text:
Top Items:
Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
In Tax Fight, Republicans Seeking Fallback Position — WASHINGTON — With President Obama insisting on higher tax rates for affluent Americans and winning public support for the idea, Congressional Republicans find themselves in an increasingly difficult political spot and are quietly beginning the difficult search for a way out.
John Cassidy / News Desk: A Worthwhile Tax and Spending Proposal
Greg Sargent / The Plum Line: The Morning Plum: Why Obama won't negotiate with GOP over debt ceiling
Ezra Klein / Wonkblog: The GOP's bizarre 'doomsday plan'
Erika Johnsen / Hot Air: Obama to GOP on debt ceiling: "I will not play that game"
Noam Scheiber / The New Republic: Dear Mr. President: Please Don't Negotiate Over the Debt Ceiling. Please.
Meghashyam Mali / The Hill: Obama to appeal to business leaders on raising debt ceiling
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine: Obama's Refusal to Deal Paving Way for a Deal
Greg Dworkin / Daily Kos: Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Marching off the cliff
Erik Loomis / Lawyers, Guns & Money: Ending the Debt Ceiling Absurdity
Erin Delmore / msnbc.com: The Company Memo: Wednesday, December 5, 2012
The rich will pay more taxes, Boehner says — Washington (CNN) — Taxes on the wealthy are going up, House Speaker John Boehner conceded on Wednesday in challenging President Barack Obama to sit down with him to hammer out a deal for avoiding the fiscal cliff.
Discussion: Politico, Roland Martin Reports, Reuters, The Hill and Shakesville
Seung Min Kim / Politico: Christmas in D.C.? — Start canceling those holiday plans and rescheduling your flights.
Russell Berman / The Hill: Lack of rank-and-file House GOP backlash hints at softening on taxes
Melissa McEwan / Shakesville: Fiscal Cliffery: A Suggestion
Rebecca Berg / BuzzFeed:
Senate Democrats: Republicans Won't Put Up A Fight On Debt Ceiling — "I think they learned their lesson with the debt ceiling," Schumer says. — Image by Alex Wong / Getty Images — WASHINGTON — A group of Democratic senators predicted Wednesday that Republicans won't push …
Discussion: Daily Kos and Booman Tribune
Joan McCarter / Daily Kos: Senate Democrats tighten the screws on middle class tax cuts
Peter Orszag / Bloomberg:
A Good Deal Will Raise Tax Rates, Fix Entitlements
A Good Deal Will Raise Tax Rates, Fix Entitlements
Discussion: Think Tanked, Hot Air and Politico
Allen McDuffee / Think Tanked: 'Fiscal cliff': Democrats and entitlements, Endless Cliff Hypothesis and more
Ed Morrissey / Hot Air: Falling back to the debt ceiling?
Mark Felsenthal / Reuters:
Obama to stress need to raise debt limit "without drama"
Obama to stress need to raise debt limit "without drama"
Discussion: The Heritage Foundation, Weasel Zippers, The PJ Tatler and ABCNEWS
Amy Payne / The Heritage Foundation: Morning Bell: Obama Wants Power to Raise Debt Limit By Himself, Anytime
Justin Sink / The Hill:
Obama warns business GOP debt-ceiling 'game' will hurt economy
Obama warns business GOP debt-ceiling 'game' will hurt economy
Discussion: Politico
Donovan Slack / Politico: Obama on debt ceiling: 'I will not play that game'
Howard Reich / Chicago Tribune:
Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck dead at age 91 — Arts critic — Dave Brubeck, a jazz musician who attained pop-star acclaim with recordings such as "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk," died Wednesday morning at Norwalk Hospital, in Norwalk, Conn., said his longtime manager-producer-conductor Russell Gloyd.
Discussion: Gothamist, Stinque, The Maddow Blog, Gawker, The Week, Los Angeles Times and Balloon Juice
Ben Yakas / Gothamist: Legendary Jazz Pianist Dave Brubeck Dies At 91
Nojo / Stinque: Dave Brubeck, 1920-2012 — Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck dead at age 91 [Chicago Tribune]
Kent Jones / The Maddow Blog: Dave Brubeck, 1920-2012 — Iconic jazz pianist Dave Brubeck has died at age 91.
Cord Jefferson / Gawker: Jazz Musician Dave Brubeck Dead at 91
Amy Hubbard / Los Angeles Times: Dave Brubeck, jazz legend, dies at 91
Soonergrunt / Balloon Juice: RIP Dave Brubeck, Jazz Legend, 91
Ben Ratliff / New York Times:
Dave Brubeck, Who Helped Put Jazz Back in Vogue, Dies at 91
Dave Brubeck, Who Helped Put Jazz Back in Vogue, Dies at 91
Discussion: Outside the Beltway
Doug Mataconis / Outside the Beltway: Jazz Legend Dave Brubeck Dies At 91
Dave Brubeck: Take Five jazz pianist dies
Dave Brubeck: Take Five jazz pianist dies
Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Truthdig and Althouse
Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig: Dave Brubeck's Alternate Ambitions
Ann Althouse / Althouse: Dave Brubeck has died.
Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Top GOP Rep Wants 'More Pain' For Middle Class, While Preserving Tax Cuts For The Rich — Throughout the fiscal cliff negotiations Republicans have insisted on preserving tax cuts for the richest 2 percent of Americans, but have dogmatically opposed maintaing a payroll tax holiday that disproportionately benefits the middle class.
Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Our Financial Future and Calculated Risk
Heather / Crooks and Liars: Krugman: Economic Proposals Only Considered 'Serious' if They Inflict Pain on Vulnerable People
Bill McBride / Calculated Risk: Wednesday: ISM Service, ADP Employment
John Podhoretz / New York Post:
A losing GOP hand — O holds all the fiscal-cliff cards — Republicans have a bad hand to play when it comes to the "fiscal cliff" coming up Jan. 1, when taxes will rise automatically on everyone and whopping defense cuts will be imposed automatically. — Did I say a bad hand?
Discussion: JustOneMinute, First Read, The Week, Washington Post and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion
Michael O'Brien / First Read: Obama sees signs GOP might relent on tax hikes for wealthy
Scott Clement / Washington Post: Poll: Fiscal cliff blame would fall heaviest on GOP
William A. Jacobson / Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion: Fiscal Cliff — the Christmas strategy
Lois Romano / Reuters:
Democrats to Obamaland: Share your data — The hottest property to emerge from Barack Obama's lopsided victory over Mitt Romney is not the president's much lauded campaign team. Nor is it the shrewd turnout operation that catapulted him to victory. — It is something far more valuable that's …
Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and Capital New York
Jay Jochnowitz / The Observation Deck:
Cuomo: Mainline Democrats "squandered the opportunity"
Cuomo: Mainline Democrats "squandered the opportunity"
Discussion: Capital New York, Daily Kos, Crain's New York Business, City Room, Politicker and Capital Tonight
Azi Paybarah / Capital New York: Cuomo: Rockefeller drug reform doesn't 'justify' Democratic leadership
Andrew J. Hawkins / Crain's New York Business: Break up the Senate: GOP, Dems ink deal
Colin Campbell / Politicker: Daily Kos Founder: 'I Look Forward to Crushing Cuomo'
New York Times:
Dissident Democrats and G.O.P. to Jointly Run N.Y. Senate
Dissident Democrats and G.O.P. to Jointly Run N.Y. Senate
Discussion: Lawyers, Guns & Money, New York Post and Capital New York
Detroit's Fox 2:
Detroit councilwoman to Obama: We voted for you, now bail us out — DETROIT (WJBK) — The city of Detroit faces a major financial crisis and one member of city council thinks President Barack Obama should step in and help. — City Council member JoAnn Watson said Tuesday the citizens support …
Becket Adams / TheBlaze.com: DETROIT COUNCILWOMAN'S ACTUAL RANT: WE VOTED FOR YOU, OBAMA, NOW GIVE US SOME OF THAT GOV'T 'BACON'
Doug Powers / Michelle Malkin: Detroit councilwoman to mayor: We supported Obama overwhelmingly, so go get a bailout from him because he owes us
ZIP / Weasel Zippers: Detroit Dem Councilwoman: We Voted For You, Obama, Now Give Us Some Of That Government "Bacon"...
Gateway Guest Blogger / The Gateway Pundit: Detroit Demands Obama Bailout: We Voted For You, Now Give Us Some Bacon (Video)
Anjali Sareen / Mediaite: Detroit Councilwoman Wants Government 'Bacon' In Return For Supporting Obama
Susan Duclos / Wake up America: Detroit councilwoman Says They Reelected Obama So He Should Bring Home The Bacon
Bryan Preston / The PJ Tatler: Bankrupt Detroit Demands Federal Pork
Greg Holyk / ABCNEWS:
Hillary Clinton Wins High Popularity, Majority Support for a 2016 Bid — Carried by a new high in personal popularity and broad approval of her work as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton closes out her diplomatic career with majority support as a candidate for president in 2016.
Discussion: Politico, CNN, Shakesville, Ballot Box, Taegan Goddard's …, The Agonist, Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes' and The Hinterland Gazette
Kevin Robillard / Politico: Poll: Run, Hillary Clinton, run!
Paul Steinhauser / CNN: New York Poll: Clinton yes, Cuomo no, on White House runs
Melissa McEwan / Shakesville: Today in Being a Woman — ABC News: Hillary Clinton Wins High …
Alexandra Jaffe / Ballot Box: Poll: Majority backs Clinton 2016 bid
Steve Hynd / The Agonist: Hillary In 2016? Oh, Please No!
Jon Cohen / The Fix:
Run Hillary Run!: Majority want a Clinton 2016 candidacy
Run Hillary Run!: Majority want a Clinton 2016 candidacy
Discussion: The Week, Capital New York, Outside the Beltway and THEROOT.COM
Reid Pillifant / Capital New York: Poll: Hillary '16 even stronger outside New York
Doug Mataconis / Outside the Beltway: Hillary Clinton Gets 57% Support In 2016 Poll
Keli Goff / THEROOT.COM: Hillary Clinton: 1-Term President?
PunditTracker Blog:
Vote: Worst Political Prediction of 2012 — We have narrowed down our list of the best & worst political predictions this year and would like your help in making the final call. — Here are our three final candidates for the Worst Political Prediction of 2012
Discussion: Applesauce and Taegan Goddard's …
Pat Cunningham / Applesauce: What was the Worst Political Prediction of 2012?
Wall Street Journal:
The Budget Baseline Con — How Washington fools the public about spending 'cuts.' — If the fiscal cliff talks make Lindsay Lohan look like a productive member of society, perhaps it's because President Obama and John Boehner are playing by the dysfunctional Beltway rules.
Discussion: Wonkblog, Hot Air and Cato @ Liberty
Ezra Klein / Wonkblog: The GOP's hidden budget advantage
Daniel J. Mitchell / Cato @ Liberty: Exposing Washington's Dishonest Budget Math
Devin Dwyer / ABCNEWS:
Obama Rejects GOP 'Doomsday' Plan
Obama Rejects GOP 'Doomsday' Plan
Discussion: CNN, ABCNEWS and Speaker.gov
Halimah Abdullah / CNN: Lawmakers' long weekend
Lucy Madison / CBS News:
"Fiscal cliff" talks frozen, Obama lobbies big business
"Fiscal cliff" talks frozen, Obama lobbies big business
Discussion: The Raw Story
Paul Bond / Hollywood Reporter:
'2016' Oscar Snub Has Filmmakers Claiming Political Bias — Gerald Molen, who produced the Academy Award-winning 'Schindler's List,' said the box-office success of the anti-Obama documentary proves the film was a hit: "The action confirms my opinion that the bias against anything …
Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', Michelle Malkin, Mediaite and No More Mister Nice Blog
Doug Powers / Michelle Malkin: No surprise: 2nd highest grossing political documentary of all time not nominated for an Oscar
Andrew Kirell / Mediaite: Dinesh D'Souza Blames 2016: Obama's America Oscar Snub Not On It Being Bad, But On Hollywood Liberalism
Josh Israel / ThinkProgress:
Rubio: I Don't 'Pass Judgment' On The 'Sin' Of Homosexuality (Except When I Do) — Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who has called for the Republican Party to be more inclusive of minorities, said Wednesday that while his faith teaches homosexuality is a sin, he does not judge sinners.
Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Towleroad News #gay and Taylor Marsh
David A. Graham / The Atlantic Online: Marco Rubio's Hot-Button Social Issue Swap: Assuage Scientists, Irk Gays
Andy Towle / Towleroad News #gay: Marco Rubio: My Faith, Which Informs Me, Says That Homosexuality is a Sin - VIDEO
Joyce Arnold / Taylor Marsh: Rubio Asked, 'Is Homosexuality a Sin?' (VIDEO)
Igor Volsky / ThinkProgress:
Marco Rubio Clarifies The Earth's Age: It's 'At Least 4.5 Billion Years Old'
Marco Rubio Clarifies The Earth's Age: It's 'At Least 4.5 Billion Years Old'
Discussion: Taking Note, New York Magazine and The Raw Story
Andrew Rosenthal / Taking Note: Marco Rubio Believes in Science
Dan Amira / New York Magazine: Marco Rubio Believes in Science Now
Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Harry Reid Denies Senate Chance to Vote on Obama's Plan — Senate majority leader Harry Reid is denying the Senate the chance to vote on President Barack Obama's proposal. Reid calls Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's request to vote on the plan a "stunt." — "I reserve the right to object.
Discussion: Weasel Zippers
Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:
Reid: Filibuster Reform Is Happening Whether Republicans Like It Or Not
Reid: Filibuster Reform Is Happening Whether Republicans Like It Or Not
Discussion: Politico and Booman Tribune
R. Umar Abbasi / New York Post:
Anguished fotog: Critics are unfair to condemn me — Ki Suk Han, 58, of Queens frantically tries to climb to safety yesterday as a train bears down on him in Midtown. He was fatally struck seconds later. … I was on an assignment, waiting for a train at the 49th Street subway platform, when I suddenly heard people gasping.
Discussion: msnbc.com, TIME, New York Magazine, Poynter, Daily Mail, Erik Wemple, Forbes, Gawker, Runnin' Scared and Gothamist, more at Mediagazer »
David Schoetz / msnbc.com: Ki Suk Han subway tragedy: What would you do?
James Poniewozik / TIME: Uniformed and plainclothes police officers stand outside …
Daily Mail: R. Umar Abbasi: New York Post photographer claims he could not help 'doomed' subway rider
Jeff Bercovici / Forbes: More Details Behind NY Post's Subway Death Photo Emerge
Neetzan Zimmerman / Gawker: Post Photographer Who Snapped Subway Death Pic Speaks Out: 'I Was Too Far Away'
John Del Signore / Gothamist: Photos, Video: Subway Shove Victim Photographed Before Train Hit Him, Was Arguing With Alleged Attacker
Ben Leubsdorf / Concord Monitor:
Sununu: Democrats won election by turning out voters who are dependent on government — Former governor, John H. Sununu, right, was one of three former Republican governors of New Hampshire to attend a discussion at the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy's second sponsored dinner …
Discussion: Politico, Washington Monthly, Talking Points Memo, Roland Martin Reports and msnbc.com
Katie Glueck / Politico: John Sununu: Obama base gets handouts
Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo: Sununu: Obama Won Because He Turned Out Voters 'Dependent' On Government
Aliyah Frumin / msnbc.com: Sununu: Obama won due to government-dependent voters
David Dayen / Firedoglake:
Obama to Request $50 Billion for Sandy Relief — For a Congress spending every waking minute talking about deficits, they sure know how to spend gobs of money above and beyond requested budgets - as long as it goes to the hands of defense contractors. The Senate version of the defense authorization bill costs $631 billion.
Discussion: The Hill
Jeremy Herb / The Hill: Senate passes $631B defense policy bill 98-0
New York Times:
White House to Ask for $50 Billion in Hurricane Relief Aid
White House to Ask for $50 Billion in Hurricane Relief Aid
Discussion: Daily Kos, Politico and Capitol Watch
Joan McCarter / Daily Kos: Obama to ask for $50 billion in Hurricane Sandy relief
John Hawkins / Right Wing News:
The 60 Best Conservative Blogs For 2012 (6th Annual) — 60) The Mental Recession (No link because I am getting a virus warning when I go there today) 59) Polipundit 58) Jihad Watch 57) This Ain't Hell 56) Hugh Hewitt 55) Patterico's Pontifications 54) Moe Lane 53) Counter Cultured 52) Wizbang!
Discussion: Vox Popoli
Rebecca Leber / ThinkProgress:
Global Warming Is Behind The Real War On Christmas — It's that time of year when Fox News and other conservative media outlets revive their imaginary "War on Christmas." But the actual threat to one Christmas tradition comes from something more insidious than Fox's perceived attacks …
Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Pirate's Cove
Jenni LeCompte / U.S. Department of the Treasury:
Taking the Threat of Default Out of the Debt Limit — On Sunday, December 2, Secretary Geithner appeared on NBC's Meet the Press, CBS' Face the Nation, ABC's This Week, FOX News Sunday, and CNN's State of the Union and made the case for the Administration's balanced approach to reducing the deficit and strengthening economic growth.
Discussion: The Plum Line, Talking Points Memo, American Prospect, Washington Wire, New York Magazine and Business Insider
Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo: Dems Grapple With Renewed GOP Debt Limit Threats
Jamelle Bouie / American Prospect: An End to Debt Ceiling Shenanigans?
Jeffrey Sparshott / Washington Wire: Treasury Details Debt-Limit Proposal
Jonathan Chait / New York Magazine: Obama: No More Debt Ceiling Extortion
Lowkell / Blue Virginia:
BREAKING: Tom Perriello Announces He Will Not Run for Virginia Governor in 2013 — I just received the following statement from Tom Perriello. I think Tom would have made a strong candidate for governor, and potentially a great governor. On the other hand, Tom's brilliant, and I'm confident he'll do great things in other ways.
Discussion: Politico, CNN and Talking Points Memo
James Hohmann / Politico: Tom Perriello out for Virginia governor
Ken Cuccinelli / CNN: Potential McAullife challenger says he won't run
Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo: Tom Perriello Not Running For VA-GOV, Endorses Terry McAuliffe
Adam Peck / ThinkProgress:
Ohio Senator Confronted By Constituents Over Support For Medicare And Social Security Cuts — Ohio Senator Rob Portman (R) was one of a handful of Washington, D.C lawmakers and policy experts invited to participate in a panel discussion on the fiscal cliff on Tuesday morning …


