text:
WALNUT CREEK — The Occupy Wall Street protest is ready to march into Walnut Creek.
The movement that started in New York with people railing against bank bailouts, corporate greed and political power will be in Walnut Creek Wednesday. Two groups will protest at 4 p.m., near the intersection of Main Street and Mt. Diablo Boulevard, likely extending down the block to Locust Street.
The groups first gave separate locations for their protests, but now say they will protest together.
The two groups, Occupy Walnut Creek and Contra Costa 99 Percent, plan to protest near the Bank of America.
Some signs will be provided, but those who want to join are encouraged to bring their own.
Protesters say they don't plan to camp, as is happening in other cities. They say they want to draw attention to the inequality of wealth in this country and how corporations have more power than the people.
Demonstrating in Walnut Creek makes sense, said Mike Veiluva, resident and member of Contra Costa 99 percent.
"It's absolutely the logical place because, in some ways, it's the heart of the beast," he said. "You have a lot of people hurting out here; just because it's Walnut Creek it's all kept underneath.
"There is wealth inequality here," Veiluva added. "We have people who are just barely getting by and then we have the 1 percent living in these palatial homes on the hills that surround us."
Sergio Lub ¿of Occupy Walnut Creek said protesting here is necessary because some media portray protesters as young people who don't have a job and therefore have nothing better to do.
"I am almost 60 and employ a dozen people in my business — so myself and my neighbors are so removed from the stereotype that corporate media is trying to sell us," he said in an e-mail.
Walnut Creek police say they will be at the protests to ensure safety.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled Sergio Lub's name.
Contact Elisabeth Nardi at 925-952-2617. Follow her at Twitter.com/enardi10.


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Bucs shine on 'D' -- except for stopping steals
By Mark Emery / MLB.com
Pittsburgh's .707 DER trails only that of first-place Washington in the NL. But when it comes to throwing out basestealers, no team is worse than the Pirates, who have let 90.2 percent of opposing runners swipe bags safely.Manager Clint Hurdle has liked what he's seen from the defense, especially in the middle of the field, where Clint Barmes has played the majority of the club's games at shortstop and Neil Walker and Andrew McCutchen have been mainstays at second base and center field, respectively. "From the field part of it, behind the pitcher, we've been very strong up the middle," Hurdle said on Friday. "I do think that when you look at building something special, you've got to be rock solid up the middle." McCutchen's .996 fielding percentage ranks first among NL center fielders. Barmes and Walker both rank third in the league in fielding percentage at their positions. Barmes has gone 33 straight games without an error, and Walker has made only one in his last 59 games. "From behind the plate, our game-calling, our blocking, our handling of the pitchers has been solid," Hurdle said. "We've got a glitch with throwing runners out. We know that. We don't have a perfect club. But we've been able to keep most of those people from scoring when they have advanced and taken bases." The Pirates haven't been too hurt by opposing teams' success at stealing bases, and neither have the Nationals, who, curiously enough, rank just ahead of the Bucs in that category, allowing runners to be successful in 86.6 percent of their attempts.
Locke relieved after first relief appearance
PITTSBURGH -- Jeff Locke had gone up against big league hitters before, but never as a relief pitcher.It was in that role that the 24-year-old lefty entered Thursday's game against Arizona, with two outs and a runner on second in the seventh inning. He brought the frame to a close by retiring Chris Johnson, the first of seven straight hitters to come up empty against the young pitcher. Locke was perfect during his 2 1/3 innings, notching a strikeout and keeping the deficit from getting out of hand. The Pirates still lost, 6-3, but it wasn't because of Locke's effort. "I liked what we saw today," manager Clint Hurdle said following Thursday's game. "[He had] very good composure on the mound. Mixed his pitches well. Kept the ball in the strike zone. Used all his pitches." Locke was pleased with the way his first Major League appearance of 2012 went, too. Last year he made four starts with the Pirates and went 0-3 with a 6.48 ERA. "The nervousness of, I guess, the first impression was kind of gone. I know it's a different role, relieving as opposed to starting," Locke said before Friday's series opener against San Diego. "Pitching is pitching, no matter whether you're starting or relieving. It's all the same game. Getting my feet wet last year definitely made it a little bit easier on me this time around."
Pirates are not taking Padres lightly
PITTSBURGH -- Fans who think that the Pirates get to play three easy games against a struggling team in the middle of their 11-game homestand might be in for a rude surprise.Don't be fooled by San Diego's 49-64 record. The Padres have won four straight games and five of their last six. They're 13-2 in their last 15 games against the Pirates, and have won nine straight contests at PNC Park. "This is a club that's got a little traction," manager Clint Hurdle said before Friday's series opener. "They just finished a pretty good homestand. They've been known to pitch and play defense. They've got some guys in the lineup that can hurt you." San Diego is scheduled to start three right-handers during the weekend series: Edinson Volquez on Friday, Jason Marquis on Saturday and Ross Ohlendorf on Sunday. Two of the Padres' notable hitters are Chase Headley and Carlos Quentin, who on Friday hit third and fourth, respectively, in the lineup. Third baseman Headley is batting .276 with 15 homers and 62 RBIs, and right fielder Quentin is hitting .268 with 12 long balls and 31 RBIs. "We don't take anybody for granted. We're not in a position to," Hurdle said. "That is a thought that never crosses anybody's mind, [that] when they come in this clubhouse, we've got a layup tonight, because you don't."
Last word
"You can't disassociate yourself from the scoreboard. They're big, and they're out there, and there's enough dead time during the game where you can catch yourself glancing at them." -- Clint Hurdle, on monitoring other games
Worth noting
Reliever Juan Cruz made his second rehab appearance at Double-A Altoona on Thursday, throwing a scoreless inning and striking out one. He threw 13 pitches."He had a good outing last night," manager Clint Hurdle said on Friday. "He did throw his breaking ball, his changeup, fastball. Velocity was increased, 93 to 95 [mph]. It was another good step forward for him." Two more home runs at PNC Park will give the Pirates 800 at the stadium, which opened in 2001. Pittsburgh's 2.56 home ERA is the lowest in the Major Leagues. The Pirates also lead baseball in saves, with 41.
Mark Emery is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

subset: commoncrawl


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Regulus calendula
IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern
Ken Schneider
A tiny bird seemingly overflowing with energy, the Ruby-crowned Kinglet forages almost frantically through lower branches of shrubs and trees. Its habit of constantly flicking its wings is a key identification clue. Smaller than a warbler or chickadee, this plain green-gray bird has a white eyering and a white bar on the wing. Alas, the male's brilliant ruby crown patch usually stays hidden—your best chance to see it is to find an excited male singing in spring or summer.
In summer, Ruby-Crowned Kinglets are common in spruce-fir forests in the northwestern United States and across Canada. They also live in mixed woods, isolated trees in meadows, coniferous and deciduous forests, mountain-shrub habitat, and floodplain forests of oak, pine, spruce or aspen. These birds nest high in trees, and so prefer older, taller, and denser stands to younger ones. During migration and winter they are common in woods and thickets across most of the continent.
Ruby-Crowned Kinglets prey on spiders, pseudoscorpions, and many types of insects, including aphids, wasps, ants, and bark beetles. Kinglets usually forage in high tree foliage, hovering and pecking in order to glean insects from the surface of leaves and branches. These birds also eat a small amount of seeds and fruit, from poison-oak berries to the pulp of dogwood berries.
It takes Ruby-Crowned Kinglet females five days to build their nests, making trips every five minutes or so to gather materials: grasses, feathers, mosses, spiderwebs and cocoon silk for the outer structure, fine plant material and fur for the inner lining. When completed, the globe-shaped nest is 4 inches wide and 5-6 inches deep, and requires regular maintenance to keep it from disintegrating. Inside, it's about 3 inches across and 2 inches deep. The nest is elastic enough that it can stretch as the brood grows.
Ruby-Crowned Kinglets make their nests in trees, occasionally as high up as 100 feet. Females choose a nest site near the tree trunk or suspended from small twigs and branchlets. Because of the nest site's height and often remote location, not much is known about kinglet nesting habits. Their nest sites, chosen by the females, are protected and often hidden by overhanging foliage.
Breeding pairs of Ruby-Crowned Kinglets stay together for two months, until their chicks fledge. Ruby-Crowned Kinglets use their long, bubbly, and amazingly loud songs to establish territories; this is more energy efficient than chasing and less dangerous than fighting. They can be recognized by a constant flicking of their wings.
Ruby-crowned Kinglets are common and overall, despite regional increases and declines, their numbers were stable between 1966 and 2015, according to the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Partners in Flight estimates a global breeding population of 90 million with 72% spending some part of the year in the U.S., 81% in Canada, and 26% wintering in Mexico. The species rates a 6 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score. Ruby-crowned Kinglet is not on the 2016 State of North America's Birds' Watch List. Kinglets seem to handle human disturbance and habitat fragmentation fairly well, though logging and wildfire may reduce their numbers. Their wide use of habitats in winter helps them tolerate human disturbances.
Short-distance migrant. Ruby-crowned Kinglets breed across far northern North America as well as the western mountains. Most migrate to the southern and southwestern United States and Mexico for the winter—but some mountain populations in the West simply move to lower elevations during the cold months.
This species may come to backyards if food is available. Find out more about what this bird likes to eat by using the Project FeederWatch Common Feeder Birds bird list.
Ruby-crowned Kinglets are fast-moving but quiet little birds that you might overlook at first. If you're scanning roadside bushes or watching a flock of warblers, you might see one dart into view and keep moving through the foliage, almost too fast for you to keep up. Keep an eye out for their characteristic habit of wing-flicking. Don't rely on seeing this bird's ruby crown—it's often kept completely hidden. But do listen for both the male's loud song (often given during migration as well as in the breeding season) and for the double-noted call, which can be distinctive once you learn it. In much of the U.S., look for this species in the winter or on migration, when they are widespread and quite common. During summer you'll need to be in northern North America or the western mountains to see them.
Contact the Lab | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | Site CreditsCopyright © 2015 Cornell University
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Originally Posted by Newbie
In my eyes, this was a near-perfect game!
The team work was phenomenal!
Melo, Novak, Smith, Chandler: You ALL rock!!!
Was happy to hear Davis had a stomach flu because he looked like crap....
Would not mind him resting until the playoffs.....a Healthier Davis is another potential weapon.
MELO with another 33, jus saying
Forum Rules


