text:
January 14, 2008
Was it Something We Said?
[By Crabby]
Warning: this post is pretty much bereft of any breaking health and fitness news. But as Mary is busy moving right now, our standards are temporarily lowered. Do come back though, as she won't be gone forever.
Oh wait, here's a health item.
I saw this in the paper and it's sitting right here so why not? A test is in development may allow dentists to spot breast cancer with a saliva test. They've just identified a bunch of new proteins associated with breast cancer that will raise the accuracy of the test, they believe, from 85% to 95%.
Won't that be a nice non-intrusive way to look for early signs of a deadly disease? We're used to spitting at dentist offices anyway, and they're pretty used to dealing with our spit, so it works out great for everyone. Unfortunately though, the process for testing and approval is excruciatingly slow, so it looks like it's still a few years down the road until it's good to go.
Whoops, It's Statcounter Again
Anyway, here's the actual reason for the post: I was checking my statcounter recently, and came across some interesting entries. Now that Cranky Fitness is a little bigger, I can no longer catch all the comings and goings, but I do like to pop in and take a peek whenever I can. (Oh hell, why try to pretend: I'm still totally addicted to stats, even after being forced to change from Sitemeter to Statcounter.)
(Technorati's good too, but it's not as fun since we lost almost all the old links by changing from the blogspot address. Sigh. So if you're a blogger doing Cranky Fitness the tremendous honor of linking to us, it is even more appreciated if you use the www.crankyfitness.com address so we look bigger and more influential like a real blog!)
Anyway, what did Statcounter reveal?
First the good news:
Cranky Fitness got a very nice endorsement from a blog we admire very much, Wide Lawns and Narrow Minds. But this is not just a courtesy "thanks for the link from a blog with lots of visitors" mention. This is to urge you go visit Wide Lawns and check it out. If you enjoy quirky, bad-ass, opinionated, hilarious, uncompromising, extraordinarily well-written observations, family history, and personal anecdotes, do stop by. This is a blog written by a real writer, a fact that makes me insanely jealous.
Now the Weird News:
Cranky Fitness has been blocked! We are apparently offensive enough to have been filtered out by members of "Covenant Eyes," a group dedicated to helping protect the vulnerable from the lurid temptations of the internet. Of course, we're horror-struck to have run afoul of a group so friendly with the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families. (We won't link there, you can google. Though we totally approve of both Children and Families).
So what was it we could have posted that triggered this? Is the frequent use of f*ck and assh*le? Perhaps they are not fooled by the use of asterisks. Is it the penis post in the sidebar? The vagina post in the sidebar? (Maybe they know what a hoo-hoo is). The post on gay bombs? The fact that many people arrive here googling "big bouncy breasts" only to discover a post about leotards and sports bras?
Or perhaps it's not our content. Perhaps Cranky Fitness is just so darn addictive people are having trouble staying away from it and it's ruining their lives. (Sure, that's it!)
Who knows. We won't lose any sleep over it. In fact Cranky Fitness can only aspire to become more of an addictive destructive internet temptation--like Sitemeter and Statcounter! (In our dreams).
33 comments:
Congratulations on being blocked! You must be in the big time...ReplyDelete
That saliva test is an awesome idea...but a test based on teh results of 30 patients? Eee...so cynical I am. It'll need way more testing if it is actually accurate.ReplyDelete
I hope it's real and not labspeak for "this might be something cool, so give me money and tenure so I can look into it".
If it *is * real tho? Cool...
I often wonder if people have stopped visiting me because I have tags called "food porn" and "asshats"...but then I thought it's probably because I whine so much.ReplyDelete
I love that you and Mary are so badass :P
Oh, I am so proud of you for being blocked!ReplyDelete
I clicked over to Covenant Eyes.
Be proud.
w00t! w00t!ReplyDelete
Hooray for Cranky Fitness getting blocked by some group!
Isn't that like winning an Oscar or an Edgar?
Hey, I'm a mystery writer--I'd love an Edgar, but I'd settle for being blocked!
Thanks bag lady & leah! You too could aspire to be banned--you just need to get little smuttier.ReplyDelete
Geosomin, good point about the small study size. Fingers crossed, though. Spitting is even easier than blood tests, so I'm rooting for more saliva testing.
Marie, I love that you have tags like Asshats! (And there are certainly enough of them around to necessitate lots of posts).
Hi Terrie!ReplyDelete
Well, from this lovely group, I consider being blocked quite an honor.
LOL, I was going to congratulate you on your blockage {grin} but I see that others have beat me to it.ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 14, 2008 at 10:42 AM
I'm currently writing a "penis post" for an upcoming column. :-(ReplyDelete
Dr. J
- AnonymousJanuary 14, 2008 at 11:11 AM
You know you've really made it when fundies start to think that you're corrupting teh poor childrenz and tempting teh interweb pron addicts!!ReplyDelete
Last night I posted about an R-rated adventure at the masseuse featuring the age-old question of "underwear or commando?" I too use Statcounter - how can I tell if I've been blocked? It's probably way too soon for it to show up, but I'm excited to maybe be a badass like you.ReplyDelete
It's probably your prolific use of 'WTF' which we all know means W**k T*t F**ker. Congrats! I'm sure jealous - but I'm too dang cheerful to swear a lot :)ReplyDelete
ohhhh...you're so taboo now. It's funny but this is the one blog where you hardly know anything about the author (which I totally understand with privacy issues and all) but yet you've still managed to offend someone! I like it- rock on!!!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 14, 2008 at 1:39 PM
Hello, my name is Luke Gilkerson and I work for Covenant Eyes. I noted your comment about being blocked by Covenant Eyes software so I had your blog examined by one of our site-score personelle. He says that your current blog post scored at a zero (that is, it wouldn't be filtered out). It is true that just a few terms deemed inappropriate by our filter settings will kick an otherwise innocuous site into the objectionable range.ReplyDelete
Thanks for letting us know.
Luke Gilkerson
Don't feel too bad about your technorati rating. Even WITH your new domain change, you're growing superspeedyfast. I'm jealous!ReplyDelete
So I'm curious, how could you tell you were blocked on Statcounter? Are you on some kind of naughty list or something?
oh, uh, nevermind. Luke pretty much answered my question.ReplyDelete
Well, gosh-darn it, Crabby, you weren't as much of a hardcore badass as you thought!ReplyDelete
- AnonymousJanuary 14, 2008 at 3:52 PM
Still badass in my book...ReplyDelete
I find it hilarious that Mr.Luke actually came in and looked around, but also find it a great use of resources to make sure their organization is doing things correctly...