text:
The wait for a true Verizon 4G phone is almost over. Verizon Wireless,
America's largest carrier, is set to become only America's second carrier to
offer a phone that supports true fourth generation wireless technology,
following in Sprint's pioneering footsteps (T-Mobile and AT&T advertise
HSPA+ as "4G", but it's roughly half as fast in its current form as deployed
LTE and WiMAX from Verizon and Sprint, respectively).
The HTC
Thunderbolt will land on March 17, and come complete with a $249.99
USD price tag with two-year contract, according to a long awaited official
If you were hoping for Android "Gingerbread"
2.3, you won't find it with this release. The phone only comes with
Android "Froyo" 2.2 (though a Gingerbread update will likely be in
the works before long).
Otherwise the phone packs solid hardware. It
offers a massive 4.3-inch touch-screen WVGA display and standard 8 MP/1.3 MP
rear/front cameras for imaging and video chatting. It features one of Qualcomm's
next-generation 1 GHz SnapDragon single-core processors.
The new phone's resemblance to the HTC
EVO 4G on Sprint in features and looks is somewhat uncanny. Like
the HTC EVO 4G on Sprint, it has a kickstand, for watching movies when you're
seated. It comes packed with 8 GB of internal flash and a 32 GB microSD
Verizon will be offering customers LTE data for
the same rate as 3G -- $29.99 USD for unlimited use (Sprint bumps its 4G data
rate by $10). If you want a hotspot, that will be an extra $20/month.
The hotspot will be capped at 2 GB per month (unlike Sprint's which is currently
unlimited) and will support up to eight devices.
Compared to other Verizon offerings like the recently
acquired iPhone 4, the Thunderbolt looks competitive from a hardware
perspective. While it lacks a dual-core CPU like the upcoming Motorola
Atrix "4G" on AT&T (which can only muster HSPA+, not
true 4G), ultimately it should have more than enough power and the single-core
processor will arguably be more beneficial
in terms of prolonging battery life -- a trouble spot for HTC in the past.
And at the end of the day, having LTE is what
really sets this phone apart. The EVO 4G and Epic
4G on Sprint were arguably two of last year's top smartphones, not so
much because of their hardware (which was matched by similar or identical
models on other networks), but for it's ability to tap much faster data speeds.
A lot of the utility of a smartphone is the
ability to browse the web, send emails, and more. In general data speeds
still have a ways to go before attaching large files like pictures to emails
becomes painless and until web browsing reaches desktop-like page load speeds.
The switch to 4G wireless technologies is an important step in that

