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ORLANDO, Fla. — For the second time in as many trips to the Capital One Bowl, the No. 13 LSU football team watched a victory slip away in the final minute. No. 11-ranked Penn State hit a game-winning field goal with 57 seconds to play to hand head coach Les Miles his first bowl loss at LSU,19-17.
LSU (9-4) scored two touchdowns in 3:02 to overcome a 13-point deficit and take a 17-16 fourth-quarter lead. With 6:54 to play, Penn State (11-2) answered with a 12-play, 65-yard drive that took 5:57 off the clock and regained the lead.
The Tigers' final drive ended at the Penn State 33-yard line.
The loss broke LSU's 24-game non-conference winning streak that began after the 2005 Capital One Bowl loss to Iowa (30-25) on a 56-yard last-second touchdown pass. Miles fell to 24-1 in non-conference games.
After sputtering through the first half, LSU's offense found life in the second half with a pair of scores against the No. 4-ranked scoring defense in the NCAA.
A 24-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Jefferson to wide receiver Brandon LaFell, a 1-yard touchdown run by running back Stevan Ridley and a pair of PAT's by Josh Jasper gave the Tigers their first lead with 12:49 left to play.
With less than 10 minutes left, the Tigers forced a punt after consecutive Penn State penalties backed the Nittany Lions into second-and-28. After Jefferson scrambled for a first down on the ensuing series, the a pass to Toliver fell incomplete and LSU punted to setup Penn State's final game-winner drive.
On a recently sodded turf and after a heavy rain storm, LSU struggled to get its footing in the first half and fell behind 13-3 at halftime on New Year's Day. LSU managed only 67 yards of total offense and a 28-yard field goal by Jasper in the first 30 minutes. The field conditions were so poor that making any sort of cut with the ball was out of the question.
Penn State scored its only touchdown with a 37-yard pass with 1:54 to play in the first quarter when wide receiver Derek Moye ran straight past an LSU defender and caught quarterback Daryll Clark's pass in stride inside the 5-yard line.
Tight end Adam Quarless led his team with eight receptions for 88 yards, while Graham Zug had four for 51 yards. Moye had three catches for 53 yards.
Despite the footing, Penn State placekicker Collin Wagner was perfect on the afternoon hit field goals of 26, 18, 20 and 21 yards.
Clark completed 18-of-35 passes for 216 yards with one touchdown. He was sacked only once and did not throw an interception.
Running back Evan Royster ran 17 times for 65 yards, while Stephfon Green added 35 yards on seven carries. Clark rushed 11 times for net 20 yards.
Big plays gave the Nittany Lions a 186-67 first-half advantage in total offense, while the Tigers managed only two first downs on passes of 18 and 36 yards by Jefferson to LaFell.
LSU was outgained, 340-243.
Jefferson was sacked twice while completing 13-of-24 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown. Wide receiver Terrance Toliver had a 81 yards on six catches, while LaFell added five receptions for 87 yards.
Jefferson was intercepted with 3:48 left in the first half when Toliver mishandled a pass that bounced into the hands of cornerback A.J. Wallace.
The LSU rushing game never gained a foot-hold, as the Tigers had 41 yards rushing on 25 attempts including 17 sack yards. The longest run of the game was for 11 yards by Trindon Holliday.
LSU safety Chad Jones led the way defensively with eight tackles including one for lost yardage. He partially blocked a punt in the first quarter and broke up a pass. Linebackers Jacob Cutrera and Kelvin Sheppard each added seven tackles.
There were a Capital One Bowl-record 15 punts, as the teams combined to tie the record of 10 in the wet first half.
The game was marred by multiple dropped passes by both teams on both sides of the ball. Penn State fumbled four times — twice on snaps from center — while LSU fumbled one time.
Two of LSU's three turnovers were lost deep in their territory, however, the LSU defense held Penn State to a pair of field goals. LSU's third turnover was a fumble on the game's final play as wide receiver Rueben Randle attempted to lateral to a teammate.
LSU vs. Penn State – 2010 Capital One Bowl
Jan. 1, 2010 – Citrus Bowl Stadium (Orlando, Fla.)
Postgame Notes
Team Notes
1. LSU's game captains were 24 Harry Coleman, 70 Ciron Black and 30 Josh Jasper.
2. LSU won the toss and deferred to the second half. Penn State received the opening kickoff.
3. Tigers extending their notable consecutive starts streak today were: LT Ciron Black (53), OG Lyle Hitt (33), LB Harry Coleman (26) and RT Joseph Barksdale (26).
4. Penn State's first-quarter touchdown was the first allowed by LSU in a first quarter since the Mississippi State game on Sept. 26. The streak ended at eight straight games — Georgia, Florida, Auburn, Tulane, Alabama, Louisiana Tech, Ole Miss and Arkansas.
5. OT Ciron Black broke the LSU record for consecutive starts. He made his 53rd straight start, shattering the mark of Andrew Whitworth (now with Cincinnati Bengals) for the most consecutive starts in school history. LSU has had two players – Black and Whitworth – account for the last 105 straight starts at offensive left tackle dating back to 2002.
6. WR R.J. Jackson saw his first action since the Louisiana Tech game on Nov. 14. Jackson, who missed two games, returned from a broken bone he suffered on his foot in the game against the Bulldogs.
7. C P.J. Lonergan made his second start of the season.
8. Head coach Les Miles is now 4-1 in bowl games at LSU.
9. LSU is now 21-19-1 in bowl games all time.
10. LSU's nation-leading non-conference winning streak was snapped at 24 games today. Les Miles is now 24-1 versus non-conference opponents at LSU. Before today's loss, the last time LSU lost to a non-conference opponent was to Iowa in the 2005 Capital One Bowl.
11. LSU is now 1-2 in the Capital One Bowl, beating Wake Forest 34-10 in the 1979 contest and falling 30-25 to Iowa in 2005.
Individual Notes
12. QB Jordan Jefferson tossed his 17th touchdown pass of the season and 21st of his career on a 24-yard pass to Brandon LaFell with 0:13 left in the third quarter.
a. Jefferson's 17 TD passes this season put him in a tie for eighth place in LSU single-season TD passes.
13. WR Brandon LaFell caught a 24-yard touchdown pass with 0:13 to go in the third quarter. It was his 25th career TD catch, which put him one TD shy of the LSU career record of 26 set by Dwayne Bowe (2003-06).
a. It was also his 11th TD catch of the season, which put him in a tie for second place in the LSU single-season record books. He tied Devery Henderson (2003) and Wendell Davis (1986), one shy of the single-season record of 12 set by Dwayne Bowe in 2006.
b. LaFell finished his career with a catch in 41 straight games (40 of those multiple-reception games) dating back to the 2007 Sugar Bowl versus Notre Dame. The streak was the fifth longest streak in the nation. Central Michigan's Bryan Anderson leads the nation with 52 consecutive games with a catch.
14. PK Josh Jasper nailed a 25-yard field goal with 14:15 left in the second quarter. Jasper finished the season 17-of-20 and improved to 19-of-22 for his career.
a. Jasper's 17 field goals this season ties him for third with John Corbello (2002) for single-season FGs.
15. With his 43 punt return yards today, Trindon Holliday moved into eighth place in LSU single-season punt return yards with 362 for the season on 20 returns.
16. RB Stevan Ridley rushed for a one-yard TD with 12:49 left in the game. The TD run marked the third of the season and fourth of Ridley's career.
17. LB Jacob Cutrera was credited with his first career sack in the fourth quarter when he sacked Daryll Clark for a loss of 11 yards.
LSU COACH LES MILES and LB KELVIN SHEPPARD
THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you wouldn't mind kicking it off with an opening statement, please.
COACH MILES: I just want to say that we enjoyed competing in this bowl game, and certainly against a very quality Penn State football team.
I thought it was a well played game by both. And congratulations to Coach Paterno and Penn State.