Yay for the F-Word...One of my favorites...
Laura and Katieo--I just happenened to catch a funny looking URL on my statcounter, clicked it, and it led to page on the Covenant Eyes site that said Crankyfitness was blocked.ReplyDelete
And Thanks Luke, for responding so politely to my not-so-nice post!
Gosh, I have to say I'm disappointed though. They re-ran my site and now I'm a zero? Not a smutty badass after all?
Well, f*ck. I guess the asterisks really do work.
And Sambo, as you can tell, it's one of my favorites too!
WOW. I'm going to be honored by association k?ReplyDelete
Maybe they banned you for posting funny shit, on no, I just swore, is that bad, will that make things worse, are they going to come after me now? In scanning their "about" section I'm guessing that you are causing people to have the uncontrollable urge to visit your blog for some internet porn. Damn you! LOL
Crabby, isn't a zero what all those horribly thin people aspire to be? Oh, sorry that is a size - oh well! I would much rather be blocked than a zero, lets all say fuck and see if we can up her rating!ReplyDelete
All I saw was "I'm not addicted to porn, but . . . " and I knew it must be fabulous.ReplyDelete
Congrats on being blocked. I'm jealous; to my knowledge I've only been labeled inappropriate.
Thanks for the suggestion on Wide Lawns. This looks like a blog I could become addicted to (in addition to Cranky Fitness, obv) I promise never to block you, no matter haow many times you say Hoohoos. (cracks me up every time)ReplyDelete
That was nice of the guy to leave a comment about what makes a blog banned. Does make me feel a bit less of a rebel. :(ReplyDelete
I always thought there was too much damn profanity on this blog ;)
Figures the first thing I did after I read this post was look for the vagina and penis entries you mentioned! I'm such a perv...ReplyDelete
And I just read Luke's comment, so I guess you're not the potty mouth you thought you were! lol!
i am as addicted to checking my site stats as i am to the word "asshats". nice one, marie.ReplyDelete
YAY BEING FILTERED!!ReplyDelete
I have a friend who started a small press and her tag line is:
publishing the banned books of tomorrow.
your post make me think of that!
- AnonymousJanuary 15, 2008 at 8:54 AM
Congratulations, Mary, on getting to move before I do. (jealousjealousjealous)ReplyDelete
And...Cranky Fitness addictive? That must be why I save one post unread so I won't run out. Must have stash.
Mary Anne in Kentucky
Thanks guys!ReplyDelete
And Mary Anne, that's really sweet! (And if you're ever REALLY bored, there's always the archives.)
I'm jealous too about the moving... not the actual process but the eventual having-it-done.
- AnonymousJanuary 15, 2008 at 9:19 PM
You know I have this sickness to become the #1 Google search result for "muffin top." I am now #5 up from #10 last year but #1 and #2 are wikipedia and urban dictionary so it's gonna be Goliath tough but in my overly optimistic head, doable. It's now taken over my stat counting obsession. So far, I haven't been blocked by anyone, so perhaps I'll need to get a bit more potty mouth. Sounds like fun actually ;)ReplyDelete
What a great mission, Stephanie! The next time anything muffin top related comes along I will be sure to link to you!ReplyDelete
i just visited your blog for the first time a day or two ago, via Wide Lawn's linky link.ReplyDelete
i know i'll be back for more fitness, fun and words like fvck. ;0)
p.s. back in november i started a love affair...with myself. i'm making changes in my thinking and living resulting in 15 pounds gone so far. simple changes in thinking and eating. i look forward to reading your blog more in the future.
Thanks so much Mckay.ReplyDelete
Your blog(s) look very fun too--I love the way the internet keeps introducing me to cool people!
Thanks for commenting, Cranky Fitness readers are the BEST!
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(Note: Older Comment Threads Are Moderated)


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subset: commoncrawl


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[Open box] 13" Android 10 Vertical Screen Navigation Radio for Ford F-150 2009 - 2014
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Sometime this fall, probably soon, White Bear Lake will reach its lowest level on record -- lower than the mark it reached only two years ago.
But the course of the shrinking lake can't be entirely blamed on this summer's drought.
It also involves a man-made threat to one of the metro area's brightest jewels, and other lakes like it: the use of underground water for lawn watering, bathing and drinking.
Since 1980, growing communities in the northeast metro have more than doubled the volume of water they pump from the Prairie du Chien aquifer beneath them, pulling water from White Bear Lake and other lakes nearby, according to Perry Jones, a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) hydrologist.
Jones just completed a two-year study of groundwater-surface water interactions, which found that since about 2003, White Bear continued to drop even in wet periods -- a significant new trend. One reason: The city of White Bear Lake and nine surrounding communities pumped 2.6 billion gallons of water from the Prairie du Chien aquifer in 1980, but 6 billion in 2008. Most of that has been for residential use, while industrial and commercial use, including golf course watering, remained steady. The study found that it would take annual rainfall 4 inches above normal just to stop the lake's shrinkage.
White Bear and the surrounding lakes and streams are particularly prone to shrink quickly due to pumping because the sandy soil beneath them allows surface water to drain readily into the aquifer. White Bear Lake, in particular, is deep enough to have an easy exchange with the aquifer.
As a result, shoreline residents will have to continue dragging their docks hundreds of yards to reach water -- or trying to find them in tall brush -- while swimmers at the main public beach encounter a steep drop off at what used to be a long, shallow walk-in, and dozens of slips at the downtown marina remain vacant, with mud having replaced boats.
"I'm thinking White Bear Lake is reaching a 'new normal,'" said Molly Shodeen, a metro-area hydrologist for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
A big shallow end
White Bear dropped more that 5 1/2 feet between early 2003, when it was last at its "ordinary high water" level, and Nov. 13, 2010, when it reached the lowest level ever recorded. It rose partway back last year, but lost all of that in recent months, and last week was within about 2 1/2 inches of the record low again.
The drop has left residents reeling. Some have obtained permits from the DNR to mow the plants that have grown on the sandy lake bottom that now makes up their vast and growing front yards.
Lifelong resident Jan Holtz Kraemer said neighbors don't encounter each other as much as they used to, in the old days when "life was good and docks were short." In fact, she now goes down to the lake when she wants to be alone, she said; it's much quieter without jet skis and boats on the water. This summer she turned her White Bear Lake flag upside down to signal distress, until her psychiatrist advised her she wasn't responsible for the dwindling lake.
"The drought hasn't helped," Kraemer said. "I wish it were just God's fault. But it isn't.''
While the problem has been vivid at White Bear Lake, aquifer pumping has the potential to create much wider problems.
