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Discussion in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' started by The Overlord, Dec 29, 2012.
The Tamarians from "Darmok"
Is calling Code of Honor racist racist?
A savage race of all white skinned people, not racist against whites.
A savage race of all black skinned people, racist against blacks?
Might as well say the borg are racist because they appear in whiteface.
The problem is trying to reduce it to a simple label. It's a lot more complicated than that. You don't find the truth about a thing by picking a single word to stick on it, but by exploring all the different factors and elements that shape it.
Ok. It was racist and sexist.
There was a positive side to that. They wanted to murder Wesley Crusher.
Twice now, Jeyl, you've ignored the example that you asked Christopher to provide. Why is that? Because it doesn't support your opinions?
I never got why people wanted to dwell so much on this episode. It was a mistake. A kid watching it back in the 80's could figure that much out. It may have been good intentioned. There may have been justifications and explanations as some seem to be trying to point out, but that doesn't change the fact that the episode gives the general perception of racial stereotyping.
Star Grinch wrote "but that doesn't change the fact that the episode gives the general perception of racial stereotyping. "
No, the problem is that it plays into pre-existing racial sterotypes.
Of course the ep could have been done with all whites, (or all Asians, for that matter, and that would have been about the same). But you had to have a cast that would regard Tasha as "exotic" in order for it to work.
If it means anything, I was struck at first viewing by the whole racial aspect of the episode and generally skipped it on re-viewing TNG. (Of course, the fact that the episode blew on any number of levels factored into that decision too.)
As an aside I always found it not credible how many alien species seemed to have the same racial sub-types as humanity. It wasn't until ENT introduced the "Aenar" (sp?) with its albino Andorians that we even got a hint that this situation could be an issue in other species not similar to humanity in the distribution of whites, blacks and Asian analogs.
Sorry Christopher, but none of the above mentioned 'barbaric' races were patterned noticeably after a distinct human culture like the Africanized black Ligonians were. I think the decision to go '1940s tribal Africa' in Tracey Torme's words was due in largely part to the color they chose the make the Ligonians in that episode.
Further for all the 'barbaric' white races that have been featured in Trek, you can point to the 'superior' or at least 'advanced' white races that also have been featured in Trek. Can you say the same for black races, or races largely peopled by other non-whites?
I agree with you that it was a misstep (as does some Trek actors), but I disagree that it was a small step forward. For one, while Michael Dorn is black, Klingons are not 'black' or have a culture 'based' on an African culture. We also didn't see many other black human-looking alien cultures to counter the Ligonians-though we did see black skinned aliens sprinkled throughout episodes, though rarely that got much development. Heck, it can be argued that even Geordi-one of the main cast members-suffered from poor character development. So it doesn't seem much of a stretch that we didn't see a lot of black skinned alien races throughout TNG's run, or really throughout all of Trek. Outside the Ligonians, I can recall the Halanans and Haliians, but of course it's speculation that they are majority black, since we pretty much just saw one representative of their species each. So, I don't think we ever saw another group of human-looking aliens played by a majority of black actors.
Benjamin Sisko was the best developed character of color in all of Trek. But after him, you saw a regression that eventually bottomed out with Travis Mayweather. So, the 'progress' you spoke of, didn't last long. It remains to be seen what will happen with Abrams Trek Uhura and Sulu, though my money is on Spock and Kirk continuing to dominate that series, along with McCoy, similar to TOS show and movies.
At the end of the day, the Trek franchise despite it's progressive views or intentions still is largely the preserve of white American males and is subject to whatever ethnocentrism, racial filters or hangups they might see the world through. As some fans debated during ENT's run about the Andorians' labeling humans 'pink skins' as if white (pink) skin was the default, and like Shran was ignoring Hoshi and Travis who were often on the bridge right along with Archer. To me, that idea of whites as default, or universal, human beings is a prevalent one in a lot of American entertainment and Trek has not been immune to it.
Well, if racism was not an issue with the episode, why was the original director, the one who insisted on an all black cast despite the details in the script, fired before it's completion?
I can understand how a writer and/or director would want to do something in an episode and think it would be ok without realizing how utterly dumb or flat out offensive it might turn out to be. Like in the Royale when they say the temperature is -290 something degrees Celsius even though that's below absolute zero. I get it, they just wanted to say that it was cold. Other instances that I cannot forgive come from episodes like Code of Honor and the Season Two episode opener "The Child". On paper, the idea of an alien impregnating Troi might sound like an interesting science fiction premise, but there's also the issue that Troi was for all intents and purposes, raped. The way the crew deal with this issue without bringing her into the discussion I found offensive (Even having her sitting further away from everyone), and how Doctor Pulaski took her to the bar instead of Sickbay is just mind boggling. But what makes it worse is that two of the three main female cast members from Season One were now gone from the show, and the only main female character left is the one not wearing a uniform.
Code of Honor on the other hand had a director who took a very mediocre script and deliberately made it worse. The script not only makes numerous comparisons between the Ligonian culture and Earth cultures, but they actually have characters making those comparisons.
Data: It is a highly structuralized society in which people live by strict codes of honor. For example, what Lutan did is similar to what certain American Indians once did called Counting Coup. That is form an obscure language known as French.
Or when Picard gives Lutan a gift.
Picard: We are aware of many of the achievements of Ligon II, and its unique similarity to an ancient Earth culture we all admire. On behalf of the Federation therefore I would like to present this token of our gratitude and friendship. From China's Sung Dynasty.
A good director would take note of those details and work with the writers, cast and crew to try and figure out what these details mean in how they can bring this culture to the screen. After all, the script does compare the Ligonians to Native Americans and the Chinese. On the other hand, the episode's director, Russ Mayberry, decided that not only should everyone on the planet be black, but also add a "1940's tribal african style" to the culture.
This episode was a taint not only on TNG but on all of Star Trek. It showed that we could have a planet with an all black population, but it only happened because they hired a director who only wanted to exploit them.
And for everyone who brought up the Tamarians, no. They are not black. They have orange and red skin. If you're going to argue with me on that, you might as well argue that the male character "Billy Kwan" from the movie "The Year of Living Dangerously" is a woman because he was portrayed by an actress.
Tasha's appearance had nothing to do with why Lutan was intrigued by her. What was "exotic" about her was the fact that she was the security chief, a traditionally male role in Ligonian society. As Hagon said, "With us, it is the duty of women only to own the land, and the duty of men to protect and rule it." (Which underlines one of the story flaws in the episode -- if female warriors were so unheard of in Ligonian culture, then how come Yareena was such a skilled fighter?) It was also a political ploy on Lutan's part, a way to boost his status by committing a bold abduction. As Deanna said, "As a Starfleet Security Officer, she may have represented his riskiest prize."
We've already covered this extensively in this thread and the previous one, so if you've read the whole discussion, you should already know that statement is dead wrong. We know for a fact that the Ligonians as scripted were NOT in any way based on "tribal Africa." The scriptwriters are on record as saying they based the culture on samurai, and the dialogue explicitly compares their culture and customs to Sung-Dynasty China and Native Americans. Their costumes are mostly based on Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian designs. They're a melange of multicultural "Other" archetypes and stereotypes. The only things about them that are specifically "African" are the casting and the accents.
As I said, Trek shows went on to improve the racial balance in their casting for all alien races after this episode. We can acknowledge the mistakes this episode made without falsely generalizing them to the entire franchise. As has already been mentioned twice in this thread, the Tamarians in "Darmok," a very advanced and admirable culture in many ways, were portrayed by black actors. And various black actors have played races we've only seen one individual of apiece but that were basically "good" aliens, such as Caldonians, or as you mention, Halanans and Haliians.
Which is no doubt for several reasons. One, they probably wanted to avoid the risk of any further missteps like CoH. Two, we saw fewer human-looking aliens overall in later Trek. And three, however diverse they may have wanted the casts to be, they still had to deal with the demographics of the available talent pool.
I don't think it's fair to assume that had anything to do with race. Tuvok got as much development as any supporting character on Voyager; it's just that the episodic strictures forced on that show by UPN limited its ability to really develop the characters as richly as the syndicated DS9 was free to do. As for Travis, he got a good deal of development in season 1 of Enterprise, but when Anthony Montgomery had to deliver the climactic dramatic speech in "Fortunate Son," he gave a rather disappointing performance, and after that he became more marginalized. So I think it was a matter of talent there, not ethnicity. They did give him more to do again in season 4, though.
Oh, on the contrary, it's clear already from the publicity material that Into Darkness, like its predecessor, is focusing on Kirk, Spock, and Uhura as the three leads. Not only is it natural that they'd want to make the female lead more prominent in a modern film series than she was in the '60s, but there's also the fact that Zoe Saldana is a considerably bigger star and bigger box-office draw than Karl Urban -- indeed, she's arguably the most famous member of the regular cast. They'd be fools not to keep her front and center.
Shaka, when the walls fell. Kiteo, his eyes closed.
Now you fully completed the circular argumentation of yours. If we're debating whether the episode is racist or not, you can't say "it's racist because the director was fired because it's racist". What if we find it's not racist and he was unjustly fired?
More famous than the (now) King of Gondor??? I think not!
Ah, but that goes for the Ligonians too. They are aliens played by African American actors, like the Tamarians. If the Tamarians are not black, then neither are the Ligonians.
This goes back to my thread a few months ago. The Ligonians weren't alien enough to avoid the perception of racism. Put a bumpy forehead on them, and people would be more likely to see them as "alien" rather than "black."
Take the bumpy foreheads off the Tamarians, and some people would summarise Darmok as "unintelligible black men kidnap white man and force him into a knife fight."
Because, as I've said earlier, it's also sexist.
Sonic, what is the color of the Tamarians' skin? And what color is the Ligonians skin? Whatever defense you may bring up regarding the Tamarians, I guarantee you they were not casted because they had black skin. And compared to the Ligonians, the Tamarians are far more civil with Darmok actually beaming down to the planet with the Picard, giving him his own knife, sharing his fire and forming a friendship through understanding. The Ligonians?
"As you can see, Captain, you may excel in technology, but not in civilized behavior."
Quick question, is anyone involved in this argument not white?
Hey, why is the 'evil' smilie all black? TREKBBS IS RACIST! Everything that features a dark skinned actor in any way that rubs up against any negative connotations is racist. And the 'scream' one is reddish brown, are they implying people with brown skin yell more?
If anything is racist, it's treating every actor who isn't a white male heterosexual like both him and every character he plays should be perceived completely in the vein of being representative of his demographic.
(raises hand)
Separate names with a comma.


