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Hey, football is a thing that's happening, and my latest post for TechGraphs reflects that, highlighting news stories about the NFL, tennis, baseball, and even a hint of hockey.
The full post is available here.
Hey, football is a thing that's happening, and my latest post for TechGraphs reflects that, highlighting news stories about the NFL, tennis, baseball, and even a hint of hockey.
The full post is available here.
A collaborative effort this week, my latest post for TechGraphs highlights news stories from the worlds of golf, hockey, tennis, football, bionic sports, and more.
The full post is available here.
Wimbledon began today, and my latest post at TechGraphs highlights a number of the digital developments in action surrounding this year's tournament, including streaming video and a probably far-flung attempt to measure the emotion surrounding the event.
The full post is available here.
Sania Mirza had offended Islam. Such was the judgement of a group of Muslim clerics. It was September of 2005, and Mirza, then 18 years old and the No. 34-ranked tennis player in the world, was on her way to Kolkata, India to play in the Sunfeast Open.
Then came the fatwa. It would be Mirza's first brush with radical Islam, but not her last.
Issued by Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui, a leading cleric with the little-known Sunni Ulema Board, the religious order demanded that Mirza, a practicing Muslim, stop wearing "indecent" clothes to play tennis.
Instead of standard-issue t-shirts and skirts, the board ruled, she should wear long tunics and headscarves, like a group of female Iranian badminton players. Or else.
"She will be stopped from playing if she doesn't adhere to it," Siddiqullah Chowdhry, a cleric with a Kolkata-based Muslim group Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Hind, told Reuters. The threat was vague, but still alarming. … Read More
(via Vice Sports)
Most jr.-tennis coaches are basically technicians, hands-on practical straight-ahead problem-solving statistical-data wonks, with maybe added knacks for short-haul psychology and motivational speaking. The point about not crunching serious stats is that Schtitt . . . knew real tennis was really about not the blend of statistical order and expansive potential that the game's technicians revered, but in fact the opposite — not-order, limit, the places where things broke down, fragmented into beauty. That real tennis was no more reducible to delimited factors or probability curves than chess or boxing, the two games of which it's a hybrid. In short, Schtitt and [Incandenza] found themselves totally simpatico on tennis's exemption from stats-tracking regression. Were he now still among the living, Dr. Incandenza would now describe tennis in the paradoxical terms of what's now called "Extra-Linear Dynamics." And Schtitt, whose knowledge of formal math is probably about equivalent to that of a Taiwanese kindergartner, nevertheless seemed to know what Hopman and van der Meer and Bollettieri seemed not to know: that locating beauty and art and magic and improvement and keys to excellence and victory in the prolix flux of match play is not a fractal matter of reducing chaos to pattern. Seemed perversely — of expansion, the aleatory flutter of uncontrolled, metastatic growth — each well-shot ball admitting of n possible responses, n^2 possible responses to those responses, and on into what Incandenza would articulate to anyone who shared both his backgrounds as a Cantorian continuum of infinities of possible move and response, Cantorian and beautiful because infoliating, contained, this diagnate infinity of infinities of choice and execution, mathematically uncontrolled but humanly contained, bounded by the talent and imagination of self and opponent, bent in on itself by the containing boundaries of skill and imagination that brought one player finally down, that kept both from winning, that made it, finally, a game, these boundaries of self.
David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest 81-82 (Back Bay Books, Nov. 2006) (1996).
In tennis, the better player doesn't always win. Sometimes, she loses in straight sets.
Imagine if basketball, football or hockey games were decided by which team outscored the other in the most periods. Get outscored by 20 points in the first quarter, and it's no problem, you just have to eke out the last three by a point each to take the game.
That's sort of how tennis works. Win more sets than your opponent, and you win the match — even if your opponent played better throughout. These anomalous results happen rarely, but more often on grass, the surface of play at Wimbledon, which started this week.
Wacky outcomes like [Rajeev] Ram's pair of lottery matches happen more often at Wimbledon than at the other Grand Slams. Since 1991, 8.8 percent of completed Wimbledon men's matches have been lottery matches, won by the player who was less successful at protecting his serve than his opponent. At the other three Grand Slam tournaments, that proportion ranged between 6.4 percent and 6.6 percent, according to data provided by Jeff Sackmann of Tennis Abstract.
The sport's time-tested scoring system has many virtues, even if total fairness isn't one of them. Its symmetry makes players alternate the deuce and advantage sides, switch sides of the net, rotate serving and returning. It guarantees that a player trailing by a big margin gets all the time it takes to stage a comeback, provided she performs well enough to earn that time. It keeps matches that are lopsided short, and lets close matches take all the time they need.
Carl Bialik, "An Oddity of Tennis Scoring Makes Its Annual Appearance at Wimbledon," FiveThirtyEight.com (June 25, 2014, 7:31 a.m.).
Part of the reason baseball is so susceptible to statistical analysis is that the season is long enough for players' and teams' statistical averages to settle out and meaningfully describe their performance. Another reason is that the game itself is comprised of isolated interactions. No other sport is so susceptible, but the reasons appear to be different in each case. Basketball may be next up, held back only by our (diminishing, thanks to technology) inability to track and store data. Hockey statistics are thought to be less meaningful because the season isn't long enough for the random bounces of the puck to settle out from the averages.
To my poorly informed knowledge, advanced statistical analysis has made few inroads into tennis. Part of the reason for this may be that tennis' scoring structure, alluded to in the second passage above, does not as easily allow for the clean, direct reflection of averaged rates of good things or bad things in individual (and therefore aggregated) match outcomes. On the other hand, maybe looking to a statistical rationale for an explanation of statistics' inability to aid in the understanding of tennis is futile. Or at least I think that's what the first passage means. Continue reading
Entering that time of year when baseball and football overlap, I was reminded of the mostly uninteresting sports superiority debate, one football usually wins because of its media popularity and perception that it offers a lot more action than the other sports. It's pointless to swim against the tide of football supremacy, but is it really true that a football game offers more action than a baseball game?
I found myself reevaluating this question while flipping between baseball and football games on college football's opening weekend, simultaneously enticed by shiny football and entranced by the playoff potential of my favorite and local baseball teams. Baseball seems slow, of course, and there's no clock. Most of the time, though, a televised baseball game takes as much time to complete as a televised football game. As a comparison of these two random articles indicates, MLB games actually tend to consume less time than NFL games. The nature of the gameplay is what it is, but a fan is going to spend the same amount of time– roughly three hours– watching a game of one or the other.
We can go deeper and wider, though. Fewer Americans watch tennis than either the official or unofficial national pastimes, but even men's tennis matches (played as the best of five sets, rather than the women's best of three) tend to take less time than baseball or football. Moreover, as a set of recent Wall Street Journal studies conclude, it's tennis– not baseball or football– that packs the most action per match or game.
Read the full article here.
An ESPN The Magazine story out next week profiles young American tennis star Sloane Stephens and, in discussing her relationship with Serena Williams, reveals that both women are Blackberry users.
Football is underway at all levels, which means that this weekly roundup/preview post is back.
College football's second week portended less excitement than its opening week, and yet there seemed to be more surprising results this week than last. In particular, two teams with a lot of preseason promise took big hits on Saturday. The Wisconsin Badgers fell out of the Top 25 and fired their offensive line coach after a loss to Oregon State in which the traditional running power generated only thirty-five yards on the ground. Arkansas' drop from the rankings was even more precipitous, as the Razorbacks lost to Louisiana-Monroe. Michigan, fresh off a no-show against Alabama, nearly lost their home-opener to Air Force, while Clemson nearly doubled up Ball State to stay undefeated, a status they're likely to carry into their meeting with #5 Florida State in two weeks after facing in-state lightweight Furman this weekend. Michigan State also stayed undefeated with an easy win over Central Michigan, while Vanderbilt fell to 0-2 at Northwestern in a game I attended and more about which I
will writehave written.
Robert Griffin III was the star of the NFL's first Sunday of 2012, while Andrew Luck found himself grouped with more pedestrian rookie QB starters Brandon Weeden and Ryan Tannehill. The always-overhyped Jets turned in the surprise team performance of the day, a 48-28 win over Buffalo. The Lions, who have an official drum line, came from behind to beat the Rams in the last ten seconds of the game, and Peyton Manning returned to form in an ultimately convincing win over Pittsburgh.
Outside of the football world, Serena Williams gutted out a win at the U.S. Open, her fifteenth Grand Slam title, and Jeff Gordon announced that his "absurdly comical mustache" for the NASCAR Chase (i.e., playoffs), which begins this weekend in Chicago.
But it's so fragile, tennis! I mean, it's so silly, basically. I have been a completely inadequate Wimbledon correspondent, and even I noticed when the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club's P.A. announcer came on to say, "Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. There is a 30 percent chance that it is now raining." The kidnapped hawk, the Centre Court roof, and Roger Federer all have fake Twitter accounts that are only intermittently as funny as the actual Wimbledon Twitter account, @Wimbledon, which I suspect has a better sense of humor about Wimbledon than does Jeremy Piven. I've hardly understood a single thing that's happened since I've been here. Why, the other night I wandered into the actual English pub next to my hotel for a burger and a drink, and there was some sort of American-themed costume party going on — all sorts of Marilyns and Duff Men and Top Gun jet aces, that sort of thing — and I was wearing a shirt with the name of an obscure Italian soccer club on it, and I got pitying looks for not being comically American enough! … Read More
(via Grantland)


