the first three months of Silva and the occasional Gorzellany outing, Cubs pitching 2010 has been beyond dreadful. Walks, mistakes, walks, mistakes. A conveyor belt of arms have made their way back and forth between here and Des Moines.
Here's my problem with Rothschild - these guys pitch well in Iowa, come here, get blasted, go back to Iowa, pitch well, come back, get blasted. And it isn't just a function of the quality of the hitters. It is the command that they seem to lose here. Is it the pressure? Shouldn't be any pressure, throwing for a fifth-place team. And if it is, whose job is it to help these guys acclimate? As I see it, he is taking good arms and turning them bad once they get here.
When the new manager arrives, he should be allowed to pick his own pitching coach.
7) Marmol is a major league closer
Speaking of Marmol, he hasn't had a lot of opportunities in 2010. Yes, the team has the worst one-run record in baseball, but curiously enough, it isn't really the closer's fault. Most of the games have gone the way yesterday's game went - we fall far behind, and either come back to within a run and fall short, or tie it up only to let one of our "middle" guys, usually Cashner, go blow it.
The few saves Marmol has blown, his defense helped blow. Which, speaking of:
6) Our defense utterly sucks
Our catcher is "offensive-minded", a euphemism for a guy who isn't Yadier Molina. Our third baseman is getting old, frail, and losing what little utility he ever had. Our shortstop is better than the man he replaced, yes, but is young and may or may not be a major league shortstop. Our second basemen define 'suck', We got DeWitt because we thought he is better than Theriot, of course, the Dodgers think just the opposite. Uh oh. Our fancy hood ornament, DLee has had his worst fielding year. Soriano has had an Epic Fail year in left. Our slick fielding right fielder can't hit enough to play, and the guy who can hit in RF should be playing left field.
5) Marlon Byrd is a nice player
Byrd does everything pretty well. He is not and will never be an impact major league ballplayer, and his CF play is very average at best. He is the beneficiary of the "Robbie Gould Syndrome", in which he is surrounded by badness, so his relative competence shines brighter in comparison. He is a fourth outfielder on a championship team, and although he actually tries to provide the leadership this team so woefully lacks, he really doesn't have the oomph in his game to back it up.
4) Starlin Castro is a major league hitter
The storybooks are full of great men who started off as middle
infielders who committed a ton of errors in the field, and were
converted to other positions so their teams would not lose their bat.
Mickey Mantle comes immediately to mind, and Alf Soriano is a recent,
close-to-home example. With Hak-Ju Lee in the low minors, there are
discussions that Lee will eventually be the SS, and Castro will play
2nd. Or maybe 3rd, since the 24 year old DeWitt is on board, except
that DeWitt has 'utility guy' written all over him, and don't 3rd
basemen usually hit with more power?
It is easy to forget that Castro was born in 1990, and that he will gain
most of his strength in the next seven years. He will never have
A-Roid power, but maybe Jeter power. The most pleasant development of
2010 has been that, for once, we can believe the hype. Starlin Castro
seems to be for real.
3) Here comes Adam Dunn
A couple of years ago, when it was late in the free-agent season
(this was the year we signed Milton Bradley early, remember) and Adam
Dunn still did not have a team. The only substantial offer for a man
who had averaged 40 homers a year the previous five years was from the
godforesaken Nats, and human nature being what it is, there rose an
effort to find out what, if anything, was wrong with Dunn.
Rumors arose that Dunn did not like playing baseball much, that much of
the conversations that would arise when opposing players would stand on
first base next to the Big Donkey revolved around offseason hunting.
Growing up, Dunn was a football player first, and teams perhaps
questioned his character when formulating contract offers for a
one-dimensional guy.
So, he has played nearly every day in Washington, has continued to hit
his 40 homers a year, and has weathered two trade deadlines. You know
what? The man would rather play football and shoot pheasants. But he still hits and we are going to sign a first baseman this winter.
And just
our luck, watch us sign the guy and watch him age faster than the Nazi
mope in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". In my gut, I see us going after
Adrian Gonzalez his off season, and ending up with Adam Dunn. Because
Dunn has always been one of "Hendry's Guys", like the Marquis Du Suck
and Kosuke Fukudome, and we always seem to end up with Hendry's guys.
2) Since nobody seems to know what is going on, Hendry is staying, I guess
The inmates run the asylum at Wrigley Field. As bad as the Cubs have performed, and for as much pressure that the General Manager of a team such as ours ought to be under, compounded by the fact that he has a known history of heart trouble, Jim Hendry looks pretty damn healthy.
Is he taking his statins and his red krill oil? Maybe, but hey, why shouldn't he look healthy? He has the greatest job in the world. Where else in American business can you mess up, again and again, and nobody calls you on it? Wall Street? Well, yeah, but those guys always have the specter of the SEC (Securities Exchange Commission, not the high-falutin college football conference) breathing down their necks. Lots of those guys jump off bridges, lock themselves in their garages with their Bentleys running, but not Jim Hendry. His boss is a failed corporate attorney who doesn't know spit from shinola, who in turn works for a owner who is more concerned with piss troughs and gaudy neon signs than a winning ballclub.
There is only one man on earth who gets to play fantasy baseball for real, and lose all the time, and not get called on the carpet for it. Until there is some accountability established in the Cubs' organization, what you see this year is what you will continue to get in the future.
1) 2011 is going to look a lot like 2010.
Soriano will play for the Cubs next year. Ramirez will play for the Cubs next year. Fukudome will sit on the bench and take the Cubs' money next year. Byrd and Colvin and Castro and DeWitt and Soto will play for the Cubs next year. Jim Hendry has no ability and no gumption to make a blockbuster trade involving young major league talent for impact major leaguers in return. Could you see him somehow packaging Castro and Colvin in a trade for, say, Albert Pujols? Maybe not Pujols, because a Cubs-Cardinals trade will NEVER happen, but something of that magnitude? How about for Miggy Cabrera or Joe Mauer? Young stars for a superstar? Never happen.
As for the pitching, good lord. While the positional outlook seems stale yet static, the pitching outlook is totally fluid, and utterly without direction. We have a #2 starter, maybe a #4, a closer and a utility guy, a LOOGY who isn't really a LOOGY with a torn knee ligament, and about 20 other guys who have walked a lot of batters and given up a lot of late-game home runs. You can't fix that. The only thing you can do is throw a ton of money at it, and HOPE the guys you sign don't get injured or fat-and-sassy.
And Ricketts is NOT going to spend a lot of money in the offseasons. So forget about the Ol' Free Agent Injection.
Fans of the Chicago National League Ballclub have survived the past 102 years on one glorious element: hope. Yep, the same hope that got our president elected, the same hope that is being frittered away by this same president each day. Hope is perishable.
I ate whole platterfuls of Cubs hope as a kid, and into my early adulthood. I confess to have spent good money on the all-you-can-eat hope buffet as recently as fall of 2008. Nowadays, there is very little fresh hope in the steamer, most of it is discolored and spoiled, like the bananas Soriano and the Fukudome skirt steak.
Our third base prospect, Josh Vitters, is rehabbing. The next great Korean hope is still years away. Andrew Cashner was supposed to be the next big thing, but I can't figure out what that thing is supposed to be, unless he is supposed to be a Matt Karchner impersonator. That's something he does quite well.
But hey, Castro went 4-for-5 yesterday. Rookie of the Year, gotta be? Right?
