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Popular Chess Terms
A Basic Course in Positional Understanding
After you have learned the rules of chess and developed some tactical abilities, how do you go from there? You are now ready to tackle basic issues of strategy, but what is the best way to improve and win more games?
Chess Training for Post-Beginners
Studies prove: the more patterns you know, the better you play. On this DVD GM Adrian Mikhalchishin presents games of the World Champions of the past to explain typical patterns and strategic concepts of these games and to show how grandmasters apply these ideas today. Mikhalchishin offers a wealth of material that helps you to improve your games and teaches you the art of pattern recognition and analogical thinking – a key to success that helped the author to win many games and that will help you to win more games and play better.
Pattern Recognition and Typical Plans - Adrian Mikhalchishin
GM Jesse Kraai currently resides in Berkeley, California. His most notable chess achievements are winning the Denker Tournament of High School Champions in 1989 and 1990, and competing in the U.S. Championship from 2002-2006.
Step by Step Training Guide - in 5 Steps, Beginner to 1600 - Chess Lecture - Volume 2
A Grandmaster Guide
An in-depth study of the 28 most common structures in chess practice, it offers a carefully selected model games showing each structure's main plans and ideas, Strategic patterns to observe and typical pitfalls to avoid and 50 positional exercises with detailed solutions
Chess Structures
Presented by : GM Jesse Kraai - IM Valerie Lilov - IM Bill Paschall - IM David Vigoritto - FM Dennis Monokroussos
More experienced players understand the power of the bishop. Bishops usually gain in relative strength towards the endgame as pieces are captured and more lines become available on the board. A bishop can easily influence both wings of the board simultaneously. In an open endgame, a pair of bishops is decidedly superior to either a bishop and a knight, or two knights. A player possessing a pair of bishops has a strategic weapon in the form of a long-term threat to trade down to an advantageous endgame.
Studies in: Bishops - Chess Lecture - Volume 169 - 2 DVDs
Every chess player needs to know how to handle pawns. Pawns form the 'playing fields' of chess games, a semi-permanent structure that can determine whether a player wins or loses. This fully updated version of a timeless chess classic will give you the comprehensive knowledge to mastering pawn structures.
Pawn Structure Chess
A Basic Course in Positional Understanding
After you have learned the rules of chess and developed some tactical abilities, how do you go from there? You are now ready to tackle basic issues of strategy, but what is the best way to improve and win more games?
SHOPWORN - Chess Training for Post-Beginners
Regular Price: $21.95
Special Price $10.98
Discover the secrets of positional chess with this new, 9½ hour course from GM Damian Lemos! Through the analysis of 16 carefully chosen games, Damian explains how we can build winning positions, move by move, without our opponent having to make a tactical mistake
MASTERCLASS - Damian Lemos' Positional Chess Masterclass – GM Damian Lemos - Over 9 hours of Content! - Volume 2
Regular Price: $109.00
Special Price $79.00
IM John-Paul Wallace and GM Jesse Kraai and IM David Vigorito analyze endgames with pawns.
Pawn Endgames - 2 DVDs - Chess Lecture - Volume 47
by GM Bryan Smith
Bryan takes us through various strategies for using Pawns in your game. Illustrated with real games the lectures cover topes of : Pawns In the attack, Petrosian's Pawn Artistry, Doubled Pawns and Weak Squares, Break the Rules Sometimes, Breaking Through the Pawn Chain.
Pawn Strategy - Chess Lecture - Volume 128
In Positional Play Jacob Aagaard shares his simple three-step tool of positional analysis that he has used with club players and famous grandmasters to improve their positional decision-making. Working from the starting point that all players who aspire to play at international level have a certain amount of positional understanding, Aagaard lays out an easy-to-follow training plan that will improve everyone's intuition and positional decision-making.
Grandmaster Preparation - Positional Play - PAPERBACK
To win games against strong players you need an extra set of skills to the usual attacking ideas. There are many careful players who will close the position or passively defend until you try something too optimistic, giving away material or making a concession which eventually allows them to win. Incredibly frustrating! To beat these guys you need to master the art of positional chess and that is exactly what GM Damian Lemos helps you achieve in "Positional Mastery". By studying the textbook examples in this Course you will learn how to constantly ask questions of your opponent, forcing them to solve subtle problems until they make a mistake and you win.
Positional Mastery - EMPIRE CHESS
All the Basic tactical ideas are discussed fully, followed by a series of very recent illustrative games, where we will see all that ideas in action . On this dvd you will gain confidence in your ability to handle tactics when they crop up over the board and who knows, you may be able to land some tactical knockouts yourself!
CHESSDVDS.COM IN SPANISH - FOXY OPENINGS #86 - Dynamics of Strategy and How to Create a Plan - VOL. 2
New Edition of a Modern Classic
Grandmaster Mihai Suba, a former Romanian champion and Senior World Chess Champion, has updated his groundbreaking work and extended it with even more entertaining and witty lessons. The result is a thought-provoking and yet practical guide on chess strategy!
Dynamic Chess Strategy - 2016 Edition!
Club Player's Manifesto - Volume #7 of 10
Grandmaster Damian Lemos' excellent presentation skill guides you through this DVD which is 7/10 of The Club Player's Manifesto produced by the World Leader in DVD instruction OnlineChessLessons.net.
Positional Chess Guide - EMPIRE CHESS
His Landmark Classics in One Edition
Nimzowitsch will always be remembered as the founder of the Hypermodern movement and the author of the undisputed classics My System and Chess Praxis. In his first book, he expounded his theories of prophylaxis, blockades and much more, while providing ground-breaking insights in pawn-structures. In the sequel Nimzowitsch demonstrated how he had successfully tested his theories in his games.
My System & Chess Praxis
Planning the Pieces
The First volume of Ludek Pachman's great trilogy Complete Chess Strategy which first appeared in Czechoslovak and German. Planning the Pieces deals with the long term planning, handling and positioning of the individual chess pieces.
Complete Chess Strategy - VOLUME 1
How To Convert Advantages in Chess
The DVD is divided into 4 parts and is presented by FM Alisa Melekhina with an honest look at how she is striving to improve her own ability when 'Converting Advantages' as this in area she has struggled with in the past.
Converting Advantages - EMPIRE CHESS
In the second volume of the Chess Player's Mating Guide, the host pays particular attention to the castled king and in particular on ways of exploiting the weakened kingside. Several well-known themes, pawn formations and other attacking weapons are covered in 8 chapters with the goal to challenge the viewer determining and exploiting the weaknesses. IM Robert Ris has made an interesting selection of famous games as well as games from his own practice to demonstrate the typical ideas exploiting the weaknesses in the pawn formation in front of the castled king. The selected material is a good warm-up for the exercises which are presented at the end to test your knowledge on this topic. By then you at least will have the confidence to claim you have become a dangerous attacking player as Tal, Alekhine, Fischer or any of your other favorites. Watch, learn & enjoy!
The Chess Player's Mating Guide - Weakened Kingside - Robert Ris - Vol. 2
A Modern Look at Chess Strategy
In this instructive and entertaining book, Grandmaster Neil McDonald studies in depth the key components of successful rule-breaking in chess. Drawing upon his own experience and using examples from modern grandmaster chess, McDonald examines how to avoid stereotypical thinking, how to exploit typical thinking patterns, and how to confuse and beat opponents with surprising ideas.
EBOOK - Break the Rules!
with Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov
Within this DVD the viewer will learn a great deal about Middlegame Pawn structures. Ivan looks at isolated pawns, symmetrical pawns and a vast array of other structures, whilst teaching us some valuable lessons. Ivan does this by first building up the position from its bare roots and then adding material, so each aspect of the position is understood.
Sokolov Explains Middlegame Pawn Structures
Presented by : IM Valeri Lilov
IM Lilov illustrates essential skills for superior play with grandmasters games. Lectures include: The Power of the Piece Formation in the Center The Power of the Piece Formation in the Center The Power of Preparation The Power of Preparation II The Power of Centralization The Power of Machine The Power of Coordination The Power of Coordination II The Power of Coordination III The Power of Center Control
Power in Chess - Chess Lecture - Volume 172 - 2 DVDs
GM Gareev blasting through The 2012 North American Open scoring 8 out of 9 points and achieving a 2890 Fide performance rating!! This DVD is a step by step guide to improve Your chess and reach your desired goals. GM Gareev will explain his thought process in tournament play, analysis and a lesson plan on concepts, tactics and strategies that will improve your game and give you a road map on thinking and playing like a GrandMaster. Openings covered Queens Indian, Pirc, Grunfeld, Queens Gambit Accepted & Declined, Hedgehog, Exchange Ruy Lopez, Tactical Ideas in The Italian Game
FOXY OPENINGS - VOL. 144 - Easy to Learn Step by Step Strategies On How to Think and Play Like A GrandMaster
Club Player's Manifesto
This DVD shows us the secrets of chess strategy at the highest level through extensively-analyzed master games. Emphasizing the correct plans and ideas at every moment, it is a series for advanced players to complement their training with an aspect more difficult than tactics.
Ultra Deep Strategy Techniques of the Super GMs - EMPIRE CHESS
Chess Strategy Masterclass
Discover the secrets of chess strategy with this new, 9½ hour course from GM Damian Lemos! With insightful analysis of 15 carefully selected games, GM Lemos explains what to do at the board to properly plan and create well-constructed, winning positions.
MASTERCLASS - Damian Lemos' Strategy Chess Masterclass – GM Damian Lemos - Over 9 hours of Content! - Volume 3
Regular Price: $109.00
Special Price $79.00
This course features about 400 exercises with large number of pieces in play. All exercises are taken from actual games. Find the only way to avoid checkmate! This course is for beginners and club players.
DOWNLOAD - Advanced Defense
Your Guide to Creative Chess
It is the imbalances in chess that make for really exciting games. Whether it be exchanging a knight for 2 pawns or your Queen for 3 minor pieces, you will be reaching far more positions with winning chances than players who miss these opportunities. Understanding how to change the nature of the game with piece imbalances shows real chess insight and creativity and this 3 ½ hour DVD from FM Alisa Melekhina is a comprehensive course on how to do just that.
Exploit Imbalances in Chess - EMPIRE CHESS
Want to improve at chess? Then you'll need to improve your understanding of chess strategy. You probably knew that already - but how to begin to study such a vast and seemingly complex subject? International Master Adam Hunt is a full-time chess teacher and is thus very familiar with this problem. His solution is to present an accessible and easy-to-read guide for club players and juniors. Hunt studies all the key components of chess strategy, including development, king safety, attack and defence, initiative, pawn play and much more. He examines not only grandmaster games but also those played by students, demonstrates model strategic play, identifies typical mistakes and explains how to avoid them. Move by Move provides an ideal platform to study chess
SHOPWORN - Chess Strategy - Move by Move
Regular Price: $29.95
Special Price $14.98
Strategic Ideas That Masters Never Fail to Find
Sarkhan Guliev presents a wide range of strategic manoeuvres that have been repeatedly employed by great chess players. He shows how masters generate ideas from the games of other masters: positional sacrifices, amazing counterplay concepts, unorthodox exchanges, winning with h2-h4, overcoming a blockade, the advantages of double pawns, the e5 pawn wedge, the uses of the queen-bishop battery, and much more.
SHOPWORN - Winning Chess Manoeuvres
Regular Price: $26.95
Special Price $13.48
Club Player's Manifesto - Volume #4 of 10
Grandmaster Damian Lemos' excellent presentation skill guides you through this DVD which is 4/10 of The Club Player's Manifesto produced by the World Leader in DVD instruction OnlineChessLessons.net.
World Champion Strategy - EMPIRE CHESS
Finding the Best Squares for Your Pieces
In this book, premier chess instructor and trainer Mark Dvoretsky examines one of the most important aspects of positional skill, namely the art of playing with pieces, of maneuvering and finding the best squares for your pieces.
Maneuvering - The Art of Piece Play
Hosted by GM Jesse Kraai
GM Jesse Kraai explains how to use the old Russian rule set to evaluate Tempo in chess. What is Tempi or Tempo in Chess? "The gaining or losing of time and effectiveness relative to one's continued mobility or developing position, especially with respect to the number of moves required to gain an objective: Black gained a tempo".
A Pawn is Worth Three Tempi - Chess Lecture - Volume 94
Accelerate Your Progress By Thinking For Yourself
Kalinin helps players seeking the master title by showing how concrete knowledge leads to improved decisions at the board. A master must understand the importance of aesthetics, knows how to curb the influence of the computer, accepts that the classical heritage is essential in his development, learns the importance of human interaction in reaching analytical mastery and grasps how to spot and fight his weaknesses.
Chess Training for Candidate Masters
NM Dana Mackenzie started playing tournament chess during the ''Fischer boom'' of 1971-1972 and never quit. Champion of North Carolina in 1985, 1987, and became master in 1988. He has a 1-0 career record against world chess champions.
Strategic Decisions - Chess Lecture - Volume 3
Using the Initiative
In ''Using the Initiative'', Grandmaster Simon Williams explains the ideas behind his play in two of his games where the correct use of the initiative has proved critical. Follow Simon as he provides his audience with an essential insight into the working thought processes of a Grandmaster – a must for any chess enthusiast looking to improve!
Crash Test Chess - VOL. 1
Presented by: GM Eugene Perelshteyn, FM Dennis Monokroussos and IM Mark Diesen
A pair of bishops is decidedly superior to either a bishop and a knight, or two knights. A player possessing a pair of bishops has a strategic weapon in the form of a long-term threat to trade down to an advantageous endgame.
Studies in: Bishop Pairs - Chess Lecture - Volume 170