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Shah Rukh Khan
No Record Found.
The previous track of Karan Johar's Kapoor & Sons, Chull, has already become a chartbuster. The makers have now released song, Lets Nacho, featuring Alia Bhatt, Sidharth Malhotra and Fawad Khan.
The song is a party number in which all these three stars will be seen grooving. To watch the song, visit bit.ly/1RxIdYE
Ae Dil Hai Mushkil is just around the corner. The Karan Johar....
Did You Know Aamir Khan Was Offered Darr, But He Rejected The Role Because...
Sushant Singh Rajput's Ex, Ankita Lokhande Observes Karwa Chauth
Breaking News: Kalki Koechlin's Stance On Pakistani Actors Is Thought Provoking
Latest Gossip! Shah Rukh Khan Talks About Sleeping With His Co-Stars
We Bet You Didn't Know About Jimmy Shergill's Double Role In This Film!
Latest Gossip! Aamir Khan's PDA Moment Takes Us By Surprise
The 'Bond' Is Broken: Hollywood Star Pierce Brosnan Is SHOCKED By Pan Bahar Ad.
Hrithik Roshan Is Proud Of Deepika Padukone, Here's Why...
Latest Information: Akshay Turns Hero In Real Life, Helps Penniless Producer
Latest Update KAABIL: The Teaser Trailer Will Leave You Asking For More
Aishwarya And Ranbir Are Too Hot To Handle In This Photo Shoot
Birthday Special: Nargis Fakhri Turns 37 Today
Jacqueline Looks Stunningly Gorgeous In L'Officiel India's Photo Shoot
Taapsee Pannu Is On The Cover Of Cineblitz's October Issue
Befikre Girl Vaani Kapoor's Totally Slaying It In This Photo Shoot
Emraan Hashmi's Evil Looks Prove Why He Is Better As A Villain Than A Hero
This Is Ranveer Singh And Vaani Kapoor Steamiest Photo Shoot Ever
Harshvardhan Kapoor Looks Smokin' Hot In This New Photo Shoot
Priyanka Chopra Is On The Cover of Conde Nast Traveller.
Alia Bhatt Graces The Cover Of Verve Magazine's October Issue

subset: commoncrawl


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Norwich, NY (WBNG Binghamton) The third trial of Peter Wlasiuk has been delayed.
The 42-year-old from Oxford is accused of killing his wife, Patricia.
Her body was recovered from Guilford Lake in 2002.
Peter has been tried and convicted twice on a prosecution case that claims he suffocated her and staged an accident.
Both convictions were overturned by a New York State Appeals Court.
A Chenango County grand jury indicted Wlasiuk again on a charge of 2nd degree murder.
Jury selection at the courthouse in Norwich was scheduled to start today.
It is now pushed back to June 4, 2012.


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Cranberries add sparkle to the meal.
Leave a Review
Fantastic if you follow the user recommendations to halve the sugar. Also per recommendations I increased the ratio of fresh squeezed on to water. I also zested the ginger on the same microplane as the orange zest and I think that was a mistake. By the time the sauce was cooked I couldn't taste the ginger. Still an amazing result, but next time I'll either grate the ginger less finely, or add it towards the end of cooking. Very happy with this recipe!
I've (even as an adult) always disliked the fresh cranberry sauces/relishes, and always had to go for the tried and true canned, jellied stuff. Until now! We made this recipe (and I agree, 1 cup of sugar is plenty) and even the 5 year old liked it... Well, he ate it, which is pretty amazing. The rest of us loved it, the touch of ginger is great, and we're putting this into the yearly Thanksgiving tradition of recipes. Boom! ;-)
Way way way too sweet.
I like how this version of cranberry sauce has a little more dimension than the normal cranberry sauce and usually omit the orange zest so that the orange is not overpowering. I've made it a couple of years now for Thanksgiving. For the 16oz of cranberries, I use 1C of sugar and keep the 1C volume of liquids the same. However, I use 1/2C of orange juice, 2T of lime juice and make up the remained of the 1C with water. After boiling, I noticed that most of the foam gets re-dissolved in the mixture as it cools. I usually distribute the hot mixture into 2 tall working glasses or jars and then wait until it cools completely before skimming any minimal amounts of foam.
I agree with everyone to halve the sugar. I grated my ginger on a microplane, and instead of orange zest I used lime zest and lime juice. The ginger and lime make it amazing! And I used half water/half orange-banana-strawberry juice.
This is as good as everyone says. Because of the raves I doubled the recipe so I could give some away. I am a major ginger fan so used double. Used half the sugar and substituted unfiltered apple juice for the water.
I've been making this for the past 3 years. I reduce the sugar by half, substitute the water with syrup from canned Mandarin oranges, and add in the Mandarin oranges at the end. Although I haven't tried it, I'm thinking adding in some chopped candied ginger would kick it up some.
This recipe is so easy and SO delicious I almost had to arm-wrestle my mom for the leftovers last Thanksgiving! Im sure you could use less sugar and more oj,if you like, its just about foolproof.My family liked it so much I'll make it Every holiday!
2 cups of sugar? I made this with 2 bags of cranberries, 1 cup of OJ, one cup of wine and half a cup of apple juice. I also threw in a diced, peeled granny smith apple. It was almost too sweet, even with just 2 cups of sugar. Try using half and see what you think. I know cranberries are tart, but that much sugar is an overkill
My husband and niece eat this sauce by the spoonful! I tripled the recipe with a fraction of the sugar. Making another triple batch two days after Thanksgiving... Complete hit! A friend who has been told by doctor she can't have any more coffee or Diet Coke uses the sauce to make tea.