The inability to get anything going in the first half offensively, two turnovers led to points. We had what certainly was a completed ball that passed through our receiver's hands into our opponents' possession and cost us a 3 pointer and a fumble cost us a 3 pointer.
So we're in the position to win the game late, a couple of good drives, throw some balls and go down the field and score and take the lead. Unable to keep the ball, and Penn State marches down the field and kicks a 3 pointer and takes the lead. And Trin Holliday, who played big in my opinion all day long, returns the ball back to about mid field, moving the ball it appears, and we get an unfortunate personal foul.
What was happening was our player was trying to help up the Penn State player to get him off the pile so that we could snap the ball and clock the ball. And that was called a personal foul.
I certainly understand the officiating not allowing LSU to take that into their hands, but I don't know that lifting a guy off the ground could possibly be misconstrued as a personal foul.
But I certainly understand the impact on the game that that had. So the opportunity to go down there and have a chance at a field goal late in the game certainly would have been what we planned. It didn't work out that way. And congratulations again to Penn State.
THE MODERATOR: Questions for either Coach Miles or Kelvin Sheppard.
Q. Les, did the refs say anything to you about it? Did they explain the call on the personal foul?
COACH MILES: No, it was a personal foul. That was the call. So I didn't if lifting an opponent onto his feet is a personal foul, then it would be interesting I don't quite understand the call.
Q. For both of you. Could you please comment on, Kelvin especially, what it was like to play on the field today.
KELVIN SHEPPARD: Obviously you could see the turf was messed up. It slowed down our speed. But like you said, Penn State was out there on the same turf, so you can't for one second use that as an excuse. They came out and both teams gave it their all and they left it all out there. I take my hat off to Penn State. They had a great scheme and they came out on top.
Q. Kelvin, can you just talk about was it hard to keep your footing on the field? Were you guys very conscious of taking your steps and the things you were doing out there just because the field was so bad?
KELVIN SHEPPARD: Towards the beginning of the game guys were concerned about that. You had to get a feel for it. But as the adrenalin started pumping and game started going and guys started hitting, that went all away. You were worried about playing for victory. Coach Miles emphasized that you play for victory. Today we did that. But unfortunately we came out on the second hand.
Q. Les, I think it was with 38 seconds left you called a center screen to LaFell with no timeouts left. Did you think that would pop for a really big play? You must have.
COACH MILES: We expected certainly that there would be a pass rush, and an opportunity to get up the field and get a first down. What we thought we would get there. But we got tackled certainly short of the first down and that cost us maybe seconds there.
Q. On third down and your ability to get up the field on defense seemed to bite you.
KELVIN SHEPPARD: Like I said earlier, Penn State, you've got to take your hat off to them. They had a great scheme and great players over there. Daryll Clark, I think he managed the game. Under the field conditions, he did a great job managing the game. I mean, you can't make excuses now. They got the victory, and I take my hat off to them.
COACH MILES: I thought Daryll Clark did a great job late in the game keeping the ball in his hands and making some runs that were key.
Q. Coach, two losses now with time management issues right at the end of the game, do you feel like time management is still a concern or an issue with your football team?
COACH MILES: I think we'll look at the the want to clock the ball and have the ability to clock it, certainly we understand that. You know, there's a chance on that screen that we'll not get a first down.
I think the issue of the personal foul is also plays a big part in that. If we allow to clock the ball, and certainly we use some time, but it's a positive play. The thing that hurt us, in my opinion, was the penalty.
And even if they they will eventually call, you know, if they impede the progress in marking and spotting the ball, it's the responsibility of the officials, then, to make a call against our opponent to allow us to snap the ball.
So what was happening there was time was running off the clock, and it was our intent to get it clocked. And the penalty ended up costing us not only the seconds but the field position.
Q. Les, I counted about ten drops today even by your receivers or, in a lot of cases, by your defensive backs. Talk a little bit about maybe that frustration.
COACH MILES: Early on, it just appeared that our defensive backs were in position to make some really big plays. And I just I really just anticipated that we'd end up getting a couple of those in the second half.
I don't know that any ball was hit right in the hands of the defensive back, but it was always a close [indiscernible] ball nearby, and I didn't I just figured we'd end up getting some of those in the second half.
We did have some drops in the offensive side. Ball goes to a completed ball, ends up being an interception. And that was and certainly there was a long pass in the first half, if we could have put a handle on it, could have been a big time play.
Those things happen. Certainly on a wet field. So that's not something we enjoy, I can tell you that.
Q. Not that it would have made a big difference in this game, but you said several times during the year we'll see more of Russell Shepard and again we didn't see him today. Is there a disconnect between and you the offensive coaching staff?
COACH MILES: No. We'd like to have gotten Russell Shepard in the game. We felt like 8 was doing a really good job, and we didn't not only on returns, but taking the ball from scrimmage, some of the runs that he had, and those would have been Russell Shepard snaps. It ended up we played him more at receiver in this game and didn't get him on the field, and his snaps at running back were curtailed by the fact that our opponent had the ball for the length of time they had.
Q. Coach and Kelvin, three times in the middle of the game you held them to field goals inside your own 10, giving you a chance to win. I wonder if you can comment on your defense stepping up in those three situations.
KELVIN SHEPPARD: We take great pride in zone defense. It's something we do well all season. I mean, the D line, I mean, I believe in those guys 100 percent. They've done a great job all year keeping linemen off of me. That's what they did. Making plays, shooting through the gaps. Those are just plays we have to have in a big time game like this.
COACH MILES: Yeah, two of those times there were turnovers in the short fields, and so that defense on the field with a short field and played really well. And, again, I agree with what Kelvin says. We counted on the defense to play big in those situations, and they do.
Q. Could you talk about P.J. getting a start, also Hurst coming in for a while but then going out while committing that penalty?
COACH MILES: I think T Bob Hebert's little nicked ankle, knee, and I think P.J.'s getting better and playing better, so I think that's the reason, certainly. And Hurst, Hurst is getting better. He's a big, strong young man. He's going to play a lot of football here. And I think the plan was all along to sub in there at the right guard with Lyle.
So it just so happened that Lyle was in late.
Q. Coach, bowl wins, lopsided scores were all indoors, do you think it would have made a big difference if this game was indoors, and what did you think when you saw how bad the field was in the rain going into the game today?
COACH MILES: I can tell you this. Our focus was to make some strategic decisions on how to approach the field. I think we did that to a point. I think we did a good job. But after the game, certainly the footing was different. Certainly you could argue it benefited one or the other. I'd like to have had a little better footing. I liked the second half. The second half was just markedly different than the first half. We had more ability to move our feet, and so I don't know. Again, I'm like Kelvin Sheppard. I don't want to think about it during the game. Certainly post game, you know, that's speculation.
Q. Coach, you kind of touched on it just there. When you went into the dressing room, two first downs for the entire first half, virtually no productivity, what were you looking at? What was the problem you tried to address?
COACH MILES: Well, we wanted to catch it and run it a little better. And get the ball to Ridley a little bit and see how he did. And felt like we had some advantages with the receivers and the catching and the throwing. Felt like on the perimeter that that would have been an advantage for us. We have to balance the run and the pass. Until we do, we'll be a little bit easier to defend.
Q. Les, can you comment on Penn State's front four and their linebackers and what you saw from them today?
COACH MILES: They're extremely disciplined. Very, very good football team. That front seven, those big three techniquing ends, they're nice to watch. I enjoyed watching them play. The linebackers never seemed to be out of position there. We hit a screen or two and felt like that was a good opportunity for us and came right back. That linebacker makes a heck of a play. Certainly I would have like to have that one screen call called back.
Q. You touched on the time of possession, particularly in the first half. Were you optimistic in the first half even though you were down 10 points that you guys were hanging around? Were you optimistic at that point?
COACH MILES: I thought we would win the football game. I felt like we'd come back out in the second half and we'd get a turnover or two and have the opportunity to I didn't think that they were going to sustain the second half against our defense, and I felt like our offense would get on track.
