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Creative CUs: People, Product & Process
It could be said the creative credit union is a paradox as this industry is often slow or unwilling to accept creative, innovative or new ideas.
Why is this? What holds you back? Is it the fear of change? The fear of failure?
Creativity, according to dictionary.com, is the "ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality." In short, creativity is more than pretty pictures and graphics. Creativity can and should be found in all areas of your credit union.
I believe creativity must involve all stakeholders at your credit union. Many times, creativity is reserved for your credit union's marketing department, but in my opinion, creativity is everyone's responsibility. Anyone, from the front line to accounting, can create meaningful new ideas, forms, or methods. It is important not to forget consumers in the creative process as you are creating products and services specifically for them.
You must remember that at its very core, the idea of banking and dealing with finances causes stress for many. Banking, as a verb, sucks. I challenge your credit union to focus on creating ways to help reduce the friction and pain of banking with a focus on people, product and process.
Placing people at the beginning of any creative process will put you on the path for creative success no matter if you are creating an ad campaign, new product or improving a process. A focus on people, by its very nature, allows your credit union to live the philosophical idea of "people helping people" that should drive us all in this industry.
Once you truly identify your credit union's purpose by examining your mission, vision and values, you must then make the hard choice of what people your credit union will help. Trying to reach everyone can put your credit union in danger of becoming no one while being drowned out by the noise of other financial service providers both traditional and nontraditional.
By selecting a targeted group of people to focus on, your credit union can create products and processes for this target market to help reduce the friction and pain of banking. This then creates the possibility of turning these people into walking and talking billboards for your credit union by delivering a positive, frictionless experience.
Instead of bringing the same products to market that others are offering, create products that complement your focus on people. The products and messages you create to promote those products should focus on your target market's human needs.
At the end of the day, it can be said that all your credit union can offer is checking, savings and loans. I don't agree. The overall product may be the same as what others offer, but the details of your product offering can be creatively tailored to your credit union's target market.
For example, let's say your credit union's defined target market is teachers. You could create a product specifically for them that addresses a pain point or life need, which may not necessarily be financially related. Many school district budgets are being cut around the country and getting basic classroom supplies, such as paper towels, are coming out of a teacher's own pocket.
What if a benefit of membership at your credit union serving teachers was to provide a couple of rolls of paper towels for their classroom each month? This product enhancement with a focus on people's pain points would truly show the benefit of membership and could even become a conversational piece in the teacher's lounge.
Credit unions often times promote an amazing experience but what is that amazing experience made up of? Experiences consist of well-thought out and defined processes that have been improved over time by analyzing patterns.
To creatively improve upon your processes, put yourself into the hearts and mind of consumers and start the experience where a majority of people would begin theirs. It is important to remember that banking is no longer a place people go but now something people do. In today's ever increasing digital world, an experience with your credit union will most likely begin online through a desktop browser or mobile device.
What is the digital experience you are delivering to consumers? Does it complement your positioning and vision with a focus on people while reducing and removing the friction and pain of banking? How easy is it to open an account or apply for a loan? After reviewing these different digital experiences, once again made up of many processes, take time to analyze and create new ways to improve the digital process, thus improving the overall digital experience for people. Doing so may improve the very first experience people have with your credit union.
To continue to be relevant and compete with an increasing onslaught of traditional and nontraditional competitors, your credit union must embrace creativity, innovation and re-examine how you view the world.
No longer can your credit union afford to think outside the box. The simple fact is by doing so, the box still exists and it can be very easy to find your credit union back in the box. To truly create and move beyond the status quo, your credit union must destroy the box and embrace new creative thoughts and ideas driven by a focus on people, product and process.
James Robert Lay is CEO of PTP New Media
Contact firstname.lastname@example.com or 281-991-5550


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What do two retirees, a high school band director and a cabinetmaker have in common? They are each a part of the newly formed local band Johnny and the Blue Notes.
This quartet of blues and classic rock-loving gentlemen have been playing around Cortez since their first gig in August 2012. The very outgoing, fun-loving group of men come from different places all over the United States. San Francisco, Calif., Santa Monica, Calif., Rockford, Ill. and Washington D.C., all under the same roof. Escaping the urban sprawl, they have all congregated here, finding they share one true love - music.
The band started out with John Hernandez, 61, and Jim "Catfish" Hunter, 66, who got his nickname from the Hall of Fame baseball pitcher with the same moniker. Having traveled and played together throughout Colorado since the 1970s, the duo can't seem to shake one another, always ending up in the same place. Both are retired, living the good life, Hernandez says. A great time to make music.
Hunter and Hernandez had no intentions of starting a band. When Hunter had the cabinets redone in his home near McPhee Reservoir, he found his cabinetmaker, was more talented than he thought.
"When Bob (Carey) told me he could play the bass I said 'Well, what do you know because I know a guy who plays the guitar (Hernandez),'" Hunter recalls.
With Carey, 54, they transformed into a trio, jamming around Hunter's home, not knowing where the union would take them. So it was a happy coincidence, when their fourth member joined.
Mark Allan, saxophonist and high school band director in Newcomb, N.M., was heading home to Dolores after a long rigorous band competition. Stopping into Blondie's for a quick drink, Allan, 54, discovered the trio playing for the open mic night.
"They were right in the middle of "Unchain My Heart," which is my favorite song," Allan explains. "There I was in a suit and tie, and I said 'Hey, can I play with you? Let me go grab my sax.'" Allan hopped on stage and the rest was history.
"It was really strange how we grabbed Mark (Allan)," Hernandez said.
Allan has played with a band since he was 17. His busy work schedule left him without a band when he moved to Dolores from Rockford. The itch to play with people of the same variety was prevalent that night. Feeling complete, the band is finding gigs at local restaurant/bars here in town, most recently at Mr. Happy's Bakery and Cafe, and Blondie's.
Though they started out slow, taking a three month hiatus last year for scheduling and vacations, they are now alternating weekends with the two restaurants for the next six weeks. Last week, the Blue Notes were expected to play at Mr. Happy's but the water break on Main Street forced the show to be canceled.
"We left after sound check, came back to perform, and they weren't open," Hunter said. "There was no water for them to operate." The small hiccup was of no consequence. They rescheduled the show for the following night and played on.
This week, they will be at Blondie's on Friday, Jan. 25 from 8 to 11 p.m. They want to cater to their audience, and are not against playing festivals, weddings or parties.
Their set lists change from show to show because this group has a lot to offer. Marvin Gaye, Chuck Berry, The Allmon Brothers, Cream and Creedence Clearwater Revival are a few of the artists they cover.
"It's smart to be versatile with what you play," Carey said. "People like lots of different genres, especially in this area."
Like any good entertainers, the band plays to their crowd. With each musician starting their tenure as teenagers, there are plenty of years of experience under these four belts.
If they had no stage at all, they would be plenty happy to sit around and improvise- to jam away with people who know exactly what the other is feeling.

subset: commoncrawl


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I have kept my silence this whole time about a certain misunderstanding about the manga.
So everyone here thinks only the First two Hokage were from the Senju clan, mainly because of one little detail... their last names were Senju! Am I right? Yes, this is what most people believe. LOL! How naive can you really be? I have made various posts about this in the past in order to convince some.....without success, as everyone here is so frikkin hung up on a last name! But I have had the proof to prove that I am right all along, why didnt I do this before? Cuz I was lazy...
Here is the undeniable proof!
As you can confer from the above image....that according to history, Konoha was formed by only 2 clans! It has never been mentioned in the manga, that other clans from around the world came and joined the leaf village after its formation, and for good reason, because they never did! What you should have understood by now is that Konoha consisted of only 2 clans, the Uchiha and the Senju! Therefore....every clan that exists in Konoha today, is a direct descendant or a distant blood relative of the Senju clan, much like the Uzumaki clan!!
I believe some people still wont be convinced from this, so I have another piece of proof for you all.
In the following image, I want you all to look at the hair of the person who's face is being covered by Tobirama's hair, on his right:
Look familiar?
And furthermore, here is some more evidence to support my case:
The Senju clan has one distinct trait, and it is NOT Mokuton! If Mokuton was part of the entire Senju clans Kekke Genkai, dont you guys think Tobirama would have it too? But he was a master of only Water type Jutsu!
My point is....everyone in the Senju clan develops their own skills from their chakra, the only thing they all share together is the Will of Fire, which is love and the sense of protection they all feel for each other, the person with the strongest Will of Fire elevates himself and his own set of skills to an extremely high level and becomes the Hokage!
I hope I have cleared all misconceptions with this, the bottom line is everyone in Konoha is a descendant of the Senju clan, and is potentially a Senju themselves, Hashirama and all the Hokages after him were just the strongest of the Senju clan, each of them, with their own unique set of skills!
EDIT: If Naruto is not a Senju.....then why does he bear an exact resemblance to Hashirama's Grandson and Tsunade's Brother?
Stop dawdling over last names and look at the bigger picture, I hope you all see it! As there is no way anyone can come up with any solid proof like I have.
Now after I have proven everything with manga facts, if you want to prove me wrong you must do it with the same type of evidence. If you have nothing but your own reasoning and petty arguments about last names, then please by all means, leave this thread and stay naive for all I care!