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Each student voted by secret ballot for the candidate of his or her choice. Representatives from each of the six classrooms acted as polling judges and counted the votes. The results gave President Bush the fifth-grade popular vote.
This mock election culminated several lessons about the government and election process. The students will be eligible to vote when they reach 18 years of age in the year 2011 or 2012.
"People are wrong to think their vote doesn't count," stated Jayde Bryson. "It's very important to vote. So let's try to see to it that everybody votes, and remember every vote counts."
"It is very important to vote because every vote counts," said Logan Moudy. "If you do not vote, your candidate may not win, and this could be a critical decision because you could change America."
"Voting is fun! I can't wait to vote," said Mallory Brown. "When you vote for your candidate, either Bush or Kerry, they will appreciate your vote."
"It's good to vote," said Landon Whorton.
"Voting is important, especially for the leader of your country," Kole Gray said.
"I think it's very important to vote, because that is our right as citizens of the United States," said Savanah Strecker.

subset: commoncrawl


text: When I updated from version 93_037 to the latest one (15) there is a major weakness that's so user-hostile that I had to uninstall and roll back to the old version. The list of programs under the Program Control tab can no longer be expanded in size! The list is presented in a box maybe 5 x 5 inches on the screen and the text is unreadable. The "full screen" box in the upper right corner does not work, and there are no expander arrows around the edges. I manage this list every day and need to know if there is a full-screen solution, otherwise I'm sticking with the version that can be expanded to full screen. Thank you.


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I know what Sacred Harp is. I'm a participant in the Aiken-seven-shape system tradition, Sacred Harp's black sheep cousin.
Been slowly hacking on GNU Lilypond [lilypond.org] to make it print shaped notes; I think when I'm done it will do the 7 shape system and Sacred Harp.
Shaped notes are the best way in the world to learn to sing, especially if you're goal is singing for personal reasons, not to become a professional musician. There's something incredible about being able to produce the notes on a page properly with


text:
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Помогите нам: эти порнозвезды присутствуют в этом видео?
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Please enter your name.
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cosa fareste a questa splendida figona pelosa?
Does anyone know if she has anymore videos out?
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szopjal geci
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Does she have anymore videos out?
how do my wife and i meet this
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Love this video...Anyone know who she is and if she has anymore videos out?
there's something wrong when the guy is bald and the woman is furry. still i would blow a load on that face
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Yes, nice George W.. Do we detect signs of shavism in retreat at last?
She gagged at the end!!!!!
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il pelo mi fa inpazzire
wow If I saw that woman on the street I would not think of sex. I'll have to see better...
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bELLA FIGA MI FA MORIRE DALLA VOGLIA
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Wie meine Mom. Ists ein Wunder wenn ich ihre Hoeschen schnueffle....
I'd like to place my black cock deep in her forest and fuck her hard
thats one fine furry pussy
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No. 13 Arizona vs Washington
Saturday, Feb. 1 // 4 p.m. (MST)
Tucson, Ariz.
Video Steaming: http://pac-12.com/videos/university-arizona
Live Stats: - Live stats will be available HERE the day of the meet!
TUCSON, Ariz. – The No. 13 Arizona Women's gymnastics team will be back in McKale center Saturday Feb. 1 at 4 p.m. MST to host The Washington Huskies for their second home meet of the season.
"We are excited," head coach Bill Ryden said. "It is our second home meet, and we are only at home five times a season so we know we want to cherish those moments. We feel good. It is a day by day situation with our injured athletes, but everybody can see that we are a very deep team due to how we rebounded last meet. We are still going to put out a very good team despite injuries and I expect them to rise to the occasion. It is always a little more intense when you are competing against someone within the conference, and we are really looking forward to it."
Last Saturday the GymCats fell to No. 1 ranked Oklahoma (196.925-197.575) in a meet where the GymCats posted their best final score since February 23, 2004.
Live stats and streaming will be available the day of the competition. There will also be updates on Facebook.com/ArizonaGymnastics and on Twitter @AZGymnastics.
Scouting the Opposition:
The Washington Huskies finished fifth last year in the Pac-12, and beat Arizona, 196.025-195.200. They had a regular season record of 4-4-1 and featured five seniors including Lauren Rogers who made first-team all-conference. This year, the Huskies feature six freshmen and one senior, Aliza Vaccher. They are coached by Joanne Bowers who has brought her team to the NCAA regionals all seven years she has been there. Washington is coming off of a win against Seattle Pacific last Friday.
2013 Arizona Review:
The Wildcats completed the 2013 season with a season record of 17-15 and advanced to their 27th consecutive NCAA Regional Championships. Finishing sixth, overall, at the Pac-12 Championships and third in the NCAA Regional Championships, Arizona rounded out the season ranked No. 17 in the nation.
Arizona was led by senior Aubree Cristello, who was the lone qualifier to the NCAA National Championships for all-around. Cristello was one of the team's top all-around athletes, tying her career-high 39.475 three times as well as finishing her career with 2001.250 points, the second highest in program history.
Numerous freshmen stepped up despite roster injuries including Jessie Sisler and Shelby Edwards. Both freshmen received at least one Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Week award during the season. Sisler recorded a career-high 9.925, giving her one of the top program scores on floor. Edwards provided depth on beam recording scores despite an elbow injury that required her to perform an armless routine.
Look Out for New GymCats:
The Wildcats added a number of new faces this season, including two Arizona natives, Krysten Howard out of Phoenix and Selynna Felix-Terrazas from Tucson. Gabby Laub hails from Owasso, Okla., while Mackenzie Valentin comes from MustangOkla. Also added to the roster is former gymnastics manager and Plano, Texas, native Shay Fox. All of these gymnasts were top J.O. competitors and should make an immediate impact in the lineups this season.
Pre-season Rankings:
The Arizona gymnastics team heads into the season ranked No. 17 in the 2014 Women's Pre-Season Coaches poll. The Wildcats are one of eight Pac-12 schools to place within the top 25, including No. 4 UCLA, No. 6 Utah, No. 9 Stanford, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 20 Washington, No. 22 California and No. 25 Arizona State.
Complete pre-season rankings can be found here: http://www.troester.com/gym/Wrankings/2014/WcoachesPoll.htm
Stacked to the Max:
The Arizona gymnastics team is going to compete against one of the toughest schedules in the nation. According to RoadtoNationals.com, Arizona's strength of schedule is ranked No. 8. Of the 12 regular season meets and 16 regular season opponents, the Cats will face eight ranked teams. Those opponents include No. 3 Oklahoma, No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 LSU, No. 6 Utah, No. 9 Stanford, No. 12 Oregon State, No. 20 Washington, No. 21 Kentucky and No. 25 ASU.
Ryden's Record:
Head coach Bill Ryden finished out the 2013 season with an overall even record of 220-198-3.
What's Coming Up:
The Wildcats will return to McKale for their second conference meet of the season against No. 21 Washington on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 4 p.m. MST.


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None of it was real - there was no pipeline explosion, no gaping crater in the ground, no casualties. But they did their best to act like it was.
Law enforcement, fire districts, oil and gas companies and assorted emergency personnel staged a hypothetical disaster scenario on Tuesday at Lewis-Arriola Elementary School. Called a "tabletop exercise," the goal was to practice smoothing out channels of communication - between a dozen different agencies - during a severe, unforeseen catastrophe. They tried to replicate the fast-pace, high-pressure atmosphere of a real disaster as much they could, within the confines of a school gymnasium.
It was all about preparedness and efficiency.
"So we're not exchanging business cards (for the first time) when something like this does happen," Paul Hollar, the county's deputy emergency manager, told those assembled.
In the gym, organizers set up five tables. In the center were two dispatchers and a large table representing the disaster site. Around the periphery, personnel from each agency sat awaiting directions.
The initial accident, as told to dispatch in a 911 call, involved a natural gas pipeline explosion near the intersection of Highways 491 and 184, close to the elementary school. The blast, according to "witnesses," opened a crater 30 feet deep, 150 feet long by 40 feet wide. There are reports of 10 casualties and/or fatalities, Hollar said, and more possible injuries from flying shards of glass. Reverberations were felt a quarter mile away.
After dispatch received word of the explosion, a sergeant with the Montezuma County Sheriff's Office was first on the "scene." After surveying the extent of damage, he then radioed in for reinforcements.
Within minutes the center table was swarming with people, communicating back and forth to each other - and dispatch - about roadblocks; whether to evacuate the students or keep them inside; monitoring a second, potentially dangerous pipeline nearby; treating the injured; locating the missing; and sending out status updates to the concerned public.
The exercise lasted about 90 minutes. Periodically, Hollar called for time-outs so participants could evaluate what was going smoothly and where communication breakdowns were exposed.
One area for improvement, Sheriff Dennis Spruell said, was notifying senior agency officials promptly; Spruell wasn't brought into the loop until 30 minutes after the explosion. To rectify that oversight in the future, he said dispatch would send out a mass text message all at once to all command personnel.
Chief George Deavers, of the Lewis-Arriola Fire Protection District, said different radio frequencies between agencies posed a challenge at first. In-vehicle communication is uniform and straightforward, but when on foot, the sheriff's deputies use 800 megahertz radios, while the firefighters use VHF radios.
Charles Balke, assistant chief at the Cortez Fire Protection District, said acting out a simulation is inherently different from reality.
"Certain (procedures) are second nature with a live event," he said. "Trying to respond the same ways in a non-chaotic environment, where you aren't seeing flames and screaming people ... they can be hard to remember because you use those real-life visual indicators as clues."
Nonetheless, Balke thought the exercise was worthwhile.
"It's an excellent opportunity to assess our resources in the event of a real pipeline rupture," he said.
"It's meant to be thought-provoking, to get people thinking about worst-case scenarios," Hollar explained, adding that tabletops occur on a regular basis. The next one, also about a pipeline burst, will be staged in Mancos.
More infrequently, the agencies will get together and do a "functional drill" out in the field. Last year, they re-enacted a plane crash using a dilapidated, out-of-use school bus with volunteer "victims" to be rescued.