So, no, I felt like we would come back and win.
Q. Les, you said a moment ago that you would like to have that back. Was that the only call that went into Jordan?
COACH MILES: No, that was the call that went into Jordan.
Q. Going back to the first half, there seemed to be a reliance on running the ball. Was there any talk during the first half of getting away from that a little bit to try to get Jordan some chances to throw down the field?
COACH MILES: Reliance in the first half on running the ball? We relied on it, you're saying? I hadn't had that feeling in the first half. I would have liked to have called more runs and had some more productivity in the run.
We threw the ball a ton. Not only in the first half, but certainly in the second half.
Q. Coach, at Arkansas last year you have a senior lineman that gets a gigantic 15 yard penalty after the whistle; today you have a senior lineman, gets a gigantic. Is there a discipline problem on this team?
COACH MILES: I don't know that helping a guy off the ground could really be considered a discipline problem. Had he punched him, certainly, I probably would have come unglued. But I sit there and I watch it and I'm going what's he going to call? He's helping the guy off the ground.
I mean, what's he going to call? No, I don't think there was a discipline problem.
Q. Has it been offsetting?
COACH MILES: You know, certainly the officials, the responsibility to officiate the game. I guess if you're helping a guy off the ground, it would be difficult to call that a personal foul. But I don't know. You know, I guess if you intend to lay on the ground and you're being lifted off the ground, I guess that could be a personal foul. I don't know. But it just didn't seem right to me.
Q. What did he see? Did he tell you what he saw?
COACH MILES: I'm only telling you what I saw. I saw a guy lifting him up off the ground. It was pretty obvious. It was 11 laying would not get up off the ball and off of the quarterback. And tried to create a time issue for the spotting of the ball.
And so Lyle picked him up, tried to help him up off the ground. He didn't hit him, pound him to the ground. He didn't jump on him. And it was pretty clear. And so I figured, when the flag was thrown, it was going to be an interesting call.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach and Kelvin.


text:
Arsonist set Highway 36 Halloween fires
Arsonist set Highway 36 Halloween fires
08 November 2011
published by www.lassennews.com
USA — Arsonist set Highway 36 Halloween fires
Nov. 8, 2011 Halloween started off with burning passion. On Monday, Oct. 31, about 5 a.m. emergency services responded to Highway 36 on the west side of Westwood, Calif.
Five fires were intentionally started just off the roadway between the Lassen and Plumas county line.
Three fires were started on the Lassen County side and two were started on the Plumas County side.
Together, several fire services responded to the area of the fire starts. Among them were Clear Creek Volunteer and Westwood volunteer Fire departments and Cal Fire with an engine. All five starts combined involved less than an acre of land.
California Highway Patrol and the Plumas County Sheriffs Department assisted responding fire emergency services.
There were witnesses to the arsonists attempt to ignite a wildland fire.
The caller described a suspicious person seen in the area: a young male wearing dark clothing and carrying a backpack near the scene of the fires.
The tip led Plumas County deputies to the arrest of the arson suspect.
Andrew Giampapa was booked into Plumas County Jail on two charges of arson, violation of probation and he was also allegedly under the influence of a controlled substance.
Other charges have not been made available however Giampapa may be facing three counts of arson in Lassen County as well. Giampapas age and other possible pending charges have not been released at this time.
Mischievous bear starts a fire
Smokey Bear had his work cut out for him over the weekend. On Saturday night, Oct. 29, a bear in the Keddie Ridge area did not pay heed to Smokeys great words of wisdom.
It was reported by Susanville Interagency Fire Center (SIFC) in the Plumas County area of Keddie Ridge a mischievous bear got into an electrical box on state land.
The bear allegedly broke into the box and caused damage by ripping and/or chewing on electric wires. The damage caused a fire to spark, burning about one acre of land.
The Keddie Ridge fire was contained and put out with the use of two engines, two ground crews and 1 helicopter from the Vina Station.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Survivors recount California shooting; motive still unknown
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Two young women, co-workers enjoying a summer weekend with friends at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, were barefoot and goofing off in an inflatable obstacle course when suddenly a gunshot rang out.
Brynn Ota-Mathews and Gabriella Gaus spotted the fatigues-clad gunman and took off running, leaving their shoes and purses behind as the gunfire continued. They sprinted past portable toilets and into a parking lot as they felt bullets burn their skin.
A golf cart then ferried them to a stranger named John and his young son, who raced the wounded young women to the hospital.
"I just want to thank John," Gaus said Thursday, pausing. "I hope that's his name."
Ota-Mathews, 23, and Gaus, 26, were two of 13 gunshot victims to survive the deadly attack Sunday. Five remain hospitalized and three — including two children — died.
The gunman, 19-year-old Santino William Legan, was wielding an AK-47-style semi-automatic rifle as he was shot and killed by police. The FBI still hasn't determined his motive.
Police scanner traffic and 911 tapes from Sunday's festival, obtained by The Salinas Californian, depict a chaotic scene as callers begged for aid.
"They just carried a body out," a woman only identified as Kim yells into her phone as the 911 dispatcher says help is on the way.
Some of the wounded were rushed to St. Louise Regional Hospital, where doctors treated 26-year-old Gaus for gunshot wounds and scrapes. Ota-Mathews was later taken to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center with a bullet lodged in her liver.
Ota-Mathews was discharged Thursday with the news that the bullet will never be removed — along with the trauma that won't go away.
"There isn't a moment I'm awake I haven't thought about this," Gaus said at a hospital news conference Thursday, describing feelings of paranoia and mistrust. "It feels sickening to me every time I leave my house."
Both women initially thought Legan looked like a "trained military professional" who was toting, inexplicably, a BB gun. They were surprised to hear he was a teenager — "a baby," Ota-Mathews called the 19-year-old.
"It hurts me, it hurts me for his family," she said.
Gaus said she wondered if the tragedy could have been avoided if someone had checked on the gunman's mental well-being.
"That's a reminder to me," she said. "Check in on your friends."
On Thursday, authorities had little information to offer at a news conference. Two profilers are working to determine a motive through interviews and physical and digital evidence as investigators comb through the massive crime scene that covers more than 25 acres, more than half of which has already been processed.
John Bennett, the FBI's special agent in charge in San Francisco, said Legan did not appear to be targeting a particular group at the fair.
"It seems very random at this point," Bennett said, noting that he did not seem to follow a specific ideology, either.
Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee said the wounded count rose from 12 to 13 after authorities discovered another victim with a graze wound.
The chief also lauded the three veteran officers who shot and killed Legan — Eric Cryar, Hugo Del Moral and Robert Basuino — and called them heroes.
For Ota-Mathews and Gaus, they said they were "lucky enough" to stick together throughout the ordeal.
"I was like, 'Don't leave me,'" Gaus said before hugging her friend.


text:
A security company in the U.S. has provided further evidence that last year's devastating hacking attack on Sony Pictures Entertainment was carried out by a group with ties to North Korea.
The FBI has already named North Korea as the source of the attack, but some security experts have been skeptical, in part because the FBI didn't disclose all the details of its investigation.
Security firm CrowdStrike is among those who believe North Korea was the culprit, and on Tuesday it presented another piece of evidence to support that claim.
CrowdStrike said it found similarities between the malware used against Sony and a piece of destructive code deployed in 2013 by a group it calls Silent Chollima, which has already been linked to several attacks on South Korea and the U.S.
Parts of the code used in each attack are almost identical in their structure and functionality, CrowdStrike CTO Dmitri Alperovitch said during a webcast Tuesday in which he described how the Sony attack was carried out. (A replay will be available here.)
What's more, he said, the malware used in both attacks contains the same typographical error in the same place, spelling "security" as "secruity."
CrowdStrike had already identified similarities between attacks by Silent Chollima and the one on Sony, including the use of destructive "wiper" malware and the way that code was deployed. But it hadn't described the similarities in the code itself.
