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I used stew meat instead of chuck roast. The stew meat worked fine.
This makes 6 generous servings.
Malaysian Beef Curry
from Bon Appetit
Spice Paste
4 - 8 large dried New Mexico chiles
2 - 4 lemongrass talks
1/2 c onions, chopped
6 cloves garlic, peeled
2 t coriander
1 1 /2 t cumin
1/2 t ginger
3 T fish sauce
1 T brown sugar
3 lb boneless chuck roast or stew meat, trimmed, and cut into 1 1/2" cubes
1 (13.5-oz) can unsweetened coconut milk
zest from 1 lime
2 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1 T tamarind paste
chopped fresh cilantro
cooked rice
To make the spice paste: Cover the chiles with very hot water and soak until soft, about 45 minutes. Drain, stem, seed, and chop chiles. Cut off the bottom 4" from the lemongrass stalks. Chop and transfer to food processor (reserve tops of stalks for the stew). Add onions, garlic, coriander, cumin, ginger, 1 t black pepper and process until finely ground. Add 1/2 c water, chiles, fish sauce, and sugar. Process to paste.
To make the stew: Smash reserved lemongrass stalks with a rolling pan (fun job!). Bend in half and bundle with kitchen twine. Mix beef and spice paste in slow cooker. Stir in lemongrass bundles, coconut milk, lime zest, star anise, cinnamon, and tamarind. Press meat down completely to submerge. Cook stew on low heat until meat is very tender, 4 1/2 - 5 hours. Spoon excess far from surface of stew before serving. Remove lemongrass bundles, stir anise, and cinnamon stick.
Transfer to stew to bowl. Serve over top steamed rice and sprinkled with cilantro.


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(Props: 'The Ultimate Fighter' on YouTube)
The Vik Grujic vs. Luke Harris quarterfinal fight from Wednesday's episode of TUF Nations: Canada vs. Australia is notable for a few reasons. For one thing, it's the only knockout that has taken place in the first eight episodes of the season. (See? Aren't you glad you're not watching?) Second, it ends with a storm of elbows from the top, which we always appreciate. And third, it features Harris doing the most dead-on Koji Oishi impression we've ever seen, before he inevitably gets his ass kicked.
By the way, Luke Harris isn't some random palooka they found in a yoga studio. Every single victory in the Canadian's 10-2 pro record has come by first-round submission, including a guillotine choke win over Edwin Dewees in 2012, if that means anything. [Ed. note: It doesn't.] But clearly, he's still figuring out the striking part of the equation. Watch as Harris stands in front of Grujic totally flat-footed and with his hands dropping to his waist, just waiting to get blasted in the chin. After a clash of strikes, Grujic slams Harris on the side of his head with minimal effort, then splits Harris's dome open like a coconut with short elbows. The whole thing takes about 50 seconds.
But hey, that's what this reality-show tournament is about, right? Filtering out the guys who aren't real [expletive] fighters? And discovering the next generation of indistinguishable Fight Pass talent? The Grujic Era is coming, folks. Be ready.

subset: commoncrawl


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Mar 08, 2013
King Univ. softball sweeps North Greenville in its opening Conference Carolinas doubleheader by the scores of 5-3 and 4-1.
Hannah Light strikes out 7 N. Greenville batters in game 1 as she picks up her 4th win of the season. Christina Melcher and Cassie Ringstaff each collect two hits apiece in game #1 while Hannah Smith had 2 RBI.
Morgan White strikes out 6 in game #2 as she picks up her 2nd win of the season. Seven Tornado batters each had at least 1 hit, led by Octavia Lewis-Rand's 2 hits in the game. Christina Melcher had the only extra base hit on the day for King with a double.
King is now 6-13 overall and 2-0 in Conf. Carolinas action and will host Newberry tomorrow at 2 pm


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Connor's Groove: an uplifting but funky and modern groove woven together with some break style drums, acoustic bass, organ, and acoustic guitar. Reminiscent of 90's era acid jazz with a touch of modern hipster and a pinch of hiphop.
Both a loop and non-loop version are included with this purchase.
Full Track: 4:18
Loop version: 4:15


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RetireNetCare.com featuring retirement communities and retirement homes in planned active developments. Worldwide resource for active retirement senior communities, and assisted living facilities. RetireNetCare.com is the most comprehensive resource of retirement communities throughout the world featuring assisted living facilities, planned retirement communities and various retirement properties worldwide. See also: senior housing, retirement communities, retirement living, elder care network.
Much like other roadless or remote parts of Australia and Africa, the state of Alaska in the United States has area commonly referred to as "the Bush". This term is used in Alaska to refer to the portion of the state that is not connected by North America's interconnected system of roadways.
The vast majority of Alaska's geography is located in the Bush, but the majority of the population lives in or near the two main urban areas of Anchorage and Fairbanks.
Most Alaskans refer to any place besides Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, and the towns of the Kenai Peninsula and Mat-Su boroughs as falling within the Bush.
Although the Bush in Alaska is generally described as any community not "on the road system," there are distinctions within how different parts of the state define this term. Residents of remote Eskimo villages, for instance, do not consider communities connected by the Alaska State Marine Highway ferries as properly part of the Bush.
Most parts of Alaska that are off the road system can only be reached by small airplane, and travel from place to place is typically accomplished through alternative means of transportation such as snowmobile or snowmachine, boat, or dog sled.
In addition, Alaska has a further distinction that divides Bush communities into two further subcategories of "hub communities", and "villages".
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Jack Bruce is the King of Thump.
When he arrived on the London music scene in 1962 as a member of Alexis Corner's pioneering Blues Incorporated, he was playing upright bass and mixing the tang of jazz into his driving lines. A year later, Bruce was in a new, higher profile group, the Graham Bond Quartet, which featured guitarist John McLaughlin and drummer Ginger Baker. He'd also found a new instrument for the band's aggressive electric sound – the Gibson EB-3 bass, which was first produced in 1961.
With the EB-3 in his hands, Bruce went on to make history (following brief stays in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Manfred Mann's band) with the inception of Cream.
Want to dial up Bruce's magical Cream-era sound? Well, he created it with his short scale EB-3 pumped through a 100-watt Marshall amp turned up to almost maximum volume. That's a tad impractical for today's club stages or the practice space, but a well-structured, contemporary tube amp of half that wattage should get you in the zone. The secret to accessing Bruce's Cream sound is really driving the mids, rolling back the highs and lows, and leaning hard on the bridge pickup. Overdrive or distortion was not as important a factor to Bruce as sheer volume, which provided natural speaker distortion. But a warm, well-rounded overdrive pedal, without treble-boost or grainy textures, should help get a working player with a more reasonable sized rig in the zone.
Bruce's approach to bass is similar to that of Motown session man James Jamerson, with an almost claw-like picking approach, but with a fiery left hand technique developed through playing jazz and upright as well as studying the veena, an Indian fretted instrument.
The main problem with copping Bruce's sound is that so much of it is in his hands and head. That's proven by his sonic consistency even as he's moved through a series of instruments and amplifiers in the ensuing decades. And that sound, as well as other aspects of Bruce's mastery, are eminently digestible in these 10 great recordings that cover the scope of his music:
• "I Feel Free" (1966): A youthful Bruce singing at his sweetest kick starts this gem, and his bass line bumps the song along magnificently. Although the structure is fairly static, listen to how Bruce climbs up the neck of his bass by the first chorus, creating a counter melody even as he drives the bottom.
• "Spoonful" (1966): Bruce's bass rumbles this one open and pushes it hard all the way through. It's a perfect essay in how to build a blues arrangement from the dirty ground up.
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• "Tales of Brave Ulysses" (1967): Eric Clapton's first recorded wah-wah performance helped make this envelope-pushing D-minor blues a sensation, but Bruce's bass holds the tune's disparate guitar parts together. Listen to Bruce's intro and the descending bass line that's the song's backbone, laying a dark and stormy undercurrent for E.C.
• "Sunshine of Your Love" (1967): Perhaps the definitive Bruce composition, "Sunshine" thrives on his bass line, which pushes at the front of the groove. Bruce has cut this tune at least four more times over the years, but Cream's version carved its way into rock history.
• "Born Under a Bad Sign" (1968): Cream drew on the catalog of Gibson Flying V legend Albert King for this selection from Wheels of Fire. Bruce, Clapton and Baker's power trio arrangement splits King's performance – he created both the lead and bass lines on his guitar – between Bruce and Clapton, and, like "Spoonful," the results captured the band at its heaviest.
• "Badge" (1969): Just listen to Bruce's beautifully rumbling bass intro on this track from Goodbye Cream. The perfection of tone, the melodic hook and his shift into the song's structure are a perfect example of his ability to lure the listener's ear.
• "Theme for an Imaginary Western" (1969): After leaving Cream, Bruce continued to work with their frequent lyricist Pete Brown. Together they composed this number, which has become a staple of Bruce's repertoire. The original version from his debut solo album takes him out of bass mode into singer-songwriter turf, since he plays the tune's dominant instrument – piano. For a rockier version, check Mountain's rendition on 1970's Climbing!, which is closer to how Cream might have played it.
• "HCKHH Blues" (1971): Bruce's second solo album Things We Like was part of the ignition of the fusion movement, and "Ho Ho Country Kickin' Blues" is nine minutes of full-performance rip featuring Bruce and his former Bond bandmate McLaughlin in primal roar.
• "Out in the Fields" (1972): This cut from Why Dontcha, the first album by West, Bruce and Laing, Bruce's most notable post-Cream power trio, displays his strength as an arranger and vocalist more than his bass chops. It's both a reflection of the orchestral approach he initially exposed on 1969's Songs for a Tailor as well as new directions he'd continue to explore, like his collaborations with the pan-ethnic composer Kip Hanrahan.
• "Child Song" (1983): This cut from composer Hanrahan's Desire Develops an Edge displays Bruce purposely working out of character. His bass is tweaked bright to mesh with the tune's Afro-Cuban arrangement, cutting through the low-volume large ensemble, and Bruce's vocal arcs along with Hanrahan's expressive melody line, showcasing his virtuosic flexibility.


