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Breaking News
11:05 AM PT -- Katie filed the papers -- and Tom was "blindsided." Katie wants sole legal custody and "primary residential custody" of Suri.
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes are getting DIVORCED ... after 5 years of marriage.
Katie's attorney, Jonathan Wolfe released a statement saying, "This is a personal and private matter for Katie and her family."
Wolfe adds, "Katie's primary concern remains, as it always has been, her daughter's best interest."
TMZ has learned Katie filed the docs in NYC ... and wants SOLE custody of Suri.
We're told Tom and Katie have a prenup. The net worth of both Tom and Katie is around $275 mil, but clearly Tom raked in most of that.
For what it's worth, Katie did not attend any of the "Rock of Ages" premieres.
Tom and Katie have one child together, Suri, who is 6-years-old.
49-year-old Tom has 2 children from his previous marriage to Nicole Kidman. He was also married to actress Mimi Rogers from 1987 to 1990.
Cruise and 33-year-old Holmes were married in November 2006 in a lavish ceremony held at an Italian castle. The split was first reported by People.com.
Tom has been spotted in Iceland this week where he's been shooting a movie called "Oblivion."
Katie and Suri have been spotted in NYC all week. Katie was still wearing her wedding ring.
Update #1 -- Sources tell TMZ ... Scientology was a major factor in Katie's decision to pull the plug on the marriage.
Update #2 -- Tom and Katie were HOLDING HANDS in Iceland just 2 weeks before Katie filed for divorce ... more proof Tom was truly "blindsided" by Katie's decision to end the marriage.


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Who's Got Next? Illegal Benefits, Kentucky Spotlight, Shabazz Muhammad and More…Posted by Josh Paunil on May 27th, 2011
Who's Got Next? is a bi-weekly column by Josh Paunil, the RTC recruiting guru. We encourage you to check out his website dedicated solely to college basketball recruiting, National Recruiting Spotlight, for more detailed recruiting information. Twice a week he will bring you an overview of what's going on in the complex world of recruiting, from who is signing where among the seniors to who the hot prospects are in the lower levels of the sport. If you have any suggestions as to areas we're missing, please let us know at email@example.com.
Well, if you haven't learned yet after the Kevin Ware situation or the Tony Wroten, Jr., drama, the world of college basketball recruiting is nothing without another scandal to fill headlines. It's also nothing without a big-time commitment happening soon after a de-commitment and the recruiting world certainly can't live without more news about top five prospects and the rippling affect of other commitments. If you haven't been able to tell yet, a lot happened in just the past few days in the recruiting world… and we haven't even started previewing one of the most significant AAU events that will happen all summer.
What They're Saying
Junior Rodney Purvis (#6) on Ryan Harrow's transfer to Kentucky: "Harrow's decision doesn't change my outlook on UK at all. Unless coach tells me otherwise!"
Junior Kyle Anderson (#22) on Harrow transferring to the Wildcats: "Ryan Harrow not going to St. John's keeps them on my list."
Mauricio Ducuara, the head of a basketball foundation in Bogotá, on Hanner Mosquera-Perea (#23) receiving illegal benefits: "People with whom I have spoken said he has received lots of gifts [and] things. If you knew how Hanner grew up the people don't even have shoes. Hanner came home at Christmas with iPods, iPhones, [Bose] headphones digital cameras. Things that for a kid are impossible."
Baylor assistant coach Mark Morefield : "I guarantee u if he (Perea) does [commit to another school] he will be in Colombia for the spring and summer and next year. Don't forget it."
Junior Justin Anderson (#45) on why he committed to Virginia: "The Cavaliers were always my second choice behind Maryland. Also, my family lives in Virginia. After the departure of Coach [Gary] Williams and Coach [Robert] Ehsan, it just feels like the right fit."
Junior Archie Goodwin (#19) on other top prospects' effect on his recruitment: "My friends that are top players are: Rasheed Sulaimon; Shabazz Muhammad; Isaiah Austin… Ricardo Ledo… [and] Rodney Purvis. When it comes to colleges, we'll talk about what the coaches told us and see if anything was said different by each other. We'll compare them that way, but I don't think it'll make us decide then and there what we're gonna do with that school."
Omar Calhoun Sr., junior Omar Calhoun Jr.'s father, on Jim Calhoun potentially retiring: "We believe in UConn and it's still going to be UConn. We still feel like Coach Calhoun is still going to have a major part still in the development in the program even if he's not the head coach."
Junior Ricardo Ledo (#9) on the current state of his recruitment: "I don't have a list, it's not down to four, I am wide open."
Sophomore Isaiah Lewis on Kentucky and his list: "I really like Kentucky a lot. I think I can play at UK under Coach [John] Calipari and the rest of the coaching staff. I think they can do a great job of coaching me up and getting me to the next level; but I also like other schools, like UConn, Arizona, Kansas, West Virginia, Florida and Florida State right now."
What Shabazz Muhammad is Saying
Class of 2012 small forward Shabazz Muhammad (#3) said a lot of noteworthy things recently so we decided to give him his own little section in our Who's Got Next? column. Also check out a couple of notes about his recruitment below.
On how schools are recruiting him: "Schools are recruiting me as a shooting guard so I'm working on handling the ball. Schools like Kentucky, Duke, Arizona, they have their shooting guards handle the ball a lot. And the most important thing is my perimeter shooting. The athleticism is already there."
On his visit to UCLA: "It was a great experience, I've been to California and I love the weather. Coach [Ben] Howland is a great guy; I talked to him for a couple of hours. I got to see how it is to be a Bruin."
On Kentucky's location: "I can be very focused there, since it's not a city. It's a good place for a person who is serious about basketball. There are no distractions."
On UNLV's location: "It's a local school, and they have really good match-ups every year; It's only 10 minutes away."
On Kansas: "Coach [Bill] Self is a nice guy. I took a visit up there a couple weeks ago."
On Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski: "Coach K, I talked to him a lot. He's very intellectual, he know what he's doing. The guy is just smart. It's a great place to be at."
On Arizona: "I've been talking to them a lot, they have a great coach and a great team. And their system is running, getting up and down."
On what he's looking for in a program: "The school's tradition, I'm looking for the school that has the best opportunity for me to win a national championship."
On a potential timeline for his recruitment: "I'm taking the process slowly. I probably will take all five of my visits. I want to make sure I make the right choice."
Other Notes
He says he is focusing on seven schools: Kentucky, Duke, UCLA, UNLV, Arizona, Kansas and Texas.
He he has no favorites and denies UCLA is the front-runner.
He plans on taking a trip to Texas sometime in June; at that point, Muhammad will have taken unofficial visits to all seven schools.
What You Missed
Hanner Mosquera-Perea Allegedly Received Illegal Benefits. Power forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea (#23) is caught in the middle of another recruiting scandal but this time his NCAA eligibility may be at stake. ESPN.com reported that Perea violated the "preferential treatment" guidelines by accepting round-trip airline tickets to his native Colombia from A-HOPE, a non-profit organization dedicated to "providing deserving student-athletes a seamless process of obtaining a student visa, transportation to the United States, making sure they are acclimated to their new environment and providing them with an opportunity to receive an outstanding education," according to it's website. A-HOPE President and Indiana Elite head coach Mark Adams acknowledges giving Perea certain electronic gadgets and paying for Perea's flights back to Colombia. Mauricio Ducuara, the head of a basketball foundation in Bogotá, also said that Perea returned to Colombia this past Christmas with iPods, iPhones, [Bose] headphones, and digital cameras, all items that are very luxurious considering that, according to Ducuara, kids where Perea grew up don't even have shoes. In addition, Ducuara claims that he has spoken to people who have said that Perea receives lots of gifts. Perea is also involved in an ongoing NCAA investigation after Baylor assistant coach Mark Morefield sent dozens of text messages to Perea's AAU and high school coaches in July while they were coaching events, also against NCAA rules. Morefield has had previous texting violations and has been suspended by Baylor for it. He also texted Perea's high school coach, Alan Huss, and implied that if Perea didn't commit to Baylor, he would be deported back to Colombia (as noted above).