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I'm sure I am just one of thousands looking for that perfect jacket and pants which provide real protection in a crash, keep us warm in temps above freezing, keep us coolish when the temps are in the 90's F., and are not that difficult (or slow) to change from one format to another.
My current riding gear (leather jacket which zips to leather pants, or Firstgear mesh jacket and the leather pants held up by suspenders) require also taking outer rain gear on a tour.
While I have only seen serious endorsement of the Olympia X-Moto by Greenwald, I certainly respect his opinion.
My question is how does the X-Moto compare to the Olympia AST and the Rev"It Sand, which have all received many rave reviews. There are almost certainly upsides and downsides to all these garments and I would like to hear them before spending my bucks on what will likely be my last riding suit. (Hey, I'm 63.)
If you have experienced preferences beyond the three listed above, your comments are most welcome too.


text:
Via TwilightBlog
May 12, 2010
Breaking Dawn Teaser Poster?!?!
Via TwilightBlog
10 comments:
- AnonymousMay 12, 2010 at 1:13 AM
It looks kinda fake :\ReplyDelete
Plus the release date on it is wrong. Too bad.ReplyDelete
I think it might be fake because they haven't officially announced one or two movies yet...have they, did I miss it lol?ReplyDelete
i don't know, but i heard on the radio today that they officially announced that breaking dawn WOULD be two movies... they didn't say where they heard that info, but thats what they broadcasted! as well as the fact that kellan and ashley were asking for great big pay raises, and that summit wasn't going to put up with ridiculous requests... that as long as the main 3 characters stayed the same, they weren't troubled to boot off a lesser character to prove their point that they can't be pushed around... who knows.ReplyDelete
I think manip...ReplyDelete
Not sure, though.
Thats pretty easy to make. I'd think it would be a manip. :/ but who can really tell?ReplyDelete
@cloe, I read that too about Ashley and Kellan. If they get rid of them, I'm going to be some kind of mad...a long with a bunch of people. If that's what Summit said they're just a little too cocky. I think someone needs to tell them to stfu, and do what makes the fans happy. We're the ones paying them.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousMay 12, 2010 at 3:24 AM
i definitely think it looks fake because for one, the release date is wrong. we already know it's going to b Nov. 18th 2011, plus, the font for "Part I" doesn't really match the rest of the text....ReplyDelete
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *can't breath* / *talking in giberish*ReplyDelete
Manipples :(ReplyDelete


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WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved an application to rezone 46.56 acres of land in the 3000 block of Blue Clay Road.
The area was rezoned from an R-20 Residential District to an R-10 Conditional Residential District.
- Advertisement -
This will allow developers to build a residential subdivision with smaller lots.


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The sessions that start Wednesday at the Statehouse Convention Center come at a time of uncertainty over a state Supreme Court ruling on school funding.
Last week, the high court ruled that school districts that collect more in property tax revenues than state-mandated school funding levels can keep the money. The ruling blocks redistribution of the funds by the Education Department.
The Arkansas School Boards Association conference runs through Friday.


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they should be sueing
who ever charged the $150 for a 1GB memory DIMM for the 'upgrade'. That is criminal (even for UK pricing)
Two Middle Americans have sued Acer over its low-cost Aspire notebooks, claiming that the Taiwanese PC giant pre-installed Windows Vista on machines ill-equipped to run Microsoft's latest OS. With a lawsuit filed Wednesday in San Francisco, California, two residents of Fostoria, Ohio seek damages and relief from the world's …
who ever charged the $150 for a 1GB memory DIMM for the 'upgrade'. That is criminal (even for UK pricing)
Oh my good Lord. What a bunch of whingers. I'm a happy OSX user. Our family iMac G5 with 1Gb runs quite smoothly with multiple users logged in /and/ several apps running in each session so I don't know how the others have managed to fsck up their systems. Linux? Wouldn't touch that with a bargepole. Too much effort required. I mean, I don't spend a day troubleshooting the dishwasher because I'm using a different brand of tablets, do I? You know what I'm saying?
Windows? Don't get me started. Vista - it's sh*t - we all know that. What's that with the disk thrashing? And UAC? Every time /that/ makes an appearance I feel like Robert de Niro's just snuck up behind me and walloped me with a baseball bat. That's right. It does my head in.
Now, I know this may be hard for Windows users to understand (because it doesn't happen very often), but generally, when a later, more mature product it launched, it tends to be better than the product it replaces. Henceforth Mac OS 10.1, 10.2, 10.3 etc. right up to 10.5 Leopard each represent improvements on the prior version. To be fair, it took until 10.3 to be accepted, but hey, Windows 1 and 2 weren't that hot - and /they/ were technically just Dos shells. Which Windows still is. Just joshing with ya. Oh BTW Leopard makes the current, best, Windows (XP) look like an Amiga circa 1986. But that's insulting to the Amiga community. To you two, I apologise.
There. I feel better now. Where are my pills?
My experiences with vista is it is a piece of crap software. I have Ubuntu linux on an old Dell P3 with 384 megs of ram and it does well. I also have it on this machine Athlon 2000+ with a gig of ram and have not found a need for Microsoft to do anything I want to do. I have win XP running in Virtualbox which I have found runs better than a direct install on a hard drive, it gets used to run a couple Hidden Object games, One mouse click between desktops. I have Windows 7 beta on another computer and it is by no means something to write home about, I call it the Clint Eastwood edition with all the "are you sure you want to do that warnings, well if I didn't want to do that I would have not clicked it!!
First of all, who in their right mind would buy a computer at Wal-Mart? IMO, they got what they paid for.
Shame on them for not being educated consumers. Shame on the ambulance-chasing attorney who took their case and if the courts find in the Plaintiff's favor, shame on them too.
This is nothing more than another example of people expecting others to pay for their ignorance instead of taking responsibility for the choices they make.
Paris, because she probably shops at Wal-Mart too.
Nice trolling there El Reg ;-)
Who cares about resource use? Ram is cheap, HDDs are cheap and decent Dual/Quad core CPUs are cheap....
If you're so poor that you can't afford £100 for a small upgrade to go with your brand new software (which you wouldn't be surprised at doing if it was a brand new game) then STFU, It's not worth the eye strain reading your comments.
Vista is rubbish. It's bloated, fat code with delibrately-designed-to-annoy features such as UAC, and far too many memory-hogging, value-taking features. Too many shadows, animations, high redraw rates, Aero, the appalling Windows Flip 3D, : too much eye candy, not enough function.
Vista out of the box is designed to please an ADHD child who is impressed with whizzy graphics, and not someone who wants to get the job done with a minimum of fuss, quickly. It's a toy, not a tool.
This sounds similar to my experiences. My Acer was crippingly slow until I paged the VM off the HD to 2GB + 1GB Memory. However, when my hard drive fills up, I have to do a spring clean. It took me hours to dial back all the Vista settings from 'whizzy' to 'fast', switch off all the animations and redraw ratios, so it looks like XP on a Vista chassis. Being a propellorhead is ace. Even my 512MB XP goes like a caffeine-crazed Ramones compared to the 1GB Vista.
(The laptop was a preinstalled present, before you ask.)
Aside from IE browsing, I'm happy with a Windows 3.11 platform actually. I don't do much with Vista but Thunderbird, OpenOffice, iTunes (now that is crippingly slow), and Firefox.
What Redmond have missed is that I'd much rather have something go fast than something be flash. I couldn't give a fig about a glass-interface : I want it to open a menu bar or document when I click on it, and FAST. Speed is a function in itself.
Another lawsuit filed by people trying to cover up their own mistakes.
Before I buy something especially when it's compute related I research what i'm buying, that way I can make an informed decision based on what i've found.
Did they research anything before they brought it?
If they had they'd have noticed that a lot of people including myself are recommending 2GB when using Vista. Don't get me wrong Vista runs OK on 1GB but it runs a lot better with 2GB.
How much for a stick of RAM? Where did they get that from?
@Lager And Crisps
*note*book, not netbook...
@AC 29th March 2009 12:09
Who'd buy a PC at Walmart/Tesco/etc? Me. I've been building/upgrading my own PCs for the last 15 years, so I'm no stranger to the usual (and not so usual) dedicated suppliers for both components and complete systems. But when it comes to stuff like lower-end systems where you care more about getting your hands on it quickly at a decent price than on getting the specification absolutely perfect, then grabbing a box off the shelf as you do your regular trip to the shops for bread and milk isn't such a bad idea.
And the returns policies of the supermarkets tend to be a bit more favourable to the consumer than the average PC retailer... PC specialist - arrange RMAs, pay to send the item back, wait fingers crossed to see if their in-house fault resolution team will verify the fault exists or just deny all existence of it, possibly end up having the item then sent off to the manufacturer for further analysis, and eventually after a few weeks get a refund or a replacement (which may only be a refurb unit). Supermarket - take faulty item back in the next time you run out of bread and milk, spend 30s telling the bod on the customer service desk that "it's broke", swipe credit card to get instant refund/walk over to appropriate part of store to pick up brand new replacement. Sorted.
So whilst I'll stick with the specialists for my self-builds and upgrades, when it comes to off the shelf stuff like net/notebooks I've no qualms about buying them from the local supermarket.
I've got an Acer Aspire 5315 Laptop that came with 1GB of ram. I paid $389 for it. I upgraded the ram with another 1GB stick and I was still under $500 in total cost. What's the problem? A couple of idiots trying to make some money by suing a big multi-national corporation during this recession? RIDICULOUS!!! No one put a gun to their head and made them buy an Acer Laptop that didn't come with 2GB of Ram. It's called a BUDGET LAPTOP FOR A REASON!!!
All the stuff you complain about there can be disabled or altered sufficiently that it doesn't cause a problem. A little tweaking and you're set to go. I'm using Vista 64 Ultimate on my laptop and it runs very well indeed. It's stable, and runs all my apps well. I run all games on max settings, no problem.
To everyone still bashing Vista for "bloated code" etc, I suggest you try an up to date version running on a machine that can handle it. The bloated code argument amuses me by the way. ...how do you guys *know* that their code is bloated? Do you download it off Sourceforge?
Yes, I disabled all the crap and it works fine, so it doesn't cause me a problem, but most people wouldn't or couldn't be bothered. Vista isn't that stable for me and hangs on average every 10-12 hours. In my opinion, Vista is flabby and suffers function creep.
Those peoples got what they paid for. They buy a cheap computer, they get a cheap computer.
Vista need at least 2 GB to work properly. beside it is a perfectly correct OS
Windows 7 is just a Vista Service pack, but renaming it the only thing MS can does. with all those Lintards and Mactards pushing the myth thet Vista is still bad. (snce SP1 it is fine,
Linux is about 10 years behind in term of user friendlyness.
MacOS is so pathetic that it does not even qualify as a OS.
...as anyone will tell you who has actually cracked open an Acer Aspire One, it is not a straightforward process to upgrade the RAM. The spare RAM slot is on the underside of the motherboard... but there's no access port. So the installation process - and it's not hard to find this on the web with video - involves disassembling the entire netbook, disconnecting everything from the motherboard,
Anyone selling a professional service to upgrade RAM for an AAO is guaranteeing the purchaser of the service against damage to their RAM *and* their Netbook - i.e. over $400 of kit. The RAM may only cost $50 but the extra $100+ is well-earned danger money.
$150 to fit memory to and re-guarantee an Aspire One might be fair enough, but as with Lager and Crisps earlier, you've seen the "book" catchphrase and assumed it must be preceded with "net" rather than "note"... Re-read the article, specifically the section which mentions exactly which model of Acer is involved, and then decide if $150 is still justified.
I have a cheap Vista H. Premium running 2GB ram. As soon as I bought it, I formated the whole of the HDD, reinstaled Vista off the DVD and installed only the software I need, no dodgy stuff for me...
That was almost 2 years ago. Never had any problems with it as there are no crapware programs, no AV shit, only use AVG free and it works like a dream, even better than XP.
For all the Linux apologists, you may be asble to work with it but, for the general public, it is a pain in the ass to work with.
<leaves the room quietly>
its a Acer Aspire 4520-5458 its a NOTEBOOK not a NETBOOK and uses standard so-dimm DDR2 you can buy a 2GB stick for $16 on newegg
Why do these places insist of branding laptops and installing extra rubbish software? Thats the problem. Just the OS please!


