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Bass Pro Shops has changed signage plans for The Pyramid and is including a "sky ride" to the top of the building along with two new balconies outside the two-level observation deck, all part of an effort to embrace the structure's iconic place in the city's skyline.
Bass Pro Shops' design proposal for the sign on the southern side of The Pyramid is considered a classier look by some.
(Bass Pro Shops)
"The building is the sign," said Bass Pro architect Tom Jowett. "The building itself is really becoming the brand."
Revised sign design proposal
Jowett presented Bass Pro's latest design proposals to Memphis City Council and Downtown Memphis Commission Design and Review Board members Tuesday, July 16.
Bass Pro Shops went back to the drawing board after the Springfield, Mo.-based company's initial plans for large lit logos on all four sides of the structure – featuring the company's trademark yellow background with red letters – drew some objections from the community and concerns from some on the review board.
"We find that refreshing and also challenging," Jowett said. "We were definitely challenged by the (DRB) and the community."
The review board has scheduled a vote on the proposals for Tuesday, July 30. Bass Pro plans on issuing bid packages for the signage and interior build-out of The Pyramid, minus a planned hotel component, Aug. 1.
Bass Pro Shops plans on extending the glass on the top of The Pyramid downward while including outside decks on the east and south sides of the building, along with an inclinator, or "sky ride," on the southeast corner of the former arena, giving visitors multiple opportunities to glimpse breathtaking views of the city.
Bass Pro's latest proposal features metallic finish signs with green halo LED illumination on the south, east and west sides of The Pyramid. Each sign would measure 6,807 square feet. There would be no signage on the north side of The Pyramid facing the residential communities on Mud Island's north end.
"The building is the sign. The building itself is really becoming the brand."
–Tom Jowett Bass Pro Shops architect
"It's much classier," said Rebecca Conrad of Askew Nixon Ferguson Architects. "I think that pretty much sums it up."
The south side of The Pyramid will also include an 874-square-foot sign for the Ducks Unlimited Waterfowling Heritage Center that will be one of the attractions at the repurposed arena.
The south entrance to The Pyramid will also have a set of seven other smaller signs for brand names the store will carry as well as an LED-illuminated 240-square-foot sign for "Big Cypress Lodge."
Jewett said the hotel, or lodge, component will feature 56 to 59 rooms and will be modeled after the company's Big Cedar Lodge luxury wilderness resort near Branson, Mo.
In 2010, the city and Bass Pro entered into a lease for the destination retailer to occupy the redeveloped Pyramid for an initial period of 20 years, with seven five-year renewals for a possible total of 55 years.
Since then, the city has been preparing the shuttered Downtown arena to be redeveloped by Bass Pro into a tourist and retail destination.
The project will feature a re-created Delta cypress swamp with a large body of water on the ground floor and cypress trees climbing into the vast upper reaches of the building. Plans also call for large water features, a general store, zip line and restaurant.
Copyright 1995 -
by The Daily News Publishing Co. Inc. - All Rights Reserved

subset: commoncrawl


text:
zoomtime needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 98 designs submitted by 28 freelance designers.
Pacific Pool Service
Hi, we have a Pool Service company and would like to get out logo updated, will need to have some new trucks wrapped and would like to have a fresh look. We are looking for something new and cool looking cutting edge. we also own a company in action sports so really want to slide the cool factor in to this company.
all ages
We like our logo but are just looking for something a little updated.. I would like something that flow's with a pool company, don't really like the shark and backgound, but would like to have a cool logo. So lets have fun... One thing it our logo will also need to look really cool on the side of a truck mixed in a wrap.
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


text:
The game is fun and addictive, it's really hard to progress. You think you'll gonna make it aaaand you're dead.
It needs some polishing, sometimes you get killed with no escape, like a boss and a line of dummies with shields. Homing rockets are really weird, and too much feedback make the ship hard to move, the shotgun even replace the ship randomly =(
And last thing, i'd prefer have the weapons on the side, not on the middle of the screen hiding my ship.
So, the game contains nice ideas, really hard based on luck, with some polish it can be really good ! Medals are pretty cool


text:
Tender Greens provides high-quality, healthy, farmers-market-style food prepared in a fine-dining style, according to Wong.
Architect Bill Terramorse designed Liberty Station's Tender Greens restaurant, as well as the very first location in Culver City. The downtown San Diego and University Towne Center-La Jolla sites were designed by Valerio Architects.
Wong said the architects wanted to offer a relaxed, laid-back atmosphere with a modern, comfortable vibe.
"The original idea was that we'd take a beach house, outfit it with a killer kitchen and entertain all our friends with food we'd want to eat," said Wong. "The color palette is warm, bright and cozy with yellows, greens, natural wood."
The first San Diego-based Tender Greens opened in June 2008 at Point Loma's Liberty Station, serving as the training camp for the newer restaurants under mentor and executive chef Peter Balistreri.
The new downtown San Diego site opened in June.
One of the many sustainable business practices embraced by Tender Greens is to rotate staff so it experiences the Tender Greens way: a passion for food, community and team spirit.
The Tender Greens at UTC-La Jolla opened in June 2012, and another will be setting up shop at San Diego International Airport in September.
Tender Greens also puts emphasis on another sustainable practice: passion projects. Wong said these are an integral ingredient of the Tender Greens mission statement.
Balistreri, for example, "taught himself how to make salumi and offered his handcrafted salumi as part of his daily specials and charcuterie platter," said Wong.
He now has his own line of artisan salumi and charcuterie available wholesale to chefs, restaurants and retail at the Tender Greens restaurants.
One of the key ingredients to a sustainable restaurant model is creating salads, soups and other dishes, like fresh fruit cobblers, using local, seasonable produce. The chefs also shop the local farmers markets for inspiration to prepare twice-daily specials.
Tender Greens uses "every part of the animal, so you might see roast beef one day, then slow-cooked beef cheeks or tenderloin another day," said Wong.
The pastry team makes all desserts from scratch, and each restaurant has its own specialties, including downtown San Diego's decadent gluten-free peanut butter cookies. Depending on what's in season, one may finish off a meal with a berry crisp topped with vanilla ice cream, or perhaps a chocolate or carrot cupcake.
Tender Greens also supports local artists.
"Each location features custom artwork by local artists who create pieces that capture the feel of the respective neighborhood and communities," said Wong. "We worked with San Diego artist Nan Coffey, who created fun art pieces for our Point Loma and downtown San Diego locations. Jon Burgerman created the art at UTC-La Jolla."
Other sustainable practices include using reclaimed, recycled and environmentally friendly products whenever possible.
"Our restaurants are now 100 percent LED lights to cut down on electricity use," said Wong. "We also implemented a bottle-less system and completely eliminated bottle consumption at our newer restaurants. All wine, beer, water and even house-made soda is served through a draft system to eliminate the use of plastic bottles and temper waste."
Jodie Wilson, manager of the downtown Tender Greens location, said the décor, lighting, colors and food quality are all about providing the customer with a greater dining experience.
"It's a it's lots of fun to work here," said Wilson. "We have a great team that strives to bring good food and service to our customers."
Operations manager Leanne Ring-quist, who transferred to the downtown venue from the Point Loma Tender Greens, agrees.
"We have a loyal customer base," said Ringquist. "Some of our Poing Loma regulars have also come here to eat since we opened. The downtown site is a mix of Point Loma personnel and new hires, as we want to maintain a consistent style."
Tender Greens locations are open from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. daily at:
• Point Loma (Liberty Station) — 2400 Historic Decatur Road; (619) 226-6254
• Downtown — 110 W. Broadway; (619) 795-2353
• UTC-La Jolla — 4545 La Jolla Village Drive; (858) 455-9395.
To learn more about the restaurant, catering services, its community-based Sustainable Life Project and to access recipes, visit tendergreens.com.