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Quick Facts:
- Type: Reptile
- Diet: Carnivore
- Average life span in the wild: 30 years
- Size: up to 10 ft (3 m)
- Weight: up to 330 lbs (150 kg)
- Protection Status: Endangered
- Movement: Can run up to 11 mph (18 kph) in short bursts.
Komodo dragons have thrived in the harsh climate of Indonesia's Lesser Sunda Islands for millions of years, although amazingly, their existence was unknown to humans until about 100 years ago.
Reaching 10 feet (3 meters) in length and more than 300 pounds (136 kilograms), Komodo dragons are the heaviest lizards on Earth. They have long, flat heads with rounded snouts, scaly skin, bowed legs, and huge, muscular tails.
As the dominant predators on the handful of islands they inhabit, they will eat almost anything, including carrion, deer, pigs, smaller dragons, and even large water buffalo and humans. When hunting, Komodo dragons rely on camouflage and patience, lying in wait for passing prey. When a victim ambles by, the dragon springs, using its powerful legs, sharp claws and serrated, shark-like teeth to eviscerate its prey.
Animals that escape the jaws of a Komodo will only feel lucky briefly. Dragon saliva teems with over 50 strains of bacteria, and within 24 hours, the stricken creature usually dies of blood poisoning. Dragons calmly follow an escapee for miles as the bacteria takes effect, using their keen sense of smell to hone in on the corpse. A dragon can eat a whopping 80 percent of its body weight in a single feeding.
There is a stable population of about 3,000 to 5,000 Komodo dragons on the islands of Komodo, Gila Motang, Rinca, and Flores. However, a dearth of egg-laying females, poaching, human encroachment, and natural disasters has driven the species to endangered status.
source: nationalgeographic.com


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Raequan wrote:I was surfing Brickshelf and found her "death" from Operation: Knightfall.
Good, Anakin apparently hates her enough to turn her into a bloody, smiling mess.
~Sam (Teekay)
Raequan wrote:I was surfing Brickshelf and found her "death" from Operation: Knightfall.
Chosen One wrote:Ahsoka's young age is a marketing potential to link the prequels to any further projects.
She will probably be given the Jedi Master rank, and will part from Anakin, go to some distant planet which will allow her to survive order 66. Then the next released console game will introduce her in all her adult wisdom... probably after Vader's defeat during Luke's resurrection of the new Jedi order. It's a great way to allow Luke to learn more about his father.
And knowing GL, I doubt it he will follow the continuation of the books, and will use the excuse of updating the timeline.
I kinda like the idea that she gets pregnant and joins the dark side, because it has better health benefits. A single mother's going to need all the help she can get. And the best part is, at the end of the episode Yoda will walk on a stage and teach the kids about "safety" and how your light saber should always be protected in a holsterto prevent accidental ignition.
Teekay wrote:But doesn't in the original SW encyclopaedia or books state that only Jedi Masters can train Padawans and not Knights?
No, actually a Knight must train a Padawan in order to become a master.
On the topic of Ahsoka, I like this idea, supplied by dWhisper:dWhisper, on the old forums wrote:She's going to be cut in half, killed, and the both halves are going to be cloned into Ahsokaa and Annsoka, so George can continnue to bend the franchise of the pinball machine and have his way with it in front of all the horrified fans.
Two figures sell better than one.
Here is how she will die-
Anakin will get mad at her while they are on a mission and then he stabs her with his lightsaber.
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Erie County comptroller, administration battle over records disposal
Erie County Comptroller Stefan I. Mychajliw and the administration of County Executive Mark C. Poloncarz sparred Tuesday over exactly when the administration was first made aware of the mishandling of copies of sensitive documents obtained from county residents applying for social services benefits.
The administration insists it was first alerted April 1 by a Department of Social Services employee, while the comptroller is adamant that the problem was known by the administration at least as far back as October.
The timeline of discovery is vital, Deputy County Executive Richard M. Tobe told lawmakers during a hearing on the issue Tuesday, because the county was required by law to notify the federal government within 60 days of discovering the breach.
"This is an important fact, because we are required by federal law to give notice within 60 days of our knowledge of a problem with the records. And if these notices occurred in the fall, then we missed it and we're late, and the county is subject to millions of dollars in fines. The potential fines are very large," Tobe said.
Social Services Commissioner Carol Dankert-Maurer and other administration officials accompanied Tobe to Tuesday's hearing of the Legislature's Government Affairs Committee.
The hearing was requested by the minority members of the Legislature after Mychajliw went public about his department's investigation into the improper handling of confidential records by social services workers.
Neither side denies that social services workers improperly disposed of confidential documents, including copies of birth certificates, personal medical records, Social Security numbers, bank accounts, tax returns, inmate records, payroll information, court records and passports.
Mychajliw revealed last month that auditors from his department made the discovery in March while in the midsts of an audit. A week after first going public, Mychajliw revealed that on March 15, social services workers showed county auditors how sensitive documents were being stored in an unsecured area of the Rath County Office Building basement.
Mychajliw also charged that a county worker had come forward to say that she and other workers in the department had warned of the potential for lax record-keeping when their unit was dismantled in a budget-cutting maneuver.
The worker, Annette Cole, said the employees brought their concerns to the administration's attention in October and in December during budget hearings before the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee.
"Yes, the administration was aware of the program support unit, and this Legislature was made aware of the deep cuts to the program support unit," Mychajliw told lawmakers Tuesday.
In a recent phone interview with The Buffalo News, Cole said that one of the duties that the members of her unit were tasked with was "handling of documents and their disposal." However, Dankert-Maurer contradicted that claim at Tuesday's hearing.
"They were providing a support function to the administration of the department. We made the difficult decision to eliminate those positions. Those individuals were able to (go) back to previously held, permanent positions," Dankert-Maurer said.
Mychajliw said transcripts of the testimony provided by Cole and other workers from the dismantled unit reveal the consequences of eliminating the unit, even though copies of the transcripts provided to The News from the two hearings at which they testified on Oct. 30 and Dec. 13 do not reveal any specific discussion of record-keeping.
email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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NASCAR has indefinitely banned Kelly Heaphy, the woman who slapped Max Papis following the NASCAR Truck Series race Sunday at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, from attending races.
Heaphy, who was also fined $2,500, is the girlfriend of Mike Skeen, who was competing in his first race for Eddie Sharp Racing. Heaphy was there on a single-race credential, so NASCAR could not suspend her in the way that it normally suspends team members.
Instead, NASCAR announced that Heaphy will be "denied access to all NASCAR events indefinitely."
MORE: Pockrass: Heaphy should be penalized | Burton released | Earnhardt sponsor
Papis, who had tangled with Skeen on the final lap and then on the cool-down laps, was not penalized.
Papis has tweeted that he suffered a dislocated jaw from the slap, which occurred in the garage after the drivers had argued on pit road and Papis had done a television interview. Papis told ESPN.com he later went back to Skeen's hauler, where he pushed Heaphy aside to talk to Skeen.
"The last-turn incident can be interpreted different ways as most altercations in racing can," Skeen said in a statement Monday. "Max escalated the situation beginning on the cool-down lap and as soon as we got behind the wall. We spoke face to face and then I left to return to the garage.
"I was unaware of the incident with Kelly until later. Max further escalated the situation (after the slap) by coming in our trailer and grabbing Kelly aggressively."
Heaphy was fined $2,500, as was crew chief Bryan Berry because a crew chief assumes responsibility for the actions of team members, according to a NASCAR release.
Sharp-Gallaher co-owner Eddie Sharp said in a statement that the team will not appeal Berry's fine.
"I'd like to apologize to our sponsors, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and especially the fans on behalf of everyone at Sharp-Gallaher Racing for the incident that occurred following Sunday's race," Sharp said. "Although Kelly Heaphy is not an employee of SGR, we absolutely do not condone actions such as these from anyone associated with our organization. It is a shame that this overshadowed the first-class event that NASCAR delivered in Canada."


