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A ROAD in Littlemoor remains closed by Police following a power cut caused by an underground cable fault last night.
Around 30 residents in Littlemoor remained without electric until the early hours of this morning following the incident but 75 residents had their power cut temporarily to fix the problem, which took place just before 6pm yesterday evening.
The bottom part of Canberra Road was taped off while firefighters and staff from Southern Electric worked at a manhole cover.
It is believed that the supply was also turned off for Canberra Crescent while work was ongoing.
A spokesperson for Dorset Police said the road will remain shut and it is unknown when it will re-open.
Route two on First Dorset Buses is not serving Canberra Road today as the road remains closed.
Councillor for Littlemoor Mark Tewkesbury said he is concerned for the residents of Littlemoor this morning following the incident.
He added: "I am concerned that the road is still taped off and closed after visiting the area this morning.
"Not only was the power a problem for residents last night, but the road that remains closed is a major bus route that serves the estate.
"Residents may have their power restored but cannot get to their homes or work easily due to the road closure."
Lisa Marchi from Southern Electric said under 30 homes had been affected and that engineers were investigating the cause of the problem.
She added: "We received reports at 6pm that supply was off.
"The cause was an underground cable fault which affected around 30 homes in the Littlemoor area.
"Although only 30 homes were affected by the incident, at 7pm we had to shut electricity off to 75 residents in order to work on the fault.
"Power was returned to all residents at 3.40am and an investigation has been launched into the cause of the fault.
"We would like to apologise to all the customers affected by the fault."
A spokesman for Dorset Fire and Rescue added: "We were called to a manhole with BT and electric cables."
Resident Jan Hinton told the Echo: "It was quite dramatic and we didn't know what was going on other than that it involved an electric cable.
"There was heavy smoke in the area at one point and they later turned the power off in Canberra Crescent aswell while they worked on the scene."


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subset: commoncrawl


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As relatives of passengers and taxi drivers waited for travelers to come out of arrival terminal 2E at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport on a recent afternoon, an airport employee, speaking through loudspeakers, asked the person who had left a suitcase unattended in the terminal to come collect it.
Nobody came, and a tall French soldier patrolling the area soon asked all people to evacuate the terminal. Some left while others ignored the injunction and stood still. The soldier grew irritated and addressed the crowd in English on a tougher tone.
"Move!" he shouted. People quickly left the hall.
Though suitcases left by forgetful passengers at Paris airports or in the city's public transportation system frequently delay commuters and tourists, such routine inconveniences have taken on a more menacing dimension since France launched a military intervention against Islamist militants in northern Mali on Jan. 11 – and received threats of retaliation in return.
French Interior Minister Manuel Valls told Europe 1 radio Monday that France is facing terrorism threats from homegrown jihadis in France as well as from Islamist militants in northern Mali.
"We have an enemy abroad that we fight in Mali – terrorists groups – and there is also an enemy from within that is made up of a few dozen individuals that went to fight in Afghanistan, in Syria, and who would like to go to Sahel," Mr. Valls said.
Valls said last week that 700 French troops were patrolling Paris and its surroundings as part of increased security measures following the French military intervention in Mali. France has strengthened the surveillance of places that could serve as targets of terrorist attacks including military facilities, religious buildings, airports, and ground transportation, according to a Jan. 13 statement from Valls' office.
Malian support for intervention
Pierre Jacquemot, an associate research fellow at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations, says he thinks it is unlikely that Malians living on French soil would carry out a terrorist attack in retaliation for the military intervention, as France's Malian community is made up of mostly moderate Muslims opposing the takeover of northern Mali by Islamist militants.
"The Malian community in general supports the French intervention and the securing of the territory, and isn't very responsive to the Salafi and jihadi arguments," says Mr. Jacquemot, though he adds that an individual attack by an isolated Islamic radical from the Malian community cannot be totally ruled out.
About 80,000 Malians reside in France, according to the French ministry of foreign affairs.
Olivier Zajec, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategy and Conflicts, says the fight in northern Mali is less likely than Afghanistan and Syria to attract French jihadis, because some terrorist groups in Mali engage in trafficking and smuggling, which Islamic radicals usually consider impure activities.
Islamist militants in Mali "have fewer people interested [in joining them] because the jihad led in Sahel by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has a very important criminal dimension," he says.
"It is hard to distinguish between ideological fight, economic crime, and the fight for independence of Azawad," adds Mr. Zajec, using another name for the northern Mali region.
The threat of 'lone wolves'
Analysts say that while northern Mali's Islamist militants may not have the capabilities to strike on French soil, isolated Islamic fundamentalists living in France could individually plan an attack without support from a terrorist group, making it harder for intelligence services to forestall such a plot.
Antonin Tisseron, an associate research fellow at the Thomas More Institute, an independent think tank, says individuals who have become radicalized and surf Islamist websites are a challenge to intelligence services, as they can go unnoticed and carry out attacks on their own.
"The problem of 'lone wolves' is that there are very hard to spot for security forces," says Mr. Tisseron, an expert on security issues in Maghreb and the Sahel region. "Because although there is a monitoring of the best-known jihadi websites, these are people that are not traced, that are not in databases, and so they aren't necessarily identified before they act."
French jihadis who recently fought in Syria could try to launch a terrorist attack when they come back to France, according to Louis Caprioli, who served as under-director in charge of counterterrorism at France's Directorate of Territory Surveillance – a former domestic intelligence agency – from 1998 to 2004.
"This is the type of individual that represents a very heavy threat," says Mr. Caprioli, who now is an adviser to the president of GEOS, a group advising companies that do business in dangerous areas.
Divided expectations about terrorism
A Jan. 18 survey by the polling group BVA Opinion found that 51 percent of those surveyed said they thought the French intervention in Mali would increase the risks of retaliation from terrorists against France over the next few years.
By contrast, 46 percent of respondents said they thought the French intervention would made the country safer, while 3 percent said they had no opinion.
"The French are very ambivalent, no matter where their political allegiances go to," says Céline Bracq, the associate director of BVA Opinion.