text:
The Eastern Division Executive Committee plans to conduct a survey on whether to change the dates of the meeting from the traditional December 27-30 slot. It is well known that there is widespread dissatisfaction with the traditional dates; less obvious is whether there are any other specific dates that would be widely favored, although this question has recently been discussed on several blogs. The survey will offer various possible alternative dates... The goal will therefore be to assess not only whether other specific dates are more popular than the traditional dates, but also whether the Eastern division meetings should continue to have in-person job interviews as one of their central functions.
In which issues concerning the profession of philosophy are
bitched griped about
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Is that Hell freezing over?
43 comments:
Hmmmm. I received no such voting information or cards (although I did receive the APA book). Perhaps because I am still a graduate student member, not a faculty member? Would you mind sharing what the voting options are?
- March 9, 2011 at 6:26 AM
It's just the usual APA voting packet. You'll get it.
Properly speaking the voting is for positions in your Division, but they all work pretty nearly the same way. You (we) vote for VP of the division, who will then become Pres the following year; for some Nominating Committee members; for some Executive Committee members. And maybe for a representative of your division to the national Board of Officers.
- March 9, 2011 at 7:25 AM
Anon 6:26.
In fact, you won't get a voting packet.
From the bylaws of the APA section 4.5:
"B. Student Associates are not affiliated with any Division, and may not vote at Meetings of the Members or of the Divisions. In addition, Student Associates cannot hold any position that would require them to have voting rights within the Divisions or the Association. Student Associates may attend and appear on the program of all Regular Meetings and receive all publications of the Association."
The link to the bylaws is here: http://www.apaonline.org/governance/constitution/bylaws.aspx
- March 9, 2011 at 8:20 AM
- Mr. Zero said...
Student Associates are not affiliated with any Division, and may not vote at Meetings of the Members or of the Divisions.
Hey, wait. Why are students regarded as second-class citizens by the APA? They're adults, and the APA's bullshit policies affect them as much as anyone.
- March 9, 2011 at 8:56 AM
Classic: grad students who are APA members can't vote on it, even though they're among the most affected by having to attend the Eastern for job interviews.
- March 9, 2011 at 9:01 AM
- zombie said...
The survey, however, WILL be open to students members, and all APA members, not just Eastern members.
- March 9, 2011 at 9:11 AM
All over the world people are affected by policies they don't get to vote on. Children, immigrants, felons, and others.
So I ask of the students, why do you think just because you are affected by the policies do you think you should get to vote? You aren't full members. I suggest you look at part 4.2 the membership requirements. Not all graduate students actually fill that bill....
Your $10 dues don't really compare to someone who pays $140 for dues. There are lots of reasons the general membership doesn't let students vote. I bet if you think about it a bit, you will be able to figure out some kind of reasonable justification for not allowing student members to vote.
(BTW, I am not trying to be a jerk or come off as one.)
- March 9, 2011 at 10:10 AM
- Mr. Zero said...
Come on. Why shouldn't graduate students vote? They are not children, or immigrants, or felons. The dues are on a sliding scale for all of us. $10 does compare to $40. It is 1/4 of $40. Grad students also make 1/4 of the salary of entry-level assprofs, if that. So it seems that they're paying exactly what they should be; if anything, they're overpaying.
- March 9, 2011 at 10:31 AM
They don't get to vote b/c they don't ALL satisfy the criteria for being a full member -- look at the requirements for membership.
There is no easy way to determine if a graduate students satisfies the criteria either: say from first years to ABDs. They are different, but first year grad students don't qualify, which ABDs sure seem to or are at least close to.
And a rhetorical question isn't an argument for why they should be eligible to vote. The issue revolves not around the money or about who is affected, but who is eligible for full membership.
- March 9, 2011 at 10:38 AM
- Mr. Zero said...
It wasn't a rhetorical question. I was literally asking why they don't vote. I was asking for an argument. There were some possible reasons floated in the comment I was responding to; it seemed to me that either they didn't apply or weren't very good. I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask what the reasons are.
Suppose I'm a grad student who satisfies all the membership criteria. Suppose I am affected by the APA's policies and I would like to vote on them. Are you going to tell me that I can't vote because there are other people who are also graduate students who do not satisfy the membership requirements?
I guess I think the question is about who is affected. I don't see why eligibility for full membership is the central issue. Suppose I am affected by the APA's policies and would like to have a say as to what those policies are. Are you going to tell me that I can't vote on policies that affect me deeply because I am only so far along in my training? Or because I haven't published enough yet? Or because my dissertation isn't done? I don't see why you'd tell a person that she deserves to be treated like a child, a non-citizen, or a felon because her dissertation isn't done, or she hasn't taken her comps yet, and so she's a couple years away from being competent to teach philosophy to college students.
- March 9, 2011 at 10:57 AM
I apologize about the rhetorical question comment.
I guess we disagree about who should vote. My view is that eligible members get to vote. You believe people who are affected should get to vote.
Full members who are not current with their dues don't get to vote, and they are affected by the decisions. I just don't see how the "affected argument" works given that only eligible members are allowed to vote. Graduate students aren't allowed to be full members. Thus they don't get to vote.
That's our disagreement, and I just don't see how affected is sufficient to grant voting rights, but I am willing to listen.
- March 9, 2011 at 11:02 AM
- zombie said...
In case any wants to see them, some sections of the APA bylaws relevant to the current discussion:
4.2. Qualifications for Regular Membership.
A. Regular Membership in the American Philosophical Association shall be limited to:
1. Persons whose training in philosophy has been advanced and systematic enough to make them competent to teach the subject at the college or university level;
2. Persons whose achievements in philosophy are sufficient to warrant their affiliation with the Association.
C. The annual dues of International Associates, Student Associates, and Teacher Associates shall be fixed at the approximate single-member cost of the production and distribution of the publications of the Association.
4.5. Student Associates.
Persons who are actively engaged in the study of philosophy at accredited colleges or universities shall be eligible for membership as Student Associates.
B. Student Associates are not affiliated with any Division, and may not vote at Meetings of the Members or of the Divisions. In addition, Student Associates cannot hold any position that would require them to have voting rights within the Divisions or the Association. Student Associates may attend and appear on the program of all Regular Meetings and receive all publications of the Association.
It strikes me that some grad students (those who teach) could, if they so choose, become regular members. They would have to pay the same dues as regular members. I know that when I graduated, I had to start paying regular dues (on an income-based sliding scale) rather than the student rate. The student rate, as explained above, covers the costs of subscription to APA publications. By choosing to be a student member who pays less, you choose to be a member without voting rights.
(But some students will not be eligible for regular membership, so Mr Zero's complaint still stands for them.)
- March 9, 2011 at 12:05 PM
- zombie said...
Eligibility to vote is, in any system I can think of, to some extent arbitrary. Citizenship, residency, etc. Being affected by rules, laws, policies is neither necessary nor sufficient to make one eligible to vote on said rules, policies, etc. (California's law affect me, but I don't get to vote on them. I'm not a California resident.)
Presumably, there are (possibly arbitrary) reasons APA decided not to permit student associates to vote. Maybe:
1. There are more philosophy students than philosophy "professionals" at any given time. This would skew membership (and voting) towards students.
2. They don't want undergrad philosophy majors to vote. (Presumably they can become student associates, however.)
3. APA is intended to be a professional organization, not a student organization. It is, therefore, intended to address the concerns of phil. pros (which may, at times, coincide and/or collide with the interests of phil students).
4. Serving the interests of the membership is best achieved by limiting membership to individuals with demonstrated stability of interest in phil. as a profession (i.e. those who have advanced at least far enough to be teachers, and therefore, professionals). Permitting student members to vote would allow individuals to vote who have no long term stake in the issues they vote on (perhaps especially true of undergrads). (Something like this is probably the justification for residency requirements for voter eligibility in states.)
To be clear, I'm not offering any of these as a justification or argument for not allowing student members to vote. I don't know that any of these are the actual reasons APA would offer. I'm just suggesting them for the sake of argument. Of all of them, (4) strikes me as plausible and justifiable.
- March 9, 2011 at 12:33 PM
Oh, my mistake. I just didn't realize that student members couldn't vote.
I agree, this seems pretty awful. I might try to look into this issue. (I'm 7:25 AM.)
- March 9, 2011 at 12:41 PM
I, too, was excited by the announcement of that survey/the freezing over of Hell.
But since the main topic of this thread now appears to be the voting rights of student members, here's one more thing to consider:
It seems to me that there have been some decent reasons offered for why undergraduates and beginning graduate students shouldn't be allowed to vote. I'm not convinced that enough of these reasons apply to advanced graduate students. But in order to enfranchise advanced graduate students, the APA would need a way to distinguish them from other student members. How would such a mechanism work? Would it be reliable? I'm not saying it wouldn't. I'm just fishing for ideas and thoughts.
- March 9, 2011 at 2:31 PM
- Mr. Zero said...
It would probably work if you just ask them if they're ABD. I didn't have to show credentials when I advanced toe "real" membership or anything.
- March 9, 2011 at 2:41 PM
I simply don't get why this issue is so divisive on this blog - first it was all working stiff this and working stiff that, and now the rule-book is getting around.
If you want the APA to change the dates, you should try to get them to change them; if you want to vote, you should try to get the vote.
If you don't want APA to change the dates, or whatever, petition them them to keep the ones they've got.
What's the problem?
This is a great place for us to debate *whether* the APA should change the dates, the relative merits, etc. - but why some people here would go around telling others who aren't happy with the way things are that they've got no right to try to change things - rule-book or no rule-book - it boggles the mind.
- March 9, 2011 at 2:48 PM
For what its worth, my understanding is that any student members can become full members by paying the higher dues.
You might think (justifiably, maybe) that a policy like that is still unfair since us graduate students make so much less than professors who normally pay the full membership dues. But, if such a policy is unjust, then what about adjuncts who make little if any more than us graduate students?
I don't have a view on the issue, just adding some more considerations.
- March 9, 2011 at 9:12 PM
One need only be able to teach at colleges (ie MA) and pay the dues. The $10 is for non-voting status. If you want to have full voting status, just cough up the $100 plus dollars.
- March 10, 2011 at 4:30 AM
- zombie said...
Annual income less than $30,000
$ 45.00
Annual income $30,000-$34,999
$ 65.00
Annual income $35,000-$39,999
$ 75.00
Annual income $40,000-$44,999
$ 85.00
Annual income $45,000-$49,999
$ 95.00
Annual income $50,000-$54,999
$ 110.00
Annual income $55,000-$64,999
$ 125.00
Annual income $65,000-$74,999
$ 145.00
Annual income $75,000-$84,999
$ 170.00
Annual income $85,000-$100,999
$ 200.00
Annual income $101,000-$120,999
$ 225.00
Annual income $121,000 + over
$ 250.00
Life Membership $2,500.00
- March 10, 2011 at 7:01 AM
I think something important has been overlooked in this very interesting discussion. The original issue seemed to be why graduate students wouldn't get to take place in a survey about the possibility of changing of dates for the eastern APA. The dates of the eastern effect grad students, especially advanced ones who are on the job market. What does this have to do with voting for the VP and Committee members? Maybe its true that grad students shouldn't get to vote for these things if they don't pay more; i don't really know. But surely it seems silly to count grad students out of a survey about an event that is for all members, regardless of standing. Especially when the issue will probably not be up for a vote anyway.
Maybe there is an argument to be made about why full members get more of a say than student associates, and in order to prevent the results from being skewed in favor of student members, this group should go without being surveyed. I'm not sure I would buy this argument, but it seems like there is an easily solution. Give a box on the survey that one can tick to indicate what their member status is. If there is a significant difference between results of student members and full members, whatever organizing committee is in charge of all this can take that information into consideration.