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at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg have
calculated the amount of carbon
dioxide humans can safely emit before effecting the heating
of the Earth.
Erich Roeckner and his team have created a model that determines
the highest volumes of carbon dioxide that humans are
allowed to emit in order to ensure that Earth does not heat up by
more than two degrees Celsius, which is the gate to climate warming.
They've used the methodology proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) in order to reconstruct historical emission
pathways "on the basis of already-calculated carbon dioxide
order for this to occur, carbon cycle data, such as the volume of
carbon dioxide absorbed by forests and oceans, is added to the model.
The model then simulates the evolution of carbon dioxide emissions in
order to understand what the future holds and how it should be
changed to prevent warming.
model is based on a low-resolution spatial grid with 400 kilometer
grid spacing. With this kind of model, the land surface, ocean, sea
ice, atmosphere and terrestrial and marine carbon cycle are all
included in the study.
to the model, carbon dioxide caused by fossil fuels must be reduced
to almost zero by the end of the century to achieve long-term goals
of carbon concentration stabilization in the atmosphere. The model
calculated that, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution,
fossil carbon dioxide has increased by 35 percent.
figures the model has calculated is that carbon emissions will
increase from seven billion tonnes in 2000 to 10 billion tonnes in
2015. Then, emissions will have to be decreased by 56 percent by
2050, and reach zero by the end of the century for long-term
stabilization to be achieved. But even if these goals are met, global
warming would only stay below two degrees Celsius until
2100, and further measures will need to be taken to control warming.
noted that it will take centuries to stabilize the global climate
system, and that their data is being studied and evaluated at other
climate centers in Europe.
soon as all of the results are available, we can evaluate the spread
between the models," said Roeckner. "The more significant
the data we have, the more accurate our forecast will be."
other news, a University of Georgia marine chemist, Wei-Jun Cai, just
disproved that melting ice at the poles will allow open water
to catch
carbon dioxide from the the air. According to a survey of
waters in the Canada Basin, the potential carbon dioxide "sink"
would be a very short period of time with minor effects due to the
amount of rising emissions.
study was published in the July 2010 edition of Science.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
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Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of American Youth (8th- and 10th-Grade Surveys), 2006 (ICPSR 20180)
Alternate Title: MTF 2006 (8th/10th Grade)
Principal Investigator(s): Johnston, Lloyd D., University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research. Survey Research Center; Bachman, Jerald G., University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research. Survey Research Center; O'Malley, Patrick M., University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research. Survey Research Center; Schulenberg, John E., University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research. Survey Research Center
These surveys of 8th- and 10th-grade students are part of a series that explores changes in important values, behaviors, and lifestyle orientations of contemporary American youth. Students in each grade are randomly assigned to complete one of four questionnaires, each with a different subset of topical questions but containing a set of "core" questions on demographics and drug use. There are more than 450 variables across the questionnaires. Drugs covered by this survey include amphetamines (stimulants), barbiturates (tranquilizers), other prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, tobacco, smokeless tobacco, alcohol, inhalants, steroids, marijuana, hashish, LSD, hallucinogens, cocaine, crack, ecstasy, methamphetamine, and injectable drugs such as heroin.
Access Notes
The 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.
Study Description
Johnston, Lloyd D., Jerald G. Bachman, Patrick M. O'Malley, and John E. Schulenberg. Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of American Youth (8th- and 10th-Grade Surveys), 2006. ICPSR20180-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2010-02-11. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR20180.v2
Persistent URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR20180.v2
Export Citation:
- RIS (generic format for RefWorks, EndNote, etc.)
- EndNote XML (EndNote X4.0.1 or higher)
This study was funded by:
- United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA001411)
Scope of Study
Subject Terms: alcohol, attitudes, crime, demographic characteristics, drug education, drug use, families, family background, gender roles, high school students, lifestyles, prescription drugs, religious attitudes, self esteem, social change, tobacco use, values, youths
Geographic Coverage: United States
- 2006
- 2006 (Spring)
Unit of Observation: individual
Universe: Enrolled 8th- and 10th-grade students in the contiguous United States.
This study was conducted by the Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.
In 2005, two of the questionnaire forms had a new version of the race question. It included Hispanic as one of the categories in addition to Black and White. For 2006, all four forms have this new version for the race variable.
To protect the anonymity of respondents, all variables that could be used to identify individuals have been collapsed or recoded in the public use files. These modifications should not affect analytic uses of the public use files.
Variables omitted from the Western region questionnaires are noted in each codebook.
A user guide is provided with the study documentation. It contains two year-to-year cross-time question indices for the MTF 8th- and 10th-grade surveys. The first is sorted by subject area and the second is sorted by question location.
Frequency and percentage distributions displayed in the codebooks are unweighted, rather than weighted by variable V5 as they had been in previous years. This change was made to simplify both the production of the codebooks and their interpretation by the analyst.
MTF does not release detailed geography codes in its public use files because of the disclosure risk it would cause. The MTF sample is drawn to generate representative samples of the four Census Bureau regions of the country (Northeast, Midwest, South, and West), but it does not generate representative samples of smaller geographic areas such as states, counties, or cities. For additional information about data that is withheld from the public use files please contact MTF directly at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Sample: A multistage area probability sample design was used involving three selection stages: (1) geographic areas or primary sampling units (PSUs), (2) schools (or linked groups of schools) within PSUs, and (3) students within sampled schools. Of the 72 PSUs, 8 were selected with certainty, 10 were selected with a probability of .50, and the remainder were selected with probability proportionate to the size of the 8th- or 10th- grade class. In schools with more than 350 students in the grade, a random sample of students or classes was drawn. In schools with less than 350 students in a grade, all students were asked to participate. Each school was asked to participate for two years so that each year one-half of the sample would be replaced. Schools refusing participation were replaced with similar schools in terms of geographic location, size, and type of school (e.g., public, private/Catholic, private/non-Catholic). For the 8th-grade survey, schools with less than 20 8th graders were excluded from the sample. For the 10th-grade survey, schools with less than 25 10th graders were excluded. The participation rate among schools has been between 66 and 80 percent since the inception of the study.
Weight: Each of the eight parts contains a weight variable, V5. They were originally varied by school but were modified to protect respondent confidentiality. Users should use the weight variable for all analyses, the results of which will differ slightly from published data tables that used original data.
Mode of Data Collection: on-site questionnaire
Response Rates: The student response rates for the 2006 8th- and 10th-grade surveys were 91 percent and 88 percent, respectively.
Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Standardized missing values.
- Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Restrictions: Users are reminded that these data are to be used solely for statistical analysis and reporting of aggregated information and not for the investigation of specific individuals.
Original ICPSR Release: 2007-10-29
- 2010-02-11 Corrected data were provided by the PI for the question asking about binge drinking (item reference number 00850). Other minor corrections were made to the question text and value labels to provide greater consistency between matching variables in other years of data in the series.
Related Publications
- List all ~74 citations associated with this study
- View citations for the entire series
Most Recent Publications
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Spamhaus, an international non-profit organization whose mission is to track the Internet's Spam Gangs, has released list of the top 10 spam offenders of the year.
Of all Internet Service Providers (ISP) in the world, Verizon Business is the number one offender on the list with almost triple the number of current known spam issues as its competitor SBC Communications.
Given that the most spammy ISPs are American, then it should come as no surprise that the United States leads all other countries with 1,983 current known spam issues. The next country in line is China with 304 known issues.
The worst spammers, however, are a different geographic picture, with the top (dis)honor going to Alex Blood of the Ukraine. Out of the top 10 spammers list, more than half were from Eastern Europe. The U.S. made the list twice at spots third and tenth.
Sophos, another company specializing in IT security, has published its own report on the top 12 spam relaying countries over the third quarter of 2006. Sophos' results differ slightly from those of Spamhaus', though the leading nations of the United States and China maintain their spots in both.
The United States relays 21.6 percent of the world's spam, with China at 13.4 percent. The next two closest countries are France and South Korea, both at a comparatively lower 6.3 percent.
"Most unsolicited emails are now sent from zombie PCs - computers infected with Trojans, worms and viruses that turn them into spam-spewing bots. In the past hackers were very reliant on operating system vulnerabilities to convert an innocent computer into a zombie - now they are turning back to malware to trick users into running their malicious code, and opening the backdoor to hackers," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos. "Hundreds of new versions of the Stratio worm have helped steadily increase the volume of spam seen traveling across the net."
Embedding images is the latest tactic employed by spammers, and accounts for nearly 40% of all spam. Since many spam filters work by analyzing text, images have a greater chance of passing through undetected. Animated gifs also pose additional challenges for spam filters with its multiple layers of images.
Spammers are turning to new tricks in order to acquire email addresses. According to the Sophos report, the first asks recipients to forward their chain emails for a fake research project, while another campaign encourages users to visit a video tribute website, which then requests their email address in order to view the full video.
"Integrated anti-malware and anti-spam protection is getting the better of illegal spam peddlers - forcing them to get more creative and crooked. However, if people are playing their security cards right, the spammers' efforts will still be in vain," continued Theriault. "What's most surprising is that those behind these intrusive emails continue to take their chances, despite hefty fines and sentences being dealt out to guilty spammers around the world."