text:
North Cascades > Mount Shuksan > Climber's Log
Mount Shuksan Climber's Log
[ Sign the Climber's Log ]
|Fishers Chimneys
Date Climbed: Jul 11, 2014
|Two-day adventure with excellent Mt. Baker Mountain Guides John and Jenni Minier. Camped at the "Eagle's Nest." Loved the upper Curtis Glacier, Hell's Highway and the approach to the summit pyramid. What a terrific varied hike - it offers some of everything and then some. Quite the day when you summit and then come out all the way back to Austin Pass TH. IVD
|Posted Jul 17, 2014 10:49 pm
|Josh Lewis
|Fisher Chimneys
Date Climbed: Sep 11, 2013
|Great route, couldn't find the chimneys going up, which made for a spicy variation. The upper Curtis glacier was a bit icy making our extra ice tool a great asset as well as a few ice screws.
|Posted Dec 16, 2013 1:35 am
|Up I go
|08/23/13 via Fisher Chimneys and SE rib and descended the Sulfide Glacier Route. 5 1/2 hours from TH to top of whinny side. From there 3hr 20 mins to summit. 4 1/2 hours from summit sulfide glacier TH
|Posted Aug 25, 2013 1:53 am
Date Climbed: Jul 20, 2013
|Got stuck behind a big traffic jam at 8,800 ft on the Southeast Rib and had to turn back...will be back next summer!
|Posted Aug 19, 2013 7:28 pm
|Sulphide Glacier + SE Rib solo
Date Climbed: Aug 6, 2013
|8hrs car to car (on 3hrs of sleep), the DAY AFTER doing two peaks and over 6500' of elevation gain in the Enchantments. SE Rib was fun, with about 3 sections each of 5.4 and Class 4. Downclimbed the standard gully.
|Posted Aug 6, 2013 11:51 pm
|Beautiful but no summit
Date Climbed: Jul 14, 2013
|The mixture of ice, snow and rock made it a real struggle that was a little much for us this time. I might want to redo this in August.
|Posted Jul 15, 2013 9:51 am
|Fishern Chimneys
Date Climbed: Aug 24, 2012
|My first technical summit. It was awesome. I'm hooked.
|Posted Jun 13, 2013 10:27 pm
|1st climbing school. Good moderate mtn
|Posted May 7, 2013 10:16 pm
|fisher chimneys
Date Climbed: Aug 1, 2011
|Lake Ann trail from mount baker ski area up the fischer chimneys across the white salmon. Camped on the sulphide climbed via summit peak coulier. Awesome hike however sulphide glacier Shannon creek side is boring.
|Posted Feb 3, 2013 1:54 pm
|Sulfide Glacier
Date Climbed: Aug 1, 2012
|camped out at 6500', left camp for summit around 5:30AM, very clear day. Great views from the top, rappeled down. Overall great experience.
|Posted Oct 10, 2012 11:24 am
|Mt. Shuksan
Date Climbed: Aug 7, 2011
|Beautiful mountain - can't say the same for the Shannon Ridge trail.
|Posted Sep 15, 2012 6:41 pm
|Vic Hanson
|August 2012 glaciers - 4
Date Climbed: Aug 12, 2012
|Smiley and I met some of his friends for this climb, we camped near the pit toilet the first evening, roped up and climbed up the glacier in the morning, met lots of people coming down both on the snow and on the rock chute, where we had to wait some for them to pass on down. A nice scramble to the summit, of course great views of Baker, a little too hazy to see distant peaks. After returning to camp and having lunch, Smiley and I packed up and hiked back to the trail head, the rest spent a second night at camp.
|Posted Aug 16, 2012 8:29 pm
|soft snow
Date Climbed: Aug 9, 2012
|Via Sulphide glacier. Once we made it to the rockpile, we missed the route to the right of "Casper" and did some unprotected class 5 moves on the rock which made for some harrowing times.We rapped down from the summit, which was fun. The soft snow on the descent also made self arrest almost impossible and there were several areas with no runout. Be careful out there.
|Posted Aug 11, 2012 5:54 pm
|Sulphide and SE rib
Date Climbed: Jul 31, 2012
|Spectacular setting and views. The glacier travel was straightforward. I thought the southeast rib was pretty exciting and exposed (at least for someone like myself who doesn't rock climb much and also when wearing mountaineering boots). Rappeled down the gully which is almost completely bare of snow right now.
|Posted Aug 2, 2012 5:58 pm
Date Climbed: Aug 7, 2011
|Made camp above 7000 feet. Sunset was amazing. Still hard snow in gully even in August. Got up and down just ahead of group of 9 climbers.
5 quick rappels and off we go.
|Posted Jul 17, 2012 10:17 pm
|Close but no cigar
Date Climbed: Aug 7, 2010
|New to SP: signing summit logs.
Climbed the Sulphide route in 2010 after getting chased off Silver Star Mt. by smoke from the fires in Stehekin. Made it to the summit chimney but the rotten snow was pretty sketchy and we were tired of breathing smoke from the forest fires in BC (lots of fires that weekend). Climb was uneventful but we briefly got disoriented in the fog that lingered in a band just at base camp on the toe of the Sulphide. I'll be going back to finish it off but will definitely take wands next time to mark the route from camp up to the ridge.
|Posted Jul 16, 2012 4:55 pm
|Sulphide perfection
Date Climbed: Jul 8, 2012
|Beautiful weather made for a great time climbing and sleeping out under the stars. There is still an immense amount of snow at lower elevations. We saw (and felt) a huge chunk of the crystal glacier calve off and fall into sulphide lake. The perfection ran out in the pyramid gully which was filled with sloppy, slushy snow. While a few members of our party tried the south-east ridge but ran out of pro, we watched a two-some grind there way up the gully over the course of two and a half hours. Props, but it looked super sketchy.
Climbed with the Mountaineers.
|Posted Jul 9, 2012 1:56 pm
Date Climbed: May 29, 2012
|Bought plane ticket for time most convienent for work but not conditions. Fellow SP'er relic climbed Shannon Ridge to the clouds and slop to the pass above the toe of the Sulfide glacier. Awoke @ 1:30 am to urinate and sounds of sleet. Forecast for probable clearing incorrect. Descended in worse slop and rain. Retreated to Seattle to dry out and regroup. Consider it a scouting trip. Don't believe weather predictions promised by airline ticket agents 5 months prior to trip
|Posted May 30, 2012 2:12 pm
|Sulphide Glacier
Date Climbed: Jun 7, 2009
|Beautiful day in and out of clouds. Summit gully full of ice. Member of rope team fell into hidden crevasse.
|Posted Mar 6, 2012 3:13 pm
Date Climbed: Jul 23, 2011
|Car to car via Sulphide. Great climb.
|Posted Feb 10, 2012 5:00 pm


text:
Bryan Russo
Staff Writer
OCEAN CITY — If you drive anything bigger than a pick-up truck, you will not be allowed to drive on the Route 90 bridge until further notice.
On Wednesday, the Maryland State Highway Administration informed the town of Ocean City that an annual inspection of the Route 90 Bridge revealed a substantial structural flaw on an 85-foot section above the Assawoman Bay.
In a memo obtained from an anonymous source on Wednesday from City Manager Dennis Dare to all town department heads, City Council members and other assorted city-wide staff members, Dare reported that all departments should "immediately review their operations and institute procedures to comply with the restriction placed until [the bridge] is repaired."
"The center girder over the boat channel was found to have failing pre-cast concrete and the strands are exposed," read Dare's email. "The expert bridge engineer brought in yesterday [by the SHA] recommended a 6,000 pound weight limit to be established."
Simply put, the damage found to the bridge is substantial enough that the SHA will restrict vehicles driving on the portion of the bridge closest to Ocean City to small passenger cars, unloaded pickup trucks and small SUV's.
This turn of events could effect area school children the most.
"We've already been in contact with the Board of Education and they know that they are going to have to reroute the school buses until further notice," said SHA District Engineer Donnie Drewer. "We will also be placing the digital message boards at both ends of the bridge informing motorists of the new weight restrictions."
Drewer told The Dispatch that the SHA is unsure how exactly they are going to proceed with amending the problem, and they have no idea how much it is going to cost, nor do they know if they are going to have to repair the flawed portion or if a full replacement of the aforementioned section is necessary.
"We just found it yesterday, so we aren't sure if we are going to have to replace it or simply just have to fix the problem," said Drewer. "First, we got to find the 'fix', then we have to take the steps to fix it, and then we have to find a way to handle all of the traffic coming in and out of town from now until cold weather while we fix it."
For the complete story, see tomorrow's issue of The Dispatch.