- March 10, 2011 at 7:44 AM
- zombie said...
Anon 7:44 -- as noted above, student members of APA WILL be able to take part in the survey, according to the APA's letter pre-announcing the survey.
The debate here switched to something else: why student members don't get to vote to elect committee members, or vote on by-laws.
- March 10, 2011 at 8:26 AM
- KateNorlock said...
My mail's on forwarding, so I haven't gotten this yet. I'm just floored by this news!
I think zombie just made me consider being religious. Holy cow.
- March 10, 2011 at 2:29 PM
I'm taking a moment to go off-topic and vent. I don't know whose placement directors told them to include selected student comments only in the teaching evals. I was told when I went on the market that it is a phenomenally bad idea. And now, on the other end of things, I know why. In a class of 40 students, if you can't find 6 or 7 good comments, you suck scandalously badly. Anyone can find a couple of good comments. Putting in selected student comments gives us NO information about student comments. You may as well leave it blank. You certainly do not distinguish yourself as any kind of good teacher by including only those handpicked comments.
And even putting in a clause that the full set are available on request doesn't help. If they are available, then send them. Multiple people look over these files, sometimes more than a dozen. You expect us each individually to email you about it? Or for us to individually email a couple dozen job candidates who did that? And then keep track of all the extra information that trickles in over days, once we no longer have your file on our desks because someone else is reading it now?
If the comments are selected, rather than full, you may as well have not included any. Put in full sets of comments.
- March 10, 2011 at 3:48 PM
Ummm...they want us to do this by snail mail? Doesn't seem very promising that they can't even come up with an online survey.
- March 12, 2011 at 6:54 AM
I'm going to have to disagree with 3:48. Of course having 6 or 7 students say, "Teacher was super-awesome -- really nice and easy to understand!" is meaningless. But for the same reason, having a full class of students say that isn't very useful to me, either. When student comments are useful, it's because of their (non-generic) content. If multiple students are telling me that the candidate spent extra time with them on their papers, made them do such-and-such unusual exercise, which ended up teaching them a difficult concept, and so forth, that's what tells me something, and I can learn that from 6-7 comments/class. I also don't want a full set of comments from every class you've taught. At least in the first rounds, I don't have time to dig through 40 pages of student comments, hunting for useful information. So I guess I'd like selected comments from several of your classes, as well as perhaps one full set of comments -- with the offer to send more comments, when you reach the shortlist.
- March 12, 2011 at 9:32 AM
"Ummm...they want us to do this by snail mail? Doesn't seem very promising that they can't even come up with an online survey."
I was recently told that an online survey would be biased. In favor of people who use computers? They didn't say.
- March 12, 2011 at 12:28 PM
I don't know whose placement directors told them to include selected student comments only in the teaching evals. I was told when I went on the market that it is a phenomenally bad idea. And now, on the other end of things, I know why.
I disagree, for the following reasons. Every school conducts its teaching evaluations differently. At my present employer, students are required to write brief comments for every single numerical rating. Across multiple classes, that would mean a complete set of evaluations would run about 150 pages. I don't think any committee wants to see that, and so necessarily any student comments I send along are going to be selected. Raw data isn't helpful without context in any case.
Here's what I do instead. I made a table that compared my average numerical evaluation and distribution with the average school-wide numerical evaluation and distribution on the common questions for the past two semesters. I also included a paragraph on how evaluations are typically understood at this institution. And then I included ten or so comments, picking ones that are longer and/or more descriptive. (Other ways people I know handled this: give all comments for one question for one course, etc.)
I am not inclined to think that anything is predictive of job market success, but I do have a t-t job at a school focused on teaching, for what it's worth.
- March 12, 2011 at 1:14 PM
- zombie said...
My school didn't require evaluations. Students only wrote them occasionally -- they either loved me or hated me in the comments. But out of a class of 30, I'd get maybe 5-7 evals with comments. Other than photocopying front and back of every eval form, there's no way for me to make that look like I was not cherrypicking comments if I include those handful of comments. But photocopying front and back means 30-60 pages for every class I've taught (including a lot of blank pages, just to prove they were blank). So, several hundred pages total.
The only thing I ever included was the data sheets, including the ones that compared my evals to the rest of the dept. Even that came to 20 pages. The pdf file was HUGE, and caused me problems every time I had to upload it for an online application, because of file size limits.
I don't believe SCs really want to see all the evals. Nobody has time to look at them. I'm not even sure why anyone asks for them. I guess I can see how, if someone is a relatively green teacher, you might want some evidence of teaching effectiveness (not that evals are especially indicative). But for someone who adjuncts or VAPs for several years, it strikes me that continued employment should count as evidence of some level of teaching quality and experience, and a letter from a teaching reference is even better. Honestly, I think a letter from a teaching reference should be all that's required.
- March 13, 2011 at 1:32 PM
- zombie said...
Regarding the future APA survey, the letter I received indicated that it would be an online survey. It also indicated that it won't be up until after a "major upgrade" of the APA website, "hopefully in the second half of 2011."
What has been sent out so far is just "the first public announcement on the subject."
- March 13, 2011 at 1:35 PM
3:48. You seem to be oblivious to the fact that other schools do course evals different from yours. As mentioned by others, sending unedited comments for many would involve sending 20+ pages per course.
zombie: try using adobe pro (or some equivalent) to shrink the PDF size for you. Most scanners scan the PDFs at high resolution.
- March 13, 2011 at 2:48 PM
As long as we are off topic: I think there is a huge variance in the way that different schools compile evaluations. For instance, where I TA, each student fills out online evaluations for each course. They give the TA numerical scores (1-6) in a variety of categories. The TA's performance is then averaged across 5-6 general categories (things like preparedness, enthusiasm, helpfulness, knowledge of the material). There is also a space for comments, but for whatever reason I've never seen a student leave more than 5 sentences of comments (this is true across TAs and departments). Each evaluation is then automatically converted into a single PDF by the university, available for download by each TA. It is all summarized, ready to send off with applications. When the university does this for you, it actually doesn't take up that much space, looks great, and if you've done your job right it is an asset on the job market. So, I would say sending a full record of one's evaluations can be helpful, but it really depends on the format of evaluation your institution uses (and if the position values teaching).
- March 14, 2011 at 1:39 PM
I am an offender of the "selected student comments" sort ... and some good reasons have already been mentioned here. But here's another: some of the things our students say are rude, disrespectful and sexist.
This has come out in negative and positive evaluations. More than a few times I've gotten "Prof. X is f*ing awesome" or "Prof. X knows her sh*t" or even "I was distracted by Prof. X's *ss" and "Plato has nothing on those t*ts." And yes, I've also gotten "Prof. X is the f*ing worst." I think I have a right to exclude all of those in my own teaching portfolio. I do, by the way, include critical comments that are informative, while I leave out positive comments that are not.
My candidacy shouldn't suffer (and I do believe it would if I included those) because my students are rude and disrespectful, and even if I only excised the sexist ones (and there are many of them) I'd still be violating the all or none dictum--and the SC would have no idea why.
- March 14, 2011 at 4:46 PM
Another example of evaluation variance: my university has all students first read a statement regarding the types of comments that are and are not allowed, and then spends several days editing out any inappropriate comments that may have nevertheless gotten through (I assume they also have punitive measures for the students who make such comments; it is all done online after all, so it is in theory possible for U.admin folks to trace comments to student login IDs). I actually didn't properly appreciate the way my school does evaluations until I heard about other people's terrible experiences here. You'd think universities would all be on a uniform, online policy regarding evals in this day and age. It saves a lot of hassle and also helps anyone who is teaching at their institution.
- March 14, 2011 at 6:28 PM
- zombie said...
I had a student once say I looked like a character from Battlestar Galactica. True, perhaps (I dunno -- I'm a TNG Trekker myself), but irrelevant as regards my teaching abilities.
In my experience, there are only 3 kinds of comments: (1) "teacher is awesome"; (2) "teacher sucks"; and (3) weird/quirky/creative and utterly beside the point comment/drawing/poem.
Surely SCs get the same kind of crap in their comments, which, again, makes me wonder why they would ever want to see them.
- March 15, 2011 at 9:03 AM
I include the sexist comments, positive and negative. my reasoning? to show that it is a full record, and because, sexist or not, they convey pertinent info. i think it's important to make the sexist bias explicit. if a student speaks of me disparagingly because it just cannot be possible that a young woman would know what she's talking about, and the comment also includes a reference to my ass, well then, it should be included, as the ass mention perfectly qualifies the evaluation. same with a positive comment.
- March 15, 2011 at 10:05 AM
I agree with FemFilosofer re: student comments, particularly because I, too, have received *multiple* student comments about my ass, which help no one and which will, if anything, unfairly hurt my job prospects (we know from a variety of psychological studies that when people are prompted to think about a woman's physical attractiveness, they rate her as less competent/qualified than when this feature is not mentioned).
- March 15, 2011 at 10:59 AM
FemFilosofer, I don't get why you think your candidacy would suffer if you included the childish comments. The SC would see that you once had some dumb jocks (or whatever) in one of your classes. Yeah, we've all had those. Or do you mean the mere presence of words that the NY Times won't print would hurt your candidacy? That seems very implausible.
Maybe your point is that the SC would get distracted by the comments and start thinking about your t*ts and *ss instead of your work?
- March 15, 2011 at 12:14 PM
Many institutions, my own included, already edit out such inappropriate comments (and they have policies to deal with students who make them). It seems like the type of thing that is pretty easy to take care.
- March 15, 2011 at 2:23 PM
- zombie said...
Anon 12:14 -- would you include racial slurs if they appeared in your evaluations? What if a student said you were a Nazi? Not just a metaphorical Nazi, but an actual Nazi? Would you include that?
There are risks to including such comments in a professional job dossier. They are a distraction, and they invite the reader to think of the candidate in those terms. They are also unprofessional. Yes, they reflect badly on the students, but they may also inadvertantly reflect badly on the candidate, consciously or unconsciously. Even philosophers are susceptible to the power of suggestion.
- March 15, 2011 at 3:09 PM
Sure. I mean, I'm pretty sure there is very little danger of anyone on a SC thinking I am actually a Nazi. And I would be quoting (or photocopying) racial slurs, which I believe in no way reflects badly on me.
Obviously, these things are unprofessional! I guess the real question is whether it is unprofessional of me to send them unprofessional comments by students, and I don't see why it would be.
- March 15, 2011 at 4:11 PM
Sorry to keep the tangent going , but ... In a fair world with a more transparent job market, I think including all comments would be warranted. But I do believe these things would hurt my credibility because, in the past, they have. My teaching success (and high evaluations) has easily been explained away because of both my gender and appearance, as they have also been used to denigrate my research (all at my PhD institution). Students' comments confirming such bias is of no help to me professionally.
And as a few commenters have mentioned, these sorts of thoughts and assumptions often fly underneath the conscious radar, and can be therefore damaging to someone's candidacy without the SC being aware of it. It *ought* to reflect poorly on the student and not on me, yes. I doubt that is what happens in the mentally and psychologically taxing selection process.
- March 16, 2011 at 7:21 AM
FemPhil, okay, I get it. And it's true I was focused (like a philosopher) on the reasons somebody might have to hold the juvenile comments against you, which might be beside the point.
- March 16, 2011 at 2:58 PM