text:
Apple sold
300,000 iPads on launch day. By the first week, Apple had sold
more than 450,000 of the devices. We are now learning today that
the iPad continues to be a big seller in the U.S. with Apple having
500,000 iPads to date.
However, that strong initial showing
for the iPad here in the States means that the international launch
is being pushed back. "Faced with this surprisingly strong U.S.
demand, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the
international launch of iPad by one month, until the end of May,"
said Apple in a press release. "We will announce international
pricing and begin taking online pre-orders on Monday, May 10."
The Cupertino-based company went on to
brag about the sales success of the iPad in typical Apple fashion.
"We know that many international customers waiting to buy an
iPad will be disappointed by this news, but we hope they will be
pleased to learn the reason—the iPad is a runaway success in the
U.S. thus far."
While Apple definitely has a leg up on
the competition at the moment, there are new devices waiting in the
wings. HP will soon
launch its Slate which is a tablet based on Windows 7 and Google
is currently developing
an Android-based tablet.


text:
This is the faithful production of a 1940 Industrial Newsboy bicycle, used by the U.S. military for messenger duty on bases during World War II. It is made in New York City by Worksman Cycles, the original 114 year-old bicycle manufacturer who supplied thousands of Industrial Newsboy models to the U.S. military after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Its fully-lugged, double top-tube steel frame is meticulously hand-brazed the same way Worksman has made Newsboy frames since 1940 providing today's rider the same reliable durability demanded by the war effort over 70 years ago. The 24"-long handlebars, chainguard, and fenders are made by Wald while the hard rubber grips are made by Hunte-Wilde the same two manufacturers that supplied Worksman during the war. A coaster brake built into its single-speed rear hub provides confident stops while riding on its wheels' period authentic 11-gauge spokes, steel clincher rims, and 26"-diam. tires. Updated for modern riders, the 10" foam-padded seat retains the classic double-sprung design with a rear grab bar. 72" L x 8" W x 36" H. (46 lbs.)
Lifetime Guarantee
The Classic WWII Men's Messenger Bicycle comes with The Hammacher Schlemmer Lifetime Guarantee. If this product ever disappoints you, for any reason, you may return your Hammacher Schlemmer purchase for exchange, credit, or refund.
Should you have any questions, we are available seven days a week (8:00 am – midnight EST). Please call 1-800-321-1484 to speak with a specialist or email us at firstname.lastname@example.com to receive a response within three business hours or less.
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text:
By Bobby Abplanalp
Journal Sports Editor
Replacing a legendary coach is never easy.
Mike Glover took the Mancos High School boys basketball job last year.
The Bluejays made the district playoffs with a core group of 2012 seniors that played for longtime MHS coach Gary Hill.
This season, the Bluejays are a relatively young team. But many of the boys have been playing together since elementary school under coach Glover.
Now those kids are a good group of freshmen and sophomores.
These boys are definitely Glovers Bluejays.
Ive just got a really good group of kids. I really do, he said. The freshmen and sophomore group, Ive worked with them since they were third and fourth graders. Its nice to all be in the same gym again.
Sophomore point guard Nigel Henry is back to run the offense. He showed his explosiveness to score last year. But the coach feels he has matured and can indeed run an offense.
Nigel is a special player. Theres no doubt about it, Glover said. He works harder than anybody I know. I see him shooting all the time. Im looking forward to another season with him.
Senior post Branson Mitchell is back to clean up the glass. He led the team in rebounds last season. Sharpshooting senior Wyatt Cox will look to open things up more offensively. Fellow senior guard Colton Miller will see plenty of minutes. But overall, Mancos is a youthful squad.
We may be young, but basketball IQ wise, I think these kids are there, Glover said.
Junior Kyle Cox should compete for a starting role. Sophomores Jaden Peacock, Brandon Hood and Daniel Christensen, and freshmen Kye Glover and Ro Paschal will be heavy hitters in coach Glovers system.
These kids play well as a team. Its a really unselfish team, Mike Glover said. I think they understand the importance of teamwork. Theyre dedicated, theyre beating down the doors, theyre ready to get in there.
The Bluejays gained a lot of experience over the summer, playing a total of 42 games at various camps.
More unofficial games take place today in New Mexico at Farmington High School.
The regular season officially begins next Friday at Ouray, in what will count as a nonconference game. Both schools were short a game and scheduled each other.
The Bluejays return home to host the Mancos Winter Classic on Dec. 7-8. The four-team tourney also includes New Mexico schools Aztec and Shiprock Northwest, and Dove Creek, who resurrected its boys basketball program.
It should be fun and competitive, said Mike Glover about his home tourney. Im hoping next year, it will turn into an eight-team tournament.
San Juan Basin League play begins Dec. 15, at home versus Nucla. Everyone is aware the road to a league title has gone through Ignacio.
Mike Glover feels his team will contend for a league championship this season.
Expectations are high, he said. This is the year we thought we could really start leaving our mark. The boys are really pumped and theyve worked hard.
Tip off in Ouray is Friday night at 7 p.m.