Top 50 Prospect, Ex-Maryland Recruit, Commits to Virginia. Class of 2012 small forward Justin Anderson (#45) committed to Virginia this week giving the Cavaliers their best recruit in several years (to see why, check out the "What They're Saying" section above). After Maryland head coach Gary Williams retired, Anderson remained undecided on whether he would stay with the Terrapins because he wanted to see if assistant coach Robert Ehsan would be retained under new head coach Mark Turgeon. However, once Turgeon let Ehsan go, Anderson decided to commit to his native Virginia, who had always been his second choice behind Maryland. UNC was the third school that Anderson considered before originally choosing the Terps. Anderson is a freak athlete who gets to the rim at will and is unstoppable in the lane. He can get to the bucket whenever he wants and finishes strongly around the rim. He is also great in transition since he runs the floor extremely well and has good range on his three-point shot. However, Anderson likes to take too many three-pointers at times and his overall jump shot is flatter than you would like to see at this stage of his development. However, I fully expect him to improve on these two weaknesses and to eventually reach the top 25 in the rankings. He will be joining small forward Evan Nolte and center Mike Tobey in Virginia's 2012 recruiting class, forming a great class so far.
St. John's Recruit Possibly Ineligible? Andy Katz reported yesterday that St. John's started a dialogue with the NCAA in an attempt to clarify whether Class of 2011 small forward Maurice Harkless (#50) will be eligible next season. This issue is that St. John's director of basketball operations Moe Hicks served in an administrative capacity for Harkless' AAU program, the New York Gauchos, and although Harkless played most of his AAU games for the NY Panthers, he did suit up for the Gauchos in a couple of tournaments. The NCAA rule in question is the following: "In mens' basketball, during a two-year period before a prospective student-athlete's anticipated enrollment and a two-year period after the prospective student-athlete's actual enrollment, an institution shall not employ (or enter into a contract for future employment with) an individual associated with the prospective student-athlete in any athletics department non-coaching staff position. If an institution hires an IAWP [individual associated with a prospect] for a non-coaching staff position within two years on either side of enrollment, involved S/A will be permanently ineligible for competition at offending institution." However, St. John's argues that Hicks never coached Harkless and that Hicks' role for the Gauchos was planning, organizing and scheduling events rather than hands-on coaching of the players. This new and evolving rule affects St. John's with another potential player as well since Hicks directly coached Arizona transfer, Lamont "Momo" Jones. Because of this rule, Jones wouldn't be able to enroll at St. John's until next summer, although he would possibly have been forced to sit out a year anyway if he made the transfer. Harkless is one member of the nine-person Red Storm recruiting class that brings in Steve Lavin's crew at #3 in our Class of 2011 team rankings.
Team Spotlight
In this new segment, we will take a look at different school's incoming recruiting classes.
In the second edition of our new "Team Spotlight" section, we'll take a look at the incoming recruiting class for the Kentucky Wildcats, one which gives John Calipari the best class in the country for his third straight year at Kentucky. The Wildcats will need to replace Brandon Knight and DeAndre Liggins but this class will simply allow Calipari to reload at those two spots and will give Kentucky the second best team in the country next year because of the versatility this group of prospects brings.
|Position (Rank)
|Quick Analysis
|Anthony Davis
|The former guard is a force down low since he is a tremendous shot blocker and rebounder and is very good at guarding the perimeter against smaller players. He is simply a very tough match-up due to his versatility and has the ability to create shots for his teammates.
|Michael Gilchrist
|Gilchrist is one the top players in the class not because of his talent or physical abilities but because of his leadership abilities and work ethic. He never takes a possession off and is an impact player in every aspect of the game. Gilchrist defends and rebounds the ball very well and his competitive drive makes him a consistent force on both ends of the court.
|Marquis Teague
|Teague is the best point guard in the class and is the most dangerous player in transition and open-court. He is extremely quick and his first step gets him by almost every opposing defender he faces. His high basketball-IQ is what makes him elite and his ability to create shots for himself and his teammates as well as his ability to change speeds allows him to take over games and be the big-time player he is.
|Kyle Wiltjer
|Wiltjer is one of the best shooting big men in the class. He can knock down the three and hit mid-range jumpers where he is deadly on the high post. He is not very athletic or quick but he is a smart big-man who is a good rebounder as well. Wilter also passes well out of the low post and thrives in pick and roll situations and in transition.
The Wildcats have the best class in the country with three of the top six recruits in power forward Anthony Davis (#1), small forward Michael Gilchrist (#3) and point guard Marquis Teague (#6) heading to Kentucky next fall. Not only did they get three players who are the best at their respective positions, but they got great balance since Teague is a floor general, Gilchrist plays on the wing and Davis plays down low. Even with point guard Brandon Knight and small forward DeAndre Liggins leaving to go to the NBA, the Wildcats will still have a great team since they are reloading at almost every position. This recruiting class also legitimately rivals the great John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, DeMarcus Cousins and Daniel Orton class from a couple of years ago. Another important piece of this unbelievable class is power forward Kyle Wiltjer (#25) who is among the best shooting big men in the country and plays well on the perimeter. He will add another unique skill set to Kentucky next year and the Wildcats will be a top two team in the country thanks to John Calipari's outstanding recruiting class.
Video of the Week
Tired of reading about this Kentucky recruiting class? Well take a look at the future of college basketball below:
A Look Ahead
Final Nike EYBL Session Features Battle of the Bigs, Best Class of 2012 Guards. The third and final session of the Nike EYBL is this weekend in Los Angeles, California, and features 40 of the top AAU teams in the country. There will be a lot at stake this weekend as only the top 24 teams make the EYBL Finals at the Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, South Carolina, from July 12-15. This event also features elite talent since two top five Class of 2012 prospects, power forwards DaJuan Coleman (#4) and Brandon Ashley (#5), will be participating as well as the two best guards in the junior class, shooting guards Rodney Purvis (#7) and Ricardo Ledo (#9). One of the best match-ups this weekend will be BABC (MA) versus Mac Irvin Fire (IL), starring two of the top Class of 2013 big men in center Nerlens Noel and power forward Jabari Parker battling against each other. Both big men are vital to their teams as Noel leads the EYBL in blocked shots (35) and Parker has helped his team to be a top five ranking in rebounding (averaging 37.9 per game). Another thing to look out for is whether Team Takeover (DC), which is undefeated in the EYBL (10-0) and the rest of the summer circuit (7-0) thus far, can keep its streak alive and head into the Peach Jam with an unblemished record. They have a relatively easy schedule this weekend and will likely keep their march going but will have to beat Spiece Indy Heat (IN) who has Class of 2012 top 50 starters D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera (#32) and center A.J. Hammons (#48).