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To borrow a line from the late Johnny Paycheck's working man's anthem, "Take the WTO and shove it."
That sums up the American cotton industry's reaction to reports that the U.S. has lost to Brazil in a World Trade Organization dispute over American farm policy.
You can add the University of California and its infamous economist Dan Sumner to "WTO" as far as California Cotton Ginners and Growers Associations president Earl Williams is concerned. Sumner hired on as a Brazilian hired gun in the dispute against his own country. So far the UC has chosen to ignore the concerns expressed by several segments of California agriculture about what Sumner did, classifying it as academic freedom on Sumner's own time. Some have called Sumner's action as "economic treason."
It may not very diplomatic to talk like that about a college professor, a prestigious university and the WTO. However, American agriculture has had its fill of WTO and those who support it.
It is an organization chartered to create a level playing field for world trade. It has not accomplished that for American agriculture and frustration with that failure boiled over with the cotton ruling favoring Brazil.
There is nothing level about worldwide tariffs averaging 26 percent for U.S. ag products while it is only 12 percent for ag products imported into the U.S. It is even more ludicrous to watch Brazil continue to expand cotton production while complaining American farm policy reduces world cotton prices.
No one was really surprised that a three-member panel made up of an Australian, Pole and Chilean ruled against the U.S. What is surprising is the disdain for the WTO process. Congressional leaders have made it very clear that a three-judge panel from an organization with about as much bite as a toothless Chihuahua is not going to dictate U.S. farm policy. There were a lot of gyrations at the federal level to make the last farm bill WTO friendly. Now three people from countries which have openly expressed their dislike for American farm policy say it is not. What is the point of playing the WTO game when the rules are ever changing?
World trade has never been more vital to not only the U.S. cotton industry but to virtually every segment of American agriculture. The anti-WTO sentiments boiling over are not isolationism or protectionism. It is frustration clearly explained in Southwest Farm Press by Steve Verett, executive director of Plains Cotton Growers in Lubbock, Texas and a Texas High Plains cotton farmer:
"We've been working with the WTO for 10 or 15 years now, and it's a pipe dream to believe that countries can come together in one big world court, hold hands and sing Cum Ba Yah.
"Reality indicates that WTO has not been successful. We have not been able to negotiate a deal through the organization."
The U.S. would be better off cutting deals through bilateral or regional trade agreements.
The truth is developing nations want U.S. agriculture to disappear from world trade, and they are using the WTO to try and accomplish that.
American farmers and ranchers are the most efficient and reliable suppliers of food and fiber in the world. The world needs American agriculture more than most of the world and certainly WTO realizes.


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Jessica Kohl is an Internet Marketing Professional with background Rhetorical studies. She's been behind the social media campaigns for 10 different companies and provides perspective from both sides of the coin. Currently The social media manager for ON.com and co-creator of the Belfie Stick.
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text: ShyBaldBuddhist Posted February 21, 2012 Big Fish in a Small Pond Okay this is it. Twenty two of the worlds most promising stars have joined Norweigan 3rd tier clubs. Every one have been tied down on 20 year deals and declared to see out their contracts. The aim is simple. Take a small unknown Norwegian team as far as possible. Although they play in a variety of poistions, all players have been set the same PA and CA. Injury proneness has been set at 1 to make sure they get as much playing time as possible. I have also set all clubs that the youngsters have joined as professional. I hope this helps them to train the players on to reach their potential. The runners and riders are as folllows: Group One Mike Nevo will be turning out for KFUM Oslo. Fans will be hoping he can fire them to the 2nd place they have been tipped for. Arawn Moridin will look to anchor the midfield at Lorenskog. It's been suggested they could finish as high as 3rd place this year. Dench Frompong is looking to make his mark at Moss. They are the bookies favourites to lift the title this season. Severus Moody will lead the line at Steinkjer. Will have some ground to make up though as they are only tipped for 9th spot. Omar Brown hopes to make an impression at Strindheim. The bookies are suggesting a 5th place. Group Two Jaime Bowmimo has joined Baerum. Only tipped for 6th place this coming season. Jake Stothard will play for title favourites Follo FK. Demba Hynd will hope he can make the difference for Kristiansund BK. Can they surpass the 3rd place that has been predicted? Wolodymyr Zelenko is at Lillehammer. Media say 5th spot for LFK. Santi Ganso will be aiming to take Raufoss to the top. 2nd is the suggested finish this year. John Crane will turn out for Valdres. Can his goals improve on the 4th place finish they are tipped for? Group Three Lewis Leddy is at Algard. Looks to have the talent to to take the club higher than the 4th the media are predicting. Luke Corcoran hopes to be a rock at the back for Floy. Bookies say 2nd place for Floy. Jesus Christ will between the sticks for Nest-Sotra. Only tipped for 5th so JC is hoping he can keep the clean sheets to improve on that. Geraint Alacarde will be bossing the midfield for title favourites Notodden. Steve Duffy leads the line for Pors Grenland. Tipped for 3rd spot. Tiko Brohan the tiny winger starts with Vindbjart. Will need to do well as it;s said they will get no higher than 7th. Group Four Freddie Whites joins Harstad. Media predication is 4th place. Herring Herring-Herring-Herring hereby know simply as "Herring" has turned up at Skeid. Tipped for 2nd spot in the league Juan Coco Luis Pereira will be looking to fire the goals in for Orn Horten. Predicted they won't finish any higher than 5th. Daniel Park will ply his trade at Tonsberg. Can he fire the goals to match the 3rd place finish that has been suggested. Edoardo Lorenzo will take command of the midfield for Tromsdalen. Top spot is where they are expected to be come end of the season. 0 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites


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The drive is up to an hour in traffic, but Rusney Castillo rarely takes more than 40-45 minutes to get to McCoy Stadium from Boston. At this point, he knows the traffic patterns too well to get stuck in bumper-to-bumper commutes.
It has been more than two years since Castillo played a big league game for the Boston Red Sox. Since the 31-year-old was taken off the team's 40-man roster and assigned outright to Pawtucket in June 2016, the haul from his Boston residence to Rhode Island has become a staple of his existence.
It would be hard to blame Castillo if he bemoaned his commute. Instead, he views it as a valuable reminder of his purpose.
"I live in Boston for a reason," Castillo said through PawSox broadcaster Will Flemming. "My mentality every day is that I'm a big leaguer and I belong there. I never want to leave Boston because I know I belong there. I'm firmly confident I'll be a big leaguer again soon."
The self-assessment isn't a delusion. Evaluators inside and outside the Red Sox organization see a player with big league tools who, in a vacuum, wouldn't have a hard time finding a big league job as a fourth outfielder or platoon option. On the right team, he might even get the chance to start.
Castillo is performing like someone who, in the words of one AL scout, "can help a lot of clubs." He's hitting .325/.367/.425 in 106 Triple A games this year, including a .366/.423/.465 line since the All-Star break. The hitter who lost his spot on the 40-man roster because he chased everything and seemingly hit nothing but ground balls has gotten his swing under control, improving his pitch recognition while shooting liners from gap to gap.
"This is by far the best I've ever been," said Castillo. "I'm much better than when I was in the big leagues."
Inside the PawSox clubhouse, Castillo earns raves for his professionalism. Pawtucket manager Kevin Boles described him as a "tireless worker" with a ferocious commitment to maintaining his swing and conditioning. He has stayed at exactly 203 pounds all season, part of what Castillo believes has contributed to his healthiest season since signing a seven-year, $72.5 million deal with the Red Sox in late 2014.
"He's a big leaguer," said Boles. "He's a big leaguer on a Triple A field. You coach at third. The third baseman says, 'How is this guy still here?' Everybody knows it. Everybody knows he's major league-quality."
Unlike his commute to Pawtucket, however, Castillo's road to the big leagues features nothing but detours. He was taken off the big league roster at a time when doing so meant that his salary no longer counted toward the Red Sox' payroll for luxury tax purposes.
Even as the Red Sox are paying him extremely well (salaries of $11 million this year and next, with a $13.5 million guarantee for 2020), they don't have to pay any penalties on that money. However, MLB and the Players' Association closed that loophole in the most recent collective bargaining agreement, so if he is added to the big league roster but then outrighted again, his average annual salary would still be taxable.
Hence, if the team added him to the big league roster for even a day, all of his remaining earnings (roughly $3 million this year, and a bit over $26 million through 2020) would be subject to the luxury tax.
On top of his salary, the Red Sox would have to pay about $2 million in taxes for calling him up for the rest of this year. And given that there's a strong likelihood they will be over the luxury tax threshold in 2019 or 2020, adding Castillo to the roster at any point this year likely would cost the team at least $10 million in taxes — and possibly quite a bit more — between now and 2020.
That tax alone represents a higher cost than many reserve outfielders.
That cost has been prohibitive to a callup. Yet it also has made trading Castillo prohibitive, since the Sox would have to subsidize most of his remaining deal – with the subsidy counting against the team's payroll as calculated for luxury taxes.
The only way that Castillo could get back to the big leagues without costing the Sox millions in tax money is if the team released him. Yet given that they are paying him handsomely, they have little incentive to release him just so he can seek an opportunity elsewhere.
Bottom line: Castillo appears stuck in Pawtucket. He has the right to opt out of his deal after 2019, but would have to leave $13.5 million on the table to do so. If he doesn't, he could spend much or all of two more full seasons driving back and forth from Boston to Pawtucket.
Yet with perspective born from the life he left behind in Cuba and the one he's created with his wife and child in Boston, Castillo refuses to dwell on the idea that a life-changing contract could also be an impediment to a big league opportunity.
"I never knew the rules and never imagined it could be this way, but I don't focus on it in the least," he said. "I only focus on getting better. I do realize that putting up numbers is the most important thing. If you put those numbers on paper, teams will notice and the opportunity will come."
Dansko women's Martina women's Dansko women's Martina Martina Dansko Will Castillo retain the skills to compete at the game's highest level when he no longer represents an accounting quandary?
Castillo can't answer those questions by himself. The only thing he can do is perform.
"He's a guy who stands out at this level," said Boles. "But I watch him and the mission is the same. It's doing everything he can to try to be an option for the big leagues."
■ Righthander Mike Shawaryn has gotten off to a strong start after his promotion to Pawtucket, with a seven-inning, complete-game shutout Tuesday representing his third solid start. He's 2-0 with a 2.95 ERA, 19 strikeouts, and 6 walks.
While Shawaryn's low-90s fastball and cutter/slider have always allowed him to excel against righties, an increased usage of his changeup has helped him handle Triple A lefties, who are hitting .194 with no extra-base hits against him.
■ Bobby Dalbec continues to crush the ball since his promotion to Double A Portland, forging a .341/.404/.780 line with 5 homers and 8 extra-base hits in 11 games.
His strikeout rate has jumped to 36.2 percent in Portland (up from 31.0 percent in High A Salem), though unexpectedly, most of the righthanded hitter's issues have come against lefties. He's 0 for 7 with six strikeouts against lefties; against righties, he is .412/.474/.941 with a 28.9 percent strikeout rate.
■ Righthander Tanner Houck continued his second-half surge by blitzing through seven innings in 72 pitches (78 percent strikes) while allowing one run, striking out seven, and walking none Tuesday for High A Salem.
After early-season control struggles, the 2017 first-rounder has corrected course, striking out 50 and walking 10 over his last 48 innings (eight starts) while going 4-1 with a 2.63 ERA and getting a ton of ground balls.
■ Lefthander Bobby Poyner has just three strikeouts in five appearances spanning 7⅔ innings this month, and with lefties hitting a solid .255/.300/.468 with just a 17.6 percent strikeout rate against him, his early-season emergence as a surprise late-innings candidate seems increasingly unlikely to be repeated at the end of the year.
■ Kole Cottam, who quickly emerged as one of the more interesting catching prospects in the system since being taken in the fourth round this year, was sidelined after just one game with Single A Greenville (following a promotion from Lowell) with a knee injury.
Between the 21-year-old Cottam's issue and a rash of injuries for Salem catcher Roldani Baldwin, it's been a difficult year for the health of the Red Sox' top catching prospects.
■ In short-season Lowell, outfielder Cole Brannen has been out since July 18 with an ankle sprain. He'd seemingly regained his footing by raising his average and OBP by about 100 points each over his tough early marks in Single A Greenville (from .157 with a .246 OBP to .256 with a .343 OBP). It remains to be seen whether he returns before the end of the season.
Alex, if they traded Castillo but ate most of his salary, would that count against the salary cap as well? It sounds like his only chance for making it back to the majors is if the Sox release him.
Yes. Alex says that in the piece. No way to avoid it. If Rusney gets to the MLs, regardless of the team, the Sox pay through the nose.
Gold Gold Aerosoles women's Aerosoles women's Gold Aerosoles Rose Rose Rose women's Rose women's Aerosoles Gold Aerosoles wqAwERxnv5Rusney is a holdover from a period with several questionable RS deals. Unlike Hanley the Enigma & Hungry Sandoval, his RS career can be redeemed, but MLB's financial aspects have been unusually cruel for him. Still, we should root for him since he's saying (sincerely) & doing all the right things quite well. Alas, his future may well lie elsewhere than in Boston, not least because of the current OF's excellence. I wish him well.
"The only way that Castillo could get back to the big leagues without costing the Sox millions in tax money is if the team released him."
I know that's the practical option but factually speaking, couldn't he and the Sox agree to tear up his contract? I'm sure his agent and union will have conniptions but if he really wants to be in the big leagues, it's certainly an option for him. However, no team is going to pay a fourth outfielder $10m!
The Union would go bonkers. My guess is that the Master Agreement prohibits such but I'll leave that to the barristers amongst us to opine upon.
Tearing up his contract is not permitted under the current contract between the players and the owners. ARod was willing to do that years ago but it was over ruled by both sides.
"Yet given that they are paying him handsomely, they have little incentive to release him just so he can seek an opportunity elsewhere."
Spring women's women's Step Step Peeta Spring Peeta Spring tSqO6xnHampton women's Eastland Hampton women's Eastland pZwYtwIf he's released and does nothing, I get the club is on the hook for the remaining $29 million of the contract. But obviously he wants to play - can another team sign him for less? If so, do the Red Sox owe him the difference?
The contract is guaranteed , if they release him they are still on the hook for the remainder of the contract.
women's women's Martina Martina Dansko women's Dansko Martina Dansko After a release, any salary paid by another team would off-set what the Sox owe him, so there's no reason to pay him more than the minimum.
As explained the Red Sox Aren't going to call him up to the majors.
Castillo would be crazy to tear up the contract even if that were allowed.
So why don't the Red Sox release him? The money is lost.
kudos to him for still working hard while collecting that multi, multi million dollar salary.
the guy must really love the game.
i agree, why don't the sox just release him? doesn't make a lot of sense if he is not in their future plans, which right now it doesn't seem he is, at 31 yr old and given the current team.
I think the reason would be that the Sox don't want to be paying him while he plays for another team.
Castillo is in a good but bad place. Could he agree to be traded for the 3M left on the contract for this year and then agree to have his contract renegotiated? It seems that MLB would have some pity for him.
Pity? When a union is involved? LOL
If Castillo were to tear up the contract, and he and the Sox then negotiate a new deal, I don't care what the MLBPA says--I would tell them to (buzz) off. If they are too pigheaded to do the right thing, which would be to look the other way so Castillo gets another shot at the MLB, then that confirms they are dumber than rocks. Or at least heartless for one of its own.
Fitflop Thong women's Delta Sandal Toe wnSS6YxUq8
The other way back is to convince the Sox that he's worth the money. That would be some $11m/year, which no amount of AAA play can prove, I think. I wonder if he could exercise his opt-out ahead of time so the Sox know that they are off the hook after next season. Would that make him more enticing? If he were a pitcher, perhaps. OF, not so much.
Its not just 11, its the resulting tax compounding calculation.
Everyone want to suggest a way to change the contract. It aint happenin.'
Look at it this way. Rusney Castillo impoverished in his native Cuba came to the United States where he signed a 72 million dollar contract to play baseball. Who among us wouldn't take that deal? It is what it is, there's no sense trying to reason it any other way.
Yes, and right now baseball is his job. Whether in Boston or Pawtucket, he gets up every day, kisses his wife and kid good bye and goes to work. That seems to be the way he's looking at it and good for him that he's going to do it to the best of his ability.
finally a couple posts that make sense. He makes $11M a year for 2 more years to play AAA baseball. Not a bad gig.Therafit women's Claire Therafit Claire women's qXpnBfxwTH
Major League Baseball has to do something about the Castillo conundrum. It doesn't seem fair that he is kept from the big leagues because of financial impact.
What should happen: the other owners should agree that in exchange for not counting his salary against the Sox, he should be released.