text:
Royals easing Cain slowly into full-time duties
Center fielder to be pinch-runner, defensive replacement early in return
By Dick Kaegel and Kathleen Gier / MLB.com
KANSAS CITY -- Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain was activated from the 15-day disabled list before Wednesday night's 6-4 loss to the Mariners, but manager Ned Yost said he's not quite ready for full action.
"He felt good, he passed all his tests and everything was good, and we thought if we can get in the seventh or eighth inning and we have the chance to improve the outfield defense, let's go ahead and do it [Wednesday night]," Yost said. "We just never got to the spot where we had a lead and we could do it."
Cain, who went on the disabled list on Aug. 9 with an oblique strain, was batting .261 with 25 extra-base hits and 43 RBIs through 96 games prior to the injury. Yost said Cain has hit in the cage and engaged in soft toss off the tee, but has not resumed live batting practice.
"We're still kind of shying away from the hitting aspect even though he's feeling better, he hasn't had any live hitting," Yost said. "We anticipate if we need him, we are going to use him as a pinch-runner or defense late."
Cain entered Thursday's 7-6 walk-off victory against the Mariners as a defensive substitute in the top of the eighth inning and as expected, was replaced by David Lough for the next at-bat in the the ninth.
Yost says Salvy is fine after foul ball off mask
KANSAS CITY -- Royals catcher Salvador Perez was removed in the fifth inning of Thursday's 7-6 walk-off victory against the Mariners shortly after being struck in the mask by a foul ball.
The club announced that he was lifted as a precautionary measure because of mild dizziness. Perez underwent concussion tests after leaving the game.
"He's fine," manager Ned Yost said. "He came in and had a little nausea and a little dizziness, but it dissipated really quickly. They gave him the SCAT test and he was an 84 out of 85. If he comes in feeling good tomorrow, he'll be ready to go."
Perez took a hard foul shot off the mask with Dustin Ackley batting in the Mariners' half of the fifth, but stayed in the game after talking to assistant trainer Kyle Turner. In the bottom half of the inning, Perez delivered an RBI single, his third hit of the game. He was looked at again while at first base and left the game.
"When he got hit, he kind of fell backwards. We went and checked him, he was fine, his eyes weren't real glazed," Yost said. "When he got the hit and got to first base, he got a little dizzy. I wasn't going to take any chances. Once you get a little dizzy, one more blow to your head could put him out for the year. He felt OK, wanted to stay in the game, but once you get a little dizziness, no."
Foul balls off his mask have plagued Perez previously this season. He was placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list on Aug. 4 after being hit by a foul ball in the 12th inning the previous night at New York in a 4-3 win over the Mets. He was reinstated on Aug. 11.
Brett Hayes ran for Perez and took over behind the plate.
Getz undergoes tests for possible concussion
KANSAS CITY -- Royals second baseman Chris Getz, who exited Tuesday night's game with dizziness and an upset stomach, underwent more tests for a possible concussion on Thursday.
"I'm doing better," Getz said.
Getz left the 4-3 win over the Mariners after two innings, shortly after being jarred while making a fielding play. He did not return for the third inning.
Ventura scratched from PCL playoffs start
KANSAS CITY -- Top Royals pitching prospect Yordano Ventura was pulled from his starting assignment for Triple-A Omaha in the Pacific Coast League playoffs for "undisclosed team violations."
Royals assistant general manager J.J. Picollo said that Ventura was scratched as the starter in Wednesday night's opener at Oklahoma City and wouldn't pitch in the second game either.
"He's not going to pitch [Thursday night] but we'll figure it out over time," Picollo said. "Right now, he's not going to pitch and we'll figure out when he will, and if he will."
Ventura is Kansas City's No. 2 prospect, according to MLB.com, behind another right-hander, Kyle Zimmer. Ventura had a 5-4 record and 3.74 ERA in 15 games for Omaha after being promoted from Double-A Northwest Arkansas.
Dick Kaegel is a reporter for MLB.com. Kathleen Gier is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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A 10-mile stretch of Interstate 405 was shut throughout the weekend so that crews can demolish a portion of the Mulholland Drive bridge as part of a $1 billion-project to add a new carpool lane. Officials said demolition was nearly complete and that they expect to reopen the freeway as planned for Monday morning.
For the most part, drivers steered clear from the freeway.
As temperatures climbed into the 90s, those who couldn't resist a trip to the beach said traffic was smooth.
"We've been all over the city, no traffic. We even went to Dairy Queen for an ice cream and there was nobody there," Marilyn Millen told KNBC-TV.
For weeks Angelenos have been warned to avoid the area on LA's West Side. If they don't, officials warn, a citywide traffic jam could result. But beyond just scare tactics, city officials have been encouraging Southern Californians to get out and enjoy their own neighborhoods on foot, on bikes or via short drives on surface streets.
During a similar closure last year commuters stayed away from the freeway in droves, the shutdown was considered a success, and crews finished the first phase of the work early.
This time, the contractor faces a penalty if the work isn't done in 53 hours. The fine is $6,000 per lane of freeway, for every 10 minutes over the deadline. Demolition temporarily halted Saturday afternoon when a large chunk of the bridge unexpectedly came down, but the contractor said it won't delay the project.
The closed section of the freeway carries about 250,000 motorists each day on an average weekend. California Department of Transportation officials said that in order for Carmageddon II to be a success, at least two-thirds of those drivers need to stay off the road.
Meanwhile, TV news crews appeared to make good on a promise to avoid a traffic jam in the sky as they cover the shutdown.
Residents complained of low-flying, noisy helicopters hovering nonstop over the region last year. This time, local television news directors have plans to pool coverage by using video from a single helicopter making limited flights over the freeway, according to Rick Terrell, executive director of the Radio & Television News Association of Southern California.
The participating stations include major broadcasters including KABC-TV, KCBS-TV and KTTV-TV.


text:
Buy now!
Irish Poetry
Medbh McGuckian - Shelmalier (clothbound)
Taking her title from the Wexford fishermen who became gunmen in the Irish rising of 1798, McGuckian carries the sea changes in language she has elsewhere wrought in bodily tropes of waves, tides, liquidity, and blueness into poems where "the long, long dead/ steer with their warmed breath/ my unislanded dreams" ("Feastday of Peace"). In poems that warm history into the living and breathing voice, the space of the body into time itself ("making addresses into dates"), McGuckian transforms the rebels' "still unused voices" into "soon-to-be-living words" ("Rose Trellis") that may yet resonate in an island where hope itself remains difficult two centuries later:
Not even a dead letter
a pseudohope from your pseudohome.
You are dissolved in me
like the death of a century.
I need your summer movements
as the spirit needs the world
my non-world the inner
gospel of your letters.
1998 120 pages


text:
The very first video game I ever played was
"Shark Attack" for Atari 2600. This early memory
established my love for both sharks, and video games (not necessarily in that
order). As I grew up, I owned several game consoles like the NES, SNES, Sega,
PlayStation/PlayStation 2, Nintendo 64, Xbox 360 and the Wii.
I didn't, however, play very many PC games while
growing up. I had arcade-style games like "Frogger" for
Windows 95, and dabbled in "Diablo ll" in my Windows 98 days. More
recently, I had an infatuation with "World of Warcraft" and "Spore," but
that's about it.
Fast forward to summer 2009, when I first created
my Facebook. I realize I jumped on the Facebook bandwagon a little later than
most, but I was anti-social networking up until that point. Curiosity got the
best of me, eventually.
The first month of having a Facebook was confusing
for someone who knew nothing about it. My problem wasn't the fact that I
couldn't figure out how to post a status or add friends or anything, but
rather, I didn't understand the barrage of game requests. I thought Facebook
was just MySpace minus the
This brings me to a debate that I've thought about
and read about numerous times, but haven't really discussed with anyone yet:
Are Facebook games considered "real" games?
The first time I made the comparison in my head,
my first thought was, "Absolutely not." Facebook games are completely
ridiculous and uninteresting. Zynga's little farm animals on FarmVille and
gangsters on Mafia Wars do not compare to a console or PC game, which has a
plot, better graphics and better overall gameplay.
But all opinions aside, really think about it. At
this point, has FarmVille evolved to possess these qualities that we love about
console/PC games? Meaning, a plot, better graphics and lengthy, in-depth
gameplay? The things a person can do on FarmVille now as opposed to what they
could do on the game two years ago has progressed by leaps and bounds. For
instance, I saw some random post the other day talking about their U.S. farm
and their British farm. FarmVille is going global, folks.
With the user's character and farm constantly
evolving, it seems players always have more options or choices to make in order
to continuously play the game, while console/PC games tend to take a few hours
or days to beat, and then you're done until a slightly different version is
released a year later for $60 a pop.
I've heard some arguments categorize FarmVille and
other Facebook games with apps on smartphones like Angry
Birds, saying they are just time-wasters. In my opinion, this is absolutely
true for most games on Facebook, and I also feel that way about FarmVille
because I see it as a waste of time. But for those who are hardcore FarmVille
players, this might not be the case. Like the PlayStation Network and Xbox
Live, FarmVille has a large social network that allows "neighbors" to
play the game with one another in real-time, and they do it for hours and
hours, day after day.
My conclusion? You probably think I'm an avid
digital farmer, but that's not what I'm getting at. I simply find it
interesting that a game developed and played much like other role play console/PC
titles is treated like a second-rate citizen, and I'm curious as to why gamers
think this is.
Personally, I'm sticking with the "I'm too
cool for FarmVille" attitude. I like my retro games and select new titles
for my various consoles, and I'm sticking to it. For me, the biggest problem is
that the game is just uninteresting and annoying, especially when I have to
watch my aunts and 10-year-old nieces posting "PLEEZ HELP MY FARM!!! SEND
ME RABBITS!!11!" every two minutes. It's cult-like, kind of like die-hard
Apple fans shaving Apple's into the back of their heads and selling
kidneys for an iPad 2.
I can sit here and laugh at all the people
exchanging digital pigs on Facebook, but Facebook may get the last laugh if its games
make it the biggest bank by 2015 as Ken Rutkowski, founder and president of Metal
International, predicted last month.
But my question stands: What makes FarmVille
"less than" console/PC titles as far as development and gameplay
goes? What specific characteristics must it obtain to reach the ultimate status
of being a "real" game?