text:
If esophageal cancer is localized and has not spread beyond the original site, surgical removal of the cancer is the most common treatment. The goal is to remove as much of the cancer as possible while preserving as much function of the esophagus as possible. It may also be done with chemoradiation, a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy to shrink the tumor before surgery or to try to kill off any remaining cancer cells after surgery. Surgical removal is not always an option since most esophageal cancers are found in advanced stages. In this case, surgery may be done as palliative care to improve the function of the esophagus.
Surgery for High Grade Dysplasia and Early Stage Esophageal Cancer
High grade dysplasia is a change in cell structure that is a precursor to cancer. Surgery for high grade dysplasia and early stage cancer offer the best chance for a cure. Options include:
Small, noninvasive cancer can be removed during an endoscopy. A tube with a lighted tip and camera is inserted through the mouth and throat. It can also be inserted through small incisions in chest and/or abdomen if the surgeon needs to access the tumor from a different angle. The tumor is removed along with a margin of healthy tissue to try to ensure that all the cancer is completely removed. The doctor will examine and take samples of the removed tissue. Tissue samples will be examined under a microscope for the presence of cancer.
Photosensitizers, or light-sensitive molecules, are injected into the bloodstream. These molecules are absorbed by cells throughout the body, but tend to remain longest in cancer cells. When these molecules are exposed to a special red light, they cause cell damage and death. The light will be directed to the tumor using an endoscope.
Surgery for Advanced Esophageal Cancer
An esophagectomy is the removal of part or all of the esophagus. The amount of tissue removed depends on the location and size of the tumor. In some cases, the stomach is stretched up into the chest and neck, and attached to the remaining part of the esophagus. If large amounts of tissue are removed, a plastic tube or intestinal tissue may be used to create a connection between the mouth and the stomach.
Nearby lymph nodes may also be removed and tested for the presence of cancer. Cancer in the lymph nodes means the cancer may have spread to other areas of the body.
Esophagectomies can be done as:
- Open—During open surgery, an incision is made in the abdomen, neck, and/or chest. Doing so exposes the organs so they can be accessed by the surgeon. The esophagus and nearby lymph nodes are removed through the incision. Open surgeries may be referred to as transhiatal or transthoracic depending on where the incision is made.
- Minimally invasive—Tubes with a lighted scope and camera are inserted through small incisions in the chest (thoracoscopy) or abdomen (laparoscopy) to access the tumor site. The esophagus and nearby lymph nodes are removed through the tubes. Healing time and recovery are somewhat faster than with this option than with an open esophagectomy.
An esophagectomy is a long and difficult procedure that often has postoperative complications. It is important to seek out an experienced surgeon and hospital for this procedure.
A feeding tube can be inserted through the abdominal wall and directly into the stomach or small intestine. This is done when swallowing becomes difficult and nutritional needs are not able to be met. Nutritional support helps prevent starvation, as well as aspiration of material into the lungs.
The feeding tube can be placed as part of a scheduled surgery or done separately. The opening through the abdomen is called a stoma. The rubber tube from the stoma is fixed and secure. Complete, balanced liquid meals and medications can be delivered through the tube.
If a surgical cure is not an option, there are a few options available to help keep the esophageal channel open as long as possible. All of these procedures are done during an endoscopy.
- Esophageal dilation —A balloon or plastic dilator is used to slowly widen the esophagus where it narrows.
- Laser ablation—Cancerous tissue is removed with the high heat of a laser beam. Since cancer cells grow back, the procedure will need to be repeated on a regular basis.
- Electrocoagulation—An electric current is used to burn off cancer cells.
- Argon plasma coagulation—Argon gas is heated with a high-voltage spark. The super-heated gas is used to burn off cancer cells.
- Esophageal stent—If the tumor is blocking the esophageal channel, a metal stent can be placed at the point of obstruction. The stent is placed over the tumor, then expanded. The stent flattens the tumor against the esophageal wall, which helps open the passageway.
Revision Information
- Reviewer: Mohei Abouzied, MD
- Review Date: 12/2016 -
- Update Date: 12/17/2015 -


text:
Surprised one of these hasn't popped up around these parts.
Here you will find a place to post any good restaurants you've been too, any recipes you feel kind enough to share; something weird you saw on a menu? Favourite Dish? Or perhaps just feel like gloating about an amazing meal your mom made. Let us All know about it.
And I shall start us off ...
Been on a cooking binge lately. Girlfriends mom just taught me how to make Perogies (very Polish), so I made perogies two nights ago. So amazing.
Then last night made homemade Chicken Nuggets with Parmesan Breading.
Tonight? Homemade Sloppy Joes on Fresh Cheese Buns. Mmmmmmmm


text:
Retiree open enrollment ends Nov. 9
The University's 2013 retiree annual benefits open enrollment period began on Monday, Oct. 1, and ends on Friday, Nov. 9, with changes effective Jan. 1, 2013. Due to changes in the benefits being offered to both pre- and post-65 retirees, we are extending the retiree open enrollment period from two to six weeks to allow for more time to review the plan changes and make decisions on coverage.
During this time, retirees may change or waive their health plan coverage as well as remove dependents from their retiree medical plan. Re-enrollment at a later date is not permitted.
Retirees should have received the open enrollment information in the mail. Information is also available on the Web.
For pre-65 retirees, the preferred provider organization (PPO) and point of service (POS) health plans have been consolidated into a new plan called the Princeton Health Plan (PHP). The new PHP will be offered through both Aetna and United Healthcare. Retirees who are currently enrolled in the PPO or POS plan and do not make an election will be automatically enrolled with their current network provider. The PHP and Aetna HMO plans will provide 100 percent coverage for preventive services in 2013.
For post-65 retirees, medical-eligible dependents and long-term disability participants, Princeton will automatically enroll these individuals onto a Medicare Part D Employer Group Waiver Plan (EGWP). The Princeton prescription drug plan that participants are currently enrolled under will provide secondary coverage to the Medicare Part D plan. Therefore, the coverage for participants will remain the same. Retirees will have the option to opt out of the prescription drug plan; however, those who do will no longer have a prescription drug plan through the University.
All pre-65 retirees and retirees enrolled under the Premium, Standard or Princeton Medicare Plan have the option of electing to enroll in a vision plan.
Anyone with questions may contact the Human Resources Benefits Team at 609-258-3302 or email@example.com.