Don't think it matters what the other owners might decide. MLB language rules.
What's not fair is that they changed the rules ex post facto.
Since there seems to be consensus that he's a big leaguer, it's a shame the financial system precludes him from at least getting an opportunity. Even if not a bona fide full-time player in the bigs, there's no question he'd hit better than JBJ (after all, who doesn't?) and therein be good to platoon in CF.
I think there are major questions about Castillo hitting better than Bradley. I don't think he would. And all other aspects of his game are clearly inferior.
Castillo had many chances to stick in the major leagues before he was taken off the 40 man roster. Many chances. He simply wasn't good enough. I think it's time to stop feeling sorry for someone earning 72 million dollars.
They've already got a quasi-platoon in CF when J.D. plays the OF and Benny moves to CF. You might have a point, but still, there's the contract issue. Castillo will remain in purgatory, JBJ will stay in CF, perhaps until he's FA eligible in 2021.
Ironic. Nothing else to say.
Gold Gold Aerosoles women's Aerosoles women's Gold Aerosoles Rose Rose Rose women's Rose women's Aerosoles Gold Aerosoles wqAwERxnv5Too bad Rusney's stuck in this situation, though the $$$ heals many wounds. But the anti-union comments here are misplaced. Remember the old reserve clause which essentially enslaved players to their teams? They fought long & hard to end it, especially the great Curt Flood who sacrificed his career to help others (& avoid playing for the lowly Phillies, of course). Free agency & union representation have brought justice to MLB, albeit with higher prices & endless money issues. This really is progress overall, though the cost includes ironies like Rusney's dilemma. There should be a way to make exceptions for cases like this, but please stop union-bashing because the players' union levels the field somewhat. It's what unions do, & that's good for employees.
Gold Gold Aerosoles women's Aerosoles women's Gold Aerosoles Rose Rose Rose women's Rose women's Aerosoles Gold Aerosoles wqAwERxnv5Too bad Rusney's stuck in this situation, though the $$$ heals many wounds. But the anti-union comments here are misplaced. Remember the old reserve clause which essentially enslaved players to their teams? They fought long & hard to end it, especially the great Curt Flood who sacrificed his career to help others (& avoid playing for the lowly Phillies, of course). Free agency & union representation have brought justice to MLB, albeit with higher prices & endless money issues. This really is progress overall, though the cost includes ironies like Rusney's dilemma. There should be a way to make exceptions for cases like this, but please stop union-bashing because the players' union levels the field somewhat. It's what unions do, & that's good for employees.
Bite the bullet and get him up here before it's too late. Such a dumb, convoluted system/contract. Why give him all that money to stay in Pawtucket & not contribute? What a waste.
Because you'd be paying even more money for contributions you can get cheaper.
What outfielder do they get rid of in order to make room for him? He's not better than anyone they have playing outfield right now. Not even close.
He was given chances. He was handed a starting outfield spot before. It didn't work out.
I credit him for staying in shape and trying to make it up to the majors. Doesn' t seem like he should get accolades for that, but I could see a person in his position just lazin away.
Meanwhile, no bad news about Sale's shoulder.
Pay me $72 million. I'll stay in shape and try hard too.
Gold Gold Aerosoles women's Aerosoles women's Gold Aerosoles Rose Rose Rose women's Rose women's Aerosoles Gold Aerosoles wqAwERxnv5"I could see a person in his position just lazing' away"
Yo, Hungry Pablo! Wussup these days, dude??
This seems like a pointless piece from Alex. We all - or most of us anyway - know the situation and it's not going to change.
Yes except for those who complain about things not being fair making $11 mil a year and all, most people understand the rules. The fact is, there can be a consensus of 1000 but it doesnt mean they are right. There was a consensus that JBJ could hit too, remember?
Gold Gold Aerosoles women's Aerosoles women's Gold Aerosoles Rose Rose Rose women's Rose women's Aerosoles Gold Aerosoles wqAwERxnv5Thanks for nothing with these comments. Most fans are happy for the update & a better grasp of baseball's complexities, & ironies.
women's Dansko women's Martina Martina Martina Dansko Dansko women's Just bring him up in September and John Henry pay the stinking tax. You can't take it with you when your times up.
Since you are so good at spending others' money, maybe you should pay the tax.
Not one dime John Henry.
Sox Fan, Sorta like having a tax cut during a time of war and paying for that war with borrowed money. That's when you don't mind spending "other people's money".
You have no idea what you are talking about, just repeating slogans. John Henry and the Red Sox have a cash cow.
Another Cherington boo-boo.
No kidding, wow.
Still the worst Ben deal, for the Sox.
The people commenting on this and saying he should be be brought up to the MLB club are mental. There's no way you have any understanding of the Sox roster and financial situation if you think Castillo should be brought up. That would be the dumbest move of Dombrowski's career.
You know this because?
Changing gears here a bit, interesting note about Bobby Dalbec. Guy is hitting .341/.404/.780 at Portland, and then we get mention of his strikeout rate of 30-something percent. You know, with that line, I don't care if the guy is striking out 60% of the time. He's doing something right.
Send Devers down for some badly needed polishing, and give Dalbec some bigtime PA's with the big club.
These series of columns about Castillo first by Nick Cafardo and now Alex Speier are missing the point. Ben Cherington paid way too much to sign Rusney. If he was as good as claimed wouldn't some major league team bite the bullet and pay him the $10 Million. Bottom line answer he isn't that good, and he is 31 and it has taken him four years to achieve AAA respectability. The salary is the elephant in the room. No major league team is going to pay him that kind of money. He might be burning up the International League, but his MLB stats are pretty abysmal. He has played 99 games with a .263 BA, 7 HRs, 35 RBI and an OPS of .679. Bill James the analytics guru classifies Rusney's MLB OPS as Below Average. Please no more Rusney Castillo should be in the Majors columns. For $10 M bucks, I would venture to say all of us would happily make the drive from Boston to Rhode Island.
Dont you think he would have signed to play a game for so many millions, even if he knew what the situation would be? WAKE UP YOU NARROW MINDED TOOLS!
The money's gone; we're paying the whole cost of his contract.
But he's 31. Release him (should've last winter) and let him see if he can get a job elsewhere.
I shed no tears for him but there's no chance he'll play in Boston. We should let him have a chance to play somewhere else.
we what?
Believe Alex here. I have been watching Rusney carefully for the last several years when the PawSox have come into Allentown and been very impressed with his improvement. When he began, he could not recognize pitches, and looked fast in the outfield, but took some bad routes to the ball. Each year he has improved. I thought he was ready to play AAAA ball in the lower majors last year. Now, he looks like he could play in Fenway, except for the fact that we have four All Star caliber outfielders. I say look for a chance next year to bring him up, showcase his skills, and trade him mid-season for a more experienced player. It's not like we have a wealth of prospects in the minors right now to trade for real help.
C'mon people...Sure, in the best of all worlds, Rusney would be allowed out of his contract, be promoted or released. Most here agree with that. However, under current rules, bringing him up now means the Sox pay the $26 mil salary over the next 2 years, $10mil in tax, AND it counts against the luxury tax until 2020. The salary $$ are lost, however there is only so much money, and personally, I believe tax and penalty money that would be incurred by bringing hm up is better spent keeping Betts, Sale, Bogaerts, etc than a 4th outfielder who will at best be platooned.
Looks like no available solution will work, but both sides should look for a way to modify the rules going forward. This is a ridiculous situation.
Read the story. "MLB and the Players' Association closed that loophole in the most recent collective bargaining agreement."
And in fact that's part of the problem--if they bring him up for a day, they can't hide him again.
The union didn't want the luxury tax, the socialist owners wanted it, but union haters don't care about that. It was the SMALL market owners who wanted a socialist system of taxing the rich owners like Henry...don't let facts get in the way SOX-FAN-INIL
We'll pay you 73 Mil to be a career minor-leaguer. Insanity.
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text:
Thanksgiving, traditionally, kicks off the start of the holiday season.
Thanksgiving, traditionally, kicks off the start of the holiday season.
Most everyone I know puts up their Christmas tree Thanksgiving night and flips on the lights and makes preparations for Black Friday shopping.
For our family, we celebrated Thanksgiving and Christmas all-in-one this past Saturday. The reason for our early celebration is because the kids were going to be home for Thanksgiving, but not Christmas.
The kids coined our celebration Thanksmas.
They arrived Thursday evening to find the Christmas tree shining brightly boasting a heavy load of gifts underneath.
"Oh PLEEEAAAASE can we open just one gift?" nine-year-old Maddie begged for the thousandth time since MEA weekend when she knew of this celebration.
Hubby held steadfast that everyone could wait until Saturday. It was I who cracked under the pressure.
"You guys can open the one special gift that I got you," I told them.
The tree almost did a cartwheel as both of them dashed to it and began digging to find the gift I was talking about.
Amidst all the clatter I still heard Hubby smack his lips together in disgust. I turned to look at him in time to see the icy glare he gave me.
"What?" I shrugged my shoulders with a sheepish look on my face. "It's one present out of the 30 they each have under the tree," I said.
"But I know you, and before I even get home from work on Friday you and the kids may have every present under the tree opened," he scolded. "It just takes one to get the ball rolling," he muttered.
The next day while Hubby was at work HIS Christmas present arrived. The children and I quickly wrapped it and hid it under the tree with plans for Mason and Maddie to "pretend" to beg to open another present so that we could give him his gift.
It was a MyPillow, an expensive pillow he had asked for months ago when he began to wonder if maybe he had sleep apnea.
With a sleep study scheduled a week away to see if, in fact, he suffers from sleep apnea, I wanted to give him his pillow before then and just between our family.
We should have known better than to let Maddie in on our little secret. Mason and I had planned to wait until supper was finished and Hubby had made his way to his favorite chair for the night before we would begin the fiasco.
Half-way through supper Maddie made a false start.
"Soooooo... we should probably open another present tonight," she said smiling a guilty smile.
Hubby began his rant again when she quickly added it was so he could have a surprise too. At that Mason groaned.
"You always ruin it Maddie," he yelled at his sister.
"No I don't!" she yelled back. "Mom said we could ask to open one more present again tonight."
The room became so silent you could have heard a pin drop as my only daughter implicated me.
"See? I knew it!" Hubby said in disgust. "How many presents did Mom let you open today?" he said accusingly as he pushed his plate aside and left the kitchen.
"Way to go Maddie," Mason sarcastically commented on his way out of room. Moments later Maddie's door slammed.
Well, that hadn't gone as planned.
Eventually we all regrouped, apologized to one another and presented Hubby with his gift. In the meantime Hubby consented to the kids opening "one more gift... and that's IT until Saturday."
What seemed to take months to arrive, finally Saturday came. But first we planned to sit down together as an extended family and share a meal.
Maddie was ever so proud of the fruit salad she had made, "all by herself."
Grandpa asked her what was in it and she said she couldn't say because it was a secret recipe with cool whip, strawberries and pineapple.
Mason chided her again on her inability to keep a secret by telling Grandpa what the ingredients to her "secret recipe" were.
As Maddie and Mason argued back and forth across the table about whether Maddie gave up her "secret" recipe and Grandma laughed, Grandpa complimented Maddie on her salad and my nephew shouted for more food, a funny thought came to my mind–I bet we would fit right in with the Robertson family from Duck Dynasty!
As Phil Robertson would say, "I'm hapay, hapay, hapay!"