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Between the years of 1941 and 1947, Ray Eames designed 27 covers for the Los-Angeles-based periodical Arts & Architecture. The influential design magazine wrote on contemporary art, architecture, music and film. Ray's designs for Arts & Architecture are more than creative graphic expressions. They are unique works of art that reflect the times in which they were produced.
In collaboration with Eames Office, Vitra has produced three of the 27 covers as high-quality screen prints on uncoated design paper. Format (33 x 42.2 cm) fits standard 40 x 50 cm frame.


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Walker powers Bucs to comeback win over Cards
PITTSBURGH -- About a year ago, when the Pirates began cruising toward the playoffs with a precise starting rotation the wind in their sails, the offense must have been busy distributing IOUs after every win.
Now they are making good on them.View Full Game Coverage
PITTSBURGH -- About a year ago, when the Pirates began cruising toward the playoffs with a precise starting rotation the wind in their sails, the offense must have been busy distributing IOUs after every win.
Now they are making good on them.View Full Game Coverage
The latest payment Friday night was made by Neil Walker, whose three-run homer in the seventh turned a one-run deficit into a 6-4 win over the Cardinals on another night the "0" remained in Francisco Liriano's win column.
"Frankie is battling, we know that," Walker said after the 2013 ace's eighth winless start. "But he'll give us the best he's got. Meanwhile, any comeback win is important."
Pirates starters have made 34 starts and earned wins in four of them -- three belonging to Gerrit Cole, and the other to Edinson Volquez. However, the team has a growing total of 15 wins, with relievers -- Justin Wilson on Friday night -- the beneficiaries of the Bucs' delayed offense.
Of the 140 runs the team has scored this season, 60 have crossed the plate in the seventh inning or later.
"I think our guys understand that we're not out of a game, that with the bullpen we have, we should be able to stay close," manager Clint Hurdle said. "We are in a place where we don't feel it'll be an early night any time soon. We're ready to play. We've felt capable of doing more offensively for a while, and that's starting to come around -- from the top of the lineup to the bottom."
Friday night's 12-hit attack was of course highlighted by Walker's three knocks, which also included a run-scoring single for a four-RBI night. But his double-play partner, Jordy Mercer, also had three hits, Jose Tabata had his usual two against the Cardinals and Ike Davis got the scoring going with a two-run double off Michael Wacha in the first.
On the wings of that balanced offense, a crowd of 33,696 saw the Bucs extend their winning streak to a season-long three straight games. Their 16-game winner last season and the unrivaled staff No. 1 entering this one, Liriano went five innings while remaining winless in eight starts. And guess what? The Bucs have won five of those games.
The Bucs had taken Liriano off the hook by rallying to tie it at 3 in the fifth, when Walker's single scored Tabata, who had doubled with one away. That tie was undone by Jhonny Peralta's solo homer off Jeanmar Gomez in the top of the seventh -- Peralta's eighth homer of the season, and fourth against the Bucs.
In the bottom of the frame, the Bucs immediately went after Carlos Martinez, the second reliever behind Wacha. Mercer singled, so did pinch-hitter Gaby Sanchez, and both advanced on a Tabata sacrifice bunt that Walker rendered moot by drilling his seventh homer halfway up the right-field stands.
Walker did so on a second straight slider thrown him by Martinez, whose 95-mph fastball appeared to tie him up earlier in the at-bat.
"[Martinez] knows when he's using one of the secondary pitches, [it] is to get back to a pitch that you want to get him out with," said St. Louis manager Mike Matheny, taking a dim view of the pitch selection. "I'm not going to necessarily sit here and say what that pitch is, but a well-executed offspeed pitch after you do look overmatched on a fastball and you're cheating."
Davis is getting to be known for a pretty productive quality. He has come to bat this season in three bases-loaded situations -- that's a total of nine baserunners -- and has produced 10 RBIs out of them. The surplus, of course, comes from the fact twice he also drove himself in with grand slams.
Davis did only half as good Friday night, but his opposite-field double with two outs in the first did give the Pirates a welcomed 2-0 jump.
Liriano pitched loose with the early lead. Such a setup was automatic last season, when Liriano was regularly magnificent, particularly against the Cardinals in PNC Park. In that parlay, and counting his effort in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, Liriano allowed the Redbirds three runs in three starts, covering 21 innings.
Peralta and Matt Holliday both punched opposite-field singles into right to begin the fourth. Yet Liriano was on the verge of escaping his second two-on jam of the night, but Allen Craig would have none of it.
Liriano hung an 0-1 slider to Craig, who sent the pitch into the Pirates bullpen for a three-run homer and a 3-2 St. Louis lead.
The blow knocked Liriano down another peg from his lofty status of 2013. All of last season, he allowed only one home run with two men on base. Then again, he was taken deep a total of only nine times in 161 innings, while Craig's shot was the fifth he has allowed this season in 40 innings.
Gomez has had an even harder time keeping the ball in the park. Peralta's homer was the fifth off him, too, but in only 22 innings.
Liriano departed after five innings and 96 pitches, while navigating around a 25-minute rain delay. Last August, he went the route to beat the Cardinals on a four-hitter, and did that on only 94 pitches.
"He made more pitches than you want to see in five innings, but other than that, there was a lot of good stuff from Frank tonight," said Hurdle, who evaluated his latest start the same way Liriano himself did. "First three innings, I thought it was the Frankie we've seen in the past. Then he threw the slider that hung in the middle of the plate."
"One mistake again changed the whole game," Liriano said. "At least we got the win. I hung a pitch, and got hurt."
Then the batsmen took over, and everyone got well again.
Tom Singer is a reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog Change for a Nickel. He can also be found on Twitter @Tom_Singer.