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Sometimes we forget that one of the main ways celebrities and music stars make money is through their other business ventures like clothing lines, bar ownership, and the favorite choice, fragrances.
Some of the fragrances are decent, some of them are horrible, but many of them are actually pretty good and reasonably priced. Here's a list of our Top Ten Favorite Celebrity Fragrances–including a few that haven't been released yet, but sound pretty delicious!
10. Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Lover's G Of The Sea
Even if you don't buy this limited edition scent from Gwen Stefani's many-faceted clothing/beauty line Harajuku Lovers for the actual scent, the mermaid bottle is so cute.
G of the Sea is described as a citrus woody-floral scent with notes including of apple, lily, berries, and "smoothly sun-drenched woods." Is it something a mermaid would wear?
If she was a cutesy cartoon version like the one represented on the bottle then definitely.
9. Jennifer Aniston's Jennifer Aniston
The understated, sophisticated bottle for Jennifer Aniston's namesake perfume screams Jennifer already. But her scent doesn't scream anything but simple class.
Created to smell like a warm California evening, Aniston's scent is full of night-blooming jasmine, sandalwood, and citrus overtones.
Just like a day on the beaches of Malibu.
8. Justin Bieber's Someday
If seemed pretty odd when a young male pop-star put out a scent for girls, but Someday is a totally girlie fruity-floral with notes including mandarin, pear, creamy florals, and vanilla.
And the rose-topped bottle is super pretty.
7. Kate Moss' Love Blossoms
While Kate Moss is known as a model for her waifish, exotic glamor, her clothing lines have been fun and flirty, while staying sophisticated.
Her new fragrance Love Blossoms apparently follows suit by being totally feminine and flowery with a touch of exotic spice like patchouli and white musk.
6. Katy Perry's Purr
We are in total love with the sneaky-eyed, deep purple cat bottle for Katy Perry's Purr and the scent inside doesn't disappoint.
While it's a little sweet for the more sophisticated maiden, the scent is totally fresh, free, and fun with notes including apple, bamboo, rose, ambers, and musks. Purr is a teenage fruity-floral at it's best.
5. Jennifer Lopez' Love And Light
Jennifer Lopez already has about sixteen fragrances, so what makes Love And Light stand out? It's less abrasive than some of her other scents; it literally plays up the light.
An effervescent scent with citrus, tangy florals, and sweet woods, Love And Light might seem all top notes, but it dries down to a pretty, subtle sweet fragrance.
4. Avril Lavigne's Wild Rose
Although releasing sometime this month, we've heard good things about this fruity-floral from Avril Lavigne. The only caveat about Wild Rose? It actually has no roses in it!
Just like any great teenage girl scent, Wild Rose has creamy florals and playful citrus notes like grapefruit, orange blossom, sandalwood, and burnt sugar.
3. Taylor Swift's Wonderstruck
With a name that comes from a line from Swift's song Enchanted, Wonderstruck releases in September but it already has plenty of buzz.
Meant to evoke the daydreams of a young girl in love (much like Swift's music), Wonderstruck is what the perfume world would call a gourmand scent, which is exactly what it sounds like–a scent that smells like food.
In the case of Wonderstruck, it sounds like it smells like a dessert with raspberry, vanilla, and peach.
2. Beyonce's Pulse
Although the bottle doesn't seem very Beyonce, Pulse's dynamic shape signifies the strength of femininity.
Pulse is also a floral gourmand with exotic tinges of Earl Grey tea in the bergamot and vanilla and a pretty top note of night-blooming jasmine.
1. Heidi Klum's Shine
Not many will doubt that model, television show host, wife, and mother, Heidi Klum is a real superwoman. Her debut fragrance Shine will release in September and as far as celebrity fragrances go, it's incredibly grown up and sensual. Much like Klum herself.
Shine is said to be a sexy floral oriental with notes of pink peppercorn, mimosa, vanilla, tonka bean, and musk.
- What is your favorite celebrity fragrance? Let us know in the comments!


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As long as Tim Williams (Baton Rouge, La./University Laboratory) is still playing football, recruiting is going to take a backseat.
That's no surprise for Williams, who listed a state championship for Class 2A UHigh as one of his senior goals all the way back in January, when his first offers began to roll in.
The defensive end, considered Louisiana's No. 2 player and the No. 23 player in the ESPN 150, has a chance to put the Cubs in the state championship game tonight when UHigh travels to Shreveport to face Evangel Christian Academy.
As long as that dream is still alive, Williams said his hotly contested recruitment will have to remain a secondary priority.
"Things are all pretty much the same," he said. "There's lots of interviews and it can be overwhelming, I'll be honest, but it's not hard to stay focused at a time like this."
Not that Williams is complaining, but UHigh's bid at its first state title since 1988 has understandably thrown off his original timeline for a decision. When he received his jersey for the 2013 Under Armour All-America Game in October, the plan had been to take official visits in December and announce at the game on Jan. 4. But the Cubs would be playing until about mid-December were they to win state.
"My decision is going to get pushed back a little bit, just because I haven't had as much time," Williams said. "I still want to take one visit in December, but I'll probably do the rest in January. I know I'm going to Miami in January."
That means Williams won't be announcing at the Under Armour game.
"I'm not going to announce there just because I won't have all my chips on the table yet," he said. "I won't have talked to all my coaches by then."
It's not an inconvenience Williams minds, though. Not with a state title at stake.
"I'm not complaining. Everybody else is at home and I get to keep playing," he said.