text: Dr. King addresses the issues of poverty, unemployment, education, health, and housing disparities within the nation. Granted, many strides have been made but there is still more work to be done. Equality has still not come full circle in regards to these social issues. Dr. King urges the people to continue the fight of social justice in all aspects of inequality.


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>General Running>Getting max HR
I have track workout tonight and I want to test out what my max HR is using my new HRM strap. The coach usually prescribe variations of 400s or 800s with 200 recoveries, between 5-10 sets for a total of 20-30 minutes of running. I'm wondering if these intervals are long enough to push the HR to max? Or if longer sustained effort is necessary (1k? 2k? 3k?) (if so I will tack that on to the end of the workout). Thanks.
Here's a link from the low HR forum on getting your max HR - http://www.runningahead.com/groups/LOWHRTR/forum/a309acc6bdba4ceeb05b310866086309/resume#focus
I personally don't add 5 beats to my number like they say though, I just stick with the number my HRM gives me as my max.
I think you could just add some all out sprints to the end of the workout you are planning tonight and get a pretty accurate number for your max. You want to basically simulate the all out sprint at the end of a race. Maybe after the interval workout is done (but before you are fully recovered and while you are still warmed up), run another 200m at close to all out pace, then do a very short rest where you still haven't really caught your breath and your heart is still pounding and go for another 200m sprint. Run it like you are running a 100m sprint and give it everything you have and then just keep at it for the next 100m until you finish. I think that should get it close.
When I was first trying to figure out my max HR I did something similar and came up with 187, then I hit 192 at the end of a race later on and finally hit 194 at the end of one race and that's as high as it's ever gotten.
Have fun.
Age: 50 Weight: 215 Height: 6'3" (Goal weight 195)
Current PR's: Mara 3:14:36* (2017); HM 1:36:13 (2017); 10K 43:59 (2014); 5K 21:12 (2016)
The only way I've been able to reliably get my heart rate up to max is on a treadmill cranked up to 15% or more incline - starting off fairly slow for about 10 minutes to get warmed up, then start slowly speeding it up and watching your heart rate increase until you feel like you're going close to all out effort; then speed up the treadmill some more and keep going - when your heart rate stops increasing and you keep going some more until you are at (or go past) the point of collapse, you MIGHT be at your max heart rate. Make sure you have the treadmill safety stop cord attached securely to you so if and when you do collapse the treadmill will shut off. I have done this a couple of times in the past and I can only hold at my max heart rate for a few seconds once I reach it. BTW this test seems to really annoy the heck out of the people on all the other treadmills and ellipticals, since it's rather noisy and somewhat dramatic to the uninitiated...
Or you could just warm up thoroughly and run hard laps on the track, finishing with an all-out lap and watch your HRM, and add a few extra beats to the highest number you see.
Retired & Loving It
If you race a 5k at full effort and particularly make sure you put every possible ounce of effort into the last few hundred metres you'll get to your max HR or within a beat or two anyhow.
I'm also someone that has only ever managed to max out on very hard climbs.
I wouldn't even bother on a track because I know it'd be a whole bunch of pain for nothing.
I agree with hard climbs and 5k races under good conditions.
Or take the point where you start to get breathless and divide by 0.9 to get HRmax. That may give you a good approximation. It did for me - or at least a number that makes sense. (I hadn't seen Joe Friel's stuff when I did this.) A stress test got me about 10bpm higher before they stopped the tm and suggested I not do that.
Or use LT HR and zones suggested by Joe Friel.
Thanks all for the suggestions. Intervals last night was 400x10. I ran quite hard near the end and my legs were too wobbly to make an attempt to run further. When I got the data afterward it seems that my HR had not plateau, it was still peaking but was cut short by the end of the 400, so I was not running long enough. I think my HRmax may be another 5 to 10 beats away, I'll find out next time I race a 5k. I find it interesting that the HR drops so fast when I slowed down, making plots is fun
Your chart reveals why a hrm is practically useless for intervals.
Note the lag between when your effort starts and stops and when your hr responds.
Anyway, you really stuck it out with that workout so kudos for that! Did you start increasing your rests or slowing them down after your fifth rep?
MTA: Oh, yes, the blue line is pace and you did slow the rests down quite a bit after the 5th. Interesting to see the hr response when you did that. I like the charts, too!
Dream Maker
find it interesting that the HR drops so fast when I slowed down,
How fast your Heart rate drops after intense exercise is a good sign of your fitness... much better than resting heart rate. (Since resting is both conditioning and genetics)
I think it's cool to measure now and again.


text:
HONG KONG — Dennis Rodman, the former basketball star, returned Tuesday to North Korea, where he said he planned to see "my friend" Kim Jong Un, the dictator whose country until recently was threatening to annihilate the United States with nuclear weapons.
Rodman said in Beijing that he was planning a five-day visit to the North, but played down speculation that he would try to secure the release of Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American Christian missionary who has been jailed there since late last year after being detained on North Korean soil.
"I'm not going to North Korea to discuss freeing Kenneth Bae," Rodman, a Basketball Hall of Fame member, told Reuters. "I'm just going there on another basketball diplomacy tour." Kim is known to be a fervent basketball fan, and the two watched a game together during Rodman's previous visit.
His visit comes amid a thaw in relations between North and South Korea, sworn enemies that just months ago appeared to be on the brink of military conflict.
Rodman's last trip to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, was sponsored by Vice Media, and he drew wide criticism for cozying up to a government with a long record of human rights abuses. The current trip is being sponsored by Paddy Power, an Irish gambling operation, he said. After Rodman's first North Korea trip, Paddy Power sent Rodman to Vatican City to urge people to place bets on the identity of the new pope.
But Rodman said this trip was all about friendship — and sports. "I've come out here to see my friend," he said. "I want to talk about basketball."