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InterOil (NYSE:IOC) is a Canadian gas exploration company that has big licenses in Papua New Guinea (PNG), as well as a refinery and a series of gas stations and distribution centers. IOC is our oldest long which we're still bullish on and which has performed quite well.
After an extensive period of searching for the best partner, enabled by three investment bankers, Exxon (NYSE:XOM) has emerged as the final bidder, and the company has entered into direct negotiations to supply gas for a third train to Exxon's (nearly finished) LNG plant in PNG.
Central to that deal, and to InterOil's value proposition in general, is the Elk/Antelope (E/A) resource. Without E/A, InterOil would be worth a fraction of what it's worth. Central to the short thesis is the argument that Elk/Antelope isn't what InterOil argues it is. Unfortunately few of the big shorts go on record making this argument, let alone substantiate it.
Whitney Tilson is the exception to this, so when we concentrate on his analysis, it's just because there isn't much else to go by (if one excludes message boards) from reputable sources.
Tilson has been short on IOC for at least five years, and has been quite vocal about it, unlike the great majority of short traders, so we concentrate on his rationale, for lack of other ones. Being short on InterOil hasn't worked out so well over that period. Over time, Tilson has put forward reasons as to why the stock "misbehaved" (that is, refused to plunge as he expected, and still expects); this time is no exception:
In the first half of the year, I saw more pain inflicted upon short sellers than at any point since the internet bubble in 1999 and early 2000. During times of complacency, momentum-focused traders and computer algorithms like to play the "squeeze-the-shorts" game, which can cause heavily shorted stocks to skyrocket.
The funny thing is that some of the longs complain about algorithms from short traders to explain the low valuation and are routinely laughed away by the critics. Let's just say it's difficult to prove either way.
Tilson has been very critical of founder and former CEO Mulacek (and seemed unaware of his departure), but on the day InterOil announced a new CEO, Michael Hession, that became very manifest. Here are some of the characteristics of Mr. Hession:
- Bachelor in geology, PhD in Geophysics, and an MBA
- He has more than 25 years of international exploration, operation and commercial experience, most recently as Senior Vice President at Browse LNG, part of Woodside Petroleum, Australia's largest oil and gas producer.
We're sure it's just a "coincidence" but after seven years of silence on InterOil, out comes Citron's Andy Left, arguing that Mr. Hession was unemployed and just "window dressing." Andy Left isn't the first name that comes to mind for people throwing the first stone (read some of his colorful past here), and he might not have noticed that Mr. Hession resigned from his previous job to pursue other activities, we now know what these are.
Anyway, who is CEO is important, but Elk/Antelope is more important for InterOil's value proposition. Here is Tilson, we have to quote at some length:
I believe InterOil is one of the largest promotions of all time - but unfortunately (so far) for anyone short the stock, it's also one of the cleverest. The company, which has all sorts of associations with questionable characters (and pretty much every other red flag a short seller looks for), has been drilling for natural gas in Papua New Guinea for well over a decade and has repeatedly claimed to have found the mother lode..This valuation is based on the expectation that InterOil has discovered one of the world's largest natural gas fields and that current negotiations with ExxonMobil will result in an extremely lucrative deal for InterOil. I think the odds of this are close to zero.
To be clear, nobody - not InterOil's management nor any outsider - knows with certainty whether the company has a real resource discovery or not. This isn't a fraud like Bre-X (for those of you with long memories) because there really is some gas in InterOil's fields, which makes it almost impossible to disprove the company's claims. Instead, one has to analyze geological reports, look at the track record of the company's promises, examine the background of the key people, and then apply common sense.
This is really extraordinary in many respects. For starters, IOC is not claiming to have found "one of the world's largest natural gas fields." As it happens, Elk/Antelope has been independently vetted by three different specialist companies. One, from Knowledge Reservoir after Elk 1,2,4 and Antelope 1 were drilled; a Gaffney Klein report after the next well (Antelope 2); and the official yearly resource evaluations from GLJ from Canada, the latest earlier this year after Antelope 3 was drilled and evaluated.
Since GLJ is the official resource report, it's the most up to date (including all wells) and Canadian companies can't publish anything besides their official resource evaluation reports, we stick to that one. The first report (2009) on the resource is published in its entirety online, not all companies do that, it has to be stressed. The latest (2013) GLJ evaluation, numbers used until December 31 2012:
|Initial Recoverable Sales Gas (Tcf)
|Initial Recoverable Condensate (MMbbls)
|Initial Recoverable (MMboe)
In fact, InterOil has another gas and liquids field, Triceratops. While appraisal is in early stages, it was enough for Pacific Rubiales (PEGFF.PK) to take a 10% stake in the PPL237 license area. And the comments from them about the prospects in PPL237 area on their analyst day:
We got really a very good discovery and I think that we'll be ready to monetize that. We understand that there is some sort of a beauty contest now between the majors to acquire those positions and we have a tagalong. So we will be able to make a new rapid cash on that property.. In Papua New Guinea, the opportunities that we have interpreted and mapped are very, very, very large. We are talking about in excess of 5 to 10 tcf every single opportunity there.
We have to stress that Triceratops is much less appraised compared to Elk/Antelope and that GLJ assigns only a fraction of the gas and liquids it assigns to Elk/Antelope, yet it has another oil & gas company put up real dollars ($112M to date) for a stake. Now consider the following:
- GLJ is one of Canada's premier resource evaluators
- Tilson doesn't quote any other resource evaluations
- Tilson has no background in oil & gas
- ALL well data are produced by reputable companies like Weatherford, SGS and Schlumberger
And he's not just questioning the numbers, he is questioning the existence of the resource:
To be clear, nobody - not InterOil's management nor any outsider - knows with certainty whether the company has a real resource discovery or not.
Here are some of the well data, we'll leave it up to your imagination whether wells with these kind of characteristics form a "real" resource discovery. Wells with 1000-2000ft of net pay aren't something you drill into every day:
|Well Name
Column Height, ft
|Feet Of Net Pay
|Net To Gross
|Average Porosity
Exxon seems to think there is a real discovery here as they wouldn't let InterOil announce them as the winner of the bidding process if it thought there was any change there isn't a real resource in Elk/Antelope. Pacific Rubiales seems to think there is a real discovery in the much less appraised Triceratops field.
It's simply extraordinary what many of the shorts are claiming without providing any basis for their claims. For these claims to be true, we are forced to assume stuff like InterOil forging well data from Schlumberger and Weatherford without them giving a peep, GLJ accepting the forged data, a host of investors like Chandler (who has a 17% stake), American funds and Wells Fargo to be duped in the process, not to mention the PNG government, the three IB companies involved in the sell-down process, Exxon, Pacific Rubiales, the analysts following the company, etc., etc.
Official resource evaluations are normally accepted as fact, with the proviso that the status of these reports is that they are the best estimates with the available data, although new data or actual production can change these. However, these data are not questioned without any basis.
Even the Gaffney Cline report, which is older and doesn't include the last (very successful) Antelope 3 well, while providing a lower estimate (6.6Tcf), but this is still enough for at least a single train LNG plant and very likely two trains.
We're not aware of a single case in which resource numbers are questioned without data or grounds. But Tilson doesn't do just that, he questions the whole discovery! He goes considerably further than even Barry Minkow (now back in jail again for securities fraud). The latter hired a geologist (Bertoni) who wrote a report on Elk/Antelope. The conclusion from Bertoni at the time was that it needed more appraisal (and those conclusions were subsequently "misused" by Minkow).
That conclusion was actually fair at the time, as only one well was drilled in Antelope, which is the structure that contains most of the gas. This leads us to the only kind of rationale Tilson put forward for his thesis, there isn't a deal yet.
Indeed, but rather than assume that there isn't a real resource, forcing us to assume massive fraud implying multiple reputable parties, this can be easily explained by some history. First, it's important to realize that the big Antelope wells, which are the ones confirming the existence of a reef (high quality resource rock), are a relatively recent discovery.
And it's quite unlikely that any party would have committed billions of dollars for an LNG plant on the basis of a single well. So it's simply a bit of a semantic trick (the likes of which we have seen so often) to argue that InterOil has been drilling and promising deals for years and years.
Realistically, one could only have expected serious interest after a couple of Antelope wells were drilled and evaluated by a third party. That's only a couple of years. During those years, InterOil planned for monetizing of the resource with a floating LNG facility and a modular plant from EWC of Australia. However, this ultimately didn't meet approval of the PNG government, causing much delay.
One might also appreciate the fact that multi-billion dollar deals, finding the best partner and negotiating and concluding a deal is not something that is done on a Saturday afternoon. These are protracted processes which can easily take years.
Or we could simply argue that Tilson is short in InterOil for more than five years, that's at least twice the period without success than one could reasonably have assumed InterOil having concluding a deal in. In that time, Tilson hasn't changed his stance whilst InterOil has drilled two more successful wells in Elk/Antelope, greatly reducing any scope to doubt the official resource estimations, but apparently not for Tilson.
Another plank of the short 'thesis' is that (without providing names nor details), he casts doubt on the background of some of the people involved and argues there are many 'red flags' (without even mentioning a single one).
Perhaps he should look in the mirror. We could point out that he has changed the name of the fund twice (from Tilson to T2 when Glen Tongue joined, then to KASE when T2 was disbanded), yet he keeps the same "inception" numbers, yet the other T2 funds (there were three) that started in July 2004 "disappeared."
He would be all over that sort of "accounting" if he was short the fund. He also lists his monthly performance vs. the S&P, yet he never lists the 1,3,5 and 10 year numbers that are the standard of the industry. Enough said.
Whitney Tilson takes the unprecedented step of not just questioning official resource numbers from a reputable third party resource evaluator, he questions the whole resource. He does this without having a background in the industry, without any corroborating data or information, without citing sources, and the acceptance of his 'thesis' forces the reader to assume that multiple reputable organizations are implicit in fraud.
This really is extraordinary. But he doesn't even stop there, he purports to know the right interpretations of the ongoing negotiation process between Exxon and InterOil. Apart from the scarce public statements from InterOil about this process, there isn't any information on these negotiations and Tilson doesn't provide any source, not even a rationale for his interpretation.
All this is rather extraordinaire, we have to say. Perhaps it's no wonder the market has moved against him on this stock. Tilson is entitled to his opinion, but as long as he is unable and/or unwilling to provide any data, information, or sources that back it up, it's just an unsubstantiated opinion.
The substance part is on the other side of this trade. Independently provided well data, resource evaluations, and parties putting up real dollars and engaging in serious negotiation argue that there is a real resource there after all.
Disclosure: I am long IOC. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.


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Bottom line: Still making money.Still covering for potential losses.Posssible special dividend in December 08 or March 09.Strong balance sheet, given current market externalities.Adequate cash, with opportunity to raise more through sales.Still $100 million available from CalPERS for addtional investment opporunities.Still paying a 15% dividend with no indication of any cuts to the dividend in the forseeable futureIf you're looking at a dividend propoducer and can stomach small gyrations in the stock's price, JRT is for you; if your looking to trade it, find a higher volume, more volatle stock.
I have to agree, given JRT is a basically a duck flying during hunting season. It was a very good call. They are managing through the debt crises very well. The size of the margin calls was staggering but they prepared for and managed it.Definitely a very strong team in my humble opinion. If more banks were run this well we would not have the credit crises. If we do not get a deep recession that knocks down commercial real estate this could be a real winner.


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Los Angeles Landscape Designer, Contractor & Maintenance Company
Landscape Designer & Consultant
Eva Knoppel
Eva Knoppel and her Garden of Eva Landscape Design Group—selected by CBS News' Latest Best of LA as one of Five Best Landscape Designers In Los Angeles—was voted the winner of the 2014 & 2015 Best of Houzz Award in Customer Satisfaction for the greater Los Angeles area.
As a proud member of the California chapter of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD) and famous for her Eco-friendly and sustainable "green" gardens, Eva is equally at home designing formal English-style perennial gardens, gardens featuring native wildflowers, vegetables and herbs as well as contemporary, Zen-inspired minimalist gardens. Eva also provides gardening consultations in a number of areas including drought-tolerant plant selection and water-saving drip, gray-water and Eco-friendly irrigation systems.
Sustainable, Drought-Tolerant Green Garden Design
A sustainable garden saves water, money, and labor. It's better for the environment, reduces energy consumption, protects against wildfires and a lot more. We specialize in the design, construction and maintenance of drought-tolerant landscapes. For more information visit our Sustainable Landscape Design page.
Landscape Contractor & Maintenance
While many Los Angeles landscape designers focus only on the designing, Eva wears both hats — designer and contractor. She is insured, bonded and licensed (Lic. 853306) by the State of California and is there for her clients — both residential and commercial — from concept through installation. She is also happy to provide a garden's essential, on-going landscape maintenance.
Gift Certificates
Eva is please to offer Garden Of Eva Gift Certificates for those of you who would like to provide a truly unique, thoughtful and very special gift—suitable for holiday giving or for any special occasion.
There are three levels of Certificates, depending on the scope of the work. If you'd like to see what's being offered, please CLICK HERE.
If you would like to learn more about our landscape design, contracting and maintenance services, please contact us at 323-461-6556 or fill out our Contact Information Form and we'll be in touch.