subset: commoncrawl


text:
But this new kind of paint is a reality now being tested on the walls of research lab at the University of Miami College of Engineering. The experimental initiative is designed to fit into the university's commitment towards environmental sustainability on campus.
Dr. James Giancaspro, an assistant professor at the department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering has applied the innovative product on the walls of his lab, where undergraduate and graduate students work.
Dr. James Giancaspro (Photo courtesy U. Miami)
The self-cleaning paint is an ecologically friendly product, Giancaspro says, which has the ability to keep walls clean and maintenance free by repelling dirt, smog, bacteria, algae and fungus that normally accumulates on surfaces, eliminating toxic odors at the same time.
He is currently in the process of designing ways of monitoring the anti-bacterial, anti-pollutant qualities of the paint.
The secret of how the paint works was discovered in the 1960s by Dr. Akira Fujishima in Japan.
He found that titanium dioxide crystals, stimulated by ultra-violet light, could break down the molecules found in grime and organic matter that are necessary for bacteria to grow.
This chemical process is called photocatalytic activity.
Using energy found in the UV light, the photocatalyst titanium dioxide can break down organic substances such as oil grime and hydrocarbons from car exhaust and industrial smog, volatile organic compounds found in building materials and furniture, as well as organic growth such as fungus and mildew.
The contaminants are transformed into non-toxic molecules and reduced to such small quantities that they can no longer damage the surfaces.
A photocatalyst coating can control sick building syndrome by removing volatile organic compounds emitted from building materials, carpeting and furniture, creating a purer space for more comfortable living and working.
Giancaspro says this "eco-active" product was developed by Global Engineering, the Italian company that made the product available to the University of Miami scientist.
Although the paint is used in Europe and Asia, this is the first time it has been utilized in the United States.
Global Engineering plans to fund research of this paint at the University of Miami, which may lead to development of the product for the U.S. market.
The University of Miami began its protection of the environment in 2005 when it launched GreenU, a program that puts into practice safe solutions to environmental problems.
As part of the university's commitment towards the creation of a green campus, UM President Donna Shalala, who served as secretary of health and human services in the Clinton administration, set the campus on a green path in 2007.
During a ceremony marking Earth Day 2007, Shalala signed the Talloires Declaration of the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future and the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment.
The Talloires Declaration is an international document that pledges signatories to use every opportunity to raise public, government, industry, foundation, and university awareness by openly addressing the urgent need to move toward an environmentally sustainable future.
The Presidents Climate Commitment is a high-visibility effort to address global warming and to accelerate the research and educational efforts of higher education to equip society to re-stabilize the Earth's climate. To date, the leaders of 526 institutions across the country, representing 25 percent of the total student population and all 50 states, have pledged their commitment.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.


text:
© 2007 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Tigers part ways with Durbin
Free agent right-hander looking for starting role with new club
By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com
With seven players eligible for arbitration, including newly acquired stars Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis, the Tigers entered Wednesday's non-tender deadline with some tough financial decisions to ponder. They took care of one of those arbitration-eligibles with the signing of left-handed reliever Tim Byrdak to a one-year deal worth $712,500, plus another $12,500 if he appears in 55 or more games in '08. But while Byrdak is being kept in the fold, Chad Durbin has been set free. In addition to the Byrdak signing, the Tigers announced Wednesday that they will not tender a contract to the right-handed Durbin, meaning he is now a free agent eligible to sign with any Major League team. Though Durbin provided some needed depth to an injury-depleted rotation in '07, going 8-7 with a 4.72 ERA in 36 outings (including 19 starts), his arbitration eligibility dictated that he was due for a hefty raise from the $385,000 he made this past year. The Tigers also have Zach Miner and Jason Grilli in the fold to handle the right-handed middle relief duties. "I anticipated some difficulties in bringing me to arbitration," Durbin wrote in an e-mail to MLB.com. "I couldn't foresee being paid like a back-end starter while staying out in the bullpen. Being non-tendered allows us to explore the market. My interest will be in finding a place to start and get consistent work." Durbin said the Tigers were professional throughout the process.
Anthony Castrovince is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text:
Clear All Filters
Are there any offers on wedding photography packages in Karaikal that I can get through ShaadiSaga?
How does ShaadiSaga help me book the perfect wedding photographer in Karaikal?
What is the average price for wedding photographers in Karaikal?
What all wedding services in Karaikal can I book through ShaadiSaga?
Please suggest locations for pre-wedding photoshoot in Karaikal.
What should I discuss with the photographer before booking?
What are the latest trends in wedding photography?
Should we have separate wedding photographers for bride & groom side?
Services offered in Wedding Photography
Delivery of photos, videos & albums
The photographer will initially send the RAW footage and photographs to you. You are then suppose to shortlist pictures according to your preference. The photographer shall then edit and compile from the pictures you've chosen and convert them into final deliverables in hard (albums) and soft copies (hard disk or USB).
Payment for wedding photography services
The payment for the wedding photography service depends on the policy of photographers. The mode of payment, whether online or in cash, too varies from photographer to photographer. In most of the scenarios, the photographer will charge at least 50% of payment in advance and the remaining after the deliverables of photos, videos & albums or whatever is included in your package. The nature of payment remains dynamic and it is advised to talk about it beforehand with your chosen photographer.


text:
- Item No.
- 659720
- Mfg Part No.
- Availability
- Not Available
Product Information for Bush Business Furniture Series A 48" Hutch
Highlights for Bush Business Furniture Series A 48" Hutch
Marketing Information
Expandable collection of desks, hutches, and accessories provides hundreds of ways to increase workflow efficiencies. Durable 1" thick melamine work surface is scratch-resistant and stain-resistant. Edgebanding stands up to collisions and dents. Design also features solid hardwood molded feet, a wire cable management system, and file drawers that hold letter-size or legal-size files. Lateral files accommodate letter-size or legal-size files. File drawers feature full-extension, ball-bearing slides. Corner Connectors link separate desks into single L-shape configurations. Hutches add overhead storage to desks and have full-width tack board on back panels. Use corner desk as a standalone unit or add a desk at either side to form efficient "L" configurations.
General Information
Additional Information
Country of OriginUS
Recycled Content94%
Assembly RequiredYes
Physical Characteristics
Product Information


text:
A Russellville man told police three thieves came into his home and took $320 out of his wife's purse by using a traveling salesman ruse.
The 79-year-old resident of North Cleveland Street reported two men knocked on his door Friday and entered as soon as he opened it. The men, who the victim said appeared to be in their 30s, called he and his wife 'dad' and 'mom' and hugged them.
The men allegedly claimed they were starting a carpet business and brought in a rolled-up piece of carpet. They unrolled it and held it in the air so that it obscured the victims' view of the doorway, according to the police report.
As they talked about the quality of the carpet, the victim thought he heard the front door open at least two times, he told officers. After a few minutes, the men rolled up the carpet and left.
The man noticed $320 in cash was missing from his wife's purse in a bedroom the next day. He told officers someone could have entered the house behind the carpet and walked into the bedroom without them seeing it, according to the police report.


text:
How would you categorize President Obama's State of the Union address?
Visionary: The president outlined his plans successfully and clearly.
8% (180 votes)
Emotional: The tribute to wounded Army Ranger Cory Remsburg was powerful.
5% (106 votes)
Empty: It was a typical political speech with lots of ideas but few specifics.
36% (817 votes)
Partisan: There was little effort to bring the two parties together.
20% (439 votes)
Boring: I didn't watch it, fell asleep or watched something else.
31% (708 votes)
Total votes: 2250


text:
The International Africa Festival, founded in 1989, is the largest festival for African music and culture in Europe. Visitors from Germany and abroad flock to the former royal seat of Würzburg in Bavaria to experience the rich culture and exuberance of Africa.
Across four stages and in front of 100,000 people, more than 250 musicians and dancers give a real taste of Africa's rich musical traditions. Besides concerts, there are colourful bazaars selling handicrafts and everyday objects, countless stands serving delicious African food and drink, a craft market, children's entertainment, exhibitions and a late-night programme featuring African and Caribbean DJs.
Upcoming dates:
31.05.2018 - 03.06.2018
Talavera Mainwiesen
Mainaustraße 1
97082 Würzburg
All information on prices, dates and opening times are subject to change without notice.


text:
In Touch with Prairie Living
February 2010
By Michael M. Miller
Germans from Russia Heritage Collection
North Dakota State University Libraries, Fargo
As I write this February column, I am looking forward to my visit in Minneapolis and meeting our Germans from Russia community, many with Dakota roots.
I will speak to the North Star Chapter of the American Historical Society of Germans from Russia and the Germans from Russia Heritage Society, on Saturday, February 20, 2pm at the Berea Lutheran Church, 7538 Emerson Avenue South, Richfield, MN. My presentation is titled: "GRHC - It's Mission and Goals." The event is free and open to the public. For further information, go to: www.northstarchapter.org.
Author and former North Dakota native Debra Marquart will visit NDSU on Thursday, March 4, to give a presentation, visit with students and conduct book signings. She also will make an appearance on Prairie Public Radio's Hear It Now on Friday, March 5, from 3-4 pm (CST). On March 4 at the NDSU Alumni Center, 7-8 pm, Marquart will read from her work and discuss researching, uncovering and writing about German-Russian history for her memoir, The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere, and for an in-progress roots and travel memoir about her family's migrations through Ukraine and Siberia, tentatively titled, Somewhere Else This Time Tomorrow: On Geographical Flight and Cultural Amnesia. Marquart, a Napoleon, ND native, received the 2009 Iowa's Author Award. Her memoir, The Horizontal World, was awarded the 2007 PEN USA Creative Nonfiction Award. The NDSU events are sponsored by the NDSU Libraries, the Institute for Regional Studies and the North Dakota Humanities Council. For more information, visit library.ndsu.edu/events.
The GRHC has available three important new town history books recently published. The Hague, North Dakota Centennial: 1908 - 2008 prepared and edited by Katie (Glatt) Wald, provides historical information and family histories. Articles featured include: The Black Sea Germans in Russia; The Black Sea Germans in North Dakota; Recollections of Early Settlers; Life and Struggles of Our Early Settlers; The Origination of Hague; The First Arrivals; The History of St. Mary's Church; Prairies Churches; Dutch Settlements in Our Midst and The Holland Settlement.
The GRHC also has available these books: Hague, North Dakota: History of St. Mary's Catholic Church and the Town of Hague and Hague Area Book II: The Past 100 Years and Its People.
The new book, Timber Lake (South Dakota) and Area Centennial History: 1910 - 2010, is an impressive publication. Like the Hague area, Timber Lake had a large settlement of Germans from Russia who came from the Kutschurgan District villages of South Russia (today near Odessa, Ukraine). The book includes many family histories. Sections include: Timber Lake at a Geological Crossroads; Archaeology: Pieces of the Past; The Legacy of Homesteading: Trial and Triumphs; Timber Lake: Our Hometown for 100 Years; Trail City and Promise Still on the Map; Firesteel: A Prairie Coal Mining Town and Glencross/Germans from Russia: Three Centuries. The GRHC also has available the 75th Diamond Jubilee book for Timber Lake.
The new book, Leola, South Dakota Quasquicentennial: 1884 - 2009, includes many family histories. The book includes these sections: City of Leola, McPherson County; Townships; Businesses; Churches; Organizations; Agriculture; Memories; People of Interest; Alumni; Schools and Celebrations. Contact the GRHC, for further information regarding the Hague, Timber Lake and Leola books. The Leola area was heavily settled by Germans from Russia of the Glueckstal District colonies of South Russia (today in Moldova and southern Ukraine).
For further information about the Germans from Russia Heritage Collection, the Friends of the GRHC, the May 2010 and 2011 Journey to the Homeland Tours and donations to the GRHC (such as family histories), contact Michael M. Miller, The Libraries, NDSU Dept. #2080, PO Box 6050, Fargo, ND 58108-6050 (Telephone: 701-231-8416; Email: firstname.lastname@example.com; the GRHC website: www.ndsu.edu/grhc).
February 2010 column for North Dakota and South Dakota newspapers.