text:
Model 870 Extra Barrels
Remington Wingmaster, 20 Gauge, 28" Barrel, Rem Choke, Full, Modified, Improved Cylinder Choke, Vent Rib, Polished Blued Finish
If you own a Remington shotgun you know quality and, that when it comes to replacement parts, there's only one brand good enough - Remington. Remington offers a wide variety of original factory barrels ranging in styles from vent rib, to cantilever to rifle sighted, so you never have to compromise the superb craftsmanship and dependability that make Remington ownership a matter of pride. Whether you want your Remington shotgun to perform like two, or you're looking to restore an old friend, there's no substitute for Remington replacement barrels.
SPECIFICATIONS:Mfg Item Num :24606Category :FIREARMS - EXTRA BARRELSGauge/Caliber :20 GALength :28"Chamber :3 inchModel :870 WingmasterChokes :Rem Choke - Full, Modified, Improved CylinderSights :Vent RibBore :SmoothFinish :Polished Blued


text: Meets with F527 & F638. This musical ensemble performs traditional Mexican musics throughout the university and the surrounding community. Students learn basic mariachi musicianship, historical and contemporary issues in mariachi as a socio-cultural practice, and participate in community outreach. Musicians and dancers are required to attend a weekly two-hour rehearsal, participate in at least two performances (one community performance, and one end of term concert). Weekly assignments are given as playlists of songs to be rehearsed at the next rehearsal as well as assigned readings. Participants are expected to prepare their parts in individual practice during the week in preparation for the group rehearsal. Previous mariachi experience or Spanish language fluency is not required; however, violin, trumpet, and guitar players should have a working knowledge of their instruments and some music reading ability and/or good aural skills. In addition to seeking musicians (singers, violin, trumpet, guitar, and people interested in learning the vihuela or guitarrµn) and folklµrico dancers, we welcome individuals interested in participating in the following positions: general secretary/archivist grant/proposal writer business manager equipment manager music librarian researcher music transcriber/arranger costumer community outreach liaison Fulfills a COAS Arts and Humanities, Traditions and Ideas distribution requirement and is on List A of the COAS Culture Studies requirement.


text:
Coulson's affair 'lasted 9 years'
Andy Coulson's on-off affair with Rebekah Brooks went on for nine years and stopped for good only around the time he resigned as editor of the News of the World, the hacking trial has heard.
The relationship began before Coulson became Brooks's deputy at the News of the World (NotW) in 2000 and continued for periods after he took over the helm and she moved to the Sun in 2003, the court heard.
In an anguished letter Brooks wrote but never sent in February 2004, she said she had been "waiting for six years" for him.
But today, Coulson, a married father of three, said it was "not a wholly accurate representation" of events and revealed the affair ended around the time he left the Sunday tabloid in January 2007.
The pair are accused of being part of a conspiracy to hack phones at the now-defunct newspaper between October 2000 and August 2006.
Under cross-examination by prosecutor Andrew Edis QC, the ex-No 10 spin doctor told the court that he had a different interpretation from his co-defendant.
He said the affair started in 1998 and stopped "soon after" but it resumed around the end of 2003 or early 2004.
He said: "In between time, there was a very long period the relationship was what it should have been, which was friendship.
"From 2004 it was by no means continuous but the affair did continue until around the time I left the NotW."
Asked if Brooks's version was wrong, Coulson replied: "I'm not using the words completely false - it was a very complicated situation. People have different interpretations of it on both sides."
His wife Eloise was in court as he gave evidence for the seventh day at the Old Bailey.
The defendant went on to deny that he "turned a blind eye" to the hacking of a voicemail in which David Blunkett declared his love for Spectator publisher Kimberly Fortier in 2004.
Coulson had earlier told the jury it was the one and only time he heard about phone hacking during his time at the paper.
He was asked why he never inquired of chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck where he got the taped phone message when he first rang him on holiday in Italy to tell him about it.
Mr Edis said: "There's only one reason why you would not ask him and that's because you already knew Neville had Mulcaire hacking voicemails."
Coulson said: "That's not true."
Mr Edis went on: "Is it that you did not really want to know about the phone hacking Neville Thurlbeck had done and you've got to assume he was doing it himself because you always denied you knew about Glenn Mulcaire?"
Coulson said: "I did not."
Mr Edis asked: "Is it because you would rather not know? Ask no questions... Turning a blind eye."
Coulson said: "I accept that I failed.
"I don't think I turned a blind eye - to turn a blind eye, you would have to have some knowledge. What I'm saying is it was a mistake, a bad mistake."
Mr Edis said: "If Neville Thurlbeck had told you he had robbed a bank, you would not tell him to stop. Telling him to stop was not addressing the problem because it's something he has already done."
Coulson replied: "I was concerned that it stopped and that was the instruction I gave to him."
He was also questioned about why, when he was arrested in July 2011, he never told police his version of events surrounding the Milly Dowler and David Blunkett stories, which came from hacking, and his authorisation of payments to convicted hacker Glenn Mulcaire.
Mr Edis said: "What you intended to achieve was this - you avoided making any admission about David Blunkett and Milly Dowler, hoping they would never be able to prove it."
Coulson replied: "I decided that the best thing for me to do was to follow the advice of my solicitor."
The lawyer pressed: "In the years that followed, you have appreciated the evidence you knew about the hacking of Mr Blunkett before you went to see him is overwhelming so you had to make the admission."
Coulson said: "No. I have chosen to explain what happened in relation to Mr Blunkett."
Mr Edis also asked for an explanation for the lack of notes from the time.
"There is not a single notebook in existence from your time at the News of the World concerning these things I have been asking about.
"Are there any notebooks of yours in existence, Mr Coulson?"
Coulson replied that he had some from his political career but he tended to email himself notes rather than write in books.
After he resigned, he said his personal assistant dropped off belongings, including a punchbag which hung in his office, but he could not recall if there were any notebooks.
Earlier, the court heard that when he resigned over former royal editor Clive Goodman's phone hacking in 2007, he agreed a leaving package of £600,000.
The same day his departure was announced, Goodman was jailed, with private investigator Mulcaire, making him "effectively unemployable", his lawyer David Spens QC said.
The defendant said the agreement he made was for two years' pay plus a month for every year served. He added: "I did not consider that unusual."
Coulson, 46, of Charing, Kent, and Brooks, 45, of Churchill, Oxfordshire, deny conspiring with others to hack phones. The also deny separate charges of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office. All seven defendants deny the charges against them.
The trial was adjourned until 11.30am on Monday.