text:
Although it might seem a little bit like wearing a tinfoil hat to prevent the government from listening in on your thoughts, an artist has discovered a way to prevent computers from recognizing your face, or even to pick it out of a crowd at all.
Oddly enough, the technique used is nothing new, at least to the history buffs out there who study World War I or even World War II. It's called dazzle camouflage.
If you've ever seen those fancily painted ships with wavy lines running back and forth in old photographs, it's really the same idea. Back in World War I, the British wanted their ships to be hard to spot, which isn't easy on the open ocean with nowhere to hide. So instead of camouflage, they opted for confusing paint schemes.
At the time, the visual rangefinders used to calibrate the artillery on an attacking ship required a spotter to use a machine and move parallel lines to bracket a target. The speed and heading of the target also needed to be estimated and fed into the range-finding mechanical computer.
The idea was that the dazzle painting, consisting of geometric shapes in contrasting colors, made all this difficult to do. Fake bow waves hid the actual speed of a vessel, and in some cases the fore and aft ends were hard to discern. It also made it so that ships might be misidentified due to their broken silhouettes. A destroyer might be mistaken for a cruiser, for example.
Fast-forward to today. Facial recognition scanners are used not only for access to certain government buildings but also at big events, such as at the Super Bowl, to look for criminals or suspected terrorists in the crowd.
Some people don't like this type of passive scanning and feel that it's an invasion of privacy. So one artist developed a way to use dazzle paint to prevent automatic scanners from recognizing your face, or even that you are a person at all.
Artist Adam Harvey did some experiments and found out that painting multicolored triangles under your eyes tricks most facial recognition scanners, so that they don't recognize you as even having a face. He also did some experiments with various hairstyles to see if that would work but found that only the paint would reliably do the trick. That won't get you access to facilities, of course, but it might help you avoid passive scans.
The problem with Harvey's technique, called CV Dazzle, short for computer vision dazzle, is the same thing that plagued the dazzle ships of the world wars. It might confuse electronic scanners, but the dazzle paint also makes a person or a ship pretty obvious.
If you are walking around with big triangles painted on your face, you are probably going to arouse suspicion. The computers won't notice you, but the guy with the gun standing nearby will certainly raise an eyebrow. I mean, it's a bit less obvious than wearing a ski mask into a bank, but not by too much.
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John Breeden II is a freelance technology writer for GCN.
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Ok so how do you stop facial recognition when getting your dmv photo? It has to look natural and undetectable by the camera person
I do not think the statement "...the computers won't notice you..." is entirely accurate. What occurs is that the facial recognition software will not compare the facial characteristics against the exemplars in the DB. A properly designed system should detect a human like figure and human like motion. What is required is that a non-human like face trigger a notification because this is unexpected.I suspect that wearing certain types of eyewear and or headwear might already prevent facial recognition from working properly. Consider someone wearing flamboyant eyewear along the lines of that worn in the past by Elton John. I am certain that if painting triangles below the eyes can avert facial recognition so can wearing eyewear in the shape of large letters. Eyewear being a matter of personal taste is not likely, on its own, to result in a security stop. It will render the person remembered, but the memory will be faulty as the wearer is, in effect, openly disguised.
When are we in this country going to stop publicizing information that the "bad guys" could somehow use to get around security? I am all for free speech and the right of media to publish news, but "Loose lips sink ships" is still true. Yesterday there seemed to be a media frenzy to be the first to report the Commander-in-Chief was on the ground in Afghanistan. IMHO this is almost criminal.
Charles - I did not know the founding fathers had scanners. But in reality, if there was a public gathering back then, and if they were looking for someone, they would have posted human scanners, and if a person was trying to hide their face, I am quite sure our Founders would NOT have ignored that person. Yes I agree that there is a line that must not be crossed, but I find that too many people want that line drawn so far away that it becomes impossible to do what our government is required to do, that is "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, PROVIDE FOR THE COMMON DEFENSE, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America"
This is the most chilling line in the article: "The computers won't notice you, but the guy with the gun standing nearby will certainly raise an eyebrow." My trying to bypass passive scans is considered a presumption of guilt which is the absolute antithesis of one of the founding principles of this country.
I don't thing it would stand out that much at a Greenbay game, just make it look like wedges of cheese. Besides, the guy with the gun will only react if you look like a specific person he is searching for. Last I checked there is no law against wearing wild makeup to a sporting event. Sounds like the software would be pretty worthless for Mardi Gras too. Of course, most days and most places this would make you stand out enough to get more attention than you really want.
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5th Grade Concepts
All shows at the Planetarium are flexible and can be custom made to suit individual teacher's needs. We have a lecture hall that can be utilized if multiple classes want to visit and team teach with lessons taught by teachers in the lecture hall while I am teaching in the dome.
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The East Hampton Airport took center stage in the coming town election as the Democratic candidates for town board pledged this week not to take Federal Aviation Administration grants for airport projects for at least the next two years — a key element in the debate over how to gain more local control over use of the airport in order to ease the impact of aircraft noise on residents.
The candidates, Zachary Cohen, who is running for supervisor, and Peter Van Scoyoc and Sylvia Overby, said they would accept no federal money, which comes along with "grant assurances" — a 20-year obligation on the part of the town to operate the airport under particular F.A.A. guidelines — while conducting a study of the airport. They would wait for the expiration of several of the grant assurances in 2014 in order to determine what impact that could have on East Hampton's ability to impose restrictions such as curfews.
The recent F.A.A. approval of the town's airport layout plan allows submission of new applications for agency grants, and Republican Councilman Dominick Stanzione has suggested that the town board do so immediately to subsidize a deer fence project. The approval also paves the way for the town to install a seasonal control facility at the airport, allowing for the control of altitude and flight paths within a five-mile radius. Mr. Stanzione has said that the tower, along with the F.A.A.'s expected approval of a new flight path along the southern coast of Long Island, which would redistribute air traffic, will reduce noise problems here.
The question of accepting federal money is hotly debated, with airport noise control advocates, including a new group called the Quiet Skies Coalition, insisting that getting out from under the grant assurances is key, while others, including the East Hampton Aviation Association, believe that the town should take the federal dollars, minimizing taxes on residents, while at the same time they question how much control the town would actually gain.
In a release this week, the Quiet Skies Coalition called for voters to base their ballot decisions on the stands candidates take on the issue.
A position paper distributed by the Democrats cites "increasing tensions between the users of the airport and the people who live under the flight paths" and says that a number of people "live with a disturbing amount of noise."
"While the airport provides benefits to a few residents, hundreds, if not thousands, of other residents experience a lower quality of life and diminished property values from its operation. The town must keep open the option of regaining local control after 2014 unless there is proof that it is possible to satisfactorily control noise under the current grant assurances," it says.
The candidates propose studying the effect of the seasonal control tower for two seasons after its installation, along with safety, noise, and flight paths in the off-season, doing a full financial analysis to examine how the airport can be self-sustaining without taxpayer support, and factoring in future variables such as increased helicopter traffic or new aircraft technology.
"No one has done a good financial analysis of the airport's long-term operating costs, including debt service, if the town does not take F.A.A. money. We will do such an analysis in the first nine months of our term," the Democratic candidates said in their statement.
While the airport is being studied, the Democratic candidates said it should receive no taxpayer funding. Fees paid by airport users and an existing $1.5 million surplus can pay for the control tower and small projects, such as the deer fence, they propose, while a larger project, the repair of runway 4-22, should be put on hold.
Mr. Stanzione, the town board's airport liaison, denounced the Democrats' statement this week, saying it was based on "untruths."
He has been consulting with Peter Kirsch, an aviation attorney, and said he is convinced that the town would not gain anything by refusing F.A.A. grants. He supplied a fact sheet prepared by Mr. Kirsch describing what would be required should the town seek F.A.A. permission to restrict use of the airport, which the attorney called "extensive, time-consuming, and costly," taking several years and potentially costing millions of dollars.
However, according to Kathleen Cunningham, a member of the Quiet Skies Coalition steering committee who served as chairwoman of the town's now-disbanded airport noise abatement advisory committee, much of the required data collection and environmental review have already been done as part of the master plan process.
In his memo, Mr. Kirsch writes that when all of the grant assurances East Hampton is bound by expire in 2021, "the town would gain only slightly greater control over the airport than it has today," as all public airports are subject to federal, state, and constitutional laws. Airport owners can restrict access to an airport only if they can meet "a fairly high threshold" demonstrating that the actions are reasonable and "necessary to achieve legitimate local needs," he said.
Councilwoman Theresa Quigley said Tuesday that the town board had met with Mr. Kirsch in an executive session several weeks ago and that she supports having the consultant discuss the funding issue at a public work session of the board.
She said she needed more information in order to decide about taking new F.A.A. grants. However, she said she believed Mr. Kirsch had told the board that accepting federal money for the deer fence would not extend the town's obligation to abide by F.A.A. grant assurances beyond their current expiration date.
"The question of control is the key," Ms. Quigley said. "I want to make sure that the helicopters are controlled."
Both she and Supervisor Bill Wilkinson, who with Mr. Stanzione form the board's Republican majority, said that, depending on the implications, they would like to see town taxpayers benefit from federal dollars.
"The economy is severely stressful on all our residents," Mr. Wilkinson said Tuesday. "They are already being taxed when they fly, for F.A.A. funding of such airports. I don't believe in double taxation."
But the supervisor said there are no plans at present to apply for new F.A.A. grants to pay for airport deer fences. "I don't see that happening," he said.
"I do think that we have an asset in that airport," Mr. Wilkinson said. "It's part of our infrastructure, not only in case of emergency. But you have to have a balance."
"At the same time I don't believe that the airport should be expanded," he said. "I believe it should be maintained as it is."
He said he believes that the board should "really do a thorough vetting [to] look and see if there's real cause and effect" regarding local airport control and what F.A.A. money obligates the town to do. Meanwhile, Mr. Wilkinson said, "I think we're working toward a quieter airport, and a safer airport." He indicated the F.A.A.'s recent approval of the airport layout plan and the potential for the seasonal control facility as well as the possibility of the more southern helicopter route.
In a letter to The Star this week, members of a helicopter committee formed by the Northwest Alliance, a group concerned with issues related to the Northwest area of East Hampton, asked the town board to reject further Federal Aviation Administration money. They said that, while pleased with the recent developments, "neither of these steps can address what we see as the primary problem: excessive airport traffic and the resulting noise pollution."
"With relief from grant assurances we will be entitled to establish and enforce a variety of policies that will reduce noise," they wrote.
In another letter to the editor submitted this week, Frank Dalene, the vice chairman of the Quiet Skies Coalition, took issue with recent newspaper ads placed by the East Hampton Aviation Association saying that F.A.A. cooperation and funding is "essential" and that "now we can have a quieter and safer airport with local control."
He cited questions raised by Joseph Fischetti of Southold, a member of a regional airport noise committee, about the ultimate impact of the southern flight route, as its use would require aircraft to have specialized equipment. And questions remain about routing planes through Kennedy Airport airspace.
In a release, the Quiet Skies Coalition said that the group is asking each town board candidate on the November ballot to sign a pledge not to take further F.A.A. funding for the airport.
In an informational flier also distributed this week, the coalition cites several effects of what is described as an "at-times-deafening aerial assault" from helicopters and airplanes, including "spoiling the very act of being outdoors for thousands of people on a daily basis," "aggravating natural habitats and the wild creatures therein," and "significantly damaging our property values and our chosen way of life."
Concerns over the airport, including not only noise but also the environmental impacts of aviation fuel emissions and underground jet fuel tanks, "force voters to support candidates for town board according to their position on exercising local control of our airport," Barry Raebeck, the group's chairman, said in the release.