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Trading Faith for Spirituality: The Mystifications of Sam Harris by Meera Nanda
I'll be very interested in what forum members here have to say about this one.
Having found TEoF sections on mysticism and spirtuality both disappointing and unfathonable, I congratulate Meera Nanda on cutting through the fog to the heart of the matter.
I have always thought that Sam is way off base by advocating spirituality as an alternative to faith.
IMHO, both are irrational mumbo jumbo.
First, may I say, I too was made uncomfortable by Harris's comments about consciousness being something independent of the brain, that we 'don't know what happens after death', etc. It seems to me, that while it may technically be true that we do not fully understand the process of consciousness or know with certainty that there is no life-after-death, the concepts of 'soul' or 'afterlife' should not be on the table until there is evidence for them.
But, that said, I must say that in general I disagree with this author's review.
On that note, I'd like to make a correction that I think is relevant to the subject. Conservative Atheist's tagline is "If you are young and not a liberal, you don't have a heart…….if you are old and not a conservative, you don't have a brain." I notice there is no one quoted there, so I assume this is something CA himself has heard and adopted.
But I believe the statement is both a misquote and misguided. The version I heard, and agree with, is "If you are young and not a RADICAL, you don't have a heart…….if you are old and still a RADICAL, you don't have a brain." CA's quote seems to say that we should naturally 'mature' from one dogma to another, when in fact one should approach each issue with an open mind… sometimes the best solution will be conservative, sometimes liberal.
(To quote Chris Rock, "Crime, I'm conservative; prostitution, I'm liberal.")
Replacing one dogma for another—frying pan to fire—is what the reviewer has accused Harris of. But I think she has missed the entire point. I myself have never tried meditation, and I get the strong impression that she hasn't either. (I also get the impression that she is bringing a lot more 'baggage' to the discussion than Harris is, given her Hindu upbringing.) But whether or not one agrees with Harris on the particulars of mysticism, the overall point in the context of his thesis remains—If I may paraphrase, It is possible to have a spiritual existence without believing in dogma.
Given Harris's vehement scoff at New Age beliefs, I find it highly unlikely that he is quietly advocating them, as the reviewer suggests. Or that he is subtly advocating Buddhist or Hindu dogma while dissing Judeo-Christian dogma. Or that he thinks that religion is the sole cause of conflict in the world.
Those of us who have heard him speak, know that he has equal disdain for Hindu and Buddhist dogma, and that he is fully aware that there are other sources of violence in the world. (That he does not make this more directly clear in the book for less discerning readers like the reviewer is indeed a sin of omission; but to read an advocation of dogma into what her mind sees as missing pages, in a book dedicated first and foremost to the end of dogma, is just foolish.)
This reviewer lost her credence with me very early on in the review with this supposed summary of Harris's viewpoint: "The villains who are beyond the pale of reason and who deserve to die are all Muslims." There is a semantic distinction to be made here—I assume she means that the people Harris wants dead just happen to be Muslim, not that he wants all Muslims dead... though it could be read either way, and if my critique were as sloppy and catty as hers, I might assume the worst.
But as Harris points out (and she omits from the quote), this is exactly what we are doing in Afghanistan right now—attacking people whose beliefs have made them impossible to reason with. As is the case with all the other "What abouts" in her argument—she seems to think she's disproving Harris's thesis, when all she does is strengthen it, by demonstrating the violence and divisiveness that results from dogma. (Which makes me wonder just how carefully she read and understood the book.)
Whether or not one agrees with Harris's take on mysticism, I see none of the 'system' agenda that the reviewer seems to panic about, none of the metaphysical Hindu baggage that she has pencilled into the margins. I do not see an advocation of 'near-death experience' or ESP, but simply open-mindedness to possibilities about the unknown. Not a demand to believe without evidence. It seems to me, the main point is that we can have the spiritual benefits of religion without the dogma and supernaturalism.
How wrong am I?
Interesting article. I would agree with the premise. EOF did venture into some wishy washy areas. Still, I have to give Sam Harris a lot of credit. His book isn't perfect but he gets high marks for trying. I haven't read anything else that explains why we need to stop tolerating religious nonsense and move on to a better understanding of what we are doing on earth (no matter how trivial it might be). I value the points made in many of the critiques of EOF but part of me wants to tell some of Sam's critics to go out and write the perfect book, then get it published. How many of them would step out onto the limb Mr. Harris has?
Welcome back CA = )
I think Cody got it right in his critique of Meera Nanda's review of TEoF. Nanda seems to be bringing in all sorts of metaphysical dogma in spirituality that I did not see in Sam Harris' text. She's talking about some kind of soul existing after death in the form of an "altered mind experience" that one can achieve through meditation and other Eastern practices. It seems to me that Harris would reject all that as purely speculative at the least, but he certainly not agreee with some kind of weird metaphysical reality that actually exists (beyond the subjective/objective world? - or whatever she is getting at?)
"One cannot help wondering, why faith in God is not just such a method of ?tuning the brain differently? for those who believe in the personal God of the Bible and the Koran? Neurologically speaking, why is God a ?delusion,? if mysticism is ?astute??)" [quote from M.Nanda]
The problem to me came across as Nanda's very incomplete knowledge of christianity and islam. She implies that the experience of "knowing a personal god" in christian theology can be equated with the "brahman soul" in some sort of direct comparison. I find that these concepts are entirely at odds. It was interesting how Nanda explained that this "desire" to experience the Brahman state (or some sort of universal one-ness) can lead to all sorts of dogmatic craziness like the caste system, social unrest and a misreading of science. I have always wondered why those precepts that I find pleasing and mind-expanding and beautiful in Buddhist thought/practise often lead to social and interpersonal policies that do not compare more favorably with those we have adopted in the West (justice, egalitarianism, freedom) - perhaps Nanda has given us something to think about.
I did appreciate Nanda's account of how the Hindu cosmology can be the result of something like the spirituality that Sam Harris seems to advocate. But I am willing to give Harris a lot more credit than she does. Her agenda seems clear and she has realigned much of Harris' thoughts inTEoF to comply with her criticisms. The problem , for me, stems from her very poor understanding of the world as preached in the texts and ideology of judaism/christianity/islam. I think Sam Harris has a much more comprehensive understanding of the madness and the violent direction of the Abrahamic faiths, but I think she has deliberately cornered Harris into a dogmatic evironment that he would fully reject with respect to spiritualism.
I think that ideally Sam Harris should respond to Nanda's critique, so that the rest of us are not tempted to put "words into his mouth" in order to defend him against the words with which she has painted over his ideas on spirituality and meditation.
It's easy to ride on the coat-tails of success, just ask Meera Nanda. Her book isn't on the New York Times' best-seller list so she's pouting all the way to stardom with her articles attacking Harris. Divide and conquer, a great tool of the religious right to defeat reasonable people. Harris has a hard time explaining his experiences meditating, he is usually eloquent but he failed at this one point. No one is perfect, sucks to be Harris. Now get over not beating him in sales and join the offensive on the religious right instead of sabotaging the momentum from within.
Would you say what they are? I'm stuck on tracing everything to religion.
It seems to me, the main point is that we can have the spiritual benefits of religion without the dogma and supernaturalism.
Has anyone defined 'spiritual' yet to the point that everyone would agree with it? Once defined, what are the 'spiritual benefits?'
Thank you.
I too believe very strongly that false belief (of which religion is only one permutation) is at the core of most human suffering.
But as Sam himself is the first to say, it is not the only cause. (No sense being dogmatic, even about dogma!) Limited resources, for one. I have a nasty feeling that people are going to be fighting and killing over land, money, oil, etc, for a long time—particularly when so much belongs to so few.
As for the question of spirituality, I think the lack of definition is one of Harris's main points—we can't agree, because dogma prevents us from studying the issue objectively.
Spiritual benefits… heavy topic; I won't pretend to answer it here. But for starters, maybe we can think of it in terms of the "good" aspects of religion. The joy, unity, inner peace, emotional stability, empathy, transcendence, self-worth, redemption, etc (a BIG etc there)... all these are potential benefits of a healthy spiritual life.
But Harris's point, I think, is that we can have all these without the hocus pocus and dogma. I couldn't agree more.
Thanks, Cody. IMO, the only way we can have the goodies that you list, and a BIG etc., is to *go through* the poop that life throws at us; not try to escape it. Everything else is a bandaid.
Harris showed so much promise at first. I thought, finally, we have a spokesman willing to speak out openly against religion and in support of rationality. Then he dropped the spirituality bomb and I realized, here is just another weak and fearful person looking for something convenient and comforting to cling to. I don't think I will ever understand what people are so afraid of…
- j
[quote author="azrielka"]Harris showed so much promise at first. I thought, finally, we have a spokesman willing to speak out openly against religion and in support of rationality. Then he dropped the spirituality bomb and I realized, here is just another weak and fearful person looking for something convenient and comforting to cling to. I don't think I will ever understand what people are so afraid of…
- j
Life on its own terms, IMO.
For the record, I think Cody's pretty much got it nailed (though I think he may be a bit hard on Nanda, and I'm not so sure that what I agree is most likely her failure to read the text "cleanly" is due to a sin of omission on Sam's part).
I found myself agreeing with Nanda's comments, just thinking they don't apply to TEoF. At the same time I can see how, as Cody said in so many words, a less rigorous reading can easily create the impression Nanda got. As a good skeptic, however, I do feel the need to go back over TEoF to double check my take on it (which is also why I posted the link to Nada's review here).
So, thanks for your comments! Hopefully they'll keep coming in—I'm still interested in what others have to say on this, particularly those who disagree (and can articulate their position effectively).
Hello X, thanks for the kudos. Yeah, I was pretty hard on the lady, and maybe I threw in the sin-of-omission line for that reason (in a 'to be fair' gesture.) Sam could have been more clear on that point; then again, he could've written those lines in his own blood to highlight them.
However, I think she had a little harsh response coming. She herself was harsh, for one. But mostly because, it seems to me, she is doing the very thing we here at the forum are trying to stop—using her intelligence to spread ignorance.
We're seeing the same thing with our new arrival, Thomas. Smart guy. False beliefs. But he uses his intelligence to make his beliefs sound reasonable.
Once in junior high, we had a substitute teacher in algebra, who filled two board with equations that proved, he claimed, that 3=2. Seemed a little odd at first, but then again, he was the teacher, and why would he lie? And look at all those fancy equations! Boy is he smart, he must know what he's talking about!
Thomas and Nanda are very good at sounding like they know what they're talking about, when they don't. Add this 'fact', subtract that one, distort this line, to build their 'arguments'—all working backwards from a conclusion that is untrue to begin with.
Both throw around words like logic, reason, fact, etc, when it seems to me that they are coming from a very emotional (and irrational) place. Nanda seems to really be yelling at her Hindu upbringing (which is often very harsh for women), Thomas at whatever troubled past he has.
It reminds me of Juror #3 in TWELVE ANGRY MEN—the guy who passionately (and selectively) arranges the evidence to argue that the young defendant is guilty, because unconsciously he's trying to punish his own son. He too claimed to be "just talking about facts."
The moral of my little rant, my fellow freethinkers: When you see intelligence defending ignorance, get harsh.
I skimmed the article, and have a couple of quick comments.
First, Sam's discussion of mysticism did make me a little uneasy when I read the book for the first time. Ultimately, though, nothing that he said set off major alarms.
Meera Nanda claims that Harris finds ESP, near death visions and disembodied souls to be plausible. I have no idea how he feels on those points, but based on my memory of his book (and I will read that chapter again, now) I did not get the impression that he was advocating any of those things.
I thought that he was claiming that meditation can result in altered states of mental being, and that those states are replicable according to instruction, and may be of use to people for a variety of reasons. At the end of the day, I can't find too much fault with that.
Meera goes on to say that Harris focuses on the Koran/Islam. I came away from the book feeling that moderates were the target of his attack. Obviously the fundamentalists are the "bad guys", but they are, in essence, a lost cause. The people that Sam argues can be reached are the moderates of all religious persuasions who don't recognize that the various faiths, in extremist form, are all dangerous.
Just my .02.
Something interesting that I found in Nanda's article is her assertion that Harris essentially romanticizes Eastern belief without criticizing the violence and mistreatment visited upon many people in the East despite the presence and supposed superiority (or less violent nature) of Eastern beliefs.
Harris singles out theological beliefs as the primary and pretty much the sole cause of religious violence. He indulgently turns a blind eye on the "spiritual" teachings of Hinduism and Buddhism, both of which have a proven track-record of justifying nationalistic wars and ethnic cleansings.
Are some religions or "spiritual" beliefs better than others as Harris seems to advocate? Do we rank religions and "spiritual" teachings based on their negative impact (or death toll) on a particular culture or society where they are practiced?
Would the world really be a better place without these beliefs? Or would people simply find other (and equally irrational) bases to justify violence throughout the world?
- j