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''To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the records of history?'' - Cicero
The records of history run thick with threads of colorful people and events that weave the all-encompassing tapestry of human existence. Unfortunately, it has been a trend in this fleeting moment that is our little time on earth to dismiss the importance of gleaning from our past.
Leaders with this attitude have been a bane to the advancement of mankind on several levels. We can see this in the reality of actions taken by influential people today - on the international, national, state and local levels. History has become an addendum to political science - figuratively and literally - as it falls under the influence of political science in more colleges and universities. Isolated facts and instances are presented as global truths. That is the way it has always been - the way of propaganda.
Technological advances have made propagandizing an even more potent weapon in politicians' arsenals. The intolerance for critical thought and logic has never been higher in our society than it is today. This fact is further evidence that the old axiom is truer than ever: The only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history.
And how could appreciation of history possibly affect us locally? The answer is - in many ways. There was a period in Fort Dodge's past when it was the fastest growing city in Iowa - the 1890s. No other town of any significance was even close to our growth rate. The bonanza spilled over into the early 20th century.
A survey commissioned by the Chamber of Commerce in 1927 revealed that the population of ''metropolitan'' Fort Dodge was more than 27,000. That was greater than today's population in the same geographic area. Actual city limits in 1927 were smaller than our city limits today. The 1920 and 1930 federal Census figures reflect a smaller area than now exists. Why was the population greater back then (in a comparative area) than it is today? The most obvious of a number of reasons is leadership. We had dynamic leaders.
Fort Dodge has steadily declined since the 1970s (it is projected to decline even more in the 2010 Census) - and it is not because Hormel left town. It is because there has been a continual lack of long-term planning that would mitigate such inevitable setbacks. Despite several superficial studies, we jump from one pet project to another with very little thought of a focused comprehensive plan.
The lessons of history should be learned. You move forward by understanding mistakes of the past and finding a more creative path.
What can be done in the face of such negative circumstances? We could start by building civic pride. A few private groups are already doing this with cosmetic cleanup of the city. We should also be making an effort to instill community pride in our youths. There are volumes to be proud of in our past.
Maybe we should at least attempt to instill in them some hometown pride. This has been a goal of mine since I returned to Fort Dodge after a 30-year absence. I was disheartened to see how my hometown had deteriorated. I was born and grew up in Fort Dodge as did both my parents. All four grandparents lived and died here. For some reason I am proud of Fort Dodge - for its heritage.
As I professed to many people when I came back here five years ago - instilling pride in our youths can accomplish several objectives:
1. Perhaps more of them will decide to stay in Fort Dodge.
2. If they do leave, perhaps they will return some day.
3. Even if they don't return they will be good ambassadors for Fort Dodge.
We need to do much more in exposing school children to their local heritage.
The attitude of our educators was displayed on the front page of The Messenger on March 24, 2006, when a feature appeared titled ''Standards and Benchmarks for the Study of History in Fort Dodge Schools.'' Nine major points were outlined. The teaching of local history did not even appear on this list.
There are dozens of people who were either born in Fort Dodge, lived in Fort Dodge or did something of historical significance while in Fort Dodge.
These are only some of the early era subjects that make up part of Fort Dodge's rich heritage. History affects us on all levels. Besides the practical aspects of history, it can be interesting and downright fun.
Cemetery Walk
The entire community should have the opportunity to learn more about their hometown's heritage. Many could care less, but if more people knew the treasures awaiting out there, we would see a rise community pride - that can't hurt anything.
The Oakland Cemetery Walk was initiated by Fort Dodgers Jerry and Marva Rowe in 2003. This annual spring event showcases past Fort Dodge residents interred at Oakland.
Oakland Cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the most beautiful sites in our city. In the mid-19th century communities often set aside the most scenic area of their town as a city park that also served as a cemetery. Townspeople would gather at these places for picnics and frivolity. During the Rural Cemetery Movement of the 1800s, cemeteries became the forerunners of today's park systems.
Each year eight characters interred at Oakland are depicted by volunteer local talent. The actors are dressed in period costumes provided by Masque Productions (Party Productions).
Each presentation is about eight minutes long. Spectators move from one graveside location to another in a circuit around the upper area of the cemetery. It is great entertainment for five bucks. All proceeds go to improvement projects at Oakland. The program is also informative.
This year there are some wonderful true stories from yesteryear:
1. Egbert Bagg designed Oakland Cemetery. He came here in the 1850s. Egbert (Fred Kesten) will introduce the cemetery to spectators. Ironically, Bagg was never buried in a cemetery.
2. Eleazar Albee was a station agent for both the Western Stage Co. and the North Western Stage Co. - among other things. Clark Root, as E.H. Albee, will tell how stage driver Charles Hale got lost on his way from Sioux City to Fort Dodge during a blinding snowstorm. He lost half of both his feet as a result.
3. Mayor Sydney Bennett will be ably portrayed by John Bonner. Bennett drove tunnels through the Cascade Mountains where others had failed. He was responsible for instigating a nationwide fervor with his compulsory marriage ordinance while serving as mayor of Fort Dodge.
4. Julia Sherman drowned in the Boone River along with her daughter and granddaughter. Barbara Wallace Hughes will tell us the tragic tale that occurred while the three were returning to Fort Dodge from out East in 1862.
5. Charles C. Smeltzer was a prominent early Fort Dodger. Jesse Helling (garbed in an 1860s uniform) will tell how the Wahkonsa Baseball Club was entered by Smeltzer as a member of one of the first baseball leagues in America - in New York.
6. Phoebe Mericle was one of the earliest frontier women in this region of the state. Cheryl Sherry will relate how Phoebe and her husband Jacob provided refuge for the Marsh surveying party when they were robbed by a band of renegades led by Sidominadotah.
7. Dr. Allie Wakeman was a turn-of-the-century medical professional in Fort Dodge. Susan Ahlers Leman will describe what life was like for a female physician more than 100 years ago.
8. W.H.H. Colby was a bonafide ''character'' who coined a term used nationally to describe an illegal drinking establishment. He nibbled around the edges of 19th-century prohibition laws. Kevin Rogers will reminisce about how ''Hank'' was a livery owner with a passion for horse racing.
These biographical sketches will come to life 1 and 3 p.m. June 13. Tours will start about every 10 minutes. Boarding of DART buses will be at Good Shepard Lutheran Church - just west of the Village Inn, 1436 21st Ave. N.
''Those who do not appreciate the accomplishments of their ancestors will do nothing worth remembering by their descendants.''
Alan F. Nelson is a local historian and director of Cemetery Walk.


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What solace hath the unemployed working man? A bar stool at the Tradesman Tavern -- where working- class romance spilleth over.
Check out the murals of working-class heroes that adorn the walls of this 80-year-old brick building.
Despite the nods, the TT's heart lies somewhere between working-class and Warehouse District -- with a crowd you just might run into on West Sixth.


text: The club just opened 175 spots for NTP 2013 and we would love to have your help mentoring them! If you're interested in mentoring and/or volunteering please fill out the NTP 2013 Mentoring and Volunteering Application Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MYJM5ZK . If you're planning on becoming a mentor/volunteer, please fill out the survey by Friday, February 1st. If you have any questions, please email the NTPcoordinators at email@example.com.


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In the near future, college recruiting could look something like this:
Coach: Hey, U wanna play with us? :)
Player: OMG! Yeah, sure, I'd luv to, lol!
Those of you over the age of 40, heck, maybe even 30, might not have a clue what that exchange means. It's texting, the dominant method of communication for high school and college-age kids.
But in the high-stakes world of athletic recruiting, it's been strictly off-limits. Coaches at NCAA Division III schools have not been allowed to use their phone to send a text message to potential recruits, or any kind of social networking application such as Facebook or Twitter.
That changed in January, when the NCAA approved a proposal to deregulate texting for Division III schools. That means texts are lumped into the same category with telephone, email and fax correspondence.
It might not seem like a seismic shift, but from a technology sense the world looks nothing like it did 10 years ago, when the phrase "social networking" didn't exist. It seems the NCAA has finally caught up to its student-athletes.
After all, texting is quickly becoming the preferred mode of communication for just about anyone with a cell phone. It's tiring to watch a college kid work a keyboard.
"I think it's a great opportunity to dialogue with students in a medium that's comfortable for them," said Ross Patrick, coach of the Penn State Harrisburg women's basketball team.
"Texting enables that opportunity. I think it was maybe overdue but I can understand making sure that if it was going to allowed that it was implemented in the appropriate and correct way."
Certainly, the NCAA took its time pondering the measure, which has been discussed informally among coaches for the last few years. And they welcome the change.
"The younger generations are adapting and changing the way they communicate," said Rick Van Pelt, coach of the Messiah men's basketball team. "I believe the NCAA realizes that this will become, or already has become, the way that young people small talk."
The new legislation is a reversal of texting regulations that were put in place five years ago, when student-athletes pushed for the texting ban. That was prior to the now-standard implementation of unlimited texting plans by phone companies.
In 2007 that meant when a coach sent a text, the player was most likely paying five or 10 cents a pop out of their own pockets.
It's also instructive to point out how many kids are texting. According to research from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, more than 75 percent of teenagers own cell phones, and 33 percent send more than 100 texts daily.
Almost 90 percent of teens text on a regular basis, compared with just 50 percent five years ago.
Texting has become so prevalent that it makes email look downright prehistoric.
"We often struggle to communicate well through email with the current generation," said Aaron Faro, Messiah's athletic recruitment coordinator.
"Texting will help us in practical ways like getting quick bits of info and perhaps quick messages to say 'Hey, check your email. I sent you a bunch of questions in the past two weeks and haven't heard from you.'
"The common response is 'Oh, I don't check my email very often.' Texting will help bridge this gap."
Of course, the traditional methods of recruiting, like in-person meetings and phone calls, will never be replaced. Every coach contacted said they remain the best ways to get players to commit.
"The coach-player and parent-coach relationships are built on trust and that's hard to get through short texts," Van Pelt said. "It's a good compliment to the old-fashioned way, but building meaningful relationships takes more of an investment."
Heather Greer, women's lacrosse coach at Messiah, agreed. "The texting I've had with recruits has been more about logistics than anything, really. Texting will never take the place of a phone conversation or a person-to-person meeting but it can serve as a great aid in making those important things happen."
So far, the NCAA is only allows unlimited texting at the Division III level. Division I and II schools have not seen the reigns loosened quite yet.
The divisions also differ on social networking sites, which Division III coaches cannot use. DI and II institutions are allowed to use Facebook, but only the site's messaging application that functions like a de facto email program.
And to further muddy the waters, Division I men's basketball coaches will be allowed to use texts to recruit players beginning June 15. Other sports remain text-free.
It can be confusing. And keeping up with what platform can be used in a specific division leads to problems. That's why you still hear examples of coaches being reprimanded, or programs being placed on probation for texting and social networking violations.
The latest came just last month at Division I Georgia Tech, where assistant football coach Todd Spencer was forced to resign after contacting numerous recruits via text message.
So at least, in one respect, here's an issue where little Division III is ahead of its larger, well-funded brethren.
Go ahead, Division III coaches, limber up those thumbs and text away.
Gtg. Brb. Ttyl.
KANE ON TWITTER: @bradkane101