subset: commoncrawl


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Jihad Jane
Jihad Jane is an alias used by figure skater Colleen Renee LaRose (born November 12th, 1980), a "home grown" terrorist from the United States, who is currently under Federal indictment for attempting to recruit Islamic extremists for the purpose of killing artist Lars Vilks. LaRose is also believed to be the mastermind behind the 9/11 attack on Nancy Kerrigan by a growing legion of conspiracy theorists.
Born in rural Pennsylvania to a coal mining family, LaRose grew up in what can only be described as abject squalor, as defined by Ayn Rand's classic standard deviation formula (quantity of rusted car parts in the yard divided by the number of mobile homes per square mile multiplied by the local percentage of mullets per 100 men). It is reputedly possible to duplicate the spirit of these grim circumstances by repeatedly listening to Billy Joel's rock anthem, "Allentown", while reading braille.
Despite this rough upbringing, she became quite resourceful at using the materials available to her in order to excel and live a life of simulated normalcy. One example of that skill was turning her extended families love for excessive consumption of alcohol into the creation of a professional quality ice rink in her backyard, every winter, through a complex system of planned urination. While her brothers ended up becoming coal miners or professional hockey players, LaRose's interests would turn to figure skating and radical Islamic fundamentalism.
Islamic Indoctrination On Ice
LaRose was first indoctrinated into Islamic fundamentalism in the mid-90's while in High School. Programs that were instituted by the Clinton Administration at the time included items like "Muslim Pen Pals" and "Meet A Mullah" that had a profound effect on the young teen. It was through these correspondences the she learned about the Qur'an and the prophet Muhammad skating his way into the record books during the 590AD Mecca Olympics.
LaRose became a fervent admirer of Muhammad's teachings, world records and Olympic Gold Medals but the ability to realize similar aspirations were hindered by her short lived romances with rednecks and a genuine lack of championship caliber talent at figure skating. Despite this, LaRose worked hard on her technique and simultaneously became an expert at dodging the flailing fists and hurled hubcaps of her boyfriend du jour. Eventually, LaRose qualified for the US National Championships in 1998. Unfortunately, she was continually outperformed throughout the competition by All-American girl Nancy Kerrigan.
9/11 Attack and Aftermath
On September 11th, 1998, two hijacked commercial airliners slammed into Nancy Kerrigan during her closing routine at the US Figure Skating Championships. Kerrigan fell to the ice when American Airlines Flight 11 broadsided her during the execution of a double axel followed by Kerrigan getting shoved into the boards when United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into her back. Despite the obvious gain realized by LaRose for the penalties incurred by Kerrigan, blame for the incident was immediately placed on Al Qaeda after Osama Bin Laden claimed responsibility for the attack but the tragedy has sparked numerous, differing theories as to who was actually to blame. A growing consensus of alternative researchers is now promoting LaRose as the mastermind of 9/11 and consider the attack an important, unheeded warning sign of the sinister plot to come.
What can't be denied is the effect this incident had on Colleen LaRose. Despite being helped by Kerrigan's misfortune, she still failed miserably on the ice. Ultimately, LaRose's inability to perform a triple axel jump while wearing a burqa cost her any chance of winning a title. LaRose left the championships bitter and never skated again. Soon thereafter she stopped dating men, took to the internet as "Jihad Jane" and began her eccentric online rendition of Tokyo Rose for the cause of global Jihad.
The Plot
Swedish artist Lars Vilks has been the target of several death threats by Islamic clerics since 2007 due to his pencil sketch of Islam's holy prophet, Muhammad, about to indulge in a large, tasty hot dog. The Islamic State Of Iraq, an umbrella organization for various Jihadists, placed a $100,000 bounty for the killing of Vilks with an additional $50,000 in cash and prizes if the assassination was particularly stylish and entertaining. Artistic representations of Muhammad and death threats normally form a dyad similar to chocolate and peanut butter but it's uncertain as to whether the hot dog warranted this larger than normal bounty. The bottom line is that anyone who was willing to kill someone for daring to draw the face of a man with Muslim style facial hair and the name "Muhammad" assigned to the image by employing a pointing arrow was officially cleared for the sanctioned assassination of the offending party.
This controversy became a prime mover for Jihad Jane and the focus of her yearning for revenge against western society. The Vilks drawing was more than just generally offensive to LaRose, it portrayed Muhammad lustily yearning for the secular thrill of hot weenies, soft buns and delicious, dripping mustard. Needless to say, it was a little too close to home for a woman who had personally tasted hundreds of hot dogs in her secular years and was now attempting to be androgynous and asexual. Beginning in 2008, LaRose started actively recruiting disenchanted, triple divorced, former debutantes (and former brunettes) to fulfill the holy fatwa.
Finding impressionable and disillusioned middle-age women in America was easy for LaRose, especially with social networking sites like Facebook at her disposal. She managed to attract a small yet zealous circle of female followers who also enjoyed videos of American troops being killed, sunsets and long walks on the beach. The plan was simple. The newly formed team would move to Sweden and take modeling jobs for products related to aging and incontinence. After establishing the appearance of normal citizenry they would then perform a daring suicide bombing. The plan was to strap plastic explosives to themselves and deliver the charges by tobogganing down a small hill near the artist's home and detonating on impact with the building's foundation.
The Arrests
The plot began to unravel quickly after members of the conspiracy didn't practice common discretion on the very social networking websites that brought the group together in the first place. LaRose herself even formed Facebook groups titled "I bet I can find 1,000,000 people who would kill Lars Vilks" and "I'm part of a conspiracy to kill Lars Vilks". Needless to say, arrests were quickly made and all of the conspirators face a litany of charges capable of putting them in prison for the rest of their lives. It is expected that the upcoming trials of the defendants will be a carnival side show that will ultimately create new jobs for hundreds of unemployed pundits worldwide.
See Also
- Suicide bombings
- Fun and interesting ways to commit suicide
- Jihad-Mart
- Allah's True Prophet Muhammad
- UnNews:Jihad Jane: terrorist, traitor, or just crazy?
|Featured Article (read another featured article)
|Featured version: 24 March 2010
This article has been featured on the front page. — You can vote for or nominate your favourite articles at Uncyclopedia:VFH.


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Israel News - Stay Informed, Pray Informed
Earlier this year, Israel Today reported that an ancient structure possibly dating back to King David had been found in Judea, the so-called "West Bank."
But, out of a desire to avoid disrupting what seems like an already failed land-for-peace process, Israel's government is keeping the find under wraps, and Israeli media is playing along.
In the latest issue of Israel Today Magazine our correspondent, Elizabeth Blade, ponders Israel's dilemma between embracing a glorious past and facilitating an uncertain future. She also talks to Israeli experts on both sides of the debate, and tries to find out what is to become of this potentially spectacular, but still buried find.
SUBSCRIBE NOW to read the story.
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Rolando Alonzo Cousins, a/k/a "Junior," 32, Bowie, Maryland, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud in connection with a massive mortgage fraud scheme which promised to help homeowners facing foreclosure keep their homes and repair their damaged credit, but left them homeless and with no equity. With Cousins' plea all 11 defendants in the Metropolitan Money Store case have now been convicted.
According to Cousins' plea agreement and as previously reported on Mortgage Fraud Blog, he was the senior loan officer with the Metropolitan Money Store, located in Lanham, Maryland, which offered foreclosure consultation and credit services to financially distressed homeowners. Cousins also owned and operated Prosper Investments LLC. In 2005, Joy Jackson and Jennifer McCall incorporated Metropolitan Money Store. Also at that time, Jackson, Jennifer McCall, Jackson's husband, Kurt Forham, and McCall's husband, Clifford McCall and others incorporated Fordham & Fordham Investment Group, Ltd. (F&F) and Burroughs & Smythe Financial Services, Inc. (B&S), based in Lanham and Greenbelt, Maryland, to assist Metropolitan Money Store in its foreclosure consulting and credit servicing business.
From September 2004 through June 2007, Cousins, Jackson, McCall and others, operating through several companies, including the Metropolitan Money Store, fraudulently promised to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, keep their homes and repair their damaged credit, by directing the homeowners to allow title to their homes to be put in the names of third party purchasers (the straw buyers) for a one year period, during which time the defendants would help the homeowners obtain more favorable mortgages, improve their credit rating and eventually return title to their homes to them. Cousins, Jackson, McCall and others told the homeowners that the equity withdrawn from the properties would be used to pay the mortgage and expenses on their homes and to repair their credit.
Cousins and other Metropolitan Money Store employees personally served as a straw buyer on several properties in Maryland, because they had good credit history. Cousins and other straw buyers were paid approximately $10,000 to participate in the scheme; fraudulently bolstered the credit of the straw buyers so they could qualify for more favorable mortgages; obtained fraudulently inflated loans on the properties in the straw buyers names; served as straw buyers themselves; stripped away the bulk of the homeowners equity proceeds and converted that money to their own personal use; and stopped making the mortgage payments on the homes, resulting in the homes being foreclosed upon.
The total loss attributable to Cousins from the scheme, including the estimated losses to the mortgage lenders, is $471,702.
The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Richard A. McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Irvine of the U.S. Secret Service – Washington Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Barbara Golden of the U.S. Secret Service – Baltimore Field Office; Special Agent in Charge C. André Martin of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation; and Sarah Bloom Raskin, Commissioner of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation's Division of Financial Regulation.
U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein expressed special appreciation to the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation's Division of Financial Regulation Investigative Unit for its assistance in the investigation.
Cousins faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for the conspiracy. U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus scheduled sentencing for September 13, 2010 at 3:00 p.m.
Joy Jackson and Jennifer McCall pleaded guilty to their role in the scheme and were sentenced to 151 months in prison and 135 months in prison, respectively. Nine other co-conspirators also have pleaded guilty and been sentenced.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked Assistant United States Attorneys James A. Crowell IV and Christen Sproule, who are prosecuting the case.