text:
Victoria's Secret Might Think Kate Upton Is Trashy, But They'll Use Her Old Pictures Anyway [PHOTO]
Lingerie and undergarment retailer Victoria's Secret ignited the ire of Sports Illustrated swimsuit model (and former VS catalog model) Kate Upton by recently using an old photograph of her — without her permission.
This, of course, after a company rep said they'd never hire her to model in their fashion shows because she's just not classy enough for them.
Last year, a VS booker who hires models for the brand's fashion shows sniped, "We would never use Kate … She's like a Page 3 girl. She's like a footballer's wife, with the too-blond hair and that kind of face that anyone with enough money can go out and buy."
If you aren't familiar with Brit-speak, Kate was basically just compared to a cheap topless model and/or a 'Real Housewife.' You can imagine why she was a tad pissed off by that imagery.
The photo of Kate (featured left) appeared on the back of a recent VS catalog but was actually from a shoot Upton did for them back in 2011. Before she was on the cover of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue twice in a row and became the full-fledged celeb she is today.
A source close to Kate says she's none too pleased about having her photo used two years after the fact, saying, "Kate's not currently contracted to work with Victoria's Secret, and they didn't contact her before they used these images."
The greater travesty? That bra is so 2011.


text:
It was a relatively uneventful off day for the Leafs, with the only noteworthy news being the report from AM640 that J.S. Giguere will undergo a sports hernia surgery this summer. The team is back on the ice today to prepare for tomorrow's game when they play host to the Montreal Canadiens. Just like the Leafs final game one year ago, they will be playing for pride and would like nothing more than to finish off their season series with Montreal by defeating their original six rivals in front of the hometown fans at the Air Canada Centre.
There are only ten returning Leaf players from the team that defeated Montreal 4-3 in overtime on April 10th of last year. Among those players includes a strong trio of defenseman in Dion Phaneuf, Luke Schenn and Mike Komisarek. Up front, Tyler Bozak, Tim Brent, Mikhail Grabovski, Phil Kessel, Nikolai Kulemin and Fredrik Sjostrom were all members of last year's team. One key player in last season's finale against the Canadiens was Christian Hanson, who scored two goals and added an assist in the win. Fellow Marlies teammate and recently acquired centre Joe Colborne is expected to be recalled by the Leafs prior to the game, so he can get a taste of NHL action before heading into the off season.
Colborne has had an impressive stint since joining the Marlies, exhibiting a real scoring touch with eight goals, seven assists and 15 points in 19 games. If Leafs brass decides to bring him up, he could be sampled in various spots in the lineup, perhaps spending some time centering Kessel or Marlie teammate Nazem Kadri. It should be a nice taste of NHL action at the very least and at most his first step in making the case for full-time NHL duty as early as this fall.
"For me, if I want to be attractive to anybody I've got to get myself fixed, there's no doubt about that. You can't really go through a season like this where you're no good to yourself and you're no good to your team. It's been challenging that way. I personally don't want to have to go through another season like that so I've got to get myself fixed. And once that's fixed hopefully I can have a strong season next year.â€
– Jean-Sebastien Giguere, courtesy of AM 640's Jonas Siegel
Leafs Links:
AM640 Exclusive: Giguere To Undergo Offseason Surgery
Jonas Siegel breaks the news of Giguere having to undergo a sports hernia surgery this summer after reaggravating his groin several times this season.
Colourful time with Whalers 'great experience' for young Giguere
The Star's Mark Zwolinski looks at Giguere's experience as a young NHLer with the Hartford Whalers.
Here's why the Leafs fall down
Story from the Toronto Sun about the Leafs' pretty obvious need to start the season strong and avoid digging a hole for themselves a hole early on in the season.
Former Leaf prospect wins sex-abuse case
An unnamed Leaf prospect was awarded $605,000 after being sexually assault by his B.C. coach, which prevented him from fulfilling his NHL dream.
THN.com Blog: Re-visiting pre-season predictions
The Leafs have overachieved based on Adam Proteau's early season predictions by one spot in the standings. Proteau thinks the team is in great shape and will be much better with full seasons from James Reimer and Joffrey Lupul.
Toronto Sports Media Radio Lineups
TSM reveals that AM640 personality and host of The Bill Watters show, Bryan Hayes, is the latest addition to TSN Radio and will host the 10-1pm time slot as of next Wednesday.
Kyle Cicerella at AM640 recaps the Marlies 3-2 loss to Lake Erie on Wednesday.
Other hockey links:
McGuire, VP of NHL's Central Scouting, dies of cancer at 58
The hockey world lost a great man yesterday to an awful disease that already claimed the life of Mandi Schwartz earlier this week. McGuire was a hard working, passionate man who was described by his friends and colleagues as simply a 'very nice guy' who always made time to talk to people. My thoughts and prayers go out to EJ McGuire's family and friends.
University of Michigan, University of Minnesota-Duluth to square off for NCAA title
George Malik at Kukla's Korner offers his thoughts on Saturday's NCAA final. Matt Frattin's North Dakota team were eliminated by Michigan last night.
Mourning The End Of Your Team's Season
Rick Moldovanyi at Houses of the Hockey has a few suggestions for coping with the realization of your team not making the playoffs.
The last Nordique dreams of NHL's return to Quebec City
Longtime member of the Colorado Avalanche Adam Foote hangs up the skates after 19 seasons.
Shawinigan awarded 2012 Memorial Cup
The Shawinigan Cataractes earned the right to host host the 2012 Memorial Cup after beating out bids from the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and Halifax Mooseheads and Saint John Sea Dogs.
Case for Daniel Sedin against the Corey Perry MVP movement
Greg Wyshysnki from Puck Daddy makes a case for Sedin to win the Hart Trophy over Perry.
Video: Fan throws salmon at Canucks game, creeps out ref
Canucks fans might be starting a new playoff tradition similar to Hockeytown's octopi.
Fantasy Hockey: Western Conference dark horse players
Dobber Hockey looks at some underrated players who could make noise in the post season.
Last Night in Leafs Prospects:
Defenceman Jesse Blacker scored two goals, including the overtime winner, to lift the Owen Sound to a 4-3 victory in the first game of their second round series with the Plymouth Whalers. Game two gets underway on Saturday night in Plymouth.


text:
White Mountains (NH/ME) > Mount Passaconaway > Climber's Log
Mount Passaconaway Climber's Log
[ Sign the Climber's Log ]
|Over on Rollins trail
Date Climbed: Jun 22, 2017
|Not much to see, lots of flies and mosquitos. Was surprised by a coyote on the trail on the way down.
|Posted Jun 22, 2017 9:47 pm
|With Whiteface
Date Climbed: Oct 9, 2010
|With Rick & Paul.
|Posted Jul 26, 2015 8:36 pm
|In the pouring rain
Date Climbed: Jul 21, 2015
|It was hot and humid when I was on the summit of Whiteface but by the time I got to this summit it was around 55 degrees, raining heavily, and the wind was bending the treetops every which direction overhead. That's what I get for starting so late though. Started at 240 pm and finished just before headlamp o clock. Six hours and ten minutes.
|Posted Jul 22, 2015 3:41 am
|easy up, views over the clouds
Date Climbed: Sep 30, 2014
|Great summit area, clouds were captured in a bowl below us so we were sitting above them - blue sky above and white puffy clouds below - always a great sight.
|Posted Dec 27, 2014 3:24 pm
|Brian Jenkins
|One of Two of Day
Date Climbed: Sep 30, 2014
|Started out as a cold, foggy morning. Saw a large moose in the mist at the trailhead. Liked the rockiness of the summit area. Tagged this summit and headed to Whiteface.
|Posted Oct 6, 2014 2:30 am
|Route: Blueberry Ledge-Dicey's Mill
Date Climbed: Oct 14, 2013
|New England fall at its finest. Combined with Passaconaway for an impeccable loop.
|Posted Oct 15, 2013 10:29 am
|Nothing spectacular
Date Climbed: Sep 15, 2013
|I've been holding off on doing this because there isn't much to see. But I wanted to complete my 4,000 footers of NH. Took the Blueberry trail to Whiteface and then the rollins trail to passaconaway, and Dice Mill back to the parking lot. It was a beautiful day. I should add that the solo hike down Dice Mill trail was a very beautiful, peacefull early fall hike.
|Posted Sep 16, 2013 5:13 pm
|andrew hemmerling
Date Climbed: Sep 1, 2013
|wow, so that's the top.
|Posted Sep 5, 2013 11:30 am
|solo hike
Date Climbed: Jun 11, 2008
|Posted Nov 16, 2012 11:15 pm
Date Climbed: Jan 29, 2011
|great day
|Posted Feb 10, 2011 5:14 am
Date Climbed: Jan 29, 2011
|great day
|Posted Feb 10, 2011 5:14 am
|hiked it with my dog
Date Climbed: Oct 11, 2009
|I hiked this as the second peak in the loop I did with Whiteface. No views from the summit, but the way out on the Dicey's Mill Trail made me feel like I was walking through a Robert Frost poem.
|Posted Oct 5, 2010 11:35 pm
|Great views!
|On a camp Backpacking trip
|Posted May 14, 2010 1:52 pm
|with Whiteface
Date Climbed: May 19, 2009
|I came over on the Rollins Trail from Whiteface. A long ridge walk, but you don't really lose that much elevation, so it's not bad. I enjoyed the view towards Chocorua and the view of Mt. Washington. The Dicey's Mill trail is fine to go downhill, after a long hike. It would be nice to have one of those houses "on the trail"
|Posted May 21, 2009 9:29 am
|Mount Passaconaway
Date Climbed: Aug 29, 2007
|Climbed with Whiteface via Dicey's Mill Trail from Ferncroft. A challanging hike on a hot day. Lots of raspberries this time of year. Got a limited very looking north from an open ledge just below the summit of Passaconaway. A nice place to stop and have lunch before continuing on to Whiteface.
|Posted Aug 12, 2008 5:51 pm
|with Whiteface & Wonalancet
Date Climbed: Aug 9, 2008
|Came back to officially tag the summit after skipping it years ago on a similar loop. Views from the outlooks were better than I expected from the descriptions below. If you're tired you can safely skip the long northern outlook spur: the view from the ledge right by the summit is just as good.
|Posted Aug 11, 2008 5:46 pm
|just kidding - nothing exciting about this peak
|Posted Jan 16, 2008 8:25 pm
|Almost there
Date Climbed: Jul 15, 2004
|Another step closer to ascending all of New England's 4,000 footers.
|Posted Dec 1, 2007 10:50 am
|Whiteface/Passaconaway Loop
Date Climbed: Jul 10, 2007
|Hiked up Whiteface, across the Rollins Trail, and down the Dicey Mills Trail. Really warm day, there was a pretty big inversion and the higher up I went the warmer and more humid it got, the only relief being more exposed areas where there was a little breeze. Quick warning: the viewpoint near the summit is actually about .3 miles (making it a substantial walk) and isn't much better than the rock outcropping that you pass right before you get to the summit.
|Posted Jul 10, 2007 10:14 pm
|With Whiteface: Route Climbed Blueberry Ledges to Rollins to Diceys
Date Climbed: Mar 12, 2007
|Very nice weather. Good view from the lookout west toards the Franconia Range. Rollins Trail could use some better markings as the blazes were few and far between. The ones present were quite old.
|Posted Mar 13, 2007 1:41 am