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As preseason pep talks go, this one left an entire team squirming.
"This season we'll not only be focusing on your development as athletes, but also on your development as young men," Coach Phil Conley, reading from a playbook he'd never before used, told his South Portland High School basketball team way back in early December.
"That includes how you carry yourself and how you treat others," Conley continued. "Particularly women and girls."
Say what, Coach?
"I thought it wasn't going to be very productive at first," recalled senior forward Ben Burkey, who will join his 14 teammates this weekend as they take on Hampden Academy for the Class A state championship. "But I was proven wrong."
Most high school basketball playbooks begin and end with a dizzying array of X's and O's.
Flip through the pages of "Coaching Boys Into Men," on the other hand, and you'll find headings like "Bragging About Sexual Reputation," "The Responsibility of Physical Strength" and "There's No Excuse for Relationship Abuse."
"I've said it before and I'll say it 100 times," said Conley, off-the-court playbook in hand. "I firmly believe that this brought my team together to where it is today."
It all started last summer.
Carlin Whitehouse, a youth educator with Family Crisis Services' Young Adult Abuse Prevention Program, put out a feeler to the powers that be at South Portland High School: Might they be interested in Coaching Boys Into Men (not to be confused with the similar but separate program Boys to Men) as a pilot program for the school's male student athletes?
The pitch hadn't come entirely out of the blue. Since 2010, the violence prevention agency has run Guys and Pies — a weekly gathering of as many as a dozen South Portland High boys who sit down over pizza and talk about what it means to grow up male in a world of ever-changing social and sexual stereotypes.
But Coaching Boys Into Men, a first for Maine, would be different. Founded in 2001 by the national organization Futures Without Violence, it aims its message directly at the pinnacle of teenage social hierarchy: the male athlete.
The goal: Give coaches the tools they need to communicate meaningfully with their players about respecting women and girls, about acting as role models for their peers and the younger kids coming up behind them, about appreciating that the strongest men aren't always the ones with the biggest biceps.
Bring it on, responded South Portland Principal Jim Holland.
Just after school began in September, Whitehouse mapped out the program for Holland, Assistant Principal Joe Moore, Athletic Director Todd Livingston, school resource officer Allen Andrews, social worker Kara Tierney-Trevor and Adult Education coordinator David Brenner.
Green lights all around.
Then he met with the varsity football, soccer, baseball and basketball coaches.
More buy-in.
"This was a team process — all of us together," said Conley, who readily agreed to go first. "That was vital."
A little background on South Portland's hoop prospects: Going into the season, few in the high school sports world expected the Red Riots to finish much higher than the middle of the pack.
"There were a lot of favorites," recalled Ben Burkey with a wry smile. "And we weren't one of them."
Thus when Coach Conley announced to his players that practice would start a half-hour early each Wednesday so they could talk about becoming better young men, well, who wouldn't look at the floor and squirm?
"I thought it was kind of awkward at first," admitted senior forward Conner MacVane. "There were a lot of long silences."
But then, right around the time they wrapped their heads around "Insulting Language" in Week 3, something remarkable happened.
"Everybody got into it," said MacVane. "It felt like it changed the whole team chemistry."
Not to mention its record.
South Portland won its first seven games.
By the end of the regular season, the Red Riots' 15-3 record earned them the No. 1 seed in the Western Maine Class A tournament.
And on Saturday, after trailing Bonny Eagle High School by seven points at halftime, they came back to win the regional championship 56-52 – and with it, a shot at a state title that South Portland last won more than two decades ago.
Coincidence? This team thinks not.
It's impossible, of course, to quantify exactly how much the weekly talk-arounds affected the team's full-court press or field-goal percentage.
Yet to a man and boy, they insist that the discussions — from the bigger message behind a degrading wisecrack about a girl on Facebook, to the headlines ignited by the murderous rage of the late NFL (and University of Maine) football star Jovan Belcher — helped propel the team to its grand finale this Saturday at the Augusta Civic Center.
And the title game, in the long run, isn't even the point.
"I teach phys ed at Brown and Small schools," noted Conley, referring to two of South Portland's five elementary schools. "And I can tell you that 95 percent of the kids at those schools know all of the players on the boys' basketball team. They'll come up to me and say, 'I saw Ben Burkey at the mall!' or 'I saw so-and-so at the Rec Center!' These guys are role models."
Better yet, they're about to become poster boys for treating women and girls, anytime and anyplace, with the same respect they'd demand for their own mothers and sisters — a connection Conley made repeatedly throughout the season.
Earlier this month, the team gathered for a photo session – not for the yearbook, but for a series of anti-violence placards that soon will adorn school hallways throughout the district.
It will be a coming-out of sorts. Until now, the Coaching Boys Into Men rollout has been confined largely to the players and their families.
So do they cringe at the thought of seeing their mugs all over town? Are they nervous about all those other jocks who undoubtedly will ask, "You guys talked about what?"
Senior forward Ryan Pelletier isn't. A founding member of Guys and Pies, he came to school Monday wearing a red T-shirt emblazoned with slogans like "Stop joking about dating abuse" and "Take responsibility for your own actions."
"It's a really good concept," said Pelletier with quiet confidence. "So there's no need to be nervous."
Besides, these guys have more than enough butterflies to contend with as they think about that elusive Gold Ball. They weren't even born the last time it landed in the school's trophy case, following a legendary, five-overtime victory over Bangor way back in 1992.
"Whatever happens, happens," said Coach Conley. "Like I tell these guys all the time — as long as we can say at the end of the game, 'We did our best.'"
And then some.
Bill Nemitz can be contacted at 791-6323 or at:
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Dear Miss Snark,
Recently I attended a critique group hosted by an editor for a (Big Fuzzy) publishing conglomerate.
One of the stories edited began with the protag waking up. This editor suggested the writer scrap that and start with the end of the dream the protag was having. From there, the editor said, the writer could move on to the waking up part.
WTF? Do you guys communicate with each other over there?
I know this just stuns you but there are lots of people who like things that Miss Snark finds to be total crap. I need only say "Bridges of Madison County" to illustrate that point in full.
My crapometer is my opinion. Sadly, it does not have the force of law or even federal regulation. The world would be a better place of course were it so, but sadly, no.
When those form rejection letters say things like "query other agents cause opinions vary" they aren't saying it just to make you feel better.


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One World Everybody Eats cafes create spaces where people are nourished in body and soul. People come together, eat in dignity, and form strong bonds that foster an interconnected community.
Food insecurity affects 800 million people globally, including 17 million households in every county in America. Experts in many fields have called upon organizations to find new ways to address this serious and sometimes invisible issue. One World Everybody Eats is a response to this call.
There are now more than 60 pay-what-you-can community cafes operating in America, and over 50 others are in the planning stages in six countries.
Giving Back
One World Everybody Eats community cafes serve love through 4,000 meals a day, or over 1.4 million meals a year, in both nonprofit and for-profit restaurant settings.
The One World Everybody Eats network profoundly enhances food security, interpersonal connection, diversity, compassion, respect, and inclusion.
Are you inspired and moved to help strengthen your community? We are eager and ready to help you start a pay-what-you-can cafe in your town.
Our strength lies in our partnerships, memberships, and communities. We seek individual and corporate sponsors to support our existing and start-up cafes.
What We Value
Pay What You Can
Healthy, dignified dining is available to everyone who walks into our cafes, including the nearly 50 million people in America who are experiencing food insecurity, utilizing social programs, and who don't know where their next meal will come from.
Part of honoring our guests involves purchasing and preparing healthy ingredients and supporting local farmers. Many of our chefs are professionally trained experts with experience in high-end and mainstream restaurants.
A Seat for Everyone
Food has the power to bring people together. Our guests are invited to dine with us privately at their own table or at a community table. Sharing a meal builds healthy communities, and healthy communities make a better world.
Healthy, prosperous communities support and celebrate every member. We envision a future in which love, acceptance, and collaboration exist between people of all races, faiths, and ways of living.
CAFE News
Read more news here…


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A Vodafone spokesperson has told Computerworld Australia the process of alerting affected staff about a round of redundancies announced on Monday is currently in progress.
The spokesperson said the redundancies would be completed in a "few weeks".
Vodafone is cutting around 500 jobs – around 10 per cent of its workforce – as part of a restructure of the company.
CEO Bill Morrow said the job cuts would include a significant reduction in the number of office roles across the country to "enable a more leaner, more effective operating model", reviewing customer support processes and eliminating non-essential costs.
"It is vital that we simplify the business to be efficient and to enable growth in the long term. We need to prioritise every dollar and internal action to count toward in improved customer experience and these change are designed to deliver just this," he said.
Paul Budde, analyst at BuddeComm, said the job cuts at Vodafone was about taking costs out where customer expenditure was not increasing.
"New developments, especially in more sophisticated back office (customer service) systems, makes this possible without having a negative effect on the overall service itself," he said.
Optus also recently announced it had completed a round of redundancies announced in May. The telco cut around 750 jobs, costing the company $37 million.
Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU


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Template:Venturing Silver Award/req
From MeritBadgeDotOrg
Revision as of 13:24, November 29, 2008 by Milominderbinder2 (Talk | contribs)
Mobile Menus: Cub Scouts - Scouts BSA - Venturing - Sea Scouts
- Earn one Venturing Bronze Award.
- Earn the Venturing Gold Award, which includes knowing and living the Venturing Oath, service, personal development, and 12 months' tenure.
- Be proficient in emergency preparedness, including earning Standard First Aid and CPR certification, and knowing and using BSA Safe Swim Defense.
- a. Become certified in Standard First Aid or equivalent course. If you choose the American Red Cross Standard First Aid version of the course, the curriculum includes how to recognize an emergency and overcome the reluctance to act; how to recognize and care for breathing and cardiac emergencies in adults (training to care for infants and children is optional); and how to identify and care for life-threatening bleeding, sudden illness, and injury. The course is approximately 6-1/2 hours. Your Standard First Aid certification will expire three years from the date of issue. Your CPR certification will expire one year from the date of issue. [Also, check out the American Red Cross sports safety training. It is the same hours as the standard first aid.]1
- If you hold an unexpired certification in this or a higher course, you can receive credit for this requirement. However, you must be currently certified at the time of your Silver Award crew review. You are encouraged to get certified as soon as possible and stay certified. For this requirement you are not required to seek a higher certification, but you are encouraged to get certifications in higher-level courses such as First Aid--Responding to Emergencies or Emergency Response. You will be even more prepared.
- NOTE: If you need help finding an American Red Cross instructor in your area, call your local Red Cross chapter. For literature, call toll free 800-667-2968.
- b. Become certified in CPR. You can take a stand-alone CPR course or take it as part of another course such as Standard First Aid. Please remember that CPR certification lasts for only one year, at which time you will need a refresher course. Like Standard First Aid, it is good to always be current in your CPR certification. You most likely will get an opportunity to use your skill in saving a life.
- c. Complete the BSA Safe Swim Defense training course. In this course, you will learn how each of the eight points of the Safe Swim program affects safe crew swimming activities. You will learn that qualified supervision and discipline are the two most important points, upon which the other points rely. You will also learn how to set up a safe swim area. Any BSA aquatics resource person, your crew Advisors, or other council-authorized individual can provide the training course for you. Use Safe Swim Defense, No. 34370A, and Safe Swim Defense Training Outline, No. 19-417.
- d. Either lead or participate in a group swim using BSA Safe Swim Defense. Swimming can be a great way for you and your crew members to stay fit and to just have fun. To ensure that you and your friends will continue to do just that, always insist you use Safe Swim Defense.
- Demonstrate leadership.
- a. Successfully complete the Venturing Leadership Skills Course [
and a Kodiak course].2
- b. Successfully serve for at least six months in an elected or appointed crew, district, or council leadership position. Since leadership is a form of service to others, don't be afraid to ask your followers, those you serve, how you are doing. If you don't have an occasional assessment of your progress, you might not improve. Learn to value the opinion of others. This must be in addition to the leadership requirement in the Venturing Gold Award.
- a. Successfully complete the Venturing Leadership Skills Course [
- Participate in the Ethics in Action program, including Ethical Controversies activities and an Ethics Forum.
- a. Participate in at least two ethical controversies activities from chapter 9 of the Venturing Leader Manual. These activities are scenarios that will put you and those who do the activities with you into challenging, problem-solving situations. In a constructive way, these activities will help you develop the following personal skills:
- Promoting productive conflict resolution
- Polite disagreement
- Listening to new ideas
- Understanding other people's perspectives
- Working toward a solution that the group involved will support and implement
- b. Either organize and lead, or help organize and lead, an ethics forum for your crew, another crew, school class, or other youth group. An ethics forum is simply another, more formal, way of gathering information about ethics. You will invite two or more adults to form a panel for your crew or group to ask questions about ethics in their personal or professional lives. You can even invite adults related to your crew's specialty; if you are in a sports crew, you could invite a sports doctor, a coach, and a professional athlete. You can even invite guests such as family members and friends to join you. You can even use the information gathered from the ethics forum to develop your own ethical controversies activities.
- a. Participate in at least two ethical controversies activities from chapter 9 of the Venturing Leader Manual. These activities are scenarios that will put you and those who do the activities with you into challenging, problem-solving situations. In a constructive way, these activities will help you develop the following personal skills:
- Show a crew review committee you have met the requirements for the Venturing Silver Award.
- After completing all requirements, the candidate should prepare evidence of completion of work. It should be submitted to the crew Advisor along with the completed and personally signed Sliver Award Progress Record and Application. The crew president, in conjunction with the crew Advisor, should then appoint a review committee of four to six people including Venturers and adults. The review committee should review the candidate's written documentation and interview the candidate to determine whether the candidate completed all work and grew as a result of the pursuit of the Silver Award. The application is then approve by the crew Advisor and crew committee chairman and submitted to your council service center. No district or council review board is required.
Source: 1998 (2006 printing) Venturer Leader Manual (34655E)
Please report any issues with this page.


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LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The Miss New Hampshire delegation greeted their titleholder with open arms, tight squeezes and much pride for the young lady who did not make the top 15 at Miss America Saturday evening.
"God has other plans for her," said her mother, Liz Lyman.
Megan spent nine months preparing for the rigorous competition at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. She competed with representatives from each of the United States, Puerto Rico, The Virgin Islands and Washington, D.C.
The 53 women compete in several phases of competition including a 10-minute interview in front of a panel of judges, on-stage question, talent, evening wear, and lifestyle and fitness in swimsuit.
Though Megan did not make the top 15 contestants in the final competition aired nationally on ABC on Saturday evening, she is still proud of her performance.
President and Executive Director of the Miss New Hampshire Scholarship Organization Brenda Keith says Megan had more supporters and fans in Las Vegas to watch her compete than any previous Miss N.H.
"We sincerely thank everyone who came out to support her," says Liz.
While packing up her things to leave Las Vegas, Megan says with her head held high, "Everything happens for a reason. I believe there's a different plan for me and I'm ready for whatever it may be."
Megan will now return to New Hampshire and finish out her reign, serving the Granite State's community as her full-time job.
At the 2013 Miss New Hampshire competition, Megan will crown her successor on Saturday, April 27. Tickets for this event will be available on www.missnh.org or by calling the Miss N.H. office at 603-437-9027.
After the new Miss America, formerly Miss New York, was crowned Saturday evening Megan couldn't have been happier for her.
"She's just so nice," said Megan on Saturday.
It is clear where Miss N.H. gets her positive outlook on life as her mother, Liz, explained, "You know what, it's a blessing. This year she will be an aunt for the third time and a godmother for the first — and she'll now be there for the birth," said Liz, "We are so incredibly proud of all she's accomplished this year."
Follow Megan Lyman on Facebook as "Miss New Hampshire 2012" and on Twitter at @MegLyman to stay up to date with the rest of her travels.


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|Image from here
Most Thursdays, the twins and I go to the local library. I pick up some house porn mags (we are planning the extension) and a new book, they grab some picture books, we select some stories for Doo Dah and some books for Nugget.
I have had a few wins lately with some of the series I have introduced Nugget to, so I thought I would share.
Boy vs Beast by Mac Park : Kai Masters,12 years old, is a Border Guard charged with protecting earth from the unruly beasts of Beastium who try to crash through the border wall. With the help of his robotic dog, BC, Kai learns to battle the beasts and keep Earth safe. It is a little bit like a video game in print and Nugget loves them for their stories and the ease of reading. I love them because he likes reading them and they are on the Premier's Reading Challenge list!
Mission Fox by Justin DÁth: Harry and Jordan are identical twins who are into gadgets and animals. Their billy cart is really a FoxMobile, their mobile is a FoxPhone and, along with their giant dog, Myrtle, they're the secret agents of Mission Fox: Animal Rescue. These are another nice easy read, reminiscent of the Zac Power books, with an adventure and a mission all rolled into one.
Diary of a wimpy kid by Jeff Kinney: These books have been around for awhile now, but they are new to us. A new one will be out in November, so Nugget is trying to read the six available ones in time! These cartoon books tell the story of Greg who is in 'middle school' and in the throws of growing up; you know girls, anxiety and trying to fit in.Nugget finds them easy to read because of the first person narrative and ample use of pictures.
Crime Team series by 2Steves: This is a fairly new çhoose your own adventure type book series where the reader is the head of the Crime Team unit, a section of the International Police Federation at the United Nations. You have to tackle the toughest cases and solve mysteries using a highly skilled team to help you. Nugget really liked that his choices impacted on the outcome of the story. Because we are working on his decision making skills, I have found these books really helpful for getting him to commit to a course of action.
So there you have it, Nugget's recommendations for your boys for Christmas.
Is your child reading any of these? Have you got other selections to suggest?


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Opsahl brothers earn bragging rights over dad
Groton - When Alan Opsahl and his wife Lisa moved their family to southeastern Connecticut in 2003, sons Adam, Ethan and Evan were in elementary school.
Opsahl, who moved from the suburbs of Chicago to take a job as a scientist at Pfizer, took into consideration the various school districts, the neighborhoods and maybe which towns had pools, as he was a former four-time college All-American and YMCA swim coach.
The Opsahls moved to East Lyme.
Fast forward to Thursday night at the UConn-Avery Point pool. Opsahl, in his ninth season as coach of the Ledyard/Stonington cooperative high school boys' swimming team, was facing off against his sons' team. It's something he's done before, certainly, with Adam in his senior year at East Lyme High and twins Evan and Ethan sophomores.
Only this time both teams were undefeated in the Eastern Connecticut Conference. East Lyme won 104-62, going to 8-1 overall, 7-0 in the ECC, while Ledyard dropped to 6-1, 5-1.
"Not everybody gets a chance to beat their dad," said Adam Opsahl, who won the 50-yard freestyle (22.72) and 500 freestyle (5:10.28) in addition to swimming on the first-place 200 freestyle relay.
"... I'm happy for my dad this year. He deserves it. He's working really hard."
Ethan Opsahl also helped in the victory over his dad, finishing first in the 200 freestyle in 2:00.21 and second in the 100 freestyle. Evan was third in the 100 butterfly.
"They get enough 'coaching' at home from me," Alan Opsahl said of the boys swimming for another coach in East Lyme's Jack Stabach. "I think it would be harder if I was the fulltime coach for them all the time. Sometimes it's nice not to have your dad there."
Alan Opsahl is a member the Austin (Minn.) High School Athletic Hall of Fame for swimming and gymnastics and went on to become an All-America swimmer at Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he was named "Most Inspirational."
He went on to coach the Lattof Neptune Swim Team at the Lattof YMCA in Des Plaines, Ill. - where he had three pools and seven assistant coaches - working with 150 or more swimmers at a time during its peak. While coaching that team year-round, he also had the philosophy of letting his athletes play other sports, something which has carried over to Adam's career as a three-sport athlete (football, swimming, boys' lacrosse) at East Lyme.
The Ledyard/Stonington co-op team has 31 swimmers, 18 from Stonington and 13 from Ledyard. One of the team's top swimmers, Adam Tran, missed Thursday's meet due to illness, but Collin Esquirol won the 200 individual medley (2:15.28) and was second in the 100 backstroke.
As for East Lyme, the Vikings have won five straight ECC championships and were seventh in the Class M state championship last year. Stabach hopes the team can finish in the top three at the state meet this year. The swimmers tell Stabach they want to win.
"They're hard workers; they don't quit," Stabach said. "They get excited. If I don't give them enough to do, they want more."
"We have a lot of depth this year," Adam Opsahl said. "It's definitely the strongest we've been in a while."
Billy Dumais won the 100 butterfly for the Vikings, Eric Stirtan the 100 freestyle, Zach Kosakowski the 100 backstroke and Ben Biondi the 100 breaststroke.
For the teams' second meet of the season, Feb. 20 at East Lyme? The Opsahls will host a pot luck dinner for both teams at their home.
"We will have the Ledyard/Stonington bus pull up in front of our house," Alan Opsahl said, "and have over 60 swimmers in the house."
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Rosters change every season, but expectations rarely do for the Stonington High School boys' soccer team.
Fitch uses two late TDs to hand Waterford first loss 35-28
Lashier Edwards made a game-changing interception to set up the go-ahead touchdown that allowed Fitch to hand Waterford its first loss of the season on Sunday, 35-28.
Republicans' frustration with Trump is rising over Ukraine, Syria, G-7 resort decision
Blumenthal criticizes Trump decision to hold G-7 summit at his Fla. resort
Pelosi leads surprise delegation to Mideast for discussions on Syria crisis