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BALTIMORE — It was close. A good look. He'd made more difficult shots, just two minutes earlier, as a matter of fact, as well as throughout the previous two days.
But Marcus Thornton's jump shot from the right wing caromed off the back of the rim with two seconds remaining, and William and Mary's chance for its first Colonial Athletic Association title, its first NCAA tournament berth, its place in history bounced away with it.
Delaware's 75-74 win in Monday's CAA tournament championship game at First Mariner Arena was a wrenching affair, replete with immense plays, comebacks big and small and a first-time champion that earned the title.
"A magnificent effort in the second half," Tribe coach Tony Shaver said. "We played with the passion and energy we wanted to play with. Very little that separates these two teams, that's for sure."
Top-seeded Delaware (25-9) won its first CAA title and earned the program's first NCAA tournament berth since 1999 by overcoming a six-point deficit in the final 1:18.
That occurred after William and Mary (20-12) erased a 12-point second-half deficit and had its first title within sight. The Tribe remains one of only five original Division I members never to appear in the NCAA tournament, and Monday was as close it's come in the modern era.
"It's extremely crushing," said Thornton, who led the Tribe with 22 points. "We don't want to hold ourselves to a low standard and say, we gave it our best shot. We wanted to win the game, we felt like we should win the game. We were in position to win the game, so we're definitely disappointed, but still proud of those guys."
A statistical glimpse conveys that William and Mary lost the game at the foul line and an inability to control Carl Baptiste.
The Tribe missed 8 of 11 free throws, including its only attempt of the second half — a crucial one-and-one opportunity. Meanwhile, Delaware made 15 of 18 free throws, which offset 43-percent shooting and sub-par production from Davon Usher, who torched the Tribe in two regular-season wins, yet still hit two big 3-pointers in the final minutes.
Baptiste, the 6-foot-9, 260-pound senior, scored a career-high 24 points and was all but unstoppable in the first half and on the eventual winning basket.
Omar Prewitt's 3-pointer from the left wing with 1:18 remaining gave the Tribe a 74-68 lead. Delaware hustled back and Devon Saddler sank two free throws after a foul eight seconds later to cut the margin to 74-70.
Prewitt (14 points) then missed the front end of a one-and-one, the Tribe's only attempt of the half. At the other end, clever Jarvis Threatt (18 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists) sliced his way into the lane for a driving layup and drew a foul. His three-point play cut W&M's lead to 74-73 with 51 seconds left.
On the Tribe's next offensive trip, Thornton missed a jump shot short with 32 seconds to play, and Usher rebounded. After a Delaware timeout, the Blue Hens swung the ball around and found Baptiste inside, who muscled in a basket with 10.8 seconds left.
William and Mary called a timeout and put the ball in Thornton's hands. The Tribe's leading scorer, who earlier this season hit a buzzer beater to defeat Drexel, elevated from the right wing. But his jump shot was long and bounced away.
"I thought I got a pretty good look," he said. "I lost the ball a little bit, I regained control. I thought it was a good look."
William and Mary lost both regular season games to the Blue Hens, including a runaway in Williamsburg when Threatt was suspended. But the team responded as it had the previous two days, overcoming a double-figure deficit to College of Charleston in the quarterfinals and outlasting a Towson team to which it also lost twice in the semifinals.
"I think the one thing we talked to at the beginning of the season about is competing," Shaver said. "We really competed this weekend. We didn't play a great first half, but we really competed down the stretch.
"Delaware gets a team down 12, they usually bury people, and we fought and we fought and we fought until we got back in it. And we really had control of the ballgame in the last minute."
Fairbank can be reached by phone at 757-247-4637.


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SCHLADMING, Austria (Reuters) - The alpine skiing world championships in Schladming got off to a false start when the women's Super-G had to be delayed because of poor visibility on Tuesday.
Scheduled for 5 a.m. ET, the inaugural event of the skiing fortnight in the Austrian resort was pushed back several times by 15 minutes because of heavy fog on the piste.
The race can be postponed until 8 a.m. ET before being called off and rescheduled for another day.
Schladming has not been too lucky with the weather so far as rain fell heavily in the last couple of days.
Reporting by Manuele Lang; Editing by Mark Meadows


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Wayne Law student wins environmental writing competition
DETROIT – Nathan Inks, a second-year student at Wayne State University Law School, has won first place in the Michigan Environmental Law Journal writing competition.
He will be awarded $2,000 for his first-place essay, "Wetland Mitigation in Michigan: Working Toward the Goal of No Net Loss of Wetlands."
The Environmental Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan publishes the Michigan Environmental Law Journal and sponsors the essay contest.
Wayne Law students have done extremely well in the competition, placing among the top three spots for each of the last three years.
Inks, a Lincoln Park resident, has been interested in the environment for many years. He earned a bachelor of science degree in meteorology at Central Michigan University.
"In my last semester there, I took an environmental politics and policy class," he said. "One of the topics that we discussed in that class was wetlands and wetland mitigation. Michigan's wetlands and the laws dealing with them have been an interest of mine since taking the class."
State law requires developers to mitigate — create or restore — wetlands for any impact their projects may cause to existing wetlands.
Inks is interested in practicing either environmental law or elections law after graduation from Wayne Law.
"I chose Wayne Law because it had a reputation for having a good program in the two fields of law that I am interested in," he said. "Additionally, when I talked to other lawyers and law school graduates that I knew, Wayne Law's reputation was by the best among the schools that I was considering."
During his first year of law school, he found his coursework in Legal Research and Writing to be among his most valuable experiences.
"I have always enjoyed writing, and to have Legal Research and Writing during the first year was a great way for me to fine tune my broader writing experiences to be more applicable to the legal field," he said.


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ISLAMABAD, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Pakistan's Supreme Court granted bail to the beleaguered ex-military dictator and civilian President Pervez Musharraf over the death of a Baloch rebel in 2006.
The decision means Musharraf, 70, has been granted bail in three major cases against him, including one relating to the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
The decision in the case of rebel leader Nawab Akbar Bugti also increases the chances that the former dictator is released after nearly six months of house arrest, Dawn.com news reported.
Musharraf is a retired four-star general and a politician who seized power in a military coup in 1999 and later served as an elected civilian president from 2001-08.
His lawyer said the latest Supreme Court ruling means he is a "free man."
But for now he remains under heavy guard at his Islamabad villa where he has been under house arrest since April, ostensibly because of serious threats to his life, Dawn reported.
The Taliban have threatened to kill Musharraf for his close association with Washington's fight against terrorism after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
Musharraf's latest bail concerns his fight against charges in the August 2006 death of Baluchistan tribal leader Bugti, 79.
He was a former Baluchistan province minister turned nationalist rebel who fought for provincial autonomy and a greater share of profits from Balochistan's natural resources.
But he was killed when a shell exploded in his mountain cave headquarters.
The Bugti case surrounds the circumstance in which the government raid on his cave took place and how the shell exploded.
The Supreme Court observed that no substantial evidence had been presented to involve Musharraf in the criminal conspiracy regarding Bugti's murder and granted him bail on $9,400.
Musharraf's spokesman Raza Bokhari said his client's fight will be a "long-run process."
"He will continue to fight these cases until his name is clear of these false, fabricated and fictitious charges," Bokhari said.
Despite the ruling, Musharraf also faces charges over the suspension and detention of more than 60 judges during emergency rule that he imposed in 2007.
Musharraf denies all charges against him, KarachiNews.net reported at the time.
Musharraf's troubles began in March when he returned to Pakistan from self-imposed four-year exile in London and Dubai.
He intended to run in May's national parliamentary election as head of his All Pakistan Muslim League Party.
But his arrests and detentions meant he failed to contest the election, which was won by Nawaz Sharif, 63 -- the man Musharraf toppled in the bloodless military coup in October 1999.
Other criminal charges against Musharraf stem from the death of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in a gunfire and bomb attack while she was campaigning against him in 2007.
This week an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi granted a new trial request in the case of Bhutto.
But the court also said Musharraf will continue to be liable for prosecution, despite arguments that as president at the time he should have immunity.
The judges ordered the Federal Investigative Agency to present a list of witnesses at the next hearing, scheduled for Oct. 22.


text:
WINCHESTER, VA – The York College softball squad made their final road trip of the year as they traveled to Shenandoah University on Friday. The Hornets swept the Spartans with an 8-0 win in the opener followed by an 8-7 victory in 10 innings in the nightcap.
The Hornets close out their regular season with a mark of 24-17 while the Spartans fall to 13-23 with the two losses.
In the opener, the Hornets tallied a seven-run third inning as they cruised to the game one win.
Brooke Over was the beneficiary of the game one offense for the Hornets. She went six shutout innings as she allowed just three hits while she had seven strikeouts and one walk.
Senior Brittany Therres took the loss as she allowed eight runs, but only four earned, on 10 hits with four strikeouts and a pair of walks in 5.2 innings of work. She falls to 12-14 with the setback.
The Hornets were led by the duo of Lauren McCabe and Denise Mitchell as they each had three hits. McCabe added two RBI and a run scored while Mitchell chipped in a run scored and an RBI.
York got singles from Hannah Hugel, Erin O'Leary, and Cory Urkuski in the shutout loss.
The Spartans committed three errors as they allowed four unearned runs in the game.
In the nightcap, the Hornets tallied two runs in the bottom of the 10th to pull out the walk-off win.
York opened the scoring with single runs in the first and third innings before the Hornets tied the game at two with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third. Shenandoah posted two runs in the fourth and one more in the fifth to take the 5-2 lead.
York tied the game in the sixth as the Spartans strung together four hits to plate a trio of runs. Urkuski had an RBI single while Christina Andrulat added a two-run single to left.
Each team scored single runs in the eighth before the Green and White took a short-lived 7-6 lead in the top of the tenth. The Hornets won the game with two in the bottom of the inning.
Over earned her second win of the day in relief as she threw five innings, allowing two unearned runs on four hits with five strikeouts and a pair of walks. She improves to 14-12 overall with the two victories.
Urkuski suffered the loss as she tossed a season-high five innings in relief, allowing three runs, two earned, on seven hits with two strikeouts and two walks. She falls to 0-5 for the year.
Both offenses were on full display as they combined for 15 runs, 29 hits and 26 runners left on base in the game.
Morgan Coble paced Shenandoah as she was 4-for-5 with three RBI and two runs scored. Mitchell contributed two hits, two runs scored and an RBI while Heather Sink was 1-for-5 with an RBI and run scored.
O'Leary led the Green and White as she banged out three hits in addition to driving in a run. Urkuski finished the game 2-for-3 with two RBI and a pair of runs scored. Andrulat was 1-for-2 with her two-run single. Hugel chipped in with two hits, two runs scored and an RBI.
The Spartans conclude their regular season on Tuesday when they host McDaniel College in a non-conference doubleheader at Spartan Stadium. Game on is set for a 3:00 pm first pitch.