text:
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text:
In the Bay Area, public schools in Palo Alto, San Ramon, Pleasanton and Walnut Creek have come to symbolize educational achievement. But on Thursday, those districts joined the ranks of schools and districts that have failed by the federal government's standards, according to an annual report of state and federal testing results released Thursday by the California Department of Education.
Despite steady test score gains locally and statewide, only 26 percent of California's 10,000-plus schools met the increasingly tough and numerous targets of the No Child Left Behind Act this year. Schools and districts that miss those goals are placed in a category called Program Improvement, which comes with various sanctions.
In Oakland, that category includes schools that have received state or national recognition for their work to close the achievement gap: Think College Now Elementary, Montera Middle School, KIPP Bridge, Manzanita SEED Elementary, Carl B. Munck, and Greenleaf Elementary.
For years, educators and politicians assumed Congress would rewrite the accountability law before its ultimate standard — all students showing proficiency in English and math by 2013-14 — was put to the test. But the act is still in place, and though dozens of states have received waivers in exchange for agreeing to implement a host of reforms promoted by the Department of Education, California has not.
Now, with the proficiency standard nearing 80 percent, the law is playing out as one might expect.
Bruce Fuller, a professor of education and public policy at UC Berkeley, said he considered the failure counts to be "next to meaningless" as the student proficiency bar slides swiftly upward. It's become so common for schools to miss at least one of the federal benchmarks, he said, that the law "has collapsed under its own weight."
Pleasanton Unified went into "Program Improvement" status this year, as fewer than 78 percent of its low-income and disabled students showed proficiency in math and English. Still, Superintendent Parvin Ahmadi noted that those groups made significant progress this year. Results for African-American, Latino and English-learner students also soared, and the school system's overall score rose to an impressive 915 on the state's 200-to-999 Academic Performance Index.
Ahmadi said she wasn't surprised to see high-performing districts such as Palo Alto and San Ramon in the same position. While the law has forced schools to reflect on their practices, she said, educators have long hoped that Congress would reauthorize the law in a way that's less rigid.
"We're still waiting," she said.
Once a school or district falls into PI, as it's known, it's difficult to climb out, as districts need to meet every goal for two years in a row. For example, in Alameda County, only a handful of schools managed to escape PI this year, including Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King in Berkeley, East Oakland Leadership Academy High, and Burbank Elementary School in Hayward.
Burbank, a high-poverty school with many English learners, received a $4.5 million, three-year School Improvement Grant in 2010-11 to boost its performance. The influx of money allowed the school to offer an extended day, a "spring training" summer program, and extra support for teachers. It appears to have paid off. Its API score shot up 46 points to 841 this year, putting the school well above the goal of 800.
When the school's principal, Irma Torres-Fitzsimons, saw the results, she said, "I was ecstatic."
Torres-Fitzsimons praised the students, teachers and parents for the turnaround — and the district, for securing the grant. On Wednesday, teachers wore T-shirts proclaiming "800 API." Next up, she said, will be a celebratory dunking of the vice-principal, Peter Wilson.
Fremont's Durham Elementary School has experienced a similar rise. In three years, Fremont Superintendent James Morris said it has gone from Program Improvement to a National Blue Ribbon Award nomination.
"You feel the pride in that school … for what they've accomplished," Morris said.
The statewide numbers offered some encouraging trends: Black and Latino students made greater gains than did white and Asian students but still lag far behind in scores. And for the first time more than half of all schools met the state's target score of 800.
"We've set a high bar for schools, and they have more than met the challenge, despite the enormous obstacles that years of budget cuts have put in their way," state Superintendent of Schools Tom Torlakson said in a prepared statement. "While there's still more work to do, California's schools have earned a vote of confidence."
Staff Writers Rebecca Parr, Sharon Noguchi and Chris De Benedetti contributed to this report. Read Katy Murphy's Oakland schools blog at www.IBAbuzz.com/education. Follow her at Twitter.com/katymurphy.
API stands for Academic Performance Index. It's a score from 200 (low) to 999 (high) based on how students at a given school or district performed on a series of standardized tests and other measures during the previous school year. The statewide goal for all schools is 800.
what's program improvement?
Program Improvement, also known as PI, is a category of schools and districts that for two straight years have missed at least one of the many targets set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Those goals relate to the percentage of students who prove on standardized tests that they are proficient at English and math. That percentage is going up every year. This time, it's near 80 percent.
Dozens of states have received waivers from the U.S. Department of Education in exchange for adopting alternative reforms, but not California.
api scores in alameda county
DISTRICT 2012 API CHANGE from 2011
Alameda 847 +6
Albany 893 +11
*Berkeley 810 +19
Castro Valley 868 +3
Dublin 901 +17
*Emery 728 +28
*Fremont 884 +8
*Hayward 718 +2
*Livermore 848 +16
Mountain House 767 +24
*New Haven 773 -2
*Newark 780 +9
*Oakland 730 +4
Piedmont 938 +8
*Pleasanton 915 +8
*San Leandro 743 +6
*San Lorenzo 749 +11
Sunol Glen 936 -3
*Districts that are in Program Improvement status under the No Child Left Behind Act.


text: Anyone else up for this? Another huge test for Robson, could set up the Hobbart rematch with Sloane. She's got experience of beating established names at Grand Slams. I really rate her chances here, could be huge in her development. Plus she's used to Australian heat, whereas Petra will just wilt.


text:
Rays Casting a Keen Eye on Marlins Ballpark
Ever since the Florida Marlins proudly announced their plans to build and relocate the team into the heart of the Miami metro area, you know the Tampa Bay Rays have been a bit envious of their Citrus Series rival.
It has not been an easy road for the Marlins, but in the end it will be a prized locale and a stadium worthy of the lofty investment. With their new abode also comes a name change to the Miami Marlins, finally bringing their community name to the front of the Marlins jerseys.
Already their have been rave reviews on the shell configuration of the complex, and even a recent Marlins batting practice " showcase" in which more than a few pitches thundered off the bat into the current vacant spaces in deep Centerfield. The retractable roof would save the suspect of rain-outs, which had happened 191 times since the team first took the field 16 mile north.
Now the Marlins could open or close the roof at will, forever banishing the elements to the exterior.
You know the Rays are really jealous of the fact the Marlins got their financing and approval intact before the economic downfall that might thrust the Rays into more privately invested waters instead of tapping the public side of the equation.
With the Marlins Ballpark's current operations running on budget and on-time for the 2012 completion mark, the Rays still sit in total limbo in their own stadium dreams.
As if the Rays needed to be strung anymore by the Marlin's success, people within the "Marlins inner circle" have been " unofficially" whispering enthusiastically around the community that Marlins Ballpark will host the New York Yankees in the team's last 2012 Spring Training contest as a rehearsal for their April 4th M L B home opener against their Spring Training roommates in Jupiter, Florida, the St. Louis Cardinals.
I still think one of the surface smart decisions of this stadium configuration has been the future Marlins cutting back their official capacity to 37,000 which will make the stadium capable of possibly dishing out a few sell-out contests in 2012….a rarity in South Florida right now.
The reduced capacity does come with a glaring possibly Catch-22 situation that their stadium will have the smallest actual capacity within Major League Baseball. That could dampen and drown possible chances for the Marlins getting overall M L B approval for such events as the 2015 All-Star game.
This mid-season celebration is a coveted prize, but one that could slip through the Marlins fins as a result of a reduced chance for M L B to cash in totally on a huge crowd. If the Marlins do get their All-Star game, it solidifies the Rays also wanting to have a possible reduced seating capacity facility. If the Marlins are trumped, it will show the Rays that possibly a 40,000 seat stadium in a must to get such events.
As the stadium has risen on the Miami horizon, there has always been doubt or speculation that the Marlins could bring the masses into their new home. The inclusion of a Metro rail line and increased public transit will also be closely watched by the Rays. It has been envisioned by so many in the past that the Rays future stadium and their success might also hinge on transit and the ability to bring people to the ballpark without huge traffic concerns.
The Rays organization has to be monitoring this Marlins Ballpark transformation with eager hearts and minds. So many of the same unforeseen variables the Marlins face, the Rays currently share the same anxiety and stumbling blocks. Odd that once again as in the initial M L B expansion into the fertile Florida market the Marlins will be the first to dive in and see what floats.
The Rays front office has to be frustrated and perplexed that their own community could not harness the same lighting bolt energy that got the Marlins their dream stadium. Political unrest, posturing on both sides of the Tampa Bay estuary has brought rough waters even to beginning honest discussion and proposals. As public funds are being drained like the Florida aquifer, the chances of a highly public funded stadium are sinking into the quicksand.
Suddenly it seems the Rays stadium situation might be on the agenda soon within the closed confines of the M L B ownership. M L B Commissioner Bud Selig has postured in the past, even during a reception under the Teflon roof of Tropicana Field that the Rays need a better facility, but the Commissioner's voice went silent to many movers and shakers within the community Soon the words will end and some harsh realities will resurface for all to see and judge. Time has past for this Rays stadium chatter to begin, the Florida sands of time ate quickly falling from the top of the hourglass.
I plan on buying a ticket for the Marlins home opener. I might not attend it, but it is a valuable piece of Florida baseball history. If the Tampa Bay community leaders do not quickly put their community pride and judgment in check, it might be the last M L B stadium built in Florida for a long, long time. Most people forget, baseball is a business and when the book begin to show more red than black…changes happen quickly…..even in the slow moving South.