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This is what the New York Daily News has suggested, due to some of the recent problems suffered by members of the cast of Michael Lewis's book-turned-sapfest. It's even ensnared Lawrence Taylor in its wickedness.
You remember the movie, right? Oscar nominee? About sad, shuffling Michael Oher and the Mississippi mama packed with sunshine who saved him. The one responsible for making millions of 45-year-old suburban moms unofficial Ravens fans for life. There was a time last fall when you couldn't drive through the outskirts of the projects without seeing one of these women patrolling in their Audi Q5s searching for their own destitute enormous black teenager with a 39-inch reach and good foot speed wandering along the side of the road. Those big black boys were the new teacup poodle for a hot minute.
But, according to the New York Daily News, there's some serious voodoo jacking The Blind Side's feelgoodism. First it was the film's star, Sandra Bullock, finding out her reality star motorcycle mechanic was having lots of unsafe Nazi sex behind her back. Then co-star Tim McGraw builds a big house in Nashville only to see it almost wash away in a flood. So, because Lawrence Taylor sacking a quarterback is featured in the opening montage of the film, the NYDN surmises that LT's little Ramapo run-in with a 16-year-old prostitute is a direct result of the brief footage of him in the film. Still don't buy it? Look what else the NYDN has found out:
TMZ.com reported that Quinton Aaron - the Bronx-born actor who plays the hulking teen Michael Oher who was adopted by Bullock's character - was dropped by his talent agency because he couldn't land any new parts.
Finally, there's the six real college coaches who appear in the movie to recruit the talented tackle played by Aaron.
And let's not forget about the film's gaffer being attacked by a swarm of killer bees and the key grip losing two of his fingers in a garbage disposal. And Michael Lewis has also come down with a mean case of gout since the film was released. I mean, it's Poltergeist-directed-by-John Landis- starring-George Reeves cursed. LT should really tell his lawyer this immediately because this defense seems as plausible as any other defense he could present to a judge right now.
Alas, the day is through. Now we can all go out and party like a bunch of PiPhis with 37 cases of Natural Light. Just don't poop on the outside of any buildings, kids.
Thanks for your continued support of Deadspin. The two-headed monster of Crashtern-Craggs will be here to do the monkey dance for you (and your moms!) tomorrow.


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President Barack Obama and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai will not discuss on Friday how many U.S. troops will stay in Afghanistan after America completes its withdrawal in 2014.
White House officials told reporters on Tuesday the possibility remains that no American troops will be left behind after 2014.
"[Zero] would be an option we would consider," Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes said. The total U.S. force presence depends on how well U.S. and Afghanistan plans develop to secure and stabilize the war-torn country over the next 24 months, officials said.
"As Afghanistan moves into the lead, that enables us to reduce forces in the country," Rhodes said.
About 68,000 U.S. troops are deployed to Afghanistan, the same size force that was in place when Obama took office in early 2009 before he increased the number by 33,000. Those "surge" numbers redeployed in September.
Rhodes said that Friday's negotiations will focus on the transition of combat operations to Afghan forces, the U.S. withdrawal and reconciliation efforts with the Afghan Taliban. The two leaders will also discuss the bilateral security agreement governing authorities, privileges and immunity of Americans to Afghan law, he said.
Rhodes and Doug Lute, Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for South Asia, said the administration wants to make sure Afghan forces have the training and equipment to stand on their own, and the political stability to prevent al-Qaida from retaking control of Afghanistan.
"The fact is we're most interested in having a partnership with Afghanistan," Rhodes said. "We're not going to be partners in combat after 2014."
Rhodes declined to offer numbers in regards to the size of the force presence.
"The President approaches [post-2014] not in terms of a certain number of troops in the country," Rhodes said, but what's needed "to accomplish the goals of keeping al-Qaida out and training and equipping Afghan security forces."
"There are many different ways to accomplish this, some may involve U.S. troops and some may not," he said.
The immunity issue could force U.S. diplomats to keep U.S. troops out of Afghanistan after 2014. U.S. leaders chose to keep U.S. troops out of Iraq after the withdrawal of combat troops because the Iraq government would not offer immunity to Iraq laws.
Without those immunities, "then there's no room for a follow-on U.S. military mission," Lute said.
Lute also said Obama and Karzai will discuss a "road map" for peace drafted by the Afghan government. He said Pakistan and the U.S. have been provided with the plan, which he called "a clear path" to a peaceful reconciliation.
"All these discussions always include regional dynamics," Lute said. "And obviously Afghanistan lives in a tough region, and its relationships and our relationships with Afghanistan's neighbors are always prime topics when the two presidents get together."


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Cabinet meeting will be held in Florence at the Pacific RV Park
Back to All Events
Earlier Event: April 29District O Cabinet Meeting
Later Event: May 14Mother's Day
We Serve
Lions of Oregon & Northern California are a part of an international network of 1.4 million men and women in 200 countries and geographic areas who work together to answer the needs that challenge communities around the world. Lions are best known for working to end preventable blindness, the giving of eyeglasses and hearing aids for the needy and local service projects.
Mission Statement of Lions Clubs International:
"To create and foster a spirit of understanding among all people for humanitarian needs by providing voluntary services through community involvement and international cooperation."
Cabinet meeting will be held in Florence at the Pacific RV Park


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The Best of Michael Jacksonarr. Victor Lopez - Alfred Publishing Belwin Division
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This flexible arrangement, which includes Bad, Human Nature, Billie Jean, The Girl Is Mine and Beat It, may be performed in its entirety as a seven-minute medley, or as separate songs in any combination, depending on available rehearsal time and the musical maturity of your group. It will also sound full with only strings and rhythm section!
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LOCKPORT – Niagara County Judge Sara Sheldon Farkas placed a Lockport man on five years' probation Thursday and ordered him to repay $14,969 to State Farm Insurance in connection with an effort to keep disability checks coming in the wake of an auto accident.
Matthew J. Luke, 27, of Chapel Street, could have been sent to prison for as long as four years in the wake of his admission to fourth-degree insurance fraud.
Luke kept copying and slightly altering a doctor's note attesting to his injury to fool State Farm into continuing to pay while he was actually recovered and working between May 2010 and September 2011. Luke's girlfriend turned him in, defense attorney Christopher A. Privateer said.
A hearing will be held on whether the county Probation Department is entitled to add a 10 percent surcharge to handle Luke's restitution payments. That is standard, but Privateer said because of the large amount, the county is entitled to only 5 percent under the law, because it won't cost the county anywhere near $1,496 to process the payments.