text: Sijun Forums :: View topic - [crit] MECH, need some serious lighting help.. it's a night Log in to check your private messages Sijun Forums Forum Index >> Work in Progress View previous topic :: View next topic Author Topic : "[crit] MECH, need some serious lighting help.. it's a night" GeckomemberMember #Joined: 07 Mar 2000Posts: 876Location: Finland Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2001 5:11 pm Okau, most of my day has been painting this, and I'm in some trouble realizing which values make this kind of setting look realistic. Right now the thing looks as if copy/pasted on top the background. Is it just the background & foregróund being too different to match, or does the mech itself have a lot of incorrect contrast / whatever I may be doing wrong in there. Also, I was notified of some symmetry and perspective problems going on with the.. wait, im not telling you which part.. tell me if something catches your eye. I read capt.Flushgardens thread which addressed a similar thing, but I'm not getting anywhere. Thanks in advance, the mech is on hold until I get some answers! :] starting sketch if anyone's interested: http://members.surfeu.fi/pveik/turhatjpgt/mech4sketch.jpg ------------------ Gecko email@example.com GeckoArt.Net Back to top FrostmemberMember #Joined: 12 Jan 2000Posts: 2662Location: Montréal, Canada Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2001 5:30 pm Hey Gecko, nice to see I haven't destroyed your will to paint with my previous critiques! -- let me try again. hehe. (entering "pretending to know what he's talking about" mode...) Indeed, there is a perspective problem in my oppinion, which may be the cause of some of the problems you're encountering. First, the front of the mech (and everything parralel to that plane) seems to lack perspective. Objects closer to the camera inherit more perspective deformations than things in the back -- drawing a two-point perspective with lines will demonstrate that point. Another perspective problem that you seem to have spotted but not put a finger on is that the mech is painted as though the camera is above ground at mid-height of the mech, but your background does not show an horizon at that level, nor do we have any visual clue as to seeing the ground BELOW us -- right now it looks like a toy in grass. On to values and readability... I personally cannot make out the form of the mech, especially the back because the values are too close and there is no back light. A slightly lighter and rather 'solid' background color might work. The values on the mech itself are pretty darn good, but perhaps the lighting doesn't lend itself to easy readability. A simple thing would be to fill in the empty front hull so we don't see through it, making the form easier to understand, especially under these lighting circumstances. Aside from that... it's a pretty ORIGINAL mech Good going Gecko... I love this stuff. =) Back to top MuzmanmemberMember #Joined: 12 Jan 2000Posts: 675Location: Western Australia Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2001 6:38 pm Interesting mech. Looks like I'd expect some guy with a baseball cap to be driving it, possibly with a Confederate flag bumper sticker or something. When you asked him why he kept this one he'd say; "What need I got fer any o' theem new fanangled John Deer Mechs? Mah Daddy patroled these parts for yers in this Mech. They don make 'em leik this no more. Yesssiree." I don't think that funky camera angle is working for you. Looks like drawing it at that angle got you confused and threw off the front of the cockpit among other places (I sympathise, really). I think I'm on the same wavelength as Frost when I say it more like a regular 'horizontal horizon' picture thats been rotated rather than one that 'lives' at that angle. (fear not, it's damn hard; I doubt I'd attempt it.) Looks good though, don't get me wrong. As for a bit of extra lighting; you could suggest that the fire is spread off to the right and then you have an excuse to that whole dark side in an orange glow. Maybe. I dunno. Good luck anyways. Back to top burn0utmemberMember #Joined: 18 Apr 2000Posts: 1645Location: california Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2001 9:50 pm Here, im not expert or anything but i thought this could help out a bit, your angles seemed to get skewed around on the front, so i just drew some guide lines for ya. ------------------ -stephen Trial n Error. Back to top wayfindermemberMember #Joined: 03 Jan 2001Posts: 486Location: Berlin, Germany Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2001 3:04 am The round structure (the "eye") looks definitely escher-esque. Impossible construction. The part BEHIND it suggests that it should be right in the middle of the mech, but it's not, if you look at the snout. The snout suggests that the structure is somewhat lower and more to the left (from the mech's own point of view) looks like you squeezed it in there, fourth dimension, woohoo ------------------ --- way-fu - xr size Back to top faustgfxmemberMember #Joined: 15 Mar 2000Posts: 4833Location: unfortunately, very near you. Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2001 3:18 am gecko, your drawings make baby faustgfx cry. ------------------ sky high with a heartache of stone you never see me 'cos i'm always alone/ministry the law of lead now reigns!@#!/earth crisis email@example.com icq#35983387 http://faustgfx.0wns.org Back to top Clockwork BaconmemberMember #Joined: 12 May 2000Posts: 69Location: Indianapolis, IN, USA Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2001 6:19 am I would definitely add alot more backlighting from the fire. With the greenish-blue moon light spilling over the top and front of the mech, the orange light from the fires will look cool highlighting the back. Also, with a whole forest on fire behind the mech, there'd be alot of smoke and haze in the air that'd be underlit by the fire. Oh yeah, there'd be little glowing cinders in the air too. You could put that in as a final touch. That's my two cents. I like where you're headed with this image, can't wait to see it done. Back to top JennmemberMember #Joined: 25 Jul 2000Posts: 1055Location: Melbourne, VIC, OZ Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2001 6:48 am Awesome as always babe.. Love it .. tis my fav so far ------------------ DarkChyld http://asylum.wibble.net Back to top GeckomemberMember #Joined: 07 Mar 2000Posts: 876Location: Finland Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2001 8:30 am hey again, im coming back with a new version that looks like it has been saved by the forum help :) frost, burnout: 2 point perspective solved a lot, though I'm not sure if it still looks silly since the vanishing points arent really on the same horizon line, somehow I couldn't get it right so...... :] about readability, I think it makes much more sense now with the damned hull repaired and the orange helps a lot as well. Horizon line bumped higher, helps, right? clockwork bacon: One step ahead of you! I redid the background, and as Muzman pointed out, moved the fire (haha i think the original idea was sunset, lost that pretty fast in the making) farther to the right. result: Some backlight! and some more lighted sky. I thought the actual fire wasn't necessary to be in the pic since the coloring implies it so strongly. wayfinder: what? faustgfx: use that oversized damned board of yours and get some pics going. you dont happen to use as your food tray as well, do you? just a thought jenn: woo, i think its my favorite as well. oh well, i guess i usually like my latest piece most everyone, muchos appreciated, I wouldn't have figured these things out by myself :D if you have the energy to crit more, im willing to tweak the picture more so it won't be in vain. whoa, note to self: the smoke might be too dark compared to the light the mech is receiving. ------------------ Gecko firstname.lastname@example.com GeckoArt.Net Back to top GeckomemberMember #Joined: 07 Mar 2000Posts: 876Location: Finland Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2001 8:34 am Hmm, for some reason I can't edit my post and I think you want to see the actual pic as well... ------------------ Gecko email@example.com GeckoArt.Net Back to top faustgfxmemberMember #Joined: 15 Mar 2000Posts: 4833Location: unfortunately, very near you. Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2001 10:39 am :\ ------------------ sky high with a heartache of stone you never see me 'cos i'm always alone/ministry the law of lead now reigns!@#!/earth crisis email@example.com icq#35983387 http://faustgfx.0wns.org Back to top Wyatt TurnermemberMember #Joined: 18 Oct 2000Posts: 501Location: Everett, WA, USA Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2001 10:49 am looking better to me. the orange highlights are making it more apparent to what you making. very odd design, keep goin on this guy. the last image you shown us was hard to understand. y@ Back to top TheMilkManmemberMember #Joined: 04 Nov 2000Posts: 797Location: St.Louis Posted: Thu Jan 04, 2001 2:03 pm Looking good gecko keep working in the details it should look fine now that you fixed the problems Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Sijun Forums Forum Index -> Work in Progress All times are GMT - 8 Hours Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Digital Art----------------Digital Art DiscussionWork in ProgressGallery/Finished Work Miscellaneous----------------Random MusingsArchive : Sep99 - Dec00 You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum Powered by phpBB © 2005 phpBB Group