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HOOVER, Ala. - For a guy expected to present a rosy preseason picture, Ole Miss Coach Ed Orgeron was surprisingly candid or unduly pessimisstic, depending on one's love for the Rebels.
"Our quarterback position is going to be open," Orgeron said Friday at the SEC football media days. "We have had very inconsistent play at the quarterback position the last two years. We're looking for a consistent quarterback, a quarterback that can have a short, controlled passing game, that can make the right decisions along the line of scrimmage, that can be a leader in the huddle."
As if that laundry list of needs at the game's most critical position weren't daunting enough, Oregeron conceded the Rebels lack depth on the offensive and defensive lines.
Oh, and Ole Miss must replace its best player last year, linebacker and first round NFL draft pick Patrick Willis.
But it was his birthday and Orergon refused to be glum.
"I feel better than I ever felt," said the coach who was an assistant at Southern Cal when Pete Carroll started restoring the Trojans' luster.
"I really feel this: that I can see some things on our team that I've seen some things on our team that I've seen on the championship things that I've been a part of in the past," he said.
What might those be, exactly? Orgeron never specified.
"Now are we there? No," he said. "Do we have the type of players (those teams) had? No."


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How Buying American Helps
Buying America Back is about restoring our economy and American prosperity. It is founded on the principle that individual consumers banded together with a common cause can transform the U.S. economy, secure America's future, and create a better world as a result of our purchasing decisions.
There are two vital tools that will help us succeed. The first is a more detailed country of origin label on all consumer products, giving accurate, accessible information at the point of sale. The second is you.
Your buying decisions can change the course of our economy. Every dollar that you spend is that powerful.
Did you know?
- Just one manufacturing job supports five other U.S. jobs
- Shifting your spending by just $5 a day would return unemployment back to normal levels.
- $10 a day spent on U.S. made products would cause wages to rise.
- Any amount we spend on U.S. made goods, or made from countries with balanced trade, brings and holds money into the U.S. economy.
- Any amount we spend on U.S. made goods, or made from countries with balanced trade, makes the United States more politically, financially, and militarily secure.
You are the Movement.


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|Topic Review (Newest First)
|11th July 2012 10:48 AM
Easy conversions ???
I know many mainland european sailors tend to use m/s for windspeed
Noticed an easy conversion to knots .
Roughly double figure in m/s to get to knots.
7 m/s is about 14 knots (its 13.8)
Other way obviously half it..
30 knots is not far off 15 m/s..
Knots to mph is quite easy too
knots to mph, add a tenth eg 30 knots is 30 +3 roughly 33 mph (its a bit more in reality) but not a bad estimate
Mph to knots , knock off a tenth.. so 25 mph is 25 less 2.5 = 22.5 knots (roughly)
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With a 5-0 record an and sub 1.50 ERA in May, Rick Porcello is not just the early favorite for American League Rookie of the Year, but he's quickly becoming one of the elite young arms in all of baseball. But the Detroit Tigers must be careful to not overuse the 20-year-old writes Tracy Ringolsby of FoxSports.com.
May 31, FoxSports.com: One of only three 20-year-olds on a big-league roster -- and the only 20-year-old who came out of the draft -- Porcello has been stamped "Fragile, Handle with Care" by Tigers execs, who know that the history of baseball is littered with strong, young arms that were overworked at a young age and never reached hoped-for levels of excellence, including the likes of Dwight Gooden and Bret Saberhagen, both Cy Young award winners at the age of 21.
"Jim (Leyland, manager) understands that and we have a pitching coach (Rick Knapp) who was in playing development for 20 years," said general manager Dave Dombrowski. "We have people who are sensitive to the situation."
And the better Porcello pitches and the longer the Tigers are a factor in the pennant race the harder the temptation to overuse him will be to ignore. The Tigers know that. It's why making sure Porcello is brought along carefully has become an organizational project.


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The number of U.S. homeowners with negative equity -- commonly referred to being "underwater" -- now exceeds 28 percent, according to Bloomberg News, citing a report by Seattle-based Zillow Inc.
During the same three months last year, 22 percent of U.S. homeowners owed more than their properties were worth. It was 27 percent during the fourth quarter of 2010.
Home prices fell 3 percent in the first quarter and have plunged nearly 30 percent from their June 2006 peak, said Stan Humphries, Zillow's chief economist. The declines have wiped out more than $10 trillion in equity since the peak.
According to the most recent Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller report, home prices fell in 19 of the 20 cities listed in the index, including Portland. The metro area lost 1.8 percent in February, putting metro-area prices at levels not seen since fall 2004.
Zillow said Las Vegas has the most homes underwater, at 85 percent, followed by Reno, 73 percent; Phoenix, 68 percent; and Modesto, Calif., and Tampa Fla., both at 60 percent.
-- The Oregonian


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Individual and Family Counseling
Professional help is available for individuals, couples and families experiencing difficulties in areas such as depression and anxiety, marital problems, relationship concerns, parent/child conflicts, separation/divorce, difficulties in the workplace, and aging issues. Most insurances are accepted; sliding fee scale is available.
Substance Abuse Treatment
Services include initial evaluations, outpatient treatment, referrals to inpatient alcohol treatment facilities, codependency counseling and aftercare support. Services are available for persons who are required to complete Court-mandated DUI counseling and education.
Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
EAP Services include individual, marital, or family counseling to employees and/or their dependents, assessments and referrals to drug/alcohol treatment facilities, management training in early detection of problems, and short-term case management. Services are offered to employees as a benefit through contracts with businesses and organizations.
Second Time Around Parents (STAP)
STAP is a program for grandparents raising grandchildren due to parental substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, incarceration, homicide, HIV/AIDS, and, more recently, military deployment. Services include case management, counseling, and separate educational/support and therapy groups for grandparents and grandchildren (services are also provided to families headed by other non-grandparent relative caregivers).
Strengthening Families Program for Parents and Youth Ages 10-14
The Strengthening Families 10-14 Program (SFP 10-14) for Parents and Youth is provided to children, and their families, attending schools in the Upper Darby and William Penn school districts in Delaware County. SFP 10-14 is an evidence-based family intervention which enhances parents' general child management skills, parent-child affective relationships, and family communication. SFP 10-14 is based on a developmental model and starts with the assumption that increasing the family's protective processes while decreasing potential risk factors can have a positive impact on a child's future, with the result that problem behaviors are reduced or avoided. In addition, SFP 10-14 serves to delay the onset of adolescent alcohol and substance use by improving family communication and parenting practices.
Permanent Supportive Housing Program
FCS partners with the Delaware County Housing Authority (DCHA) and provides intensive case management services to single adults or families with children who have been homeless due to participants' mental health and/or substance abuse problems. DCHA awards selected participants with Housing Choice vouchers which provide an ongoing rental subsidy are used to obtain an apartment. Intensive case management services assist participants who are in recovery with budgeting, household management, attendance at appointments with treatment providers, and other individual goals.
HIV/AIDS Medical Case Management and Supportive Services
Medical case management, counseling, education, advocacy, and assistance with transportation, food and nutrition, and emergency needs are provided to persons living with HIV and AIDS, and their family members and loved ones.
HIV/AIDS Prevention Education Education Program
HIV/AIDS Prevention Education is provided to adolescents, adults and seniors who reside in Delaware County. Presentations are provided to students attending Delaware County schools and colleges, as well as to other groups and organizations including churches and senior centers. FCS offers an HIV prevention presentation specifically tailored to the concerns of senior adults entitled "Over Sixty, Sexy and Susceptible: HIV Information for You and Your Grandchildren." This workshop has been presented to participants at senior centers throughout the County, and is endorsed by the Delaware County Office of Services for the Aging (COSA).
"Wellness Works" (Comprehensive Risk Counseling Services) is an evidence-based approach to HIV prevention that provides individual counseling to persons living with HIV/AIDS. This service is proven to be effective in promoting the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle for participants, while serving to reduce the spread of the HIV virus in the larger community.
Ralph Moses House – HIV/AIDS Supportive, Transitional Housing
The Ralph Moses House, located in the City of Chester, provides supportive, transitional housing for homeless men living with HIV/AIDS. The program connects residents with ongoing medical care, life-sustaining medications, and supportive social services. Residents gain skills required to manage their health more effectively and live as independent and self-sufficient members of the community. Residents generally stay at the House for about six to nine months before moving on to permanent housing. Following housing placement, to support their successful transition to independence, the House's former residents then receive nine months of case management using the evidence-based Critical Time Intervention (CTI) approach. The project is named for Ralph Moses, a lifelong Chester resident, HIV/AIDS activist, and person living with AIDS. Ralph is a former long-time member of the Agency's Board of Directors.
Emergency Food Assistance
This program provides emergency food assistance to needy individuals and families through a network of twenty food centers located in churches, faith communities, and social service agencies. FCS provides support to the twelve member food centers of the Delco Interfaith Food Assistance Network (DIFAN), which is structured as an Advisory Committee to FCS's Board. Working together with FCS, the DIFAN food centers collectively provide food assistance to residents of all of Delaware County's communities.
The DIFAN member food centers are: Chester Eastside Ministries, New Jerusalem Church (Chester), St. Mary's Episcopal Church (Chester), Upper Darby Food Center, First United Methodist Church (Media), Church of the Nazarene (Collingdale), Mt. Zion CME Church (Sharon Hill), St. Mark's United Methodist Church (Broomall), Bernardine Center (Chester), True Vine Missionary Full Gospel Baptist Church (Chester), Christ Tabernacle Church (Morton), and Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry (Prospect Park).