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Flexible displays while a novelty today, may prove to be extremely useful in many industries a few years from now. Many of the big display manufacturers are developing flexible displays such as flexible e-paper.
A number of companies working on delivering E-paper technology to the masses. LG.Philips demonstrated a 14.1-inch flexible display capable of 4,096 colors. Another company, Nempotec, demonstrated a similar display that same day.
This week Sony announced yet another world first: a flexible organic LED (OLED) display that is capable of displaying 16.7 million colors. Current OLED technology is only capable of up to a few thousand colors. Samsung and LG.Philips have flexible OLED displays too, but they are only capable of 262,000 and 16,000 colors respectively.
Sony's display is only 0.3mm thick. Since OLEDs are their own light source -- they don't require backlighting -- and manufacturers can produce extremely thin substrates. The display is 64mm in diameter, has 160x120 pixel resolution and sports a 1000:1 contrast ratio.
However, don't expect these flexible OLEDs to replace e-paper anytime soon. OLED displays require power to retain an image, whereas e-paper displays only use electricity when change is needed. Thus, the power draw on e-paper devices is still considerably lower than OLED.


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This study is provided by ICPSR. ICPSR provides leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis for a diverse and expanding social science research community.
County Business Patterns, 1999 [United States]: U.S. Summary, State, and County Data (ICPSR 3439)
Principal Investigator(s): United States Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census
The total number of business establishments, mid-March employment figures, and first quarter and annual payrolls are supplied in this data collection at the county, state, and national levels. Also provided are data on the number of establishments by employment-size class. Data are provided for most divisions of the economy, including agricultural services, mining, construction, manufacturing, transportation, public utilities, wholesale trade, retail trade, finance, insurance, real estate, and services. However, data are not included for agriculture production, railroad, government, or household employment.
Access Notes
Data in this collection are available only to users at ICPSR member institutions. Please log in so we can determine if you are with a member institution and have access to these data files.
WARNING: Because this study has many datasets, the download all files option has been suppressed, and you will need to download one dataset at a time.
WARNING: This study is over 150MB in size and may take several minutes to download on a typical internet connection.
Study Description
United States Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. County Business Patterns, 1999 [United States]: U.S. Summary, State, and County Data. ICPSR03439-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2003. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03439.v1
Persistent URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR03439.v1
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Scope of Study
Subject Terms: agricultural services, business conditions, businesses, construction industry, counties, economic conditions, employment, finance, manufacturing industry, mining industry, public utilities, real estate, retail industry, service industry, trade, transportation
Geographic Coverage: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York (state), North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, United States, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
- 1999
- 1999
Universe: All business establishments with one or more paid employees in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and counties, excluding agriculture production, railroad, government, or household employment. All government hospitals are included beginning with 1989 data.
The data are supplied in three files: United States Summary Data (Part 1), State Summary Data (Part 2), and County Summary Data (Part 3). The county summary data are now in one file, sorted alphabetically by state and within state by county.
Business Register, Annual Company Organization Survey, Annual Survey of Manufactures, Current Business Surveys, United States Internal Revenue Service administrative records, and the Social Security Administration
Restrictions: In accordance with U.S. Code, Title 13, Section 9, no data are shown that would disclose the operations of an individual employer. However, the number of establishments in an industry classification and the distribution of these establishments by employer-size class are not considered disclosures, and so this information may be released even though other information is withheld.
Original ICPSR Release: 2003-05-16
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Announcing the Formaggio Food Community
I first joined Formaggio Kitchen as an assistant to Julie, our charcutière. As she taught me to make the shop's range of sausages, pâté, and other cured meats, she talked a lot about sourcing—what she buys from farms in Connecticut, the turnaround time needed for an order of rabbit from Vermont, the best uses for bellies from Massachusetts-raised Berkshire hogs, and the like. For Julie, small, local farms are a natural and non-negotiable part of her work.
Shortly after becoming a cheesemonger, I visited Sage Farm Goat Dairy and Spring Brook Farms, two Vermont cheese makers, with our domestic cheese buyer Tripp. His enthusiasm for the cheese artisans of New England is boundless and highly contagious, and meeting the people and animals behind these dairy operations gave me an appreciation of my own.
We buy much of our inventory directly from smaller producers like these who depend on us to represent their products to our customers with knowledge, respect, and passion. Recently, we've seen a proliferation of local farmers markets and CSA programs, and my interactions with Julie, Tripp, and our local producers led to a desire to contribute to building strong links to the agricultural community.
Last summer, we started selling cheese on behalf of New England producers at the Cambridge Farmer's Market. This summer, we are pleased to announce the Formaggio Food Community – a new way to celebrate and support New England's agricultural artisans. With Local Cheese and In-House Charcuterie options, this program will expand our relationship with local producers and enable Food Community members to take part in our commitment to the food producers of our region.
When selecting a source for pork, lamb, rabbit, or duck, our charcutière Julie considers how the animals are treated, what they're fed, and how they're processed. This type of transparency is unheard of in mainstream agriculture, but by working with a small network of family farms across New England, Julie is able to factor all of this information into her buying decisions. Pete and Jen's Backyard Birds, for example, is a 50-hog farm, run by a couple in Concord, MA, that sends us pork for our sausages. Our pancetta is made possible by the beautiful pork bellies from PT Farm in St. Johnsbury, VT. The dedication of these small farmers comes through in the quality of their products, which Julie artfully transforms into fresh sausage, pâté, rillettes, and cured meats. Our Charcuterie membership offers the opportunity to receive her hand-picked selection of delectables each month.
If you ask Tripp, our domestic cheese buyer, about the cheese artisans of New England, you'd better be prepared for an earful. He'll likely give you descriptions of cheese houses, the names of the dogs that guard the animals, and tell you all about the motorcycle one of our favorite producers uses to make deliveries. But you'll also hear his deep and abiding respect for the contributions these producers make to both New England's economy, and the craft of artisan cheese in America. Local cheese makers are building on our region's agricultural heritage and are consistently turning out some of the finest wheels on our cheese wall. Our Local Cheese membership highlights New England's artisan dairy production through Tripp's carefully chosen variety of cheeses, each selected at the height of ripeness and flavor.
For more information and to register for the Formaggio Food Community programs, click here.
Erin Carlman Weber is a cheesemonger, charcuterie alumna and the classroom coordinator at Formaggio Kitchen Cambridge. She is currently pursuing a Graduate Certificate in the Food Studies program at Boston University.


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I watched the Raps go up 10 (40-30 ... i think) against Brooklyn ... and thought Uh.. oh refs are about to screw us... sure enough 3 horrid calls helped the NETS get the lead back by half time.
Lets not mention amir's "PASS" on the foul which did not lead to shots... screw up in CHA...
I swear 12-15 games this season Raps we grossly penalized in close losses.
We fans are sick of Refs killing our evening with these DELIBERATE tampering with game outcomes.
MLSE you pay the NBA do something about it. Someone needs to see the obvious and take the league to task this has to end!


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When You Need the Best in Lawn Care for North Brookfield, Massachusetts, Call Us.
Ford's Hometown Services was featured for our "Premier Customer Service and Customer Retention" in January 2009's Lawn & Landscape e-magazine, the largest green industry publication in the U.S.
In addition to our established 5-visit premium turf management program, we've added a new budget-smart 3-visit program.
Have your lawn and grounds be the envy of everyone in your neighborhood in North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Click on the links below to learn more.
- Premium Turf Program
- "Budget Smart" Program
- Tree & Shrub Program
- Moss Control
- Grub Management
- Insect suppression
- Non-Selective Herbicide
- Nusedge Control
- Fungicide Applications
- Seeding Expectations
- Selective Violet Control
- Why Lime?
- Late Crabgrass Treatments
- Spring Seeding Wrong?
- Frequently Asked Questions
Call us directly at for more information for your lawn in North Brookfield, Massachusetts.