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Despite the increase in low-priced health clubs, 56 percent of people polled said that cost is the top barrier to joining a health club, according to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association's (IHRSA) quarterly consumer study, "The IHRSA Trend Report." That number is less than the 62 percent who cited cost as their primary barrier in 2008.
Baby Boomers (people born between 1946 and approximately 1964) were more likely to select cost as their top reason for not joining. Cost also was the primary reason that 38 percent of former members left their clubs. Three out of 10 respondents said they left because they were not using their membership, with men more likely to quit due to lack of use than women.
The study, which examines membership trends and consumer attitudes toward health club membership, was done in partnership with the Leisure Trends Group, Boulder, CO.
The study also found that 16 percent of Americans ages 16 and older were members of a health club in third quarter 2011, an increase from 12 percent in third quarter 2008. The generations with the highest membership percentage are Generation X (people born between approximately 1965 and 1980) and Generation Y (people born between approximately 1981 and 2000). Twenty percent of both groups are members of health clubs. The least likely to be members are Baby Boomers, with 12 percent of that group belonging to clubs.
The top reasons respondents cited for joining a club were to feel better about themselves (59 percent), to stay healthy (56 percent), to look better (49 percent), to lose weight (48 percent) and to maintain strength (45 percent). Respondents could choose more than one reason for joining.
Members continue using their club for a number of reasons. The top reasons were for overall health/well-being (61 percent), to get in/stay in shape/stay healthy (61 percent), convenient location (52 percent), variety of equipment (48 percent) and to make progress with their personal goals (41 percent).


text:
You will find a message board titled "Deep Thoughts" by Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne, who posts his "Deep Thoughts" under the name Hannibal. You should read his posts.
You will find thoughts both deep and shallow, facts in the form of definitions of certain issues dear to his heart (including short-selling)...and you will also find weird tangential points, borderline-paranoid musings, and outright inanities.
For example, this from CEO Patrick Byrne:
The key is this: if given the right to create an unlimited number of new shares essentially out of thin air, not limited by the number of shares "in the borrow" as legal shorting requires, these hedge funds can always drive the price down and always cover for a profit.
To which, I would say, "Well, yeah, sure, Patrick...but nobody is given that right to create unlimited shares out of thin air, least of all hedge funds. And even if they could, no hedge fund could always drive the price down and always cover for a profit--unless the fundamentals of the company justify that price action. Otherwise, Patrick, willing buyers--who vastly outnumber the ranks of shortsellers, as your own conference calls attest--would step in and buy."
Now, before readers accuse me of exaggeration for effect, or simply of making it up--not allowed on this site--let me highlight a couple more facets of the Byrne "precis" on naked shorting (which clearly does exist, although not on the scale imagined by Bryne and his certifiables, nor is it practised by any legitimate, professional hedge fund I know--and I know a lot of them).
Byrne lays out in great detail the same bizarre scenario explicated at length on the Overstock conference call by "X-Files" O'Brien, full of paranoid delusions of market-making in "German exchanges" and the supposed "nudge and a wink" by which the DTCC supposedly gives free reign to the hedge fund Visigoths.
But that's not even the most bizarre thing about these posts.
The most bizarre thing is that the Byrne postings on "Naked Shorting" have each been edited by Byrne himself as many as 8 times.
This is a CEO who really likes to write on message boards.
Yes, some unprofessional, bad guys short stocks naked. No, Overstock.com's problems are not naked shortsellers. They are, by and large, professionals who think, among other things, a man who spends part of his day alerting his auction site readers to an upcoming appearance on Charlie Rose (also on the message board), and who has taken up the banner of a bizarre, paranoid and highly delusional individual who goes by the alias "Bob O'Brien" is probably not the guy you would want running a fast-growing public company.
Especially when earnings estimates are coming down.
Jeff Matthews
I'm Not Making This Up


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text: Lucky Mehra, a PhD student with Drs. Peter Ojiambo and Christina Cowger, spoke to about 100 visitors to the Northeast Ag Expo in Tyner, NC. Lucky explained the life cycle of Stagonospora nodorum, a widespread fungal pathogen that causes a sometimes damaging leaf and glume blotch of wheat. He also described best management practices and his research on factors that determine epidemic severity.


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CHICAGO — Derrick Rose, the Chicago Bulls star whose voice has been as muted during his 14-month rehab from knee surgery as his absence has been glaring and chronicled, knows there is a difference between talking the talk and walking the walk.
Sprinting the sprint, cutting the cut and leaping the leap are all better still in gauging how successful Rose and the team's medical staff were in getting him back on the court by training camp this fall.
"Me saying it is something totally different," the Bulls point guard said in a video interview newly posted on the team Web site. "I think me going on the court and showing 'em will let 'em know it was the right decision."
Rose's decision not to return for any portion of the 2012-13 schedule was the headline of the Bulls' season. It defined who and what they were, as well as how far an undermanned, underdog squad could go against the likes of the Nets and the Heat in the playoffs.
It led to an emerging class of Rose critics, too, something new for the Chicago kid who previously had delivered more, sooner, than most expected. Once Rose's rehab dragged into and through the 8-to-12-month estimate offered in May 2012, questions and even suspicions began to pop up: Is it Rose's knee or his heart? Doesn't he see his teammates gutting out huge upsets despite injuries of their own? How much influence does brother Reggie Rose, the player's agent, and a fleet of adidas marketers have over the kid?
Rose's presence in Bulls pregame warm-ups, working on his jump shot and moves to the rim, looking pretty healthy, only made people wonder more. And his near-blackout of the media – endorsed or at least tolerated by Chicago management — exacerbated the situation, because in place of Rose's words, critics reached their own conclusions.
This sitdown with BullsTV might be a reach for the reset button.
"I didn't want to do anything, to tell you the truth," Rose said of media interviews in general during his layoff. "I didn't want to talk to anyone. I just wanted to rebuild my leg and be around my son [P.J.]. That was time where, me having a son, is huge. … My father wasn't ever in my life, so he's first now with anything."
Scheduling sitdowns with reporters once a month to track his rehab progress wouldn't have tampered with either his focus or his Dad time, and would have shown respect for the media that otherwise respected Rose's challenge/ordeal. More so, it would have been good for the fan base that kept buying tickets.
If a little more accountability sapped any drama from adidas' series of shoe commercials ("The Return"), too bad — Rose didn't make good on that script anyway. And the Bulls' media relations experts, working up through vice president John Paxson and chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, if necessary, should have spelled that out to Rose.
But this BullsTV interview offers a fresh start. Now, instead of some random sessions with USA Today or furtive Q&A grabs in the postgame locker room in Boston, Rose needs to make himself available to reporters on an occasional basis.
Not every question got asked or answered by Bulls.com, such as:
- How will you simulate game conditions over the summer, when you're in Chicago, in Los Angeles or on the adidas tour through Serbia and other European destinations?
- Did the criticism of you, your family and your business partners surprise you? Bother you? Change your view of Bulls fans?
- When will you know you can trust — really trust — that left knee?
- How will you cope with what most medical folks say will be ups and downs, good nights and bad, as you work your way back?
- Specifically, how do you think the layoff has benefited your game?
- What adjustments do you plan to make in how you play — or at least, what are you prepared to do if your explosiveness isn't what it was?
And about a dozen more, ranging from Rose's views on the Bulls' draft and free-agent acquisitions to lead assistant coach Ron Adams' departure.
Among the questions that did get answered? Here are the highlights:
On missing the entire season: "It was hard. One of the hardest things I've ever had to go through in my life. After surgery, when you start runnin', when you have an injury like this, it's phases you have to go through. I'm still going through my phases. I'm not done yet. But I think this is the most I've ever worked on my craft and the most focused I've ever been in my NBA career."
On not coming back: "I'm not a selfish guy at all, but having this injury and knowing what I had to go through, and being smart, this is something that I had to be selfish with. I couldn't worry about anyone else but myself and my health."
On reports that he was "dominant" in practices: "When you're in practice, of course it's not like game-like speed unless it's training camp. Game-like experience is totally different. Where you've got strategies, you've got this-or-that double-teams – when I play I get double-teamed a lot. We [practice] the same defense that we play in the game, so there wasn't that many double-teams. So I was able to go around freely. In the game, I wasn't able to take on that double-team yet."
On his knee's progress: "Every day I was working out like my leg is going to feel better. I was pushing myself every day. And trying to take care of my body to be out there as soon as possible. But it didn't happen."
On the Bulls' season without him: "I was very, very impressed. It seemed like they were fighting for me. They saw how hard I was working at practice, just trying to rebuild my leg. All my teammates that were going through injuries, they used to tell me, 'Don't rush back' just because they were going through stuff. So just to hear them say that, they knew I was trying to get back on the court as quickly as possible. They made a good run of it. When they were playing, I would tell them some things that I saw if they didn't see. I was working with them just to show that I really cared about the team."
On his close relationship with coach Tom Thibodeau: "With Thibs, we're super-cool right now. We talk at least a couple times through the week. I missed his call a couple times – he hates when I do that – I've got to call him back. But he's someone who loves the game almost as much as me and that's pretty hard. If you love basketball more than I do, I have to take off my hat to you."
On his personal goals for 2013-14: "There's only one goal and that's to win a championship."
It's good for Rose, for the Bulls and for the fans to have the team's star and leader accessible again. He needs to stay that way.