text:
Water Department
|216 W. Schleier Frankenmuth, MI 48734
|Phone: 989-652-8987
|Fax: 989-652-3792
Water Superintendent: Kenneth O'Brien Email Address: email@example.com
Water Operator: Mark Daenzer Email Address: email@example.com
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Annual Report
- Monthly Usage
- Utility Billing Rates
- CCR/Water Quality Report
The City Water Departments Goal is to provide residents with a safe and abundant supply of drinking water.
The City Water Department has 2 State of Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Licensed Water System Operators on staff.
Kenneth O'Brien, Water Superintendent, S-1 License Mark Daenzer, Water Operator, S-2 License
The City of Frankenmuth purchases treated water from the City of Saginaw, who in turn purchases raw water from the Saginaw-Midland Municipal Water Supply Corporation. Our drinking water originates from Lake Huron at White Stone Point near Tawas, Michigan. It takes approximately one week for the water to travel from White Stone point at Lake Huron to your faucet.
The City of Saginaw does all of the Analytical and Bacteriological testing for the City of Frankenmuth.
The City has two elevated spheroids for water capacity and for water pressure and a re-pump station. (Fire Hydrant Information)
Northern Tower -Capacity of 400,000 gallons of water
Southern Tower - Capacity of 300,000 gallons of water
The City and Township of Frankenmuth annually participate in the EPA lead and copper monitoring with the City of Saginaw and their wholesale customers.
The City of Frankenmuth has a population of around 4,500 and supplies water to almost 5,300 residents, including Frankenmuth Township, as well as maintaining water service to the City's own residents. We maintain approximately 65 miles of water main, which range in size from 4" to 20", 567 fire hydrants, 1,159 valve and around 2,500 water service accounts. In addition the City monitors locations for cross connection violations within the City and Township.


text:
KSAM 101.7 / Chet Atkins
by CMT News on Apr 19, 2013
With more than 200 unique, limited-edition releases, Record Store Day 2013 promises another stellar bounty of albums, singles and boxed sets. While there are CDs, DVDs and even a few books scattered in the mix…
Posted in Entertainment News
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text:
We fell in love "Machete" when it was a fantastic fake trailer (complete with hilarious NSFW language) for "Grindhouse."
Now American audiences are a step closer to seeing Robert Rodriguez's "Machete" after Twentieth Century Fox came out on top of a bidding war for North American rights to the film, Variety.com reports.
Rodriguez caused a stir with the concept even when it went viral on YouTube. The movie stars Danny Trejo as a Mexican ex-Federale who is double-crossed in a plot to kill a crooked politician. But like they say in the trailer. "If you hire Machete to kill the bad guy, make sure you're not the bad guy."
Sure, there is most every possible killing method invoked even in the short trailer -- from knives to machine guns attached to the front of motorcycles flying through flames. But a fantastic cast including Robert De Niro as the crooked politician, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal, Don Johnson and Lindsay Lohan may separate this film from internet-friendly schlock like "Snakes on a Plane."
But the highlight of the show may be a double-shot-gun toting priest in the form of Cheech Marin.
The film was shot last fall in Austin, Texas and is still in post-production. No release date has been set.


text:
While many Americans are spending the election season grousing about the candidates, one St. Augustine resident is absolutely thrilled about the chance to vote at all.
Leamg "Tina" Tam became a U.S. citizen on Aug. 23, fulfilling a dream she's had since coming here 11 years ago.
The native of Cambodia, who came to America with her cousin, decided this is where she wanted to stay.
"I like it here," she said. "I can go anywhere. It's not scary."
Tam works at LA Nails off State Road 16 and is married to Ming Tam, who is also a naturalized citizen from Cambodia. They have a 3-year-old son, Henry.
"I waited a while (to become a citizen)," she said. "It was a big day for me. It changed my life."
In commemoration of Leamg Tam gaining her citizenship, Becky Reichenberg with the St. Johns County Republican Party presented Tam with an American flag last month that was flown over the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee.


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Hibernating frog could help astronauts conquer Mars
A small hibernating frog may be vital in helping humans conquer space, according to new research.
The burrowing frog, Cyclorana alboguttata, which grows to about three inches long, has the ability to hibernate for months without suffering any muscle wastage.
The problem of how to maintain muscle in zero gravity is one of the hurdles which will have to be overcome before astronauts can undertake future missions to Mars.
The research could also help prevent muscle deterioration in bedridden patients, according to the research published in the journal of the Society for Experimental Biology.
Now Australian scientists have identified key genes that help burrowing frogs avoid muscle wastage whilst they are dormant.
The study by University of Queensland found green-striped burrowing frogs go underground and wrap themselves in a cocoon of shed skin when resources are scarce in the outback.
PhD student Beau Reilly said: "If we can understand the cell signalling pathways that confer resistance to muscle wasting, then these could be useful candidates to study in mammalian muscle atrophy.
"These could help to develop therapies to treat bedridden human patients or even astronauts, who frequently lose muscle tone when exposed to reduced-gravity conditions."
One of the genes identified, 'survivin', appears to protect cells from a "suicide" mechanism which normally removes damaged or diseased cells.
This gene has also been shown to be highly active in human cancer cells.
Another gene, checkpoint kinase 1, regulates cell division and DNA repair.
In mammals inactive muscles can become damaged by highly charged molecules called Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) which are believed to degrade proteins, causing the muscles to waste away.
However in the tailless amphibians seem to suffer less damage from ROS.
Miss Reilly said this may be due to increased levels of protective antioxidants, including the compounds thioredoxin and sulfiredoxin.
Similar results have also been found in hibernating mammals, such as squirrels.
She added: "I am fascinated in animals that survive in extreme conditions. I think humans and modern medicine could learn a great deal from organisms such as burrowing frogs."
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This dataset is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the criminal justice archive within ICPSR. NACJD is primarily sponsored by three agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice: the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Massachusetts Superior Court Files, 1859-1959 (ICPSR 7776)
Principal Investigator(s): Hindus, Michael S.; Hammett, Theodore M.; Hobson, Barbara M.
This dataset contains data about case records created between 1859-1959 in the Massachusetts Superior Court (and its predecessors) for two Massachusetts counties. Part 1 contains data for 1,952 criminal cases with 52 descriptive variables, including: type of crime, year crime was committed, pleas, sentences, appeals, size of file, and demographic characteristics of victim and defendant (e.g., gender, status, residence, and occupation). Eighteen variables describe and rate each case's historical interest. Part 2 contains data on 1,968 civil (law, equity, and divorce) cases, with 82 descriptive variables, such as: relationship between parties, type of complaint, relief sought, disposition, relief granted, number of claims, damages awarded, size of file, and demographic characteristics of plaintiff and defendant (e.g., gender, status, residence, and occupation). Ten variables describe and rate each case's historical interest. In both data files, criteria for historical interest coding include: (1) inherent interest, such as offenses that are not routine (e.g., white-collar crimes, sexual crimes, and serious felonies), parties who are inherently interesting (e.g., famous persons, institutional defendants, and law enforcement personnel), and legal proceedings that are inherently interesting (e.g., alleged violations of prosecutorial or judicial discretion), (2) contexts that are inherently interesting, and (3) extraordinary documentation, such as those that shed light on the legal system (e.g., pardons or letters from citizens' committees), shed light on social history (e.g., the testimony of a woman who moved to the city and inadvertently ended up in a brothel), provide legal/procedural information (e.g., the details of search or a technical challenge to an indictment), and describe public or political history (e.g., milk inspection or zoning laws).
Access Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
Study Description
Hindus, Michael S., Theodore M. Hammett, and Barbara M. Hobson. Massachusetts Superior Court Files, 1859-1959. ICPSR07776-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2010-05-14. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07776.v2
Persistent URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07776.v2
Export Citation:
- RIS (generic format for RefWorks, EndNote, etc.)
- EndNote XML (EndNote X4.0.1 or higher)
Scope of Study
Subject Terms: civil law, convictions (law), court cases, courtroom proceedings, courts, criminal justice system, criminal law, disposition (legal), lawsuits, legal systems, nineteenth century, political history, social history, trials, twentieth century
Geographic Coverage: Massachusetts, United States
- 1859--1959
Universe: Massachusetts Superior Court cases between 1959-1969.
Sample: (1) Random sampling was used to code the case files by means of computer-generated random docket numbers. (2) Stratified probability sampling was employed by choosing equal numbers of cases from ten evenly spaced cohort years. The sample was comprised of 1,968 civil (law, equity, and divorce) cases and 1,952 criminal cases from Suffolk and Hampshire Counties in Massachusetts. Cases were drawn from only two counties in order to have numbers from each type and cohort year adequate to yield meaningful results. Suffolk, an urban county, and Hampshire, a rural county, were chosen because they represent two basic kinds of environments in which court business might differ. Civil cases were separated from criminal cases because they represented qualitatively different sorts of entities.
criminal and civil court records, files, and docket books
Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Created variable labels and/or value labels.
Original ICPSR Release: 1984-03-18
- 2010-05-14 SAS, SPSS, and Stata setups have been added to this data collection.
- 2006-01-18 File CB7776.PDF was removed from any previous datasets and flagged as a study-level file, so that it will accompany all downloads.
Related Publications
Metadata Exports
- Citations exports are provided above.
Export Study-level metadata (does not include variable-level metadata)
If you're looking for collection-level metadata rather than an individual metadata record, please visit our Metadata Records page.