text: I have a friend who's wife is trying to help him be able to use the MP3 player on his BMW motorrad GPS with earbuds. She asked me for help since I use my 660 with earbuds. I use the aux output jack from the octopus wiring harness or the actual jack on the side of the unit. Problem with helping her is the cradle for the BMW GPS covers the jacks on the side of the unit and i have no idea what the original harness looks like since it was dealer installed. Anyone know if the wiring harness for the BMW unit has the output jack or is their another way to use earbuds with this unit without a lot of re-wiring?


text:
4.1412 Disposition of petition.Cite as [A.S.A.C. § 4.1412 ]
Within a reasonable time after the submission of the petition, the board shall either deny the petition in writing, stating its reasons for the denial, or issue a declaratory ruling on the matters contained in the petition. Upon disposition of the petition, the board shall promptly notify the petitioner of the board's ruling.History: Rule 11-87, eff 17 Jun 87.


text:
I was once again reading the Tile Maze tutorial on gametutorials.com. Though I have read it a few times I still dont understand how this line detects the collision with the WALL tiles:
the code was slightly changed (just the x and y point names)Code:
// Check if we collided with a wall (Used the 2D to 1D index conversion)
if(g_BoardArray[player1->Index.x + player1->Index.y * BOARD_WIDTH] == WALL)
I understand how it gets the top left corner point but I don't understand how that tests for collision with the rest of the user controlled sprite.
If anyone could explai this to me I would be very greatful, Thanks.


text:
LAS VEGAS -- And they are off. The gun has fired and the games have shot out of the blocks for five straight days of intense basketball in the desert. We spent Sunday at the Reebok Summer Championships and saw a wide variety of players.
Star power
By now, it's almost a given that Malcolm Lee will have a great game in major events. He's been great all year long and continues to keep himself at the top. The future UCLA guard scored 20 points and dominated with a make-it-look-so-easy pull up jumper.
Part of the beauty of his game is his overall versatility in the backcourt. Lee scored when he wanted to against the under-matched Dakota Schoolers. He also added seven rebounds and three assists.
Trying to defend the speedster is nearly impossible simply because teams can't stay in front of him. Lee can wear a lot of hats on the court, too. He's proven himself as a scorer, doing a fine job as a passer and big enough to be a good rebounding guard.
One of the highlights of the day could have been the pairing of five-star 2009 prospects Karron Johnson with the Richmond Squires and Nolan Dennis of the Dallas Mustangs. While the match-up was good on paper and just a hair above average, it was fun to watch to of the top underclassmen in action.
Johnson, a versatile and ultra-athletic 6-foot-7 wing, did a fine job of scoring in the midrange. He finished with a double-double 22 points (9-20 FG) and 12 rebounds. The Mustangs had a hard time of finding the right personnel to match up with Johnson. When he wants to be dominating, he is. You could argue he was on Sunday morning.
Dennis, a skilled 6-foot-5 wing from North Richland Hills (Texas), is a smooth operating wing with a good understanding of the game and his position. Dennis struggled shooting he ball (5-15 FG) but finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Numbers wise, it was a hard one to swallow but he certainly didn't have any high-major schools that were there to see him taking him of the must-get list.
Bill Self and Scott Drew took in his game. So did assistants from Texas, Arizona, Oklahoma State, Kentucky and Notre Dame.
The kids are alright
After watching Dane Miller in the spring, we were impressed enough to put him into the initial 2009 national rankings. A second glimpse of the 6-foot-7 forward from Rush-Henrietta (N.Y.) revealed a couple of other facets to his game. For starters, the Big East level player plays a bigger role in the game when he's working from the wing in because he's a smooth athlete that does his best work when moving towards the basket. For his AAU club, Miller was regulated to the post. Miller had a rather quiet 14 points and seven rebounds in a win over New Mexico Force.
The talent is not running thin at Indianapolis's Lawrence North High School. Next in line is 2010 forward Justin Martin. The 6-foot-7 forward showed a lot of promise in his Spiece Gym Rats loss to the Smyrna Stars. Martin scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the defeat but gave a glimpse of great things to come down the road. The Big Ten schools, which were absent in his morning game, should be stuffing his mailbox early on.
A lot of things have happened in Trey Zeigler's life in the last year. For starters, he's moved from California, where his dad Ernie was an assistant, to Michigan, where his father is now the head coach at Central Michigan. The class of 2010 prospect is growing into his body and filling out. And most importantly, he's gone from a good young guy with good upside to a producer on the 17 and under circuit.
Playing with Team Detroit, Zeigler was the first option on offense and he did a good job as the youngest player on the floor. The 6-foot-5 wing scored a team high 17 points in his team's win.
California wing Michael Snaer has the makings of a high-major power scorer. He continues to prove himself as such with Inland Reebok. The 6-foot-5 wing from the class of 2009 prospect scored an impressive 21 points in a game against the Dakota Schoolers. Snear was automatic from deep, to the tune of 21 points. Blessed with good natural strength and great size, it's no wonder why the Pac-10 as a whole has an eye on him. Connecticut, Kansas, Kentucky and Colorado are also involved. All four caught a glimpse of him on Sunday.
Mike Parker's time will come. And when it does, the high-majors will be looking for instant information. Playing with the Richmond Squires, it's easy to overlook the 6-foot-5 class of 2010 prospect. He's not a big numbers guy but he has proven himself as a guy that makes good decisions and doesn't cost his team simple mental mistakes. Parker hails from Terraceia Christian in Chocowinicy, N.C.
Hi, my name is…
The New Mexico Force lost a tough one to the Donyell Marshall Foundation club in the first game of the day. That's the bad news. The good news is Ray Turner, a 6-foot-8 class of 2009 forward, had a very productive start to the tournament. The Houston (Texas) Jones product was a monster on the glass. He grabbed 19 rebounds and scored 12 points (6-7 FG).
But there is a catch. Turner has never played a game in a high school basketball game. He'll be at Jones High for the first time this fall and sources say he could very well end up as a 2010 prospect.
Turner is a garbage man post that gobbles up loose balls and does a solid job of cleaning up the action outside of his area. Offensively, he's still raw but there is a lot to work with, especially if he ends up in the 2010 class. Nebraska head coach Doc Sadler was on hand to see him. So were coaches from Stephen F. Austin, Baylor, Pepperdine and Texas A&M is interested.
Turner wasn't the only one that caught our eye. Siegfried Benton, a 6-foot-4 guard from El Paso (Texas) Parkland High School scored 16 of his team 18 points in the second half. His offense, including a pair of three-pointers, helped the Force climb back into the game with less than four minutes to play. The class of 2008 has the look and skill of a good mid-major. It wouldn't come as a big surprise if the high-majors turned it up as the season goes on. With no offers in hand, Benton said he has heard from Arkansas, TCU and UTEP.
Donyell Marshall leaned on the play of class of 2009 guard Brandon Triche, who put in 22 points in the win. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound guard has a big, strong body and an old school game. He's not one for flair but aims more for production. The local non high-majors have to like him for their level.
Recruiting scoop
Eloy Vargas is the target of a number of elite level programs and there are more and more lining up as the summer moves along and the big man pool dries up. So it shouldn't come as a big surprise that his list will continue to grow. Now mix into the equation a late signing period decision, according to his AAU coach Brionne Gillion.
Vargas, a skilled 6-foot-10 forward from South Florida, will wait until after the early signing period to make a decision. It could take until April to make a final call. As it stands today, Pittsburgh, Louisville, Florida, Florida State and Miami are in good shape. Vargas has visited all but Florida.
Gillion says he would like Vargas to see each of the campuses again during the basketball season to experience the practices on the hardwood, rather than the excitement of a fall weekend visit during the football season.
If Vargas's list is long today, it will certainly be even longer at the end of the summer as Gillion said the four-star prospect is "very open."
Festus Ezeli will have a constant crowd of coaches where he plays in Vegas. The 6-foot-10 center from Northern California via Nigeria has come on strong this month and collects offers at a daily clip. Ezeli has offers from Virginia, Cal, Florida, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, DePaul, West Virginia, Oregon State, UCLA and Pepperdine.
After shining at the Rbk U tournament earlier in the month, Houston Elite forward Dwight Miller has seen his recruitment sky rocket. The hard-working 6-foot-7 forward has heard from Connecticut, Cincinnati, Virginia, Illinois, Oregon and Miami. All of those schools were present to see him in action on Sunday night. Oregon State, Nebraska, Virginia Commonwealth and Tulane have offered while Wake Forest, Indiana State, San Diego State, South Alabama, Missouri State and New Mexico State are interested.
The mid-majors love Dallas (Texas) Kimball guard David Kyles. He's athletic, quick, not a bad shooter and has played well in some national events this summer. The 6-foot-3 athlete with Urban DFW Elite said he has offers from TCU, SMU, Tulsa and Wichita State while Texas A&M is also in the picture. Kyles said he hopes to visit UNLV and Indiana State in the near future.
Triple Threat guard Maurice Creek, a 2009 prospect, said his only offer is from Maryland while Georgetown, Marquette, Texas and Pittsburgh are all showing interest in the 6-foot-4 D.C. area product.
Odds & Ends
A full Rutgers staff watched Olu Ashaolu in the morning game. Ironically, the Scarlet Knights sat right next to Louisiana Tech head man Kerry Rupp and assistant Nikita Johnson. Why is that ironic? Ashaolu considers himself a "soft verbal" to Rutgers now while Louisiana Tech is one of the few schools that have a foot in the door. Ashaolu has an existing relationship with Johnson, who recruited the Canadian when he was at LSU.
Sources tell us Washington bound guard Elston Turner is transferring to the Houston area from Sacramento. His father, Elston, Sr., was hired as an assistant with the Houston Rockets.
Malik Story, a Southern Cal commitment who is headed to Oak Hill next year, had 26 points for his Southern California All-Stars Elite team against the Arkansas Hawks. Story hit on five three-pointers.
Texas Blue Chips forward Erick Frederick scored 20 points and six rebounds in a tough loss to DC Triple Threat.
Oregon has secured a good looking sleeper in Drew Wiley, a 6-foot-7 in-state prospect. He reportedly had a big game against Houston Elite in the morning and followed it up with an impressive showing against the Worldwide Renegades. The big wing has a good looking shot and is a good athlete. The Ducks got this one done early for a reason. He'd be a July rags to riches guy had he not already pledged.
Justin Young is as senior writer for Rivals.com National Basketball Recruiting. He can be reached at email@example.com.