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I noted a reference to Lt. Commander Ralph Emerson Loundsbury in a story about The Dickerson, a destroyer lost to kamikazes in WWII. My father, LT JG James D. Ebert, who passed away in 2001 spoke of Ralph fondly. Dad was senior survivor, having been blown clear off the bridge and burned during the attack that killed Cpt. Ralph. A series of clear accounts of that attack, written by survivors, is available in a book called Tempest Fire and Foe. I bought it on Amazon. It would be a good addition to your family archives.
Dave Ebert


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For more information, contact:
Sarah Lubeck
(619) 234-8484
In an effort to cement San Diego's reputation as a world class innovation hub and help SMEs expand their global reach, Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer, San Diego Regional EDC and JPMorgan Chase & Co. awarded the MetroConnect Grand Prize to San Diego-based genomics startup Cypher Genomics. The Grand Prize winner was voted on by an audience of more than 100 people at the MetroConnect PitchFest.
Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer said, "San Diego's world-class economy grows from local ideas, startups and businesses that sprout into global companies. I'm proud to host MetroConnect, which not only helps strengthen our overall economy at its roots, but fosters and supports startups like Cypher Genomics at the local level. I hope that Cypher Genomics will continue captivate investment abroad in the same way that they've found success here at home. "
Ashley Van Zeeland, co-founder & CEO, Cypher Genomics said, "Cypher is grateful to win the MetroConnect Grand Prize and to participate in the vibrant and innovative San Diego entrepreneurial community. This award will help us build collaborations around the globe with countries who can use our genome interpretation technology to uncover the genetic causes of rare diseases and cancer, which can inform new therapeutics and improve healthcare around the world."
Mayor Kevin L. Faulconer said, "San Diego's world-class economy grows from local ideas, startups and businesses that sprout into global companies. I'm proud to host MetroConnect, which not only helps strengthen our overall economy at its roots, but fosters and supports startups like Cypher Genomics at the local level. I hope that Cypher Genomics will continue captivate investment abroad in the same way that they've found success here at home. "
Pharmaceutical manufacturer IriSys also took home the runner-up prize.
Brennon Crist, head of JPMorgan Chase's Middle Market Commercial Banking Group in San Diego said, "JPMorgan Chase is delighted to recognize all of these outstanding San Diego businesses that have thoroughly embraced the region's go-global vision. We hope the MetroConnect Prize Program will enable Cypher Genomics and IriSys to continue advancing their global strategy by connecting with potential customers in target international markets. Over time, this outreach can be a win not only for these companies, but for economic growth and job creation for the region.
Nikia Clarke, direct of World Trade Center San Diego said, "MetroConnect targets small and medium sized businesses like Cypher and Irisys because they are really the drivers of the regional economy. The more they export their products and technology, the more connected, competitive, and resilient San Diego becomes."
Managed by San Diego Regional EDC, and presented by JPMorgan Chase, the MetroConnect Grand Prize offers $50,000 – $35,000 for the winner and $15,000 for the runner-up – to further aid these companies in foreign market expansion. In June, 15 San Diego companies were selected as finalists for the MetroConnect prize, and given $10,000 to pursue strategies to export in foreign markets. Over the course of four months, the 15 companies demonstrated their ability to export to foreign markets. A panel of judges consisting of representatives from Biocom, CONNECT, Qualcomm Ventures, Quantum Designs, San Diego Regional EDC, Tech San Diego and Wireless Life Sciences Alliance reviewed companies' accomplishments and goals as a means of selecting the top four finalists to present at the PitchFest: Applied Membranes, Aventyn, Cypher Genomics and IriSys.
A spin-out of the Scripps Research Institute, San Diego-based Cypher Genomics is a 13 person startup that's revolutionizing the way we understand and deliver personalized healthcare. Through its technology, Cypher Genomics is able to rapidly sequence the human genome, enabling scientists and medical professionals to find individualized therapies to combat rare diseases. With the MetroConnect Prize, Cypher was able to partner with Genome England on its large-scale study to sequence 100,000 human genomes.
With the $35,000 Grand Prize, Cypher will be exploring additional foreign markets, such as Saudi Arabia and Sweden, that are investing in population-scale genomics. Because of this foreign activity, Cypher is able to boost product innovation, translating into further job creation and capital investment in the San Diego market.
Global engagement is essential if San Diego wants to catalyze its economy and workforce. The benefits of companies going global and engaging foreign markets are well-documented. According to the Brookings Institution, companies that are global pay their employees higher wages, are less likely to go out of business and spur more efficient development of technology and R&D.


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The Family Research Council hosted a lecture at their offices in Washington, DC by Owen Strachan, a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's undergrad school, Boyce College. Strachan claimed that there was a "new Christian conservatism" being led by young people. See if you can decipher this gibberish:
"The spirit of Wilberforce is on the move," said Strachan, assistant professor of theology and church history at the Louisville, Ky., campus. "This movement sees that love in its essence is not shorn of conviction, love is instead a summons to a joyful transformation. Now is the moment for a new Christian conservatism, or what we could call a new social witness."
The new Christian conservatism "grounds its identity in the preaching of the Gospel," Strachan said, "yet it cannot help but act on behalf of others." …
"We are the true culture; we are those who must speak up and create this culture in the fallen world," Strachan said. Describing what he called the "new Christian conservatism," he asserted that the movement, contrary to popular belief, is vibrant and youthful."It is a movement born not of cynicism but of hope," Strachan said, noting the reaction against the softer Christianity which decries any conviction that leads to cultural opposition.
This movement is "built upon the framework of the Moral Majority," Strachan said, but claimed in contrast that the new way offers "a gracious voice" and a "focus on human flourishing."
Meet the new Christian conservatism, same as the old Christian conservatism — but with a bunch of new catchphrases that make it sound so much cooler. Why am I reminded of this?


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There was a distinct sense of deja-vu at the end of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup quarter-final between Nigeria and France.
Just as in 2010, it was the girls in green shirts who fell to their knees while those in white raised their arms in celebration. In Azerbaijan, just as in Trinidad and Tobago two years ago, it was Nigeria's turn to say goodbye to the competition.
"I was in charge two years ago, and we went out at the same stage of the tournament then," said Nigerian coach Peter Dedevbo. "But I think the circumstances are very different here. In 2010 we were the architects of our own downfall. In Azerbaijan we have been more effective and our defeat today was down to the quality of our opponents, France."
There can be no denying the Flamingoes were let down by their defensive weaknesses in their quarter-final two years ago. Despite the best efforts of a forward line containing the likes of Francisca Ordega and Ngozi Okobi, Nigeria were knocked out 6-5 after extra time by a Korea Republic side that would go on to win the competition.
Regrets and hopes
"We made too many defensive mistakes in 2010 and we avoided those errors this time, but still we got knocked out," said Dedevbo.
You can't be satisfied with taking your team to the quarter-finals twice, only to get knocked out at the same stage each time.
Ironically, three of the defenders who helped keep a clean sheet against France in this year's quarter-final formed part of the Nigerian back line in Trinidad and Tobago: Sarah Nnodim, Victoria Aidelomon and Ebere Okoye.
Nnodim it was who missed the second penalty in the shoot-out against France, after the match finished goalless, and it proved fatal to Nigeria's hopes.
"We had practised our penalty-taking," said the Nigerian coach, ruefully. "It's a real shame because we had our chances to win the game, but we didn't take them. I'm very unhappy. You can't be satisfied with taking your team to the quarter-finals twice, only to get knocked out at the same stage each time."
Yet Nigeria can take many positives from their performances in Azerbaijan. Much more secure in defence, the Flamingoes had some of the stars of the competition in their ranks.
The leading scorer in the group stage on six goals, Chinwendu Ihezuo also had the most assists to her name (four) and looks set to shine in the years to come. The same could be said for Halimatu Ayinde, who was third in both tables, on four goals and two assists, after the group stage. The future looks bright indeed for Nigerian women's football.


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Zimmerman raises $20K in single day
Donations flood attorney's website in George Zimmerman case
Defense attorneys for George Zimmerman say since a judge set bond Thursday, donations have come in totaling $20,000.
A post to the website maintained by the Mark O'Mara law firm also claims that the team has set up a safe house for Zimmerman in Seminole County, indicating Zimmerman could be headed out of the Seminole County Jail some time soon.
According to the website, in the two months before the judge set the bond amount, the website took in $55,000 in donations.
Attorneys for Zimmerman would not say when exactly their client would bond out, citing security concerns.
On Thursday morning, Judge Kenenth Lester decided to set Zimmerman's bond at $1 million. In his ruling, Judge Kenneth Lester scoffed at the notion Zimmerman was confused at the time of his first bond hearing.
Lester said Zimmerman was "manipulating the system to his own benefit."
Under the conditions of the bond, Zimmerman will be monitored by an electronic device at his own expense and will not obtain a passport.