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Items where subject is "General Works > Collections. Series. Collected works"
|Up a level
- Library of Congress Subject Areas (1)
- General Works (1)
- Collections. Series. Collected works (1)
- General Works (1)
Group by: Creators | Item type | No Grouping
Jump to: B
Number of items at this level: 1.
Birrell, Duncan and Dobreva, Milena and Dunsire, Gordon and Griffiths, Jillian and Hartley, Richard and Menzies, Kathleen and , JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) (Funder) and , RIN (Research Information Network) (Funder) (2009) DiSCmap: digitisation of special collections: mapping, assessment, prioritisation. Final project report. [Report]


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As Father's Days would come and go, did the fathers who knew about Jerry Sandusky ever give a thought to the children who had nobody to protect them? At least someone must have looked at their own kids—at the homemade cards they drew for dad, at how they were being raised to be confident, empathetic young adults—and pondered that a monster allegedly continued to wander in their midst, year after year after bloody year.
Not everyone in Happy Valley was an alien, right?
There must be some folks in or around State College, Pa., who weren't just hatched from a pod or who didn't suffer from a phenomenon called "motivated blindness" or who might have risked crossing the powerful football machine if it meant getting that alleged monster off their streets.
Maybe we'll hear from them as the trial against Jerry Sandusky continues. That could help wipe away this vision of a community wearing blinders and muzzles while an alleged rapist preyed on its weakest, most vulnerable members for a decade, possibly more.
Last week, eight accusers took the witness stand and described in nauseous detail how the once-revered and iconic assistant football coach molested them not just in a basement bedroom that might have been soundproof, but in areas that were as wide open and as public as the campus showers. Or the sauna used by the football team. Or hotel bathrooms, while the Penn State team was on the road.
It takes some kind of evil narcissist to sexually abuse children practically under the noses of other adults. Either that, or someone who's dead sure those adults—colleagues, friends, charity workers, perhaps even family members—will hold their noses and gird their stomachs and look sideways.
Indicted for molesting 10 boys over 15 years, Sandusky maintains his innocence, saying he showered with the young boys but never sexually touched them. By the time he takes the stand in his own defense—and that does seem to be where this horror show is heading—the trial could unearth an additional gruesome underbelly that's only just begun to surface.
There are hints of a cover-up—hardly surprising considering we've learned that PSU was run mostly by jelly fish—and reports that top university administration and athletic officials might have been aware of Sandusky's vile predilections but chose not to turn over the information to social services or law enforcement.
They reportedly wanted to be "humane" to Sandusky, because, you know, that was the right and proper thing to do.
Louis Freeh, the former FBI director hired to investigate the scandal, will be the one to dig further into this supposed cover-up. The current trial focuses only on Sandusky and the sordid criminal acts with which he is charged.
For now, we have a series of sad sideshows that could occur in any community, though let us pray they don't.
We have Mike McQueary, the former Penn State quarterback who rose to prominent assistant coaching positions with the team, testifying that he witnessed Sandusky having what he believed to be anal sex with a young boy in the team's showers in 2001. An "extreme sexual position" is how McQueary described it, telling the jury he heard "skin on skin smacking sounds" and saw the boy pressed up against the wall with Sandusky behind him.
McQueary will have to take his regrets to his grave. He didn't pull the boy away or pummel Sandusky, but he did report what he witnessed to athletic director Tim Curley and school vice president Gary Schultz, for all the good that did.
McQueary also testified that he went to great lengths to steer clear of Sandusky after that terrible night, treating the venerable coach like a leper. For years and years and bloody years, in a community where everyone's kids play in the same leagues, in a town where everyone knows everyone, did McQueary ever tattle to his friends? Happy Valley didn't have a force shield protecting it from gossip about its false gods, did it? And yet, Sandusky blissfully continued to run his charity for children and visit the campus facilities and attend golf events and presumably share nice Father's Day moments with his own family.
We know McQueary did immediately telephone his father after witnessing the alleged assault and later that night shared gruesome details with him. Taking the stand for the prosecution, John McQueary Sr. testified his son told him he heard in the shower "a slapping, rhythmic, kind of thrusting, slapping sound," and that "it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was going on."
The elder McQueary is the head of a large State College medical group as well as being a prominent local youth coach. He's a striking, energetic man with major clout in the community. While sitting on the sidelines at games or in boardrooms or in the neighborhood coffee shop, did he ever share with others what his son swore he witnessed in that shower?
Even more curious, did he or Mike ever ask about the welfare of the boy, or did they just go about their business, year after year after bloody year, walking to the other side of the street whenever the monster in their midst came through?
Both McQuearys testified they took their concerns to higher-ups at different times, the son in a meeting with Curley and Schultz, who oversaw the police and was, to the younger McQueary, "very much like a district attorney for the university." John McQueary said he discussed his son's report with Schultz a few months later, telling jurors that the then-university VP was aware of Sandusky's reputation for allegedly molesting young boys even before the 2001 shower incident.
Curley and Schultz both are fathers. Did they ever gaze at their own children, so innocent and trusting, and count their blessings? Schultz even has a child care center named in his honor. Soon the two administrators will face their own trials of perjury and failure to report suspected child abuse, along with whatever crimes the federal investigation might reveal.
The most beloved father figure and grand-daddy of all, the sainted Joe Paterno, died in January of complications from lung cancer, some two months after the Board of Trustees voted to relieve him of his duties as head football coach. On the day after witnessing a child being raped in the campus showers, Mike McQueary testified he went to Paterno's home.
"I made sure he knew it was sexual and it was wrong," McQueary said. But he also admitted he did not "go into gross detail of the act ... I didn't explain those details or use those terms when talking to (Paterno) out of respect and out of my own embarrassment, quite frankly."
We may never know whether college football's Father Flanagan was merely of a generation that either didn't discuss or even acknowledge the existence of such repulsive behavior—perhaps the Paternos never watched Law & Order—or couldn't comprehend that it might exist on his own watch.
We can wonder whether Paterno was aware of Sandusky's alleged behavior even before 2001, if the beloved and all-ruling coach blindly allowed a predator to roam free, grooming and luring victims. Before he died Paterno admitted he never confronted Sandusky, a man he had known for more than 30 years. Nor did he tell police of McQueary's allegations, or apparently even inquire about the boy, though that does seem to be the way these pod people rolled in Happy Valley.
Paterno bravely notified Curley, the athletic director, so there is that. The coach—father of five, grandfather of 17—later said he wished he had done more and was praying for Sandusky's victims.
In just a week, the parade of witnesses who could probably say the same has been stunning. Beyond the McQuearys, there was testimony about longtime assistant coach Tom Bradley who, according to Victim 4, walked into the shower in the team headquarters when the boy and Sandusky were behind a curtain in another stall.
"I can't say what (Bradley's) thoughts were, but I think he was suspicious of something because he stayed in the shower until everything was done," the accuser testified.
Joseph Miller, a wrestling coach, told jurors he came upon a child and Sandusky rolling around on the floor in the high school weight room one evening. It was odd, testified Miller, but "it was Jerry. Jerry Sandusky. He's a saint. What he's doing with kids, it's fantastic," Miller said. "So I didn't think anything of it."
Under their plugged noses and diverted eyes, evil appeared to prey.
Another accuser testified that on a trip to Texas around the time of the 1999 Alamo Bowl, Sandusky coerced the boy into oral sex in a hotel bathroom. Only when the coach's wife entered the hotel room did the activity stop. Dottie Sandusky was also said to be in the family's house when a boy screamed for help, though he testified he doesn't know if she heard his cries.
It's not just these fathers—these men—who were meant to keep the children in their community safe. If all that we've heard thus far from the witness stand is true, humanity failed terribly.
The monster will earn his deserved fate. Everyone else must look in the mirror and at their own children and hope they're surrounded by adults with spines.