Gamecast (July 24, 2010) Cardinals @ Cubs
This was from the gamecast comments from yesterday:
" I'm sure we annoy you Cubs fans plenty, but I believe it has to do with the fact that we (Cardinals) have had such great success over the years, and especially in the last decade, whereas you Cubs have had huge disappointments even in your best recent years, and of course the whole 102-year drought thing. Those two very different histories make us Cards fans sound smug and obnoxious when we think we are only teasing you guys; and conversely even your actual angry talk doesn't bother us much because your team hasn't been able to back up your talk. It's like the little brother that hates the big brother's teasing, whereas nothing the little guy says even phases big brother.
I suppose my pointing this out sounds smug and obnoxious to most of you, but I actually don't mean it to. It would be a LOT more fun if the Cubs were in the position of the Reds this year. Even though I generally pull for whoever is playing the Cubs, I simultaneously dream of the possibility of the Cards and Cubs playing for the pennant some year. THAT would be putting all the chips in the pot, eh?
As I post this, the Cubs are beating the Cards 5-zip in the opener, so my smugness is currently in check..."
Here's the deal, Token, I don't give a flying f&ck about the Cubs' 102 year "failure" as you guys like to throw in our face daily. That "history" has zero to do with this team and this organization. The Cubs may be playing somewhat poorly right now but this isn't your father's Cub organization. This team has zero connection to, for instance, the 1978 team that was the first team I followed as a young bright eyed eight year old. The truth is, going forward, the Cubs are going to be winning more championships than your Cardinals. Why? Because the Cubs can spend money you guys can't and at the moment, we also have a better farm system. This has more to do with reality than some stupid curse that only people like you like to perpetuate. Very few Cub fans actually believe in the "curse" or like to talk to about 100+ years of losing. That just has nothing to do with us today or our team. You may as well be teasing our team for playing in a stadium with vines on the walls. That is why I am annoyed by you guys. It's tired. We've heard it. We don't enjoy the losing. Your opinion of both the current Cubs organization and Cubs fans is just wrong. Find a new way to "tease" us.
Today's Matchup: Blake Hawskworth (59.1IP, 4.85ERA, 4.41xFIP) vs Tom Gorzelanny (80.2IP, 3.12ERA, 4.02xFIP)
Whew, after that rant, let's preview this game. It's already going but I will pretend it hasn't started yet. Gorz has been very good since coming back into the rotation. The key to his game is not to walk more than a batter or so every three innings and keep blowing people away. Hawksworth is nothing more than a mediocre middle reliever. Mediocre middle relievers rarely become decent starting pitchers. Dave Duncan, after Suppan yesterday, and Hawksworth today, doesn't look like such a miracle worker.
Who's Hot: Alfonso Soriano hasn't had too many of his patented hot streaks this year but so far, he's producing at a .380 wOBA, which would be a career high, and he's stayed healthy. Like Soto, he probably should be moved up in the order but it's kind of amazing to me how much better the Cubs' offense would be had Ramirez and Lee just had normal seasons this year.
Who's Not: Coming into today the Cardinals offense has gone two straight games without scoring a run. That's the first time in 15 years that has happened. That that occured after an eight game winning streak is beyond unlikely. I doubt this continues but it would be nice if Gorz could put another big zero on the board today.
Conclusion: A win would be nice. I ranted above and mostly about the Cubs but I wanted to point something out. In the last 3 years, the Cubs have won 2 division titles, the Cardinals have won 1. Just saying.....
Why Lou's retirement announcement is such a non-story
The current state of the Cubs:
All you really need to know is that Aramis Ramirez is hitting mistakes again.
At the beginning of the year, he wasn't. He wasn't hitting anything. Neither was Derrek Lee. And outside of the couple of times our bullpen blew leads early in the season, and the other night with Marmol, this was pretty much the story of the year. Guys would get on base and Lee and Ramirez would strand them. Over and over again.
Now Ramirez has healed, and is hitting like he always has, and a few days after that, so has Lee and Soto. The word is that Lee is the clubhouse leader on the Cubs, and that is unfortunate because not only does he not have the personality to truly lead, he is also largely irrelevant offensively.
He has had two monster years with us, 2005 and 2009. The Cubs finished below .500 both years. Ramirez has had big years in 2004, 2007 and 2008, all winning years. As Ramirez goes, so does the Cubs offense. There is a greater statistical correlation as well as a practical correlation between what Ramirez contributes and what Lee contributes in terms of offense-to-wins. This is what makes teammates sit up and listen, and only if Aramis could back up his practical relevance with words.
But he chooses to defer, like he did after each of the playoff sweeps, and this is why I went bat feces when he did. Ramirez SHOULD lead the Chicago Cubs. When he hits, we win. As long as he keeps it up, we should have a winning second half, even though the decent starting pitching is beginning to falter.
Lou's retirement announcement, and why we are yawning
This was the biggest non-announcement ever. Of course Lou is retiring. Some say he retired 2 years ago. He did it so people will quit asking him. Some say he has earned the right to finish this year on his terms, and he will. I'm not one of them, but there is the sentimental side of me who will give the man his respect.
Besides, Crane Kenney and Jim Hendry aren't going anywhere, so even if they got to choose a new man this afternoon, he would be no better than the last two guys they hired.
There seems to be no accountability in this organization. Lou has the freedom to do one wild, crazy move after another, and when he is asked to explain himself, he either stutters and/or gets testy. Jim has developed a decent drafting mechanism, and he is the king of the desperation trade and the fire-sale steals, but he has never made a good value-for-value straight trade in his whole tenure. Not to mention, of course, his poor free-agent record, as well as his aversion to conflict, which has resulted in avoidance of arbitration - and overpaying players.
But, neither one of these guys can say they have done their job as badly as the Tribune holdover, Crane Kenney. What exactly DOES he do? How is the Triangle building doing? How about the Great Wrigley Field reclamation? What great marketing angles have we exploited lately? When can we expect to watch the Cubs Network? When Jim Hendry sucks, who calls him on it? And if Hendry were to get fired, who would pick the next guy?
A corporate lawyer with no baseball background?
I want a baseball man put in Kenney's place. Someone who can evaluate Hendry fairly, and determine if he is the man or not. A new manager needs to be found. Do we do the popular thing and stick Ryno in there? Is Joe Girardi the guy? How about Bob Brenly or Alan Trammel? I heard Joe Torre mentioned? Who do you choose? They all have their own qualities.
There needs to be a organizational direction, which is developed and regulated by the President (the Kenney position), communicated throughout the competitive organization by the GM, and implemented on the field by the manager. Depending on that direction, it could be Brenly, Torre, Ryno, Girardi, the frozen head of Ted Williams...but we need a direction first, and Kenney is not the guy to set it.
The President needs to see the middling-to-slightly above average health of the farm system, as well as the capabilities of what I am calling the Core of the 2011 Cubs, the guys who will definitely be here.
Soriano, Byrd, Marmol, Dempster, Soto, Ramirez, Castro. Everyone else, even Zambrano, I could see a scenario where they may not be here next year. These seven individuals will be, and the direction starts with what we are going to surround these seven guys with.
I don't know if Hendry is or isn't that guy. I'd really like a real baseball man to evaluate what he has done. I don't like his results, myself, but then again, he hasn't had much to work with from above. That's the biggest question going forward for us.
Lilly pitches... illly? (Game Recap: Cubs 3, Pirates 1)
Ted Lilly was his usual self last night: he challenged Pirates hitters, gave up a home run and a walk, struck out a handful, topped out at about 86 mph on the heater, and went seven innings. And this time, he even won the game. Bravo, Theodore.
Not that the Cub offense really did all that much to get him the W, of course. But Alfonso "Streaky McStreakerson" Soriano is back into "hot mode," and hit two homers last night, which turned out to be enough to get Lilly the favorable decision. Also, kudos to Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol for their shutdown innings in relief. Each of their ERAs remains just a touch above 2.00.
Also of note: as a team, the Cubs threw 93 of their 127 pitches for strikes last night, a 73% ratio.