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Selected reports from the Bainbridge Island Police Department blotter.
Saturday, Feb. 16
1:02 p.m. A resident on Shepard Way reported an unauthorized charge to her bank account. The charge for $240.15 went to DISCOUNTASP.NET. She cancelled her debit card.
4:40 p.m. The Rite Aid on High School Road called police after they apprehended a shoplifter. A man had taken headphones out of its packaging and stuffed them in his jacket. The man told police that he could pay for the headphones and that he couldn't explain why he attempted to steal them. The man paid for the headphones and was given a no-trespass notice from the drug store.
Sunday, Feb. 17
4:50 a.m. A woman living on Soundview Drive called police as her intoxicated boyfriend was pounding on her door and windows. The couple had an argument earlier that night, while drinking, about how the boyfriend wasn't doing anything with his life. Once she called police, the boyfriend left.
12:44 p.m. A driver in a pickup truck reported that he and a motorcyclist were engaged in a road-rage encounter on Highway 305. The incident began in Poulsbo when the truck passed the motorcycle. According to the biker, the truck cut him off abruptly. This "pissed him off" so he passed the truck and slowed down in front of it. The biker said as he passed the truck the driver shared an inappropriate hand gesture.
The truck driver said that after he passed the biker, he tailgated the truck. The biker then passed the truck and made "aggressive hand gestures" at the driver. The driver then returned the gesture. The truck driver alleged that the biker then punched his side mirror, cracking it. The biker then drove in front of the truck and slammed on his brakes almost coming to a stop, causing the truck to brake, almost hitting the biker. As the two traveled onto the island the truck driver called 911. Police inspected the mirror and saw a crack, but noted that it was old, with dirt and watermarks in it. The driver said that it wasn't that big before. The biker and driver agreed to go on their ways, safely, and boarded the ferry.
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"In response to carbon dioxide-induced warming, the global water cycle undergoes a gigantic competition for moisture resulting in a global pattern of increased heavy rain, decreased moderate rain, and prolonged droughts in certain regions," lead study author William Lau of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. said Friday.
The predictions are based on an analysis of 14 climate models, and the study has been accepted for publication in the American Geophysical Union journal Geophysical Research Letters. A montage showing the model simulations is available here along with more details on the study.
Areas expected to see the most increase in rainfall are already familiar with rain. They are tropical zones around the equator, particularly in the Pacific Ocean and Asian monsoon regions. Areas likely to see less rain include the deserts and dry regions of the southwest United States.
One of the study's more significant predictions is that moderate rainfall around the globe could decrease and be replaced by either more rain or more drought. "Large changes in moderate rainfall, as well as prolonged no-rain events, can have the most impact on society because they occur in regions where most people live," Lau said. "Ironically, the regions of heavier rainfall, except for the Asian monsoon, may have the smallest societal impact because they usually occur over the ocean."


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All Aboard America to look after adult disabled in Darrington
DARRINGTON An organization offering daytime care for disabled adults, All Aboard America hopes to bring its service to the Darrington area and will offer an informational meeting at the Mansford Grange at 1 p.m., Feb. 18
Chris Rehkopf, programs director for the All Aboard America branch thats looking to move into Darrington, was inspired to get involved with the program by her own experiences with raising a severely disabled foster child.
Rehkopfs autistic foster son had originally been scheduled as a two-week placement, but after she found out that she would be his 31st placement within the past seven years, she told her case manager that she wanted to keep him.
I didnt realize all the challenges that would come up, said Rehkopf, who described the predicament of finding a place for him after the age of 21, since he was no longer eligible to attend school and remained so disabled that even groups such as Big Brothers and Big Sisters werent equipped to accommodate him.
We tried sending him to a daycare program for the elderly, but their programs arent designed to deal with autistics, said Rehkopf, who didnt want her foster son to become a shut-in, but asserted that the degree of his disability makes him incapable of integrating into even the most remedial employment.
All Aboard America offer activities such as arts and crafts, music and even bowling to keep disabled adults entertained.
Rehkopf believes that the Mansford Grange in Darrington can serve as the site for a similar post-school coop, in which the primary caregivers for the disabled adults participate in the supervision at the daycare.
If theyre unable to do so, theyll have to pay a higher price, but were trying to make the prices for everyone low, so that they can afford it, Rehkopf said. Weve been talking to senior citizens about having them come in to read to the group, and to performing artists about entertaining them. One person even wants to put in a rabbit hutch, so theyll have that experience. Wed be offering lots of structured activity.
Rehkopf estimated that their daycare could take in as many as 30 disabled adults at once, but emphasized that the minimum age to be eligible would be 16. As for how much money might be needed to get the program up and running in Darrington, Rehkopf admitted that it would depend largely upon the number of adult disabled they began with.
To learn more attend the All Aboard America meeting at the Mansford Grange, Feb. 18 at 1 p.m., or you may contact Chris Rehkopf at 360-618-3861.
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To the Editor:
There seems to a commonly held conviction in some quarters that the United States is rolling down the road to ruin, relentlessly and inevitably. In a July 20 letter, " 'Lazy' U.S. needs to be Christian nation again," B. Hethcote expresses agreement with this scenario, blaming our perceived decline on the removal of prayer from our schools in 1962.
If you ignore history you might agree with the writer, but I could not disagree more. First, this nation is hardly in decline, and secondly, prayer has never been removed from schools.
Hethcote's misconception about school prayer is a common one. Students are allowed to pray at any appropriate time during the school day. What has been removed from public schools is not prayer, but the ability of the school, or the state, to coerce students to sit and listen to someone else's religion. Prayer, and the right of a student to pray in school, has never been an issue, before or after 1962.
The reports of America' s decline are greatly exaggerated as well. We have the most powerful military in the world. We have the world's largest economy. We have a standard of living undreamed of in 1962.
Will our $17 trillion of national debt sink us? I don't think so. Our gross domestic product is $15 trillion every year. This problem is fixable, and we'll fix it.
Seriously, when has the sun shone more brightly on the United States? The sky is not falling. We'll be fine.
Joe Mingin