text:
Submit News
Report: Six Strikes Piracy Plan a Nightmare for Landlords, Businesses
Jason Mick
December 4, 2012 5:03 PM
Recipient E-mail
Sender E-mail
Ambiguity will lead to the innocent suffering alongside the guilty, argues report
magazine's Matt Peckham has offered up
a compelling argument
on why the upcoming "six strikes" plan is fundamentally flawed. "Six Strikes" is the term bandied about for the
voluntary collaboration
by internet service providers (ISPs) and big media groups like the
Motion Picture Association of America
to "educate" users on the "dangers" of piracy.
The proposal -- unlike past efforts like the
failed SOPA
-- does not involve the government. And it does not involve
internet "capital punishment"
-- termination of paying customers. But if customers are found pirating by MarkMonitor -- the group contracted by the
Center for Copyright Information
(CCI) to filter ISP traffic looking for P2P streams with infringed IP -- ISPs will be liable to either slow users connections or force them to take "classes" to regain access to the connection.
The move is a win for ISPs; they'll likely be able to provide a lesser degree of service to many of their customers while claiming it's in the noble name of "intellectual property protection". Reduced service means
less bandwidth and data consumed
, which in turn means cost savings, which in turn means more profit.
And big media is clinging to the notion that if it can just get some habitual pirates to abandon their foul ways, they'll instead turn to legally buying all sorts of content, triggering a golden age of media profits.
Of course there's little signs of that being the case -- pirates actually tend to already be the biggest buyers of
content, so it seems relatively unlikely they'll buy
if forced to forgo their pirating.
Piracy warnings might sound good on paper, but a major issue is how to track the true offenders and who should be forced to pay for that tracking.
What's more, Mr. Peckham poses an intriguing scenario of why the current IPv4 based plan in simply too dumb to work. He comments:
My condo complex (I'm an owner) has 48 units. It was built in 2003, so it's relatively new. At the time, the builders had the foresight to wire each unit with Ethernet — a drop in each room, everything connected back to aggregate wire closets. Near my front door (and all the front doors of all the units) is a mini-wire closet with a switch/hub that connects my unit to a central switch/hub in a locked room on the property.
That, in turn, plugs into a high-speed cable modem — a cable modem that's shared across all 48 units. We're technically shielded from each other using a special box that "firewalls" each private IP and can control how much bandwidth it's allocated, etc. Whether we elect to use it or pay for our own service instead, all 48 units have access to this shared Internet.
He argues that for business owners or owners of residential units (like himself), the plan will create a nightmarish scenario of new costs and enforcement responsibilities, in which ultimately the innocent may suffer along with the guilty. He writes:
You can probably see where I'm headed. With "six strikes," any of the residents in the complex who — knowingly or unknowingly — engage in an act of copyright violation, could incur an alert. Who's going to see that alert? Probably me, as the technical contact for the ISP (that or our property management company, at which point it'll route back to me).
At this point I'm not sure what happens. The IP address MarkMonitor's software is going to see, presumably, is our public one, not the private address of the device that's been singled out on our condo complex's network. How do we identify the perpetrator? Should we identify the perpetrator? If our ISP says we're in violation, is it incumbent on us to run our own tracking software, somehow, to identify the person(s) involved? Are we supposed to somehow issue these warnings ourselves, since the ISP won't technically be able to?
See the problem? Who's responsible for each infraction? Who should be punished? The entire complex, by throttling or at some point terminating our Internet service? Each unit in the complex pays for shared Internet equally as part of our monthly association fees. We're not a business — there's no CEO. The few of us who manage the Internet on behalf of the rest can't act unilaterally to preempt potential infractions by blocking aspects of the service by introducing content filters the way a private company might.
He also takes the ISP/media union to task for failing to transparently disclose full details of the plan and how it will work. He says the collaborators decision to force consumers to "reverse-engineer" their rights is a big "transparency issue".
The plan, as he points out, has been
temporarily delayed
by the CCI as the power outages from Hurricane Sandy set back the MarkMonitor's testing of the scheme on trial partner networks.
Hurricane Sandy temporarily delayed the "six-strikes" plan. [Image Source: Ed Zurga/AP]
But as the delayed system moves forward to rolling out in weeks to come, one has to wonder how many scenarios like the one Mr. Peckham laid out might occur. If they do, the wrath will likely largely be shouldered by the ISP, and they may find themselves losing paying customers.
And when things reach that point one has to wonder whether the fragile union between the content hording big media and the service providers will be capable of surviving the financial friction.
"Paying an extra $500 for a computer in this environment -- same piece of hardware -- paying $500 more to get a logo on it? I think that's a more challenging proposition for the average person than it used to be." -- Steve Ballmer
Related Articles
Piracy Warnings Kick in for AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Time Warner, and Verizon Customers
October 21, 2012, 1:50 PM
RIAA's Leaked Letter Admits SOPA was "Ineffective", Plots Six-Strikes
July 31, 2012, 3:42 PM
Verizon, TWC, and Comcast to Play "Copyright Cop" for the RIAA
March 16, 2012, 12:31 PM
AT&T Contracts Have Always Stipulated Data Throttling Despite Customer Complaints
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text: Newly graduated LTU students Natalia Porcek (Molecular and Cell Biology 2012) and Justin Vail (Chemical Biology 2012) presented senior project research conducted under the supervision of Dr. Shannon Timmons at the Central Regional American Chemical Society meeting in Dearborn, MI. Natalia's project involved the development of a new organic chemistry laboratory experiment based on the popular drug warfarin, while Justin's research involved the organic synthesis of novel carbohydrate-based drug candidates. Both Natalia and Justin will be entering PhD programs this fall at Michigan State and Notre Dame, respectively. Congratulations, Natalia and Justin!


text:
Gwinnett FCU Changes Name to Peach State FCU
The $231 million, 41,200-member Gwinnett Federal Credit Union is now Peach State Federal Credit Union.
The Lawrenceville, Ga., credit union said the name change was made to reflect its growth over the past 20 years from its Gwinnett County base to Barrow, Clarke, DeKalb, Jackson, Oconee and Walton counties.
Peach State FCU President/CEO Marshall Boutwell said 26,000 of its members now live outside Gwinnett County.
"The name Peach State not only acknowledges our entire membership base, but it also allows for future growth without geographic constraints," Boutwell said in the 52-year-old credit union's announcement about the name change.
He said Peach State FCU's commitment to member service and local schools will not change.
"Our underlying dedication to education is part of our foundation. We will continue to support education in our service areas through sponsorship of the Teacher of the Year awards, and awarding student and career advancement scholarships because we believe this tradition should be maintained," Boutwell said.


text:
The NPD Group, a top market analytics research
firm has released a new study [press release]
that might surprise some. It claims that in 2010 the rate of users who
pirate content on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks dropped to 9 percent, down
drastically from 16 percent reported in 2007. This marks a dramatic
reversal of the trend of increasing
piracy rates in recent years.
The report argues that piracy is not a
"fundamental" problem for the media industry, given the relatively
low levels. This stands in stark contrast to statements in the Digital Media
Report 2010 [PDF] by the International Federation of the Phonographic
Industry (IFPI), the parent organization of America's RIAA. The IFPI
stated in the report, "[The industry will] struggle to survive unless we
address the fundamental problem of piracy."
Warner Music, a RIAA member takes a bit more
conservative approach. In a recent
presentation to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, Warner
suggested that only 13 percent of Americans pirate. The Warner report
also offers some disclaimers about the harmful impact of pirates, stating that
most pirates do
spend money on content and that they "tend to drive high discovery for
The numbers from the NPD Group are admittedly
slanted, though, due to a significant event in the industry. They were
taken from the final quarter of 2010, when the RIAA
scored a major lawsuit win that forced the U.S.'s most popular P2P client,
LimeWire, to cease distribution. Thus the dip in P2P filesharing may be
only temporary, due to the loss of one of the highest profile clients.
States Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry
analyst for NPD, "Limewire was so popular for music file trading, and for
so long, that its closure has had a powerful and immediate effect on the number
of people downloading music files from peer-to-peer services and curtailed the
amount being swapped. In the past, we've noted that hard-core peer-to-peer
users would quickly move to other Web sites that offered illegal music file
sharing. It will be interesting to see if services like Frostwire and
Bittorrent take up the slack left by Limewire, or if peer-to-peer music
downloaders instead move on to other modes of acquiring or listening to
Today, many of the most used clients are
unofficial community releases of past P2P clients that were banned by lawsuits.
Examples include Kazaa Lite and WireShare (formerly LimeWire Pirate
Edition), etc. According to the NPD Group's data, FrostWire (traditional
P2P) and uTorrent (Torrent P2P) increased in use, as well, in the wake of the
Limewire shutdown.
While the study did consider BitTorrent traffic (a
specialized P2P protocol), it did not consider new forms of illegal content
distribution, such as one-click downloads, illegally streamed content, such as
unauthorized posts to video sharing sites like YouTube.
The latter seems particularly prevalent, as you can go to YouTube and find
virtually any song you can imagine -- mostly from unofficial user-submitted
uploads (though the major label industry does maintain an official presence on
the site via channels like Vevo).
Media organizations have tried unsuccessfully to
sue YouTube's owner Google over such posts. The
television industry championed the biggest such case, when Viacom sued Google, demanding $1B
USD in damages for pirated content hosted on YouTube.
The media giant's case fell apart, though, after it
came out that Viacom employees uploaded
content under fake screennames to make it look like infringed content.
The study also only surveyed those 13 and up.