Shoreview's Turtle Lake, and others extending into Washington and Chisago counties, have seen similar drops in the last several years; South School Section Lake, a small lake in Washington County, dropped nearly 12 feet between a 1997 peak and the latest reading, last April.
"The metro area is still water-rich," said Keith Buttleman, an assistant general manager at the Met Council, which oversees long-range water demand and planning for the metro area. "However, it's not evenly distributed, and there are a number of areas where if the trends established over the past 20 to 40 years continue, there will be fairly serious problems."
Looking for fixes
But meanwhile, many communities, from Woodbury to White Bear, have already jumped into water conservation programs, from alternate-date lawn sprinkling to increased billing. Water use in the city of White Bear Lake dropped 20 percent in the last five years, said city manager Mark Sather. Sather said increasing the cost of water was one reason. Another is an aging population with smaller households.
"We're just seeing people use less water," Sather added. "They're becoming more aware of the issue."
Jones said one promising strategy -- indeed, an aim of the USGS study -- is to identify wells that draw the highest concentrations of lake water and move them farther away from the aquifer.
Other community groups are thinking more grandly. Lake associations along Snail and Gilfillan lakes in Shoreview have arranged to divert water heading from the Mississippi River into the city of St. Paul's reservoir system; now it would augment their lakes.
A citizens' task force looking at solutions for White Bear Lake is considering a pipeline that would carry water from the Mississippi River and filter out invasive critters before dumping it into the lake. Another idea: pumping and filtering water from nearby Bald Eagle Lake, which doesn't lose appreciable water to the aquifer. Yet another: building a wastewater treatment facility in the northeast metro, cleaning the water there instead of sending it to the Pig's Eye plant in St. Paul, and pumping it into the aquifer near White Bear.
All of them, however, show the scale of challenges facing a region long accustomed to plentiful water.
"There are no cheap fixes," Shodeen noted. "They're all very expensive."
Bill McAuliffe • 612-673-7646


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(SportsNetwork.com) - In hindsight, Vancouver should be impressed it limited San Jose rookie Tomas Hertl to just an assist in a meeting a week ago.
Hertl has been on a tear to begin his career and looks to build off his four- goal performance from last time out as the Sharks visit the Canucks on Thursday night.
The 19-year-old Hertl has logged seven points over his first three games. He picked up his first NHL point with an assist in a 4-1 win over the Canucks last Thursday, then scored twice to help the Sharks beat the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday.
He followed up with four goals in Tuesday's 9-2 victory over the New York Rangers, matching a franchise record for most goals in a game and setting a San Jose mark for the most goals by a rookie in a game.
The 17th overall pick of the 2012 draft matched Owen Nolan's four-goal performance from Dec. 19, 2005 and became the youngest player since Jimmy Carson on March 20, 1988 to net four goals in a game.
"This is a dream," said Hertl. "Four goals, I never in the Czech League. I never had three. In the NHL, it's crazy."
"That was special. You don't see that very often. That was very, very special," said Sharks center Joe Thornton of Hertl, who turns 20 on Nov. 12.
"He likes to score goals. You see that by his celebrations. He likes to put pucks in the back of the net. It's been fun to watch him the first three games."
Justin Braun, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Matthew Nieto, Logan Couture and Dan Boyle also tallied for the Sharks, while Antti Niemi made 18 saves in the win.
The Sharks were perfect on their three-game homestand to begin the season after opening the lockout-shortened campaign with a club-record 7-0 start.
San Jose, though, will play its first road contest of the season without defenseman Brad Stuart, who picked up a three-game suspension for an elbow delivered to Rangers forward Rick Nash on Tuesday.
The Canucks, meanwhile, have won three in a row since their season-opening loss to the Sharks and picked up a 3-2 overtime win on Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils and former teammate Cory Schneider.
Schneider was traded to the Devils this past offseason and was beaten at the 2:18 mark of overtime when a shot through traffic hit off Mike Santorelli and in.
It was the second straight overtime winner for Santorelli and second straight game in which Vancouver rallied from two goals down to win in overtime.
"You don't want to spot them a 2-0 lead, but I appreciate how they just stayed with it," Vancouver coach John Tortorella said. "There was no panic on our bench. We just started playing a little quicker and a little bit simpler."
Daniel Sedin and Alexander Edler also scored for the Canucks, while Roberto Luongo made 21 saves to outduel his former teammate Schneider.
"We got the win, so that's what matters at the end of the day. I thought we both played a good game," said Luongo.
The Sharks have won four straight over the Canucks after their home victory a week ago. Niemi made 21 saves and San Jose got goals from four different skaters.
Niemi is 7-6-2 with a 2.67 goals against average and .912 save percentage in 15 career meetings versus the Canucks, while Luongo is 9-11-4 with a 2.75 GAA and .914 save percentage against the Sharks.
Luongo made 31 saves in last Thursday's meeting.
The Sharks have won eight of the last 14 encounters overall and three of its last four in Vancouver.


text:
SEMI announced today the formation of a Three-Dimensional Stacked Integrated Circuits (3DS-IC) Standards Committee. 3DS-ICs are composed of a stack of two-dimensional die, and are viewed as critical in helping the semiconductor industry keep pace with Moore's Law. Current integration methods like wirebond and flip chip have been in production for some time, but the next generation of 3D integration incorporates through-silicon via (TSV) technology as the primary method of interconnect between the die. While TSVs are one of the most rapidly developing technologies in the semiconductor industry, cost-effective high-volume manufacturing will be difficult to achieve unless manufacturing standards are developed.
3DS-ICs promise a fundamental shift for current multi-chip integration and packaging approaches. 3DS-ICs are already in production for CMOS image sensors; high-volume manufacturing for Wide Input/Output Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (IO SDRAM) is expected in 2013. Widespread use of 3DS-ICs would result in increased performance, smaller footprints, and reduced cost and power consumption. However, multiple manufacturing challenges must first be solved because 3DS-ICs' increased design and mechanical complexity can lead to signal interference, increased manufacturing defects, and thermal management issues.
To gather industry input and identify potential standardization topics, SEMI worked with SEMATECH to report recent progress, identify areas of concern for 3D TSV integration, and identify the gaps between existing technologies and future solutions. SEMATECH represents companies including GLOBALFOUNDRIES, HP, IBM, Intel, Samsung, and UMC. Other companies supporting the formation of a SEMI 3DS-IC Standards Committee include: Amkor, ASE, IMEC, ITRI, Olympus, Qualcomm, Semilab, Tokyo Electron, and Xilinx.