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A suicide car bomber killed at least 11 people Thursday in an apparent election-related attack near provincial government buildings, while Iraqi politicians stepped back from a raging dispute over banned candidates that has raised warnings of a new civil war.
Iraqi officials said a suicide bomber detonated near a checkpoint outside the Al Anbar governorate buildings in Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad. At least 22 others were wounded in the attack – the third against the government center in the provincial capital since October.
Al Qaeda in Iraq, which still retains cells in its former stronghold of Anbar Province, has taken credit for a series of suicide attacks since August and has publicly threatened to derail the March 7 elections.
This election, the first since 2003 in a fully sovereign Iraq, is seen as crucial to Iraqi stability. Anbar, with its majority Sunni population, largely boycotted the 2005 elections in protest against a Shiite-dominated, US-backed process.
The most recent political crisis had been sparked by a ban on more than 500 candidates accused of ties to Saddam Hussein's former Baath Party by Iraq's Accountability and Justice Commission.
Twenty-eight candidates have since been cleared to run, but one of the most prominent Sunni candidates to remain on the banned list, Saleh al-Mutlaq, has called for a boycott of the vote if the rulings stand. Mutlaq, who quit the Baath Party in the 1970s but has said he will not denounce the banned organization, has been a member of parliament for the last four years.
Al-Iraqiya, the coalition that includes Mutlaq's party, suspended campaigning for three days and called for an emergency session of parliament.
But after agreeing on Wednesday to a code of conduct for the election, which includes not using security forces for political purposes and renouncing sectarian themes, the major political parties appear to have grudgingly agreed to move on with the campaign.
Fixing the election?
Although a significant number of Shiites as well as Sunnis have been barred from running because of alleged Baathist ties, the move has been seen as furthering a Shiite agenda because the heads of the commission are prominent Shiite members of parliament. Adding fuel to the controversy over the ban, the top US general in Iraq, Ray Odierno, and other US officials, have accused the two men, Ahmed Chalibi, and Ali Faisel al-Lami of ties to Iran.
"This is an attack on one of the basics of democracy in Iraq," says Faleh Hassan Shenshel, who is head of the accountability and justice committee in parliament and a member of the Sadr bloc. "I think the American administration is making a big mistake in interfering in this issue."
Odierno said at a conference on Tuesday at the Army and Navy Club in Washington that Mr. al-Lami was arrested in 2008 after the US received "intelligence" that indicated he was involved in organizing an attack on US and Iraqi soldiers in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City in concert with the movement of militant Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Al-Lami was released in August 2009, Odierno said, because of insufficient evidence to prosecute.
Odierno: al-Lami and Chalabi 'influenced by Iran'
Al-Lami "has been involved in very nefarious activities in Iraq for some time," Odierno said. "It is disappointing that somebody like him was in fact put in charge or has been able to run this commission inside of Iraq." Odierno added that both al-Lami and Chalabi are "clearly are influenced by Iran. We have direct intelligence that tells us that" and "we believe they're absolutely involved in influencing the outcome of the election."
Maysoon al-Damluji, a candidate with Al Iraqiya, says she believes the sectarian fervor whipped up by the disqualifications could again lead Iraqis to take up arms to protect themselves.
"They use the Baathists as an ogre to scare people, especially in places like Baghdad," she says of the two main Shiite-dominated parties. "This is a competition that started about who hates Baathists more … and then the government took advantage of it to shift the focus from lack of services, lack of job opportunities, and deteriorating security to debaathification."
Since the campaign opened last week, some television stations funded by Shiite religious parties, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki's Dawa party, have aired ads showing Saddam-era atrocities against Shiites after the 1991 Gulf War.
"The militias never disappeared," says Saad Eskander, an analyst who is head of Iraq's National Library. "The Shiites are trying to have a clear majority to control the three branches of government – executive, legislative and the judiciary - the Sunnis are trying to have enough seats to hinder the work of the Shiites and the Kurds are waiting to see what will happen."
"It's up to both sides – if the Sunnis are not happy with the results or the Shiites are not happy with the result all of this might lead to a chaotic situation and result in civil war," he says.
What about jobs?
The crisis over the banned candidates has overshadowed what voters say are their real concerns – restoring public services such as electricity, improving security, and creating jobs to ease an unemployment rate estimated at 50 percent in some areas.
Provincial elections last year sent a strong message to the traditional religious parties who lost ground among voters who widely felt they could not deliver basic services or crack down on corruption.
Secular as well as Sunni parties see themselves as the main target of the ban. Iraqi officials have blamed Baathists for everything from planning huge suicide attacks carried out against government buildings to plotting a military coup.
Calls for a Sunni boycott have eased, with some polls showing that the ban on Sunni candidates could spur more Sunnis to vote. One candidate, in Mosul, has already been assassinated and security concerns have contributed to a quiet campaign.
At the scene of the governorate bombing in Ramadi on Thursday, Mohammad Barakat, unemployed and 18, was knocked down by the blast.
"This is a struggle between the political parties, and I'm sure they had a hand in this explosion," he says. "We will go to the polls and change everything…. We know there will be more explosions aimed at obstructing the elections to deprive the Sunnis from gaining more seats."
Jamal Naji contributed reporting.


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Rich Harris necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 104 diseños de 39 diseñadores freelance.
Mt. Weather Capital
Mt. Weather Capital represents our third financial services start up. My partner and I are entrepreneurs and have built a successful track record over many years in venture capital, private equity and investment banking. We have launched Mt. Weather Capital to leverage our track record, deal flow and investment relationships, and build a unique and lasting private equity firm. We have already launched Mt. Weather Capital and closed three investments in the healthcare industry. (We are not exclusively focused on healthcare) Our investment theme is to partner with executives who have deep industry expertise and a quantifiable track record to identify promising investment opportunities in fragmented and growing markets.
The name Mt. Weather Capital comes from our interest in cycling and the outdoors. Mt. Weather is located in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia and happens to be one of the most challenging and beautiful bike rides in the area. There is an extremely steep road that goes over the summit of Mt. Weather. My partner and I do this ride every year and push ourselves hard in the morning and then enjoy the fruits of our labor with some beers, a nice lunch and a stunning view of the Blue Ridge Mountains! We like the idea that Mt. Weather conveys the notion of both hard work and a well deserved reward.
We have three specific target audiences:
1) Investors: We are targeting high net worth individuals, family offices and institutional investors. These investors are seeking a solid and trustworthy investment firm, that will provide them with successful returns.
2) Entrepreneurs: We are seeking entrepreneurs to become members of the management teams of companies in which we invest. Entrepreneurs are people with very successful track records who are seeking rewarding new opportunities in their careers. They usually have many options.
3) Target Companies: These are the companies in which we invest. We are seeking founders who desire to sell a portion of and/or receive investments in the companies that they have built. They are usually seeking a trustworthy partner who will take good care of their valuable asset and make it more valuable.
We would like to start with a logo and color scheme, and then follow with a Powerpoint template (inlcluding title slide and body slides), stationary, envelope and business card.
We would like the design to be fairly simple and to relate to the Mt. Weather Capital name (see "tell us about yourself"). Feel free to be creative and use all or some of the themes we described above. If possible, we would like to keep the design to 3 colors or less.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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We Have Residents!
MartinPacker 11000094DH Comments (2) Visits (13259)
Back in May I wrote about a new batch residency planned for this October and invited good people to apply to join the team. It's been very pleasing how many people applied to be residents and the high quality of the entrants: It was genuinely difficult to pick the eventual team. We also had to reduce the scope a bit - which was a disappointment to both Frank Kyne and I. So, if you didn't get... [More]
Tivoli Workload Scheduler and Workload Manager Service Classes
MartinPacker 11000094DH Visits (11510)
I don't think I've mentioned this before in this blog but Tivoli Workload Scheduler (TWS) has a nice "WLM Integration" feature. With it TWS can change the Service Class a job runs in - before submission. The main purpose of this is to elevate Critical Path work. We wrote about this in the Redbook mentioned in Touring The Upcoming Batch Optimization On z/OS Redbook , and so some of... [More]
GSE Conference 2007
MartinPacker 11000094DH Comments (2) Visits (9785)
Last week I attended GSE Conference for the first time in a long while. And I'm very glad I did. I very much enjoyed presenting Memory Matters in 2008 . If you've seen me present it before you might notice some minor tweakings. We learn as we go, don't we. :-) As usual the challenge is "too much material". I attended a number of other presentations. For me the highlights were: Fabio Massimo... [More]
UK GSE Conference 30-31 October - Memory Matters in 2008
MartinPacker 11000094DH Visits (7216)
One of the problems with having a presentation with a topical title is that you keep having to update the darned thing. :-) "Memory Matters in 2007" is a case in point. It's morphed over the years from two presentations: "Central Storage Performance" and "Expanded Storage Performance" (the latter of which eventually became obsolete) to a presentation that covered OS/390 real memory, DFSORT and DB2... [More]