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SOCORRO, N.M., July 1, 2002 - Seven teachers from around New Mexico were participants in a new summer course offered by New Mexico Tech, "Astronomy for Teachers." The two-week class, which was held in early June and was funded by the New Mexico Tech Research and Economic Development office (R&ED), is a unique course that is designed to instruct teachers on how to use special software that is required to remotely operate New Mexico Tech's Etscorn Campus Observatory telescope.
Dan Klinglesmith, an adjunct member of the New Mexico Tech physics department, instructs the Master of Science Teaching (MST) course, which was first offered during the summer of 2001.
The main part of the class is held during the day, and during this time the teachers learn how to use the software. After a week of training, the class uses a computer on the New Mexico Tech campus to control the telescope at the Powerhouse Museum Observatory located half-a-world-away in Sydney, Australia (courtesy of Nick Lomb, director of the Powerhouse Observatory).
The telescope in Sydney is operated by the same software that the Etscorn Observatory uses for its telescope. This international arrangement allows the teachers to make live observations of the night sky in Sydney during their daytime classes in Socorro. During the evenings, the class goes to the Etscorn Observatory to control the telescope and view the skies over Socorro.
The main purpose of the course is for teachers to use the software and the observatory to guide their own students on how to fact-find and use the scientific method for experimentation. Upon completion of the course, the teachers receive personal copies of the telescope-controlling software to use with their respective students. The students then learn to use the software to control "virtual telescopes," which give the students accurate astrological data from actual observatory databases without actually having to use observatory time.
After the students learn to use the software, they will have to form an experiment using the scientific method that requires real observation time from the telescope-this includes making observations, forming a hypothesis, and writing a proposal for conducting the experiment. Once the proposal is approved by their teacher and by the staff at the Etscorn Campus Observatory, the student may make remote observations using the real telescope for the experiment.
The students may continue using the observatory on the condition that their previous work gets published. The teachers and observatory staff assist in helping students get their work published. This gives students the opportunity to conduct further independent research in astronomy and possibly develop a future career.
Lisa Foley, a participant in this year's course, feels that the astronomy class was a fun experience and the software will be an invaluable tool to help teach students.
"Once they [the students] see how easy it is to operate the telescope and take an image-all you have to do is point and click-I think their own enthusiasm will motivate them to move on to bigger things," Foley said. She is currently a Data Analyst for National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), and she teaches "Backyard Astronomy," a non-credit community college course offered at New Mexico Tech.
Any teacher or instructor who is interested in taking the MST 562 course next summer should send inquiries to Dan Klinglesmith at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Albuquerque Academy Intelletes Win State Science Olympiad, Feb. 28, 2005
by George Zamora
SOCORRO, N.M., Feb. 26, 2005 – Two teams from the Albuquerque Academy took home an abundance of Olympic-style medals and once again won top honors in both the high school and middle school divisions at the 19th annual New Mexico Science Olympiad, which was held on Saturday, February 26, on the New Mexico Tech campus.
The Albuquerque Academy, a perennial winner at the statewide academic competition, made a clean sweep of it this year taking first place overall in both the high school and middle school divisions.
Socorro High School garnered second in the high school division, falling four points short of Academy's total, while Cloudcroft Middle School placed second in the middle school division of the state Science Olympiad.
In addition to the first-place trophies and numerous medals the science champions amassed, the two teams from the Albuquerque Academy also won rights to represent New Mexico at the National Science Olympiad on May 20-21, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
More than 800 student "intelletes" representing 25 middle schools and 25 high schools from throughout New Mexico gathered on the university campus in Socorro to compete in 45 spirited mental workouts—all of which required massive amounts of brain power, motor skills, teamwork, and imagination . . . not to mention months of planning, practice, and fine-tuning.
During the daylong event, teams of Science Olympians dropped raw eggs from tall buildings, launched rockets propelled by compressed air and water, built Rube Goldberg contraptions, and constructed efficient boomilevers, bridges, and robots in a quest for Olympic-style medals and the chance to represent New Mexico at the national competition.
Division C (high school):
1) Albuquerque Academy (375 points)
2) Socorro High School (371 points)
3) Roswell High School (328 points)
4) La Cueva High School (327 points)
5) Sandia High School (319 points)
6) United World College (280 points)
7) New Mexico Military Institute (278 points)
8) Gadsen High School (277 points)
9) Hobbs High School (276 points)
10) Lovington High School (248 points)
Division B (middle school):
1) Albuquerque Academy (362 points)
2) Cloudcroft Middle School (312 points)
3) Cottonwood Valley Charter School-Socorro (310 points)
4) Taylor Middle School (308 points)
5) Sidney Gutierrez Middle School (303 points)
6) Vista Middle School (295 points)
7) Kirtland Middle School (287 points)
8) Wilson Middle School (282 points)
9) Sarracino Middle School-Socorro (278 points)
10) Hoover Middle School (269 points)


text: This kit is for novice cheesemakers and makes cheesemaking easy! With it, you will be able to make lots of soft fresh cheeses and other dairy treats, such as Cream Cheese, Kefir, Sour Cream, Yogurt, Fromage Blanc, herb cheeses, and lots more. Kit has the Yogotherm, one digital thermometer, reusable butter muslin, and 1 packet each of yogurt culture, fresh & sour cream culture, reculturable kefir, sweet yogurt culture, fromage blanc, and buttermilk culture, plus a 2 oz. package of Herbs de Provence. Big savings here as buying this kit will save you 25% over buying items individually! (Note: All cultures should be stored in the freezer and will keep up to two years if stored properly. Herbs de Provence can be kept tightly sealed in its package in a cool, dry, dark place.)