The proposed charter for the 3DS-IC Committee is to explore, evaluate, and create consensus-based specifications, guidelines, and practices that, through voluntary compliance, will:
- Promote mutual understanding and improved communication between users and suppliers of 3DS-IC materials, carriers, equipment, automation systems and devices
- Enhance the manufacturing efficiency, capability and shorten 3DS-IC time-to-market
- Reduce manufacturing cost in the 3DS-IC industry
The 3DS-IC Standards Committee will initially consist of three Task Forces:
- Bonded Wafer Pair (BWP) Task Force: This group will create a standard for BWP, using SEMI M1 (Specifications for Polished Single Crystal Silicon Wafers) as a starting point. The focus will be on TSV-focus, wafer-pair geometry, edges, and equipment issues with BWP. Andy Rudack (SEMATECH) is the Task Force leader.
- Inspection and Metrology Task Force: With no existing standards in place, the group will seek to identify and create new standards that address deficiencies for metrology and inspection created by 3DS-IC. This includes issues like TSV depth, BWP thickness/TTV, Microbump co-planarity, Defect, and Overlay. Chris Moore (Semilab) is the Task Force leader.
- Thin Wafer Carrier Task Force: Currently no standards exist so this group will identify and create new standards for thinned wafer carriers to address deficiencies created by 3DS-IC. Scope could include issues like thin wafer handling, thin wafer carriers (automation, shipping, process). Urmi Ray (Qualcomm) is the Task Force Leader.
Initial face-to-face meetings of the SEMI 3DS-IC Standards Committee will occur at the SEMI Americas Spring Standards meetings in San Jose, California in March 2011. For information on SEMI Standards or on how to join the 3DS-IC Standards Committee, please contact James Amano at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
You're reading an outdated article. Please go to the recent issues to find up-to-date content.
Spending tax season at the zoo:
Remember the party game where you asked, "If you could be any animal, which one would you be?" In honor of the spring tax season, here are a few glimpses of the Internal Revenue Service, morphing into the roles of different animals. All stories are true, but the names are removed to protect the innocent.
This animal makes its own rules and smashes anything that gets in its way. One subcontractor experienced a rude awakening after closing the family business.
Two years after the final details were supposedly settled, a notice from the IRS arrived at the owner's home, claiming that it never received the last two quarterly employment tax reports. Oddly, the agency had simply created its own version. The fact that the company had downsized payroll substantially during the final six months meant that the demand amount exceeded the actual calculations, and penalties and interest for two years had inflated the total.
After another eight years, the owner's lawyer is still attempting to settle the dispute and obtain a refund on seized assets, including the illegal taking of retirement funds. The district director of the IRS has been cited twice for contempt of court for ignoring the orders of a federal court judge to deal in good faith. Staff changes have stalled negotiations with the U.S. Attorney's office, and a new judge has yet to appoint a mediator.
Unusual? Hardly. Cases as old as 15 years are still moving through the court system.
Little dogs dart out from under the couch, take nips from a leg or ankle and disappear to plan the next sneak attack. They are annoying and tenacious in doing small amounts of damage over time.
The subcontractor whose quarterly tax payments were applied incorrectly year after year had felt these small bites. It was not enough to write the appropriate numbers and dates on the checks or include the correct coupons when the deposits were made at the bank. The overpayments for the first quarter of the new year weren't the problem; it was the constant negotiating to remove interest and penalties.
Sometimes, it's not the size of the problem, but the constant repetition of the same mistake, and the cost to correct it, that is most annoying.
For the subcontractor faced with the following situation, it seemed that everyone at the IRS "had the brains of a gnat." No one could solve the problem or answer his questions logically.
A notice arrived stating that the company had overpaid its tax obligations by $500. The subcontractor was pleasantly surprised, and prepared to allocate the windfall until he read further. Interest and penalties of $1,000 had been applied, adjusting the credit of $500 to create a $500 deficiency. It took several calls, letters and, eventually, legal fees to get someone to understand that the company did not owe any money. Perhaps it is so rare for a subcontractor to receive a credit that there was nothing in the system to address the situation, or any notice automatically triggered penalty and interest calculations.
After reading these anecdotes, you may feel less persecuted if you have had similar experiences. In fact, an informal survey of business owners who have operated for more than a few years or have sold, transferred or closed their companies will produce many such stories.
At least one subcontractor enjoyed a small personal victory after receiving an audit notice without an Office of Management and Budget number on the form. Having testified for the reenactment of the Paperwork Reduction Act, she knew that all forms were required to include an OMB number, verifying that this agency had affirmed the estimated compliance time. When she refused the request, the auditor replied that the regional office used personal computers and did not print those numbers on their forms. Eventually, they managed to issue a corrected form.
When the auditor arrived, the owner worried that her protest would provoke this imposing woman, who was already under pressure to perform well on her first audit. Instead, other family staff members were asked to defend their expense reimbursement requests, while the owner was presumed to have her papers in order.
Sometimes, knowing a little more about the rules allows you to poke a stick at the tiger and realize it is just a little kitty cat. Small victories are rare, and it is still important to pick your battles carefully. In any dispute, the IRS is only as accurate, compassionate and responsive as the people who work there, and even when you win a dispute, you lose time, money and the positive attitude that keeps you going through the rough patches. So be prepared, and keep your paperwork current because you never know what kind of animal will appear at your door. EC
NORBERG-JOHNSON is a former subcontractor and past president of two national construction associations. She may be reached via e-mail at [email protected].
About The Author
Denise Norberg-Johnson is a former subcontractor and past president of two national construction associations. She may be reached at [email protected].


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BOSTON — Claude Julien decided not to give his goalie a pep talk after a pratfall in the crease handed the Rangers a goal that had the potential to turn the series around.
Instead, the Bruins coach waited until after Tuukka Rask responded with 28 saves to help Boston beat New York 3-1 in Game 5 on Saturday and advance to the Eastern Conference finals.
"That's what I told Tuukka at the end of the game, 'You can start laughing now,'" Julien said after the Bruins followed their seven-game series against Toronto by avoiding a nail-biter against the Rangers.
"We probably played with fire in the first round and almost got burnt," Julien said. "We knew we couldn't let our guard down (against New York). Because if we did, they would come right back at us."
Gregory Campbell scored twice and recent call-up Torey Krug scored his fourth goal of the series for Boston, which will meet Pittsburgh for the right to play for the Stanley Cup. The Bruins reached the third round of the NHL playoffs for the second time since 1992.
The other was 2011, when the Bruins won the sixth Stanley Cup in franchise history.