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In his first three seasons with the Ravens, Dannell Ellerbe started just seven games. If he starts Sunday's regular-season finale against the Cincinnati Bengals, the 6-foot-1, 240-pound inside linebacker will have matched those seven starts just in 2012.
A torn right triceps to 13-time Pro Bowler Ray Lewis thrust Ellerbe into his expanded role, and his significance has grown with fellow starter Jameel McClain lost for the season after suffering a spinal cord contusion on Dec. 9. Ellerbe, who was an undrafted rookie when he signed in 2009, has already set career-highs in tackles (83), solo tackles (62) and sacks (4½).
Despite sitting out three games because of a sprained right ankle, an aggravated left foot and injured thumbs, he returned to lead the defense with five tackles in the team's 33-14 win over the New York Giants last Sunday. Ellerbe, 27, discussed his first performance back from the injuries and the challenge of limiting Bengals running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis.
How did it feel to return after a three-game absence caused by a sprained right ankle and injuries to your left foot and both thumbs?
It felt great to be back out there after the three weeks off. It was killing me watching my team, but I knew [I wasn't] going to go out there and help them make plays and make the defense better. But the ankle, it held up. I'm not going to say it's 100percent, but it's good enough to go.
Does Bengals running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis remind you of any running backs you've faced in the past?
He's sort of like a Trent Richardson [of the Cleveland Browns], but without all the jump cutting and stuff. He's a downhill guy. He lands forward when you tackle him. He fights for extra yards. He's not a fumbler. He's just a good guy all the way around.
You mentioned him not being a fumbler. Up until Week 3, Green-Ellis had never fumbled in a regular-season game, a streak of 589 consecutive touches. With that in mind, does the focus shift from trying to strip him of the ball to making sure that you bring him down?
We are focusing on tackling, but the first guy will hold him up and the next guy's going to come get him. We aren't going to go for the strip or a rip.


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Kentucky Retirement Systems
According to the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) - 2007, the Kentucky Retirement Systems consists of three systems: the Kentucky Employee Retirement system (PERS); County Employee Retirement System (CERS) and the State Police Retirement System (SRPS). KERS was created in 1956 by the Kentucky General Assembly in order to supplement the benefits provided by Social Security. When the first actuarial valuation was completed June 30, 1957, there were 16,000 employees participating in KERS and assets of $2.8 million. SPRS and CERS were established in 1958. The first actuarial valuation of SPRS was conducted June 30, 1959. No actuarial valuation of CERS was conducted until June 30, 1960 because the statutes did not authorize retirements from the system prior to July 1, 1960. On June 30, 1960, there were 68 counties and 2,617 employees participating in CERS, and SPRS included 415 uniformed state troopers. Kentucky's retirees benefits are protected by the Inviolable Contract.
Kentucky also maintains Kentucky Teacher's Retirement Systems and Kentucky Judicial and Legislators Retirement Plans which are not part of KRS.
Comparing Kentucky to Other States
|Open Records Project
|Kentucky Retirement Systems
|Request History
|Kentucky Open Records Act
As of June 30, 2007, there were more than 316,000 active, inactive and retired members in the combined systems and approximately $16.9 billion in assets. Employees who work in a regular full time position for a participating agency must be enrolled in the retirement system at the beginning of their employment. A regular full-time position is defined as positions that average 100 hours of work per month over a fiscal or calendar year, excluding the classifications of temporary, seasonal, and interim. For school board employees, a regular full-time position is defined as a position that requires the employee to average 80 hours of work per month over the actual days worked during the school year.
KRS received an increase in the employer contribution rate for the 2006-2007 and the 2007-2008 fiscal years. While this was the first increase in the KERS and SPRS employer rates since 2001, contributions remained far short of the actuarial recommended rates.
The retirement plans administered by KRS are qualified public defined benefit plans and were established under Section 401a of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). Benefits are based on a formula, rather than on an account balance. The formula used to compute KRS benefits provides participating members with a guaranteed lifetime payment at retirement based on the number of years of service, your average salary and a multiplying factor.
Kentucky Retirement Systems benefits are funded through three sources: employee contributions deducted from an employee's compensation, employer contributions paid by each state and county agency participating in the retirement systems, and return on investments.
Kentucky Retirement Systems commenced self-funding of healthcare benefits for its Medicare eligible retirees on January 1, 2006. A self-funded plan is one in which Kentucky Retirement Systems assumes the financial risk for providing healthcare benefits to its retirees. The self-funded plan pays for claims out-of-pocket as they are presented instead of paying a pre-determined premium to an insurance carrier for a fully-insured plan. Kentucky Retirement Systems funds the risk directly from its assets. Kentucky Retirement Systems becomes directly responsible for administering benefits under the plan.
In 2006 KRS offered five new health plans to its Medicare eligible retirees. Three of those offerings were self-insured products and two were Anthem Medicare Advantage plans. Beginning in January 2007 the Anthem Medicare Advantage plans were no longer offered to retirees. This first year saw a 5% increase in generic drug utilization and an overall medical trend in single digits. KRS has supported the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) preventive screening initiatives for Medicare eligible retirees and participated in the Retiree Drug Subsidy (RDS) program also offered by CMS. The RDS program realized a $13.5 million reimbursement for KRS from CMS for providing pharmaceutical coverage to its retirees.
Kentucky Retirement Systems' plan is defined by statute. Kentucky Retirement Systems selected Walgreen's Health Initiatives and Fiserv Health (Wausau Benefits, Inc.) to administer the pharmaceutical and medical benefits for its retirees.
Non-hazardous employees who are eligible to participate in the retirement systems contribute 5% of creditable compensation. Employees eligible to participate in the retirement systems who are working in a hazardous duty position approved by the KRS Board of Trustees contribute 8% of total creditable compensation.
Note: Individual agencies must petition the KRS Board of Trustees to approve certain positions for hazardous duty coverage. The Board will determine if the position meets the definition of "hazardous" as provided by Kentucky Revised Statute 61.592.
The following employer rates effective July 1, 2006, were recommended and consequently adopted as a result of the actuarial valuation and actions of the 2006 Regular Session of the General Assembly:
Employer Rates for the 2006-2007 Fiscal Year
- KERS (non-hazardous employees) 7.75%
- KERS (hazardous employees) 22.00%
- CERS (non-hazardous employees) 13.19%
- CERS (hazardous employees) 28.21%
Note that: House Bill 380 passed during the 2006 Regular Session of the General Assembly reduced the employer contribution rate from the amount recommended by the Board and its' consulting actuary.
For financial year 2009-2010, employer contribution rates were revised to the following effective July 1, 2009:
- KERS (non-hazardous employees) 11.61%
- KERS (hazardous employment) 24.69%
- CERS (non-hazardous employees) 16.16%
- CERS (hazardous employees) 32.97%
The Board of Trustees of the Kentucky Retirement Systems has a statutory obligation to invest KRS' funds in accordance with the "prudent person rule." The prudent person rule states that fiduciaries shall discharge their investment duties with the same degree of diligence, care and skill that a prudent person would ordinarily exercise under similar circumstances in a comparable position.
The Board manages the funds in recognition of the basic long-term nature of the Systems. The Board interprets this to mean that the assets of the systems should be actively managed — that is, investment decisions regarding the particular securities to be purchased or sold shall be the result of the conscious exercise of discretion. The Board further recognizes that proper diversification of assets must be maintained. It is through these policies that KRS has been able to provide significant return/risk ratio over the long-term while minimizing investment related expenses.
The pension and insurance investment trusts experienced positive growth during the 2006-2007 fiscal year. The pension portfolio posted a total return of 15.3% for the year, while the insurance portfolio earned 19.3%. Investment income, which includes the appreciation of asset values, dividends, and interest totaled $1,909.2 million and $421.7 million, net of investment expenses, for the pension and insurance portfolios, respectively. The majority of this amount was due to the appreciation in value of investments, which totaled $1,507.8 million for the pension portfolio and $366.8 million for the insurance fund. Interest and dividends accounted for $420.7 million for the pension portfolio and $57.4 million for the insurance portfolio.
Actuarial Funding
Pension Funds
The Kentucky Retirement Systems' funding objective is to meet long-term benefit promises through contributions that remain fairly level as a percent of active member payroll. The progress towards achieving the intended funding objectives for both the pension and insurance funds can be measured by the funding level of the actuarial assets of each fund to the actuarial liabilities. The funding level is defined relative value of a systems assets and liabilities expressed as a percentage figure. The funding levels for the pension funds as of June 30, 2007 were:
56.89% for KERS Non-Hazardous
83.59% for KERS Hazardous
82.11% for CERS Non-Hazardous
74.22% for CERS Hazardous
63.66% for SPRS.
The combined plan net assets of all pension funds administered by Kentucky Retirement Systems increased by $1,276.1 million during the 2006-2007 fiscal year.
Covered payroll for 2006-2007 was $4,484.4 million compared to covered payroll for the 2005-2006 plan year of $4,348 million, increasing approximately $136.4 million.
The corresponding employer contributions increased by $131.2 million for a total employer contribution amount of $601.1 million. Of the total employer contribution amount, $293.4 million was posted to the pension funds while $307.7 million was posted to the insurance fund.
Contributions paid by employees were $300.3 and $275.9 million respectively for the fiscal years ended June 30, 2007 and June 30, 2006. This increase in employee contribution is a result of an increase in covered payroll and an increase in service purchased by employees.
The net appreciation in the fair value of investments was $1,507.8 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2007 compared to net appreciation of $803.6 million for the prior fiscal year.
Included in this net appreciation were realized gains on sales of investments of $870.7 million. In comparison, the pension funds realized gains of $601.6 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2006. The increase in realized gain experienced by the pension funds was due to a favorable change in market conditions.
Interest, dividend and securities lending income net of their respective expenses was $407.9 million compared to $358.8 million net investment income in last fiscal year.
Pension benefits paid to retirees and beneficiaries increased $124.5 million bringing total benefit payments to $1,187.1 million. Refund of contributions paid to former members upon termination of employment increased from $24.9 million to $25.2 million.
Administrative expense increased $.7 million totaling $21.1 million compared to $20.4 million in the prior year.
Investment Funds
The insurance funds, which were established in 1978 to provide funding for retiree medical benefits, have improved in recent years due to the Board's policy of incrementally increasing employer contributions to the funds in order to reach full entry age normal cost by 2016. However, the insurance funds are not at the same funding levels as the pension funds. The funding levels for the insurance funds as of June 30, 2007 were:
11.94% for KERS Non-Hazardous,
49.82% for KERS Hazardous
28.80% for CERS Non-Hazardous
31.15% for CERS Hazardous
16.62% for SPRS.
The insurance funds continue to be a primary concern of the Kentucky Retirement Systems. Total actuarial liabilities for the funds exceed the actuarial value of the assets by $8.66 billion.
The combined plan net assets of the insurance fund administered by Kentucky Retirement Systems increased by $530.6 million during the 2006-2007 fiscal year.
Premiums received from retirees that participated in the self-funded plan totaled $26.6 million.
Employer contributions of $307.7 million were received. This was an increase of $54.3 million over the prior fiscal year. This increase is due to the increase of covered payroll reported by participating employers and the employers' increased percentage of covered payroll contributed.
Retiree Drug Subsidies received were $21.5 million.
The net appreciation in the fair value of investments was $366.8 million compared to net appreciation of $188.2 million for the prior fiscal year. Included in this net appreciation were realized gains on sales of investments of $129.5 million. In comparison, the insurance funds realized gains on investments of $77.9 million in the prior fiscal year. This increase in realized gains was due to a favorable change in market conditions.
Interest, dividend and securities lending income net of their respective expenses was $56.6 million compared to net investment income of approximately $42.6 million in last fiscal year.
Premiums paid by the fund for hospital and medical insurance coverage totaled $151.5 million. Payments for the self-funded healthcare reimbursements totaled $89.6 million. The total of insurance premiums paid plus self-funded reimbursements was $241.1 million for the 2006-2007 plan year. Insurance premium paid plus self funded healthcare reimbursements for the prior plan year totaled $212.8 million.
KRS Financial Highlights for the Year Ending June 30,2008
Pension Funds Highlights
- The combined plan net assets of all pension funds decreased by $1,272.8 million in the Financial Year ending June 2008.
- Actual covered payroll increased by $231.7 million from the number reported in 2007.
- The net depreciation in the fair value of investments was $997.4 million.
- Pension benefits paid to retirees and beneficiaries increased by $112 million from the numbers reported in 2007.
- Administrative expenses increased by $1.8 million to $22.9 million.
Insurance Funds Highlights
- The combined plan assets for the Insurance Fund decreased by $83.3 million in the Financial Year ending June 30,2008.
- Employer contributions increased by $64.6 million over the previous fiscal year's numbers.
- Retiree drug subsidies received were $13.3 million.
See Also
- Future Shock
- County Employee Retirement System
- State Police Retirement System
- Kentucky Teacher's Retirement Systems
- Defined Benefit v. Defined Contribution
- Kentucky Revised Statute 61.592
- 2008 Pension Reform Act
- Audit Shows KRS Funds' Misuse
- Pension Reform Legislation