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Annually, some 150 to 200 suspected resistant weed samples are studied at Syngenta's Vero Beach, Fla., research center.
"Since 2000, we've had an active program monitoring glyphosate resistance," said Nick Polge, Syngenta research and development scientist at the center. "When we do our testing in the greenhouses, we report the results to several people. (Any findings of resistance) must be reported to EPA, mandated under the Federal Insecticide and Fungicide Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Basically, once a product is labeled any new, adverse affects — including weed resistance — surrounding that product must be reported to EPA."
Once positive confirmatory testing in greenhouses under controlled conditions is complete, Polge and colleagues have 30 days to inform the government agency.
In addition to confirmatory testing, Polge also studies the mechanisms of resistance. Two mechanisms have been reported. One is alteration of target sites — confirmed in goosegrass (in Malaysia) and rigid ryegrass (in Australia). The second is reduced translocation of glyphosate within plants. This has been reported in both horseweed and rigid ryegrass.
"What's important…is both methods can occur in (the same species). We've already seen that in rigid ryegrass…We must also consider other types of (resistance) mechanisms may develop or are already out there."
While his concern with research is paramount, Polge says, "It's key as we do this work to keep in close contact with local, Extension and university scientists to develop management solutions. Part of that work involves field visits with local cooperators."
The entire agricultural enterprise needs to get out of "a reactionary mode. We need to gather information and communicate it. We need to report a resistant population as soon as we can.
"We need to follow label directions. Growers are always pinched for time and money. But it's important they not cut rates. When they do that, it just allows more of the genes that can resist the herbicides to survive and enrich the next population."
Since 2001, Syngenta's message hasn't changed with regard to managing weed resistance, said Chuck Foresman, Syngenta's head of weed resistance strategies. To combat resistance, Foreman offered the following suggestions:
In glyphosate-tolerant corn and soybean systems, don't use more than two applications of glyphosate over a two-year period.
Diversify with alternate herbicides and cultural practices. "We aren't telling people not to incorporate different cultural practices. We ask them to seriously consider it."
In cotton, up to three applications of glyphosate can be used. "But you've also got to be using a residual herbicide or be cultivating. That helps break up the resistance cycle."
Use alternative burndowns. "Gramoxone is a great burndown material. The new formulation is more user-friendly. Syngenta has worked for 20 years on this…It's a very good tank-mix herbicide."
Luck and faith
Many growers seem inoculated against fears of weed resistance, said both men. Resistant weed discoveries don't seem to be resonating as they should.
"(Producers) have lived through ALS-resistance, waterhemp resistance, resistance to Scepter and Pursuit," said Foresman. "One of the reasons there's little reaction now is they've been saved before. Roundup Ready saved them. But if they think we're going to have a powerful option once (more) weeds become resistant to glyphosate, they're wrong. What we have for growers is what's already in the toolbox. Glyphosate-resistance is not going to be an easy fix."
In a recent survey, Indiana producers were asked if they were concerned with glyphosate resistance. "Something like 66 percent said they were," said Foresman. "But 87 percent said even if there was, industry would come up with a solution, a new mode of action."
That just isn't going to happen, the researchers insist. And such views by producers are "dangerous and that may be one of the reasons why people aren't being as pro-active as they should be."
Consider what waterhemp did to ALS chemistry.
"(Pursuit) was hugely popular and broadly used. Then (resistant weeds surfaced and) were rough on Pursuit. It was just lucky that we had the Roundup Ready technology ready to come on in 1996. Pursuit resistance was building from the early 1990s onward. By 1996, there was a problem."
In 1995, Syngenta introduced a herbicide, Flexstar, which helped with the resistance. "We had outstanding sales of it because Pursuit wasn't doing a very good job of controlling waterhemp," said Foresman. "Sales built until Roundup Ready came on the scene. Roundup Ready is an outstanding system — it allowed growers to manage this looming issue of Pursuit-resistant waterhemp.
"I think growers think about that and may believe, 'Well, we had a waterhemp resistance issue and Roundup Ready saved us.'
"But if glyphosate-resistant waterhemp surfaces — along with Palmer pigweed — the remedies aren't going to be so simple."
Some questions
Could EPA mandate a certain spraying programs to prevent weed resistance?
"Well, never say never," said Foresman. "But I don't have any first-hand information that suggests they will. When you embark down that road there are a lot of additional costs with respect to monitoring, tracking and reporting. Someone would have to shoulder the burden of that cost. We'd like to see the industry step up and properly steward and manage this challenge of weed resistance. I think we can do it.
"We want people to put only one application in-crop of glyphosate in corn and soybeans. But to get there, producers will need to put out a residual herbicide."
At least at first, Foresman believes the adoption of resistance-delaying tactics will be regional.
"I think it will be in areas where people are more concerned about glyphosate-resistant weeds. I also think it will be in areas where growers understand how much money is put into an acre of a row-crop — the seed costs, the diesel fuel, the anhydrous ammonia and the herbicide costs. If you put out all that on an acre and then don't protect that investment with a broad-spectrum herbicide, it doesn't make sense. I think people will consider a broad spectrum herbicide and cultural practices for those reasons…I like to see more than three modes of action used per acre.
"Growers are sharp and they understand Mother Nature can be formidable. They know if we keep doing the same thing, she'll figure out a way to win."
Could the resistance problem be worse worldwide than is currently known?
"I think we're under-reporting where it's happening," said Polge. "A farmer isn't going to (immediately recognize) a resistant weed until (it's a bigger problem)."
How do Syngenta's stewardship recommendations differ from Monsanto's?
"Theirs change all the time," said Foresman. "I'm not prepared to say, 'They do this and we do that.' We've been consistent for five years. I don't know where they're at. I've heard they're coming around to the prospect that a residual herbicide needs to be applied on Roundup Ready acres. The message seems to be getting through to them, as well."
"Certainly, when Roundup Ready crops were first introduced, there was some discussion about the risk of glyphosate resistance developing," said Polge. "Papers were published on that from Monsanto that said the risk was very low. Well, within the last 10 years, we've seen rapid development of glyphosate resistance worldwide."
Foresman understands why, with no set recommendations for preventing resistance, farmers are confused. "You have one company saying one thing and another saying something else. I'd like to see more participation by universities. They're viewed as the unbiased voice…But when you get into the area of applied agriculture, universities are starving for funds. They aren't getting the funding they should get to address these issues."
An empty pipeline
The easy answers have already been found. There are no new modes of action in late development. The new herbicide pipeline is empty. Farmers shouldn't expect a bail-out miracle cure for glyphosate resistance anytime soon.
"If our chemists found a new mode of action today, it would take 10 years to get it registered," said Polge. "The tools we have today, we need to properly steward. If we're to continue controlling weeds with high-tech tools and herbicides where growers are able to spray a 90-foot swath through the field and sustain it, we need to adopt some new management practices."
"If we don't," warned Foresman, "you'll see growers jump back on the tractor to cultivate."
(For more on Syngenta's resistance work, visit www.resistancefighter.com)
e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Date(s) - 24/08/2017
1:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Anatomy Lecture Theatre at SummerHall
Funny and poignant, powerful political theatre from award-winning playwright Hassan Abdulrazzak. This one-man play uses comedy to tackle problems facing Arab and Muslim communities across the world. Set against the backdrop of worldwide political instability with the looming threat of civil unrest, we look into the worlds of three different men with three individual struggles, a Palestinian actor, a Pakistani writer and a young man in Bradford.
Tickets :
Previews (2 -4 Aug.): £8.00 - Full Price: £12.00 - Concession: £8.50
Show Language:
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text:
At Gap Inc.'s annual investor meeting in San Francisco on Wednesday, the parent of Banana Republic and Old Navy featured a list of executives overseeing its flagship brands and areas including supply chain and digital initiatives.
But the company, which has operations in dozens of countries from the U.K. to Japan, also featured one country specifically in its presentation -- China, represented by Jeff Kirwan, a 10-year company veteran and a former Target Corp. executive who moved to that market for Gap three years ago.
However, Gap's ambition in China likely won't go unchallenged. The company's foreign competition in the country includes a similar list of the rivals it also sees in the U.S.
As the San Francisco-based retailer faces slowing demand in its home market, Gap, like many other companies, is counting on China's growing middle class to help it gain market share in the $1.4 trillion global apparel market.
Gap said it forecast China sales, which totaled $300 million in 2013, to rise to $1 billion in three years. The company opened its first Old Navy store there in March and had 81 Gap branded stores at the end of last year. That's up from four stores in two cities in 2010. Gap targets 116 stores in 29 cities by the end of this year. The company said it wants to own the stores there instead of running them through franchising agreements in some other countries to have total control.
Kirwan, who opened his presentation with a greeting in Chinese and is conversational in the language, said the country's birthrate of 20 million babies per year and government forecast of 300 million people joining the middle class by 2020 present lucrative business opportunities. He also sees opportunities for Banana Republic and Athleta in addition to Gap and Old Navy stores. Online and outlet stores are part of the growth plan as well, he said.
According to Euromonitor data compiled for MarketWatch, Gap had $390 million in sales in China, at least less than half the size of rivals including H&M, Uniqlo, Zara and Nike. Forever 21, another popular fast-fashion retailer like H&M, also has re-entered the China market.
"Competition in China is becoming fierce," Kirwan said, adding Gap's strategy in the market will focus on differentiating itself as "the authority for American style."
While the brand awareness for Gap in China increased to 70% last year from 35% in 2010, he acknowledged the Old Navy brand has a ways to go. To help facilitate the brand's growth, the company deliberately placed its new Old Navy store in Shanghai across from a famous temple visited by Chinese people across the country.
"It gives us the opportunity to quickly penetrate in China to take advantage of the tourists (to the temple)," Kirwan said. "It gives us huge brand exposure."
Follow Andria @AndriaCheng.
More from Behind the Storefront:
Nike, Adidas eye latest round of labor protests in China
Ikea is betting big on wind energy in America
Staples aims to bring 3-D printing to the masses
Wal-Mart, Wild Oats team up to disrupt organic food industry
Uniqlo's new partnership with Starbucks and MoMoa are signs of a new retail trend


text: Pure-FTPd (on Debian 6.0.2): port 21 desperately closed... Hi there, I just got a preinstalled server (Debian Squeeze with ISPConfig 3) and I spent about 2 days searching for a solution but I just can't seem to find it... Here is my problem... On ISPConfig, I created a site, and then an FTP account butwhen I try to use it, the connection is refused. I'm not surprised now because the port 21 seems to be closed! If I do netstat -tap | grep ftp, I got NOTHING! If I do dpkg -l | grep -i "ftp", I get this : Code: ii ftp 0.17-23 The FTP client ii pure-ftpd-common 1.0.28-3 Pure-FTPd FTP server (Common Files) ii pure-ftpd-mysql 1.0.28-3+b1 Secure and efficient FTP server with MySQL user authentication So the FTP seems to be there, right? I don't know if you have everything to help me but don't hesitate to ask. This problem is driving me nuts! Thanks in advance! Vincent EDIT 1: I forgot to say I can access the server through FTP with the root account (SFTP on port 22) only.