Tim Thomas was in goal then, and Rask's playoff memories aren't quite so fond. The 26-year-old Finn was the Bruins' starter when they blew a 3-0 lead in the 2010 East semifinals against Philadelphia, giving up a 3-0 lead in Game 7 as the Flyers advanced.
Boston was up 3-0 in the second-round series against New York this year, with a 2-0 lead in Game 4 when Rask tripped on a rut in the crease and flailed at a slow-moving puck as it rolled over the line. The Rangers went on to win 4-3 in overtime, forcing the series back to Boston for a fifth game.
"We wanted to make sure we ended this series — for all the right reasons," including rest for players who went to overtime in Game 7 against Toronto, Julien said. "It also gives Tuukka the opportunity to laugh about that goal."
Rask made sure there wouldn't be another collapse, stopping Ryan Callahan on a breakaway with just under 10 minutes to play. Callahan split the defense and went to his backhand, but Rask turned it away with the blocker on his right arm.
"As a goalie, you expect to make one or two big saves. And today it happened," Rask said. "I didn't feel bad about myself after Game 4; obviously, there was a little screw-up there with that goal. But I didn't let that bother me, and I felt like I played a decent game after that.
"Coming in today, I just wanted to be rock solid back there, and give our team a chance to win the game."
Campbell broke a 1-1 tie in the second period, then added an empty-netter with 51 seconds left to clinch it after Henrik Lundqvist was pulled for an extra skater.
Lundqvist made 29 saves and Dan Girardi scored for the Rangers, who lost to New Jersey in last year's East finals.
"I expected more from us, and I hoped for more," Lundqvist said. "Right now, it's just an empty feeling, and disappointment. Some years you don't really have a chance to go that far in the playoffs, you just battle hard. I think this year, we had a pretty good team, but there were a few games when we didn't reach our top level. When you play a team like Boston, it's going to be tough to beat them."
The Rangers fell behind 3-0 in the series before winning Game 4 on Thursday night to avoid a sweep, thanks in part to two soft goals that caught Rask off-guard. They took an early lead on Saturday, but they could not send the series back to New York for a sixth game.
"I watched our team fight tonight to extend this series. We get it on a big guy's stick with a chance to tie it," Rangers coach John Tortorella said. "So it goes. They were the better team. They deserved to win."
Girardi made it 1-0 on a power-play goal with 9:21 left in first, one-timing a pass from Mats Zucarello into the net. The Bruins scored a power-play goal of their own 3:48 into the second when Krug took a pass from Tyler Seguin and hit the top of the net.
Ten minutes later, Daniel Paille sent the puck to the net and it got caught up in traffic. Shawn Thornton knocked it to Campbell, who swept it in for the go-ahead goal.
The Rangers pulled Lundqvist with 1:15 left, but the Bruins quickly found the empty net on a slow-rolling shot by Campbell.
Notes: The Rangers had been 3-for-42 in the playoffs on the power play, but they scored on one for the second straight game … Krejci led all scorers in the playoffs (5G, 12A) entering Saturday's game. … Bruins D Dennis Seidenberg, who was injured in the first minute of Game 7 in the first round, returned to the lineup. Dougie Hamilton was a scratch. … Rangers F Brad Richards, the 2004 Conn Smythe Trophy winner, was a scratch for the second straight game. … Rangers F Derek Stepan took a puck in the face in the first period and skated off but returned a short time later.
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How Rumsfeld misleads and ducks responsibility in his new book
Few people know the ins and outs of the Bush Administration as well as the Washington Post's Bob Woodward, who is flat-out disgusted with the evasions and elisions in Donald Rumsfeld's new book. Here he explains why: By Bob Woodward Best Defense guest columnist On page 527 of his memoir Known and Unknown, Donald Rumsfeld ...
Few people know the ins and outs of the Bush Administration as well as the Washington Post's Bob Woodward, who is flat-out disgusted with the evasions and elisions in Donald Rumsfeld's new book. Here he explains why:
Few people know the ins and outs of the Bush Administration as well as the Washington Post's Bob Woodward, who is flat-out disgusted with the evasions and elisions in Donald Rumsfeld's new book. Here he explains why:
By Bob Woodward
Best Defense guest columnist
On page 527 of his memoir Known and Unknown, Donald Rumsfeld recounts what he says was an exchange on Oct. 14, 2003 with Condoleezza Rice who was then Bush's national security adviser. She apologized for a flap over Iraq policy at the time.
You're failing," Rumsfeld said.
"Don, you've made mistakes in your long career," she replied.
"Yes, but I've tried to clean them up," he said.
Rumsfeld's memoir is one big clean-up job, a brazen effort to shift blame to others — including President Bush — distort history, ignore the record or simply avoid discussing matters that cannot be airbrushed away. It is a travesty, and I think the rewrite job won't wash.
The Iraq War is essential to the understanding of the Bush presidency and the Rumsfeld era at the Pentagon. In the book, Rumsfeld tries to push so much off on Bush. That is fair because Bush made the ultimate decisions. But the record shows that it was Rumsfeld stoking the Iraq fires — facts he has completely left out of his memoir.
For example, I reported in my 2004 book, Plan of Attack (p. 25), that at 2:40 p.m. on 9/11, with the smoke and dust still filling the Pentagon, according to the notes of two of Rumsfeld's top aides, Rumsfeld mused about whether to hit "S.H. @ same time," not only bin Laden. One note taker reaffirmed this in an interview with the 9/11 Commission, and said that "S.H." referred to Saddam Hussein. (p. 335 of Commission report, and p. 559 footnote 63). None of this is in Rumsfeld's book. But he does cite the aides' handwritten notes for other quotations he uses in his book to recount that day. (p. 343 of his book, and p. 759 notes 30, 31 and 32. The notes are of senior Rumsfeld aides Victoria Clarke and Stephen A. Cambone.)
On January 9, 2002, four months after 9/11, Dan Balz of The Washington Post and I interviewed Rumsfeld for a newspaper series on the Bush administration's response to 9/11. According to notes of the NSC, on September 12, the day after 9/11, Rumsfeld again raised Iraq saying, is there a need to address Iraq as well as bin Laden?
When Balz read this to Rumsfeld, he blew up. "I didn't say that," he said, maintaining that it was his aide Larry DiRita talking over his shoulder. His reaction was comic and we agreed to treat it as off the record. But Balz persisted and asked Rumsfeld what he was thinking.
"Yeah," Rumsfeld finally told us. "I wanted to make sure that — I always ask myself, what's missing. It's easy for people to edit and make something slightly better. But the question is, what haven't we asked ourselves? So I do it all the time. I do it here, I do it in cabinet meetings or NSC meetings. It was a fair question."