The similarities are in a part of the malware that's used to spread the code through a network. The part that does the data-wiping is considerably more advanced in the malware used against Sony, Alperovitch said, suggesting it was a later version of the same program.
Malware sometimes get shared and reused in underground forums, but the source code for the 2013 attack and the Sony attack haven't been released publicly, Alperovitch said. So it's unlikely another group of hackers could have reverse-engineered the Secret Chollima code and reproduced it exactly, right down to the typo.
"Once you go through so many 'ifs' and 'buts,' it makes it highly implausible," he said.
The group that claimed responsibility for attacking Sony calls itself Guardians of Peace. Silent Chollima often uses different names during different attacks and may have done the same with Sony.
Other security companies, including Symantec, also have linked the Sony attack to North Korea.
"We're just providing more details and additional evidence to tighten up the case," Alperovitch said.
"There's been a lot of questions about the attribution for this case, and more public evidence will help people make up their own minds about who's really responsible," he said.
In December, the FBI publicly blamed North Korea for the attack, which led to reams of company data being published on the Web, including executives' emails and salary data, as well as unreleased movies.


text:
The biggest threat to National Security in the United States is immorality.
Dateline: August 4th, 2023:
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On a side note, I appreciate the time and effort that you devote to answering the questions of searching people. I find myself coming back to your web site again and again for answers and explanations to my questions.
Thank you, and God bless!
You are really doing a wonderful service by having this web site.
Thank you very much,
Thanks for taking the time Mary Ann.
Thanks so much, I'm glad that there are individuals out there who have dedicated their lives to something as beautiful as dispelling misconceptions about the Church and bringing searching persons to Christ.
Thank you for your fantastic web site and Holy Quotes; thank you for your e-mails back to me and all the effort you put into explaining these hard topics.
Thank you, and God bless your ministry!
- Minister Rich
Tell everyone who participated in answering this question, Thanks!
It will certainly help. :-)
Take care,
Thank-you for this wonderful ministry!
By the way, from what I have read, you are all volunteers. Thanks for all your efforts and your thoughts on this issue.
I thank all of you for your kind guidance and prayers. It means a lot to me. Yours is effectively a ministry to a suffering soul and God can only smile when he sees you reaching out and helping those in need.
In return, I promise that I shall stay faithful and persevere.
Yours in Christ,
Over the past few years, I have asked questions on what was once CPATS, and is now AskACatholic.com. I didn't always like the answers I got, but they were always given with a spirit of charity.
Thanks for your time. I really do appreciate your ministry.
Love your web site and the idea of an apologetics web site.
First of all, over the last few weeks, I am very grateful for what the web site AskACatholic has provided for me. Everyone at AskACatholic is so knowledgeable.
At first, when I heard about the web site, my immediate thought was that it was going to be a hoax, but as I looked through the responses, I realized I was wrong in thinking so because of how educated the answers were. I am really grateful for the service you offer and I thank you so much.
Eric and John,
Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.
Dear Mike,
I want to truly thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to reply to my e-mail in such a thorough and compassionate manner. I believe that what you say is true and I'm hoping to one day experience that peace that truly does surpass all understanding. Until then I'll keep searching prayerfully and asking the right questions. I'm going to anxiously, and with great anticipation, look through the web site addresses you've provided.
Thanks for your help Mike.
I don't know who you are, and what not, but
I feel I can trust you.
Thank you for all of your time, study, thoughts, and prayer.
Yisep YHWH
Thanks again for your time, Mike. Your ministry is an important one. I attend Mass every morning before work and am so happy to have found my way "Home" with your help.
Hello again, John.
At the risk of sounding like a broken CD, thank you again for your thoughtful and detailed response.
Good Morning John,
Thank you for sending a quick reply for my query on "Communion of Saints".
I would also like to thank you for having this web site.
May God bless you and your ministry.
Thank you all so very much for your explanations. These questions have been burning a hole in me for years and probably a cause for some resentment I had pent up inside. You have given me what I was looking for and feel very relieved by your answers.
I hope I can come to you with a few other questions I may have in the near future.
Thank you again so very much for your time and consideration.
Dear Richard,
Thank you very much for your detailed answers to my queries. They have cleared up some confusion I had on these topics.
Though the cyber links you gave me, I was able to view the Church documents I needed. Thanks!
It's a great service you are doing. A great service for people like us.
God Bless You!
Thank you for your web site.
I am increasingly drawn to the Catholic understanding of Communion.
Thank you! I really appreciate your daily e-mails.
I am 53, live in the USA and have a strong Protestant background but am watch EWTN daily and reading Catholic books. I am looking at converting as a possibility.
Dear All:
(Mike, Richard, Mary Ann, Eric and John)
First of all, thank you all for your answers to date; you have been very helpful to me as I explore the possibility of "coming home".
Very much enjoy your site.
I have been very interested in the Catholic Church for many years, and I have been doing a lot of studying on my own, thanks in large part to this web site and to Mike Humphrey.
Dear Mike and Mary Ann,
Thank you so much for your responses. You both gave me much to think about.
I would like to thank each of you for your continued assistance in this matter.
God bless you and your families and thank you for your continued help,
Thanks so much for your reply.
Your web site is so interesting and helpful. Thanks for the effort you all put in!
I just found your web site today and it today like the site. I consider myself an active web surfer of Catholic web sites. The concept is wonderful.
Thank you for your response. Wow, I did get some wrong advice.
By the way, I am so glad I found ya'll!
The site is great!!
Thanks again and God Bless!!
I was wondering if you could make any suggestions and perhaps include some ideas for fundraising. Your Catechism ministry is a godsend and we need things like that here.
This clears up a lot of things for me!
Thank-you and keep up the good work in the Lord!!!
I would like to thank you for all you do for so many. You have answered many difficult questions and helped countless numbers grow closer to God and His Ways.
Thank you for your time and dedication!
I certainly appreciate you guys "going to any lengths" for an answer.
I really don't need any further explanation.
Thank you, thank you.
Thanks Eric,
I appreciate this service.
Thank you so much, and I thank The Lord for your group.
I may have other follow up questions later.
I have found your web site and the answers contained within your knowledge base very helpful in defending the faith.
Great web site! Keep up the good work.
God bless,
I have many more questions but these three are the top of the list.
Thanks for taking the time to read them. I truly appreciate this service and think that you all are doing a wonderful job.
I'm so glad to have gotten a few good answers. Thank you for being available to ask. This has been on my heart for sometime and it's important to hear an unbiased answer from someone with a Christian heart. For this I am so thankful.
You're a blessing.
I decided to write to you because your web site has so much information.
I do appreciate all the help you can give me.
Yours In Christ,
Thanks Mike [and the gang] for the interesting conversation.
I just wanted to thank all of you for your information and help.
I would like to make a donation to your fine work on behalf of the Catholic Church.
Let me know how?
Flip Dawson
Thanks so much for all the information.
You've been a great help.
Hi, John -
Again, thanks so much for your help. I find your response much in the manner of Christ.
Thank you for the service that you provide.
Thank you all for your ministry and hard work. God be with you all.
Your Brother in Christ,
Michael Deem
P.S. I'm coming home :- )
Hello, John,
Thank you very much. This web site is so great.
This is so helpful.
I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to God everyday.
I'm so glad I came to this web site.
You guys have answered questions I always wanted answers to.
For those of you who have responded, thank you so much for your insight.
You have a wonderful web site and I very much appreciate how quickly you wrote back!
Thank you all for your wonderful answers.
Thank you very much for all your replies.
I hope I get this right. It means a lot to have all of my questions answered and not simply the ones about my sexuality.
There are many other aspects of my life, some far more important.
It means a lot to have them recognized.
Based on your previous response, I can tell you are very knowledgeable and really like your web site. I just found it today.
God Bless,
I really appreciate your web site and it has helped me so much in answering questions to the Catholics and non-Catholics that I meet.
Thank you for all you do!
I am learning a lot from the rest of this web site.
Your site is a real blessing right now.
Hopefully you can answer this easy question.