text:
A lot will be said with BC's next move. If Bargs is traded and we have to take on a useless, bad salary, we are in the selling hope or false hope cycle. BC will have fans believing we are a good team...just one or two moves from something special, but basically incapable of actually making such a move and taking that next step. If it brings back something the team needs...say a vet with real championship experience, like Pau, or a vet with almost as much experience, but more upside, like Millsap...or relieves capspace (both Pau and Millsap do that, as I'd be ok with Pau's bloated contract for only a season), and if it doesn't bring back a useful player, minimum a 1st rd pick without also tacking on a terrible salary....then we might be on the path to actually winning.
In my mind, there is actually only one logical reason to make this trade: BC believes Ross and JV will be very special, and that Gay won't decline for another 6-7 years. He wants them to build chemistry and still convince Gay to re-sign as a 2nd or 3rd option for something like $8-10 mill a year...BC knows this sacrifices any chance to build on the current team, but believes this team will struggle to add a significant FA (which is fair, because FA is a crapshoot....usually best reserved for rounding out a roster than building a core), that we'd still be at least mediocre enough without Gay to not have a chance at a high/top lottery pick, and so believes the next chance to re-model is in 3 years or so, anyway, when they'll be deciding what to do with JV and Ross, and clearing money.
Basically, this deal works if Bargs is turned into anything useful, and anything other than another bad contract. And it works if it convinces Gay to be a stay for less money when he's up for a new deal...If Ross and JV are potential all-stars, and frankly I could see either one being a better all around player than Gay relative to position, they are the future, but the future of the team has to look good for them to want to stay.
The biggest problem is that even if he comes in and plays lights out, it's hard to see the team being better than a 7-10 seed and they will have very little options to get over that next hump.
Obviously DeRozan (23) could still be part of that core group, but I hope he's traded for a starting PF, allowing Johnson to slide back into the backup PF / 3rd-big role.
Bargnani being traded for anything positive - young prospects, draft picks, expiring contracts - would be a huge win at this point. It would also negate the impact of Gay's contract on the cap situation, making it essentially a moot point in argument against the trade.
If Casey can make it work then great, but I worry that the team build is moving away from the grind it out defence team to the up-tempo team that sells tickets but loses games (I wonder where MLSE get that model from?).
Heir, Prince of Cambridge
And you are talking about a team that hasn't had a small forward in a long time and yet we are competitive with really good teams most of the time. Sometimes you just need a slight adjustment either through addition or subtraction to see a profound change. The point I'm making is that everybody is talking out their ass right now until we actually see what the on court production will look like.
Was I a tad too optimistic? Possibly but I was refuting Valdemort from CNNSI. A guy who was basically saying that our entire team has cancer of the testicles and they need to be put out to pasture and shot...and then split them up selling some of them for dog food and some of them to the glue factory.
I think out of the two of us, (me and the CNNSI guy), mine has a larger foothold in reality.
And I appreciate your naivety about the States and how they're grain fed their own superiority since birth and yet are perfectly rationale in evaluating situations like this. And Santa Claus and the Toothfairy want to sell you a bridge.
I personally think that Granger is the better fit ($$ not with-standing, I still take Granger) but that train has sailed and it's time to move on. Can Gay elevate his game and not just his stats in Toronto? I hope so, but this roster has no balance right now, which is the general point of the SI article, that Colangelo is haphazard in putting together the team. Which is an assessment that, for the time being, seems bang on.
Heir, Prince of Cambridge
Heir, Prince of Cambridge
From Henry Abbott at espn. He's clearly also confused as to exactly how this will work out for Toronto, it seems.-The optimist in me can picture Gay flourishing in Toronto. It only takes eyes to see he has the tools to be an MVP-type player, and by all reports he's a good guy. But something wasn't working in Memphis. I watched him in person on Monday night and on TV a hundred times. For all his skill, length and grace there were clearly times he was not going as hard as he could. He has not been an efficient player of late -- how much of that has been because he's unwilling to go hard, at the rim, on the break, off the curl? One take is that he was simply dispirited. Maybe a change of scene, and being in a city where he will be the focal point, will do wonders for him. With the right mindset, he could destroy defenses. And of course the mega-talent who doesn't play super hard in Toronto will bring up Vince Carter stories. But that's not the insult you might think it is: His reputation took a beating, but Carter has long been excellent.
-For the Raptors, Davis had served as insurance against Andrea Bargnani, who has been both injured and in trade rumors. Does Davis' departure assure that Bargnani -- who has not been a standout player this season at all -- will have a bigger role moving forward? If so, that, and the loss of Calderon, could make it tough for the Raptors to get much better anytime soon, no matter how well Gay plays
The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority. - Martin Luther King
It's amazing that our fans are writing us off as a mediocre team for years to come.
A. we have no clue how this your core will turn out. We have three rookies and numberous players not yet in their prime.
B. Just recently reports are coming out that current players (Durant) were Raptor fans during the Carter years. Winning has a trickle effect. Maybe this team doesn't win a championship ,but they could be a strong playoff team that is fun to watch. This fanchise has been asscoiated with losing, it would be nice to change this view. In time we might be able to attract high end free agents.
Quite simply a make or break trade for BC. Any other subsequent trade he makes won't be tantamount to this.
I am very dubious as his track record of big trades as a GM of the raptors have been one-sided beatdowns for out trade partners. Meanwhile his draft record isn't too shabby.
I am against Ross losing time, plain and simple. He is the biggest bright spot of the year, and yea I am more into slow rebuild, not rolling the dice. I think defense and rebounding are the biggest fundamental attribute to turning your team around without star studded talent like a Durant, James, Harden, Paul, etc.
I think building through the draft is the sane way for such an undesirable market like Toronto, that is how the Raptors will get a franchise-changing impact perennial all-star player.
Do you really think they would have been any better over the next 3-7 years if they just continued on as is, as opposed to trading an expiring contract and backup player for top-tier SF???
They HAVE used the draft to build the young core of their team, whether directly as keeper pieces (Valnciunas & Ross) or indirectly as trade bait (Davis and hopefully DeRozan & Bargnani, as well as a future 1st round pick for Lowry).
C: Valanciunas (draft pick)
PF: Johnson (trade)
SF: Gay (traded draft pick Davis for him)
SG: Ross (draft pick)
SG: DeRozan (draft pick)
SG: Fields (signing)
PG: Lowry (traded future draft pick for him)
Only Amir & Fields were NOT acquired using 1st round draft picks, but they are both projected to be 2nd unit players.
If DeRozan and/or Bargnani can be traded for a legit, talented, young starting PF, then the entire starting unit will have been acquired either directly or indirectly via Toronto's 1st round draft picks!
Last edited by CalgaryRapsFan; Thu Jan 31st, 2013 at 03:44 PM.
I really don't think Ross is going to get his minutes squeezed that much, like the original article suggests. Most of Gay's minutes will come at the expense of Alan Anderson, who's game is not dissimilar from Gay's but with less passing and even more enthusiasm for questionable shots. And far less consistency. I'd expect to see Anderson's minutes drop from 28 down to about 10, Fields to drop from 25 down to 20 with some of his minutes coming at PF, Ross to drop from 22 to 20, and DeRozan dropping from 35 down to about 32. That alone creates about 27 minutes for Gay, and he can pick up another 7-10 minutes at the expense of the thin PF spot.
Is it possible they will adapt? Yes, but it might take a while and have some growing pains. Is everyone going to be patient and happy when it takes into next season, or will people just start calling for Demar to be traded since he no longer "fits"?
Heir, Prince of Cambridge
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)


text:
The regular season at last is upon us. After 10 weeks of offseason training, OTAs and minicamps, after four more weeks of training camp and four exhibition games, the roster is finally set, the starting lineups are in place and now we can just settle in and enjoy the games.
You wish.
The roster may be down to the mandatory 53 players, but it hardly seems settled, what with an extra receiver and only five linebackers. And maybe we know who is slated to start on Sunday against the Vikings, but it hardly seems all of those positions are locked in stone.
So, before the Lions return to work on Tuesday, let's examine a few things we still aren't completely sure about.
1. The roster
We know that running back and special teams leader Montell Owens will be placed on short-term IR today and will spend at least the next six weeks getting his injured right knee healthy.
So, that will open up a roster spot, presumably for a linebacker. The Lions released veteran Rocky McIntosh on Sunday. You wonder if they may wait until after Week 1 to re-sign him or another veteran player (like Livonia native Tim Shaw). Teams typically wait until after Week 1 to sign veterans to avoid having to pay guaranteed money.
A veteran's salary is guaranteed if the player opens the regular season on the roster.
They may be waiting to do the same with a receiver. Right now, there are six receivers, but Micheal Spurlock's primary role is on special teams, which makes Kris Durham the only extra outside receiver after Calvin Johnson and Patrick Edwards.
Also, the two slot receivers, Nate Burleson and Ryan Broyles, are coming off major surgeries. Burleson appears to be all the way back but not Broyles.
It seems like there will be some more tinkering at that position.
2. The offensive line
It appears that rookie Larry Warford is going to start at right guard and Jason Fox at right tackle. But even though they started the last two exhibition games, they haven't really played all that much together.
There is bound to be some inconsistency there early. Fox is in his fourth season, but Warford is going to have to go through some growing pains. He's going to see defenses he's not played against before (teams don't show all their weapons in the preseason) and he's going to go against elite, NFL defenders for four quarters — again, something he's never done before.
The Lions will be patient, but only to a point. If either of these two scuffle too much, veterans such as Leroy Harris and Corey Hilliard could be thrust into the fray.
3. Riley Reiff
Some were concerned when Reiff had a couple of rough starts in the preseason. Hopefully a lot of those fears were allayed by his strong performances against the Patriots and Bills.
But there's nothing like being thrown right into the fire. Reiff's first test of the year will most likely be against Pro Bowler and longtime Lion killer Jared Allen.
It will be the first time in Allen's career he's played the Lions and not locked horns with Jeff Backus.
4. Matthew Stafford
It's been the hardest preseason to evaluate Stafford's play. Obviously, he hasn't been sharp. He wasn't consistently sharp even in the 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills throughout camp.
But what does that mean? He can still zip the ball. He can still throw it 60 yards on a rope. But, with the new offensive line and the other new pieces (Reggie Bush, Patrick Edwards), he never found any kind of groove.
Keep in mind, he played only two series the entire preseason with both Calvin Johnson and Bush on the field together. One of those drives produced a field goal. The Lions showed very little of what this offense is going to look like in the preseason.
Still, that's no excuse for overthrowing a wide open Edwards on the first play against the Bills and for some of the other bad throws.
So, yes, there is some concern. But let's keep it in perspective. This is still the same guy who threw for more than 10,000 yards the last two seasons. Let's withhold judgment until we see him out there when it counts with all his weapons and the complete playbook at his disposal.
5. The defense
It's hard not to be excited about the prospects. The defensive line is bigger, stronger and better. Stephen Tulloch and DeAndre Levy both come into the season as healthy as they've been in a while. And there is no mistaking the talent upgrade in the secondary with the likes of Darius Slay and Glover Quin.
But there are nagging worries there, too. We will know on Wednesday, when the Lions send in their first injury report of the season, whether Ziggy Ansah has been dealing with concussion symptoms. After what the Lions have gone through with head injuries (Jahvid Best, Amari Spievey and others), that's the last thing they want for the fifth overall pick in the draft.
Also, we will be on a daily Louis Delmas watch. The Lions did a superb job managing and treating his surgically-repaired left knee and getting him through camp. He will, unless something happened over the weekend, be ready to play Week 1.
After that, who knows?