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Snubs and The City
We were too busy crying while watching Lost last night to even bother with The City. It's a good thing fictional freelancer Betsey Morgenstern was there to fill us in on all the details.
One Elle of a Girl
by Betsey Morgenstern
Assistant Accessories Editor, Steppin' Out Magazine
After the glitz, glamor, and champagne hangovers from fashion week have work off, all the biggest magazine's fashion editors go for meetings with the designers to look at their clothes up close and see if there's anything they want to borrow. These have been given the creative title of "editor's meetings" and they are usually at a PR office or other showroom that looks all nice and fancy even when all the clothes are crap.
The first "editor's meeting" I went to was for Whitney Eve. Full disclosure, I went to sleep-away camp with her sister Summer's, who was always like "do you want to go for a dip in the lake? Won't that give you a fresh feeling?" She was always right. Anyway, Whitney Eve had a rough runway show where one of the models was found passed out behind a vanity (no one has been able to prove that's my fault yet) so I was hoping that her presentation would be better.
It was. There were representatives from Teen Vogue, Redbook, Ladies' Home Journal, Black Beauty & Hair, and Cigar Aficionado there. That's quite a coup for Whitney Eve. I was getting ready to leave the presentation and the elevator bell rang. Out steps Olivia Palermo, famous socialite and an accessories editor of Elle who has been doing interviews with designers and stole my exclusive with Anna Sui at fashion week. I had to hear what she was going to tell Whitney, so I quickly ducked in the coat closet to listen.
It turns out that she just got a call from Roxy Carmichael Olin about going to the presentation, and she started off her conversation telling everyone how unprofessional it was. You know, Olivia is the most professional socialite with a very real job in the whole wide world, so she really knows what she is talking about. She asked where Roxy was and PR guru Kelly Cutrone said that she sent her out on assignment shooting a bunch of Jeremy Scott's clothes with naked subway photographer Zach Hymen. They were getting people off the street to get in their van, put on the designer clothes, and then pose for the camera. The last time I was ordered to get into a van and take off my clothes the driver was sent to prison. I still call him up from time to time, because he's really easy to find. Anyway, Roxy and this naked dude were taking pictures and it seemed like they were going to make a love connection. At least that's what Kelly said.
While hearing this, Olivia nosed through the collection. It was more like turning her nose up at the collection. She mentioned that she was doing interviews for Elle.com and that she was looking for young, hip designers. Kelly, of course said to do Whitney. Olivia met that idea with stony silence. All you could hear in the room was the metal on metal grating of hangers being slit along a garment rack. Olivia took a look book and then walked out, visibly peeved. She stopped in front of the elevator and called into a meeting at Elle headquarters.
"What did you think?" all the editors asked?
"It was horrible and all over the place and I'm not going to do anything about it!" Olivia declared.
"Why not?" everyone at Elle asked.
"Because I'm not. It's ugly and I hate her."
"Well, can we see the collection?"
"Sure," Olivia said. "There's a look book online."
She was waiting while they must have gone to look up the collection on the internet.
"We love it!" they declared. "We're going to put it on every page of the April issue. Also, we're going to use it to product place RueLaLa.com into this episode. We can't believe you thought this was ugly."
"You are wrong!" Olivia said in her mealy mouthed way. "You'll see when no one buys it. I am always right and no one else knows what they are doing. Everyone is so unprofessional!" She snapped her phone shut with a sharp thud and pushed the elevator button like eleven million times until it showed up 30 seconds later. "Ugh, you are so unprofessional," she said to the shiny chrome doors.
I stumbled out of the closet, knocking a bunch of hangers on the floor.
"Excuse me, can I help you?"
"Oh, yes. I wanted to do a market pull of that tie-dyed skirt with the buttons up the front."
"Sure. Isn't this piece great. Here you go," Whitney Eve said to me.
"Wait. What's this for?" Kelly snapped.
"We have a cover shoot with Tila Tequila coming up."
"Oh no," Kelly said. "There is no way I am letting that fucking skank get in your clothes. Give me that skirt back. Give it!"
She yanked it out of my hands and then threw me out on the street. How unprofessional!


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50! 9 in a row! It's all good!
50! 9 in a row! It's all good!
32 points allowed in second half...Once Woodson got it through these guys heads that only way to win this game was to D the hell up that was all she wrote for the Heat.
Great game. Victim #9 and ended the Heats 17 game home win streak. Great D at the end getting key stops.
Wow! The rim had to have been 10 ft wide. Melo was just on fire. Miami played the best they could have played being that they were down wade, bron and rio. No excuses tho, They had the game close the entire time up until the 4 minute mark then Melo finished it. But we all know the playoffs is a different beat. I wonder if we'll meet then. But nice game tho
Shump's Jump shot has been on point last 2 games .....
Finally finished watching the game today DVR style on my lunch as I had to work last night. Where is orange blob man and the rest of the Melo hating crew now???? Still missing Gallo and Linsanity???? No no no no Melo put on a pre playoffs exhibition last night with the full repitiore on display. Esp with peanuckle headed Shane Battier draped all over him like cheap suit head looking like the peanut man minus the top hat and monocle. Melo would have had 60 if the ref called half the fouls on committed on Melo and crew. How does it feel making it onto Kmarts' poster sorry Birdman???? And can we finally give Woody some credit??? He got the tem up to play a short handed Heat squad. You know Woody can coach because of those arm crossed, lip poked out, disgusted looks he gives our players when they mess up. And nice defensive adjustments as well at the half to shut them clowns down. And everyone saying we should be resting guys: Hello we are still in a playoff seeding race and trying to win the division for the first time in a decade!!!!
dont go overboard dude
when heat r playing with their most hated duo in entire NBA world then heat r playing totally diffrent style
their D is much stronger + i dont remember when last time i saw layup when Lebron goes to empty paint with his run and gun fastbreak.
for me this team simply need 2nd scorer like MELo then we can comete with Miami
Knicks are too old team to play running and gunning but they can kill anyone when MELO will play like that night and their 3s are finishing inside.
"So what do WOODY do...he plays everyone and is hoping to finish 2 behind Miami. Is that the concensus of y'all here?" We goin be fine.
Only reason Miami didn't play the big 2 is because they don't want the Knicks to know they can walk into Miami in the playoffs and beat them if they won last night. They would have beaten them 3 times this season and that confidence would be a great advantage for the Knicks.
I Want to face a hated rival ASAP. As group the sooner we're tested against a hated rival the better. Bucks/Hawks would just be to easy, won't learn anything from stomping those scrubs out. Owe the Celtics for their sweep back in 2011, would be oh so sweet for it to be us to officially close out the era of 'Mr.Big Mouth' aka KG and 'Chunks' aka Pierce.
upcoming games @OKC vs Pacers @Bulls will answer alot UNLESS some of them will put softer rosters.


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Japanese Jawboning Pushes Yen to New Low
By Ira Iosebashvili
Markets are eating up any rhetoric from Japan that points to any follow through of promises by new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of unlimited easing and a weaker yen.
The dollar's 3-month rally against the Japanese currency has been spurred in large part by the rise of the freshly minted prime minister's political fortune. The yen has now fallen to a 27-month low on comments from new Finance Minister Taro Aso promising to take "truly meaningful measures" to fight the yen's strength.
Morgan Stanley's Ron Leven points out Abe may now have the Bank of Japan in his corner, too — the central bank's latest minutes show they are finally coming around to the idea of a weaker yen.


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Hairston: Wearing No. 42 with pride
Center fielder among those to honor Jackie Robinson
It's a great privilege to wear No. 42 in honor of Jackie Robinson because he's meant so much to baseball -- especially to the African-American players who have come after him.
It really is something when you look back and read about all of the stuff that he had to go through to cross the color barrier. I wore No. 42 last year when I was with Arizona, too, and I got chills when the on-the-field ceremonies took place. It will be a special day, and I'm really happy that we're honoring Jackie Robinson like this again.
Our equipment manager comes around and asks us if we would like to wear the number. It's our decision, but really it's a no-brainer. When you get that opportunity, it isn't really something you have to think about too much.
Jackie Robinson Day has a special meaning to my entire family. My grandfather is one of the players who played in the Negro Leagues, and I have a lot of respect for him and those players. Times weren't easy back then for black players, but they paved the way for all of the African-American players who have since come through. Wearing No. 42 in tribute is a way to show respect for not just Jackie but all of the black players who paved the way.
When I was in high school, I read a couple of books about players in the Negro Leagues. Finding a restaurant to eat in was difficult for many of those guys. Hotels were difficult to find because the players were black. A lot of them had to sleep in the team bus or in their cars in the stadium parking lot.
They were really great players, but so many of them were unknown because of their skin color. It's important for people to realize what might have been. I'm glad guys in the Negro Leagues have been honored and have received more recognition recently. It's just too bad that so many of the players aren't around today to receive that belated recognition.
Scott Hairston and teammate Tony Clark will be wearing No. 42 as part of Major League Baseball's annual Jackie Robinson Day celebration. This Tuesday, April 15, marks the 61st anniversary of the day Robinson first played in the Majors. Hairston's grandfather, Sam, was the first black player on the Chicago White Sox in 1951.
This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Hi, i've been screen printing for over a year now and havent had many issues, i primarily use Kiwo chemicals and Permaset Aqua water based inks for my garment printing.
I recently decided to up my mesh count and take on some more complex designs to print, my inks work perfect with the new (yellow) mesh (around 56 - 71, depending) but when exposing i am having issues with getting fine detail out of my screens.
I use Kiwo Azocol Z-1 emulsion, it is a diazo based emulsion which i mix myself.
For exposing i have SIX 400 watt (2400 watts) halogen lights pointing directly at my screen which i sandwich between glass and a raised block of wood. After the maths this left me with a 10minute exposure time, but the emulsion i use is not incredibly light sensitive, so a minute either side doesn't effect the image massively.
The problem i am currently facing with fine detailed designs is that when i expose for 10 minutes the detail won't wash out, and to complicate matters: as i apply water to the screen to wash these details out, it peels the emulsion away at the edges where the image has successfully washed out, leaving me with a jagged reproduction of what i was hoping to achieve.
To me this seems like problems of BOTH under-exposing and over-exposing, but with such an insensitive emulsion, i can't see why this is happening.
I am currently trying to expose with 2 acetates taped together to give me more of an opaque stencil, but i don't see how that would help. Maybe another emulsion? I have previously achieved very high detail, but recently, it just won't cut it at all.
I use Pregan NT9 to degrease my screens thoroughly before i coat.
Thanks, any help is massively appreciated.