Gentlemen (and Gentlewoman):
I wish to thank all of you for your strong encouragement to me in tackling my problem.
Your thorough responses are far more than I had expected. You have meritoriously evidenced your knowledge of Catholicism and fitted it to my needs.
Hi, guys,
Let me first begin by thanking you for this site as it's full of very good information. Even though I am not Catholic, nor Christian, I find your postings and other web pages to be extremely helpful and a great guidance.
I appreciate what you all are doing. Thank you!
Thank you VERY much I appreciate all the site has done for me in the past.
Thanks again,
Thank you once again.
God bless your apostolate!
Thank you for being here. You have been a great help to many people. I hope you can answer my question.
So, to all of you at AskACatholic, thank you! God is definitely using this web site for wonderful things.
P.S. - Great web site; I love it!
Your site has truly helped me so thank you so much for everything you do.
Being a lover of history, I find this information fascinating!
Thank you so much for your insight and assistance!
I am deeply thankful for all this site has done for me; take all the time you need to reply.
Thanks again and God bless you.
Thank you all for your extremely quick responses.
Dear Paul,
Thank you so much for your prompt reply. Your words have been really comforting.
God bless you, your colleagues, and your work.
Thanks for the information.
I can't find much of anything about this on the Internet so I really appreciate all the responses I received.
Thank you for broadening my general knowledge and all your efforts.
With respect,
Sites like yours do incredible justice for the faith, and help people like myself see the true light of God once again.
Thank you for everything you do.
Thanks for all your help.
I never originally intended for you guys to give me such long answers, so I didn't read most of the e-mails you sent me.
I don't believe in God; I am irreligious; but I still wanted answers and you gave them to me, literally.
I have volunteered to help teach Catechism classes. I figure one way to beat these heresies and scandals is to teach the young the truth, just like you do through your web site!
Thank you for this wonderful web site. I could not find a specific answer to my question, so I thought I'd just go on ahead and ask.
First, I would like to commend you on your web site. I have enjoyed reading and learning about your religious views.
Secondly, I would like to tell you that I am somewhat interested in becoming a Catholic.
Thank You John, ... Mike, Bob, Eric, Mary Ann, and Paul
Though I am not new to the faith, you are patience with me. I love how I have a "place to go" for answers I could not get without your expertise.
Thank you all for having this resource for all people searching for help and understanding.
I hope to come to you again with other issues dealing with our faith in the Almighty God.
May God continue to gift your wisdom, knowledge, and love of His Word,
Frances Johnson
Please thank Fr. Jonathan for me from the bottom of my heart. His wisdom, by the grace of God, may assist our Tribunal in helping my ex-husband.
God Bless!
By the way I'd like to thank the people of this web site for answering all my questions in the past, it has really helped me to understand Catholicism.
First of all, please allow me to take this opportunity to thank you all for making this most wonderful service available to those of us who have questions regarding Catholicism, or Christianity in general. Your efforts are greatly appreciated!
Thank you and bless you for your ministry.
I had no idea this was an option!
Boy! I am learning a whole lot of stuff today!
Thank you for you comments.
I hope you realize how much good you do with your service to others via this web site.
May God Bless all of you!
Dear Friends,
I really appreciate the purpose of this web site.
I have a lot of questions of a theological nature as well as questions that relate to the individual.
Thank you Mike and Mary Ann.
Your counsel helps me have the courage to go on and heed the jolt!
May God bless you all for what you're doing on this web site.
Thank you all for your responses. I appreciate it.
May God continue to bless you all in this much needed ministry.
On my behalf, and that of other Catholic women, thank you very much for your time and effort in answering my question.
Very, very kindly,
Thanks for such a great web site.
Not so much a suggestion as a big loud THANK YOU!
Thank you for the magnificent job you all are doing with this web site. You all have such tremendous insight and faith. I find myself coming to this website a lot whenever I need to know a Catholic position on a topic. The fact that you put your explanations in easy to understand sentences really helps clear up a lot of confusion.
Thank you for your web site.
You have all been so helpful already and I just wanted to thank you but I have another question that I need help with.
Dear AskACatholic team,
Thank you very much. I have also tried to e-mail other Catholic web sites about this verse but only your team took some time to reply.
God bless you all, and more power to your apologetic work!!!
I'm praying for your work situation to improve. I've benefited from your ministry and will be relaying that to your pastor.
I'll also be praying about making a donation.
Thanks for your understanding and patience.
Thank you Fr. Jonathan,
Have a wonderful day!
Thank you and I appreciate what you are doing for me and all others.
I am very grateful for you both and this web site for a place to turn to.
God Bless you.
First of all I would like to thank all of you for answering my past questions and clarifying some of my doubts, however, another concern has sprung up in my mind.
I will defer to Mike's answer but Eric's answer was indeed helpful too.
Thank you for your time and effort and I hope we will speak again.
God bless,
Jim Simon
Dear all,
As an introduction, I am a conservative Finnish Lutheran.
Thank you for the answers. I must say I felt relieved, when I read John's response.
Living in a country where you can count the number of Roman Catholics with your fingers and toes, there is seldom a possibility to ask these types of questions directly, and I do not have any idea what the understanding is of an average Catholic on these doctrinal fine points, whether they are from Germany, the Philippines, or Brazil.
Thank you, Eric.
Your help is appreciated.
Thank you for your wonderful site. It has been very helpful in clarifying certain meanings of phrases and words found in the Bible.
Tell Fr. Jonathan I said thank you so much! I will give it a try.
Thank you very much!
I appreciate your help and I also really appreciate you keeping everything private and anonymous.
This is such a great (web site/resource) for Catholics to have!
I have been coming to this web site for a few days now, and I cannot seem to stay off. I am was born and raised Catholic and still am one. I appreciate what this web site has to offer and am very much interested in becoming more knowledgable of my faith. I know my basics but I want to further my education and understanding of my faith.
I'm young, only 20, but I have a lot of friends who are not Catholic, and have tried to persuade me to join their faith. I have stood firm, but want to do a better job at defending my faith without getting upset.
Thanks again.
You guys are awesome and have helped me quite a bit.
Though I am a staunch Roman Catholic there is always, in the time-frame given to each one of us, a need for spiritual growth which then becomes in our Christ-like walk and talk. Reading articles Holy Quotes on your site is so inspiring, and at times does rectify my short-sightedness of being the privileged Catholic.
Your site has thus helped me to grow positively and merciful to others — as I realize we are beacons in this world. Thanks for your site and keep on the fight of faith (like Paul). Wish you all strength and perseverance.
I really like your site and how many references you make to scriptures and the Early Church Fathers. Thank you for all the work you do.
It makes it easier for me when I teach my Faith Formation classes since I talk about the Early Church Fathers quite a bit.
Thank you and may God continue to bless your work.
I just came to your website for the first time today (via Google ) and I am very impressed and blessed by the quality and thoroughness of the answers. I just wanted to say thanks.
I have been to other Catholic websites before but yours strikes me as having some of the most well researched, helpful, thoughtful, clear, informed, and accurate answers.
Blessings, and thanks again,
I stumbled on to your web site and want to thank you all for such a wonderful service that you provide. Sometimes, its much easier to write out a question, rather than facing someone face to face.
I have a very embarrassing question, and don't feel comfortable asking my parish priest.
Thank you gentlemen for the time you took to respond. My original question has been answered.
You must have a passion for Christ to do this work.
Dan Wesseln
Dear Fr. Jonathan,
Thank you for your quick response and your brevity.
I appreciate the time and care you took in answering this, and it does indeed help me.
That was great insight and I received two different viewpoints.
Now I can forward this e-mail to some of my friends and inform them about your viewpoints.
Thanks a lot and God bless you and your team.
I have received so many answers from your team to questions which have help me to know and strengthening my own beliefs.
Thank you so much. I have been doing some research and this site is the best site I have found. All my questions have been answered and I continue to investigate further.
Thanks so much.