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i dunno what the logic behind it is but i think it sucks. Seems like with any change we are all stuck playing catch up i am getting tired of that myself.
Goharo wrote:nah i am done with the whole idea thing i am just starting to tell when i think something sucks. doesnt matter what your ideas are anyways i really dont think they get listened to.
FROG wrote:Would it be possible to get a list of how much skill we need to get to places? I would really rather not bust my fragment trying to go someplace I used to go.
Location Color Frag Shard DC Gems
---------------------- -------------- ------ ------ ------ ----
Semanri, South Town Sq forest green YES YES 20 agate, jade
Cal'Ziz dusty yellow YES YES 20 topaz
D'Mare Fin sea green YES YES 20 opal
Crystal Caverns [new] sparkling whit YES YES 25 nugget
Ruined Temple pale green YES glass bead
Desert Trail, Clearing light grey YES garnet, epidote, aventurine
Cal'Ziz, cleric's guil glowing white YES pearl
Semanri, Mage's guild bright blue YES sapphire
Semanri, Fighter's gui dark red YES ruby
Pirate's Dungeon black YES YES 30 obsidian
Tes'Kata Village royal blue YES YES 35 moonstone
Istiilian Islands brilliant whit YES YES 45 diamond
Mantaya Isle pinkish red YES YES 65 coral
Mount Lexunaze marbled YES 82
V'Rung deep brown YES 100
Mount Lexunaze marbled YES 82
Combat casting of 45 use magical device of 134 that is very broken unless magic device can be used somewhere in magic. Otherwise i can get anywhere and have bad skills when i get there
I want to see more uses for the use magical device skill released for the new ranks we can aquire in it.
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So we have safely embarked on our trip! After some scrambling and last-minute errands on Thursday, the 15th, we took off on our way to Vancouver, WA via the Washington coast. We saw a lot of chopped up forests and creepy little logging towns [like Raymond, North Bend, etc.]. Most of that whole area is owned by Weyerhauser, and they have chopped and replanted trees so much that they land is a total patchwork. It was kind of mind-blowing to think about all of the resources that go into perpetuating this process, but I guess the world can never have enough paper bags and subdivisions. Anyway, here are the pictures taken thus far into the trip.
I took this seconds before we left, not realizing I had left out car painty marker things on the roof... Now we only have a green one.
Bye Seattle! I look forward to seeing you again this next September!
I don't really have a story about these guys, but in the distance you could see those 2 huge power plant looking things from the road I was driving. They were miles and miles away but still towered over the whole forest. Sort of Simpson/Springfield-esque.
One of the towns we stopped in for gas was this logging community called Raymond. Super wide streets with zero activity, even at like 7pm. Actually, I did see a couple Mormons walking around, and about 4 kids on some BMX bikes. Kinda creepy.
I know nothing of cars, but I thought this one was probably the envy of all umpteen teenagers in the town.
Airwalk sticker.
There were more of these rust people in Raymond then actual citizens. Seriously, I saw dozens of them littered all over the town.
This one had a scene kid haricut.
Eventually we moved on and got to see our first glimpses of the ocean. The whole time we were riding along the 101 scenic route, by the way, and our first stop was gonna be in Vancouver, WA. My buddy Jon lives there and so we met up with him to mooch some floor space for the night. We pulled in prettly late and so we just watched some skate vids and caught up on the times. He even has a rad dog there named Zoey, whose got a real life tattoo! Thanks to him, Mike and Sarah for letting us crash. You rule.
From there Michelle, Jon, and I took off to Portland to see some of the sites. Stay tuned for the next blog for some pics from that, and please, wish us luck on our travels!{moscomment}
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Yesterday, Scalpel and ERP tackled an interesting question: What is an ER?
[whether] it is our duty as emergency physicians to see every patient that presents for care whether they have the inclination or ability to pay us or not, and if we do not treat all comers then we are not practicing Emergency Medicine.and Scalpel lauded the concept of the boutique freestanding ER, which accepts cash and private insurance but not government insurance, thereby evading the obligation to provide EMTALA-mandated services to all comers. ERP was concerned about the implications of this sort of practice with specific reference to whether this violates a core principle of emergency medicine -- the mission to care for all patients first and worry about money later.
Strangely, I don't have a moral problem with the boutique practices. You'd think, being such a bleeding heart lefty that I'd be reflexively bitching about the poor and vulnerable who are denied care at these boutique practices. I'll admit that it's a troubling thought, but the local community, county and academic ERs are already the dumping grounds for the clinics, urgent cares, nursing homes, and anybody else that wants to get unburdened by troublesome patients. So the boutiques don't change that one iota, and could even improve access by decompressing those existing ERs.
Moreover, I don't buy the notion that a defining characteristic of being an ER doc is an abandonment of financial interest in your work. Just because you have the letters FACEP after your name doesn't mean that you have entered holy orders or taken a vow of charity and poverty. I take a very entreprenurial approach to running our practice and I have nothing but admiration for those ER docs who have thought creatively and taken a risk in setting out on a new course.
But (and you just knew there had to be a "but," right?) there are some serious drawbacks of these boutique ERs, from a systems perspective.
My biggest concern regarding their existence, were they to become more common, is that they skim the profitable business off of traditional ERs and thereby weaken their parent institutions. The same argument, by the way, applies to outpatient surgical centers and other outlets which remove profit centers from hospitals. While such projects make great financial sense for their owners and for their physicians (often one and the same), the overall effect is quite destructive on the system. Hospitals are required to provide many many services at a loss -- inpatient medicinal services prominently among them. They have no choice in that. They also have to provide care to the uncompensated and the under-compensated. The entire economic basis for a hospital is frantic cost-shifting from profit centers to loss centers in a hopes of eking out a 3% margin at the end of the year. The grim fact of hospital closures and the national shortage of inpatient beds is due to this incredibly tenuous business model hospitals exist within. (The lack of inpatient beds, BTW, is largely reponsible for the ER boarding and crowding crisis.)
To the degree that boutique ERs could make the hospitals' fiscal problems worse, I'm glad that they are unlikely to become widespread. In fact, I predict that they will either completely cease to exist or will be only a very small niche within healthcare.
One big obstacle to boutique ERs is the requirement that the docs opt out of Medicare. This is a huge and scary step for most docs and will ensure that only the most committed few take the plunge. Remember, you can't reapply to medicare for two full years once you opt out, so if the venture fails, you're unemployable as an ER doc for two years. That risk, I think, will cause many ER docs to shy away from a boutique practice. (The alternative, BTW, is for docs to remain in the medicare program and just turn all seniors away from the door of their boutique ER. Good luck with that business model!)
State regulations pose real obstacles to these practices as well. In California and other states where balance billing is not permitted, this sort of practice is essentially impossible, since you can't bill a patient for anything above what an insurer is willing to pay (which includes medicare). As balance billing legislation becomes more widespread (and it will), this will progressively narrow the playing field on which boutique practices can even compete. The willingness of insurers to pay ER billing codes for non-EMTALA-compliant ERs will also vary greatly by state, and by the degree of clout that insurers have in each state. If these practices became more common, the insurers would logically respond by creating edits in their software that would transform ED site of service codes into ambulatory codes.
Another obstacle which is not insignificant is that the capital requirements for a fully functional ER is not insignificant. A "real" ER is going to need, at a minimum, a CT scanner, a radiology suite, an ultrasound tech, and a stat lab in addition to the physical plant and ancillary staff. That money is tough to raise unless you have the backing of an institution. It's possible to make an ER on the cheap, but I would contend that as you scale down the ancillary services offered, the difference between an ER and urgent care center becomes fuzzier and fuzzer. To the degree that there will exist a market for emergency services and funded patients to utilize them, it's more likely that hospitals will create EMTALA-participating free-standing ERs to fill that niche.
So ultimately I have a hard time getting too exercised about the boutique ER practices. They pose a theoretical threat to the fabric of the safety net, but there are just too many barriers and pitfalls for them to become widespread players in the acute care field, even assuming that they don't get legislated out of existence by reactional lawmakers or regulators.