text:
All quotes tagged Onward
(18 quotes found)
"From a certain point onward there is no longer any turning back. That is the point that must be reached."
"We are going to collect all the material which was produced from '45 onward, everything, every piece of it. No one has done it. We know that the filmed materials ... are very, very important and are becoming more important."
"We worked on a few things that we've been working on from the British Open onwards with the swing, ... What we've done from there is incorporate a little bit more shot-making, picturing shots a little bit more, which I had completely gone off of for part of this year."


text:
- Worldwide Rank #298
- Follower/Following Ratio 10k
- Daily New Followers 3k
TechCrunch Twitter Stats
@TechCrunch - Tracking TechCrunch Twitter profile since September 26, 2008
Breaking technology news, analysis, and opinions from TechCrunch. Home to Disrupt, TC Sessions, and Startup Battlefield. Got a tip? [email protected]
San Francisco, CA
TechCrunch's story
TechCrunch, also known as @TechCrunch has a very strong presence on Twitter and is ranked by us in the 90% percentile for account strength. Active on Twitter since March 2007, TechCrunch made it to having a whopping 10,040,628 Twitter followers and to being ranked 298 for number of followers among all Twitter users.
As a matter of fact, @TechCrunch has the prominent #6 placing on the News/Media Website category.
Good on ya, @TechCrunch for keeping strong! The plot thickens when considering TechCrunch's follower-to-following ratio, which is 10256. As you can probably gather, this metric places this account comfortably within celebrity status.
Tweeting is apparently one of @TechCrunch's favorite pastimes, with an average of 50 tweet(s) per day in the past 30 days. However this seems to be a big change from a total of 173,123 since @TechCrunch joined Twitter.
It seems like TechCrunch is commanding an enormous amount of attention on Twitter, with an audience attentiveness score of 100%, which stems from being tracked on 110,699 Twitter lists and normalized to their 10,040,628 followers.
This account is tracked by us for quite some time now, actually since September 2008. As of January 23 2018 we track 285616699 Twitter accounts, so feel free to search for other accounts you're interested in and reveal their Twitter story!
TechCrunch Tweets
@TechCrunch has posted 1,330 tweets in the last 30 days, which translates to an average of 50 tweets per day.
TechCrunch Twitter Followers
@TechCrunch has 10,040,628 followers on Twitter.
This account is #298 in the worldwide rank of the most popular Twitter users.
TechCrunch Following on Twitter
@TechCrunch is following 979 Twitter accounts.
Last month this account followed 8 users.
TechCrunch Predictions & Milestones
@TechCrunch will hit 10,377,570 followers in the next 3 months, and 11,407,116 in one year.
You are on TechCrunch's Twitter stats page
We track these Twitter stats since September 26, 2008 . You can see how many followers TechCrunch lost or gained and what the prediction is for tomorrow or the next 15 days, together with all kinds of other stats like rank compared to all Twitter users, tweets etc.
Why don't you give it a try and compare TechCrunch to yourself ? Or if you are TechCrunch get even more feature rich & up-to-date stats with our premium Twitter Stats.
Twitter Counter is the #1 Twitter stats site powered by Twitter. It all started in June 12, 2008 and we grew rather rapidly because of our Twitter Counter badge. The button is a nice small image that shows your visitors how many followers you have on Twitter. Within a year the button was on many many blogs around the world and we displayed more than 100 million buttons in one month. We track follower stats for over 285.616.699 users now.


text:
Kinetic Assist Bike
on Oct 3, 2007
Take a couple of sine waves of differing wavelength and amplitude. Now combine them. The resulting waveform is going to be a lot like your average road in western Pennsylvania, which is any shape but flat. The only time you're not ascending or descending is when you're at a standstill. This is where I learned to ride a bike.
I had this in mind when I wrote this chapter of my book, where the protagonist rides around in a futuristic "kinetic bike" that is able to capture some of the energy normally lost when using the brake or when over-pedaling, and release it later when the landscape turns against the rider.
The other day a reader sent me a link to this. A bit pricey, but facinating. They claim it can go 62 miles on a single charge without the rider pedaling, but I'm sure those are flatland numbers. I'll bet you'd be lucky to get 20 miles out of it here in sine wave country. Still, you can supplement that with your own contribution, and it looks like it still works as a fully functional bike even when the batteries are depleted.
Just outstanding.
Still no flying cars, though.


text:
Photographing Art in the Streets
L.A. Expanded: Notes from the West Coast
A weekly column by Catherine Wagley
Larry Clark's mother was an itinerant baby photographer, and she took her son with her on her rounds. This means that Clark, the photographer famous/infamous for his grittily voyeuristic depictions of youth culture, began photographing kids when he still was one. Before he reached 20, he was taking his camera deep into a late 1960s and '70s drug culture, documenting the experience in a way that often seemed more persuasively visceral than it probably seemed in real life. Later, he'd shadow skaters and other young creatives, obsessively immersing himself in the worlds of his subjects.
Clark is a lifestyle artist, but not of that holistic, spiritualistic or narcissistically new age "life is art and art is life" vein. He's the kind who is just interested in doing what he wants to do and doesn't over-fixate on boundary-crossing—or maybe fixates about boundary-crossing to the exclusion of all else.
This sensibility is what connects Clark with a good number of the street artists who share space with him in MOCA LA's current controversial street art blockbuster, Art in the Streets. But it's not what makes his work so well-suited to the exhibition. It's that Clark, like most of the other photographers who appear, is really good at capturing the vibe of a given community—it's exclusivity, its urgency, it's quirks and attitudes.
I'm not the first to thrill over the inclusion of such a strong posse of art and journalistic photographers in Art in the Streets. It more or less pulls the exhibition out of the realm of showmanship and into a softer, smarter realm of reflection. While Banksy's alleyways and dank walls, as dark and melodramatic as a haunted house, and Barry McGee's five life-size sculpted taggers standing above in overturned car make it glaringly obvious that you are not in the street, but instead in a weird performance of "streetiness," the photography pulls you back into the spaces and lifestyles this work emerged out of. Along with Clark, the show features work by photographers (and filmmakers) Martha Cooper, Henry Chalfant, Cheryl Dunn, Ed Templeton, Terry Richardson, Teen Witch and others. Each captures the sense of community and restlessness, and also the thrill of tagging and train-riding and working your way into a subculture that makes sense to you.
Henry Chalfant's rows of tagged subways make street art look like a renegade urban beautification project, while Cooper's wall of artists–many not included in the exhibition, some no longer living–shows the diversity and sameness of street arts participants; despite different skin color and stature, all are young and defiant and totally seductive as personas. Teen Witch's fresher, newer images shows a coterie of friends still just as rebellious and self-contained as the groups depicted in the more historical photographs. The photography makes the show, I think. It brings the art back into the street, not literally, of course, but effectively.


text:
Some, but mostly dead, processed to death in lifeless factories.Enochian wrote:Hi Namdrol
I agree with you. But the herbs themselves are available at any GNC or Vitamin Shoppe.
I wouldn't give those kinds of herbs to anyone. Herbs need life, ritual and myth to be effective. Each herb has a story, each herb is living medicine.


text:
The Barcelona-Madrid area in the terminal makes the Air Shuttle faster and simpler.
The Air Shuttle (Puente Aéreo) is the Iberia service that connects Barcelona and Madrid with the slogan "Arrive and Fly". It has a mini-terminal known as the BCN-MAD Corridor. This service aims to be fast and easy for customers to use. You can check up to 20 minutes before depature time.
Own accesses (north dock of the Terminal), with taxi ranks and bus stops.
Three check-in counters.
11 Air Shuttle check-in machines.
Ticket sales and customer-service office.
2 automatic sales machines.
Own security controls.
VIP lounge.
Exclusive embarkation area by air bridge, together with check-in and security.
Exclusive baggage claim area at carousel number 0.
Own exit with direct access to public and private transport.
There is a VIP cark park and limousine service at your disposal at T1.
Iberia continues to put the VIP car park and limousine service at your disposal.
VIP car park location:
Pick ups on Level 3 Departures, in the area in front of the terminal.
Deliveries at Arrivals Level 0, where you will find the VIP car park building next to the taxi and bus area.
Note: None of these benefits apply to Operated by Iberia for LEVEL IB26XX flights
Enjoy a private space at the airport.
If you are travelling on Business or are an Iberia Plus Gold or Platinum card holder you can use the VIP lounges at the airport.
They are found at:
Level 2, between the check-in hall (beyond the security controls) and the Sky Center (shops and restaurant area).
Level 1, in the Barcelona-Madrid Corridor (Air Shuttle) for customers travelling to Madrid.
Note: None of these benefits apply to Operated by Iberia for LEVEL IB26XX flights
Quick, efficient and a sure way to save time at airport security controls.
We assure a minimum wait time as it involves an access just for Iberia Business, Iberia Plus Oro, Platino, Infinita and Infinita Prime customers. The Guests of Iberia Plus Oro, Platino, Infinita and Infinita Prime Card holders need to pick up an access pass at Iberia Business Counters: 351-352.
In front of the security check, the fast lane is situated on the far left. (Just in front of counter 464.)
Show your boarding pass at the VIP security access.
|Class / Fare
|Business Class flight
|Operated by Iberia Group
|Business Plus Business Class Fares: C, D, I, J, U y R
|Iberia Plus Gold or Iberia Singular + 1 guest*
|Operated by Iberia Group and/or marketed by Iberia
|Any Class and Fare
|Iberia Plus Platinum + 1 guest*
|Operated by Iberia Group and/or marketed by Iberia**
|Any Class and Fare
|Iberia Plus Infinita + 1 guest*
|Operated by Iberia Group and/or marketed by Iberia**
|Any Class and Fare
|Iberia Plus Infinita Prime + 4 guests*
|Operated by Iberia Group and/or marketed by Iberia**
|Any Class and Fare
Note: None of these benefits apply to IB26XX flights (flights operated by Iberia for LEVEL)
* you will be able to access with the under-18-year-old companions travelling with you.
** At the Fast Track service at Madrid or Barcelona, you can access if you are travelling on flights operated and marketed by Vueling and oneworld flights. In this case, your companion must also be travelling on the same flight.
This service is available in almost the entire airport network where Iberia operates for our customers travelling in Business Class.
You have a certain amount of time before your flight departs to get your ticket and check your baggage
All the requirements you need to meet when travelling with children and infants, considering their age, size and how many children are involved.
Full information and recommendations for organising trips with children and infants with iberia
Cliente Business Iberia