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Car Review
2013 RAM 2500 and 3500: New Car Review
The 2013 RAM 2500 and 3500 will be the first to tell you: It's hard being a heavy-duty truck these days. Thanks to the full-fledged arms race among RAM, Ford and GM, it seems there's a new "most capable full-size truck" every month. This is especially apparent among turbodiesel trucks, in which bumping up power and torque is as simple as rewriting some software. The madness will have to stop at some point, but now the RAM HD's 6.7-liter Cummins turbodiesel is at a ridiculous 850 lb-ft of torque. And counting.
Coming up with real demerits for these trucks is like criticizing 18-wheelers. The fact is that they're all exceptionally capable -- and almost certainly up to any task. Sure, we miss the RAM 1500's smooth-riding rear coil springs (the HD remains a leaf-spring loyalist, though that's changing for 2014), but that's a heavy-duty truck for you. It's a tool to get the most challenging jobs done, not a sofa on wheels.
What's New for 2013
The 2013 RAM 2500 and 3500 are heavily updated for 2013. In addition to stronger suspension for towing, they offer even more power -- and torque -- from the available 6.7-liter Cummins turbodiesel engine. The trucks also boast a new interior with available Uconnect infotainment.
What We Like
Robust Cummins turbodiesel inline 6-cylinder with available manual transmission; impressive capabilities all around
What We Don't
Gas-powered engine could use a little more grunt; suspension could use a little more refinement
How Much?
Fuel Economy
The RAM 2500 comes standard with a 5.7-liter V8 rated at 383 horsepower and 400 lb-ft of torque. The transmission is a 6-speed automatic. The Hemi V8 is smooth and strong, with enough grunt for all but the most taxing jobs. For those, you'll want the 6.6-liter Cummins turbodiesel inline 6-cylinder, which is optional on the 2500 and standard on the "dually" (dual rear wheels) 3500. The Cummins cranks out up to 385 hp and 840 lb-ft of torque through either a 6-speed automatic or a 6-speed manual.
Towing capacity peaks at 22,750 pounds on RAM 3500 models, while the 2500 tops out at around 15,000 pounds. The Environmental Protection Agency doesn't test heavy-duty trucks for fuel economy, but don't get your hopes up as far as fuel costs go.
Options & Standard Features
The 2013 RAM Heavy Duty is offered in either standard 2500 or dually 3500 form. There are three cab options -- 2-door Regular Cab, 4-door Crew Cab and extended 4-door Mega Cab. The Regular Cab comes with only a 96-inch long bed; the Crew Cab comes with either the long bed or a 76-in short bed; and the Mega Cab only comes with the short bed.
The RAM HD is available in three basic trim levels -- ST, SLT and Laramie. The ST ($30,000) gives you 17-in steel wheels, air conditioning, manual windows and door locks (power in Crew and Mega Cabs), vinyl upholstery, a 40/20/40-split front bench seat, Bluetooth connectivity and a 6-speaker CD sound system with an auxiliary audio jack.
The SLT ($34,000) steps up to 17-in alloy wheels, chrome trim for the bumpers and grille, power heated mirrors, power windows and locks, a power-sliding back window (not available on Regular Cab), keyless entry, cruise control, cloth upholstery and satellite radio.
The fancy Laramie ($45,000), offered in Quad and Crew Cabs only, tacks on a 2-tone exterior color scheme, dual-zone automatic climate control, wood-grain interior trim, a heated leather-wrapped steering wheel, power driver adjustments with memory, a heated power front bench seat, leather upholstery and a 6.5-in touchscreen infotainment system with hard-drive music storage. Some of the higher trims' standard equipment is optional on lower trims.
Notable packages include the adventure-oriented Outdoorsman, the off-road-ready Power Wagon and the ultra-luxurious Laramie Longhorn.
The 2013 RAM 2500 and 3500 Heavy Duty come with 4-wheel anti-lock disc brakes and four airbags (front and full-length side curtain).
While heavy-duty trucks don't get crash tested, you'll be on the safer side of most collisions.
Behind the Wheel
The RAM HD is like the RAM 1500's bodybuilding older brother. It's not nearly as refined -- trading in the 1500's rear coil springs for the HD's industrial-grade leaf springs will have that effect -- but, man, it is tough. The coolest thing about the heavy-duty RAM is you can get a manual transmission with the turbodiesel. Plenty of truck guys still like to shift for themselves, but the RAM HD is the only truck that lets you do it.
The RAM HD's front seats -- generally a 3-person bench, though the Laramie also offers two individual buckets -- are about what you'd expect in a big rig, providing plenty of space for a wide range of physiques. Front passengers will notice that the RAM HD's dashboard is similar to the RAM 1500's, which means there's genuine style and respectable materials quality. The controls are ergonomically sound, and they're even operable by a gloved hand in most cases. The touchscreen, however, is considerably less straightforward.
In addition to the 2-door Regular Cab, the RAM HD offers two 4-door configurations. The Quad Cab provides plenty of room for adults, while the limo-like Crew Cab has so much legroom it might as well come with rear ottomans.
Other Trucks to Consider
Ford F-Series HD -- The F-250, F-350 and F-450 lineup is arguably the most complete among heavy-duty trucks, and the F-450 still lays claim to the highest towing capacity on the consumer market.
Chevrolet Silverado HD -- The Silverado's calling card is its Duramax turbodiesel V8, which is probably the best all-around diesel engine in this class, though not by much.
AutoTrader's Advice
Since we don't need a dually, give us the RAM 2500 HD with the Cummins turbodiesel and the manual shifter. We'd be reminded of our truck's uniqueness with every gratifying throw of the 6-speed lever.


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Inyoung Hwang
Thursday, 21 February 2013 02:31 PM
Hedge funds are more bullish on equities than they have been in six years and American International Group Inc. replaced Apple Inc. as the top-held stock, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Net long exposure to stocks in hedge funds climbed to 52 percent in the fourth quarter, matching the 10-year high reached in the first quarter of 2007, a team led by Goldman Sachs' Amanda Sneider and David Kostin said in a report. For the first time in three years, iPhone maker Apple was not the most-popular stock held by firms, falling to third place as insurer AIG became the most-held position.
"Hedge funds notably reduced holdings of underperforming long-time favorites Apple and gold while raising allocations to rallying financials," Sneider and Kostin wrote.
Hedge funds increased bets stocks will advance after returns failed to keep pace with the rally in equities last year as short sales limited gains. While the Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 16 percent in 2012 including dividends, the average hedge fund returned 8 percent, according to Goldman Sachs. The average mutual fund focused on large companies returned 14 percent, the note said.
Apple tumbled 20 percent last quarter, the worst performance in four years, amid concern increased competition and a lack of breakthrough products will reduce profit margins at the world's most-valuable company. The shares have slumped 16 percent this year.
Cutting Gold
Hedge funds also reduced holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust to the lowest in at least four years, Goldman Sachs said. The exchange-traded fund known as GLD, the biggest ETF backed by the metal, plunged 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter as U.S. economic concerns eased, eroding demand for the metal as an investment hedge. The ETF has lost 5.7 percent so far in 2013.
AIG surged 52 percent last year as the New York-based company finished repaying the last of its $182.3 billion bailout by the U.S. government. The shares are up 5.3 percent this year. Financial stocks rose the most out of 10 groups in the S&P 500 last year, rallying 26 percent.
The funds have continued to underperform relative to the S&P 500 this year, returning 3 percent through Feb. 8, Goldman Sachs said. The benchmark measure added 6.6 percent including dividends in the same period. Goldman Sachs' report tracked 725 hedge funds with $1.3 trillion of equity positions.
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NASHVILLE (AP) – The Senate has approved legislation that would protect student counselors at public higher education institutions who withhold their services because of religious beliefs.
The measure passed Thursday 22-4. Republican Sen. Joey Hensley of Hohenwald sponsored the bill.
The legislation targets students in counseling, social work or psychology programs.
Hensley says he proposed the measure after a student at a Tennessee college was required to counsel someone who didn't agree with the counselor's "moral belief."
The proposal protects a counselor from disenrollment, and it allows the client to be referred to another counselor.
Hedy Weinberg is executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee. She says the legislation is discriminatory and undermines the ability of universities to train counselors in line with the mandates of their future profession.
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State of the Food Industry 2011: End of Recession Changes Everything or Nothing
U.S. food industry faces a tough road ahead.
If you thought 2010 was a year of challenges, hang on to your hat. Get ready to deal with a revised and more stringent food safety bill giving more powers to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA), more encompassing food guidelines to combat obesity, a child nutrition reauthorization bill mandating healthier school meals, higher commodity prices, stronger private-label competition and new consumer behaviors. Whew! And that's just the beginning.
Two of the biggest changes to the food industry in 70 and five years, respectively -- even though they were in the works for more than a year -- went right down to the year-end wire.
The biggest revision to the country's food safety rules since 1938, the Food Safety Modernization Act was approved by both houses of Congress in December, with the House approving it – for the third time – on Dec. 21. President Obama promised to sign it into law.
It will strengthen the nation's food safety systems and will give the FDA for the first time the authority to recall foods. It also should result in the hiring of 2,000 additional FDA inspectors over the next four years, with its $1.4 billion in new costs being picked up by the larger food industry.
And the every-five-years rewriting of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which was not published by our pre-Christmas press deadline, is all wrapped up except for some final signoffs by USDA and Dept. of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials.
The Dietary Guidelines' effect on diet and the processing industry is slow but undeniable. While they haven't (yet) reversed our obesity epidemic, the regular revisions may claim some of the credit for decreasing cancer rates, and past recommendations for folic acid may be reducing neural tube defects in newborns. They've increased our awareness of fiber, whole grains and probiotics and turned the whole populace away from trans fats, saturated fats and cholesterol.
But more on those landmarks in a minute.
"There are seismic shifts going on in consumer habits, and that is one of the greatest challenges for food processors in 2011," says Dexter Manning, partner and national food & beverage practice leader of Grant Thornton LLP, a Chicago-based accounting and advisory firm. "They must try to figure out what changes, what R&D spend, they need to make in order keep up with, or to get ahead of, the changes in consumer preferences being driven on several fronts.
"During the recession, consumers were challenged in the way they shopped and whether they went out to eat," he explains. "In the last two years, there has been a battle at the supermarket between 'How do we save money and reduce our spend on food?' and 'How do we get better-for-you food?' "
Manning points out that during 2008-2009, private label sales were very strong. "At the same time, sales of some of the higher-priced organics and healthy foods bucked the trend for lower prices; growth slowed during that period but did not turn negative," he says. "Overall, in supermarkets you see more variety of organics and healthy foods than ever before."
Frugal spending habits consumers developed during the recession appear to be deeply ingrained, as shoppers continue to be careful with food spending, according to the third annual consumer spending survey by New York-based Booz & Co., a global management consulting firm. In 2010, 28 percent of the 2,000 respondents reduced food-at-home expenditures, up from the 23 percent who reduced their food spending in 2009.
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Florida Travel Guide for Aviation Enthusiasts: Air Force Armament Museum, Eglin AFB
Experience the aviation warfare armament from the early days of World War I right through to today's high tech planes and bombs. Inside, you'll find an extensive collection of weaponry and interactive displays that will amaze and intrigue. Outside displays include vintage military aircraft including the fastest plane ever built - the SR-71 Blackbird. Admission is free for everyone. 100 Museum Drive, Eglin Air Force Base, FL 32542, 850-651-1808, www.afarmamentmuseum.com
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