Thank you for this wonderful ministry and, as we say here in Albania, where I now live and serve, "Zoti te bekofte".
Dear AskACatholic Team,
I have received clarity on what the Catholic Church believes about the thousand year Reign of Christ and while I do not believe it is the present rule of Christ during the Church Age, John has given me clarity about what he and the R.C. Church believes.
Though we don't agree, I'm grateful for our interaction.
Thank you!
Your response has shown me that (at least some) Catholics do have the truth, and a relationship with Jesus!
Thank-you for getting back to me so quickly!!
God bless you all!!
You are doing great work!!
Thank you very much for going to all this much trouble for me. I appreciate it so much. I have found the articles very helpful.
Thanks again to you and your colleagues for your great service. I wish you all God's blessings in your work.
Yours sincerely,
I want to thank all in your group for all you do! It's SO nice to know of other people who are passionate about the faith and who try to show it to people and bring people to the truth and beauty of it.
I think the Church is so awesome that I feel really blessed and thankful to be part of it and wish that for others. People like you can make this happen!
Yeah! and, we surely need to get people to pray for the Souls in Purgatory. I want to cry for the Protestants who at funerals are said to be happy with the Lord now in Heaven. They are on my list!
God bless you and your work. Thank you!
Carol Baverstock
View on a separate page.
you have been helped
by our web site ...
If visiting our web site
has helped you to better
understand the Catholic
Faith (either as a Catholic
or a seeking Protestant),
it would really be appreciated
if you could send a small
note of recognition and
moral support for the time,
effort and work all of us
do at AskACatholic.com.
We answer any where from
30 to 70 questions a month and to date have answered over 5,632 questions about the Catholic faith and the Church. I belong to St. Patrick in Natick, Massachusetts.
can send it to Cardinal
my pastor, and other priest who serve me at:
any correspondence, please
make sure you include the
entire AskACatholic team:
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text: One of the most starter-friendly rollerskates for kids. The foot is placed very low for better control with the big wheels on the outside. The whole skate can be size adjusted to grow with the child for a longer lifespan. Good ankle stability and removable & washable liner. Safetybuckles that don`t open by themselves and slow rolling bearings which improves safety for first time skaters these are replaceable.


text:
|Top: shell of the worm snail Thylaeodus rugulosus,
Bottom: cercaria of Amphiorchis sp.
Photo from Fig. 1. of the paper
But how these flukes get into the turtles in the first place has long been a mystery. Like other digenean trematode flukes, blood flukes require some kind of invertebrate host - usually a snail - in which they undergo asexual/clonal reproduction to produce free-swimming larval stages call cercariae (which is the stage that infects the turtle). But there are many different species of snails in the sea, which species is/are the one(s) pumping out those turtle parasites? It is like looking for a needle in a haystack in a bigger haystack which is the size of an iceberg.
Recently, a group of very sick loggerhead turtles presented an opportunity to find out more about the life-cycle of these blood flukes. At the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre (ARCA del Mar) (which was where the study described in the previous post took place). Some juvenile turtles were exhibiting symptoms that matched those caused by blood fluke infections and it seems that they were infected by a species of fluke from the Amphiorchis genus. So how were they getting infected? The water supply at the facility is semi-closed and pre-treated to remove any contaminants - so the turtles must be getting infected by cercariae which were coming from inside the facility.
The silver lining to all this was that it was a great opportunity to work out what Amphiorchis is using as a first host to produce clonal larvae. As mentioned above, for most species of flukes, this is usually a snail, and there is only one species of snail living in the facility - worm snails that were encrusting on pipes that delivered water to the facility. Dissection of some specimens confirmed that those snails were filled with the asexual stages of Amphiorchis and thus the source of infection.
The worm snail is a peculiar family of snails call Vermetidae. Unlike other snails, this family of tube-shaped molluscs have evolved to live like tube worms or barnacles by cementing themselves to a hard surface, and casting out a sticky mucus net to haul in microalga, zooplankton, or anything else that gets caught in its snot web (see this video here). This might explain why some sea turtles end up getting such a heavy infections out in the wild. Worm snails are abundant on reefs, or form part of reefs themselves, and sea turtles often hang out around such habitats.
Furthermore, the turtle's shell also happens to be a good surfaces for these snail to stick to - while few encrusting snails in themselves usually wouldn't cause much problem to a sea turtle, if they are infected with Amphiorchis or other blood flukes, these snails get converted into little parasite factories that pumps out a stream of turtle-infecting larvae - and what better host for those tiny, short-lived cercariae to infect than the turtle that the host snail is already encrusted on?
Cribb, T. H., Crespo-Picazo, J. L., Cutmore, S. C., Stacy, B. A., Chapman, P. A., & García-Párraga, D. (2016). Elucidation of the first definitively identified life cycle for a marine turtle blood fluke (Trematoda: Spirorchiidae) enables informed control. International Journal for Parasitology 47: 61-67.


text:
by Rick Jensen | January 27, 2013 12:05 am
A portion of President Obama's Speech deciphered:
"I'm done pretending to be bipartisan. I won a second term so I don't have to fake it anymore. I have David Gregory, the New York Times and an entire cable news network, hundreds of bloggers and online writers promoting my marketing campaign as the new Abraham Lincoln. Collectivism is the foundation of individual achievement. I believe in a smaller government as long as it's bigger than what we have. This is why I ask Republicans to work with me on fixing Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security as long as there are no changes whatsoever to any of these programs."
This is how we enter another four years of magical thinking, where stimulus billions saved the economy, cash for clunkers saved the auto industry, and Solyndra and Fisker proved crony capitalism is good for America.
How will Obama save Social Security without making any changes to the system? That's easy. He doesn't need to. He won't be accountable in 2033 when it collapses under the weight of collecting 75 cents for every dollar that's paid out.
Another solution you may have heard is to eliminate the salary wage cap. As you probably know, any wages over a certain amount are not subject to the social security tax. That amount is $133,700, as the cap is being raised this year from $110,100 to $113,700. So, we can save Social Security by getting rid of that noxious cap and make everybody pay the tax on every dollar they earn. Yes! Tax the rich to save America!
There is a slight problem with this seemingly simple solution: It's more simple than seemly.
Janemarie Mulvey of the Congressional Research Service studied this proposal and reported to members of Congress that such a strategy would, indeed, extend Social Security in its current form for 75 years. After 75 years, there would be no more rich people to soak. After 75 years, your children and grandchildren would have the same problem we do now without this 75-year extension. They would have to consider raising the retirement age to 70, reduce payments, or perhaps put off solving the problem for a few more years by capping benefits at some random level of annual income.
The random salary cap would be based on the traditional Washington, D.C. model of selecting policy digits with no meaningful relationship to the problem at hand, much like the bedazzling $200,000 and $250,000 income figures. Once that virtual Ouija board has been consulted, the guessing game is complete, and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) would calculate how many years the program can continue once the decision is made to disqualify anyone from receiving Social Security benefits if their annual income exceeds $85,423. Why $85,423? No reason. Sounds good, doesn't it?
Take it to the CBO!
Then, the President can claim the accomplishment of "Saving Social Security" (for a few years) and go on his or her merry way.
If, by 2033, the Democrats have managed to continue this current course and checks don't arrive at Grandma's house, they need not worry. They'll simply blame those rascally, intractable Republicans.
And the major media will help them again.
Source URL: https://rightwingnews.com/column-2/four-more-years-of-magical-thinking/
Copyright ©2023 John Hawkins' Right Wing News unless otherwise noted.


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Then I saw Bill Meine, who is on the Parks Commission, and he was all riled up. I thought he was coming for the interviews. His term isn't up, but four other Commissioners were reapplying. Bill was upset that he just found out the City is preparing to widen Bollinger Canyon Road and would be removing about 80 mature Sycamore trees and replacing them with, what he called "sticks."
I just arranged with Tree Wise to cut down a dying Pine tree in my back yard and replace it with a Chinese Pistache. I told bill that new trees look like sticks when they are first planted.