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Today I decided to self-rescue when the wind died at 3rd. Within seconds, a line snagged on my leg turned into a tangle of lines tightly wrapped around my ankle. I usually feel comfortable self-rescuing and I'm not sure what I did wrong - it's scary how quickly the situation went from slight annoyance to serious trouble.
I decided to bite the bullet and cut the lines, but my knife didn't have any effect hacking away at the tangle of lines under water. So I decided to swim to the upper launch. By the time I got there, I had most of my lines and half a bridle wrapped around my ankle, making it hard to even walk up the beach. A big thanks to the two guys who helped me separate my kite from my ankle, I'd still be sitting there if you hadn't helped!
Somebody showed me a diving knife, I'll have to get one of those before I even order a new set of lines. Any other tips on how to avoid line tangles and how to deal with them when they happen?


text:
Real World article
(written from a Production point of view)
(written from a Production point of view)
Lezlie Dalton (born 12 August 1944; age 74) is an actress from Weymouth, Massachusetts, who played Drea from the Kelvan Empire in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "By Any Other Name", credited as Lezlie Dalton.
Dalton went on to become a featured player on Dean Martin's 1970s variety show The Golddiggers. Afterward, she made guest appearances on the Henry Darrow/Anthony Zerbe television series Harry O and two episodes of S.W.A.T. in 1975 and 1976. The following year, she became a regular on the soap opera The Guiding Light, where she stayed until 1981.


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Wednesday, August 15, 2012
He'll Win From Here to…
Today's feature at the Spa, being run as the fifth race, is the Troy Stakes for 3-year-olds and older males sprinting 5-1/2 furlongs on the Mellon Turf Course.
It's basically a three-horse race on paper among Bridgetown (8-5), Perfect Officer (3-1) and Regally Ready (7-2). There's no reason to believe that it won't be one of those three that will be there at the line.
Bridgetown is a worthy favorite. Todd Pletcher has had him going great guns for three seasons now. The 5-year-old Speightstown colt loves what he's doing with a (13) 6-4-1 slate in turf sprints, and especially likes it here, given his (4) 3-0-1 mark. He's earned his 123-pound assignment.
Perfect Officer finished ahead of Bridgetown last out after the latter made a premature move to the lead, middle-moving into a :44-flat half mile, finishing second without threatening the streaking Fiddlers Patriot.
Given that Tony Dutrow is 35% efficient third time off the layup, he likely figures to improve here.
But it's Regally Ready who is the most intriguing for several reasons. First, he has earned the best Equiform figures consistently and he has, on balance, kept better company than his two rivals here.
It is his ability on off ground, however, that clinches it. His lifetime best performance figure was earned in that scenario and he's won the last three times he's raced on something other than firm ground.
He was without his usual speed returning from a freshening after two runs in Dubai and now shows up here for Steve Asmussen who's won eight races at this stand, most of them with Julien Leparoux, who has the call today.
There is some question as to whether he's experiencing some Dubai hangover, therefore accept no less than 3-1, and key-box in exactas with his rivals here.
Running Totals: (1140) 350-220-173 Total Dollar Return: $2,406.80 [win selections only]
Written by John Pricci