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Terry Anderson
Tue, 12/15/2015
Analyzing nature and economies as static systems distracts our attention from the dynamic forces in both.
Shawn Regan
Tue, 12/15/2015
New paper in the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy explores the linkages between ecology and economics through the lens of Austrian economics.
Reed Watson
Mon, 06/23/2014
Trampling the property rights of beachfront landowners in the name of public access is no way to encourage beach conservation.
Jonathan Adler
Fri, 08/16/2013
Fisheries around the world are poorly managed. As Jonathan Adler explains in the UCLA Journal of Environmental Law and Policy, property-based management can conserve fisheries and maintain their value for human consumption.
Reed Watson
Mon, 04/01/2013
Wildlife is a publicly owned resource, yet the majority of wildlife habitat is privately owned. This article from the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Forum examines the nature of the split wildlife estate and the potential to unify it with public-private partnerships.
Jonathan Adler
Mon, 04/01/2013
Major environmental policy reform is long overdue. PERC's Jonathan Adler outlines the foundation of a conservative alternative to the conventional environmental paradigm.
Thu, 01/10/2013
Why is productive environmental governance so hard, and what might be learned from how corporate governance mechanisms address related problems? Dino Falaschetti's article addresses these questions, both in principle and in application to global fisheries.


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Standardized tests.
The words are enough to make most students' eyes glaze over. But, like death and taxes, standardized tests are now an unavoidable part of life - an obligatory nuisance to endure. And, teachers hope, students try their best.
Students across Montezuma-Cortez School District Re-1 put their normal class schedules on hiatus this week for the tests: the TCAP for third to 10th graders, and ACT practice for high school juniors.
Administrators devised several activities to fill the non-testing hours. Some were purely for fun, like a barbecue and raffle drawing for prizes at Parque de Vida on Friday afternoon. Others were informative: most juniors visited Southwest Colorado Community College Thursday morning to shadow two different classes, between cosmetology, automotive, welding, nursing and electronics. The statewide ACT test takes place April 23.
Freshmen, divided into eight groups, chipped in to beautify the city streets on Friday morning by picking up trash and other debris.
High school seniors were the only grade level exempt from in-school activities this week (outside of Wednesday, when everyone had classes). Having completed all standardized testing the state requires, and having taken the ACT the prior year, they were mostly turned loose. They did, however, spend at least 12 hours volunteering at a nonprofit organization of their choice. The idea was to give them something edifying and productive to do with their time - plus it's a tried-and-true resume builder.
"Most all colleges are requiring community service now. A large share of our students already do service work of some kind, but in case they haven't and are applying to college, here's their chance," said Ed Rice, career and technical education director at M-CHS. "And it's good for them."
Organizations included the Four States Ag Expo (cleaning up the aftermath), Hope's Kitchen (at First United Methodist Church), the Salvation Army and Vista Grande Inn Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center. Calculus students helped tutor younger peers in math at Cortez Middle School and various elementary schools.
A few did trail maintenance at Phil's World. One student even taught senior citizens at Madison House Assisted Living Residence how to play golf and bowling on a Nintendo Wii video game system.
Class schedules return to normal next week before adjourning for Spring Break April 1-5.


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Read reviews about hotels and accommodation across the UK and Ireland. Whether you're on holiday, a business trip or it's the town where you live, don't miss the best hotels, B&Bs and other accommodation. Search our Hotels National category by country, country region and city or town. Compare consumer reviews, services, prices, stars and more. Use dooyoo to be informed about the UK and Ireland! You can also add your own opinion about a British or Irish Hotel you've been to.
Hotel & Bar / Address: 71 Manor Rd / Dersingham / Norfolk / PE31 6LN / Tel: 01485 540207
* Prices may differ from that shown


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Diane Von Furstenberg gloves from Empire seen with Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson)
As Seen on Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson) in Empire - Season 2 Episode 13
Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson) is seen with the Diane Von Furstenberg Leopard-Print Calf Hair/Leather Gloves in Empire, Season 2, Episode 13 - The Tameness of a Wolf. Find Gloves, Accessories and Women's Fashion from Empire below.
While Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) is busy ruling the hip-hop industry at Empire Enterprises, his ex-wife and baby mama Cookie (Taraji P Henson) shakes things up when she tries to take over the company. Armed with come-hither heels, gold bling, and flashy dresses, Cookie is ready for battle in the Lyons den in Fox's drama Empire.
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I have to agree with Ken Chester to a great degree. The U.S. government has a long history of atrocities against others, from slavery to the vanquishing of the native peoples. It is difficult for any reasonable person to glorify the government in view of these horrors.
But I have realized of late that it is not the government per se that is the problem. It is humanity. I heard recently that some evolutionists think that homo sapiens may have endured as long as we have because of our violent nature. Wonderful. The only species that survive are ones that produce Hitlers and the like. Don't make the mistake of thinking that Hitlers are few and far between. Just visit your friendly neighborhood homeowners association and you may see the seeds of tyranny and oppression before your very eyes.
Torin Andrews
Via CortezJournal.com


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Signs on that Oregon mall said that weapons were not allowed on the premises. The police did not stop the shooter as reported. Who stopped the shooting was Nick Meli, a 22-year-old with a concealed weapon, which he had a permit to carry. Anti-gun folks can Google it. These stories never get reported.
Dave McCuskey
Dove Creek
Via email
Editor's note: The Clackamas Town Center shooter took his own life at the scene. Nick Meli did not shoot because, he said, he was afraid of hitting a bystander. He took cover in a nearby store.


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"I like the taste of victories." - Jonas Valanciunas
Now he probably is dreaming about that taste.
"I like the taste of victories." - Jonas Valanciunas
Now he probably is dreaming about that taste.
Really hoping Motiejunas will get some playing time today against JV.
I really thought the "Trade JV" threads would be bubbling up to the surface by now. You guys are getting soft around here.
Come on, there was this reoccurring theme about him getting close to double double territory. How can we be happy with a guy who can't hold down our fantasy hoops teams in the middle right out of the gate?
change the bubble to. Our Defense sucks ass
"Come Hell or High Water"
The Baltic Beast is unstoppable!
http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap...uwon_In_SummerJonas Valanciunas is shooting just 50.7 percent from the field over his first 20 games and like many NBA big men, the Toronto Raptors are considering having him work with Hakeem Olajuwon on his post game.
"Dwane actually mentioned this week the possibility of having him work with Olajuwon this summer and as long as someone write a check big enough, itll happen," said Casey. "Guess it cant hurt."
When compared to Blake, he still looks soooo skinny.
Jonas is going through some growing pains these days.
Like all rookies must! He will be fine.
The best way to predict your future is to create it - Peter Drucker
A lot of haters out there dissing JV for not averaging a double-double already. With all this hype surrounding Jonas people tend to forget he was a 5th overall pick in what was considered a pretty weak draft. I think his current rookie stats are just fine. Definitely a steal for the Raptors.
Although in hindsight, there might have been a possibility of Kemba Walker + Andre Drummond in Toronto. You never know who's gonna be a bust and who's not I guess.
Time will tell.
Last edited by omgsomuchpotential; Thu Dec 13th, 2012 at 06:02 PM.
It seems that Jonas has been improving steadily since the pre-season, as he gets used to the NBA. Watching how hard he works during games, I think he is like a sponge, in terms of soaking up knowledge. Right now he is a little under-sized but that will change over the next two years. As he refines his offensive game, and adds an additional move or two each season, he is going to be a handful for defences to deal with.
He has a nice shot from 15 feet. He needs to add a short dribble and pull-up from the the arc, so he has some additional options when he sets screens and then receives the ball. Currently he automatically looks to pass the ball back because he has no move form there.
I am super happy with his play so far. Less fouling than expected, better offence than expected, and a harder worker than expected.
Besides, I don't get how JV has only 6 field goal attemps when he shoots over 50% in 34 minute like in a game against Portland (4 - 6). Last game he was shooting 100% but still got only 6 shots. Makes me wonder. Raptors is a mess. Though I'm happy he doesn't feel pressure in his first season.
Current Raps record just compliments to your statement Raptors is a mess.
Lithuanian basketball legend Arvydas Sabonis presents Raptor rookie Jonas Valanciunas with an award for the best Lithuanian basketball player of the year.
Easy to forget how big Sabonis is until you see Jonas looking up at him.
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Building counter-terrorism capacity across Asia focus of INTERPOL training programme in Malaysia
Enhancing the level and use of INTERPOL's tools and services for counter-terrorism investigators and INTERPOL National Central Bureaus was the focus of INTERPOL's first I-24/7 police communications system Counter-Terrorism Capacity-Building Programme.
The six-day meeting (7 – 12 March) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia co-ordinated by the Police Training and Development Directorate, the Public Safety and Terrorism Sub-Directorate, the Criminal Analysis Sub-Directorate and I-24/7 Support Centre from the INTERPOL General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France aimed to enhance the relationships between counter-terrorism experts and NCBs on a regional basis by providing training and building capacity in international counter-terrorism best practice.
Among the areas covered during the training sessions were:
- Identifying key counter terrorism issues and concerns across the Asian region
- Introducing and enhancing familiarity with concrete tools to facilitate the sharing of analytical products
- Enabling transnational tactical information among member countries throughout the region and fostering closer cooperation between them
- Enhancing the awareness and usage of INTERPOL's I-24/7 secure police communications network, its global databases, tools and other services available to the NCBs and counter terrorism investigators
- Increasing the quality, quantity and usage of INTERPOL databases and services to increase intelligence, enhance international police co-operation and combat international terrorism through the Fusion Task Force network
A total of 11 Asian countries took part in the programme – Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam – with each delegation including a counter-terrorism expert and an officer from the NCB.
Officially closing the meeting, Commissioner Mohamed Bin Harun, Director Special Task Force - Counter Terrorism in Malaysia, highlighted the importance of fully utilising INTERPOL's tools and services and also encouraged close relationship between counter-terrorism experts and NCBs on a regional and international basis.