No, he said they would be putting in trees that are smaller and not as nice as the ones already there. The replacement trees included Chinese Pistache. I looked around the City Hall parking lot which is full of Chinese Pistache and decided I wanted a nicer tree in my backyard too.
So later that day I called Tree Wise and asked if they could plant a Maple tree instead. I grew up in the North East where Sugar Maples are plentiful. In fact if you want the best American made Maple syrup, check out Maine Maple Products. Sugar Maples don't grow well here so Darrell Wise of Tree Wise recommended a Sunset Maple. I looked it up on Google and the description and photos look fabulous.
I asked Bill "What kinds of trees are being removed and why are they taking them out?" Bill said they are 30 year old Sycamores and the City wants to widen Bollinger Canyon Road because of so many accidents since they added a sidewalk on the hill four years ago.
I recalled widening that part of Bollinger and putting in the sidewalk, but I didn't know anything about killing trees. Bill said he just found out about it a few days ago. He's on the Parks Commission and knows most of what is going on in San Ramon. I'm the "San Ramon Observer," and I try to know everything, and neither of us knew about this until a few weeks before the work is scheduled to start.
A group of about 20 people showed up 5:30 to speak in Public Comment at the Special Meeting. Mayor Clarkson asked them to come back at 7 pm because the interviews for Parks Commission were already scheduled and there wouldn't be time for everyone to speak before the meeting.
Bill Meine and his wife and I stayed for the interviews and the Council's vote on the Commission appointments. The protesters came back at 7 pm and each one spoke against taking out the Sycamore trees.
Most wanted better enforcement of speed limits and a barrier between the sidewalk and the road. Mayor Clarkson told the group that the Brown Act prohibits any discussion of this issue at that meeting because it isn't on the agenda, but he wanted to give them a chance to speak and for the Council to hear what they had to say.
Driving home I passed by the intersection of Bollinger and Alcosta. I turned East on Bollinger to see what everyone was talking about. There is a sign on the median at the foot of the hill and another at the top of the hill announcing a road widening project for June through August. This is how the homeowners found out about this project.
As I was driving up the hill the "sidewalk" seemed to jut out into the street. There's a rather flimsy metal fence along side to provide a little protection for pedestrians. I noticed that on the other side of the sidewalk there's a very nice, wide and secure paved walkway. I wondered why this scary sidewalk was put into the street when the inside walkway would be much safer.
Tuesday afternoon I phoned Bill Meine to tell him Item 8.3 in the Consent Calendar for Tuesday night's regular City Council meeting is to approve funding for this project. This meant the protesters had an agendized item to speak on instead of Public Comment. Because it was on the Agenda, the Council could address it, discuss it, and make changes if necessary.
The paved walkway on the other side of the sidewalk is on the property of Canyon Lakes Golf course. One speaker suggested taking it by eminent domain, but the Council felt that wouldn't work. I suggested reducing the width of the sidewalk from 8' to 4.5', which is the width of the sidewalk in front of my house. The Consultants working on the design of this project said the sidewalk is also a bike path so it should be 8' wide.
Perhaps the City could pay Canyon Lakes for an easement to use their paved path and remove that accident-prone sidewalk. Councilman Phil O'Loane said it would cost upwards of $5M to remove the sidewalk because it is used as a utility corridor for PG&E, Comcast, and AT&T.
One speaker demanded the project be canceled that night. That wasn't something the Council was willing to do, but Mayor Clarkson asked a lot of good questions about why it is being done the way it is and if less could be taken off the median and more could be taken off the sidewalk, so that most of the trees could be saved.
Staff is looking into this and will call an Arborist to see how many trees could be saved if 1.5' is taken off the median instead of 4'. Staff will also look into putting a 6" concrete barrier on the sidewalk to protect pedestrians and cyclists.
My tree work will be done next Friday. It will take a few years for my new Sunset Maple to provide the shade the old Pine tree did. Darrell Wise told me he would leave the stump. I shall ask him to make it smooth enough to sit on like the stump at the end of Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree.
"Well", said the tree, straightening herself up as much as she could, "well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting. Come, Roz, sit down? sit down and rest".
And Roz did. And the tree was happy?
Many people love trees like the boy (now Roz) in Silverstein's story, but the boy demanded everything from the tree. Now it's time for "boys and girls" in San Ramon to give some space back to the trees on Bollinger, so they can live and grow and be happy.


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US government shutdown enters 22nd day — the longest federal closure in country's history
- A solution couldn't come soon enough for federal workers who got pay statements Friday but no pay.
- The shutdown became one for the record books once the clock struck midnight and the partial government closure entered its 22nd day.
- With polls showing Trump getting most of the blame for the shutdown, the administration accelerated planning for a possible emergency declaration to try to get around Congress and fund the wall from existing sources of federal revenue.
The partial government shutdown became the longest closure in U.S. history at when the clock ticked past midnight Friday as President Donald Trump and nervous Republicans scrambled to find a way out of the mess.
A solution couldn't come soon enough for federal workers who got pay statements Friday but no pay.
The House and Senate voted to give federal workers back pay whenever the federal government reopens and then left town for the weekend, leaving the shutdown on track to become one for the record books once the clock struck midnight and the closure entered its 22nd day.
And while Trump privately considered one dramatic escape route — declaring a national emergency to build the wall without a new stream of cash from Congress — members of his own party were fiercely debating that idea, and the president urged Congress to come up with another solution.
"What we're not looking to do right now is national emergency," Trump said. He insisted that he had the authority to do that, adding that he's "not going to do it so fast" because he'd still prefer to work a deal with Congress.
About 800,000 workers missed paychecks Friday, many receiving blank pay statements. Some posted photos of their empty earnings statements on social media as a rallying cry to end the shutdown, a jarring image that many in the White House feared could turn more voters against the president as he holds out for billions in new wall funding.
With polls showing Trump getting most of the blame for the shutdown, the administration accelerated planning for a possible emergency declaration to try to get around Congress and fund the wall from existing sources of federal revenue. The White House explored diverting money for wall construction from a range of other accounts. One idea being considered was diverting some of the $13.9 billion allocated to the Army Corps of Engineers after last year's deadly hurricanes and floods.
That option triggered an outcry from officials in Puerto Rico and some states recovering from natural disasters, and appeared to lose steam on Friday.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom called it an "unconscionable" idea to look at using disaster assistance "to pay for an immoral wall that America doesn't need or want."
Republican Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas told reporters after discussions with the White House: "I feel confident disaster relief dollars will not be tapped." Brady said the administration was looking at the "breadth" of unspent dollars in other government accounts.
Other possibilities included tapping asset forfeiture funds, including money seized by the Department of Justice from drug kingpins, according to a congressional Republican not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations. The White House also was eyeing military construction funds, another politically difficult choice because the money would be diverted from a backlog of hundreds of projects at bases around the nation.
Despite Trump's go-slow message, momentum grew in some corners for some sort of emergency declaration. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who met with the president on Friday, took to Twitter afterward to urge: "Mr. President, Declare a national emergency NOW. Build a wall NOW."
Lindsey Graham tweet: Mr. President, Declare a national emergency NOW. Build a wall NOW.
Trump has been counseled by outside advisors to move toward a national emergency declaration, but many in the White House are trying to pump the brakes. Senior aide Jared Kushner, who traveled with the president to the Texas border on Thursday, was among those opposed to the declaration, arguing to the president that pursuing a broader immigration deal was a better option. A person familiar with White House thinking said that in meetings this week, the message was that the administration is in no rush and wants to consider various options. The person was unauthorized to discuss private sessions and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has signaled moral opposition to the wall and vowed to oppose any funding, said the president is seeking to divert attention from special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and other White House problems.
"This isn't a wall between Mexico and the United States. This is a wall between his failures of his administration," Pelosi told reporters. "This is a big diversion, and he's a master of diversion."