text:
Orange County is still a Republican stronghold, but fissures in that status continued to grow in 2012 – as seen in several of the county's Top 10 political stories of the year.
1. GOP advantage narrows. Democrats' share of the county electorate has remained around 32 percent since 1996, but Republicans' share has continued its steady decline from 56 percent in 1990 to 41 percent for the November election. Unaffiliated voters now account for 23 percent of the county's voters. Six of the county's 34 cities are now Democratic – Republicans lost two more this year – and Irvine is on the verge of becoming the seventh.
2. Latinos, Asians vote Democrat. Helping fuel the narrowing gap between parties is the growing Latino and Asian electorate. Nationwide, 73 percent of Asians and 71 percent of Latinos voted for Barack Obama. In the state, 79 percent of Asians and 72 percent of Latinos voted for Obama. In the county, there were no extensive exit polls but the five most heavily Latino cities, including one with more Republicans than Democrats, voted for Obama. And the four most Asian cities favored Obama despite all having more Republicans than Democrats.
3. Unions prevail. Proposition 32, penned by Tustin attorney Mark Bucher, would have made it harder for unions to collect dues for politicking but was voted down. Costa Mesa's Measure V, which included a localized version of Prop. 32, lost by a 3-2 margin. Huntington Beach's Measure Z, which would have eliminated a property tax set up to fund employee pensions, also lost.
4. Quirk-Silva's win. Shifting party allegiances resulted in Democrats taking the electoral advantage in a second Assembly district wholly contained in Orange County, the 65th. The advantage was just 0.26 percent and incumbent Assemblyman Chris Norby, R-Fullerton, was well known, but Democratic Fullerton Mayor Sharon Quirk-Silva outraised and outhustled him to win.
5. Redistricting. New district lines contributed to the rising Democratic element in the county, which for the past decade had one Democrat among its six Congress members. The county will now have three Democrats out of seven members thanks to two bi-county districts with most of their population in Los Angeles County.
6. Fuentes dies. Tom Fuentes, chairman of the county GOP from 1985 to 2004, saw the party's dominance rise and fall during his reign. Beloved by some, detested by others, Fuentes stepped down amid shrinking voter share and increasing criticism. He died May 18 of cancer at age 63.
7. GOP dissidents ousted. Tea Party activist Deborah Pauly has a history of controversy, including ongoing criticism of county GOP Chairman Scott Baugh. While dissident credentials helped her get elected party vice chair in 2011, the chickens came home to roost this year. She was removed from the vice chair in a 47-16 vote of the county's GOP governing Central Committee. Six of those remaining supporters lost bids for re-election to the committee and five others didn't seek re-election. While no longer an officer, Pauly remains on the committee.
8. Stepping down. Frank Barbaro, chairman of the county Democratic Party since 2001, announced he'll not seek re-election to the post next month, saying he was tired of trying to mediate between bickering factions. Also, longtime activist Nativo Lopez, the controversial head of Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana and the Mexican American Political Association, resigned and said he was stepping away from public life after 44 years.
9. To the big house. Campaign treasurer Kinde Durkee was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $7 million from the campaigns of a who's who of Democratic candidates including U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Orange County's Rep. Loretta Sanchez, state Sen. Lou Correa and Assemblyman Jose Solorio.
10. Agran loses. A dark spot for Democrats was Larry Agran's loss to Republican Steven Choi in the Irvine mayor's race, which contributed to Democrats ending their 12-year run as the majority on the Irvine City Council. Agran is an Irvine icon, having built a major political machine there and serving as mayor or councilman for 26 years of the city's 40-year history. He has two years remaining in his current council term.


text:
Rally Software Secures $20 Million in Funding Led by Meritech Capital Partners
Funding Will Fuel Growth as Adoption of Agile Development Accelerates
Jun 07, 2011, 10:58 ET from Rally Software
BOULDER, Colo., June 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Rally®, the leader in Agile application lifecycle management (ALM), has secured $20 million in funding led by Meritech Capital Partners. Meritech is a leading provider of late-stage venture capital to category-defining private technology companies and has previously backed market leaders including Facebook, NetSuite and Salesforce.com. The funding will fuel organic and inorganic growth and support continued adoption of Rally's platform for Agile development.
Comments on the news:
"Meritech invests in game-changing technology companies," said Rob Ward, managing director of Meritech Capital Partners. "As the dominant Agile market leader and a pioneer in bringing Software-as-a-Service to its category, Rally is natural fit for our portfolio."
"Every business is a software business. We're now seeing adoption of Agile practices spread across organizations and industries faster than ever," said Rally's CEO Tim Miller. "We're excited to have additional funding to meet this exploding demand for Agile ALM platforms, expert coaching services and learning communities."
"From the company's top ranking in independent industry analyst reports to its impressive list of enterprise customers, Rally has emerged as the clear market leader in Agile ALM," said Tom Bogan, a member of Rally's board of directors and a venture partner with Greylock Partners, a leading venture capital firm that invested in Rally in January 2010. "It's terrific to add Meritech to the elite group of investors who recognize that Rally is revolutionizing software development."
About Meritech Capital Partners:
Meritech Capital Partners is a leading provider of late-stage venture capital to category-defining private technology companies and has been one of the top performing venture firms of the past decade. With over $2.6 billion under management, Meritech primarily leads investments into portfolio companies of leading early-stage venture capital firms and looks for companies with proven and differentiated technology, rapidly-growing revenue and experienced management teams. With one of the most active venture portfolios, Meritech has experience in, and provides guidance on issues facing rapidly growing companies including management incentive plans, IPO market timing and positioning, M&A strategies and negotiations and adviser selection. Meritech investments in industry-leading companies include 2Wire, Acclarent, BigFix, Broadsoft, Cornerstone OnDemand, Danger, Facebook, Fortinet, Greenplum, Netezza, NetSuite, PopCap, Presidio, Riverbed, Salesforce.com, Sourcefire, SpringSource, Tele Atlas and Zipcar. Meritech is located in Palo Alto, CA and can be found at www.meritechcapital.com.
About Rally:
Rally is the recognized leader in Agile application lifecycle management (ALM). We are dedicated to helping organizations embrace Agile and Lean development practices that increase the pace of innovation and improve product quality. According to a study by QSM Associates, software-driven companies that rely on Rally's Agile ALM products and services are 50% faster to market and 25% more productive than industry averages. The company's experienced services group, including training through Agile University, guides companies through the organizational change required to become innovative, Agile businesses. Rally's products, including AgileZen, currently support more than 9,700 corporate customers and 112,000 users in over 100 countries. For more information, visit www.rallydev.com.
Rally, the Rally logo, Rally Software Development, Agile University and AgileZen are trademarks of Rally Software Development Corp. Third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE Rally Software


text:
Francoeur: Youthful club invigorates KC
Royals outfielder recently signed a two-year extension
This might be the best group of young guys I've been around. I was very fortunate to come up in the Braves' system with guys like Brian McCann. We had a lot of good, young players there, and I see the same thing here.
Hopefully, these guys continue to develop what they've learned and become great players. If they continue to work hard and have fun, there should be no stopping them.
I'm only 27 and by no means a grizzled veteran, but being on this team sometimes I feel like it. I've only been up here for six years. I don't go around telling these guys what to do. If they have any questions, then I am very happy to help. I think guys need to learn some stuff on their own. Everyone is going to have their ups and downs. The sooner these young guys get out of their slumps, the better off they will be.
When you look at the future, you immediately focus on guys like Mike Moustakas and Danny Duffy. If you are able to surround this young talent with the right mix of veterans and established players, you have a chance to do some great things. When Dayton Moore took over as general manager here, the first thing he set his sights on was to rebuild and strengthen the farm system. He did it in Atlanta, and now they're doing the same thing here.
I think we have a good mix of position players and pitchers. Up here you can't have only one of those and hope to win. You have to start with the pitching and work through the field. Guys like Duffy, Tim Collins and Aaron Crow are doing great.
One of the things they have to learn is how to make adjustments. They might have some success coming into the league because the pitchers don't know them. Soon enough, though, the pitchers make their adjustments and it's up to these young hitters to make adjustments of their own. I think these guys are pretty smart, so they won't have a hard time making those adjustments.
At the same time, a lot has been made of the young talent here and a guy can definitely have too much hype coming in. I think for most of these guys, though, they're here because they earned it. Now, they are worried about producing and playing, not about the hype. As the season goes on, I think it'll get a little easier for them.
In all, Kansas City is a great baseball town. I really want to be here when this thing turns around, and that is why I re-signed. I'm looking forward to it.
Outfielder Jeff Francoeur is one of only a handful of veterans on this Royals squad. He is in his first season with the club and is hitting .279 with 15 homers and 67 RBIs. Earlier this month he inked a two-year contract extension.
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text: Hello - New to the board. Short version - Anyone gone from an SV650s to a V-Strom or any other ADV bike and have some feed back on what to look for or stay away from? Long Version - I've got an 06 SVS that I love. When I bought it in 07 I wanted to get a V-Strom but could not find one near me so I settled (sort of) on the SV mostly due to impatience. So now I'm thinking about selling the SV and getting a V-Strom. I'm going to look at other bikes as well, but I really like the DR650 Adventure. The main things about the SV that I don't like are comfort, and lack of storage. I put on Heli-bars and had the seat re-done by Spencer. I have no complaints about the work that Mr. Turner did. I just can't ride more than about 150mi. without being uncomfortable. It's the position and shape of the seat. Also, I simply don't need a sporty riding position anymore. I want a taller windshield, hard bags, be able to ride for a few hours without feeling like I've had a paddlin. I will be commuting mostly, with a few trips throughout the year. The taller bike will be helpful to see over cars (I assume) and the bags will be good for picking up the groceries, etc... I'm open to suggestions about any bike, but the V-Strom is my starting point. I'm also not opposed to used. Are the new Suzuki hard bags decent? Better spending my money on good aftermarket ones?