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As I (and many others) pointed out on the NHK Men's FS thread, Ross is a very underrated skater. But now he has the highest overall SB score out of the U.S. men. And that 4S was beautiful in the FS (though he missed it in the SP). I think he needs more work on making it consistent. But given his past work with his 3A -- I do think this is possible.
Does anyone think he can rise up the ranks and perhaps even win? Let's discuss.


text:
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text:
Seasons FCU's Keith Wiemert New Board Chair for Connecticut League
Keith Wiemert is the new board chairman for the Credit Union League of Connecticut.
Wiemert, president/CEO of the $123 million Seasons FCU in Middletown, Conn., was elected at the league's 79th annual meeting on April 3.
He succeeds Joanne Todd, president/CEO of the $74 million Northeast Family FCU in Manchester, Conn.
Wiemert has been president/CEO at Seasons FCU since 1997 and on the league's board since 2001. He began his career in 1980 at UConn Student FCU and also has worked for CUNA Mutual Group and several other credit unions, the league said.
The other officers are:
- Vice Chairman: Michael Hinchey, president/CEO, Wepawaug-Flagg FCU, $76 million, Hamden, Conn.
- Treasurer: Stuart Phillips, CEO, United Business & Industry FCU, $83 million, Plainville, Conn.
- Secretary: John E. Keet Jr., CEO, Personal Care America FCU, $18 million, Trumbull, Conn.


text:
Jared Zwerling @JaredZwerling
Source close to Josh Howard tells me #Knicks still like him & have had recent talks. They'd need to cut one though b/c 20 invites is limit.
I can see this happening
Melo needs to be disciplined enough to pass the ball to shooters (or to the pass that leads to an open shot) every time he draws the defense in order to get to Dirk's level offensively.
He doesn't use his offensive threat level to make teams pay whether he's shooting or passing yet.
I'm not gonna lie this Knicks team is looking serious this year if everyone stays healthy and plays to their potential.
But is Howard willing to ride the bench quietly?
James White is a low maintenence guy, no feeling of entitlement in terms of playing time.
We don't need anymore known players, honestly kinda worried about logjam with Brewer, Shump and JR when my man Shump returns.
Plus I heard that kid from Northwestern is shooting lights out!!!! So if we let White go I'd rather it be to sign and send a kid to The D League.
"I'd Rather Melo shoot with 3 men on him than Jefferies shotting wide open"
-Jeff Van Gundy
Jonah Ballow @jonahballow
Sheed is vocal during practice this AM. While working on off/def sets, he has jumped in to provide guidance #Knicks
@jonahballow: while the players are stretching, Woodson just drilled a jumper & did the "Discount Double Check"
I wish I could see it.
I talked to Jonah Ballow and he said we should get some in depth training camp action today


text:
A Close Shave
The men of the $214 million, 21,700-member Service 1st Federal Credit Union went hairy for a cause in November. The Danville, Pa., credit union observed "No Shave November" to raise funds for the Prostate Cancer Foundation. The credit union agreed to donate $100 for each employee who participated, and as it turns out, all the male employees did. Along with a dress down day, the effort raised $2,046 to help raise awareness about prostate and testicular cancer.
November got a little hairy at Service 1st Federal Credit Union! In order to raise awareness of Prostate and Testicular Cancer, Service 1st introduced No Shave November, a fun program to get their employees involved in raising awareness and money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation.


text: Awesome Time we Absolutely Sacked them Today Todd Kersey 2014-10-07T17:21:00+00:00 October 7th, 2014|0 Comments About the Author: Todd Kersey A NATIVE Floridian is the often-outspoken owner of Florida Fishing Network that has a passion for all things involving fishing. FFN is a Network operating in the fishing and tourism industries. A United States Coast Guard licensed Captain he's best known for his industry knowledge, marketing ideas, innovations and can-do attitude work style. He's a popular industry speaker, product promoter and online author, and is considered one of the most influential freshwater experts of modern times. He has dedicated his career to the industry of fishing, conservation and charity.


text:
1) Age: 35
2) Born: Calgary
3) Hometown: Calgary
4) What are your ethnic roots? British/Scottish/Irish/Manx/Italian
5) Favorite All time Raptor: Garbajosa
6) Favorite Current Raptor: Lowry (Come on, man, justify my love!) and Calderon. Hope those two guys get along, I don't want to have to pick sides!
7) Favorite Non Raptors Players: Kirilenko, Garnett
8) Which NBA team do you hate the most? Heat, Knicks
9) Which NBA player do you hate the most? James, Nate Robinson
10) Favorite Raptors moment: Just the whole spring of 2007. I really believed that it was going to be the start of great things for this team.
11) Outside of basketball, who is your favorite athlete, past or present?
12) What team did you cheer for pre-Toronto? Spurs, Jazz
13) What is your guilty pleasure? Red meat
14) Favourite TV show (past or present): Community, Parks & Rec, Arrested Development, Futurama, Fringe, Mad Men, SYTYCD.
15) Things that freak you out: I had a stalker once. That was pretty freaky.
16) Music preference: Indie/Alt rock, jazz, classical
17) Favourite album: Tom Waits - Mule Variations, Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America, Charles Mingus - Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
18) Beverage preference: Unibroue beers, peaty scotches
19) If your life was turned into a movie, what actor would play you? Paul Giamatti (when he's looking a little leaner and meaner, as in Shoot 'Em Up).
20) Assume you're still single (if your currently not), celeb wise who would you date? Christina Hendricks. But my inability to maintain eye-contact would probably limit me to just one date.