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PLEASANT HILL — The City Council on Monday approved a three-year contract for software that supports police dispatching, record-keeping and related tasks, with the proviso that the city seek other vendors.
The decision extends until 2015 the city's contract with Alameda-based Data911/Hubb Systems LLC. Although council members sought a lower price, the company insisted that its quote of $248,979 — which amounts to nearly $83,000 per year — is the best deal it would offer.
The software runs a complex set of functions, including mapping incidents, generating statistical reports and linking to information about previous incidents reported at the same location.
The money for the software comes from the police technology fund.
"All the functions of the police department and daily operations are tied to this system," Lt. Peter Enea said.
The software law enforcement agencies use is highly specialized and few companies produce it. As a result, cities don't have much room to negotiate favorable prices.
So, the council asked the police department to investigate the possibility of using "open source" software instead. According to Enea, there isn't a viable open-source software alternative available for law enforcement agencies, nor does he expect such software will be developed by the December 2015 expiration date of the Data911 contract.
Councilman Jack Weir expressed frustration at what he described as a lack of viable competition.
"I'm very uncomfortable being locked into a situation like this," Weir said. "I always hate a situation when we have no alternative to a particular vendor."
Weir pointedly asked Enea what benefit the city gets from the contract with Data911 other than the software itself. Enea said the company, which Pleasant Hill has used for the past 23 years, provides "excellent customer support" such as customizing statistical reports at the police department's request.
Rather than approve a three-year deal, Weir suggested that the council approve a one-year, $92,122 contract with Data911 to give the staff time to look for an alternative provider.
Although Mayor John Hanecak and Councilman David Durant did not back Weir's proposal, they did agree that, beginning in January 2014, the city staff should report annually on the progress of developing feasible, competitive alternatives to the handful of existing law enforcement software vendors.
"I think a three-year window toward trying to achieve longer-term competitiveness is a good thing," Durant said.
Lisa P. White covers Martinez and Pleasant Hill. Contact her at 925-943-8011. Follow her at Twitter.com/lisa_p_white.


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As Adele's massive sophomore album 21 nears its three-year anniversary of unmitigated success and sales, it has broken yet another record. It has become the first album to ever sell three million digital copies.
Rolling Stone reports that Nielson SoundScan confirmed the news, and pointed out that it didn't seem to be much of a surprise for those who were following the sale of 21 throughout 2013. 21 was the—ahem—21st top selling album of 2013, after reigning #1 in 2012 and 2011.
Of course "three million digital copies" is only a small percentage of how many copies 21 has actually sold, which is now somewhere well over 10 million, having been certified Diamond status in the U.S. in just 92 weeks, becoming only the—AHEM—21st record to sell over 10 million copies, as Rolling Stone reported.


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WESTMINSTER – Vietnamese American leaders who organized a fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy victims held a news conference Wednesday night to convey a message: Mistakes were made. There was a misunderstanding. But the money is safe.
They were responding to concerns from a Buddhist leader, Thich Quang Than, who questioned what happened to $27,000 raised for Hurricane Sandy victims.
Bishop Van Tran, president of the Orange County-based Vietnamese Interfaith Council in America, expressed umbrage at the implication that "the Sandy committee is stealing their money," saying Quang Thanh "has his own agenda to make those statements."
Tran and Neil Nguyen, also known as Nghia Xuan Nguyen, presented financial statements and detailed how donations were processed, with several copies of each check kept by different committees or individuals. Even the envelopes the donations came in were kept, they said.
"We didn't throw them away because they represent the spirit and wishes of the contributors," Tran said.
Meanwhile, Wells Fargo Bank spokesman Gary Kishner said earlier Wednesday that the bank teller made a mistake in depositing the checks for $20,000 and $7,000 into the Interfaith Council's account. Both checks were addressed to the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City.
"We made a mistake and we're trying to fix that right now," Kishner said.
Nguyen said members of his finance committee also made a mistake in depositing those two checks following fundraising events last December. The finance committee director, however, said he deposited the checks because he wanted to ensure their safety.
The money is part of some $200,000 pledged for victims of the storm, which struck the East Coast in October. Of that amount, $169,000 has been collected and the rest is expected to come in through credit card donations, Nguyen said.
Vietnamese American leaders said they plan to personally deliver the money at their own expense to New York City on Feb. 22 in a show of support from the Vietnamese American people to other Americans in need.
Quang Thanh, who heads the Chua Bao Quang temple in Santa Ana, said earlier this week he wanted the donations to be delivered to New York right away. He specifically did not want to wait until after the Feb. 10 Tet Parade for the money to arrive, he said.
The rumor, Tran and Nguyen said, is that the Sandy money is being used for the Tet Parade, but that is untrue, they told reporters gathered Wednesday night at the office of the Vietnamese American Federation of Southern California.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7829 or email@example.com


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Richardson walked away with five awards, including a TAMI, from this month's TAMI Awards Ceremony held in College Station June 7, 2013. The TAMI Award program is the leading recognition program in Texas honoring excellence for municipal communication strategies. The award is presented by the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers (TAMIO) which includes members from municipal, county and other related agencies and organizations.
Richardson's Santa from Anna, Texas, video earned the top award from TAMIO for Best Use of a Promotional Item. The video, produced by Richardson's Citizens Information Television, features an interview with Santa Claus shortly before the opening of Santa's Village in 2012. In the video, Santa describes his Collin County ranch and shares what it's like to be the star of Richardson's annual holiday event. Watch the award-winning video at http://bit.ly/17MF9pG.
The City also won an Award of Excellence (2nd place) for a Special or One-Time Program in cities with a population of 90,000 and greater for its International Business Development video. The City's website, www.cor.net, also received an Award of Excellence.
Richardson won an Award of Honor in Marketing for Most Creative with Least Dollars for its appearance on the Anderson Cooper Show in 2012 (http://bit.ly/YGV8QD). The Richardson Today HOA Edition also won an Award of Honor.
About the City of Richardson
The City of Richardson is widely recognized for its commitment to excellence, its rich history and its bright future, all of which make Richardson a smart choice for residents and businesses. Known globally for its high-tech business leadership, the City of Richardson also offers a high quality of life, diverse array of neighborhoods, convenient Metroplex location, multi-modal transportation infrastructure and outstanding City services. Richardson has been repeatedly recognized as one of the top places to live and work by the national media, and the City remains dedicated to continuous improvement, as well as to the principles of open government and two-way communications with residents. To learn more, visit www.cor.net.
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Photographer's Note
Under Paris exists another world : the former quarries which were used to build Paris. They are more often called the catacombs, in reference to a very little part of this network where is stacked thousands and thousands of bones dating of the French Revolution.
There is approximately 180 km of galeries running 20meters under the streets of Paris which are the remaining parts of Paris quarries.
As every mysterious place, there is some legends.
The most famous is this story of the key keeper of the val de grace, Philibert Aspairt, who wanted to discover the treasure of Chartreux's monks. He decided to enter the former quarries on day of 1793. Nobody heard of him before 11 years.
I borrowed this note from (Guillaume Roche)
I like this odd place in Paris.
Not so Abstract
More Skulls
Even More Skulls
Nobody has marked this note useful
Photo Information
- Copyright: Atif Gulzar (gul791) (1324)
- Genre: Places
- Medium: Color
- Date Taken: 2006-05-05
- Categories: Ruins
- Camera: Canon PowerShot S2 IS
- Exposure: f/2.7, 1/60 seconds
- More Photo Info: view
- Photo Version: Original Version
- Date Submitted: 2009-03-05 2:08
- Favorites: 1 [view]