As far as positive offensive performances beyond Soriano's, Koyie Hill went 2-for-3 with two doubles, and Starlin Castro went 1-for-1, doubling in his only at-bat (walked intentionally and brought in a run with a sac fly in his other plate appearances).
Cubs win! Yippee skippy. What's more (less?), they play again in two hours. Go Cubs!
Gamecast (June 27, 2010) Cubs @ White Sox
Well, with Kurt giving up, the team still presses on. Today is a good pitching matchup so fire up the grill, have a dog and a beer and get ready to watch the greatest game in the world. Sometimes it's tough to be Cubs fan, but let's just remember, it's still baseball no matter what.
Today's Matchup: Ryan Dempster (103.2IP, 3.56ERA, 3.91xFIP) vs John Danks (92IP, 3.23ERA, 4.26xFIP)
I've never been a huge fan of Danks who I see as an ok #3 starter on a good team. Dempster is more like an ok #2 starter on a good team and I've become a fan over the past several years. I expect Dempster to pitch well and I expect the Cubs to struggle with Danks, even though they shouldn't.
Who's Hot: Changes, they are a coming, although slowly and not at the level that will please people on this site. Oh, I'm sorry, this is about who's actually playing well on the field. Well, Aramis Ramirez hit a HR yesterday!!! I actually think he's going to have a decent second half, ala Magglio Ordonez last year.
Who's Not: Kosuke is hitting .196/.260/.239 in June. Wow, just wow.
Conclusion: Baseball is a beautiful game so I can find enjoyment in it even when the Cubs are less stellar. Hopefully the rest of you can also. I'm hoping that as the Cubs move on without the Zambrano distraction for the time being, that they can turn it around and win some games. I don't think this team is built to "blow it up" or whatever people like to write so they will continue to drudge on.
I'll probably watch the game today somewhat dispassionately and see what happens. Go Cubs! Avoid the friggin' sweep!
Grabow gets the win? (Game Recap: Cubs 3, Mariners 2)
The Cubs scored three runs last night! WOW!
Of course, they couldn't do it in just nine. The team ended up needing 13 innings, topped off by a leadoff walk from Alfonso Soriano in the final frame (he'd be brought home by a Marlon Byrd single). Also, much thanks to Mariners starter Felix Hernandez for hitting Xavier Nady with a pitch in the seventh, and then allowing him to advance to 2nd on a wild pitch, all so CHAD THE MAN TRACY could drive in the second Cub run.
And then there was the pitching. If this morning, you woke up, read the box score, and immediately splashed a full glass of ice water into your own face to assure you of your sanity, I wouldn't have blamed you: last night's W went to JOHN GRABOW, and Tom Gorzelanny got the one-out save, after BOB HOWRY got the first two outs of the bottom of the 13th. Wacky stuff!
Ted Lilly started the game and pitched rather effectively, allowing one earned run over six innings, nabbing six K's, and allowing just five hits, along with zero walks. Carlos Marmol did his best to make the game interesting, walking the bases loaded in the 10th, but he also struck out the side to preserve the tie. And Andrew Cashner's scoreless streak is over; his ERA has now skyrocketed to 0.87.
In short: The Cubs still suck, but at least we know how to win every once in a while.
Reader Blog: Week ten awards: The fat lady has cleared her throat
Well, at least one of the Chicago baseball teams got back on track this weekend.
Wait, that doesn't provide me any solace--I hate the Sox! Leave it to the Cubs to get the struggling South siders rolling again. Mark Buehrle's been struggling, hasn't gone more than 5.1 in his last three starts? No problem! A.J. Pierzynski can't hit the broad side of a barn? Take a crack at the Cubs' staff! Gavin Floyd has the worst ERA in the majors? No worries--how does a no-hitter through 6.2 sound?
After a 3-4 week in which the Cubs sank to a season-low eight games under .500, they're 7.5 back of the Reds after getting a game back with yesterday's exciting win. The Sox are the same number back of the Twins and have Detroit to chase down as well, so it's safe to say Chicago baseball isn't as good as, say, Chicago hockey.
After Lou's tirade against Steve Stone, it looks like he may have finally glanced at the stat sheet. He said yesterday that Colvin "is going to play a lot more than he has been" even though the same suggestion from Stone elicited a tirade in which he said "What job has [Stone] had in baseball besides talking on television or radio? What has he done? ... I'm tired of these guys, I really am."
But the fact is, though Colvin went 0-for-3 yesterday, all he's done the last 15 times Lou started him is go 19-for-48 (.396). And one of Lou's "five major league outfielders" is hitting .185 in June after hitting .253 in May. This slump was as predictable as the sunrise since it has happened all three years he's been a Cub. I'm talking, of course, about Kosuke Fukudome. Both Colvin and Fukudome are left-handed and, conveniently, one of them sucks and one of them is good along with being an important piece of the team's future. So apparently Lou is able to take suggestions, just not without yelling at the person first.
Although, I'll believe it when I see it since Lou also said on June 5 that Colvin would "be in the lineup most of the time," and he then sat four straight games June 9-12. Lou's change of heart back on the 5th, you'll recall, was after a reporter asked about Colvin's playing time and he snapped at him, too. Sigh.
Ryno of the Week: Obviously Ted Lilly, who would have been 2-0 were it not for Marmol's blown save in Milwaukee. He threw 16 innings and allowed just one run on five hits and one walk. He also struck out 11 and thrilled a wet crowd at Wrigley by taking a no-hitter into the ninth (more on that tomorrow). Ex-Cub Juan Pierre kept him out of the history books but it was still a fantastic week for Theodore Roosevelt Lilly.
Marlon Byrd gets a special mention after a ridiculous 13-for-26 week that included two home runs and five RBI. He's batting .333 on the season.
Honorable mentions: Geovany Soto, Jeff Baker
Goat of the Week: Though he doubled and scored the only run yesterday, Alfonso Soriano was still just 2-for-20 last week. He's in one of those funks where he's swinging at just about everything, and he's now batting .111 in June.
I have to say, it was almost as if James Russell was trying to win this fake award. In two appearances he went 1+ innings and allowed five earned runs on seven hits, good for a 45.00 ERA. He was summarily sent to Triple-A Iowa.
Dishonorable mentions: Derrek Lee, Kosuke Fukudome
Grabow and Howry... the new nasty boys?(Game Recap: Cubs 5, Rangers 4)
Nice and important win. Cubs take a 4 run lead in the first inning on a few dinks and then a Soriano blast and they hold it thru a less than stellar Carlos Silva and some shaky middle relief. This is the first time the Cubs have pitched both John Grabow and Bob Howry in the same game and they still managed to win!
Soriano made a nice, slightly awkward, diving catch but also saved a run when the Rangers attempted a comeback in the seventh on a double by Ian Kinsler, holding Elvus Andrus, who runs like the wind, at third base. That kept the score 5-4 and some great pitching by Sean Marshall and Carlos Marmol, they managed to keep it that way.
With the win and losses by both the Cardinals and the Reds, the Cubs have parlayed a surprising 3-2 road trip into a 4.5 game deficit in the central. Day off tomorrow. Let's relish all the big close game wins for the Cubs and get ready for a tough Dodgers series on Tuesday.


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Press Gang
The boot England's thorn in narrow win
Argentina's Pumas fight hard in their first World Cup Rugby match, but they can't close-out an uninspiring England.PT0M56S http://www.theage.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-1k3s3 620 349 September 11, 2011
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This is a tough year in which to advance this argument, but the British press still has its principles - notably that everyone, regardless of background, has an equal right to be lambasted.
And so, with the pens already sharpened after a less-than-flattering appraisal of New Zealand's first-up effort, England's 13-9 win over Argentina was duly taken apart.