text:
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[caption id="attachment_1729" align="alignnone" width="300" caption=" BUY VIAGRA SOFT PILLS NO PRESCRIPTION, UNI quarterback Tirrell Rennie threw for 181 yards and rushed for 127 in the 20-19 loss to Iowa State on Saturday night. (Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press)"][/caption]
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Yesterday was one of the worst days Henry and I have ever had together. Truly, I have never seen him like that before. I've never seen me like that. We clashed on every topic (Are Dried Cranberries An Acceptable Dinner? Could He Watch TV For Just Another Minute? Why Couldn't He Head Butt Me Repeatedly In the Groin While I Am Talking To the Mortgage Broker?) and each time Henry's demands escalated into full-blown weepy hysteria; we went to our separate corners to enjoy our respective time-outs; we came back to each other to hug and declare our undying love; then it all started again. At one point I found myself yelling and clenching my fists and hopping up and down. Hopping. And I slammed doors. Twice. I am an excellent role model.
I could point to Henry and say IT'S HIS FAULT and say WHO STOLE MY CHILD AND REPLACED HIM WITH THIS MONSTROSITY? But the thing is, I know what's going on. He's reacting to me. I am distracted and frazzled and depressed and it's making him anxious as hell.
We sold our place for more money than we thought we could, which is great. We're thrilled. But our large margin of profit is not quite what we thought it was. Not quite enough for the house we want. Take the large amount and remove the $20,000 of closing fees and moving expenses, the huge tax bill we'll have for 2005, the money we'll need to put down for a car, the small amount of savings we'll need in case any expenses come up with the house, and you have a much smaller number. Factor in the added expenses of owning a house—the insurance, the car, the heating bills, the inevitable repairs, the hefty real estate tax bill—and the number shrinks even further.
We could take more of a risk and put more down if, say, one of us had reliable employment. Without going into detail about my husband's job, we don't, not really. Not reliable in the benefits-and-vacation-time, check-every-two-weeks, severance-pay-guaranteed sense. It's a great job for his industry, which is not known for its steadiness. We've been lucky for a while, but there's always the spectre of the work drying up. If the work isn't there, he doesn't get money. So we have to be careful. We've been careful for years, we know the drill. But now we're looking for a house, and being careful doesn't jibe with finding a good and safe place for our family, and it feels like the air is being sucked out of the room.
We decided on this neighborhood in New Jersey; it's close to the city, the trains are right there, the prices for the small homes with small lots (the kind we want, as we are city folk) are not unreasonable. We have friends nearby. But now it seems that if we want to be in the parts of town that have good schools, we have to extend ourselves past our comfort level. Last week we bid on a great house; we were right at the brink of what we could afford, and the taxes were astronomical, and we were stressed out and fighting about the expense. But the school there is wonderful, and I read the description of the school and I thought of Henry being at that school, and I wanted him to live there. I walked around that house and I thought, We will be happy here. We could just barely afford it, but we could afford it, so we bid. And then one other bidder came in at way over the asking price and swooped it up. This isn't the first time this has happened; such is the market these days. Even if the numbers indicate we can afford it, we can't really afford it.
We've looked at the less-fancy parts of town, that have relatively decent schools, at least we think, and taxes that aren't so high. But every house we've seen in that area has low ceilings and dark musty kitchens and shag rugs and the neighbor's windows so close you could pass cups of sugar back and forth, and I know this isn't what we want. We're not asking for a lot, but we're asking for a little more than this.
So maybe I feel entitled. Maybe I'm a stuck-up bitch and I should get over myself and living in the cramped smelly house that after all we could fix up. That is probably a valid opinion.
But this is all symptomatic of the larger problem here. We don't have enough money. We're not making enough. Every optional expense has been cut out, and yet there's still not enough. And it's hurting us. It's a constant source of tension; there's no escaping it. Everywhere we look there's a sign that we need more money. The dog is overdue for a vet appointment. We don't have the money. Here's the list of good preschools in Jersey. We don't have the money. Let's get food delivered because I'm exhausted and Henry didn't let me even get near the kitchen all day, he's been so clingy. We don't have the money. Well, okay, maybe pizza. But let's not go crazy with the toppings.
(We want another baby. We don't have the money.)
Please don't tell me I should write a book to make money. Or rather: tell me to write a book, and thank you for having faith in my abilities, really, but understand that such an undertaking takes years, years of nonpaid work, and also no one should write a book for the money. It just doesn't work that way.
Do you want to know what I am wearing now, O Internet? (Especially those members of the Internet who send me hate mail because of my fabulous bloggy existence?) I am wearing jeans that have enormous holes in the crotch and across one knee. They are dirty, as I wear them every day. They are one of two pairs of jeans that I own; the others were pre-pregnancy and are now laughingly small on me. (Size 4! BLAHHAHAHAHA.) In addition to my crappy pilly too-small and too-old Gap sweater, I am also wearing ugly black leather shoes that I bought when I was pregnant, and thus are now one size too big. I trip in them every day. On most days I wear the too-big shoes and the ripped-up jeans. I could probably buy myself new jeans and new shoes, but the idea fills me with guilt. How can I buy something like clothing when we might not be able to pay for Henry's preschool?
I know how whiny I sound here, I do. I know many many people have lives infinitely more difficult than this one. I know how lucky I am. Please don't yell at me because I'm whining about my shoes. It's just—I feel like I'm decaying, a little. I feel unattractive and like I don't have the right to feel attractive. I feel like god there has to be more money somewhere, except there's no time to get the money and no money (for childcare, that is) to get more money. I feel like my creative life is dying because all I do is worry and crunch numbers and do the little writing jobs that might bring in enough to pay the cable bill. (Yes, we still have cable. The indulgence! I know!) I feel like there has to be an answer somewhere and where's the answer and aren't I smart enough haven't I been good don't I have the education and the intelligence and resources to figure this out why can't I figure this out?
I know, I know. I'm feeling sorry for myself. I should snap out of it, right? You can tell me.
(p.s. If anyone knows anything about the school system in the above-mentioned town—it's linked to, right up there—please, please email me.)


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Steven Simning was an athlete in the Special Olympics for the first time when he was in his mid-teens; now 30, he's moving on to the next level — he'll soon be one of the first Minnesota Special Olympians to take part as both a athlete and coach.
Steven Simning was an athlete in the Special Olympics for the first time when he was in his mid-teens.
Now 30, Simning is moving on to the next level — he'll soon be one of the first Minnesota Special Olympians to take part as both a athlete and coach.
"I started in seventh grade, and wanted to do coaching because it's easier for me to help other people," he said this week.
Simning already has experience helping with warm ups and refereeing for Special Olympics volleyball games when he's not out on the floor playing.
This year, Simning was one of 25 in the state chosen for the "Athletes to Coaches" program.
"When 'Athletes to Coaches' opened up, it was a great opportunity for Steven to coach for Redwood Falls," said Dan Seehusen, Simning's mentor and coach.
Simning is moving up in the Special Olympics organization in other ways, too.
In November he went through training to become a recruiter for both new athletes and coaches as part of the Global Messenger program.
"Steven is the first one from southwest Minnesota to become a Global Messenger," said Seehusen. "Steven spent a week at Camp Friendship developing a speech to give to groups. He typed half of it himself."
Simning could have chosen from a variety of ways to help the organization behind the scenes, but "he chose recruiting because Redwood is kind of hurting in that way," said Seehusen.
With powerlifting and basketball, Redwood Falls area Special Olympics now offers seven sports out of the 18 the national organization offers.
Simning hopes with his recruiting speech, he can encourage enough other potential athletes and coaches to add a few more sports to the mix.
Simning gave his recruiting speech to the public for the first time on Jan. 7. He had a friendly audience — many of the same athletes and coaches he's played with for years.
Was he nervous?
"No, not nervous," he laughed afterwards. "After it, people said, 'Good job'."
"He made really good eye contact," said Seehusen. "Steven was president of People First, so he's given lots of speeches before."
The toughest part of being a Global Messenger for Simning will be finding the time to actually do it.
Simning, who currently lives in a REM group home, has several part-time jobs through Service Enterprises, Inc., and volunteers at the animal shelter in the afternoons.


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St. Joseph boys get past Staples
WESTPORT -- No matter the circumstances, the St. Joseph boys basketball team has handled nearly every challenge thrown its way this season.
For the Cadets -- winners of 12 of their first 13 games -- Tuesday was no different.
Despite a strong rally from Staples, one that saw the Wreckers trim St. Joseph's lead to two points with 1:08 remaining, the Cadets again delivered late. Junior guard Jonathan Dzurenda responded to the run with buckets on consecutive trips down the floor, lifting the Cadets to a 62-59 win on the road.
Dzurenda produced a season-high 26 points for St. Joseph (13-1) and junior guard Quincy McKnight added 20 points.
Sports Videos
"They shared the basketball," St. Joseph head coach Chris Watts said of his backcourt, which fueled the Cadets' seventh straight win. "We're lucky enough to know our roles. Everybody knows the role that we play. ... We were still able to come out with a win without making 3's. It just shows that the kids know what to do in crunch time."
Leading 44-42 after three quarters, St. Joseph attacked Staples' zone defense late and generated a flurry of buckets in the paint. The Cadets led by as many as seven -- 58-51 with 1:44 left after a layup by Dzurenda -- before the Wreckers answered back with five straight points.
Dzurenda scored 16 points in the second half for St. Joseph, which held onto a single-digit lead for nearly the entire way.
"When they drove the shooters, I just went into the seam. I was just making open shots," Dzurenda said. "But it was all my teammates that were getting me open, passing it to me and attacking the hoop."
Staples (7-6) went ahead 36-34 midway through the third quarter on a bucket by guard James Frusciante, and re-took a 38-36 lead after St. Joseph tied it.
"Dzurenda played a great game," Staples head coach Colin Devine said. "We were keying on McKnight and (Jake) Pelletier, who's made a lot of shots. We got a little tired. I think we had a couple offensive possessions where we could've gotten a couple better looks at the end."
Frusciante scored 14 points for Staples, while senior guard Peter Rankowitz led the way with 16.
"It just seemed like we were trading hoops, trading hoops," Watts said. "Finally, we got that one stop that led to another stop. We were able to get a little cushion there and we just had to play smart defense, and take care of the basketball."
Winners of four straight entering the day, Staples withstood an early push from St. Joseph and trailed just 16-14 after one quarter. The Wreckers trailed by as many as five points in the second quarter -- 24-19 following a McKnight bucket -- before answering right back with a 5-0 run. St. Joseph led 30-26 at halftime.
"It was a great effort, a team effort," Devine said. "We've just got to find a way to get better and win these games towards the end of the year."
St. Joseph got a double-double from junior forward Erick Langston, who had 10 points and 13 rebounds. McKnight grabbed 10 boards.
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Tyshon Williams 0 0-0 0 Jake Pelletier 1 2-2 4 Jonathan Dzurenda 12 2-4 26 Quincy McKnight 10 0-0 20 Denzel Moscova 0 0-0 0 Kahlil Smith 0 0-0 0 Judeneick Florian 0 0-0 0 Reid Raekwon 1 0-0 2 Erick Langston 5 0-0 10 Mike Sulik 0 0-0 0 Rich Kelly 0 0-0 0 Steve Hashemi 0 0-0 0 Charles Fisher 0 0-0 0. Totals 29 4-6 62.
Jake Melnick 2 0-0 5 James Frusciante 5 3-5 14 Joe Greenwald 0 0-0 0 David Katz 0 0-0 0 Andrew Felman 0 0-0 0 Nick Esposito 3 0-0 6 Darryle Wiggins 3 0-0 6 Ross Whelan 6 0-1 12 Todd Goldstein 0 0-0 0 Peter Rankowitz 6 0-0 16 Nick Ward 0 0-0 0 Alex Addessi 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 3-6 59.
3-pointers: S --Rankowitz 4, Melnick, Frusciante.