text:
Callahan Reports Slight Student Lending Uptick in 2012
Private student loans comprise 0.32% of credit unions' total loan portfolios as of 3Q 2012, according to Callahan & Associates data, a small hike from 3Q 2011's 0.23%.
According to the Washington-based research and analysis firm, outstanding private student loans at credit unions total just over $1.9 billion as of 3Q 2012 — an increase of around $600 million in the past year.
Additionally, the number of credit unions that hold private student loan balances grew from 488 in 3Q 2011 to 581 in 3Q 2012, Callahan said.
"As the demand for higher education increases, federal loans still cannot cover all education expenses," said Andrew Bolton, senior industry analyst for Callahan. "Credit unions are filling a valuable and real gap."
Bolton said the asset quality of private student loans at credit unions remains much better than that of federal student loans, with a 1.45% delinquency rate and 1.05% annualized net charge-off rate. According to a November 2012 Federal Reserve Bank of New York report, 11% of all federal and private student loans are 90 or more days delinquent.
"This is partially due to the fact that unlike federal loans, which are need-based, the loans that credit unions offer are underwritten by credit and other risk criteria, and scrutinized before acceptance just like any other type of loan that they offer," Bolton said. "They are not very similar to federal loans, because those are granted without any sort of credit underwriting or risk evaluation of the borrower."
Going into 2013, Bolton said he predicts credit unions with private student loan portfolios will continue to be conservative with the number of student loans they make, and that credit unions entering the private student loan market will do so on a trial basis and with assistance from student lending CUSOs.


text:
There's No Crying in Baseball, But Wine on the Other Hand…
My husband and I took Friday off and spend a long weekend at his folks' vacation home in Cambria, wine tasting through Paso Robles with friends from college. We had the best time. Chatty fun playing vintner during a wine blending party at the always gracious (not to mention delicious!) Mitchella vineyards. A relaxing lunch on Calcareous Vineyard's lovely patio. Rhone blends and Zinfandels and Syrahs, oh my at the other wineries. Fun and stories at the baseball winery, yes, baseball winery. A delicious dinner in, prepared by my talented husband. Some of the best Mexican street food style tacos I've had since my Oxy days. Games and port in the evenings. It was an absolutely fantastic weekend that looked like a neat combination of this:
Interspersed with a healthy dose of this:
So, about that baseball winery. Out in Paso Robles, down the Union Road wine trail just south of East 46 there is an absolute gem for baseball fans. Rio Seco's owner and winemaker is Tom Hinkle, a retired baseball scout and former Minor League Baseball player. Hinkle was drafted by the Detroit Tigers and spent several years in their farm system in the 1960s, coached baseball at Cal State Poly SLO in the 1970s and became a Major League Baseball scout in the 1980s for a full roster of teams over the course of roughly 26 years including the Padres, Cubs, Expos, Blue Jays, Tigers and Brewers. Apparently he is the scout who helped sign Randy Johnson among other names you would recognize.
Visiting Tom Hinkle's winery is a kick. Rio Seco is everything a small family run winery should be – great wine, nice people, a friendly, no frills tasting room in one of the barrel rooms filled with constant glimpses into the business of winemaking, and plenty of locals stopping by which speaks to both the enjoyable nature of the wine and the excellent hospitality of the winemaking family. One of the Hinkle daughters or Mrs. Hinkle are the most likely candidates to pour your wine tasting and all are full of stories about the winery and Tom's career. If you catch Tom in the tasting room, he is always willing to chat about baseball past and present. He is no Angels fan, judging from the not unfriendly but gruff "Oh. Halos fans." my husband and I received the first time we visited. Eh, no one is perfect, right? But it was fantastic to hear his opinions on the standings and which teams were likely to make it to the playoffs when we caught him with a few minutes of free time over Labor Day weekend last summer. While I disagreed with him that the bulk of the Angels problem was losing John Lackey, even at that time he was saying watch out for the Giants who could go all the way. Apparently, the Hinkles are friends with Peter Bourjos' family and it was a lot of fun for us to hear the retired scout talk about him so soon after he was called up from the minors.
Tom was not available this last trip, so we wound up chatting with one of his daughters while we tasted the new vintages. She told us that while Tom is retired, he still gets calls from former colleagues and several of the local teams asking for insight into a particular player so the baseball world is still very much a part of their lives. Rio Seco itself has a nice baseball theme running through it from their "All-Star line-up" of baseball themed wines, including the Grand Slam and Clubhouse Reds, to the Diamond Club wine club (a portion of this club's proceeds are donated to the Baseball Scout of the Year Foundation each year) to the small mementos from Hinkle's career in MLB and at Cal Poly SLO scattered throughout the tasting room/barrel room. Many of the events they throw are baseball themed and frequently involve other baseball scouts both current and retired. I am sorry I missed the Harvest Festival BBQ and playoffs analysis this past October and hope Rio Seco hosts some kind of preseason analysis event at Zinfandel Festival in March.
Oh, and the wine itself is really good. According to the Hinkle daughters, their parents refer to Rio Seco wines as being primarily Monday through Thursday wines, rather than weekend and special occasion wines. I adore that phrase and tend to agree with this assessment in the sense that all of Rio Seco's wines are easily enjoyable, would be equally good on their own or with a meal and are priced such that opening several bottles in the middle of the week will not cause any strain on the budget…but I will happily drink this wine Friday through Sunday as well. My favorites are the #22 Zinfandel (named for the fact that this gem was the 22nd bonded winery in Paso, it's got a deep blackberry and raspberry flavor with allspice, cinnamon and clove notes, typical of a Paso Robles Zinfandel) and the Grand Slam (a fruit forward table red with nice tannins that begs to be paired with pasta with a spicy marinara sauce, hard salami and cheese or a big juicy burger). Oddly enough for me, another favorite is Glee, a White Cabernet. To me, this is part of the magic of a tasting room. Leave your preconceived "oh, I only like red wine" and "we're not drinking Merlot!" notions at the door and taste everything the winery is willing to let you taste. You never know, you might find something you weren't expecting to like. As, lo and behold, I have found a non-dry rose I actually like. I am quite fond of dry roses actually, but seldom like sweet ones. The Glee is sweet without being cloying. It tastes like pureed strawberries with a hint of citrus, vanilla and light herbal notes. This is refreshing in the extreme and we like drinking it while we are barbequing the meat we will eventually serve with red wine at a party.
So, if you are out and about in Paso Robles and looking for a treat, or if you want to purchase a tasty baseball themed wine for one of your gatherings this season (they accept online orders) I highly recommend Rio Seco. I didn't want to plaster MLBlogs with descriptions of the other wineries we visited on our trip because I don't know enough of you well enough to know it this would be interesting for you. But if you have an interest in less well known California wines, I did write a couple of posts on the trip on my LiveJournal here and here.