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Discussion in 'Pro Match Results and Discussion' started by kragster, Jan 20, 2013.
The only dope around here...
proof is that gluten free diet. what is he replacing the gluten with ? I wonder......hummmmm. and why is his butt so purky and round ?
Overhead or not, still No.1 in world.
I doubt fed or djokovic are doing something illegal. However those players whose hair is thinning and falling off are suspicious imo. Some players that this sudden hair loss /thinning is happening to: Nadal, Murray, Gasquet.
All 3 of then are getting male pattern baldness (top of the head), and some really weird looking thin hair. Pay attention to that when cameras are zooming in. It can be a sign of doping.. they are not 45.
I do not see anything on the "outside" for Fed or Djokovic that would suggest steroids.. one can even argue that they are on the skinny side, with no abnormally developed muscles - look at Berdych's and Murray's legs and Nadal's "guns"?
Being an "elegant" mover (very relaxed), allows Federer to be what he is, and nothing tells me that he has some extra strength.
For Novak, it is his overall low body weight (he doesn't have to carry 200 pounds as Murray) that allows him to move fast and stay fresh after 5 hours, and flexibility (doping will not help with being flexible) that allows him to be so successful. There is no doubt that Djokovic is also very fit, but it is not in a way that looks suspicious to me. When he rips his shirt off, he looks like a very fit scrawny guy. What I mean is he doesn't have broad shoulders like Tsonga, nor does he have legs like Berdych, nor arms like Serena / Stosur.
His ability to play 5 hours matches is remarkable, but it is something he sucked at in early days of his career and is most likely what he works most on currently. Coupled with what I mentioned above, doesn't look strange to me at all.
Just my 2 billion cents.
My hair started falling out @ 19. I've never taken anything, but I played tennis! Hmmm....
I'm selling all my sticks and maybe my hair will grow back!
Yes, I have a friend who started losing hair in high school. Doesn't happen that often, no? Also did you lose your hair the same way as Nadal, Murray and Gasquet? It is very similar how they are losing their hair. Normally everyone will lose hair differently, or will you deny that as well.
Did 20% - 30% of your friends also lose hair by mid 20's. Sports are becoming a big joke, and it is more than obvious that there are many cases of wrong doing.
Hair loss, huge muscles can be a give away, that is all I am saying.
Berdych has cankles instead of knees. Serena can beat up 95% of male tennis players, in a street fight. Stosur can bench more than 99% of geeks on this forum.
Sorry, but I hate over generalizations based on speculation...
I do believe Djokovic is doping, but we need proof. He will remain the GOAT until we find out exactly what hes using.
As you said, nothing wrong with it, but what do you want him to do? He will not out grind Nadal or Djokovic these days. Probably never did anyway.
Personally I think Nadal and Djokovic don't attack enough when they have the chance, but there's nothing wrong with that either when you can defend like they can.
Here is why we don't agree. Two squarely different schools of thought. Sadly, yours is the more contemporary one.
3 out of top 10 tennis players are losing hair. They are in mid 20's. Their hair loss symptoms are almost exactly the same. That is not over generalization nor speculation, it is a fact.
Now think about your collage friends and tell me if 30% of them were balding.
Google steroids and thinning hair / balding and read the forums about what people who are taking them to be buff (as they are losers) are saying.
Again, I am not sure if Fed / Novak / others are doing it, but for some guys it showing way to much..
This thread is hilarious because so many people are taking it literally.
Just realized something. Roddick is a good example of someone losing hair normally and naturally. The 3 that I mentioned before are doping.
The baldness thing is a point but some people just go bald early. I've met people who were almost bald in their mid 20s.It happens.
Also Djokovic didn't actually suck at playing 5 hour matches early in his career, that's a popular misconception built on the back of 2 or 3 matches, allof which not particulary long. Djokovic had several long matches like a 5th set tiebreak with Stepenek in New York in 2007, several long Wimbledon matches in 2007 (3 hours, 4 hours and 5 hours in consecutive matches) Even in 2005 he had an epic first round at the US open vs Monfils and another match that year at Wimbledon where he came back from 2 sets down.One of the early criticisms of him was that he made winning matches too hard and he should be more clinical like Federer. People totally forget this now, but Djokovic was seen as a player that too often needed 4 or 5 sets to win. It was mainly Djokovic retiring vs Roddick as defending AO champion that cemented his rep as a weak player who couldn't last a 5th set.But most of his retirements have come fairly early in matches,the ones that went long never had a retirement and Djokovic usually won.
******** and Ferrer are obviously doping, also maybe Berdych Del Potro and Fixarevic. But the biggest doper is the one who hasn't played for months, he is the Armstrong of tennis and needs to be exposed asap :evil:
Eggovic/Bloodovic is obviously doping.
Moscow offered Nadal extraordinary amounts of money, luxurious accommodations, and exotic tours just to show up, year after year. However, legendary player Nadal has a very busy schedule and so many groupies and fans going after him everywhere make it difficult to travel.
I don't know about witty and eloquent, but what I do know is that I have been a devoted Federer fan for all these years and I want him to come clean after all this time and crime. Nevertheless, if you want us Feder fans to go into conspiracy do deny his crime, I am okay with it. I am such a big fan of Feder I am okay to be silent about his crimes – you can count on me.
RE: Murray balding. Sometimes its just the genes. Mr. Murray.
Jamie has a thuggish quality to him.
Nadal is definitely doping, I think we can all agree on that. As for Djokovic... like someone else already said, you don't go from being the guy with the worst stamina and endurance on the tour to being the guy with the best. "Rookie of the Year" had a more believable metamorphosis than Djokovic.
It's one thing to speculate, it's quite another to accuse without reasonable cause.
Unless tests confirm the existence of illegal drugs in their system, I think the topic should revert back to how they play their games, instead of how they might be "doping".
I'm a player myself, and I know it is possible to play at these guy's level.
It's not about doping, it's all about training, becoming fit, and outlasting your opponents in the long run. Being able to hit quality shots time and again repeatedly throughout the entire match.
Tennis is really more of an exercise in mental discipline rather than bulking up and exerting massive power in a instance.
If you take notice, most of these top players will start out slow especially the deeper they get into the tournament.
Their body needs time to get into the grove and pace of the match, just like a fine sports car needs to properly warm up before performing at its best.
You only dope if you need power in a hurry because you lacked the time and patience for a proper training.
These guys have proper equipment and specialist trainers who design specific regimen to fit these player's needs. That is why their body is able to perform at such high levels throughout the entire season. It's a very disciplined and hard life. Only the devoted and highly focused athletes are able to carry out such torture of an training program.
Look at Pete, everyone knew his lack of physical endurance, yet he won 14 slams. And no, he was never quite as fit as some of his contemporaries.
Andre got fit as a fiddle in the latter stage of his career, but you can clearly see the sign of physical training on his body. Mardy Fish, another example of severe training and thinning down. Don't look like he did much doping to me.
ESPN just did a segment right before the men's final with Tom Rinaldi discussing how Djokovic used to poop out and retire after 2 1/2 hours on court and has somehow transformed himself into an "Ironman" who could go on forever on the court. He said Djokovic told him in an interview after his Berdych match that he could easily play for another 5 hours, and this is AFTER his marathon 5-set match versus Wawrinka!
You just know all the ESPN commentators wanted to bring up the possibility of doping and were all trying their hardest to bite their tongues not to let it slip past their lips on air. I'd bet as soon as the cameras went off and they went to commercial, all they talked about was PEDs and probably compared Djokovic to Lance Armstrong. :shock:
Well said. Nothing that's been offered in his thread is anything other than desperately poor speculation, and no-one in our positions is going to have access to anything that might point prove this either way. Whether they are or not, the level of discussion and debate in this thread is mostly laughable. I'm still struggling to work out which 3 of the top 4 are losing their hair at an unnatural rate lol.
Federer's and Djokovic's fathers have full heads of hair. Murray's dad is bald. So it's in the genes more than anything. I've seen pro wrestlers doing steroids all their lives and many of them have had full heads of hair even into their old age like Triple H, Kevin Nash, etc.
I might be mistaken, but i thought the balding gene is passed down from your mom's side of the family tree?
My mom's hair grayed early. So did mine, my uncle (mom's brother) is half bald, mine is exhibiting the same pattern, just not as advanced yet.
My dad has full head of hair...
There is a reason they call him Lance.
Oh c'mon guys, get over it. Djokovic is no.1, Fedal is gone. Just accept that fact and watch tennis and don't try to dismiss Novak with these allegations. This is insane.
He played 5-setters before 2011, check out his matches at 2007 Wimbledon
I hope you realize my OP was being sarcastic for absolutely the reasons you describe above.
Djokovic has an excellent record in 5 setters (has had since 2005). 75% success careerwise just like Nadal. (which is top 6 in open era). I don't know why people imagine Djoko used to have trouble with 5 setters. He beat Monfils in 5 when he was 18. He's always had a great record in matches that go the distance.
'they' lol. try to guess how many of them, and i'll tell you who are both.
There's more than one. Some of us just don't call him that on this board.
WADA said several years ago that that CVAC machine of Novak's enhances blood oxygen levels (and therefore endurance and recovery) sufficiently that it violates the spirit of the rules.
It's as easy for me to believe someone (multiple someones?) paid them off so it wouldn't be included as a banned process/substance, if it does basically the same thing as PED, as it is for me to believe it wasn't included because … why? It's a process, or a mechanism, as opposed to a chemical?
I mean, really.
ofc there are more than one, i said both.
and you know he is using it how? someone wrote about it? well if it was in the press then it must be true! right?
besides if that 'egg' is deemed legal for whatever reasons and offers the same results as using ped's, then let me ask you this, why in gods name would anyone use illegal ped's and risk their career because of it and not simply use this 'legal' device.
boggles the mind, watching people grasp for straws.
When was the last time Djokovic used the CVAC?
Do YOU know it?
Serbian dull orange juice.
Don't pay attention to the butthurt *********s. They just can't handle the fact that Novak is fitter and mentally tougher than Nadal ever was.
Exactly. I mean double Faulting away 2 consecutive finals on Clay against Nadal (Rome and Roland Garros 2012), is just true sexy masterclass mental toughness.
Wait.. how many times Federer double Faulted against Nadal?
I bet if Federer or anybody else in that matter got that much of bad luck in 2012 like Novak, the outcome would be the same if not worse...
Bad luck? Oh c'mon GTFO. I don't remember anyone else in recent tennis history producing more 'lucky' shots than sexy ass masterclass Djokovic in 2011/2012.
DFing has nothing to do with bad luck.
Oh come on his grandfather died right on start of clay sesion, but ok is my fault to read garbage thread.
This is what I know:
"...it should also be made clear that this was not the reason for Djokovic's surge over the last year; it's not a "secret weapon," as the Journal called it. Uehling told me that Djokovic used it a few times at the Open in 2010, and Djokovic said the same thing when he was asked about it yesterday."
Link http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2011/08/egg-role/40221/
Separate names with a comma.