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POTTSVILLE — On Jan. 14, West Perry dropped a 58-54 double-OT gut-puncher decision to Camp Hill in a Mid-Penn Capital game, and the Mustangs' record stood at 6-5.
West Perry's players weren't exactly doing cartwheels at practice the next day.
On Feb. 19, the Mustangs played in the District 3-AAA playoffs against Capital rival Middletown as the No. 10 seed in the bracket.
Hey, they were in, certainly with nothing to lose.
Seventeen wins in a row and a district championship later, the Mustangs were at Martz Hall on Saturday for a PIAA-AAA state quarterfinal game against District 2 No. 3 seed Holy Redeemer.
Back on Jan. 14, West Perry was hoping just to make the district playoffs.
On Feb. 19, the Mustangs were hoping just to win and advance and get to play another day.
Oh, they won and advanced, all right, and got to play many, many more days.
But West Perry's joyride — the 17 wins in a row, the program's first district title since 1995, two games in the Giant Center, the bus rides, the happy parents and the fun, green-clad student cheering section — came to an abrupt end Saturday, when the Mustangs fell to press-happy Holy Redeemer 53-41.
So that's the end of the gold-paved, long and winding road for West Perry, which did some magical things in the last two calendar months.
They went 2-0 playing in pressure-packed district playoff games in the Giant Center — not the easiest place in the world to play, by the way — knocking out 15-time district champ Lancaster Catholic and No. 1 seed Susquehannock to clinch the championship.
They also beat defending district champ Palmyra along the way. And District 6-AA runner-up and two-time reigning Tri-Valley League champ Juniata. Plus West Perry handed Middletown its lone Capital loss, while picking up more steam down the stretch heading into the postseason.
And there were two thrilling state-playoff wins: 69-26 over Freire Charter before an overflow crowd at Northern York, and 51-35 over Abington Heights in the Mustangs' first of two trips to Martz Hall in four days.
There was Caitlyn Lavenberg, always laughing and keeping everyone loose, yet always reduced to tears of joy doing postgame celebrations. Kid wears her heart on her sleeve, and she genuinely cares about her teammates and the program.
There was Megan Smith dropping 30 points on Lancaster Catholic in the district semifinals in the Giant Center, making the court her own personal playground with the lights shining brightest.
There was Madison Urich dribbling through traffic for 18 points and a pair of 3s in the win over Freire Charter, when seemingly the whole town of Elliottsburg was packed into Northern like a can of sardines that night.
There was freshman Gracie Stauffer dropping 10 points and grabbing six boards in the win over Abington Heights before a wide-eyed, raucous crowd at Martz Hall.
Saturday, there were tears and hugs, red eyes and blank stares.
And one last media session for coach Scott Moyer, who was asked many different ways to try and sum up the last two months for he and his Mustangs.
"There are a lot of tears," he said, trying not to get choked up himself. "It was a great run. I know I had some doubts about certain teams or games we've been in. Our kids, they never had any doubts. They'd look at a little film and swear that they could beat the next team."
For 17 unforgettable games — two months, a district title, two games in the Giant Center, two games at Martz Hall and a pair of PIAA wins — that's exactly what the Mustangs did.
And they provided their fans — and especially themselves — with a lifetime of memories.
West Perry senior Megan Smith on Mustangs' miscues — "At halftime (assistant coach Mike) Urich told us we had 14 turnovers, and we usually like to keep it under that for an entire game. That definitely hurt us in the first half. They pressured us, and we kept trying to throw the overhead pass, and it just wasn't working."
Smith on West Perry's unforgettable ride — "It's been so amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better senior season. And I couldn't be more proud of us for how far we were able to go. I don't think anyone would have guessed this, so it's really special."
West Perry coach Moyer on Redeemer's full-court press — "I was disappointed with how we were handling their pressure. I thought we tried to pass over the top of it too much. Not only were we turning the ball over, but also we were giving up quick points at the other end. That really killed us early on. And it's even more disappointing because we worked really hard in practice for their press. And to give up that many points to them off of their press, well, I thought that was a big key."
Moyer on West Perry's turnover woes — "First of all, we needed them to get off to a slow start, and they didn't come out and make a bunch of shots right away or anything. So for us to keep giving them the ball was disappointing. I thought they gave us a chance to stay in the game or even take a lead early. But you're not going to do that if you're throwing the ball away that many times. I guess we didn't handle the pressure very well."
Moyer on his favorite memories — "The district championship at the Giant Center. That was special. And our fans; they've been amazing. They have signs up around the community and the school has done so much for the kids. Just so much. I'll remember that. This was certainly a fun, fun group to be with."


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"It's all about sacrifice for me and that's what my coach always says. He's always like, Erin, if you want to be tops in anything you have to sacrifice."
And that is the secret to success for Newark Valley's Erin Cawley.
The senior is a four-time cross country section champ and a two-time state runner-up.
She's also in the national honor society, plays in two bands and is secretary of the student council.
Throw in hours of training and that's a pretty full schedule.
A schedule that leaves little time for other, more normal, teenage activities.
Erin says, "If that's hanging out with friends or going out on the weekends and stuff, I'll sacrifice that to be good in running."
Coach Brian Trippany says, "She likes ice cream and she likes, you know, like any kid would like but she won't eat those during the season."
Sacrifice and discipline are also key words for Erin in the classroom.
She's ranked sixth in her class of 109 with a 96 grade point average and has schools such as Columbia and Syracuse knocking on her door.
"I'm not going to lie, it's hard keeping your grades up when you have sports and I really love running, like that's my passion, and so I always want, if I had to choose between homework or run, it tears me, but I end up doing both."
Cawley's used to setting the standard in her races.
She just won the section meet by 90 seconds.
But more importantly, she sets the standard for the rest of her Cardinal teammates.
"They see Erin and it's sort of like, I want to be like Mike, well, they want to be like Erin so it's wonderful."
Other runners dream for just one day they could be that way, but there's only one Erin Cawley, this week's academic all star.
Justin Horowitz, Action Sports.
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Academic All star - Erin Cawley
"It's all about sacrifice for me and that's what my coach always says. He's always like, Erin, if you want to be tops in anything you have to sacrifice."
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The leaders of Onondaga County government have a longstanding tradition of taking care of their own. The Legislature creates jobs and the county executive appoints legislators (or former legislators) to fill them.
It's great for the politicians. The legislators slide into well-paying public sector jobs, without having to compete with other qualified candidates. They get a big pay raise and a nice bump in their government pensions, too. Meanwhile, the county executive has a couple more political plums to hand out, as she gets to appoint their successors in the Legislature.
It's the rest of us who lose. Taxpayers end up footing the bill for those salaries and pensions. Job-seekers who might have been interested in applying — but aren't politically connected — are frozen out.
The latest example of this patronage game played out last week. On Wednesday, the Legislature voted 14-0 to create two new positions in county government: deputy commissioner of community services in the Department of Social Services, paying $82,135 a year, and assistant director in the Veterans Service Agency, paying a minimum salary of $62,755.
Two legislators just happened to be the leading candidates for the jobs: Mark Stanczyk of Syracuse, the Democratic floor leader, and Republican William Meyer of Cicero. At least the two had the sense to leave the room while their legislative colleagues voted to create the jobs.
The ink was barely dry when, on Thursday, County Executive Joanie Mahoney appointed Stanczyk to the social services job and Meyer to the veterans job. In another staff shuffle, she also rehired her campaign manager, Ben Dublin, to be chief of staff and promoted Marty Skahen from communications director to deputy commissioner of parks and recreation.
Stanczyk and Meyer join a long list of legislators, from both political parties, who "landed on their feet" in county government. Recent beneficiaries include Bill Kinne, Robert DeMore and Sam Laguzza.
Mahoney has not been shy about using her patronage powers. Staff writer Michelle Breidenbach chronicled the county executive's "friends and family plan" in an August story. Among her hires: campaign footsoldiers, her cousin, her brother and the husband of her nanny.
"Just by virtue of knowing me, I would hope, shouldn't be a disqualifying event or something that should make you defensive," she said by way of explanation.
Or just politics, Onondaga County style.


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The Centre Management office is located on Level 1. Our office is open 9.00am - 5.00pm, Monday to Friday.
Wheel Chair access is via Chapel Street, Commercial Road and Cato Street entrances. Wheel Chair for hire free of charge (See Centre Management).
Metered parking is available in the Cato Street car park adjacent to Pran Central.
Level 1 access via lift if you have pram/pusher.
Free Wifi and charging stations for laptops, tablets and smartphones are available in the Dining Gallery.
ATMs from the major banks can be found near the food court and Commercial Road entrances.


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or send it to:
Just Ask, The Republican
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and we'll try to get you a response.
Question: Passing Treetop Park the other day in the East Forest Park section of Springfield, I noted that it was again closed with a sign saying it was due to field renovations.
That park was opened just three years ago after much delay.
What gives?
– Anonymous,
Answer: The park was given a new infusion of grass seed in the spring, so it will be ready for fall soccer season, said Patrick J. Sullivan, the city's director of parks, buildings and recreation management.
The park field was closed from active use to aid the grass and give the field a rest, Sullivan said. Neighbors, however, may continue to walk and enjoy, he said. It is scheduled to reopen for full use sometime in August.
As you point out, the 14-acre park on Corcoran Boulevard, off Allen Street, formally opened three years ago in July of 2009. The opening followed years of planning and $714,000 in renovations and improvements – consisting of a $500,000 state Urban Self-Help grant and $214,285 in city funding.


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Savannah Waters walked to the plate for her fifth and final at-bat Monday unaware that she was sitting on 99 career hits.
The Hampshire Regional junior shortstop figured it out quickly, however, when she overheard coach Brian McGan ask an assistant how many hits she had so far during Monday's 11-0 victory at East Longmeadow.
The answer was one and now she needed a second.
Waters smacked a comebacker to the circle, which hit pitcher Ali Avdoulas on the foot, and she reached first.
"I actually thought I needed a couple more," said Waters, who was awarded the game ball. "It feels good to have it out of the way more than anything. It was kind of on my mind. Now that it is out of the way, I can focus on what is the most important thing, helping our team be where it wants to be this season."
Waters, who is in her fifth varsity season, hit leadoff in the team's season-opener, which also served as the Raiders' first time outside.
She walked in each of her first two at-bats and then lined out to second on her third at-bat.
"I just wanted to get my first hit of the season out of the way because I was all nerved up," she said.
Waters' 99th hit came on a double to left field, which cleared the bases.
Anna Dziok added a home run over the center field fence and drove in three, while Alexis Ferris earned the win in the circle with seven scoreless innings. She allowed six hits and struck out 11.
Danielle White and Alyssa Pioggia had two hits each for East Longmeadow in the loss.