Pelosi sent a letter to colleagues late Friday thanking House Democrats for passing bills to reopen shuttered departments and agencies. Pelosi said there's "no excuse for President Trump to keep government shut down over his demands for an ineffective, wasteful wall." She said he's "endangering the health and safety of the American people and stealing paychecks from 800,000 innocent workers" over the shutdown.
Although Trump has been frustrated with aides as he loses the public relations battle over the shutdown, White House attempts to use the trappings of the presidency to buttress his case for the wall have yielded mixed results in the president's view.
Trump has long avoided using the Oval Office as a backdrop for his speeches, telling aides that previous presidents looked stilted and "flat" in the standard, straight-ahead camera angle. But he was persuaded that the seriousness of the moment warranted the Oval Office for his speech to the nation this week about the fight over the border wall.
But since Tuesday night's address, Trump has complained that he looked lifeless and boring, according to a Republican close to the White House who was not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations. The president also expressed misgivings about his visit to the border, believing it would do little to change anyone's mind.
In a Friday morning tweet, Trump called illegal immigration on the southern border "an invasion," even though border crossings have declined in recent years. Later, he tried to blame Democrats for the shutdown, claiming he's flexible about the needed barrier.
"I don't care what they name it," Trump said. "They can name it 'peaches."'
Trump has told advisors he believes the fight for the wall -- even if it never yields the requested funding — is a political win for him.
But some of his outside advisors have urged him to declare a national emergency, believing it would have two benefits: First, it would allow him to claim that he was the one to act to reopen the government. Second, inevitable legal challenges would send the matter to court, allowing Trump to continue the fight for the wall — and continue to excite his supporters — while not actually closing the government or immediately requiring him to start construction.
Such a move could put Republicans in a bind. While it might end the standoff over funding and allow Congress to move onto other priorities, some Republicans believe such a declaration would usurp congressional power and could lead future Democratic presidents to make similar moves to advance liberal priorities.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who speaks to Trump frequently, said that unless Republicans and Democrats strike an unlikely compromise, "I fully expect him to declare a national emergency."
"Most conservatives want it to be the last resort he would use," Meadows said. "But those same conservatives, I'm sure if it's deployed, would embrace him as having done all he could do to negotiate with Democrats."
In a sign of growing unease, five GOP senators backed a bill from Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin to resume paychecks for some 420,000 federal employees who are now working without pay during the shutdown.
Many Democrats, meanwhile, say they have little reason to give into Trump's demand for border wall funding since taking control of the House in the midterm elections.
"The American people gave us the majority based on our comprehensive approach to this problem and they rejected President Trump's," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.


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The organizers of Macworld Expo believe that it's an iWorld after all. And they've got the name change to prove it.
When it kicks off January 26, 2012, the long-running Mac conference and exposition will do so under a new name: Macworld|iWorld. The name change reflects the event's focus expanding beyond the Mac to include iOS devices and software. Registration for the three-day event began on Tuesday.
"The brand is evolving from Macworld [Expo] to Macworld|iWorld to illustrate that the show is about the whole ecosystem of Apple products," said Paul Kent, the event's vice president and general manager.
The exhibits and conference sessions that have characterized past expos remain with Macworld|iWorld. But show organizers are also adding elements aimed at providing what Kent characterized as a "dynamic culture experience." The Music Experience showcase, for example, will feature live performances and talks from musicians who use Apple technology in their music. For example, scheduled performers include Atomic Tom, the band that used iPhones to perform songs on a New York subway train last year. Kent also says that the Music Experience will extend beyond the expo's scheduled hours and Moscone West home base to include evening events.
Another new addition, the Film Event, will highlight the use of Apple technology in movies and TV shows. Macworld|iWorld will include screenings of movies and TV programs created on the iPhone and iPad as well as talks with directors and filmmakers. The Film Event will be highlighted by a screening of South Park's unaired pilot episode followed by a Q&A session with staff from the long-running animated series.
Macworld|iWorld also brings back some of the art exhibits from previous shows with an expanded Art Showings element that will highlight photography and digital art galleries. Artists will also present at the show.
The retooled conference will retain its training sessions, which are now billed as Tech Talks. Kent says that more than 75 talks are currently scheduled, including educational sessions, how-to presentations, and tips-and-tricks demos. New to the show this year is the Macworld|iWorld RapidFire session, a two-hour event made up of five-minute presentations.
While Macworld|iWorld is emphasizing all of Apple's platforms, don't expect OS X to get lost in the shuffle. In fact, Kent says, the biggest request from attendees has been to increase the amount of Mac software on display at the show. To that end, organizers are introducing a new package for OS X developers to encourage them to display their wares at the show without the expense of having an elaborate booth.
"We want a heavy influence of OS X developers on the show floor this year," Kent said.
iOS app makers will also be out in full force, as the Mobile Apps Showcase returns for the third consecutive year. Organizers plan an area featuring what they're billing as "Top Apps of All Time," while another area will highlight hidden mobile gems. Attendees will have the chance to submit their favorite apps and vote on the ones they'd like to see showcased at Macworld|iWorld, Kent says.
HP, Polk Audio, and Sennheiser are among the exhibitors who've already signed on to have a presence on the Macworld|iWorld show floor, according to Kent. Organizers are expecting to have 300 exhibitors at the 2012 show, up from the 265 or so who attended the 2011 edition.
The name change and revised content marks the biggest change for the 27-year-old Mac conference since Apple stopped participating following the 2009 Macworld Expo. The company has radically scaled back its involvement in all trade shows, saying that its network of 300-plus Apple Stores around the globe gives it enough access to Apple customers.
The 2010 and 2011 editions of Macworld Expo were well-attended, which Kent sees as evidence that there's a core constituency for the event. By retooling the conference and expo, Kent thinks there's an opportunity to still serve those long-time attendees while also expanding the show's boundaries to attract people who haven't attended Expo before.
"We have a great core audience, but there's a great opportunity to evolve the event," Kent said.
Event packages and prices are also changing along with the name. A new Macworld iFan Pass gives attendees access to tech talks and the exhibit floor, as well as the music, film, and art components of the show. The iFan Pass is currently available for $75. There's also an exhibit-only pass for the expo show floor and Macworld Live stage; exhibit-only attendees will also have access to the Macworld|iWorld midway, an area on one of the upper floors at Moscone West that will feature digital classrooms, music demonstrations, and a hands-on wireless headphone display.
Macworld|iWorld runs from January 26 to January 28, 2012 at the Moscone West convention center in San Francisco. Event organizer IDG World Expo is owned by IDG, the same parent company that owns Macworld.


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Panasonic will soon introduce a prosumer 4K camcorder with better low-light performance, faster autofocus and a wider viewing angle than its predecessor.
The HC-X1 was introduced on Wednesday at the IFA trade show in Berlin and will be available later this year.
At the top of the new-feature list is a 1-inch image sensor — a considerable improvement on the 1/2.3-inch sensor in the two-year-old HC-X1000. The larger image sensor allows the camera to collect more light, which means better low-light performance, but at a cost.
The extra data captured by the image sensor still needs to be processed in real time, and that can cause problems with autofocus, especially during fast-moving events like sports, Panasonic said. The answer is a new autofocus system that can analyze the data and still work fast enough for sports.
In front of the image sensor, Panasonic has a Leica lens with a 24mm field of view and 20x optical zoom. That compares to a 29.5mm lens on the HC-X1000 and means the camera can capture a wider swath of the scene in front of it compared with its predecessor.
The rest is what you'd expect from a camera in this class: three manual rings on the lens barrel for zoom, focus and iris; XLR audio inputs; 3.5-inch display and OLED viewfinder; focus assist; neutral density filters and white balance.
It will be available worldwide from December. In the U.S. it will cost $3,199 and in Europe it will cost €3,199.
That price is a hike from the roughly $2,100 the predecessor HC-X1000 is currently selling for, but it's a cheaper beginning price. When the HC-X1000 debuted, it had a list price of $3,499.