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text:
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text:
'Twas the night
before Sony's new machine, when all through the nation, not a creature was
stirring... because they were all waiting in line for a PlayStation
In what was previously a phenomenon common only among the
most hardcore Japanese gamers, lining up hours, or even days in advance of a
gaming release has hit North America at full force.
Gamers camped out at most
a day in advance for a chance to secure a pre-order at GameStop/EB Games,
but now with the imminent launch upon us, some have decided to take camping to a
level previously only known to The Phantom Menace. Some set up camp almost two
weeks ago, though they were ejected from their site less than a week into
their campaign.
After missing out on pre-orders, gamers all across North
America are taking no chances and have started to form line camps several days
before the system's release. A video taken from outside Circuit City in Union Square
in New York shows the lengthy line with 35 hours until launch, and another
shows a Best Buy in Melbourne,
Florida, complete with classical music and tents for the refined camper.
Things are not much different in the Great White North (though likely a good bit
colder), as shown in a video by Alan D. of campers waiting outside of a Future Shop in
Ontario. Notable is that when campers were asked whether they were planning on selling their system or playing it, the majority responded with intentions of selling.
Our personal experiences after scouting various locations
over the past 24 hours are varied. At a Best Buy location set to receive only 10
units, there were already seven people camped at the location at 5 a.m. on
November 16. Instead of bothering with a tent, a young couple decided to park
their car directly in front of the store, marking the beginning of the line. As
number one and two, the couple said that they had been there since 1 p.m. the
previous day.
At a Future Shop located in Vancouver, Canada, around a
dozen sitting in chairs, wrapped in blankets, were seen lining up against the
wall today in the late afternoon. Taking a page from the Japan launch, a
couple of homeless people were hired to sit in line for those who didn't want to
brave the wait first-hand. The Canadian retailer announced
that every store would carry a minimum of 10 PS3s, and those who wish to buy an
Xbox 360 on November 17 instead of a PS3 would receive a $50 discount plus free
copies of Gears of
War and Ridge Racer 6.
A smaller Best Buy location in Bellingham, Washington, set to receive
20 units of the 60GB machine had one of the quieter scenes we've encountered.
Aside from the couple of unattended foldable chairs at the front of the line,
the entire walkway was populated by a half dozen tents. Campers were nowhere to
be seen, but a lone acoustic guitar was on display, perhaps hinting at Kumbaya
singalongs once our cameras left the scene.
While many have been reporting positive experiences in
waiting for a PS3, there have been several isolated incidents where campers had
to endure some pain and suffering.
At a Best Buy location in Lexington, Kentucky, a group of
campers were victims of a drive-by BB gun shooting. Four people were hit by BB
pellets, including a television reporter who was there on the scene to interview
the queue. Two of the people who were shot packed up and left the scene, saying
that it wasn't worth the risk for the video games machine.
Some others are undeterred by the attack, one man
saying, "I'd do it again, even if I get shot again." Police say they'll stay at
the Best Buy to make sure people in line stay safe. Click here to read
and watch the news report from WKYT.
In another incident at West Bend, Wisconsin, a person
was injured outside Wal-Mart racing for a chance to buy one of 10 PS3s
available. According to the local police, an assistant manager announced to a
crowd of about 50 people that the store was only going to receive about 10
systems and placed 10 chairs outside of the store. Customers were told to run on
signal to try to occupy one of the chairs to secure themselves a PS3 when it
goes on sale at midnight.
Sadly, a 19-year-old man with perhaps a bit too much
exuberance ran into a pole and struck his head, injuring himself. He was taken
to the hospital for treatment, reports the


text:
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text:
The Internet was set alight last October, when news broke out that
actively interfered with P2P traffic. Nasty
words flew back and forth. Lawsuits
were filed. Even the FCC joined the party, kicking
off its own investigation early last January.
Fast forward to last Tuesday, when Comcast answered the FCC's
inquiries with an 80
page reply (PDF) that explained the company's rationale behind
its definition of "reasonable network management:"
"Notwithstanding the enormous
capacity and flexibility of the cable infrastructure, there are (and
always will be) some throughput limitations. Thus, the question is
not whether all customers will be able to use shared bandwidth
indiscriminately… but, rather, how to optimize every
customer's online experience and ability to … use all Internet
applications and services."
Fair enough. Other parts of the document point out that Comcast is
more concerned with making sure that their average users can surf the
web proper, as opposed to placating the desires of a "vocal
minority of users who make the most noise."
Right there, however, Comcast's logic falls apart. A quarter of
the way through the document – Page 14, according to Acrobat –
Comcast defers to the testimony of Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack, who
says that "P2P applications are designed to consume as much
bandwidth as is available, thus more capacity only results in more
So that much is true – but just as true are the numerous other
protocols and applications that are also bandwidth intensive.
Almost every other non-streaming application works because of similar
goals: using as much bandwidth as necessary to obtain optimal
results. In some cases, bandwidth requirements are minimal, like in
online chat applications. In other cases, however, saturating a
user's limited pipe simply isn't fast enough, as you simply
cannot escape the fact that downloading a file or streaming a high
quality video requires a comparatively large amount of data. There
are many, many bandwidth hogs out there that are just as good, if not
better, at "clogging the tubes" than BitTorrent and its ilk.
Look at Windows Update: every time Microsoft drops a big patch on
the Windows masses, literally hundreds of millions of computers
throughout the world will compete for space to download it – and it
is quite often very large: a
2005 estimate from Chris St. Amand of the Microsoft Operations
team pegged Windows update traffic at 10-15 gigabits per second
from the main download center during peak periods.
Comcast users represent a significant chunk of that number, being
that the ISP is currently the #2 provider of Internet services in the
United States. Where's Comcast stepping in to manage its
subscribers' use of Windows Update?
The point I'm trying to make here is that BitTorrent isn't the
only bandwidth demon that haunts ISPs, and for Comcast and
Congresswoman Bono Mack to accuse it of consuming "as much
bandwidth as possible," without mentioning many of the other
applications that do as well, is obfuscating the real issue: that
Internet consumption is expanding faster than ISPs would like it to.
Services like BitTorrent, and other P2P apps, have a legitimate
place in today's and tomorrow's Internet. A number of progressive
companies – Blizzard Entertainment, Joost, and others – use
BitTorrent, or BitTorrent-like systems, to offload content away from
the old guard of expensive, centralized client-server models and
towards newer, P2P models. While this model does introduce an extra
burden on the ISPs, I would think that ISPs should be responding to
the needs of their customers, and not the other way around.
Food for thought: if Comcast invested all the money spent on
excessive "network management" towards expanding the weak points
of its infrastructure, how much further would the company be? How
much further would the quality of our Internet service be? Instead of
cracking down on protocols that Comcast deems unworthy, wouldn't it
be easier to promise – and enforce – a usable minimum of
bandwidth to subscribers, and allow the rest of the pipe to be a
You can tell that Comcast is on the defensive. In the places where
its response to the FCC isn't littered with narcissistic praise, it
constantly qualifies its "network management" practices with
words like "little" or "minor" or "reasonable," and
there's always an emphasis on the well-being of "all" users.
Frequently these qualifiers appear italicized for emphasis. Don't
get me wrong, I'm all for reasonable network management –
and indeed Comcast names many examples of reasonable network
management in other companies – but none of those definitions
include Comcast's, who thinks that injecting forged disconnect
packets into P2P sessions is "reasonable."
Comcast contends that its practices are necessary so that it can
stay viable in an intensely competitive – hah!
– industry. I am officially calling shenanigans on this claim. I
think Comcast is unwilling to further invest in its infrastructure's
weak points despite its considerable
financial growth in 2007, and that it is unwilling to support an
Internet that is growing faster than its master plan.
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus
once wrote that "nothing endures but change." Comcast, just like
most any big company, is simply fighting change – and all the
disruptions that come with it.
But we all know what
happens when you fight
change, right?


text: Check out our latest new items. We get shipments of new items every month so visit often to find the hottest must haves for any party or event. We have a wide selection of novelty toys, party favors, and redemption prizes in addition to fun wearable items like hats, costumes, masks and more.


text:
Oklahoma Tornado: Pen Air FCU Latest to Aid Victims
To help residents and families impacted by the tornado that struck Moore, Okla., earlier this week, Pen Air Federal Credit Union said it will collect monetary donations at all of its branches.
The $1.2 billion credit union in Pensacola, Fla., said all funds collected will be sent to the American Red Cross.
Donations will be collected by the cooperative over the next two weeks with the possibility of an extended timeframe depending on the trends of donations as well as the needs of the American Red Cross, Pen Air FCU said.
"Our thoughts are with all of those affected by this horrible tornado," said Pen Air FCU President/CEO Stewart Ramsey. "Pen Air Federal Credit Union understands the mission of the Red Cross, and hopes our community will respond in helping support that mission."
Donations will be collected at the credit union's 19 branches serving Northwest Florida and Southeast Alabama, including four student-run credit unions at area high schools
Also from Oklahoma Tornado:
- Loans to Offer Shelter From the Storms
- Ohio, Kansas, California Joins in Relief Effort
- Redstone Collecting Donations in Alabama
- Manager Tells Tale of Tinker Safe Survival (video)
- Leagues Chip In, Life-Saving Vault Still Inaccessible
- CUNA Mutual Contacts 57 CUs
- Branch's Vault Still Stands Sentinel
- NCUA Activates Relief Policy
- Weokie Staff Also Retreated to Vault
- CUNA Mutual Sending Disaster Team
- League, NCUF Assessing Impact
- Tinker Staffers Survive in Safe