"I don't have notes," Rumsfeld insisted. "I don't have any notes." His memoir cites his personal handwritten notes dozens of time.
One of the important questions about the Iraq War has always been about when and who started the Iraq clock after 9/11. On page 425, Rumsfeld alleges that Bush on Sept 26, 2001 — just 15 days after 9/11 — called him to the Oval Office. "He asked that I take a look at the shape of our military plans on Iraq…" Rumsfeld provides no footnote for this scene.
When I interviewed Rumsfeld at his Pentagon office on Oct. 23, 2003, Rumsfeld had a different story. "I do not remember much about Iraq being discussed at all with the president or me or the NSC prior to when the president asked me to — asked me what I thought of the Iraq contingency plan — that I believe was November 21st of '01." He was confident of the date because six days later he went to talk with the combatant commander for the region, Gen. Tommy Franks. "And I would not have waited long from the president asking me."
White House records and President Bush's recent memoir, Decision Points, support the Nov. 21 date. "Two months after 9/11 I asked Don Rumsfeld to review the existing battle plans for Iraq," Bush wrote, placing the request in November 2001 (p. 234)
The question of the date is not just a matter of whether something occurred on a Monday or a Thursday. On Sept. 26, 2001, the Bush administration was focused on Afghanistan. The first CIA team had just entered and the bombing had not yet begun. By his own account Rumsfeld was intensely trying to figure out how to begin the military aspect of Afghanistan War with bombing and inserting Special Operations teams.
At a Camp David meeting on Sept. 15 — eleven days before Rumsfeld says Bush made his first Iraq war plan inquiry — Bush rejected going after Iraq. In fact, Rumsfeld himself writes, that "at the September 15 NSC meeting at Camp David days earlier when Iraq had been raised he [Bush] had specifically kept the focus on Afghanistan." (p. 425)
According to Rumsfeld, on Sept. 21, he and General Franks "drove over to the White House to present his initial operational concept" for Afghanistan (p. 370) and a more detailed approach was given to Bush on Sept. 30 (p. 373). It is inconsistent with everything known that in the middle of all that planning and anguish over Afghanistan, Bush would raise Iraq on Sept. 26.
However, by Nov. 21, the United States had had unexpected success in Afghanistan and controlled half the territory. Thousands of Taliban and al Qaeda fighters had fled the capital Kabul into Pakistan. If Bush were looking for another target — and he clearly was — that would be the time, not on Sept. 26.
Another key question: When did Bush finally decide to commit the United States to war? Rumsfeld writes, "Up until the very minute the president authorized the first strike [March 19, 2003] there was no moment when I felt with razor-sharp certainty that Bush had fully decided." He does describe a meeting Jan. 11, two months earlier, when he met at the White House with Cheney, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers, and Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador to the United States. Rumsfeld quotes Cheney telling Bandar, "The president has made the decision to go after Saddam Hussein." In his book Rumsfeld adds, "Of course, Bush would not irrevocably decide on war until he signed the execute order." (p. 450)
According to my reporting, Cheney went further in that meeting, telling the Saudi ambassador, "Saddam is toast." In addition, General Myers outlined the battle plan from a Top Secret map.
When I interviewed Rumsfeld on Oct. 23, 2003, less than a year after that meeting, he said he "looked him [Bandar] in the eye and said, you can count on this. In other words at some point we had had enough of a signal from the president that we were able to look a foreign dignitary in the eye and say you can take that to the bank this is going to happen."
All other evidence shows that at least by Jan. 2003, Bush had decided on war. Earlier that month he told Rice, "Probably going to have to, we're going to have to go to war." That month he also told Karl Rove, his top political adviser, who was planning for the re-election campaign the next year, "We got a war coming."
As numerous accounts have documented, the post-war planning and organization was close to a disaster. Rumsfeld blames the lack of "effective interagency coordination" and "the way the United States government is organized." (p. 487)
As secretary of defense he was responsible. Under our system, he was next in the chain of command after the president, effectively making him the deputy president for war. But he sidestepped his responsibility time and time again.
Some six weeks after the invasion Rumsfeld visited Iraq and was leaving on his plane. He had been notified by General Tommy R. Franks, who was retiring as combatant commander for the region, that Army Lt. Gen. David McKiernan "would be the senior commander in Iraq for 90 days." (p. 497) He then recounts this scene, which would be hilarious if it weren't so tragic:
On my flight heading back to Kuwait City I was startled to see McKiernan onboard the C-130 aircraft. I asked him where he was going.
"To my headquarters back in Kuwait," he said.
"Well, aren't you in charge of what's going on in Iraq?" I asked.
McKiernan told me he went in and out of Iraq once, sometimes twice a week to check on things. It struck me that in the crucial weeks following the fall of Saddam, McKiernan did not seem to think of himself as the command in charge of the ground operations … McKiernan seemed to have removed himself from the critical daily responsibilities in the country.
Rumsfeld makes no effort to explain how he, the well-known control freak, would allow such drift and ambiguity about who was in charge.
By June 2003, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the junior three-star in the Army was made commander in Iraq (p. 500-01). "I do not recall being made aware of the Army's decision to move General Sanchez into the top position," Rumsfeld writes. The Army's? It was an abdication of his own, clear responsibility.
Though Rumsfeld occasionally praises Bush, a careful reading shows that he clearly feels that Bush did not lead enough. "NSC meetings with the president did not always end with clear conclusions and instructions," he wrote on page 319, seemingly directing his fire at Rice. "The core problems the NSC faced resulted from the effort to paper over differences of views."(p. 329). But then he takes aim right at Bush, "I thought it unlikely that Rice was managing the NSC as she did without Bush's awareness and agreement."
And so the book marches to the end. Chapter 49, the seven pages covering his firing by Bush as the secretary of defense, is called "Farewells." He launders the whole episode. Because he was willing to resign, he makes it sounds almost voluntary when Cheney calls to tell him that Bush wants "to make a change." When he meets with Bush (p. 707) to submit his resignation letter, Rumsfeld writes with classic condescension, "I tried to make the situation easier for him." It was almost, he subtly and deceptively suggests, as if Bush didn't want to do it. He writes that Bush told him, "This is hard for me. You are a pro. You're a hell of a lot better than others in this town."
Rumsfeld is indeed a pro — at ducking and weaving and dodging responsibility, a reflection of much of what is worst in Washington.