text:
Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, 1993 (ICPSR 6577)
Principal Investigator(s): Wechsler, Henry, Harvard School of Public Health
This survey focused on alcohol use and alcohol problems among undergraduate college students. The survey collected information on students' use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs, views on campus alcohol policies and student alcohol use, reasons for drinking alcohol and reasons for not drinking or limiting drinking, and personal difficulties caused by drinking problems (e.g., missed classes, injury, and trouble with police). Additional topics covered by the survey include overall health status, daily activities, satisfaction with education being received, grade-point average, living arrangements, social life, sexual activity, use of condoms during sexual intercourse, date rape, drunk driving, and attendance in meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, Alanon, Adult Children of Alcoholics, and Narcotics Anonymous. Background variables include age, height, weight, sex, marital status, religion, mother's and father's education, mother's and father's drinking habits, race, and Hispanic origin.
Access Notes
One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions ; consult the restrictions note to learn more. You can apply online for access to the restricted-use data. A login is required to apply.
As explained in the ICPSR Processing Note in the codebook, variables COLL_ID (college ID number), STUDY_ID (unique respondent identifier), and SERIAL (sequence number within college) are restricted from general dissemination for reasons of confidentiality. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete an Agreement for the Use of Confidential Data, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research. Apply for access to these data through the ICPSR restricted data contract portal, which can be accessed via the study home page.
Any public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
This study is maintained and distributed by the Health and Medical Care Archive (HMCA). HMCA is the official data archive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Study Description
Wechsler, Henry. Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, 1993. ICPSR06577-v3. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005-11-14. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06577.v3
Persistent URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR06577.v3
Export Citation:
- RIS (generic format for RefWorks, EndNote, etc.)
- EndNote XML (EndNote X4.0.1 or higher)
This study was funded by:
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (19547)
Scope of Study
Subject Terms: academic achievement, alcohol abuse, alcohol consumption, college students, drinking behavior, drug abuse, health status, sexual behavior, smoking, social life, tobacco use, treatment programs
Geographic Coverage: United States
- 1993
- 1993
Universe: Full-time undergraduate students enrolled in four-year colleges or universities in the United States.
This study was previously distributed under the title ALCOHOL USE AND ABUSE AMONG AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS, 1993.
Generated by the SAS CPORT procedure, the SAS transport file comprises the data and a formats catalog with the value labels.
ICPSR did not receive any code descriptions for variable COLL_ID (college ID number). Consequently, individual colleges cannot be identified by name with this variable.
This survey is the first round of the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study. Subsequent rounds were conducted in 1997 (ICPSR 3163), 1999 (ICPSR 3818), and 2001 (ICPSR 4291).
Sample: A random sample of students in 140 schools was selected using probability proportionate to size sampling of colleges and universities. However, the data only include the 119 schools in the analytic sample of the 2001 round of the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (ICPSR 4291). Of the 120 schools surveyed for the 2001 round, 119 met the response rate cutoff for inclusion in that year's analytical sample. The last ICPSR version of this study (i.e., the second version of ICPSR 6577) only included the 119 schools of the 1999 analytical sample (ICPSR 3818), which were slightly different from the 119 schools in the 2001 analytical sample. In 1999, 119 of the 128 schools surveyed met the response rate cutoff for inclusion in the 1999 analytical sample.
mailback questionnaires
Original ICPSR Release: 1996-10-01
- 2005-11-14. The study has been updated with revised data supplied by the principal investigator to allow for comparable analyses with the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, 2001 (ICPSR 4291). This version of the data comprises the same 119 schools in the ICPSR 4291 data. Six schools in the previous version were dropped, six schools not in the previous version were added, and seven variables (MMDD, SERIAL, NEWC19_A, NEWC19_B, NEWC19_C, NEWC19_D, and WAVE) were added. In addition, ICPSR revised the documentation accordingly and added a SAS setup file to the collection. The SAS setup includes the PROC FORMAT statements from the previous version.
- 2003-12-02 The principal investigator supplied a revised data file in which the number of colleges was reduced from 140 to 119 (2,189 cases were dropped). Some variables were removed, others were renamed, and new variables, including a weight variable, were added. In addition, ICPSR has identified 11 variables with one or more revised values (variables DRIVE, NUMPROB, PROBGULP, PROB5, PERSIST, NOBINGE, UPTAKE, GIVEUP, CONTBING, ANYDRUG1, and ANYDRUG2). The documentation and other supporting files were revised accordingly.
Related Publications
- List all ~57 citations associated with this study
Most Recent Publications
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If you're looking for collection-level metadata rather than an individual metadata record, please visit our Metadata Records page.


text:
The first motherboards
supporting USB 3.0 and 6Gbps SATA hit the market last month, but
there are many who don't want to upgrade just for those features.
ASUS is making a PCIe X4 adapter with two 6Gbps SATA ports and two
USB 3.0 ports for around $40.
Other manufacturers want to get into the mix. Vantec has announced
a PCIe adapter of its own, as well as an adapter for the ExpressCard
format used in most laptops. The company is known for its external
hard drive enclosures, and will be introducing 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch
enclosures supporting USB 3.0 as well. Expect to see these hit
stores in January.
Buffalo recently began shipping the DriveStation
HD-HXU3, sporting a USB 3.0 external hard drive. They have also
announced PCIe and ExpressCard adapters of their own.
there have been delays in Intel's
chipset roadmap,and there won't be any USB 3.0 chipsets from the
blue team until 2011. AMD is planning support for USB 3.0 and 6Gbps
SATA, but details have been light.
Ultimately, several
motherboard makers have decided to got ahead and put these features
on the motherboard themselves or provide adapter cards. In the
competitive enthusiast motherboard market, these features are
increasingly a must have, and will move to more mainstream boards
as economies of scale kick in and chip prices drop.


text:
Maybe we can start an Everything Kyle Lowry thread?
Arguably a top 10 point guard, and one of the best defensive point guards in the league? Here is are a couple of videos of his best games last season, maybe really help push up the excitement for this upcoming season.
The reason why I'm optimistic is because of this guy. Gonna finally have a guy who can get us some spotlight.


text:
CUNA Warns of May 7 Website Attacks
CUNA on Friday warned credit unions to be aware of the possibility of widespread Distributed Denial of Service attacks on May 7.
The trade group cited Internet "chatter" about the attacks in its warning and said credit unions are included in the threats to take down online banking webs
Also Read:
- Was May 7 Only a Test?
- May 8: Attacks But No Time to Let Guard Down
- Mixed Views in LinkedIn Poll on May 7 Warning
- No Takedowns Reported Tuesday
- Anonymous May 7 Target List Includes CUs
- Krebs: DHS Memo Says 'More Bark Than Bite'
- Threat of the Week: May 7, Ready or Not
- CO-OP Issues DDoS White Paper
- CUNA Explains Thinking Behind Warning
- Reactions Vary to May 7 Warning
- DDoS Attacks Often Fraud Diversions
- Mark Your Calendar (or Not) for May 7 Attacks
The warning even included telling credit unions to "consider alerting members about the Internet threat for May 7 and asking members to execute critical online banking business on a different day or come into the credit union office."
They also were advised to alert call centers and their network staff.
Tom Nohelty, CUNA's vice president of information technology, said in the announcement, "It is not possible to assess the veracity of the threat at this time, but it is important that credit unions be aware and prepared at all times.
"Also, some of the largest credit unions are included in a list of targets for the purported May attack so heightened awareness is warranted."
At least two credit unions – Patelco CU in California and University FCU in Texas – were hit in recent attacks in which floods of external communication requests overloaded servers and disrupted service.


text:
Keith Kauffield Leaves Colorado for Top Job at University of Nebraska FCU
Keith Kauffield has been named president/CEO of the University of Nebraska Federal Credit Union in Lincoln, Neb.
Kauffield has 16 years of senior management experience in operations and administration, most recently as vice president/chief administrative officer at the $446 million Air Academy FCU in Colorado Springs, Colo., his new employer said.
Sandra Lineberry, the Nebraska credit union's board chair, said in its announcement that "NUFCU will be in great hands with Keith, who brings outstanding expertise in the credit union industry, including a deep background in leveraging people and processes that will serve NUFCU well."
Kauffield succeeds Bob Torell, who said he plans to retire after the credit union's annual meeting on April 17. Torell was been with NUFCU since 1982, when it had about $4 million in assets and 3,000 members.
The credit union now has $81 million in assets and 10,200 members and moved into a new facility in 2012.
"Because of Torell's leadership, our credit union is stronger today and can better serve our members," Lineberry said in a separate statement posted by the university's news service.
"His knowledge was crucial in our expansion to the new building and is the reason we have a broad range of products available to members. We will miss Bob, but I know with the staff and volunteers we have at the credit union we will continue to build on the foundation created by him," she said.