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Big country, small heart: the shame of forcing innocent children to grow up behind bars
When mothers are locked away, children are forced to follow.
TWO little boys are tugging at the same toy and a mother rises to separate them. A little girl runs to her mother for comfort after a game with her playmate becomes a little rough for her. "He's a naughty boy," the girl yells.
Adults who are sipping tea and chatting in a group nearby in the same room break into laughter when they spy the five-year-old boy peeking from behind a big plastic ladder in the indoor playground, his dark eyes filled with apprehension.
Amid the cold reality of life locked away in a detention centre, the sound of children at play is shocking but soothing. For those adults forced to live every day with the physical and psychological trauma of indefinite incarceration, it is a welcome, if fleeting, relief from a pitiful existence.
Yet at the same time it is also a chilling reminder that the most innocent, the most loved and the most vulnerable people in society, children, are being punished, and irreparably damaged, for the sins of their birth.
The Australian government says many of these children do not have to be in detention, but where else can young children be but with their mothers, especially those whose mothers are widows?
Dr Susie Burke, the senior psychologist at the Australian Psychological Society, has documented the effects of detention on children since 2004. "Holding children and young people in detention is particularly harmful. It accentuates developmental risks, threatens the bonds with parents and carers, limits educational opportunities, has destructive psychological impacts and worsens the effects of existing trauma," she said.
Now there is yet another addition to the list of 800 children (as of October 2012) kept in detention under Australian immigration control. Ranjini and Ganesh Elansingam's son Paartheepan, born on Tuesday evening, is the seventh Tamil child under nine years old incarcerated in Sydney's Villawood detention centre.
Ranjini's first husband, a driver for the Tamil Tigers, was killed in the civil war which ended in 2009. She fled Sri Lanka by boat in fear of her life and the lives of her two sons, now aged nine and seven. She is a softly spoken woman who cannot understand why the boot of government remains on her throat a year after she was granted refugee status and was adapting to life in Melbourne's north-east.
Living happily in Mill Park last year, she and her new husband and the two boys were overjoyed to discover she was pregnant. But last May their lives turned to despair in the space of one phone call from immigration authorities, asking her to report to a meeting. ASIO had suddenly given her a negative assessment and she would be held in detention indefinitely.
In a few hours she was packed off to Sydney's Villawood centre with her two boys. Her devastated husband had to quit his new job and move to Sydney.
The most joyous moment in the lives of a new, loving couple - the birth of their first child - soon turned to sadness and distress when Ganesh this week had to leave his family and head home to his nearby lodgings.
Ranjini and Ganesh, though, are imbued with a quiet strength and resolve that inhumane government policy cannot break. They are hell-bent on survival, as are the three other Tamil women held in Villawood under indefinite detention because of negative ASIO assessments. They have been locked away for more than three years. Two are widows with four children between them and the other is unmarried without children.
One of the women says some of the children are having periods of depression. They are taken to a nearby school by security guards. The kids in their class last year were starting to tease and bully them about living in a detention centre. They cried a lot when they got home from school and kept asking their mothers when they were going to get out of jail.
One woman said she slept by the roadside for six months with her little boy, now four, as she fled the war in Sri Lanka's north. She told of the time when her son, then six months old, was sleeping under a tree and she heard a shell whistling through the air. She grabbed her baby in her arms and within seconds the shell hit the spot where he had been sleeping.
She thought the horrors of her life might end when she got to Australia. But it was no better, locked away indefinitely without explanation.
After she told her story, she looked up with tears in her eyes and asked softly: ''Can you help me?''
I didn't know what to say. But I knew what to feel. And that is shame. Shame that I live in a big country with such a small heart.
Trevor Grant is a former chief cricket writer at The Age, and now works with the Boycott Sri Lanka Cricket Campaign and the Refugee Action Collective.
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factors, including the cost of the battery pack, the cost of the
vehicle warranty (which could possibly include limited battery
replacement coverage), and cost
of design have led analysts to predict that the Volt will be
quite expensive for a mass market vehicle -- in the range of $40,000
USD. A $7,500 USD tax credit on electric vehicles will bump
this price down substantially, but many have voiced doubts about how
many consumers will bite at a $32,500 USD price point.
to GM-Volt.com, the cost may be significantly less,
improving the Volt's prospects. The blog spoke with GM CEO Ed
Whitacre and quotes him as saying, "We're not in business to
lose money, we did enough of that already. [The Volt] is going
to sell in the low 30s. We'll get a margin on
Noticeably absent was any mention that the low 30s
price estimate included the government tax credit. If that
figure indeed proves to be before the credit, it could mean GM has a
major surprise in store for the market. If GM can hit the
market in the high 20s after a tax credit, it could steal a
substantial amount of business from hybrid makers like Toyota and
Again, Mr. Whitacre's comments do not entirely rule out
that the "price" he's quoting is after tax credit, though
that is how GM-Volt.com has interpreted them.
Regardless, if GM can merely make a profit on the electric
vehicles it is producing, that will be impressive.
If GM can
achieve either goal -- a price in the 20s after tax credit, or a
margin on the vehicles it sells, its bold experiment could pay off.
After all, its position is similar to that of Toyota, when the
Japanese automaker entered the world market with the Prius in 2001.
At the time hybrids were unproven and doubts were high; now the car
is the bestselling
car in Japan and climbing U.S. sales charts. The Volt has
the potential to achieve similar success, if GM can live up to its
big promises.
Update 1: Tues., January 19, 2009, 11:05 p.m. -
Turns out that like most things that sound to good to be true, the notion that a "low 30s" price might be pre-tax credit turned out to be wishful thinking. A GM spokesperson contacted AutoBlog, commenting that while GM "has not officially announced final Volt pricing, a price in the low 30's after a $7,500 tax credit is in the range of possibilities."
While it may be disappointing to many that the Chevy Volt won't hit in the high 20s, this comes as little surprise. Returning to the Prius parallel, if GM can indeed turn a profit, though, that will still be quite impressive. Hopefully that prediction by Mr. Whitacre was not simply more wishful thinking.


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Michigan vs Kansas State preview/quick thoughts
After a hard-fought, grind-it-out victory over Pittsburgh two nights ago, Michigan returns to Madison Square Garden to take on Bruce Weber's Kansas State Wildcats in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-off. The Wolverines got a taste of the big stage on Wednesday night against a formidable opponent that should find its way into the Big Dance come March while Kansas State barely clawed its way to a 66-63 semifinal win over the Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens. Today's final (4:30pm on ESPN) pits these two unbeaten teams against each other for all the marbles. The game may look one-sided on paper, but here are some things to pay attention to:
1. Preparation: There are a couple reasons for scheduling these so-called "preseason" tournaments at the beginning of the college basketball season. Obviously money, camaraderie, and national attention play a part in it, but teams are also looking for solid opponents early on to prepare for the conference season, fun match-ups on big-time stages, and, perhaps most importantly, preparation for what is to come in March. With less than two full days to prepare for the next game, a neutral floor, and an unfamiliar opponent, the NIT Season Tip-off really has the feel of the NCAA Tournament. For Michigan fans, this could come with a bit of angst, as coach John Beilein has never led his Wolverines to more than one victory in the Big Dance, but he is known as being one of the best Xs and Os coaches in the college game, which should give Michigan a slight advantage against Kansas State. Beilein's unique offense is also often noted for being incredibly difficult to prepare for, especially with a short turn-around from a previous game, and if Beilein decides to try the 1-3-1 zone again today after using it effectively against Pitt, Bruce Weber is going to have fits. There is simply no way to prepare for both of these schemes in a 44-hour timeframe. One more preparation advantage that should go Michigan's way: both coaches are familiar with each other after going head-to-head for five years in the Big Ten, but Weber is brand new at Kansas State, so his players are still adjusting to new sets and will have very little knowledge of Beilein's offense or defense while Beilein has some veterans that have had time to grasp the system.
2. Balance: Kansas State's star player is unanimous preseason All-Big 12 First Team selection Rodney McGruder, but he has struggled so far this season and is only averaging 10 points and four rebounds per game while shooting 2-of-15 (13.3%) from downtown. Weber's approach thus far has seemed to stress a balanced attack that won't rely on one or two dominant players but will ride the hot hand on any given night. So far, it has worked, as the Wildcats sit at 5-0 and have only had one close call. A whopping 11 Kansas State players average more than 10 minutes per game and nine of those 11 score more than five points per game. Obviously these numbers are a bit skewed due to the competition level so far (North Dakota, Lamar, Alabama-Huntsville, North Florida, and Delaware), but it is apparent that Michigan should see a variety of looks with a hectic substitution pace on the other bench. Knowing the scouting report and opposing player tendencies is always important when so many different players will be seeing the floor, so Michigan will have to pay special attention to Kansas State's five shooters in Angel Rodriguez, McGruder, Will Spradling, Shane Southwell, and Martavious Irving while being aware of each players' abilities. Michigan's balanced attack has been solid so far as well, with four guys in double digits, but their scoring punch should be more predictable.
3. Possession: Every statistic in basketball ultimately filters down to one thing: possessions. No, the team with the most possessions isn't necessarily the winning team every time, but the goal of just about every coach is to maximize the number and efficiency of possessions for their team and limit the number and efficiency of possessions for the opponent. Historically John Beilein has done this by cutting down on his own team's turnovers and limiting fast-break opportunities for the opponent, thus maximizing his possessions and minimizing the effectiveness of the other teams' possessions. This season, we have seen a slight philosophical change as Michigan continues to rebound well offensively while still limiting the opponents' fast breaks and holding onto the ball. The Wolverines are able to do this because they have more size, speed, length, and athleticism than in past years. Kansas State's biggest weakness so far has been on the offensive end, where they have struggled shooting the ball (43% from the field) and have coughed up the ball at an unacceptable rate (13 turnovers per game). If the Wildcats continue to shoot poorly and turn the ball over to Michigan tonight, it will not be a pretty sight for Weber. On the other hand, if Kansas State starts playing well early on, look for Beilein to give the 1-3-1 a shot to switch up the tempo and force some turnovers.
Prediction: On paper this game looks like it will be all Michigan, and even though paper and stats aren't always right, I have a hard time seeing how Kansas State will keep up throughout. Michigan will get back on track from long range and dominate the turnover game on its way to a 71-58 championship victory.


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Most florists enjoy the creativity adding in seasonal flowers and greenery to create one-of-a kind bouquets in Spur, Texas. Contact local florists in to see what kinds of flowers are in season, and ask how they can create a bridal bouquet or other flower bouquet that is perfect for the season.
Register now to list your business on Punchbowl.


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I've had an LS-120 for a couple of days now. It's been working fine with normal floppy disks, just like a normal drive. However, having just recevied a box of 120MB SuperDisks I thought I might try out copying large files. So I copied an 90MB file on to a disk. And waited. And waited. And waited... :o
The drive was making a lot of noise and when I checked CPU usage it had gone to 100%!!! It took nearly ten minutes to copy the file!
Does anyone else have one of these drives and can tell me the continuous transfer rate of this thing, or could explain why the CPU load is maxing out every time I copy large files to it? :mad: