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Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012 | 2:36 p.m.
Las Vegas educators view Nevada's proposed teacher evaluation system with some trepidation, but also say it represents an opportunity to improve the profession.
During the past year, a 15-member state board has been drafting standards for a new teacher evaluation system that aims to boost student achievement in Nevada's low-ranked public schools. The effort follows the Legislature's passage of a bill in 2011 mandating development of the state's first uniform system for evaluating educators.
The new system would take into account student achievement data – test scores and growth measures – for at least half of a teacher's evaluation. This new system must be adopted by the state Education Board by June 1, 2013, and be fully implemented in all 17 school districts by the 2014-15 school year.
The Teachers and Leaders Council – composed of a wide range of educators and community members – plans to present its final recommendations to the state Education Board on Dec. 14. Leading up to the presentation, council members and state education department officials are conducting four meetings across the state to seek public input on the proposed recommendations.
On Tuesday night, nearly 50 teachers showed up to a Las Vegas-area information session at the nonprofit Teachers Health Trust organized by the state Education Department and the local teachers union. The discussion over the contentious evaluation system was frank, with many teachers raising concerns over its implementation but praising the council for its work thus far.
"It's on the right track. This will help teachers become better teachers," said Jill Jaeger, a social studies teacher at Spring Valley High School. "But there are some glitches that need to be ironed out. The language needs to be worked on."
Karlana Kulseth, a seventh-grade English teacher at Faiss Middle School, agreed.
"No one likes change," she said. "There's a lot of angst over having to prove ourselves, but I honestly see a change. Hopefully teachers get better credit for their work."
Leslie James, an education program professional with the Nevada Department of Education, explained to teachers why the new statewide teacher evaluation system was being developed.
Currently each district has its own teacher evaluation system. In Clark County, evaluations are based on an administrator observing classroom instruction a couple of times each year, totaling at least 60 minutes. Teachers are considered either satisfactory or unsatisfactory, based on the observation.
This subjective and binary system fails to differentiate teacher performance and recognize there is a range of effective teachers, James said. As a result, about 99 percent of Nevada educators are considered satisfactory.
Proponents of teacher evaluation reform argue that excellence goes unrecognized and poor performance remains unaddressed in a two-tiered system. Furthermore, they argue it's statistically likely there are more ineffective teachers than the 1 percent currently rated unsatisfactory, and that substantive evaluations exist in many professions outside of education.
The new system will rate teachers using multiple measures over multiple years on a four-tiered scale: highly effective, effective, minimally effective or ineffective. The system is designed to drive professional development and support toward teachers whose students show little or no academic growth.
That worries some educators, such as special education teachers, whose students may not demonstrate much academic growth year over year.
The Teacher and Leaders council said evaluations would be sensitive to challenging student groups, setting appropriate goals for every student while meeting the needs of different learners.
Other educators said they were concerned about new system's continued reliance on administrators in evaluating teachers. One high school math teacher questioned how her former gym teacher-turned-principal could properly evaluate her teaching methods, coming from a totally different background.
The council has tossed around the idea of a peer review system, but it recommends teachers actively educate their evaluators on subject-specific teaching methods and subject matter. Administrators will receive extensive professional development on the new evaluation system, and some states have instituted requirements that administrators become certified to evaluate teachers, James said.
However, like many education "reforms," it is uncertain where funding would come from for professional development or a possible certification program for administrator-evaluators.
While the new system would use test and growth data to rate teachers, it also would allow teachers to demonstrate their performance through a portfolio of exemplary student work and model lesson plans. This portfolio review could be used to challenge a principal's evaluation of a teacher.
Under the new system, administrators would be tasked with doing more than popping into classrooms to evaluate teachers a couple of times a year. The feedback would be more immediate, and principals may be asked to survey students about their teacher.
This type of student feedback caused some alarm among teachers. Some students are "very hit or miss," which could skew survey results during a "drive-by administrator evaluation," a middle school music teacher said.
"What if they select the one student who isn't plugged in that day?" he asked. "This is Vegas and you pulled the wrong card?"
The council is still discussing how many students, if any, could be surveyed. Again, the emphasis of the evaluations will be on multiple measures over multiple years, James said.
The notion of putting teacher job security on the backs of young students and test scores irked some teachers. There are many challenges facing teachers and students in Las Vegas, they argued.
Aside from demographic challenges – students in poverty, English Language Learners and special education students – there are districtwide issues to contend with, teachers said.
Teachers complained of overcrowded classrooms, which could make raising student achievement and the caliber of classroom discussions challenging for even the most engaging teachers.
Teachers pointed at attendance problems, where some 15 percent of students nationally miss a month or more of school each year. One educator complained of administrators pulling students out from her class, as well as various school assemblies and district holidays – all of which diminish instructional time.
Furthermore, the district's high transiency rate means students could be shuffled around several schools, all within one year. Other educators, such as librarians or elementary art teachers, work on weekly or bimonthly rotations.
"How can we gather evidence that these students are learning when we see them in just a hiccup of a moment?" a music teacher asked.
Furthermore, only 30 percent of Nevada's teachers have standardized test scores for their students. These educators include English, writing and math teachers in the third to eighth grades and high school sophomores.
The other 70 percent of educators in art and music, social studies and science, physical education and school libraries don't have standardized evaluations, which are supposed to account for 50 percent of a teacher's evaluation. How will these teachers be rated?
A middle school English teacher proposed peer evaluations. Some educators agreed, others didn't.
"I'm concerned about the equity between different departments," the teacher said. "Some teachers and departments have more pressure to deliver test scores."
"Not all of us are on equal footing," another teacher chimed in. "There are so many variables, how are they going to mediate all of them?"
The teachers' angst spilled over toward the School District, which has its own school rating system and is piloting its own teacher evaluation system – all under the promise that these changes would be used to aid teachers, not punish them.
With the teachers union and the district embroiled in a contract dispute that is now in arbitration, some teachers argued their trust in the district was wavering.
"Who's going to hold the district accountable for implementing this evaluation system the right way," a teacher and union official said. "Who's in charge of collecting the data? This is going to require us to trust the district."


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Quick, somebody check Jason Reitman's house to see if the real man has been turned into dust by a body snatcher. Though his name's on the poster, it's impossible to believe that the sardonic boy wonder of Juno, Thank You for Smoking, and Young Adult would direct this stilted romance between a divorcée and a dreamboat escaped convict. Labor Day is so self-conscious and phony, it must be the work of a pod person. Humans, film lovers, and fans of Reitman's till-now-flawless filmography: We've gotta fight back.
The plot of Labor Day would make a great Upworthy article. Let me suggest a title: "I Never Thought I'd Want My Mom to Love a Murderer Until I Met This Bloody Hunk." After dad (Clark Gregg) ditches the family for his secretary, 13-year-old Henry (Gattlin Griffin) and mom Adele (Kate Winslet) retreat from the world. Adele is one hand-tremor away from a nervous breakdown; the boy is a shy, soulful nerd forced to parent himself and fill his father's shoes. Too sheltered to distinguish between adorable and inappropriate, for her birthday he presents mom with a homemade coupon book titled "Husband for a day."
For the cloistered duo, the first weekend in September is its own holiday-within-a-holiday: Taking Henry back-to-school shopping is one of the rare times Adele leaves their dilapidated house. As mom frets over his pant size, Henry meets a gut-wounded prison escapee named Frank Chambers (Josh Brolin), who takes one glance at frail Adele and grunts, "She looks like the kind of person who can help me." He means hide him from the police. But something in this fugitive's eyes says he's the kind of guy who deserves a good massage.
With a squeeze of Henry's neck, Frank strongly encourages Adele to take him home, where he engages in a bit of light bondage by binding her hands and feeding her homemade chili. (What is this, Fifty Shades of Bobby Flay?) The music frets as if he may still eat her liver for dessert. But like Hannibal Lecter, Frank Chambers is fictional nonsense — a handsome quasi-kidnapper who promptly decides to change the oil, wax the floors, grout the cellar, quiet a whiny door, bake fabulous homemade biscuits, and teach Henry to play catch.
In the most snortworthy scene, the three of them team up to make a peach pie. Frank is so domestic he calls the crust "putting a roof on the house," and together, the insta-family members shove their six hands into the fruit. (Maybe they've mistaken it for an Ouija board that can summon Frank's ex-wife to explain why he was convicted of her murder.) Finally, we have a male parallel to the hooker with a heart of gold. Why should Adele call the cops when she's lucked into a Husband for a Holiday Weekend?
Reitman adapted the Labor Day screenplay from a novel by Joyce Maynard, the memoirist best known for shacking up with J.D. Salinger when she was 18. Maynard once fell in love with an inmate named Lucky — or, at least, convinced herself she did enough to write about their correspondence for Vogue — but their relationship never proceeded past being pen pals. She pulled the cord when Lucky said he was coming to visit. (Plus, she admitted, he was ugly.) Good-looking Josh Brolin, a man born to give a gal a sexy squint, feels born of those brief letter-writing fantasies. Not only is he too perfect to exist on earth, he's too flawless even for Hollywood fiction, sticking out of every scene like glossy CGI.
It's disheartening watching Winslet and Brolin give their all to parts that could have been filled by anyone on the Hallmark Channel. This can't be the movie they were expecting when they signed on to a new flick by the director of Young Adult and the novelist behind To Die For, two bleak, acid-perfect romances. At least Winslet's tremors have earned her a Golden Globes nomination, though she could score that with a Vine of herself tying her shoes.
As our narrator is a 13-year-old child of divorce with only a vague understanding of adult love, Winslet's blooming has to take second billing to Henry's adolescent concerns, namely impressing the brash new girl in town (Brighid Fleming), who instantly orders him to emancipate himself from his parents. We're supposed to ignore that the two kids are hanging out at a public library on a Sunday on a holiday weekend, but after the midway point in his mess — around when the camera filter changes from old-teabag brown to the color of hope — everyone is acting so illogically we can't be bothered to add Labor Day's disregard of governmental opening hours to its list of sins.
Besides, we could all learn one thing from Frank: "Pie crust is a very forgiving thing," he purrs. "You can make all kinds of mistakes, but you can't forget the salt." Fine, Reitman. We'll give you another chance. But take your own advice and kick up the spice.

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Clinton Plays the Rescuer CardPoliticians almost always exploit gender. What Sen. Clinton is doing now is auditioning for the role of rescuer on a feminist frontier.
Susan FaludiNote: Originally posted on TomDispatch.com.
No sooner had Hillary Clinton proceeded from the Democratic presidential debate to a speech at Wellesley College last week than the wailing began. Barack Obama hit the "Today" show accusing her of playing the "don't pick on me" woman and a chorus line of media pundits denounced her for having hurt the cause of feminism by acting like the injured girl and dealing the "gender card."
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd contended that Clinton was trying to show "she can break, just like a little girl…. If she could become a senator by playing the victim after Monica, surely she can become president by playing the victim now." FOX News' Mort Kondracke preached: "I think it is very unattractive for a general election candidate, who wants to be the Commander in Chief of the free world, to be saying 'They're ganging up on me!' I mean, this is the NFL. This is not Wellesley versus Smith in field hockey."
These indictments were conjured from the slimmest of evidence. Even the New York Times, while "piling on," had to do contortions to pin the victim label on Clinton's comments. As a November 5th Times article put it: "Mrs. Clinton denies playing the gender card — at least in the traditional sense of saying that as a woman she should be exempt from the traditional rough-and-tumble of campaigns — and her remarks on the subject have certainly been oblique." For oblique, read frustratingly nonexistent. What she did say — at her alma mater before a whooping and roaring crowd of more than 1,000 young women — was: "In so many ways, this all-women's college prepared me to compete in the all-boys' club of presidential politics…. Fear is always with us, but we just don't have time for it, not now. So let's roll up our sleeves and get to work together. We're ready to shatter that highest glass ceiling."
What about that was so girl-with-her-finger-in-her-mouth frail?
The indignation of Clinton's opponents may have a motive more genuine than their desire to defend feminism. They are mad because they feel robbed. Clinton, in fact, didn't play the victim card. The gender card she played was the one every successful recent male presidential candidate has played — the rescuer card.
Rescuing Americans from the "Wolves"
Keep in mind: The gender card is always played. It's even played in presidential campaigns where all the candidates are men (or rather, as Kondracke prefers, quarterbacks). Given the political culture — and for reasons embedded in our history — that card usually involves a morality play in which men are the rescuers and women the victims in need of rescuing.
Bill Clinton understood the power of that formula when he showcased his boyhood efforts to "stand up" to his abusive stepfather and shield his mother from blows. When facing George H.W. Bush, Democratic Presidential candidate Michael Dukakis learned this lesson too late — after he failed to fly into a vigilante-style rage in response to an infamous televised debate question in October 1988 that went like this: "Governor, if Kitty Dukakis were raped and murdered, would you favor an irrevocable death penalty for the killer?" Dukakis' un-Duke-like reply about his wife — "No, I don't, and I think you know that I've opposed the death penalty during all of my life" — whacked his approval ratings from 49% down to 42% overnight and was pivotal in denying him the election; as was that other failed protection drama that dominated the campaign: the specter of black convict Willie Horton ("every suburban mother's greatest fear," as one of the Republican ads that inundated the airwaves put it), who raped a woman after being furloughed in Massachusetts while Dukakis was governor. His campaign belatedly, lamely, tried to counter in kind — with an ad about a convict who escaped from a federal treatment program and raped and killed a mother of two.
Post-9/11, with the nation facing the constant threat of "savage" attack, the inclination to play the gender rescue card became an imperative — as was in full evidence during the 2004 presidential campaign. "Every suburban mother's greatest fear" was now not a black man's mug shot but a Muslim terrorist's, and every suburban mother was recast as a Security Mom (a mythical creature, as it happened, but that's another story).
Victory on Election Day went to the candidate who best understood how to deal from that deck. Both George W. Bush and John Kerry worked hard to position themselves as the King of the Wild Frontier. (Both granted long interviews to hunting and fishing magazines; both bragged about their gun collections; Bush whacked at sagebrush and tree stumps; Kerry stalked wild animals and waved their bloody pelts at journalists.) Kerry's handlers, however, failed to put into play the female part of the rescue equation. They counted on the Senator's decorated service in Vietnam to qualify him for the hero role, especially in contrast to Bush's AWOL record. What they were missing was a woman to rescue.
Bush's advisers knew better, as was apparent in their political commercials. In "Wolves," set in a dark forest invaded by a pack of wolves (read: terrorists), a trembling female voiceover warned voters that Kerry would make cuts in U.S. intelligence "so deep they would have weakened America's defenses — and weakness attracts those who are waiting to do America harm." Kerry, in fact, had no plans to make such cuts, but that hardly registered. "Wolves" engaged America's terror-dream, which the GOP was going to vanquish with a cowboy swagger…. and a commanding daddy "hug."
In the final weeks of the race, Bush's backers unveiled "Ashley's Story," a 60-second commercial featuring the President hugging a teenage girl named Ashley Faulkner, whose mother had died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Ashley — shown lying in a hammock in her backyard, reading a novel with a Victorian lady on the cover — says: "He's the most powerful man in the world and all he wants to do is make sure I'm safe."
The $14 million worth of air time purchased made it the single most expensive political ad of the race. Broadcast more than 30,000 times, it achieved saturation level in the crucial swing states. In Ohio alone, the spot ran 7,000 times, a bombardment intensified by an Internet, phone, and direct-mail campaign that distributed 2.3 million brochures showcasing The Hug. Exit poll studies later concluded that "Ashley's Story" was critical to the election results. Political analysts scored it "the most effective ad" of the political season and post-election surveys found it to be one of the two most remembered ads (the other being its evil twin, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth commercial attacking Kerry's combat credentials).
Like Dukakis' campaign, Kerry's belatedly went looking for women to protect. "No American mother should have to lie awake at night wondering whether her children will be safe at school," Kerry insisted in a Philadelphia stump speech in September, seizing upon a much-publicized school hostage crisis in Russia as an eleventh hour opportunity to position himself as America's guardian. "When we look at the images of children brutalized by remorseless terrorists in Russia, we know that this is not just a political or military struggle — it goes to the very heart of what we value most — our families. It strikes at the bond between a mother and child." As president, he said, he would regard it as "my sacred duty" to be able to say "I am doing everything in my power to keep your children safe."
After "Ashley's Story" aired, the Kerry campaign struggled to catch up with two commercials featuring "Jersey Girl" 9/11 widows. In one, Kristen Breitweiser said, "We are no safer today. I want to look in my daughter's eyes and know that she is safe"; in the other, Mindy Kleinberg tartly noted that her three children needed more than a "hug" to feel safe. But when the Kerry's strategists raced to air the ads, they discovered they'd been trumped: The Bush campaign had bought up the commercial time in the big swing states.
It's doubtful the ads would have helped, anyway. Throughout the presidential race, the media largely ignored the Jersey Girls' efforts on behalf of the Kerry campaign. Their grueling traveling and speaking tour for the candidate yielded little coverage, and they were quickly deemed, in the words of the New Republic, "virtual nonentities." By reminding Americans that their protectors had failed them — "We are no safer today" — the Jersey Girls' testimony not only violated the terms of the rescue formula, but essentially put their guardians on trial.
The point is: this had as much to do with gender as security, something any successful candidate understood.
In this election, the gender card has proved harder to play than usual. No one's talking about security moms anymore. For their part, Democratic candidates Barack Obama and John Edwards have not been running security-scare — and, by extension, gender-scare — campaigns. And the GOP candidates, while playing the security card for all it's worth, have yet to find a way to assign a little Ashley to their twenty-first century John Wayne — though, no doubt, that will come.
Auditioning to be a Feminist John Wayne
So far, the only person who has a lock on rescuing women is the one female candidate. Accusations that she was promoting herself as a feminine victim were not only ludicrously overplayed, but often outright inaccurate, and in any case missed the point. Take for instance, ABCNews.com's attempt to give new legs to the victim canard with a November 5th headline: "Pelosi: Clinton Camp Played Gender Card." Actually, as a quote in the article made clear, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made the opposite point: "[Sen. Clinton] said it best: They're 'piling on' — or whatever the words were — 'because I'm the front-runner.' That's why they're piling on…. If she was in third place, they wouldn't say, 'Let's go attack a woman.'"
Hillary Clinton's rescue of women departs from the previous male version. In the old model, helpless women were saved from perilous danger by men. In the new, women are granted authority and agency to rescue themselves. Understanding the distinction is essential to an evaluation of current American politics.
The clash between these two rescue scenarios was on vivid display in late 2001, when President Bush signed the Afghan Women and Children Relief Act (before a window-dressing crowd of invited feminists) and declared that "the central goal of the terrorists is the brutal oppression of women." His concern for women's rights came to a halt, however, as soon as the Taliban was driven from power and Afghanistan was theoretically secured.
"Right now we have other priorities," a senior administration official told the New York Times when asked (only two and a half weeks into the Afghan war) what role women's rights would have in a future government. "We have to be careful not to look like we are imposing our values on them." Tellingly, even as the President was trumpeting female oppression as a casus belli and part of his global rescue scenario, his administration was deep-sixing an initiative that would have provided financing for women-run NGOs in Afghanistan. After all, if women proved capable of fending for themselves, if they laid claim to self-determination instead of violation and dependency, the rescue drama fell to pieces.
The Bush administration was no more inclined to promote female strength at home than overseas; witness the ways it sought to roll back women's progress on many fronts — from reproductive rights and employment equity to military status. By hugging girls while trying to gut equal-opportunity programs, the White House was working hard to institute its own cult of victimhood. But in the end, 1,001 Ashleys couldn't save Bush — nor the Republicans who will inherit his mantle — from the electorate's knowledge of his multiple rescue failures, culminating in the image of our Commander-in-Chief playing guitar while the citizens of New Orleans, female and male both, cried for help.
This year, as always, the presidential candidates must contend with the rescue formula, complicated by the fact that Bush has so devalued its currency. In this climate, Hillary Clinton can do what her male counterparts cannot. She is, indeed, reaching for the gender card — just as her accusers claim. It's just a different card than they imagine. She is auditioning for the role of rescuer on a feminist frontier.
She returned to Wellesley to tell the female undergraduate "hostages" that she was there to free them; she was there to help them "roll up our sleeves" and "shatter that highest glass ceiling." As such, she latched onto a crucial element of presidential races past, and possibly to come — that at the core of all American political rescue fantasies is a young woman in need.
In the general election, whoever the candidates may be, they will be tempted, perhaps required, to show just those bona fides. Clinton may be the only one who can do so without betraying the signature of a disgraced cowboy ethic.
Susan Faludi is the author of "The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post 9-11 America." She wrote the bestselling "Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women" and "Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man" and has written for many publications, from the Wall Street Journal to The Nation.
Copyright 2007 Susan FaludiWait, before you go…
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Who Is Landon Powell?
Since there hasn't been much else to report in terms of new ballplayers for the Mets, let's learn a little about Landon Powell.
It's actually a fascinating, somewhat sad story of how Landon Powell, a few months shy of his 31st birthday, came to receive a minor-league contract and spring training invite from one of the worst and most cash-strapped teams in MLB. There was a time that Powell was much more than a journeyman brought in mainly because spring training is a time that a team needs as many catchers as possible to receive pitches from dozens of pitchers.
Remember when Bryce Harper skipped his junior and senior years in high school, opting instead to earn a G.E.D. at age 17 and make himself eligible for the MLB draft? That wasn't unprecedented – in 2000, Landon Powell was (I believe) the first high-schooler to pass the G.E.D. with the intention of leaving school before graduation and becoming eligible for the June draft. Just one glitch: he wasn't drafted. All 30 teams passed on him, presumably because they "didn't know he was eligible." More likely, teams (perhaps by Bud Selig's commandment) were hesitant to set a precedent of drafting non-graduated high school players; another story suggests that his "adviser" at the time — Scott Boras — "hid" Powell's eligibility in order to shop him to the highest bidder. Powell wound up petitioning Selig for free agency status, which was granted, but ultimately, Powell chose to return for his senior year of high school.
Young Landon wasn't quite the sensation that Bryce Harper was as an amateur, but he was definitely one of the very best prep players in the USA at the time. At a showcase sponsored by Baseball America and Perfect Game, Powell was listed as the fourth-best prospect among high school seniors. Number one was Casey Kotchman, and some of the others below Powell on the list included eventual MLBers Chris Carter (#5), J.J. Hardy (#6), Kyle Davies (#7), and David Wright (#15). Underclassmen listed included Jeremy Bonderman, B.J. Upton, Mike Pelfrey, Scott Kazmir, Ryan Sweeney, Delmon Young, and Lastings Milledge. How about that?
Interestingly, Powell was not drafted after his senior year of high school, and instead starred at University of South Carolina, batting well over .300 for his career and playing in the College World Series. Based on his impressive offensive and defensive skills, he was expected to be drafted fairly high after his junior year, but slipped to the 25th round (Cubs) — perhaps due to the fact he didn't have a "good body," as the old-time scouts like to say. He hired a personal trainer to build his Pillsbury Doughboy physique into something more athletic, and had a strong senior year. The Athletics made him their #1 pick (24th overall) in the 2004 draft; he was chosen just after Phil Hughes and before players such as Huston Street (who was also chosen by the A's), Gio Gonzalez, J.P. Howell, Yovani Gallardo, Hunter Pence, Kurt Suzuki, Seth Smith, and Dustin Pedroia.
Powell's pro career didn't start out with a bang, to say the least. In his 2004 debut, he hit only .237 in a small sample size of 38 games. The following January, he tore his ACL and subsequently lost the entire 2005 season — but found the extra weight he carried in his first three college years. In 2006, weighing in at nearly 300 pounds, he hit .264 with 16 HRs in A-ball, spent a cup of coffee in AA, and was ranked as the A's #20 prospect that winter by Baseball America; here is a snippet from that report:
His high school and college track record are solid, but the same question that always has dogged him — what will his body look like as a pro? — continues to cloud his future. Powell has power from both sides of the plate, a cannon arm (a 70 on the 20-80 scouting scale) and hands as soft as butter. He's flexible, receives well and led California League catchers both with a .994 fielding percentage and by throwing out 52 percent of opposing basestealers. Playing every day in high Class A seemed to help Powell stay in shape, but he didn't handle the gap between the regular season (which he finished in Double-A) and the Arizona Fall League well. His weight ballooned again — one scout estimated Powell was as much as 40 pounds over his playing weight — and his well-below-average speed was exacerbated by a complete lack of agility. Several scouts said Powell struggled to get out of his crouch to field bunts. If he stays in shape, Powell could be an all-star.
Over that winter he worked out again, shed around 30 pounds, and was "in the best shape of his life" to start the 2007 season in AA. In 260 games and 219 at-bats for Midland, he hit 11 HR with a .893 OPS, then belted three homers in four AAA games — before tearing his ACL for the second time and missing the rest of the season. Still, Baseball America ranked him as Oakland's #7 prospect that winter:
Powell's knee is a huge concern relating to his ability to remain a catcher. … His weight and conditioning fluctuate wildly, and the A's kept on him to work out a dietary plan during this latest rehab. … Few scouts believe Powell can reach his full potential because of his injury history and his weight. If he can't catch, his value will take a huge hit. That said, he was one of the top catchers in the minors prior to his latest surgery.
Powell was promoted to AAA Sacramento in 2008 and hit 15 HR with a .230 AVG and .360 OBP. By then, however, Suzuki passed him on the depth chart and was the A's starting catcher.
2009 didn't start out well for Powell — in fact, it was life-threatening. While working out in January, Powell went into convulsions and had to be rushed to the hospital. He was jaundiced, with disturbing liver readings, and the fear was that he had cancer. Eventually, he was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis, an incurable disease that attacks the liver cells. The original treatment, prednisone, caused awful side effects, so he was moved to a program of taking Imuran, an immune suppressant that makes him susceptible to illnesses and skin rashes, and budesonide, an MLB-approved corticosteroid that reduces the inflammation in his liver. He has monthly blood tests to monitor the disease, and had been told that, at some point in his life, he'll require a liver transplant.
Eventually, though, Powell made it through that spring training and made the big-league club, whacking a two-run double off of Felix Hernandez in his MLB debut. He wound up playing in 46 games that year, hitting only .229 but blasting 7 HR in 140 ABs and posting a .725 OPS. Powell spent 2010 again as Suzuki's backup, hitting just .214 with 2 HR in 41 games. He did have one highlight, though: he caught Dallas Braden's perfect game.
A similar story played out in 2011; with Suzuki as a workhorse, Powell caught 36 games, hitting .171 with one homer in 111 at-bats. The A's traded Gio Gonzalez that winter for a package of prospects that included catcher Derek Norris, and Powell was released during spring training of 2012. He hooked on with the Astros, spending the entire season with AAA Oklahoma City (PCL), where he hit .251 with 8 HR in 79 games.
On March 19th, Landon Powell turns 31 — an age far away from "prospect" status. Who know what might happen in 2013, though? With a strong spring, and a little luck, Powell could wind up playing for the Mets — maybe even flashing the brilliance that once made him one of the game's most promising young backstops. Regardless, one has to wonder what might have been. Further, Powell's story offers perspective and balances enthusiasm when we look at today's young phenoms and wonder what will be.
(By the way, you can learn about Landon Powell's charitable activities and contributions at Donors on the Diamond.)


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Prophecy 101: How to Interpret the Bible's Predictions
- Stan Guthrie Author
- 2014 9 Sep
Want to start a fight with a New Atheist? Talk about Jesus.
Want to start a fight with a fellow Christian? Talk about prophecy.
The basics of the Christian faith are well known and widely accepted in the church: God is our holy Creator; mankind is sinful and under his wrath; Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin; we receive God's forgiveness through faith. While each denomination has its nuances and special emphases, these are the broad outlines.
But there is no such consensus when it comes to biblical prophecy. Why not? Well, for one thing, the sheer multiplicity and volume of prophetic statements make disagreement likely. Christian apologist Hugh Ross estimates that there are about 2,500 predictive prophecies in the pages of Scripture, including about 500 that have yet to be fulfilled. So if you agree on 90 percent of the prophecies but disagree on only 10 percent, that still leaves 250 verses or passages over which to wrangle.
And that can lead to some strange—even disastrous—interpretations. Just ask Harold Camping's disheartened followers.
There are other reasons, of course. One is that we tend to be weak on both hermeneutics and the events of biblical history, both of which are vital to understanding Scripture in general and prophecy in particular. Hermeneutics (taken from Hermes, the messenger of the gods) is the science of biblical interpretation, and it's a science we dabble in only sporadically, or not at all. Too often we come to a text, usually the shorter the better, read it in our 21st-century English translations, make a hasty application to our personal circumstances, and move on.
The story is sometimes told of the Christian who, looking for divine guidance, opens his Bible and puts his finger on a verse that says that Judas "went and hanged himself." He quickly closes the book and tries again. The next verse: "Go and do thou likewise." Breaking into a cold sweat, he tries one last time: "Then said Jesus unto him, 'That thou doest, do quickly.'"
This may be a joke (and an old one at that), but the hermeneutical approach it describes is all too common. Though it is true that we have the Holy Spirit's help to interpret Scripture (John 16:13), we also need to keep in mind Paul's admonition to Timothy: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15, emphasis added).
Yes, good hermeneutics is going to require some work. But none of us wants to be ashamed, as the followers of Harold Camping surely were when his predictions about the end of the world failed to come to pass.
Whole books—make that shelves of books—have been written on hermeneutics, but I want to mention just one hermeneutical principle here that, if grasped, will make a huge difference: Context is king. What is context? Well, an online dictionary says it is "the parts of a written or spoken statement that precede or follow a specific word or passage, usually influencing its meaning or effect: You have misinterpreted my remark because you took it out of context."
When it comes to Scripture, we need to interpret prophecies—and everything else—in context. This means that we need to look at the context of a prophecy in several dimensions: the immediate context (the paragraph or section in which it appears); the larger context (the chapter); the Bible book; and the Bible as a whole.
A prophecy doesn't just come to us, without roots or history, like a cryptic utterance of Nostradamus. It arrives nested in a larger section of teaching, a particular language, and a certain literary style. Camping and his followers could have saved themselves a world of pain if they had simply taken to heart Jesus' contextual warning that "no one knows the day or the hour" (Matt. 24:36).
Knowledge of Bible history is also critical for understanding the prophecies. Do you know what happened in 2,000 B.C.? 1,300 B.C.? A.D. 70? 586 B.C.? 1,000 B.C.? You should. These dates and others mark key events in the history of salvation, and they are critical for understanding Bible prophecy. They are just as important as 1776 and 1941 are for American history.
Unfortunately, most of us struggle with the biblical timeline. As a result, we have no clue about the situation that a prophet such as Isaiah or Habakkuk may have been addressing, and we don't even know whether a particular prophecy may have already happened or is yet in the future.
One author I read back in the day interpreted Ezekiel's prophecy of the Lord leaving the Jerusalem temple (Ezek. 10) as an "end time" event, when clearly it refers to God's judgment on Israel at the hands of the Babylonians … in 586 B.C. In the same way, many modern interpreters skip right over New Testament prophecies about the destruction of Herod's temple by Titus in A.D. 70, claiming they apply to end-times events only.
Once we start to get a handle on hermeneutics and biblical history, we will be better prepared to decide how to interpret Bible prophecies. This knowledge will provide the theological scaffolding we will need on which to hang the prophecies. Today and throughout church history, there have been three major schools of Bible prophecy. They all try to answer the question of the relationship between the Second Coming of Christ and the Millennium.
Premillennialists believe Jesus will return before the Millennium, or thousand-year reign of Christ (Rev. 20:1-3, also Matt. 20:20-23, Luke 1:32-33, 22:29-30, Acts 1:6-7). Historic premillennialism was the doctrine of the early church, held by Papias, Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp. The present age of grace, they say, is the plan of God and is predicted in the Old Testament. The church and Israel are one body.
A modern variant, Dispensationalism, holds that the promises to Israel will be fulfilled literally, while the church has its own callings from God. Adherents generally believe God has provided seven "dispensations" in salvation history, from the Old Testament until now: dispensations of innocence, conscience, human government, promise, law, grace, and the millennial kingdom. Adherents include John Walvoord, Charles C. Ryrie, C.I. Scofield, and Hal Lindsey
Amillennialists believe there will be no millennial kingdom. They take references to the millennial reign of Christ as non-literal. A later doctrine (starting in the 2nd or 3rd century), amillennialism was held by Origen, Dionysius, and Augustine. Preterism, a modern form of this doctrine, holds that most or all of the prophecies about Christ's second coming and the millennial kingdom were fulfilled by A.D. 70, when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.
Postmillennialists believe Christ will come after the Millennium, which they see as a symbolic era when the church spreads the knowledge of Christ worldwide. Popular at the start of the 20th century in liberal Christianity (with talk of a "Christian century"), postmillennialism fell largely out of favor after two world wars.
Whichever system you choose, you need to realize that it is a choice and not the only possible way to interpret Scripture. Sincere Christians have disagreed and will continue to do so.
But wherever you come down on Bible prophecy, there are at least three bedrock principles we all need to hold onto: (1) Christ is coming back (Acts 1:11); (2) no one knows the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36); and (3) we must keep in balance this world and the world to come (1 Corinthians 10:31; Luke 21:25-28).
My new book—A Concise Guide to Bible Prophecy: 60 Predictions Everyone Should Know—is all about learning from Bible prophecies, no matter which eschatological system you choose. The prophecies A Concise Guide describes have value far beyond simply satisfying our curiosity about the future—as God intended from the beginning. As my friend Luis Palau has said, "Nothing is more exciting—or more important—than the promises and prophecies of Scripture. Nothing brings greater hope. Nothing brings greater clarity to our lives."
For as it is written, "All Scripture"—including its many prophecies—"is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16).
You'll get no argument from most Christians about that.
Stan Guthrie is author of the new book, A Concise Guide to Bible Prophecy: 60 Predictions Everyone Should Know. Stan blogs at stanguthrie.com.
Publication date: July 10, 2013
This article is part of our larger End Times Resource Library. Learn more about the rapture, the antichrist, bible prophecy and the tribulation with articles that explain Biblical truths. You do not need to fear or worry about the future!
Battle of Armageddon
End Times and End of Days
Prophecies of Jesus
End Times Bible Prophecy
Old Testament Bible Prophecy
Signs of the End Times
666 Meaning
Horsemen of the Apocalypse


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Make Monterey Yours
Near Monterey County Fairgrounds and local beaches
Book a room at our Ramada Monterey hotel and have the beautiful central California coast just minutes away. Conveniently located off Highway 1 and 68, our location near Monterey Bay Aquarium puts our area's popular attractions and beaches within easy reach. Monterey Peninsula Airport (MRY) is also nearby.


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The Great.
Youuuuu guyssss. This is by far one of the most insanely delicious things ever. Literally, ever.
Have you ever had one of those days where you'd like fast forward through dinner and just go straight to dessert? Or rather, have dessert for dinner?
Like everyday? Okay yeah, me too 🙂
Well this recipe is the best of both worlds. You get dinner and dessert in one! How? Because it's so friggin tasty, and deceptively healthy!
I'd call that a #win!
Real quick, just want to shout out this post's sponsor:
This post was made possible by my wonderful sponsor, Audible. While I was whipping this up, I had my earbuds in and was listening to an audiobook – Adnan's Story. It's my new favorite thing. And just for you, they're offering a Free 30-Day Trial Membership. And with this free membership, you're going to get 2 free audiobooks! Literally. Free. It is the best deal ever. And if for some reason, you decide it's not for you, you can cancel within those 30 days and it's zero money out of your pocket, plus, you get to keep the 2 audiobooks. Soooo…it's pretty much a no brainer. This is a free and easy way to support this blog! So thank you!!
OK, back to the spuds.
For this recipe, I used a Japanese Sweet Potato. There are all different types of tubers — sweet potatoes, yams, Japanese sweet potatoes, etc. But I chose the Japanese variety because I like the texture of it. The flesh is actually white, not orange, like we're used to at Thanksgiving. But the texture is almost gummy, and creates this beautifully thick, paste-like consistency that I found really enjoyable. ((It doesn't sound that appetizing from that description, but believe me, it was splendid…Think cookie dough!))
Also — to "up" the nutrition factor, and intensify the color, I added steamed carrots to the flesh. Aren't I tricky 😉
Here's what you need: (Serves one — although, I guesssss you could split it)
1 massive Japanese sweet potato, baked
1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped and steamed
1 Tbsp almond butter
1 Tbsp honey
pinch of salt
3 Tbsp peanut butter or almond butter
2 Tbsp honey
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
Pecans, roasted and chopped
Food Processor
Baking Sheet
Frying Pan
Good Chef's Knife (This is the one I use and love)
Steamer basket or Pyrex measuring cup
Preheat oven to 375. Prick the sweet potato all over with a fork. Rub the skin with a little bit of oil – I used grapeseed. Bake for about 1 hour, turning every 15 minutes with an oven mitt. (I placed a cookie sheet underneath the potato to catch any sugary drippings that might ooze out of the spud).
While your potato is baking, steam the carrots either on the stove, or in the microwave. I just used the microwave and a Pyrex measuring cup.
Also while the potato is baking, I made my almond butter drizzle. In the food processor, I mixed the almond butter, honey, and cinnamon until it was nice and smooth and drizzly. If the consistency is too thick, you can add either a splash of water, or a little bit of oil. I used a touch of almond oil, but another flavorless oil would be fine too.
Transfer the drizzle to another bowl, and try to refrain from eating all of it. ((I made a quadruple batch to keep on hand for yogurts, cereal, smoothie additions, fruit dip, etc.))
*You don't have to clean the food processorfood processor just yet. Any remaining sauce left on the sides/blade will just mix nicely in with the flesh.
Lastly, toast some pecans in a skillet over low heat until fragrant. This doesn't take very long – about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. But watch them, because they can burn quickly!
Once the potato is finished baking, cut a slit in it lengthwise, but not all the way through. Then, carefully (with oven mitts because it's hot!) push the two ends together,
Then, spoon out the flesh of the potato and place into your food processor along with the carrots and a pinch of salt. Don't scrape all of the flesh out of the potato — you still need the potato to be sturdy and able to stand on its own.
While the flesh of the potato and the carrots are still hot, process them until combined and smooth. (The steam given off helps facilitate this). I also added about a Tbsp of almond butter, 1 Tbsp honey, 1 pinch of salt, and 1/8 tsp cinnamon to the food processor to be mixed in.
TO assemble, generously spoon the potato/carrot mixture back into the skin and pile it high! Then, liberally smother that baby with your almond butter and honey drizzle. Garnish with pecans if desired.
Was this bigger than my fave? Yes. Did it weigh roughly the same as a large cat? Yes. Was it one of the most delicious things in the entire world? Abso-friggin-lutely!
Ladies and gentlemen, this potato. This potato. This potato. THIS POTATO! I kid you not…it was nirvana. And I use that word because Webster told me that it meant utter bliss. Ecstasy. Pure joy. … Yep, that about sums it up.
It was like eating pumpkin pie flavored cookie dough. It was sweet and nutty and had a kiss of warm cinnamon.
And the texture was marvelous. Like I mentioned, Japanese Sweet Potatoes have a tacky and thick texture that makes it so you almost have to chew it. It was so good.
But the drizzle. OH THE DRIZZLE! In the words of Uncle Jesse…
Seriously though, it should be illegal. It is so rich and nutty and sweet and combined with the sweet potato and carrot mash, it is just out of this world.
Lastly, the color is just outrageous. That orange color is not enhanced, nor from a can, my friends. No filter here! It's all from some good ol' beta carotene found in Bugs Bunny's favorite veggie. Not only do carrots intensify the color, but they also up the nutrition factor too!
This was a ten. Nay — an eleven. If you feel like giving yourself a hug through your stomach, make this dish.
It's Din-sert. It's healthy dessert for dinner. It's Potato Nirvana.
PS: You can thank me later. 😉
For more recipes, you can get my e-cookbook here, or visit my food blog, GlutenFreeHappyTummy!
Lastly: Amazon has this amazing service called Amazon Prime NOW where they literally deliver you groceries IN TWO HOURS. I've been doing so much traveling back and for to Ohio – and the greatest thing is that I can land in NYC, order my groceries from the runway when we land. And literally, by the time my cab pulls up from JFK, I have my groceries waiting at my door. And Amazon Prime is a sponsor, so they've offered my readers a Free 30-Day Trial!!! So honestly, I don't know what you're waiting for…Free 2 hour grocery delivery (plus full access to Prime Video & Prime Music) ? The future is now, my friends. (And thank you, because it's a great way to support this blog 🙂 )
@beauty.beyond.bones – Instagram
A big thank you to my sponsor, BetterHelp Online Therapy. Speak with an online therapist. Or check out content about eating disorders from BetterHelp.
Next time you're shopping on Amazon, be sure to stop by my link, amazon.com/shop/beautybeyondbones first! Doing so is absolutely FREE for you, and a great way to support this blog! (When you stop by my link first, whatever you get on Amazon will give this blog a little kickback :))
For Podcast versions of my posts, please check out Patreon! It's only $2 a month!! You make this blog possible 🙂


text: As the name suggests this is a piece that would suit a News Title or create a News Bulletin effect. It has a feeling of urgency and drama created with repeated marimbas and vibraphone over a brass and strings theme. The short piece concludes with with a strong, definitive ending.


text: Dear colleagues, This short mail to inform the community of researchers interested in microarrays of the availability of GOToolBox, a series of programs using Gene ontology that we published recently in Genome biology (http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/gb-2004-5-12-r101.pdf). GOToolBox can be useful to analyse groups of genes derived from microarrays,Chromatin-Immunoprecipitations, from the analysis of protein-protein (two-hybrid), protein_DNA and/or genetic networks. The programs from GOToolBox are directly accessible through a Web site described in the article. GOToolBox performs five main tasks: - gene dataset creation, - selection and fitting of GO terms at a given ontology level (GO-Diet), - statistical analysis of GO terms associated with gene sets (GO-Stats) in order to find over- or under-represented terms, - GO-based gene clustering (GO-Proxy) allowing to find sub-groups of functionnally related genes within a gene set, - gene retrieval based on GO annotation similarity (GO-Family) in one or several species. Other developments are presently on their way. At the moment, GOToolBox supports analyses of GO terms for six species : Yeast (Sc), Arabidopsis, Drosophila, nematode, mouse and humans. For the authors, David Martin and Bernard Jacq Bernard Jacq LGPD-IBDM Parc Scientifique de luminy 13288 Marseille Cedex 9 tel (33) 04 91 82 94 25 fax (33) 04 91 82 06 82 Aprés les Etats généraux de la Recherche de GRENOBLE, continuez à défendre la recherche http://cip-etats-generaux.apinc.org/ et http://recherche-en-danger.apinc.org/ Petition for a new and ambitious European science policy: http://ultr23.vub.ac.be/petition/ ---


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The Biggest Myth You'll Face When Choosing a Private Jet Travel Option
When considering the options available to fulfill your private jet travel needs, you might receive recommendations about the various methods of travel available by someone that has never personally evaluated your travel needs. This is a frequent occurrence in the aviation industry, as there are many sales people that try to oversimplify what is really a more complicated question; "Which private jet travel option is best for me?"
Trying to answer this question with as little confusion as possible has led to the creation of a guideline that really works for only a few people in certain circumstances. In fact, there are so few people whose needs are met with this formula that it has become a myth.
The guideline that states one should choose between private jet charter, jet cards, fractional or whole aircraft ownership based on a simple formula of hours flown per year. The rule of thumb goes something like this;
- If you fly privately less than 25 hours per year, you should charter
- If you fly privately between 25 to 50 hours per year, you should buy a jet card or block charter
- If you fly privately between 50 and 200 hours per year, you should use fractional (guess which marketers invented this rule of thumb?)
- If you fly privately more than 200 hours per year you should purchase your own aircraft
The problem with this simplistic formula is that it does not take into consideration your unique needs and assumes that your desires are the same as everyone else. To make a fully informed decision, you should consider many more variables than just the number of hours flown per year. For example, if your business has a need for 20 hours of flight time per year, but the flights all originate in different cities, your needs will conflict with the recommendation to use charter if your local private jet charter operator doesn't have aircraft based in these cities. If you fly 100 hours per year, but most the trips originate from one airport or region and come back within a day or two, again this recommendation won't make the best fit for you, as a fractional share or jet card will be too expensive as their model is based on higher, "one-way" pricing. Of course there are numerous other considerations as well, such as the convenience factor, tax benefits, availability, and so on that can't possibly be considered within the confines of a one-size-fits-all guideline.
When approached for assistance in choosing the best private jet travel option for a client, we first determine what the clients needs are. How often does the client fly? Are most flights one way or round trip? Do all trips begin and end at the same place? Does the client ever have need for multiple aircraft at the same, perhaps flying multiple teams in different parts of the country to various locations simultaneously? What is the client's tax situation as it pertains to depreciation of the asset if a share or whole aircraft were purchased? Are there passive income issues? What is the client's most pressing concern when it comes to traveling? Does the client prefer to have a relationship with the flight crew or keep at arm's length?
Next, a full mission analysis is conducted, which includes a financial review of the various options available. On rare occasion the guideline will match our recommendation, but most of the time the guideline leads one to more expensive options than necessary.
Don't be fooled by the myth that your needs can be met by a guideline. With a thorough, in-depth analysis of your travel needs, a consultant can structure one or several private jet travel options in combination to create a solution that truly fits your needs.
Ready for a Personal Evaluation of Your Private Jet Travel Needs?
Call our travel consultants at Desert Jet for a frank evaluation of your travel needs at (760) 399-1000.


text: Far away, in spectacular countryside, there's a fantastic place called Horseland - a complex of stables, arenas, barns, rolling green pastures, and riding trails through verdant mountain forests. A lot of kids board horses here. We follow the adventures of three girls and one boy, all 11-12 years old. They become best of friends as they learn all about horsemanship: the intricate dance of dressage, the thrills (and spills) of show jumping, and the care and grooming of their animals. We'll also meet two spoiled sisters with attitudes, and an older boy who serves as mentor for them all. But what makes Horseland such a special place is that the horses and stable animals talk... at least, to each other. The animals' rich, exciting lives complement and illuminate the experiences of our human cast - and help make 'tween life a little less confusing.


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UPCOMING EVENTSView All »
NSSLA Event: Counseling: A Positive Approach for SLPs »
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RECENT NEWSView All »
The Illinois Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ISHA) is a volunteer, member driven association of and for speech language pathologists and audiologists in the state of Illinois.
The Association promotes the prevention and treatment of communication and related disorders, supports and upholds high standards of educational qualifications and ethical practice, provides opportunities for professional development, and advocates for the interests of speech-language pathologists and audiologists and the persons they serve.
ISHA is a non-profit organization representing 5,000 licensed professionals with advanced degrees in speech-language pathology and audiology. Read More »
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Drive-Thru Marketing: Bite-sized Content for an Impatient World
I know that at some point in my life I did. I could wait in lines, sit through three-hour college classes and even read a book for hours, all without feeling as though I'd missed out on something. But not anymore.
Today my patience (or maybe it's just my attention span) has deteriorated to a sliver of what it was. In a normal day at the office, I scan hundreds of tweets and status updates, read (or at least skim) a dozen or so blog posts and view countless Facebook photos, YouTube videos (the short ones), Touts and Vines. I can't stand in line without checking my email, Facebook or Instagram.
I'm not reading books or even long- form articles. I'm busy (at least I think I am), and I don't have time to read your lengthy e-Book or watch your 60-minute webinar. In reality I probably do have the time, but the advent of social media has changed not only the type of content I consume and where I consume it, but also the speed in which I feel I must consume that content. And by "I," I mean most everyone.
So what does that mean for content marketing?


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Monday, October 23, 2006
Creating cookies with new ingredients...
I love this time of the year as all the new holiday baking products come rushing into the markets. We happened to find these little guys this weekend and I picked them up/put them back at least twice... I couldn't help it though, we had to get them.
They are Andes Peppermint Crunch Chips (they are soft though...)
I created this recipe today, Chocolate Peppermint-Toffee Crunch Cookies, so I could try these new chips out in a cookie. I wanted a thin, chocolate-y and crisp - yet chewy cookie and I think we hit the spot with them. I used a cup of the peppermint chips and a cup of toffee bits - the flavor is decidedly peppermint, but has a hint of caramel in the background. The melted toffee also helped to keep them chewy. The chocolate flavor is mild, but it kept the peppermint flavor from being too strong. Don't be afraid of the vinegar in the ingredient list - I've used it before and it keeps the cookies light and I think helps with the crispness. I do want to tinker here and there with the recipe, but Jeff thinks it is good as is.
Dinner tonight uses quick-cooking couscous that is great for when you're running behind on a weeknight. Southwestern Couscous Salad begins with a quick cook of some lightly seasoned chunky turkey breasts. After some chicken broth comes to a boil, frozen corn is added and allowed to briefly cook. Nutty whole-wheat couscous is stirred in and the mixture is left to sit and cook for 5 minutes. We then made a dressing of fresh lime juice, oil, cumin and a dash of cayenne pepper sauce to add some heat. Diced tomatoes, fire roasted red bell peppers and cilantro are tossed with the cooked turkey breast and couscous - then a drizzle of the tangy dressing brings the dish together and keeps everything moist. Fast, healthy and packed with flavor - can't get much better when your short on time!
14 comments:
Yumm, the couscous salad looks delicious!!ReplyDelete
Swanky ingredients!ReplyDelete
The Couscous looks so good. I may have to give that a try.ReplyDelete
- Anonymous10/24/2006 02:44:00 PM
Lol! I picked some of those chips up today too! And it was the exact same thing. I picked them up, looked at them, put them back, thought for a minute, picked them up, etc. I have a brownie in mind for them, but those cookies look good too!ReplyDelete
The cookies look beautiful! I've got to look for those chips!ReplyDelete
- Anonymous10/24/2006 06:03:00 PM
The Couscous looks delicous!ReplyDelete
Have you tried the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from Eating Well yet? I just saw them online (http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/oat_chocolate_cookie.html) and wonder if they taste as good as they look!
Ana - Thanks!ReplyDelete
wheresmymind - And fun too!
Barbara - Hope you try it!
Erika - Aren't they fun? I can't wait to use them again.
Tracy - I hope you can find them - there are a bunch of new goodies out there!
Dani - I have had the recipe marked to try forever... someday I will give them a try!
I'd not seen those chips before...but I live for their mint chips. Only way I can make my mint crackles for Christmas!
I'll have to keep an eye out for them...thanks!
Stephanie - Yes, their regular mint chips are good! I really do like these peppermint ones though!ReplyDelete
How funny. When my mom was visiting a few weeks ago, she bought a package of those Andes peppermint chips to take home with her. Yeah, right. We broke into them and decided that (besides being tasty straight from the bag) they'd probably also be great in chocolate cookies. Great minds. . . Of course we didn't think about adding toffee. : )ReplyDelete
I can't believe you made 15 new recipes in one week during a kitchen remodel. You do realize you're putting the rest of us cooking slugs to shame, right?
Farmgirl - I have caught Jeff trying to eat out of the bag! I can't wait for the remodel to be done... I'm tired of all these strangers coming and going!ReplyDelete
- Anonymous11/28/2006 04:32:00 PM
I have tried to find the Andes peppermint crunch candies for your recipe in all the grocery stores in my city (Davis,CA) and have been unsuccessful. Short of buying them on line, and having to pay exorbitant shipping - does anyone have suggestions as to where to find them. Or, if I have to substitute - what would a good substitute be? Thanks for any input on this!ReplyDelete
Anonymous - I wish I could help you find them - hopefully someone in your area can help you find a local source!ReplyDelete
- Anonymous11/17/2007 08:16:00 PM
For the person looking for the Andes mint chips. They have them at our local Wal~Mart.And now that it's close to Christmas they should be located by all the rest of the baking ingredients.They had peppermint crunch and creme de menth.ReplyDelete


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Last night I wrote a slightly hyperbolic tweet about the Anonymous denial of service attacks, and I've gotten a surprising amount of pushback on it. So I thought I'd expand on my thinking here.
In a distributed denial of service attack, or DDOS, a large number of computers send data to a target computer with the intent of saturating its network links and/or overloading the server, thereby "denying service" to actual users of that server. In this case Anonymous, a group of online vigilantes, have launched DDOS against MasterCard, PayPal, and other companies that have taken anti-Wikileaks steps that they (and I) don't approve of.
Evgeny Morozov points me to this post, which reports that a German court was apparently persuaded that DDOS attacks are a form of civil disobedience, like a sit-in. This comparison strikes me as not just wrong but kind of ridiculous.
The Internet is a collaborative network built on strong implicit norms of trust. There's no global governance body or formal enforcement mechanisms for many of the Internet's norms, but things work pretty well because most people behave responsibly. This responsible behavior comes in two parts. Ordinary users obey the norms without even knowing about them because they are baked into the hardware and software we all use. For example, all your life you've been observing the TCP backoff norm, probably without knowing about it, because your computer's networking stack has been programmed to follow it.
Then there's a worldwide community of engineers and sysadmins who collaborate to track down problems and cut off the small minority of people who abuse the Internet's norms. The decentralized nature of the Internet means that no single administrator has all that much power, so their ability to respond to an attack often depends on cooperation from the systems administrators who run the network from which the attack originates. These folks are fighting a continuous, largely invisible, battle to keep the Internet running smoothly. The fact that most people never think about them is a testament to how well they do their job.
DDOS attacks work by exploiting the Internet's open architecture and flouting its norms. Most computers on the Internet are provisioned with significantly more bandwidth than they're expected to be using at any given moment; this allows us to have fast downloads when we need them, while leaving the extra capacity available for others to use when we don't need it. Similarly, servers depend on relatively good behavior from client computers. Major Internet protocols like TCP/IP and HTTP don't have any formal mechanism for limiting the amount of server capacity used by any given client, they simply trust that the vast majority of clients won't behave maliciously. Systems administrators deal with the small minority that do behave maliciously on a case-by-case basis.
I'd be willing to bet that at this very moment, a small army of sysadmins at Anonymous's various targets, and their ISPs, are working around the clock to respond to Anonymous's attacks. They're probably not getting paid overtime. These folks likely had no influence over their superiors' decisions with respect to Wikileaks. And indeed, given the pro-civil-liberties slant of geeks in general, I bet a lot of them are themselves Wikileaks supporters. Some of them may even be exerting what small influence they have inside their respective companies to stand up to the government's attacks on Wikileaks.
DDOS attacks take advantage of, and deplete, the Internet's reservoir of trust. They are something like a kid who lives in a small town where no one locks their doors going into his neighbors' houses and engaging in petty vandalism. The cost of his behavior isn't so much cleaning up the vandalism as the fact that if more than a handful of people behaved that way everyone in town would be forced to put locks on their doors. Likewise, the damage of a DDOS attack isn't (just) that the target website goes down for a few hours, it's that sysadmins around the world are forced to build infrastructure to combat future DDOS attacks.
The comparison to sit-ins is particularly absurd because the whole point of a sit-in is its PR value. You're trying to call the public's attention to a business's misbehavior and motivate other customers of that entity to pressure the business to change its behavior. You do this by being unfailingly polite and law-abiding (aside from the trespass of the sit-in itself), and by being willing to spend some time in prison to demonstrate your sincerity and respect for the law. In contrast, the people who are prevented from using MasterCard's website may not even realize that Anonymous is responsible, and to the extent they do find out it's through media accounts that are (justifiably) universally negative. In addition to all the other problems with what they're doing, it's a terrible PR strategy that generates sympathy for Anonymous's targets and reinforces the public's impression of Wikileaks as a rogue organization.
I suspect that most of the Anonymous participants simply don't know any better. If this arrest is representative, the people involved are literal and metaphorical children, throwing high-tech temper tantrums without any real understanding of the consequences of their actions. These attacks are doing no serious damage to the nominal targets of the attacks and they create zero incentive for other corporate entities to change their behavior vis-a-vis Wikileaks. But they do significant and lasting damage to a variety of third parties. I don't literally want them to "rot in prison," but I'll have zero sympathy if they're caught and prosecuted.
Update: One final obvious point that I forgot to mention: while I don't know the details of this particular attack, it's relatively common for DDOS attacks to utilize botnets, a.k.a. networks of computers that have been remotely compromised and are being used without their owners' knowledge or permission. Even if everything I wrote above is wrong, the use of botnets—for this or any other purpose—is flatly immoral and illegal, and no DDOS attack that utilizes them should be considered a legitimate form of political protest.


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Épaviste Bordeaux, enlèvement épave gratuit
Ecological car wreck removal in Bordeaux
Ecological car wreck removal in Bordeaux, Gironde. We will recycle your used car.
Your car wreckage is almost completely recycled, and reusable spare parts are made available to consumers looking to have their own vehicle repaired at a lower cost. Our car wreck service is free.
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Bordeaux ( bor-DOH, French: [bɔʁdo] (listen); Gascon Occitan: Bordèu [buɾˈðɛw]) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. The municipality (commune) of Bordeaux proper has a population of 257,804 (2019). Bordeaux is the centre of Bordeaux Métropole that has a population of 796,273 (2019), the sixth-largest in France after Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse and Lille with its immediate suburbs and closest satellite towns. The larger metropolitan area has a population of 1,247,977 (2017). It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department.
Amelin, Antony, Bacalan, Barrière, Bastide-Brazza, Bastide-Niel, Bordeaux-Lac, Brochard, Carignan, Caudéran


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Uganda Rejects Obama's Pro-Homosexual "Change"
February 15, 2010
Ugandan Christian minister Martin Ssempa has issued a strong rebuttal to President Obama's criticism of his country for considering passage of a law to discourage and punish certain homosexual practices. "Sodomy is neither the change we want nor can believe in," says Ssempa, who runs the Family Policy and Human Rights Center in Uganda .
Ssempa, a major player in the country's successful anti-AIDS program, says that Obama has an "obsession with the spread of sodomy in Africa," in contrast to the efforts of the George W. Bush Administration to help Uganda resist the dangerous sexual practices which facilitate the spread of the deadly disease. The Ugandan anti-AIDS program has emphasized abstinence and monogamy.
Ssempa's website declares, "HIV/AIDS is not an allergy. It is not a gay disease. It is not a badge of honor. It is a cold-blooded, indiscriminating killer that can only be stopped by a proven solutionŻabstinence until marriage and faithfulness within marriage."
Partly because of the continuing need to avoid AIDSŻand the practices which can spread itŻSsempa and many other Ugandan pastors have united to form a task force against homosexuality and support new legislation to curtail the negative health impact of the so-called "lifestyle." The task force states that "Practices like homosexuality and bisexuality are associated with serious, yet preventable public-health risks. The risk of HIV transmission in male homosexuality is, for example, about 10 times that of heterosexual sex, simply due to use of parts of the body for inappropriate functions. Other diseases and medical complications are also associated with these practices. Secondly, by its nature, behavior spreads in the population through experimentation, modeling and social affirmation. Increase in homosexual and bisexual practice could thus rapidly reverse Uganda's success against HIV/AIDS."
But at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Obama, capitulating to pressure from the "gay rights" lobby which helped elect him, condemned the prospect of "odious laws in Uganda," after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had made similar comments. The proposed legislation has drawn international condemnation from the Obama Administration, the global gay rights lobby, homosexual activists in the media, and dozens of "progressive" members of the U.S. Congress.
Clinton said that she had called President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda to express "our strongest concerns about a law being considered in the Parliament of Uganda." But Clinton failed to disclose that he had told her that he had received reports that foreign homosexuals have been targeting Ugandan children for sexual abuse. Museveni has expressed puzzlement that Clinton and other representatives of Western nations have seemed so preoccupied with the subject of "gays."
But because of the power of the well-funded homosexual lobby, the campaign has taken the form of a global effort to isolate Uganda and even cut off aid to the poor country because of its stand against homosexuality. Under this pressure, American pastors such as Rick Warren have denounced the anti-homosexual legislation. Ssempa and other Ugandan pastors, in turn, have accused Warren of succumbing to "hysteria" generated by the homosexual lobby.
In his statement, Ssempa expressed concern that Obama failed to understand the nature of the legislation. "President Barack Obama makes two mistakes," Ssempa said in his statement. "First, Uganda 's anti-homosexuality law only prescribes the capital punishment in cases where the victims are children or the handicapped. This is consistent with the existing laws for similar crimes by heterosexuals. We wonder if President Obama thinks that the heterosexual rape of a girl is a lesser crime than the homosexual rape of a handicapped boy."
"Secondly," Ssempa goes on, "homosexuals and lesbians are never targeted for who they are, rather what they do. It is the repugnant sexual acts which they do which constitutes a crime, a
sin and a rebellion against the order of nature. Here in Africa, we believe homosexuals
can CHANGE. It is very disappointing for Africans to hear Obama, who ran on the ticket
of 'change we can believe in,' losing courage when we postulate in faith that homosexuals can truly change. We wish to tell him that sodomy is neither the change we want nor can believe in."
Accuracy in Media's review of coverage of the so-called "Kill the Gays" bill in Uganda finds that it has been completely one-sided, inaccurate, and distorted beyond belief. Contrary to press accounts, the legislation is not designed to kill homosexuals but discourage and punish homosexual practices which spread disease and death. Christians in Uganda are trying to build a culture of life and avoid the sexual perversions which have devastated families in the U.S.
AIM's investigation of the controversy has determined that the Soros-funded Open Society has been spearheading the funding of homosexual activism in Uganda and the rest of Africa. For example, his Open Society Initiative for East Africa, in partnership with Media Development in Africa (MEDEVA), aired a program on "sexual minority rights in Uganda ," which even included advocacy of legalized prostitution. The Open Society Institute also held a four-day workshop on legal strategies "to promote lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights in Africa."
Like "gay rights," Obama has made support for abortion, even in health care legislation, a priority for his administration.
The Ugandan pro-family activist said that Obama's comments "will not stop the passage of the anti-homosexuality bill, but rather it has shown us that of all the problems that Africa has, the priority is not HIV/AIDS or trade but sodomy."
Ssempa has been outspoken about the need for the legislation. But other Ugandan activists have spoken out as well. Charles Tuhaise, chairman of the board of Agape Community Transformation (ACT), a Christian organization in Uganda , has told AIM that "This is a bill written to control a problem that has largely gotten out of hand in western society and is now spreading tentacles worldwide. Perhaps Uganda has helped to highlight the danger that the homosexual movement poses to the world."
Ssempa drew a contrast with the administration of George W. Bush, which he said had helped Uganda resist the spread of AIDS. "African history will remember President George W. Bush for helping to stop the spread of the deadly HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis with his presidential emergency fund (PEPFAR)," he said. "On the other hand we are writing Obama's history as one whose single focus is a divisive obsession with the spread of sodomy in Africa. We are sad that the presidential emergency response of Barack Obama is the use of the White House as a bully pulpit to spread sodomy, while enabling the murder of millions of unborn babies in his unconscionable and extremely odious abortion laws."
Cliff Kincaid is president of America's Survival, Inc. - www.usasurvival.org
For updates, please use the contact form at www.usasurvival.org
Visit Cliff Kincaid's website at www.usasurvival.org


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A really popular trend going around nowadays is to slap an oval sticker on your car, boat, or gear to represent your beloved state or cause. But, the traditional versions just don't have enough balls for us. So, we made our own take on these popular oval stickers in our magnificent nutsack shaped sticker design. This 3" tall sticker is great for slapping on your gear or on your vehicle. Stock up with a discounted multi-pack and pass 'em along to your friends.
- UV Laminated Coating suitable for outdoor surfaces
- Beautiful scrotum silhouette filled with "FL" to represent the glorious state of Florida
- Very sticky. It's a sticker.
- 3" tall x 2.67" wide
- Available in 5 or 10-packs


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Professional Mold Removal Crestwood MO
If you've got moisture in your Crestwood home or have had water damage in your house due to a burst pipe, a roof leak or a heavy summer storm you need a mold removal contractor. Pride Cleaning & Restoration has been helping families in Crestwood with Mold Remediation, Mold Removal, and Mold Restoration services since 1987.
Mold is not an issue to be taken lightly. Mold can affect your health and even the health of your pets. Mold has been linked to asthma, sinus problems, eye burning and even depression and memory impairment. Infamous black mold has caused symptoms similar to colds and flu, and even diarrhea and headaches.
Even if you're not sure you're ready for mold removal help, feel free to contact us to discuss your mold removal questions. We're happy to share our experience and answer any mold removal questions for our neighbors in the Crestwood area.
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When it comes to setting business goals, it can be tricky to find that middle ground. If you set goals that are too high, you might get discouraged. If you set them too low, you may end up bored or complacent, or disillusioned with your business. So how do you strike a balance? Here are some tips.
1. What do you want?
First, you need to determine what you want. Go ahead and brainstorm – make a list as you do. Put it down on paper and don't hold back.
2. Assess your list
Now, take a look at your list. Make a sub-list of steps you have to take to reach each of those goals and dreams. Are there some items on your dream list that involve steps you can't take? If you cannot take the steps necessary to achieve that goal, then it needs to be modified or removed from your list.
3. Strategize
As you are making your sub-list of steps, you need to develop definite strategies for those items on your dream list that are achievable. Being able to see what is necessary to achieve that dream can help you decide whether or not to pursue it. The strategy may in fact be doable, but you are unwilling to take those steps for personal reasons. That is fine; it's your list and your goals.
Go ahead and don't judge yourself – if you can't/don't want to adopt a certain strategy for your own reasons, then cross that goal off the list. The point is to narrow things down.
4. Timeline
Determine a timeline for your goals. Do you need to make more money right now, as in this month? Or do you have more long-term goals, such as eventually quitting your day job? On your master list, write down your timeline. This will help you further narrow things down – if the goal can't be reached within your allotted time, then it doesn't belong on your list of goals.
5. Know yourself
One of the keys to succeeding is to be really honest about your strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes we think we can do it all, or do anything… and other times we think we can't do anything. Neither of these extremes is likely to be true! If you can, ask others what they think they can see you doing. Once again, break out your pencil – list things you like to do and abilities you feel confident about. Just about any skill or attribute can be channeled into helping your business succeed.


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Senators Announce Agreement to End ShutdownTwo days of negotiations ended with reassurances from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that the Senate will consider immigration proposals in coming weeks.
WASHINGTON—Democrats lined up behind a plan to reopen the federal government Monday as the Senate began a key vote.
Senators predicted a proposal to fund the government until Feb. 8 would move forward, overcoming a Democratic filibuster and clearing the way for an end to the three-day shutdown.
Democrats climbed onboard after two days of negotiations that ended with new reassurances from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that the Senate would consider immigration proposals in the coming weeks.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer lent his backing to the agreement during a speech on the chamber's floor. "Now there is a real pathway to get a bill on the floor and through the Senate," he said of legislation to halt any deportation efforts aimed at "Dreamers," who were brought to the country as children and are now here illegally.
Earlier Monday, McConnell raised hopes for a quick end to the shutdown, saying "I hope and intend" to reach agreement soon on immigration and other contentious issues — if the Democrats agreed to the stopgap spending measure lasting a little less than three weeks.
The vote came as most government offices cut back drastically or even closed on Monday, as the major effects of the shutdown were first being felt with the beginning of the workweek. Before the government can reopen the Senate must vote on final passage, the House must approve it in turn, and President Donald Trump must sign.
McConnell said he hopes to reach bipartisan solutions on immigration, border security, disaster aid, military funding and more by Feb. 8. If not, he said "it would be my intention to take up legislation" addressing those issues.
The Senate over the weekend inched closer but ultimately fell short of a deal that could have reopened the government before the beginning of the workweek. McConnell and Schumer said negotiations lasted late into the night.
On Sunday night, Democrats appeared to be holding out for a firmer commitment from McConnell. "We have yet to reach an agreement on a path forward," Schumer said then.
There were hours of behind-the-scenes talks over the weekend between the leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers over how to end the display of legislative dysfunction, which began at midnight Friday after Democrats blocked a temporary spending measure. Democrats have sought to use the spending bill to win concessions, including protections for roughly 700,000 younger immigrants.
Republicans have appeared increasingly confident that Democrats are bearing the brunt of criticism for the shutdown and that they will ultimately buckle. The White House and GOP leaders said they would not negotiate with Democrats on immigration until the government is reopened.
President Trump on Monday accused Democrats of prioritizing services and security for noncitizens over U.S. citizens. "Not good," his first tweet said. In a second tweet, he said, "Democrats have shut down our government in the interests of their far left base. They don't want to do it but are powerless!"
Trump's first tweet appeared to undercut comments by his legislative affairs director, Marc Short, who told CNN that the immigrants in question are law-abiding and "productive to our society." Short says the administration wants to "find a pathway for them" to stay in the U.S.
It appeared that Democratic resolve was beginning to waver, with growing worries that a prolonged shutdown could prove to be an electoral headache for the party just as it has grown more confident about prospects in November midterm elections.
Although they initially dug in on a demand for an immigration deal, Democrats had shifted to blaming the shutdown on the incompetence of Republicans and Trump, seeming sensitive to being seen by voters as willing to tie up government operations to protect immigrants.
Trump, who regularly disrupted negotiations in recent weeks, had been a relatively subdued player in the weekend debate. He has not appeared in public since Friday afternoon. The White House said he was in regular contact with Republican leaders, but he has not reached out to any Democrats, a White House official said.
Democrats are facing intense pressure from their base to solve the issue over the young immigrants, commonly referred to as "Dreamers," and they are skeptical of Republicans' credibility when offering to take up the issue. Whether Trump would back the emerging plan or any later proposal on immigration is an open question.
While lawmakers feuded, signs of the shutdown were evident at national parks and in some federal agencies. Social Security and most other safety-net programs were unaffected by the lapse in federal spending authority. Critical government functions continued, with uniformed service members, health inspectors and law enforcement officers set to work without pay.
Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Kevin Freking, Catherine Lucey contributed to this report.Wait, before you go…
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Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos awarded Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating with Marxist rebel group FARC
By: Renee Nal | New Zeal
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating for a "peace agreement" with Marxist terrorists FARC. The agreement would have given the murderous communist organization a pass for their many crimes and sickeningly, a seat in the Colombian government.
FARC "has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced thousands since 1964," as reported at The Atlantic.
Thankfully, Colombians rejected the so-called "peace deal" by an alarmingly small margin earlier this month. Conservative former president Alvaro Uribe "led the 'No' campaign against the peace deal" as reported at the Chicago Tribune.
"My soul is not prepared to debate with criminals," Álvaro Uribe was quoted as saying.
It is a shame that Alvaro Uribe did not win the Nobel Peace Prize.
As reported at the Chicago Tribune,
"Colombians widely credit Uribe for forcing the rebels to the negotiating table by leading a U.S.-backed military offensive that pushed them to the edge of the jungle during his 2002-2010 presidency."
The current president has quite a different approach than Alvaro Uribe. The NYT reported that Juan Manuel Santos "resisted calls for tough prison sentences for the FARC, saying that would push them away from the table and back to the war."


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How To See Tonight's Meteor Shower
Take advantage of this rare chance to see the Quadrantid meteor shower
If you can drag yourself out of bed and into the chill of a early January morning, you might find yourself looking at a rare treat: the Quadrantid meteor shower. Early in the morning hours of January 4, from roughly 2 to 5 a.m. local time across the country, this annual meteor shower will be visible in the Northern hemisphere, peaking with an intensity that will approach 100 shooting meteors per hour.
"What's going on is the earth is going through a debris trail," says Timothy Spahr, astronomer at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "You're dealing with very tiny particles, dust-sized in a lot of cases. When they enter the atmosphere, they burn up immediately, and that makes a meteor." The particles that make up the Quadrantid shower originate from an asteroid named 2003 EH1, which many scientists believe was actually once part of a comet. Because the particles enter at speeds as high as 90,000 miles per hour, they burn up high in the atmosphere and leave a glowing streak across the sky.
The Quadrantid shower is unusual in that it continues for a relatively short duration—only a few hours, as compared to more famous showers, such as the Perseids, that last for several days—but with a high degree of activity. "Under a dark sky, we are talking about 100 visible meteors per hour, so that means a little more than one per minute," Spahr says. "Many people assume that these showers have millions of meteors all over the sky, but you'll see around one per minute. And that's actually pretty cool, because you register when you see each one."
With the moon projected to set at around 3 a.m. and clear forecasts for much of the country, tonight has the potential to be a rare chance to see the Quadrantids. Most years, because of their brief duration, moonlight or cloudy conditions obscure the show. This year, experts recommend going outside once the moon has set—and, of course, dressing warmly, with projected nighttime temperatures in the twenties or teens in many places. Because of the show's timing, the best viewings are expected in the Eastern United States.
Meteor-gazers are advised to watch the Northeast part of the sky, and find as dark an area as possible. Give your eyes some time to adjust to the dark and be alert, as most meteors flash by in a second or less. A live feed of the skies above Huntsville, Alabama, is available on NASA's web site.
One of the biggest factors that determine how many meteors will be seen is something that most people cannot control: location. For those stuck in big cities—like this reporter, based in Washington, D.C.—ambient lighting will reduce the visibility of the meteors significantly. "A really dark sky makes a huge difference, and most people in the world never see a dark sky because they live in cities," Spahr says. "If you drove two hours to the west of Washington, say, and got up in elevation a little bit, it would be very nice."
Still, this is one meteor show that even city-dwellers can appreciate, if not as much as those in the country. "It will be a lot less in a city, but you will still see some meteors tonight," says Spahr. "Some of these particles will end up, for just a few seconds, as bright as Venus, so those you'll be able to see from pretty much anywhere."


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CBS, Turner announce broadcast teams for the tournament
CBS and Turner has announced their March Madness broadcast teams.
The Final Four will be called by Jim Nantz, Steve Kerr, Greg Anthony and Tracy Wolfson. It will be the first time that Anthony has called a Final Four and National Title game.
Ernie Johnson will host studio coverage during the Final Four and be joined by Charles Barkley, Clark Kellogg and Kenny Smith. Those four will be joined by Greg Gumbel in the studio during the first two weekends of tournament action.
Matt Winer will host the second studio show from Atlanta and will be joined by Steve Smith, Seth Davis and, for the first time, Grant Hill. Doug Gottlieb will participate after the first weekend of the tournament as well.
Here is the full breakdown for announcer pairings for the first weekend's games. The top four will be calling the second weekend's action:
Brian Anderson, Dan Bonner and Kristine Leahy will call Tuesday's First Four games while Kevin Harlan, Len Elmore, Reggie Miller and Rachel Nichols will handle Wednesday's First Four.