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The man who led police to the subject of an all-out manhunt after discovering the fugitive's hideout spoke out about the startling discovery Friday.
As soon as Clifford Brown, an archer, walked into Chestnut Hill Archery Club on Quarry Road in New Morgan, Berks Co., around 7 a.m. Friday, he knew something was off.
"It was out of place," Brown said. "I knew he was here. I knew it."
And Brown was right. Harold Davis Jr., the fugitive leading police on a massive manhunt, had been there, hiding in the archery club after he kicked in a window, and from there, he made himself at home, police said.
"He made tea or something. That's never left out," Brown said. "Then I looked in the refrigerator. A couple of sodas were gone."
Brown's first clue, however, was the couch, which appeared disorganized and was missing a pillow. He then looked in the ladies' restroom and found that missing pillow on the floor.
"So I knew he slept in the bathroom," Brown said. "And that's when I got out. I decided I better move."
Brown walked back outside to his truck and called 911. When police from Caernarvon Township arrived, he said they went back inside.
Brown said he noticed a light was on that hadn't been earlier, although the club was empty, prompting the police sweep that finally caught the suspect.
"I'm just glad he got him," Brown said.
And Brown is glad he could be of help, though he said he doesn't feel like much of a hero, but rather just the archer from East Earl Twp., Lancaster Co., who he's always been.
"I don't feel any different. Not yet. I called my buddy. He said, 'Boy, you're a celebrity!' I said, 'No I'm not. I'm just thankful I was at the right place at the right time and nobody got hurt. That's the most important thing."


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Westborough, MA, January 28, 2013
January is National Birth Defects Prevention Month and the March of Dimes is raising awareness among healthcare professionals and the general public about birth defects and the steps that can be taken to prevent them.
Taking a daily multivitamin containing the B vitamin folic acid is one of the best ways to prevent birth defects and an important step toward having a healthy baby, yet only about one-third of women know about it.
The March of Dimes reminds all women of child-bearing age of the important role folic acid plays in preventing serious birth defects of the brain and spine known as neural tube defects which include spina bifida and anencephaly. Women of child-bearing age should take 400 micrograms of folic acid every day before and during early pregnancy, as it may help reduce their baby's risk for birth defects.
As part of the local awareness effort, the March of Dimes Massachusetts Chapter has advocated for the filing of a folic acid bill (docket # HD 2550) sponsored by State Representative Aaron Vega (D-Holyoke) of the 5th Hampden District. The bill, An Act Relative to Folic Acid Awareness and Birth Defects Prevention, aims to increase public awareness of and education on the importance of folic acid to patients, families and health care providers. The bill ensures that current efforts underway at the Department of Public Health (DPH) to administer folic acid awareness initiatives are continued.
The proposed bill ensures that DPH considers efforts to promote that women receive the following daily recommended dosage levels of folic acid to prevent neural tube defects: 400 micrograms (mcg) for women of child-bearing age and 600 mcg for women during pregnancy. DPH would also continue consulting with statewide maternal and child health organizations and various state programs, including MassHealth, to promote folic acid awareness.
The March of Dimes found that while public awareness is improving, most women of child-bearing age do not know about the benefits of folic acid. Although 84 percent have heard of folic acid, only 39 percent take a daily vitamin containing it. Only 20 percent know that folic acid prevents birth defects, and only 11 percent know it should be taken before pregnancy.
The Massachusetts Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System, a collaborative project between DPH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reported in 2012 that only 38 percent of mothers reported taking multivitamins every day of the week in the month before becoming pregnant and 48 percent reported never taking them during that time. In addition, the report found that Black non-Hispanics, those with less than a high school education, Hispanics, those living at or below 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Line, or those under age 20, were the least likely to take multivitamins every day.
"I'm glad to file this important piece of legislation that could help prevent pregnancies from being affected by birth defects. This is especially true for Latinas, who are 20 percent more likely to have children that develop birth defects related to low folic acid intake," said Representative Vega. "I hope this bill will help state agencies like DPH and organizations like the March of Dimes raise awareness around the importance of consuming folic acid each day."
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It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. Never was this truth more plain than during the recent attacks at Netherfield Park, in which a household of eighteen was slaughtered and consumed by a horde of the living dead.
Although there have been many adaptations and reinterpretations of Pride and Prejudice, it wasn't until Seth Grahame-Smith came along that anyone considered the possibility that Austen's most-loved novel might be improved by the addition of roving gangs of flesh-eating zombies.
Amazingly, he was right. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies not only is by far the most successful of the recent crop of literary mash-ups, but has been welcomed even by diehard Austen fans. The novel – in which the Bennet girls are re-imagined as England's foremost zombie hunters after a mysterious plague unleashes the undead from their tombs – has sold more than a million copies.
The beauty of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is that Grahame-Smith manages to weave in a subplot of swordfights and cannibalism while remaining remarkably faithful to the spirit of the original. It is both a satisfying romance and an outstandingly gory splatterfest.
Some characters who are perhaps less than satisfactory to the modern reader also receive a gratifying comeuppance. It is hard not to cheer when Elizabeth daydreams about how best to deal with the tiresome Lydia ("Elizabeth presently drew her Katana and cut off Lydia's head, which fell into the open hatbox … Elizabeth sheathed her blade, and in a most delicate tone, said 'I beg you all forgive me, but I could stand her prattling no longer'").
Los Angeles-based Grahame-Smith, 34, is the son of a bookshop owner and a publishing house editor, and grew up reading sci-fi and horror. It's no great surprise that he became a writer, but there were many years of unpublished novels, screenplays and short stories before he saw any success.
His first work, The Big Book of Porn: A Penetrating Look at the World of Dirty Movies (2005), was a commission. "I had six months' total immersion in all things pornographic. It was rather depressing, and ruined porn for me." Next was The Spider-Man Handbook: The Ultimate Training Manual (2006) – another commission – followed by two of his own projects: How to Survive a Horror Movie: All the Skills to Dodge the Kills (2007) and Pardon My President: Fold-and-Mail Apologies for 8 Years (2008). Born from Grahame-Smith's political blogging, Pardon My President consisted of dozens of cut-out-and-send letters of apology to those whom George W Bush had offended – New Orleans, gay Republicans, Iraq, the people of France, etc.
Last year, Grahame-Smith's fortunes changed overnight. The publisher of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies hoped the novel would break even: instead, when it was published on April 1, it immediately went to number three on the New York Times bestseller list. Just a few weeks later, a television series Grahame-Smith had spent a year trying to get off the ground was picked up by a network. "I had been struggling along in books and struggling along in TV, and suddenly all this happened at once," he says.
More befanged Austen mash-ups would have been the obvious next step, but Grahame-Smith decided to leave sequels to other writers (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith was released in New Zealand last month) and let loose his own offspring of an even more unholy pairing: vampires and Abraham Lincoln. His new novel, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, is based on the premise that the Great Emancipator's war on slavery was covertly inspired by his lifelong battle against vampires plotting to enslave mankind.
Offending Austen fans was one thing; offending keepers of the Lincoln flame was quite another. Grahame-Smith spent two months researching Lincoln's life – not long, it would seem, but apparently long enough for him to be "bitten by the Lincoln bug".
"I realised how tragic Lincoln's life had been. I didn't want to undermine any of the real emotion of the tragedies, or to cheapen someone's death. I wanted the book to be emotional and respectful."
Almost everyone Lincoln loved died young, and Grahame-Smith takes the considerable liberty of attributing some of these deaths to poisoning by vampire. Would Lincoln scholars take offence? Almost certainly, one would have thought, but when Grahame-Smith opened his US book tour with a reading at the Lincoln Presidential Museum in Illinois – "the centre of the Lincoln universe" – he was relieved to see a sizeable proportion of the 500-strong audience had come dressed as either Lincoln or vampires.
In keeping with the times, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is an elaborate conspiracy theory drama centring on an administration that keeps secrets from its citizens. The novel's opening chapter is set during the 2008 presidential campaign, and the book ends with assorted vampires watching from the Lincoln Memorial as Martin Luther King delivers his "I have a dream" speech in 1963. Grahame-Smith's political leanings are well-known, but he denies suggestions by many commentators that the vampires in his book represent Republicans.
"I opened with Obama and closed with Martin Luther King to show that there has been progress but there are still fights to be fought," he says. "The wounds of the Civil War are not healed yet, especially in terms of race – the 'us versus them' spirit is still alive."
It's this polarisation of political thought that Grahame-Smith finds dispiriting about contemporary America. He grew up in Connecticut, and recalls people being passionate about their beliefs but respecting opposing views. Now, he says, everyone is required to pick a side. "The middle ground has shrunk in this country. What's missing is civility."
Many of the skilfully interwoven historical facts in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter will be lost on New Zealand readers – for example, few of us will have even heard of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, let alone feel any sort of frisson at the discovery he was in league with a particularly vicious mob of Southern vampires – yet the story works brilliantly as a bloodsucker-themed thriller.
Literary mash-ups have been good to Grahame-Smith, but he thinks the genre has nearly had its day. It's a fair comment, given that latest efforts – which include Android Karenina and Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter – seem to be pushing the envelope well beyond its natural boundaries.
"I don't see the mash-up genre being as popular forever as it is now. I was lucky enough to be one of the first guys in the door, and I don't want to be one of the last guys out," he says. (Grahame-Smith may be done with literary mash-ups, but perhaps his success will encourage New Zealand writers to experiment with the form. Once Were Werewolves, anyone? A Troll in My Father's Den?)
In addition to working on a screenplay of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Grahame-Smith is planning a non-mash-up novel, preparing for the premiere of his TV show and waiting for the film version of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which stars Natalie Portman as Elizabeth. Oh, and he has a 17-month-old baby, too. Far from returning to normal, says Grahame-Smith, life is getting even crazier. "I feel like I'm standing on top of a snowball. It's rolling down the mountain and I'm just trying to keep my balance."