Near the end of the Oct. 23, 2003 interview — page 39 of my transcript — this interchange took place, illustrating the worst and the best of him:
Rumsfeld: "And you lie, you told people I stuck a finger in your chest. I never stuck a finger in your chest."
Woodward: "Yes, sir, yes, yes."
Rumsfeld: "I never touched your chest."
Woodward: "I swear you did."
Rumsfeld: "Did I?"
Woodward: "Yeah, you did."
Rumsfeld: "Physically?"
Woodward: "You did, physically, it wasn't hostile you were illustrating a point."
Rumsfeld: "Good."
Woodward: "I explained that. I thought you scored a very good point."
Rumsfeld: (laughter)
Woodward: "Which was about surprise and off balance."
Rumsfeld: "Oh yes, I did. I remember that you're right …Yeah, right, you are right …I said you got to get a little off balance — I've done that. He's right, I'm wrong."
He had moved from calling me a liar to acknowledging that my memory was correct and his wrong. He probably should have been more tentative at both the front end and the back end, but there it was, Rumsfeld in full.
On July 7 and 8, 2006, I conducted nearly three hours of interviews with Rumsfeld. Near the end, I heard the final denial. I quoted Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara who had said, "Any military commander who is honest with you will say he's made mistakes that have cost lives."
"Is that correct?" I asked.
"I don't know. I suppose that a military commander –"
"Which you are," I interrupted.
"No, I'm not," Rumsfeld said.
"Yes, sir," I said.
"No, no well …"
"Yes, yes," I said, raising my hand in the air and ticking off the chain of command. "It's commander in chief, secretary of defense, combatant commander."
He said, "I can see a military commander in a uniform who is engaged in a conflict having to make decisions that result in people living or dying and that that would be a truth. And certainly if you go up the chain to the civilian side to the president and to me, you could by indirection, two or three steps removed, make the case."
I quoted this interchange in my third Bush book, State of Denial, and then wrote: "Indirection? Two or three steps removed?" This was truly inexplicable. It was as if he could not see himself and realize that he was avoiding his duty. When all the records are available, the other memoirs written and the history complete, this failure to accept responsibility will likely be his legacy.
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text:
Many symptomatic conditions of asthma require clinical care by a physician or other health care professional. Listed in the directory below are some of the conditions that result from allergic reactions, for which we have provided a brief overview.
Asthma Overview
Asthma and Pregnancy
Asthma and Children
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Asthma Knowledge Quiz
Francesca Torriani, MD
Medical Director, Infection Prevention and Clinical Epidemiology
UC San Diego | School of Medicine


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Huskies top Vandals in women's hoops
SEATTLE – The Idaho women's basketball team held Washington to 28 percent shooting, but the Vandals shot just 27 percent and had 22 turnovers in a 62-48 loss on Sunday afternoon.
Idaho falls to 3-7 with the loss while Washington improves to 7-3.
Three Vandal players scored in double figures in the game, led by junior Alyssa Charlston who had her third double-double of the season with 15 points and 14 rebounds.
"It was pretty physical for Alyssa down there," Idaho coach Jon Newlee said. "I think people watching film think that's the way they're going to stop her, and it has worked at times. Tonight she fought through that and certainly got into a rhythm in the first half. I thought Alyssa did a great job tonight."
Junior Addie Schivo went 4-for-5 from the field and scored a career-high 12 points, while freshman Christina Salvatore went 3-of-7 from 3-point range and finished with 10 points.
"Addie played well in her minutes in Southern California," Newlee said. "She has been doing well and she has shot the ball well in practice, and I think she is our best 3-point shooter. We thought we would give her some minutes against that trap and that zone, and she came in and did a good job. I liked her game tonight and she also did a good job defensively."
The Vandals fell behind 6-0 early in the first half, but later went on a 10-0 run to take a five point lead midway through the period. The Huskies responded, and the lead changed a total of eight times before Washington used an 8-0 run to close the half and take a 29-22 lead into the break. Fourteen of Idaho's 22 turnovers came in the first half, and Washington converted those into 14 points by halftime.
"We made some poor decisions out of their doubles tonight, especially on top, which led to their scores," Newlee said. "I told them that if you give it up 22 times and give up 20 offensive rebounds, you're not going to beat anybody."
Washington kept its distance throughout the second half. The Vandals were able to cut the deficit to seven with 13:24 to play, but Washington built it back to as many as 15 before winning by 14.
Idaho hit just 16-of-59 shots in the game, and just 5-of-26 3-pointers. The Huskies were nearly as cold, going 21-for-75 and 4-for-19 from 3-point range, but Idaho's 22 turnovers, double UW's 11, and Washington's 53-49 advantage on the glass, including 20-11 on the offensive end, gave the Huskies 16 more shot attempts than Idaho. The Vandals didn't help themselves from the free-throw line either, going 11-of-20.
The Huskies were led by 19 points from Jazmine Davis, who added eight rebounds. Talia Walton and Aminah Williams added 12 points each for UW, and Mercedes Wetmore and Kristi Kingma each scored eight.
Idaho wraps up non-conference play at Gonzaga on Dec. 20 before returning home for the first time in a month to host Seattle U on Dec. 29 in the Western Athletic Conference opener for both teams.


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fgetc, getc, getc_unlocked, getchar, getchar_unlocked, getw -- get next
character or word from input stream
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
#include <stdio.h>
fgetc(FILE *stream);
getc(FILE *stream);
getc_unlocked(FILE *stream);
getchar_unlocked(FILE *stream);
getw(FILE *stream);
The fgetc() function obtains the next input character (if present) from
the stream pointed at by stream, or the next character pushed back on the
stream via ungetc(3).
The getc() function acts essentially identically to fgetc().
The getchar() function is equivalent to getc(stdin).
The getw() function obtains the next int (if present) from the stream
pointed at by stream.
The getc_unlocked() and getchar_unlocked() functions are equivalent to
getc() and getchar() respectively, except that the caller is responsible
for locking the stream with flockfile(3) before calling them. These
functions may be used to avoid the overhead of locking the stream for
each character, and to avoid input being dispersed among multiple threads
reading from the same stream.
If successful, these routines return the next requested object from the
stream. Character values are returned as an unsigned char converted to
an int. If the stream is at end-of-file or a read error occurs, the routines
return EOF. The routines feof(3) and ferror(3) must be used to
distinguish between end-of-file and error. If an error occurs, the
global variable errno is set to indicate the error. The end-of-file condition
is remembered, even on a terminal, and all subsequent attempts to
read will return EOF until the condition is cleared with clearerr(3).
ferror(3), flockfile(3), fopen(3), fread(3), getwc(3), putc(3), ungetc(3)
The fgetc(), getc() and getchar() functions conform to ISO/IEC 9899:1990
(``ISO C89''). The getc_unlocked() and getchar_unlocked() functions conform
to IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (``POSIX.1'').
Since EOF is a valid integer value, feof(3) and ferror(3) must be used to
check for failure after calling getw(). The size and byte order of an
int varies from one machine to another, and getw() is not recommended for
portable applications.
FreeBSD 5.2.1 January 10, 2003 FreeBSD 5.2.1


text:
Perry, filibuster star clash over Texas abortions
Texas governor says filibuster star's own life story should make her oppose abortion
GRAPEVINE, Texas (AP) -- Gov. Rick Perry on Thursday admonished the star of a Democratic filibuster that helped kill new Texas abortion restrictions, saying state Sen. Wendy Davis' rise from a tough upbringing to Harvard Law graduate should have taught her the value of each human life.
The Republican governor expanded on those remarks later, publicly wondering what might have happened if Davis' own mother had undergone an abortion rather than carry her child to term.
Davis, a Fort Worth Democrat, shot back that Perry's statement "tarnishes the high office he holds."
Before the white-hot battle over abortion in the nation's second-largest state turned personal, Davis staged a marathon filibuster Tuesday helping to defeat an omnibus bill that would have further limited abortions in a place where it's already difficult to undergo them. But Perry called lawmakers back for a second special session next week to try and finish the job.
"Who are we to say that children born in the worst of circumstances can't lead successful lives?" Perry said in a speech to nearly 1,000 delegates at the National Right to Life Conference in suburban Dallas. "Even the woman who filibustered the Senate the other day was born into difficult circumstances."
Davis, 50, has rocketed to sudden, national political stardom thanks to donning pink running shoes and delivering the marathon speech on the floor of the state Senate.
She started working at age 14 to help support a household of her single mother and three siblings. By 19, she was already married and divorced with a child of her own, but she eventually graduated with honors from Harvard Law School and won her Senate seat in an upset.
Davis' surge in popularity came as no surprise to Texas Democrats, who chose her as the face of the battle to block the bill. Since arriving at the Texas Capitol, she has earned derision and respect for her ability to dissect a complex bill and make her opponents squirm under tough questioning.
Perry pointed out Davis' personal history in his speech, adding "it's just unfortunate that she hasn't learned from her own example that every life must be given a chance to realize its full potential and that every life matters."
In comments to reporters afterward, he went even further.
"I'm proud that she's been able to take advantage of her intellect and her hard work, but she didn't come from particularly good circumstances," the governor said. "What if her mom had said, 'I just can't do this. I don't want to do this.' At that particular point in time I think it becomes very personal."
Davis quickly fired off an email blasting Perry's comments.
"They are small words that reflect a dark and negative point of view," she said. "Our governor should reflect our Texas values. Sadly, Gov. Perry fails that test."
Davis' supporters argued Perry never would have made such suggestions to a male politician.
"Rick Perry's remarks are incredibly condescending and insulting to women," Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement. "This is exactly why the vast majority of Texans believe that politicians shouldn't be involved in a woman's personal health care decisions."
The Texas Legislature adjourned May 27, but Perry called legislators into a first 30-day special session to pass stricter limits on abortion, including banning the procedure after 20 weeks of pregnancy. But with the extra session set to end at midnight on Tuesday, Davis was on her feet for more than 12 hours — speaking most of that time — as Senate Democrats attempted a filibuster.
Just before the final gavel, Republican lawmakers silenced her for addressing a topic other than the bill she was opposing — only to have hundreds of abortion rights activists cheer so loudly from the public gallery that all business in the chamber halted until it was too late.
Perry, a conservative and devout Christian, has put the abortion measure at the top of the agenda for the second special session, which begins Monday. It would force many clinics that perform abortions to upgrade their facilities to be classified as ambulatory surgical centers. Doctors also would be required to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles.
Opponents say such improvements are so expensive that only five of Texas' 42 abortion clinics would remain in operation.
Abortion rights groups have promised to respond with more protests, including one scheduled Monday for the state Capitol. Perry, meanwhile, called those who oppose abortion to action, telling the conference, "the world has seen images of pro-abortion activists screaming, cheering. Going forward, we have to match their intensity."
Adding intrigue to his grudge match with Davis is the fact that Perry had been expected to announce this week if he will seek a fourth full term as governor next year. But he said Thursday that announcement will now be delayed until lawmakers can finish the extra work he's given them.
Davis is up for re-election too next year, but had been urged by Democratic operatives even before her filibuster to consider running for governor.
She has acknowledged mulling a run for statewide office but says she wants to wait for the right time. A Democrat hasn't won such a post in Texas since 1994, and the state Democratic Party would face a major challenge establishing the organization or infrastructure necessary to deliver enough votes.
Asked what he thought of Davis as a possible gubernatorial candidate, Perry shrugged and said: "I don't have a clue."


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Get Started with Buddhist Meditation
1: What Is Meditation?
Introduction: What Meditation Is — And Is Not (8:35)
Section 1 Review
Related Reading: "Meditation Is the Practice of Being Alive"
2: Why Do Buddhist Meditation?
Meditation Misconceptions / What Should We Want From Meditation? (10:17)
Section 2 Review
Related Reading: "Something Quite Extraordinary Can Happen in Even Five Minutes."
3: How to Do Buddhist Meditation
Susan Leads You Through the Practice (13:32)
Section 3 Review
4: How to Keep Your Practice Going
How to Get a Regular Meditation Practice Underway / Sustaining Your Practice (9:35)
Section 4 Review
Related Reading: "Three Tips for Maintaining Your Practice — And a Good Attitude About It"
Related Reading: "Taking Refuge in the Three Jewels"
5: Closing Tips & Encouragement
Working With Obstacles / Notes About Posture / The Most Important Thing (8:10)
Section 5 Review
Related Reading: "Open to Whatever: Three Meditation Teachers on Facing Obstacles to the Practice"
Section 1 Review
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MYRTLE BEACH (AP) — A Spirit Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Boston has been diverted to South Carolina because of a cracked windshield.
Myrtle Beach Assistant Airport Director Kirk Lovell says Spirit Airlines Flight 610 landed safely shortly before 11 a.m. Friday.
Lovell said no one on the plane was hurt. He did not know what caused the crack in the plane's windshield. But he said maintenance crews were working on it early Friday afternoon.
It was unclear how soon the plane would be able to resume the flight to Boston. Lovell said some passengers may have taken other flights out of Myrtle Beach.