text:
The Durango Police Departments annual Shop With A Cop program, sponsored through donations to Durango Lodge 8 Fraternal Order of Police, is now accepting public donations for the annual event set to take place Dec. 19.
The program matches children in need with a police officer for a day, who takes them shopping for clothes and toys. Each child is given a $125 gift certificate.
Donations will be accepted up until the day of the event.
Sgt. Geary Parsons, records supervisor with the Durango Police Department, said the program usually raises $10,000 to $12,000 through local donations, which are the primary funding sources for the program.
Last year, the program raised $13,500 for the event, providing 108 children the opportunity to go shopping, Parsons said.
This event is put on by a person here and a person there just giving what they can, Parsons said. People in this community are so generous to help these kids have a Christmas.
Children are selected for the program through a list sent to Parsons by the Department of Social Services. Once he receives the list of families in need, he selects those who are not already receiving help through other programs such as Project Merry Christmas to ensure they are not double dipping from charitable services.
When children and families arrive at Walmart for the event, they are matched with a police officer, who monitors their shopping and expenditures. Officers encourage the children to spend 60 percent of their money on new clothes and leave the remaining 40 percent for toys. One officer is usually assigned per family.
In order for a child and a responsible guardian to be matched with an officer, the childs name must already be on the prepared list of approved families.
Parsons said the advantage of Shop With A Cop is that it provides older children the opportunity to go shopping. While Project Merry Christmas accepts only children up to 12 years of age, Shop With A Cop accepts children up to 16 years of age.
The event also helps build relationships between police officers and the community, as well as strengthening community bonds.
Its good to build our relationship with families and the community, but the event is really the community giving to the community, and we just happen to be the vessel that it happens through, Parsons said.
Donations for the program, accepted until Dec. 19, can be sent to Durango Lodge 8, P.O. Box 2172 Durango, CO, 81302.
Sarah Ford is an intern for The Durango Herald and a student at Denver University. She can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
The doctor will ask about your symptoms and medical history. A physical exam will be done.
Diagnostic Criteria
The National Cholesterol Education Program offers these criteria for diagnosing metabolic syndrome. With these criteria, you have metabolic syndrome if you have 3 of the 5 following conditions:
Central obesity occurs when extra fat tissue is concentrated in the waist area. This has been found to have greater metabolic consequences than when fat is concentrated in the hips and thighs. Central obesity may be defined as:
- In men—waist measurement greater than or equal to 40 inches (102 cm)
- In women—waist measurement greater than or equal to 35 inches (89 cm)
There is some variation in this guideline with ethnicity in relation to overall size.
When your body cannot appropriately control the levels of sugar in the blood, impaired fasting glucose occurs. This is defined as a fasting glucose level greater than or equal to 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L). People previously diagnosed with type 2 diabetes also meet this criterium.
Elevated blood pressure is defined as a blood pressure greater than or equal to 130/85 mm Hg.
Triglycerides are a kind of fat found in your blood. This is defined as fasting blood triglycerides greater than or equal to 150 mg/dL (1.6 mmol/L).
HDL stands for high-density lipoprotein. This breaks down and removes cholesterol from the body. It is sometimes referred to as the good cholesterol. This is defined as:
- In men—HDL levels less than 40 mg/dL (1.0 mmol/L)
- In women—HDL levels less than 50 mg/dL (1.3 mmol/L)
Diagnostic Tests
There are a number of tests that your doctor may do. Examples include:
- Waist circumference—a measurement around your hips and belly button
- Blood pressure
Your doctor will ask you to fast (not eat) after dinner the night before the test. The next morning, a blood sample will be tested for glucose levels.
These tests are also called lipid profile tests. After fasting, a blood sample will be taken to check for levels of:
- Total cholesterol
- Triglycerides
- LDL cholesterol—low-density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol)
- HDL cholesterol—high-density lipoprotein (good cholesterol)
Revision Information
- Reviewer: James Cornell, MD
- Review Date: 06/2016 -
- Update Date: 06/07/2016 -


text:
Pirate Empires: Part 3 - Arrrdvark
9th April 2009 Arrrdvark
Click here to see a larger version of this image.
Avast, ye scurvy dogs, tis a graphics mut'ny! We're takin' the wheel of this here diary; that lily-livered Mod Wivlaro gets t' walk tha plank!
With many of our games, we start by defining a look and feel to help us visualise the style of the game and how it will play. This is one of FunOrb's largest projects so far, which is the perfect opportunity to get the whole team involved! Because so many people love pirates and have their own ideas of what makes the perfect pirate game, we created a 'mood board' where everyone could pin up ideas, sketches, pictures, underwear (its an interesting office we work in), eye patches and anything else that we could think of that would help inspire the project. From here, we narrowed down the ideas and themes until we had a good grasp on the game's style and direction.
When you first play the game, you're asked to choose one of three factions, each of which has its own playing style and range of ships this was a great place to start with the concept art! I sketched out three ideas for each faction (we voted on which ones best represented each faction) plus the enemy of the pirates: 'The Admiral'. Two of these character concepts were featured in the first part of this diary.
Once we had the characters defined, we moved onto looking at the game as a whole, which is when I created a mock-up based on the ideas we came up with in our brainstorming meetings. I used a mix of Photoshop effects for scenery, custom 3D models and the current game engine items to create an idea of what the game MIGHT look like when its done.
Click here to see a larger version of this image.
Since then, I've been concentrating on screens and items for the game in particular the port screen. This is one of the most important menus in the game as it's where you can start the game, repair your ship, recruit more crew, and access a whole host of other features.
This meant that there was a lot to get in there - the docks, shipyard, market and tavern. I started out by sketching a rough idea for the layout and chatted through the features with our developers to check it had everything they needed. A few quick changes and one resized sketch later and we're ready to get started.
I prefer to work purely in Photoshop for something like this: sketch, rough colour, add detail sounds easy, doesn't it? I set up the port as a base and added in some background houses and trees, then got to work on the items. First up was the market, where you can purchase and sell items such as food, grog and other essential items to keep your crew healthy and happy.
To make the market, I started by 'blocking in' the basic colours and shapes. We'd already decided on a style and colour palette for the buildings, so I followed that to create a horseshoe of houses and, from there, added in little details like doors, windows and stonework. After that, I added in some more interesting details (such as little market stalls around a well) to make sure it wasn't all just red and white. I then followed the same process for the tavern, ship sales and shipyard and by the end of the day we had a port!
Mod Fosh
Senior Artist, FunOrb Graphics
Captain of the Dirty Seagull