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MLB continues Mother's Day tradition
Players swing pink bats to raise breast cancer awareness
By Mark Newman / MLB.com
But you have to admit that Mother's Day is now officially one of the best.
Just listen to the excitement in the voices of seemingly every player talking about the pink bats and about moms before the day's game -- and the way some were ripping open Louisville Slugger boxes like holiday gifts to get at the goods.
Just look at Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church hitting those thunderous, back-to-back pink jacks for the Mets in front of that full house on the last Mother's Day at Shea.
Just think how many people were prompted to get screened for breast cancer and how much money is going to be raised for Susan G. Komen for the Cure once those signed pink bats and other items show up at the MLB.com Auction.
Just check out the smiles on the faces of mothers everywhere as they saw players wearing pink Phiten necklaces, pink trim on their spikes, pink ribbons, pink wristbands -- symbols everywhere of appreciation for what moms mean.
Sunday was a day unlike any other on the 2008 baseball calendar, and it has been this way for three years now. It is getting more incredible every year.
"It's about Mom and it's about breast cancer," Giants catcher Bengie Molina said. "It's everything together. We're playing a game while people are dying and getting sick with cancer. Using the bat is a nice way for us to show our respect and support."
Molina immediately used his pink bat as a symbol, leading off the second inning with a single and then scoring the Giants' first run two batters later. He had intended to use that bat only once and then autograph it for the MLB.com Auction, but you know baseball players, and you don't retire a hot bat, so he doubled with it off the center-field wall his next time up.
"I wasn't going to use it at all," he said, "or maybe one at-bat. It depended."
The whole notion of a day of pink around Major League Baseball depended again on everyone -- Hillerich & Bradsby to make the special pink bats, hitters to swing the bats, all players to wear the pink trimming, fans to enjoy those Pink Zones around the ballparks, MLB Charities kicking in $50,000 to Komen through the "Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer" program. And the nice part is that the focus doesn't end when Sunday melts into Monday, because there again will be a "rolling auction" in which most of that game-used pink stuff is being signed and gradually will appear at the MLB.com Auction over coming days and weeks.
All of those proceeds will go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, another reason that the bidding again will be a raging battle for many of those items. In fact, there is still time left to jump into the bidding for pink bats autographed ahead of time by Yankees stars Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.
Fans also can purchase their own personalized "Mother's Day 2008" pink bats right now for $79 apiece at the MLB.com Shop, with $10 from the sale of each one going to Komen. It is all part of a giant concerted effort in which everyone who plays or watches the game is involved, and you just can't say that about every day of the season.
"Major League Baseball is committed to giving back to our communities in meaningful ways and we are proud to again partner with Susan G. Komen for the Cure to help raise awareness and funds for the fight against breast cancer," Commissioner Bud Selig said. "Breast cancer affects countless women and their families each year and we at Baseball feel fortunate to be able to use our game as a platform to help raise awareness in the ongoing fight to eradicate this disease."
"At Susan G. Komen for the Cure, we collaborate with a variety of organizations to provide creative ways for people to make a difference in the fight against breast cancer," said Hala Moddelmog, president and CEO of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. "Partnering with Major League Baseball increases breast cancer awareness and allows fans nationwide to make a valuable contribution to breast cancer research and community outreach programs."
Pink bats are the most obvious symbol on this day, and the overall message was to stop, think and help. Prior to Tampa Bay's home game against the Angels, breast cancer survivor Peggy Cisilski was joined by her daughter, Christine, in throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. The Rays won, 8-5, and rookie phenom Evan Longoria got to swing a pink bat for the first time and immediately hit a sac fly to drive in Tampa Bay's second run. Carl Crawford hit a three-run homer with his. Those are two signed bats that will get sky-high bidding.
"Of course it feels funny hitting with a pink bat, but, you know, it's for a good cause, so we had fun with it for the day," Crawford said afterwards. "It brings awareness to breast cancer. So anything bringing attention to that situation is good."
At Dodger Stadium, throwing out the ceremonial first pitches were two women who are currently fighting breast cancer, Dodgers season ticket holder Nancy Colton and Desiree Sanchez, who works in the club's front office.
Dodgers manager Joe Torre, who overcame prostate cancer in 1999 while managing the Yankees, said the more that can be done to raise awareness about cancer and research funding, the better.
"What's interesting is, before you get exposed to it, be it a friend, family or yourself, cancer is something you sort of didn't want to think about," Torre said. "Then all of a sudden you realize when you do learn about cancer, it's not a death sentence. I think information helps you open up and the more information you get, the more you realize research is where the future is. So this is exciting to call attention to it and to have baseball be a part of it, which I'm very proud of the fact that they are doing that."
Look how much fun Jimmy Rollins had with his pink bat -- an example of what was happening all over. The reigning National League MVP presented his mom after that Phillies-Giants game with a pink bat that read in capital bold letters: "GIGI ROLLINS HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY 2008." He didn't tell her about that beforehand, he said, because "I know she'll say, 'You better get some hits using my bat.' That will put more pressure on me."
One-fifth of the day's games were postponed by rain: Yankees at Tigers, Blue Jays at Indians, and Braves at Pirates. But it could not put a damper on the day's overall theme, and in fact you can expect for caseloads of signed pink bats and, yes, even signed pink dugout lineup cards to be auctioned off from those games.
"This hits home with a lot of people," Toronto second baseman Aaron Hill said before their game was called. "Even people who haven't lost someone to that, they can still relate, because it's such a big thing. Just being able to help out, it's the least we can do, really. ... It's a great thing MLB has got into and hopefully there will be many more to come."
"We're starting to get to the age where more and more friends are being diagnosed with breast cancer," Yankees veteran Johnny Damon added. "You want to bring awareness to anybody. If it's one person who goes in and gets checked to discover something, it's worth it. I think this is great, what Major League Baseball does."
How big is Mother's Day now in Major League Baseball?
Just ask White Sox reliever Reliever Matt Thornton. His mom was diagnosed with breast cancer more than 20 years ago. She survived and he called her Sunday morning to share his love. It clearly was not just one of 162.
"Anytime you can give her a little token of appreciation, I do," Thornton said before his team's game at Seattle. "It is fun, paying tribute to your mother for all she's done. She's the one who drove me all around when I was a kid, around the state and country for my games. She was always the one there.
"It is awesome to give credit to every mother there is, or whoever raised you, mother, grandmother, stepmother. Give them credit for everything they did. It's important to do."
There was a lot of that going around.
"I think it's probably cool for the mothers who are watching the games to see that and know that it's a tribute to them and to look and see the wrist bands and the ribbons and the bats," said Adam LaRoche of the Pirates, "because obviously none of us would be here if it wasn't for our moms."
"I think sometimes it gets lost in translation," Cubs second baseman Mark DeRosa said of a mother's impact. "Everyone wants to say, 'Hey, have a catch with your dad,' like in 'Field of Dreams.' I don't think people realize sometimes how influential mothers can be in guiding their sons to be big league ballplayers."
In that split second when a Major League Baseball player is trying to do the hardest thing to do in sports -- hit a baseball thrown hard from only 60 feet six inches away -- the last thing in the world he notices is the color of his bat.
But everyone else does on Mother's Day.
"It's just another piece of lumber, and it doesn't matter what color it is, but it's nice to get a knock and see that mark on the sweet spot," Rangers catcher Gerald Laird said. "It is a special day. It's awesome to come out and show our appreciation for what women go through. It's important for us to understand and nice to support breast cancer research. Hopefully, they can find a cure for it."
According to komen.org, an estimated 182,460 cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in American women in 2008 alone. In 1975, the number was 107 per 100,000 for caucasian women and 94 per 100,000 for African-American women. Twenty-nine years later, in 2004, the number of new cases per year had risen, to 128 per 100,000 and 119 per 100,000, respectively.
The five-year survival rate for all women diagnosed with breast cancer is 90 percent. This means that 90 out of every 100 women with breast cancer will survive without a recurrence for at least five years. Most will live a full life and never have a recurrence. The chances of surviving are better if the cancer is detected early, before it spreads to other parts of your body. In fact, when breast cancer is confined to the breast, the five-year survival rate is 98 percent.
That harsh data goes hand in hand each Mother's Day with the typical data that streams from every baseball game. It is what drives this annual happening.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he "would have used [a pink bat as a player] because of the significance of it. I lost my mom last spring and what she did for me growing up are things you don't forget. It's a special day for me to reflect on what she did for me."
It is now possible to detect some real "pink All-Stars" -- if you go by three-year trending as fantasy observers do. Take Ian Kinsler of the Rangers. He went 3-for-5 on Sunday with an RBI and two runs scored in the Rangers' 12-6 loss to the Athletics. It was an encore performance from last season, when Kinsler hit a homer with the pink bat.
Along with Kinsler, every Rangers batter used a pink bat on Sunday in honor of Mother's Day.
"It doesn't really matter what color the bat is, but it's nice to show appreciation for all the moms out there," Kinsler said. "It's Mother's Day and it's a big deal for a lot of people."
Mark Newman is enterprise editor for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.