"Black Magic . . . you must be joking," scoffed the front page of The Times' sport liftout, while the match report inside chimed in with "England laid bare by Pumas".
Kicking woes ... Jonny Wilkinson of England. Photo: Getty Images
"Black Mood...Youngs arrives to save England after stinker of a World Cup opener," lamented The Observer, "Youngs spares Wilkinson's blushes," said the London Telegraph, while The Sunday Independent ran with "Young salvages black day".
The caustically entertaining Eddie Butler, of The Observer, was most scathing, going straight for the c-word and asking questions later.
"The Pumas' mission to meet the challenge of England without flinching was given a collective boost by a collective freeze on the other side," he wrote. "And this was not the first time England have . . . is it too soon to start using the dreadful word? Choked? They froze in Dublin on grand slam day at the end of the Six Nations last March, and they froze on day one of their World Cup. It appears they have a problem upstairs."
After watching one of life's few certainties disintegrate in front of their eyes, The Sunday Times inquired if it could blame the ball.
Accompanied by a graphic of the offending high-tech pigskin, the paper asked - only half in jest - "Was the ball a problem?" in the worst kicking display in Jonny Wilkinson's Test career.
"Known as the Virtuo, the Gilbert ball has about 80,000 pimples, designed to give players maximum grip," it informed, pointing out that the air pressure is between 65.71-68.75 of something called kilopascals. "Wilkinson did sound a note of caution last week: 'The balls have changed a little bit so we're working every day just to get used to it. No one likes change when it comes to high-pressure stuff'."
The 'crazy new ball' story is, of course, a staple for any self-respecting major tournament, but it did not prevent The Times from turning most of its angst on the players. Stephen Jones, the man regarded as something of a bete noir in New Zealand and who must giggle that has eked so much mileage out of Kiwi-baiting (The Times itself celebrated his appearance on an NZ 'public enemy' list) wrote: "It was ... one of the most fortuitous victories in England's most recent history. Argentina were more powerful and better organised, they dominated almost the first hour and played with a composure and a devil that was completely beyond the men in white - sorry, I mean the men in silly black."
Still, his belief that "this was one of the most ferocious sporting contests I had ever seen," does beg the question about how much Tri Nations rugby he has seen over the past two years.
Telegraph columnist Paul Ackford was much more to the point. "Can England win a World Cup playing like that? Not a snowball's chance in hell," he began. "This was a huge wake-up call for Martin Johnson's squad because for large tracts of this match they were outplayed and out-thought."
The Sunday Independent's Hugh Godwin reached a similar conclusion in poetic fashion. "By the light of a silvery moon, refracted through a hundred see-through panels in the roof of a futuristic stadium, England's limitations as contenders for the World Cup were transparent," he wrote. "If Jonny Wilkinson's dodgy goal-kicking can be remedied, other failings will be less easily dealt with."
It should make for some interesting exchanges with Martin Johnson and England management across the press conference table over the next few days.
Quote of the day: "The difficulty was that I felt I was hitting the ball well and expecting to see it go where I wanted it to go, but when the ball moves a bit how do you correct something that didn't fell wrong." Jonny Wilkinson, quoted in the Sunday Telegraph, gets to feel how the rest of us feel all the time.
Insight of the day: There's been a bit of noise around about Ewen McKenzie being lined up as the next All Blacks coach, but The Sunday Independent reveals that Wales coach Warren Gatland, who would certainly be a contender, once turned down the chance to join the All Blacks under John Mitchell. A "bungled" approach to Gatland from England also "went by the wayside".


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Hi, I'm Jaden, a professional recipe developer, food columnist and food photographer specializing in fast, fresh and easy recipes for the home cook. Most of my recipes are modern Asian! About meFast, fresh & easy recipes for the home cook.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Found on the blogs – a photo that has just made my jaw drop.
Filipino comfort food: crispy roasted red pig – skin so crisp it looks like sugar-candy. Head over to Jun Blog for the post (and where you can find this dish in San Francisco area). Plus check out this post on Lechon on La Loma.
looks delicious!
jaden! I am so happy you are starting to explore filipino cooking! Looking forward to it! More power to you and your blog!
Wow! So happy to see a Filipino dish mentioned here. I hope you can try that one time. Sinful, but very delicious!
Lechon from the Philippines tops Anthony Bourdain's Hierarchy of Pork.
oh boy. i am in heaven!! xo.
I grew up eating Lechon. It's pretty much a staple at every Filipino party so I love this stuff. The skin is definitely the best part. I haven't found a place here in FL that serves it so I'm hoping that maybe one day. I also keep a bottle of Mang Tomas Lechon Sauce in the fridge. It's a great dipping sauce!One of my friends has a recipe for it using Butt Roast but she won't give it to me unless I visit her. Needless to say, I'm planning a trip to DC to visit her for a few days and get the recipe.
Glad you're exploring Filipino food! I've been featuring Filipino food on my blog and so far so good.
It looks alot like a chinese dish – For Yuk – (my chinese is horrible) Crispy Roast Pig? but the chinese dish has more fat…either way now i'm starving…


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Hidden - Lead - 31/Aug/14
Hidden - Lead O/S - 18/Aug/14
AnitaClimb - 2nd - 17/Aug/14 with Swifty, Jennie
steven - Lead O/S - 17/Aug/14 with Anita, Jennie
katiet - 2nd - 17/Aug/14 with Dave Price
Gimme VS. Done in 2 pitches.scott mayled - AltLd O/S - 09/Jul/14 with ashsleight
Did the top pitch of this. Still feels easy at VSashsleight - AltLd rpt - 09/Jul/14 with Scotty
Hidden - 02/Jul/14
Stevie lead the top pitch of this by accident instead of the finish of Shear Kahn RHS. Some nice moves but the VS 4C bit must be lower down as this felt more like HS 4bSuperLee1985 - 2nd O/S - 22/Jun/14 with Dan Easton, stevie lee
Lead Pitch 1 Lucylou19 - AltLd - 08/Jun/14
Hidden - AltLd O/S - 08/Jun/14
howsthebeef - Lead β - 21/Apr/14 with M. Snell, M. Moore
Hidden - AltLd - 20/Apr/14
Followed up the final pitch after leader decided he didn't like awkward step of Sheer Khan Right HandCwallace - 2nd - 20/Apr/14
MikeStuart26 - Lead O/S - 13/Apr/14 with Holly Addis
tomwright1509 - Lead O/S - 13/Apr/14
Hidden - 2nd - 07/Mar/14
Si - 2014
Nice steady climbing all the wayashsleight - Lead O/S - 09/Dec/13 with Tom doyle
Hidden - 2nd - 16/Oct/13
North Wales RNRMMC AGM meetgavin.edwards - 2nd β - 12/Oct/13 with Kit Perry
Nice easy flowing VS climbingChris Perry - Lead O/S - 12/Oct/13
Hidden - Lead - 25/Sep/13
Hidden - Lead O/S - 01/Sep/13
Hidden - Lead O/S - 31/Aug/13
Hidden - Lead O/S - 11/Aug/13
Steve Woollard - Lead - 03/Aug/13 with Samantha Roach
Hidden - 2nd O/S - 03/Aug/13
theomoore - AltLd O/S - 05/Jun/13
4C Very Severe, 38m 2 pitches. Lead by a instructor.Harley Allan - 2nd O/S - 29/May/13
Can't really remember it.Louis Hume - Lead - 26/May/13 with Oli
Zoomer - Lead O/S - 19/May/13 with A Student
Hidden - Lead - 01/May/13
Dirtycleaner - 2013 with Glenn bloomer
Hidden - 2nd rpt - 24/Oct/12
BB95 - AltLd - 24/Oct/12 with Tim Nixon
Hidden - AltLd - 24/Oct/12
Hidden - Lead - 19/Sep/12
I led top pitch after Si led Sheer Khan R-hand. Katex - AltLd β - 21/Aug/12 with Simon Edwards
We Came up Sheer Khan Right Hand but as the 2nd pitch of that was awfully overgrown I decided on finishing up S.T.T.A.B! Difficult moves to the trees with a couple of very good gear placements below the V shaped rock.magicmartin - Lead O/S - 19/Aug/12 with Zane Butcher
Lee Groves - Lead O/S - 28/May/12 with Amy Ack
Led both pitches same day as Yogi. Bottom section protected by RPs and thin wires - a first time VS leader might find it interesting. Top pitch by crystal crack is delightful.Pete_Frost - Lead β - 26/May/12 with Dave Pearce
Amy Ack - 2nd O/S - May/12 with Lee Groves
Lead the first pitch, but took the wrong line. Edd lead second pitch.scotty h - AltLd β - 06/Apr/12 with Edd Harris
Wyn Bach - Lead O/S - 15/Mar/12 with Kath Webb
Samuel Wainwright - Lead O/S - 12/Feb/12 with Nicola Jones
Hidden - Lead - 06/Jan/12
Callum Anderson - 2012
Hidden - 2012
Led p2cem - AltLd O/S - 26/Nov/11 with Paul Bolton
Led P1Ant Man Bee - AltLd O/S - 26/Nov/11 with Charles Moreton
p2 with p1 yogibabymoac - AltLd - 26/Nov/11 with tom
Hidden - 2nd O/S - 05/Nov/11
Hidden - Lead - 05/Nov/11
Hidden - 2nd - 22/Oct/11
Hidden - 2nd - Oct/11
teachingDOVEY - 10/Sep/11
led p2.ads - AltLd - 28/Aug/11
Gerrard - 2nd O/S - 14/Aug/11
Ran both pitches together. The start is a bit close to both Yogi and the tree, but the finish is nice.victim of mathematics - Lead O/S - 06/Aug/11 with Tom B
birthers - 2nd O/S - 06/Aug/11 with Colin
Lawrie Brand - Lead O/S - 05/Aug/11 with Sarah Laing
steve prior - AltLd - Aug/11 with Andy C
Hidden - 2nd O/S - 05/Jul/11
repeat ascend with Jon Garthhedgehog77 - Lead - 07/Jun/11
claregardiner - 2nd - 28/May/11
hedgehog77 - Lead O/S - 20/Apr/11
Top pitch. Smarter uses the slab & rib at VS 4c according to the guidebook, easy even at that grade.Alex Thompson - Lead O/S - 02/Apr/11 with Chloe Ramsey
Not HVS!willworkforfoodjnr - AltLd O/S - 13/Mar/11 with JonnyO, Vicky
vix - 2nd O/S - 13/Mar/11 with Jonny, chris
Chris P1 thin crack to tree, Jonny P2 slab and groove. More like HS 4b,J25 - AltLd - 13/Mar/11 with Vicky Jennings, Circus Boy
Top pitch after the s start. Nice groove, small but good gear at bottom then ran out to top. tompilgrem - Lead O/S - 05/Mar/11 with Dad
Tom lead crux groove pitch-I lead the Sheer Khan right hand start.bobpilgrem - 2nd O/S - 05/Mar/11 with Bob/Tom
Bold first pitch. Excellent second pitch.daveyji - Lead O/S - Jan/11 with Linda Williamson
Hidden - 2011
PAJames - 2011
Marder20 - 2nd - 2011
Hidden - Lead - 07/Nov/10
Led pitch 1SAF - AltLd O/S - 17/Oct/10 with George Bradford
lead second pitchIeuan - AltLd rpt - 10/Oct/10
I did 1st pitch then Brian finished with top pitch of Yogi, in the rainclimbingxcat - AltLd O/S - 18/Sep/10 with Brian
John Kettle - Lead - Sep/10
Barely even VS, more like HS4b. No idea how this gets HVS on here.groovy_nut - AltLd O/S - 29/Jul/10 with Matt K
I led wet first pitch, tree comes in handy. Dried finishing holds with chalk ball! Top of 2nd pitch is the crux.pastep - AltLd - 17/Jul/10 with Mick, ebf
Hidden - Lead O/S - 12/Jun/10
Good day out, Starting on the right on overhanging ledges, fluttery to first pro, and still good value to stance. Final ar�te finish very good for the money.Ander - AltLd - 31/May/10 with World Class 'Articulate' player
The Green Giant - AltLd O/S - 24/Apr/10 with Dan with the van
Cotswald.Neil Davies - AltLd - 23/Apr/10
Harri777 - 2nd - 05/Apr/10 with Liz
This was VS4C in Tremadog guide book Dizz - Lead O/S - 04/Apr/10 with Harri777
Me anf fennerz secodned Will up this. Nice one Will.Ed Booth - 2nd O/S - 13/Mar/10 with fennerz and will nichols
fennerz - 2nd O/S - 13/Mar/10 with Ed Booth and Will Nicholls
beeson_paul - AltLd - 07/Mar/10
edpd1b - Mar/10 with Kelly Hillyer
crag_monster - AltLd - Mar/10 with murphydave
simeclimb68 - 2010
Hidden - 2010
gary.barr - 2nd O/S - 02/Jul/09 with Duncan Martin
Hidden - Lead O/S - 02/Jul/09
Hidden - AltLd O/S - 18/Jun/09
willson - AltLd - 18/Jun/09 with Wills
tiz very far from hvs5a... fist pitch is like vd and 2nd pitch vs4b i reconadam06 - AltLd - 24/May/09 with chrissy mills
Hidden - Lead rpt - 24/May/09
Hidden - AltLd - 10/Apr/09
sonnenstern - AltLd O/S - 01/Mar/09 with Carlene Hill
Carly - AltLd O/S - 01/Mar/09 with sophie
Sgt. Vest - Solo - 01/Feb/09
Hidden - AltLd O/S - 15/Nov/08
Glyn - 19/Sep/08 with Haf
Takes some small wires for the first pitch, you'll thank me for that.ritchierich - AltLd O/S - 04/Mar/08 with Steve Joynson
Hidden - AltLd O/S - 04/Mar/08
alexharv3y - 2nd O/S - 07/Oct/07
sweenthing - Lead O/S - 05/Sep/07
Nice evening Climb, good ascent with a challenging finish up the slabKing Smudger - AltLd O/S - 23/Aug/07 with Ruth Smith
Ruth Smith - AltLd O/S - 23/Aug/07 with nick smith
JBGee - 2nd O/S - 22/Jul/07 with Paul Jarvis
Hidden - Lead O/S - 06/May/07
edmitchell - AltLd O/S - 05/May/07 with kai ren
Hidden - 2nd O/S - 05/May/07
mike278 - Lead O/S - 24/Mar/07 with Jenny Williamson
Hidden - 2nd β - 11/Mar/07
Wayne S - 2007
Hidden - Lead O/S - 27/Aug/06
mikelaing - Lead O/S - Aug/06 with Carolyn
cas54321 - 2nd - Aug/06 with Mike
ritchierich - AltLd O/S - 09/Feb/06 with Phil Taggart
Hidden - Lead - Jul/04
sammoore - Lead O/S - Jun/03 with Kim Jackson
Hidden - AltLd - 06/Aug/02
Rog Wilko - Lead - Sep/01 with Debbie Wilkinson
fenn123 - 2001
auld al - TR O/S - Sep/00
Hidden - Lead O/S - 26/Aug/00
mikej - Lead - 29/Jul/98 with M
Very wet morning spent at the Eric Jones Cafe climbing wall. Then pm ventured out onto these three bears for some cold, wet, slippery fun.Bilbo - 2nd - 25/Apr/94 with Steve B and Dave T
Alan James - UKC and UKH - Solo - 11/Jul/90
Users with this climb on their wishlist are:
Hidden, wixy, tasmat, Hidden, Hidden


text:
Home > Post > Post 1 > Post 1 News Release > 2012 News Releases > News Release
News Release
TFC Jay Thomas
Public Affairs Officer
Kentucky State Police
Post 1, Mayfield
(270) 856-3721
Click here to e-mail TFC Jay Thomas
Arlington Man Arrested on Assault Charges
Date of News Release: 12/26/2012
(Bardwell, KY) -- At approximately 4:29 pm, the Kentucky State Police responded to a disturbance at 32 Front Street in Bardwell, KY. When units arrived on scene, Danny Malady, age 47, was receiving treatment from Carlisle County EMS. Mr. Malady had suffered a stab wound to his leg and was transported to Lourdes ER with critical injuries. After further investigation, units responded to 710 Cosby Road in Columbus and arrested James Grubbs of Arlington, age 38. Mr. Grubbs was lodged in the Ballard County Jail and was charged with Assault 1st Degree. The Bardwell Police Department and Carlisle County EMS assisted units at the scene. The investigation continues by Trooper Richie Wright.


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Welcome to SortedFood...
The online hub for beginners & pros.
There are hundreds of quick, easy, delicious recipe videos plus a whole load of skills, tips & tricks and cool food stuff from around the web.
Whether you want to get smarter at cooking, save some money, or just have a good laugh in the kitchen, we can definitely get you SORTED.
We're giving you all the things you love about a good pie in this recipe, but cutting out a few of the naughty bits to keep it lower you nice and healthy. Salmon, mushrooms and soya beans are all great for you and the flavours more than make up for the reduced fat quota.
We also portion out the pastry into squares so that you're not tempted to go for that little bit extra!
peel and finely dice the shallots, carrot and garlic.
heat a generous glug of oil in a pan and add them in to fry for a couple of minutes.
stir in the flour until you have a paste.
pour in the milk, a little at a time whilst continually stirring until you have a silky smooth sauce, then bubble for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
slice the mushrooms and add to the sauce.
cut the salmon into chunks and add it to the pan with the soya beans.
zest half the lemon into the sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.
preheat the oven to 200ºC, roll out the puff pastry and cut out small discs.
line a baking tray with parchment and place 4 pastry discs on the tray, the rest can be kept in the freezer (layered between silicon paper) and used when needed.
brush the puff pastry with the beaten egg and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
tip the potatoes into a pan of salted water. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are soft all the way through.
toss the potatoes in a little oil, chopped parsley and the remaining lemon zest. season well.
serve a bowl of the pie filling topped with a portion of puff pastry and a few spuds!
serves 4


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Religious delusions are common symptoms of schizophrenia.
M*W: Scientists have concluded that there is a deeply manifested relationship between religion and schizophrenia. Common symptoms of non-treated schizophrenics include delusions of both spirituality and religiousness. Religious belief delusions vary across cultures. The impact of religion does not always have a positive outcome. In fact, religious delusions may play a part in substance abuse and suicide attempts. Psychiatrists have found that using religion as part of a patient's treatment can often have adverse outcomes.
Researchers studied patients having religious delusions to determine how religious beliefs and practices influenced psychotic illness. They found that religious delusions and hallucinations may lead to violent behavior. Kraya and Patrick found that religious delusions led some patients to commit homicide (1). Field and Waldfogel, et al., along with Waugh in a separate study, found that religiously deluded people have quoted Bible scripture after plucking out one or more eyes (2) or cutting off the testicles (3). Religious delusions about the antichrist have led other patients toward violent behaviors (4).
In a ongoing study by Mohr and Huguelet, their delusional patients who believed they had a close relationship with God, believed that God told them to inflict serious bodily injury to themselves or to others. They found that these same patients heard God's voice telling them to pray, to go to church, to read their Bible, and not to take medication because it hinders their praying and quietens God's voice in their mind (5).
In a study of inpatients with schizophrenia, conducted by Siddle and Haddock, et al., those with religious delusions were the most severely ill with religious delusions that were more frequently observed and lasted for longer periods of time (6).
For their patients with schizophrenia, psychiatrists believe that religion and spirituality cannot be used as tools for ongoing social support as they can lead to a more pathological condition.
(1) Kraya N, Patrick C., Folie a deux in forensic setting. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 1997;31:883-8.
(2) Field H, Waldfogel S. Severe ocular self-injury. Gen Hosp Psychiatry 1995;17:224-7.
(3) Waugh A. Auto-castration and biblical delusions in schizophrenia. Br J Psychiatry 1986;149;656-9.
(4) Silva JA, Leong GB, Weinstock R. Violent behaviors associated with the antichrist delusion. J Forensic Sci 1997;42:1058-61.
(5) Mohr S and Huguelet P. The relationship between schizophrenia and religion and its implications for care. Swiss Med Wkly 2004;134:369-376.
(6) Siddle R, Haddock G, Tarrier N, Faragher EB. Religious delusions in patients admitted to hospital with schizophrenia. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2002;37:130-8.
01-09-06, 04:40 PM #4Originally Posted by Communist Hamster
M*W: Sorry, but I have never held this opinion. You've lost me here.
People that have schizophrenia may have religious delusions, but that doesn't mean that being religious is evidence of mental illness.
01-09-06, 05:37 PM #6Originally Posted by ellion
M*W: Are you joking? Most psychiatric studies that have been done assessed how religious beliefs and practices influence psychotic manifestation. In my previous post I cited the study by Mohr and Huguelet whose psychotic patients stated having the following religious delusions:
"One night, I was persecuted by voices, I drove a knife into my belly to kill the demons."
"Once, during a crisis of anxiety, I was controlled by others."
"I believed myself to be in a relationship with God, I had to kill myself to save the children [playing in front of his house]. It was an obligation. I took a leash to hang myself. The leash broke. I fell down. The children were still alive. The anxiety went away."
"The psychiatrists say about me 'mental disorganization'. I find answers to my problems in the Bible. Medication puts my thoughts in order. The question is to know to whom I will submit myself for the organization of my mind."
"I hear voices who tell me to say 'God is great' and things like that. I have to pray. It is a cult that persecutes me. Medication puts me to sleep and so hinders me from praying."
Three other patients went on to say:
"I believed I was possessed by demons. I'd go to an exorcist priest. He taught me the gospel and he cast out the demons...".
"I don't know if what I see are the spirits of the dead or if I am crazy, so I have to learn more about spiritualism...".
"I don't know why I suffer from deep anxiety and hallucinations. The psychiatrist told me it was nerves, and the pastor and the members of my church pray for me to be delivered from bad things in the name of Jesus...".
And more:
"I have had spiritual experiences. They make me feel unique, but when I see and hear the voice telling me 'kill yourself!', it doesn't help me. I have made numerous suicidal attempts."
"I want to live the eternal life today. What do you think about being injected to rejoin God?"
01-10-06, 03:55 AM #7QorlGuest
Medicine woman, did you ever listen to your mind? Are your thoughts spoken by you, if they are than you're hearing voices. Did you know that musicians write songs with hearing voices?
I believe that religious people hear voices from God but they become to serious about that. Maybe God try to help them somehow, but they didn't take it right. It's like, I'm chosen by God and I am right.
I know you don't believe in religion or god but believe me, god is a scientists with technology of a magician.
how would you say which of these was a delusion?
how do you say which of them is religious?
the question really is what is your measuring stick, what are the criteria by which you judge a religious deleusion?
Originally Posted by Medicine Woman
- Posts
- 1,116
You were hinting that any religious feeling was tantamount to mental disorder, whereas what you've in fact discovered is that known mentally ill people have often believed that they were hearing the voice of either God or the Devil and other demons. Yet another brilliant advance in science from the University of the Bleeding Obvious.
Leaving that aside, I myself have grown to have less and less respect for the statements of psychiatrists, psychologists and psychoanalysts, which are all interchangeable as far as I can see. They still paddle in the shallows of pseudoscience, particularly the psychoanalysts. Freud did a great thing - he made the study of the mind a scientific subject, and freed it from religious and mystical mumbo-jumbo (such as dream interpretation as supernatural predictor of future events). Unfortunately what he then said about the mind was "empirical nonsense" in that it was non-empirical pseudoscience. The theory if the Id, the Ego and the Superego had no testability and no predictive capability. Same with The Interpretation of Dreams. Although Freud has been comprehensively debunked in the scientific literature, the whole mindset in its approach to mental illness still infects the psycho-sciences to this day.
Nowadays people who hear voices in their heads are pretty automatically diagnosed as "schizophrenic". Yet there are many people hearing such voices who are not, in fact, divorced from reality in the way that true schizophrenia implies. They are rational, they are not psychotic. But they hear voices in their heads. Something's up with the wiring in their brain, but that doesn't make them mad. Psychiatrists, etc, seem to me to be far too predisposed to lump people with an unhelpful diagnosis, without really looking at the evidence rationally and in a scientific manner.
EDIT: Take for example,Researchers studied patients having religious delusions to determine how religious beliefs and practices influenced psychotic illness. They found that religious delusions and hallucinations may lead to violent behavior. Kraya and Patrick found that religious delusions led some patients to commit homicide (1). Field and Waldfogel, et al., along with Waugh in a separate study, found that religiously deluded people have quoted Bible scripture after plucking out one or more eyes (2) or cutting off the testicles (3). Religious delusions about the antichrist have led other patients toward violent behaviors (4).
Last edited by Silas; 01-10-06 at 07:22 AM.
Just to chime in, There are many many religious people in the world that hear "God's voice" and are completely sane, progressive to society people. In the same study did they remark on any of the people that heard God's voice and had no schizophrenic or mental derrangement or was this a study where they already chose ill patients and study the already mentally fatigued or plagued individuals? Scientists are pretty good at finding what they were looking for if they set the conditions they way they want them.
the folks in the study already had a history of mental illness, im sure.
i would doubt that even 1% of religious folks would harm themselves due to "voices in their head".
its a ridiculous assumption, considering that 86% of the usa claims christianity as a practicing religion, yet the "self inflicted knife wound" ratio is much smaller, im sure. (source: rand mcnally 2002 world atlas)
in the real world, we call that kind of research "grasping at straws". its a pathetic excuse to discount the only thing science cant really prove: G-d.
01-10-06, 12:29 PM #12Originally Posted by ellion
M*W: Since I haven't seen these psychotic patients, I would not be able to judge except by what the authors have stated to be true. Otherwise, judging from the research at hand, from the work of these scientists, I'd say they all were delusional to some degree.
the opening sentence to this thread;
Originally Posted by MW
what a joke! and you give this feeble little article to support this.
who is it that is really deluded here?
01-10-06, 12:58 PM #14Originally Posted by ellion
My mother's first episode was when I was 7. (i am now 30) I knew something was wrong when she kept telling the woman at the swimming pool, "don't worry, we're all going home, we're going home!"
since then, she has tried to kill herself several times. She's been catatonic more times than I can count. She's told me of times the rain was made of acid that it would kill me if I walked outside. That the devil had done this.
Every voice in her head was evil. (when she was hearing voices) when the voices were 'bad' it was much easier to snap her out of it. You are more prone to ignore bad voices. But when god starts talking to you and telling you to go to a nursing home and sacrifice an elderly woman, it's harder to ignore. We had to call the nursing home and have them lock their doors in case she got away from us before we could admit her in a hospital.
My last year at college she disappeared. She was supposed to pick up my grandmother from work and she never showed. We just knew we'd find her dead somewhere. We found her one week later across the country. She was catatonic. She had gone up to someone's house, knocked on the door and just stood there. They knew something was wrong. They went through her purse, found our number and called us. We had to get in a train across the country to get her.
My life has been hard. But I love my mother. More than anyone in the world. What I don't understand is the religion thing. This has always been a religion oriented disease for my mum. Everytime she felt good in the church, she would get sick and have to be hospitalized.
What kind of god would do this?
My mother is the nicest woman in the world!!!! She would give you the shirt off her back. Even times when she was the sickest, she would give all of our money away.
My mother does not deserve this mind disease!!!!!!
(not that anyone does)
01-10-06, 01:04 PM #16Originally Posted by Medicine Woman
you have not done any authoritative research in that field yourself,
and you just take for granted what those studies say.
Think about this, Medicine Woman, and how non-credible you are making yourself by the way you act and speak.
01-10-06, 01:12 PM #17Originally Posted by Silas
M*W: Obviously, you did not read the cited research studies. The research I cited was carried out on patients having specific religious delusions, and not on patients who had a general disassociative disorder.
Since I have spent my entire medical career dealing with research scientists at the highest level of their careers, I have gained a tremendous amount of trust in their work.
Hearing one's own voice in one's head is normal. It's called 'thinking.' Hearing someone/something else's perceived voice is not normal. It's called 'delusion.' There is a difference. Not only that, some schizophrenics hear voices coming out of TV talking just to them. I've seen patients with this type delusion, although my patients are generally always obstetric patients. Hormones can really wreak havoc with one's mental state.
To answer your question about violent behavior, generally, the violent behavior is a result of the voices they hear. There are many schizophrenic patients who hear voices but are not violent. Then there are those patients who internalize their violence, as I mentioned in my post. And jails throughout the world are full of schizophrenics who were violent to others. Not all of these cases are based on religious delusions, but scientists (not I) have already proven there is a pathological connection between schizophrenia and religious delusion. Treatment is iffy at best with these folks, because when they take their medication, they realize they aren't as "religious" as they were off their medication, so their treatment often fails. Then there are those who comply with their treatment plan and realize that their obsessive-compulsive religious thoughts and behaviors were a result of their psychiatric diagnosis.
What I believe is that people who say they hear God or angels or Marie Antoinette or one of the Caesars talking to them probably need to have a psychiatric evaluation. The problem as I see it is that religion is perceived to be "good" and, therefore, acceptable when one hear's God's 'voice' in their mind. Unfortunately, many don't get help because of their preconceived religious perception. Then the problem exacerbates and often their peers continue to egg them on when they need serious psychiatric help. The line has to be drawn at some point where successful intervention can be made. So often with religious folk, that line gets extended beyond a normal mental state where treatment can be perceived as satanic.
Hearing a voice in one's head (regardless of whose voice is heard) is delusional. There is no argument to refute this.
01-10-06, 01:19 PM #18Originally Posted by The Devil Inside
M*W: The folks in the study had already been diagnosed as schizophrenic and psychotic with religious delusions. The study was done specifically on the religiously deluded. There have been a minimum of 78 peer-reviewed research studies published on religious delusion that were cited in this study, so the case is not an isolated one.
You people keep demanding evidence, but when scientific peer-reviewed published studies are presented, you refute them without doing your homework. Now who's delusional?
Originally Posted by Medicine Woman
- Posts
- 12,580
i regularly have a dialogue with myself
01-10-06, 01:21 PM #20Originally Posted by Gustav
M*W: Hearing one's own voice in one's own head is simply thinking. That is something some of the members here don't often do.


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2 Impressing Retailers That Are Encroaching on Amazon's Space
Brendan is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
The retail industry is rapidly changing as more people purchase goods through e-commerce platforms. In fact, the transformation is so fast that entrenched online retailer Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) will soon be facing unprecedented competition from traditional retailers. For example, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Costco Wholesale (NASDAQ: COST) are both dominant market players that continue to innovate and improve while generating investor value.
A lasting, competitive edge
Wal-Mart's low-cost strategy, extensive distribution channels, and vast inventory management system are just some of its strengths that enable it to remain competitive. These strengths also help the king of retail boast remarkable margins compared to its competitors, especially online retailer Amazon.
To be fair, though, Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos focuses more on free cash flow per share, not margins. Bezos believes that free cash flow is "something investors can spend" and that Amazon must continue to focus on growth, not profitability. Additionally, because Amazon is engaged in cost-intensive developments within its cloud computing and mobile business segments, where it competes against giants like Microsoft and Google, its margins are negatively affected. As seen by the below graph, though, Amazon's free cash flow position is unfavorable compared to other retailers.
AMZN Free Cash Flow data by YCharts
Costco is also a noteworthy opponent, in part due to its business model. Costco charges store membership fees, similar to Wal-Mart's Sam's Club, and then sells its products at large discounts compared to retailers like Target (NYSE: TGT). The membership fee comprises around 2% of Costco's total sales; however, it makes up about 75% of Costco's operating income. As a result, Costco generates a large cash balance that directly increases the bottom line and can help it weather market fluctuations.
The e-commerce boom will help generate profits
According to market research firm Forrester Research, U.S. online retail sales will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10% through 2017 while the European market will grow at 10.5% through 2017. Wal-Mart is positioning itself for the long haul by entering this growing market. For example, its Innovation Lab and e-commerce division are already in pursuit of narrowing the gap with Amazon by building a custom e-commerce platform. In addition to new warehouses, Wal-Mart will likely utilize its existing stores and distribution centers to forward products to customers. Though executives recognize the logistical obstacles of such a daunting task, they look forward to the growth opportunities that will result from the project.
As stated by Wal-Mart's CEO Michael Duke in the company's first quarter news release, Wal-Mart's e-commerce sales grew nearly 30% from the same time the prior year. And, it continues to invest in the growing division. So, while its 2012 online sales were only $7.7 billion compared to Amazon's $61 billion, Wal-Mart may be poised to compete with the online retailer more directly as its new platform is rolled out across America and then the globe.
Costco is also ramping up its e-commerce platform. According to Chinese news sources, the firm is pursuing potential partners in China so it can open a Chinese e-commerce division. In the first quarter, it increased its online sales by 20%, and the company anticipates further growth in the online sector. Also, 80%-90% of Costco's online offerings are not sold in stores; therefore, many of the company's online sales will supplement, not cannibalize, its brick and mortar sales.
Target is scurrying to enter the picture, too. In May, Target announced that it opened a Technology Innovation Center in Silicon Valley so that it could expand into the mobile application, online search, social media, and e-commerce markets. The office is a hub for Target's e-commerce initiatives and, though value has not been immediately experienced, executives hope that it will spur the company to grow in an increasingly competitive industry.
Over the long term, companies with sustainable advantages, large economies of scale, and healthy cash balances generate value for investors. In addition, though, both Wal-Mart and Costco continue to innovate and improve their business operations and processes. Moving forward, Amazon must beware of the large low-cost giants.
Brendan Marasco has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com and Costco Wholesale. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com and Costco Wholesale. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is this post wrong? Click here. Think you can do better? Join us and write your own!


text:
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Pickled Beets With Cumin and Cloves
Posted by Eve Fox at 6:04 AM
Labels: beet recipes, canning and preserving, canning recipes, pickled beets recipe, pickled beets with cumin and cloves, put 'em up by sherri brooks vinton
3 comments:
- Jessica @ Green Skies and Sugar Trips said...
It must be beet time, I just posted about beets a few days ago, and yesm I also included with it a picture of my hands, after they had been washed, and yes, stained :-)
- September 15, 2011 at 7:07 AM
- greenishmonkeys said...
This appeared on my facebook feed (from punk domestics)just as I was contemplating the 8 lbs of beets I just picked up as part of my fall/winter CSA share.I think 2 of them are going to be made into this recipe.
We need a gateway beet experience in our house. :)
- September 17, 2011 at 11:05 AM
I'm making homemade pickles as my wedding favor, and I've been testing a LOT of pickle recipes from all over the internet and many more from published books, and I gotta say, these just blew my mind. Everything else I've had was, at best, as deliciously pickled version of the original fruit/vegetable. These are... these are something else. I never knew ecstasy and comfort could be so closely tied to one another. Best jar of anything ever.
- November 10, 2013 at 9:08 PM


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More Than Money: The Good Life Parable
- Benta
- uploaded: Feb 9, 2009
- Hits: 199
What are you going to do with your lucky lottery ticket? That's a question every MBA faces. A lot of time and money has been invested in you, and once you graduate you're supposed to cash that ticket in for as much money and status as you can. Your parents and peers expect it. And you may feel that there's really no other choice. You can't risk wasting that expensive education. It's the safe thing to do. Isn't it? Mark Albion doesn't think so. In "The Good Life", a movie by FreeRange Graphics, Mark takes you to a chance meeting between an MBA and a fisherman on a small island. As the MBA tries to teach the fisherman about business, the fisherman teaches him about life.
4 comments
Vickiestoker February 11, 2009 7:28:17 AM CET
Who wouldnt want to be rich.... but this guy is already rich. How many of us dont no that yet? Hmmmm
Cosmonaut February 10, 2009 4:37:18 PM CET
Mbrown7532 February 9, 2009 4:02:09 PM CET
This is one of the best videos I ever saw :-)
Mbrown7532 February 9, 2009 4:01:31 PM CET
This is one of the best videos I ever saw :-)


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Free Return Shipping On All U.S. Domestic Orders
This classic Tree of Life Necklace from Mumbai-based label Lady Kismet is the ultimate weekend-ready piece. Try it with a loose silk blouse and skinny jeans to play up the bauble's sweet vibe.
18K Silver-plated with Black CZ. Chain measures 8.5" L. Pendant 1"L.
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text:
Making Bozeman's sidewalks more handicap accessible is one of the 25 priorities the Bozeman City Commission set out to accomplish in the next couple of years.
City officials said of Bozeman's 1,300 intersections, at least 100 of them don't have sidewalks that meet the latest Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
They said ADA sidewalk corners are installed whenever a street is built or reconstructed.
The problem now is with streets that are in the older sections of town.
"The backlog that Bozeman has is some of the older streets that were put in place well before the legislation, so those are the streets we have to go back and retro-fit," said Craig Wollard, Bozeman Public Works director.
Wollard said the city has been retro-fitting about 40 sidewalk corners a year for the last decade.
To update all the sidewalks in the city, it would cost $1.5 million.


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J. Renee CinnaSKU: #8069957
Product Information
- You know how to get the most out of your style when you start head turning in the Cinna from J. Renee®.
- Stylish synthetic upper features peep-toe design with an eye-catching bow.
- Buckle closure for a secure and adjustable fit.
- Man-made footbed provides lasting comfort so you can dance the night away.
- Partially-wrapped heel offers height that gives your legs length.
- Durable rubber outsole for durability.
- Imported.
- Measurements:
- Heel Height: 3 1⁄2 in
- Weight: 8 oz
- Platform Height: 3⁄4 in
- Product measurements were taken using size 9, width W (C). Please note that measurements may vary by size.