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I am sort of confused by this discussion. Bargs could improve or he could not, the fact is that right now he is good value for his contract. If he started averaging 9 rebounds a game, playing good D, and improved his scoring efficiency he would be worth significantly more than his contract, and in fact would probably by a max type guy.
Right now Bargs is owed $42 million over the next four years. That's $42 million for a 7 footer who plays average man D, spreads the floor well with his shooting, can play either the 5 or 4, and is still only 26. To put that in perspective, DeAndre Jordan, who will never be anywhere near the offensive player Bargs is and is basically on the same level as Amir Johnson at the moment (Shout out Tim W's blog) is getting 40 million for four years. Chandler, who admittedly is a champion and a great defensive anchor, is getting 60 million for 4 years 5 million a year more than Bargs, who is a far better offensive weapon. Basically if Bargs brings exactly the same thing this year that he brought last year, he is still a bargain compared to other bigs. Maybe this means we should trade him since his value is up, but for the moment I'm very happy with what he is bringing.
The key is how he should be used. Does he have to be Dirk? No. If he does some of the things Dirk does does that make us better? Yes. Opening up the floor on offense, creating mismatches, playing multiple positions, providing size, the guy just allows for so many different looks on offense and can make his teammates better by just being out there. He doesn't even have to be the number one option, in fact I'd like to see him take less shots and work on shooting a higher percentage, especially from 3. If Derozen can become a superstar type player, having a Bargnani to spread the floor and come out for the three will be very very effective.
Can he improve? I think it's ridiculous to say he can't, especially defensively. Regardless of whether or not he improves though, he is a very good player for what he is paid.
As far as him taking away minutes from Ed and Amir, I think you're making the assumption that minutes will not be earned this year and that Bargs will just play 35 minutes because he's Bargs. It will be a lot better for the development of these guys to have to earn minutes, which is what Casey preaches, than just being thrown out there because there is no one better.
"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."
Again, I've NEVER said that it was impossible for Bargnani to change. Never. Not once. I have said I have no faith in him doing so and that there is simply no evidence to support the argument that he will.
Read my blog, The Picket Fence. Guaranteed to make you think or your money back!
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7 pages of posts in 24 hours...you have to like AB just for that alone.
The article title used the phrase "Sees Similarities Between" - this thread title used the words "thinks they're the same!!!". A simple example about how Raptors fans tend to exaggerate everything, good or bad, about Bargnani.
Last edited by Mess; Wed Dec 14th, 2011 at 04:24 PM.
Let me repeat that.
Bargnani is currently a liability on the court.
For all of DeAndre Jordan's weaknesses (and he does have them), he's not a liability to the team half the time he's on the court. There's a difference between not being an offensive threat and being a liability on offense. Reggie Evans was, for the most part, an offensive liability because even if you gave him the ball under the basket, there was a good chance he wouldn't put it in (although in his defense he's obviously a great offensive rebounder and an underrated passer, so that helps). Jordan shot over 65% from the field. No one can say he's a liability on offense, except in tight games when his free throw shooting could hurt his team, but he can simply be taken out, then.
Read my blog, The Picket Fence. Guaranteed to make you think or your money back!
Follow me on Twitter.
Maybe im taking it too literally but this excerpt from your article kinda suggests youre expecting him to be traded before this season starts.Things seem to be going downhill fast for Bargnani in Toronto. All the evidence seems to point to Bargnani being traded before the start of next season. To me, it seemed like Colangelo has been planning it for sometime, slowly leaking the information out there in order to garner interest and ease the fans into the idea. His teammates, several of whom suggested the Raptors need a legit center, certainly don't seem like they'd mind too much if Bargnani was in a different uniform. And if the Raptors are truly going to lose their identity of an offensive team that can't play defense, they need to get rid of the poster child for that.
I think we truly are seeing the last days of Bargnani in Toronto.
Oh i guess now it changed coz of Casey? Figures.
Read my blog, The Picket Fence. Guaranteed to make you think or your money back!
Follow me on Twitter.
Read my blog, The Picket Fence. Guaranteed to make you think or your money back!
Follow me on Twitter.
Some coaches have an old school mentality, where sticking a small forward on a center would be unheard of. 7 foot jump shooters didn't exist 30 years ago, but times have changed, yet strategies may not have necessarily caught up.
Last edited by Nilanka; Wed Dec 14th, 2011 at 04:38 PM.
It looks like you do think you are Nostradamus. Just man up and say "I was really expecting him to get traded but it didnt happen, so lets move on". I wouldnt think any less of you as i do now.I think we truly are seeing the last days of Bargnani in Toronto.
Ive said this to you before, its never-ending. If Bargnani surprises us all, people are still going to say, well its not enough. If he continues to disappoint, well, people are going to say I told you so.
How do I view Dirk as a rebounder? For his career pretty close to average. This last year a below average rebounder. But he is also 33 years old (not 26), and provides a lot more on both ends of the floor.
But I fail to see how Dirk has anything to do with it.
No one is asking Bargnani to be 'great' at rebounding. Just around average... as was said in the first place. There were approx 36 big men (who played enough minutes/games) who average 10 rebounds per 36. There were 80 big men who averaged 10 rebounds per 36 (that includes all big men). Expecting Bargnani to average somewhere in the neighboorhood of 9-10 rebounds per game is not asking him to be great.
(just off hand there were 36 players who average a 24% DRR (rounded up)... I don't think being at the bottom end of 36 others is greatness)
hahahahaha. hey Apollo there's still 1 more week before the season starts.Welcome to at least one more season of Andrea Bargnani, Tim. Enjoy.
Maybe Casey is just hyping up Bargnani's pre-season work ethic so some GM will offer a trade!
In the article and Casey's defense, (and I admit haven't read through all 7 pages because I'm sure it's been derailed into a general AB discussion) I'd argue that Bargnani has the most similar offensive skillset to Dirk than any other player in the league. Similar, not equal. And I'm including the matchup problems they create as part of their skillset.
Why wouldn't you want Casey to run sets that worked for Dirk and put him into a good position to score or create for others?
Everyone knows the sets would be more effective if you had Dirk rather than Bargnani. But what else are the Raptors we going to run? JC and Amir pick and rolls? DD baseline backdoor alleyoops? That damn Longhorns (or whatever) play Sam Mitchell used to run every single time down the court?
That's all that article and quotes are saying - with some added hyperbole for confidence boosting and PR hype.
But I suppose you can't have an article that compliments Bargnani on his offensive game without everyone chiming in about how he's lacking in other (maybe every other) areas.
I wonder...if Phil Jackson was coaching the Raptors this year and he said he has some sets he wants to run for DD because they worked for Kobe, how big the outcry would be here in RR.
His team defense is "atrocious", particularly when he has to make more than one rotation, but then he has never had another good defensive player around him to key off. If we are going with the Nowitzki comparison, Dirk had his struggles on defense too. Once he had a good defensive center put beside him to work with he got better and eventually became the average player we see today. It's not rocket science, having no one on the team who knows how to play team D as a center gives no example for Bargs to follow. Maybe this will be corrected this season by the addition of Magloir and Casey, maybe not.
If you think DeAndre Jordan isn't a liability on offense, you haven't watched him enough. The guy is not only a terrible, terrible free throw shooter, he is useless beyond two feet from the basket, and he is just plain bad in the pick and roll. Without Blake to attract attention, he'd be useless. The only reason he isn't a complete loss is his freaky athleticism which could eventually let him become a better player. This is not Dwight Howard 2, Dwight has always been a pick and roll monster.
"Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival."
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Indian pudding
Item Description
Title: Indian pudding
Source Document
Extent: 1 page
Genre(s): recipes
Language(s): English
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2010-07-12, Center for Digital Initiatives, University of Vermont Libraries
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May, the US Copyright Group's "pay or else" suit over
torrent downloads of the movie The
Hurt Locker slammed over
5,000 individuals. One might have expected that downloads
of the movie might have dropped.However, they have actually
been going
quite strong; the film was downloaded 200,000 times in June, with
23 percent of the downloads coming from the U.S. Some observers
believe that the movie's producers may actually be content with the
illegal downloads. Despite losing millions of copies in sales,
its likely still logging IP addresses and will be able to recoup
millions in threat payouts. For that reason, the film's
producers have made no effort to remove the film from popular torrent
sites.Elsewhere, torrent sites are clearly
being targeted for takedown. Following the escape to overseas
hosting in 2005 in the wake of
the LokiTorrent and EliteTorrents suits,
torrent hosters have offered up open defiance to anything media
watchdog groups like the MPAA and RIAA can throw at them.However,
torrent downloads are actually continuing to increase, with the
efforts against them seemingly having little effect, either on the
downloads or the sites that host them.The
Pirate Bay,
perhaps the best known site, is still very much in action and,
according to some sources, turning a small profit. Threats,
police raids, civil actions, ISP-ordered
takedowns, and even sentencing
the Swedish admins that ran the site to jail time ultimately
has offered no relief to the media industry. The site still is
up and running complete with copyrighted material.Similarly,
market-leading Usenet indexer Newzbin –
after its recent
defeat in Netherlands court over free-speech regarding
piracy – is right back in the gray. After a brief takedown,
the site has returned to the same URL, with dozens of movie listings
being added daily. The site's admins, who have invested over
$40,000 USD in the site, even brazenly boasted about plans
to profit off of it.That kind of sentiment seen
by The
Pirate Bay and Newzbin increasingly
seems the sentiment in the pirate community. And the public
seems to be becoming increasingly brazen in their piracy as
well.Frustrated media watchdog groups are generally turning
to two solutions. Either to craft mass threat schemes like The
Hurt Locker's
or spend money lobbying the government for harsher punishments.
Both solutions are problematic for the industry groups. The
problem with settlement schemes is that law firms demand a big cut
(in The
Hurt Locker case,
reportedly 70
percent of the settlements). And the legislative effort is
no better as it risk mass public outrage, if efforts such as
the jailing
of filesharers or repeal of free speech about piracy are