text:
Re: FT
- --- In email@example.com, "mattbieker" <agrarian.justice@...> wrote:
> I think the more relevant point is to consider what it means for something to be "red."This is just volume I:
- JDK,Those who survive are presumably the fittest to survive for the "fittest" just describes those who have survived.With regard to your last sentence – Stalin got there first.Harry
********************The Alumni GroupThe Henry George Schoolof Los AngelesTujunga CA 90243(818) 352-4141********************
On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 9:54 AM, JDKromkowski <jdkromkowski@...> wrote:Evolution is not really: the survival of the "fittest" It is just survival of that which survives. Evolution is a way of describing the process of how variation within a population will lead to variation eventually of species. There are plenty of genes along for the ride which are not particularly "the fittest".Yes the survival of the two apostolic lungs of Christianity (Catholics and the Eastern church) despite its massive weakness and in fact embracement of weakness of the god who becomes human and is rejected and put to death is a puzzle and crazy on its face. It drove Nietzsche crazy (well that and syphillus drove him crazy). It also drove the communists crazy too. Massive defense? How many tanks does the church have?Jdk
Sent from my iPad
On Nov 16, 2012, at 11:26 PM, "mattbieker" <agrarian.justice@...> wrote:
--- In email@example.com, John David Kromkowski <jdkromkowski@...> wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 16, 2012 at 12:01 PM, mattbieker <agrarian.justice@...
> > wrote:
> >
> > The catholic church has one real function: serving the clergy. When it
> > was able to, it dominated a large swath of the earth in an imperial form.
> > It can't now, so it fills out whatever niches it can; but the main thing is
> > ensuring that members of clergy don't have to go and get real jobs.
> >
> Thanks for sharing this one too. I'm getting better picture of Land Cafe.
> It really is best if we get it all out in the open. It's for the same
> reason I won't hide my background.
> This isn't a cocktail party, where we need to avoid the topic for
> charitable purposes - or at least for the purposes of not interfering with
> mutual love of beer or gin or your choice. I'd still have a beer in
> Baltimore (once), with any of you clowns.
*shrugs* Whatever one thinks of Roy's evolutionary basis for morals, I think there's fairly clearly a pseudo-evolutionary basis for ideas and institutions. Dawkins made this case in his "The Selfish Gene." Basically, ideas are duplicated, with variation, in the minds of individuals; from there, it's survival of the fittest. The conceptual equivalent to a gene being a "meme." Why do religious institutions survive despite being a load of crap that generally act as a drain on society? They're very advanced critters in the world of memes; they've evolved a whole host of defenses to offset their massive weaknesses, such as the notion that it's not polite or even acceptable to question a man's faith, or that without beliefs in these memes, we have no basis for social behavior.
Catholicism isn't necessarily the most egregious case of this sort of memetic virus (that has to go to Scientology, don't you think?), but that's what it is, and all the bottom line of them all is the same: enrichment (both financial as well as emotional) of clergy. Still and all, its senseless and generally ad-hoc opposition to contraception, even in the light of AIDS epidemics, is horrible enough in and of itself to give me a fairly thoroughgoing distaste for it in particular, and I'd pretty much rather not see any meme I deem useful or good to be mixed up with it.
Personally, I think one of the best parts of online discussion is that there's less tendency to hold back one's beliefs; many lament this, saying that the internet just makes everyone rude because they don't fear social repercussions, but I believe there's inherent value there, as it allows for a more rapid evolution of memes. The noise and nastiness comes with the territory, and I think people will just eventually find a new normal.
One common Christian meme is certainly right though: hate the sin, and not the sinner. I agree, I'd have a beer with any of you. It's worth making a conscious effort not to take attacks against our beliefs too personally, because it turns out everyone tends to be wrong quite often.


text:
Path of the Pros: Lance Berkman
Switch-hitting Astros slugger found his balance in the Minors
By Danny Wild / MLB.com
"I didn't know much about him," said then-Kissimmee manager John Tamargo. "I knew he had power, but that was basically all I'd known about him. He ended up being a pretty good outfielder for me."
Berkman, making one of many good first impressions, started launching balls over the fences -- from both sides of the plate.
"The first I saw Lance, what struck me about him, was him taking BP," said Tamargo. "He'd hit the ball and it would take off. It didn't seem like it would take off, but it just kept going and going and going. Big, long swings, tremendous power."
Tamargo is one of many who gushes about that Berkman power stroke, a familiar sight to Astros fans for the last decade.
"He just stood out," said Jim Pankovits, a long-time Astros coach who managed Berkman in 1998 with Double-A Jackson. "No doubt about it, he was by far the best hitting prospect in the league."
Berkman, the No. 16 overall pick in the 1997 Draft, spent parts of four seasons in the Minors before reaching the big leagues in 1999. He began the 2000 season in Triple-A, but was back with the Astros by the end of May, the beginning of a record-setting Major League career.
Groomed to be a switch-hitting slugger from a young age by father Larry, a former college player, Berkman attended Rice University on a partial scholarship after tormenting high school pitchers for Canyon High School in New Braunfels, Texas for four years.
Not exactly a five-tool prospect, Berkman was ignored by scouts and Major League teams as a senior in high school despite a .539 average -- a lack of speed and arm strength left him with a chance to prove, again, that he was worthy at the Division I level.
He joined Rice in 1995 and, three years later, was named the National College Player of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. The Texas native was also named first team All-America by Collegiate Baseball Magazine, Baseball America and The Sporting News in 1997.
"His presence on the field ... you could tell he'd be a Major Leaguer," Tamargo said.
Berkman batted .385 with 67 homers and 272 RBIs over three seasons with Rice -- his 41 homers in '97 ranked third-most in the entire NCAA and his 134 RBIs that summer was the second-highest single-season total in NCAA history.
That, finally, was enough for teams to take notice. Berkman, after leading Rice to the College World Series and being named Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year, skipped his senior campaign and joined the Astros for a $1 million bonus.
The 6-foot-1 Berkman was assigned midseason, to Class A Advanced Kissimmee as a rookie. Tamargo watched from the dugout as Berkman made an immediate impact, hitting .293 with 12 homers and 35 RBIs for the Cobras as a 21-year-old outfielder.
"You could tell the way he hit the ball and went about his business, he'd be a successful Major Leaguer," Tamargo said. "I saw him when he was just a youngster, just starting out, taking swings and almost falling down, to when he got his balance, shortened his swing and had that tremendous power. It's been fun to watch his progression."
Tamargo has a unique and gratifying perspective on Berkman -- he was his first manager, coached him again at Triple-A and spent six more years with him in Houston as the Astros bullpen coach.
"I had the privilege of seeing him in his first year in the big leagues," said Tamargo, currently the manager of Class A Short-Season Everett in the Northwest League. "He got his swing under control. You could tell he'd shortened it up a bit and that was basically it. You knew he was going to hit, and for power."
The Waco, Texas native returned to the Lone Star State and earned Texas League All-Star honors in 1998 with Double-A Jackson, hitting .306 with 24 homers and 89 RBIs in 122 games for the Generals, enough to rank fourth in the Astros organization in home runs. He was named the Astros' Minor League Player of the Year.
"I used to throw him batting practice and he didn't like hitting off me, 'cause I threw a cutter in on him," laughed Pankovits, a former infielder who spent five seasons in the Majors with Houston and another with Boston. "I don't know if that helped with his approach to hitting, but I gave him fits."
Berkman earned a bump to Triple-A New Orleans by the end of his second year, which also turned out to be his final full season in the Minors. In the 1998 Triple-A World Series, Berkman hit .467 with three homers to help the Zephyrs win the decisive Game 4. He was named series MVP.
"I remember we were in Las Vegas and he came up there at the end of the season with a couple other guys," said Tamargo of Berkman's Triple-A debut. "We put them out there and low and behold, he carried the club."
Houston's lineup was stacked, but the team was eager to see its top prospect in action. He was one of 24 Minor Leaguers selected to represent the United States in the Pan Am Games in late July 1999, but plans were changed when Astros oufielder Carl Everett went on the disabled list and Berkman's phone rang.
He took his first Major League swings for Houston on July 16 against Detroit, just five days after starting the 1999 All-Star Futures Game in Fenway Park. He pinch-hit against the Tigers in his debut and made his first Major League start a day later in left field.
Berkman struggled a bit, batting .237 in 34 games and was sent back down to New Orleans out of Spring Training in 2000. After two options and two recalls, the switch-hitter joined the Astros for good on May 25, 2000, after batting .330 with six homers and 27 RBIs in 31 games for the Zephyrs.
"The Big Puma" has been on cruise control ever since. He signed a six-year, $85-million deal in March 2005 and a year later joined his father's idol, Mickey Mantle, as only the second switch-hitter in Major League history to hit 40 or more homers in multiple seasons.
"He was a leader for us back then too," said Tamargo. "He was light-hearted and kept everyone loose."
A five-time National League All-Star, Berkman has also been named Houston's Player of the Year four times and finished in the top five in NL MVP voting four times.
"It's always a thrill to see him every Spring Training," said Pankovits. "I get to talk to him and visit and catch up. He is one of the top five, in my mind, Astros of all time."
1997: Berkman led Rice to the College World Series as a All-American at first base. He was a Western Athletic Conference All-Star, the Conference Player of the Year and won the Lubbock Regional MVP Award during the College World Series. Houston selected him in the first round and he hit .293 with 12 homers and 35 RBIs in 53 games for the Class A Advanced Kissimmee Cobras.
1998: Berkman, with just half a season under his belt, was promoted to Double-A Jackson, where he hit .306 with 24 home runs and 89 RBIs for the Generals. He was named Houston's Minor League Player of the Year, a Texas League All-Star and a Baseball America First-team Minor League All-Star, finishing the season with Triple-A.
1999: Berkman reached the Majors, but spent most of his third season with Triple-A New Orleans. He was named MVP of the Triple-A World Series after hitting .323 with eight homers and 49 RBIs for the Zephyrs. He made his Major League debut July 16.
2000: Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio finally had some elite company -- Berkman joined Houston in late May after two months with the Zephyrs and finished the season in consideration for NL Rookie of the Year. He hit .330 with 27 RBIs in 31 games at Triple-A.
Danny Wild is an editor for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.