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This study is provided by ICPSR. ICPSR provides leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis for a diverse and expanding social science research community.
County Statistics File 2 (CO-STAT 2): [United States] (ICPSR 8662)
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This compilation of data, which was gathered from a variety of federal agencies and private organizations, provides information for the United States as a whole, the 50 states and the District of Columbia, and all 3,139 counties and county equivalents (defined as of January 1, 1983). Data are included for the following general areas: age, ancestry, agriculture, banking, business, construction, crime, education, elections, government, health, households, housing, labor, land area, manufactures, money income, personal income, population, poverty, retail trade, service industries, social insurance and human services, veterans, vital statistics, wholesale trade, and journey to work.
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United States Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. County Statistics File 2 (CO-STAT 2): [United States]. ICPSR08662-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1987. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR08662.v1
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Geographic Coverage: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York (state), North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
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Live: American Idol's Top 11 Perform
Well, it's that time again! Tonight—from 8:00 to 10:00 PM, live on FOX—this season's American Idol Top 12 will perform for the judges' critiques and our votes. Want in on the action? Your open thread is inside.
There's not much to say about tonight's episode besides what we've already gone over: 11 finalists, each singing one Motown song. The episode lasts two hours and will air live on FOX. Ryan Seacrest hosts, and the judging panel consists of Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez and Randy Jackson.
While you're waiting for the show to begin, feel free to chat in the comments below. Or, you could check out our post of the Worst 20 Idol Auditions Ever. Additionally, to peruse the rest of our Idol-related coverage, click here.
If you haven't participated in one of our live-blogs before, don't fret-it's easy! All you need to do is tune your TV to FOX, watch the show, and discuss all the action with everyone else in the comments. It's really as simple as that. If you don't have a commenter account, just sign up for one (it literally takes seconds) and we'll get you approved and in on the action right away.
I'll see you in the comments!


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Last August this article came out in Atlanta talking about the new NBA. At the time I remember either starting a thread or putting it in another thread and saying Toronto should follow the same steps as they were positioned to do so. Unfortunately I can't find it.
The more punitive tax rate is just one aspect of the rules meant to curtail the big spenders. The rules also stipulate that teams with payrolls more than $4 million above the tax line cant execute sign-and-trades, can acquire less salary in trades than non-taxpaying teams, and have a smaller mid-level exception and no bi-annual exception.
Cuban is betting those rules will lead to high-payroll teams being unable to acquire superstars, leaving those with cap space in a stronger position to make deals for those players. Ferry is predicting the same.
Its the same path, Ferry said. We dont have [Dirk] Nowitzki but we have more assets. We have good players. [The Mavs] are piecing things together to keep flexibility to stay competitive. On some level, we are in a similar mode as what Dallas is doing.
With Josh [Smith] and Jeff [Teague] and Al [Horford] and flexibility around it and draft choices ahead. I think we are positioned well to be opportunistic whether thats trade [or] whether thats free agency in the future. Its not an exact path. Its about having a situation where you can be opportunistic.
Now that Ferry has gained the flexibility he coveted, the next step is trying to make the Hawks the kind of franchise where the best players want to work.
Im trying to build well from the inside out, Ferry said. We need to build an organizational pride from within. We are not hinging our program on cap space or anything like that. We are hinging it on building a good program and having flexibility to make a trade or do free agency or do whatever.
To get centric on cap space, [focusing on] would a free agent come here, thats not what we are doing right now. Thats not the mode we are in right now. We are in a mode of, Lets build on an organizational pride and build an even better run machine as an organization.
From there, pride will grow and I think the opportunities that are out there, we are in a good position to be in the game, whether thats a trade or a free agent or whatever that is.
- See more at: http://blogs.ajc.com/hawks/2012/08/1....yuj0uOOb.dpuf
Today another article along the same lines comes out of Cleveland with a GM in Wallace who worked under and eventually replaced Ferry (now Atlanta GM).
The league suddenly cares about payrolls minus 3 teams (LAL, BKN, NYK). Even Miami has rumblings of one of their big 3 being traded in the next year or two (yes, you Bosh) unless someone opts out (yes, you LeBron).The perfect illustration for how the new collective-bargaining agreement is changing the landscape of the NBA is located in the leagues official transaction log.
At the trade deadline two years ago, teams traded away a total of 11 first-round picks. By last season, the first under the newly negotiated CBA, only four first-round picks were dealt. And during this years recently completed trading season, only one first-round pick was traded.
But the dramatic drop from 11 first-round picks traded two years ago to just one this year illustrates the impact of the escalating luxury taxes that will take effect next year. Players making less are suddenly worth more. Much more.
Teams right now are scared of money, one league executive said recently.
The days of general managers playing fast and loose with first-round picks are over. Guys like Gerald Wallace, who was dealt at the trade deadline in consecutive years, dont hold the same value that they did just 12 months ago.
The Charlotte Bobcats acquired two of those 11 first-round picks during the trading season two years ago, swindling two out of the Portland Trail Blazers for Wallace, a good-but-not-great wing who has made one All-Star Game in 12 years. Then the Blazers recouped a first-round pick, No. 6 overall, when they dealt Wallace to the New Jersey Nets in a panic move at the trade deadline last season.
The Blazers plucked the likely Rookie of the Year with that selection in Damian Lillard. Wallace, meanwhile, is still owed $30 million over the next three seasons. Thats the type of contract that now would typically get him traded along with a first-round pick to any team willing to absorb that type of salary. Wallaces saving grace is that he plays for the Brooklyn Nets and billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov, who scoffs at the looming tax damages coming his way.
Precious few owners around the NBA can behave that way. Beginning next season, the new luxury tax will punish teams more harshly for going over the cap and it annihilates habitual offenders.
The new tax rules are what prompted Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to go on Dallas radio recently and suggest the Los Angeles Lakers might need to release Kobe Bryant before next season using the leagues amnesty clause.
Of course, Cuban was just baiting the Lakers and their fans because thats what he enjoys doing, and no one actually believes the Lakers would release Bryant. But he will earn $30 million next season, when the Lakers could be paying more than $90 million just in luxury taxes if Dwight Howard signs a max contract this summer.
Add in the $100 million in actual payroll and the Buss family, who just lost their patriarch when Jerry died last week, could be writing checks next season that total $200 million. Of course, the Lakers are believed to be pulling in about $150 million a season just on their television contract with Time Warner Cable, but no other team has that type of television deal, meaning most of the leagues owners including Cuban cant afford that type of payroll and luxury tax.
Thats why Cuban began dismantling the Mavericks shortly after winning the championship two years ago. He once was one of the leagues carefree spenders, but Cuban has grown much thriftier in recent years. Its part of the reason he traded with the Cavs to move down seven spots last summer, giving Tyler Zeller to Cleveland with the 17th pick in exchange for the 24th, 33rd and 34th picks. In Cubans eyes, the more rookie scale contracts, the better.
The Raptors for years avoided the tax like the plague because they were run by an ownership group that did not care about winning, just profits. Now the Raptors are owned by an ownership group that needs an exciting and/or winning product because their base business (media, in particular television) depends on it.
If DeMar's contract killed all talk of financial flexibility under the cap moving forward, acquiring Rudy Gay took a nail gun to the lid of the coffin. For all intents and purposes - amnesty or not - the Raptors have no financial flexibility. They also have traded away picks at a time other teams are hoarding.
So as teams around the league cut back and make financial trades versus basketball trades, it is probably a good time for Toronto to step up and start making basketball trades regardless of finances. After all, the Raptors are owned by two telecommunications giants who have well over half the Canadian market for TV, internet, home phone, and mobility services and they play in a top 5 market of North America with a strong fan base/attendance.
Don't confuse what I am saying here, I don't expect or think Toronto to become the Brooklyn Nets with their $13B dollar man owner or the Lakers with their $150M annual TV deal. What I am saying is the Raptors are in a position to take on the productive but overpaid contracts that other teams are avoiding like the plague. Wins on the court could very well make up for the added expense of the player salary.
A perfect example is Boozer in Chicago. Chicago was unable to get under the luxury tax prior to trading deadline. This will be the first season they pay the luxury tax. At the end of this season, after cutting the cheque, and looking at the new SUPER luxury tax rates coming in for 2013-14 (already over tax with just 8 players) and then realizing that in 2014-2015 they are going to have to pay the repeater tax in addition (with $58M tied up in just 6 players), might the Raptors be able to take advantage? I hope yes - and I mean more than just a Bargnani for Boozer swap - picks too please. (Of course, Chicago might also decide to trade Deng with the emergence of Butler this season).
So while the rest of the league starts looking for bang for the buck, Toronto might finally have an opportunity to just focus on basketball.
What do you think? Crazy am I?