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Of All Q2 Muni Rating Actions, 83% Were Downgrades – Moody's
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While many pundits downplay the immediate effects of Detroit's bankruptcy filing on the broader muni market, there's no doubt that there's a slow downward creep in municipal credit quality, at least as far as Moody's Investors Service is concerned. Out of the 264 rating changes it made across public finance sectors in the second quarter of 2013, Moody's reports that 219 were downgrades, for a downgrade rate of 83%.
Moody's's largest rating action of the quarter was downgrading $32 billion of the State of Illinois' general obligation and sales tax bonds to A3 from A2 because of the state's ongoing pension funding burdens and looming expiration of income tax increases. Among local governments, downgrades of the City of Detroit and Detroit Water and Detroit Sewer accounted for nearly half of the $19.9 billion par amount that Moody's downgraded in the sector.
Moody's said the largest downgrades were in different sectors across public finance, demonstrating that widespread negative pressures continue. More from Moody's
We expect the high pace of downgrades to continue in 2013 for most sectors. Although the US economy overall continues to evidence a trend of slow recovery, there are regional and intra-regional differences in the pace of recovery, and revenue and budgetary challenges remain for many entities.
Moody's says the par amount of all that downgraded debt increased significantly from the first quarter, to $92 billion from $27 billion, while the amount upgraded ($12 billion) was similar to the first quarter amount.


text: The diversity of coconut trees like these planted along the beach in the northern Philippines is in danger, but a French scientist has a plan. Jay Directo/AFP/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Jay Directo/AFP/Getty Images The Salt Coconut Conservationist Seeks Pacific Islands For Fun And Palm Preservation November 20, 2012 Are the sources for your trendy coconut water and oil in danger? Not yet, says a French scientist, but he has an elaborate vision for how to overcome the coconut's biological challenges and ensure that the plant's dozens of varieties stick around for a long time.


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CBI names BCCI's Srinivasan in Jagan charge sheet
Y S Jagan Assets Case : CBI Names BCCI's Srinivasan in Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy Charge Sheet. The charge sheets relate to India Cements, Penna Cements and Bharati Cements.
Indian cricket board chief N. Srinivasan has been named in one of the three charge sheets the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Tuesday filed in a special court here in the corruption case involving YSR Congress party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy. In the charge sheet relating to India Cements, the CBI has also named Srinivasan, its managing director, as the accused number three.
Srinivasan stepped aside a few months ago as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president recently following spot fixing scandal in Indian Premier League (IPL). The CBI had questioned him twice last year about the investments his company made into Jaganmohan Reddy's firms.
India Cements allegedly invested Rs.140 crore into Jagan's businesses in return for the benefits it received from the then government of Jagan's father, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who was killed in a helicopter crash in 2009. The CBI filed the charge sheets in the special court, naming 25 accused and charging them under various sections of Indian Penal Code
The charge sheets relate to India Cements, Penna Cements and Bharati Cements, the three companies which allegedly made quid pro quo investments in Jaganmohan Reddy's business. Jagan, as the MP from Kadapa is popularly known, figures as the accused number one in all three charge sheets while his financial advisor Vijay Sai Reddy is the number two accused.
The investments were made into Bharati Cements and Jagati Publications owned by Jagan in return for the benefits India Cements received in the form of additional water allocation for its units in Andhra Pradesh. The federal agency, however, has not named Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah in the charge sheet. Lakshmaiah, who was irrigation minister in Rajasekhara Reddy's cabinet, was also questioned last year with regard to the water allocation to India Cements.
With this the number of charge sheets filed in the case so far has gone up to eight. A CBI counsel told reporters that the remaining charge sheets would be file in two to three days. Jagan, who is in jail since May last year, is facing charges of amassing wealth through quid pro quo deals when his father was chief minister from 2004 to 2009.
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As GOP race's pace quickens, Romney's on top — and the target
CONCORD, N.H. — The Republican presidential campaign shifted to New Hampshire on Wednesday with one key question hanging over it: Can Mitt Romney deliver the landslide win his polls and organization suggest is within reach, or will he fall to sharp new attacks and the state's history of turning on the winner of Iowa's caucuses?
The former governor of neighboring Massachusetts rolled into Manchester on Wednesday, looking for a big win next Tuesday in his New England backyard to make him the first non-incumbent Republican ever to win both Iowa and New Hampshire, which could propel him toward the presidential nomination.
"My goodness what a squeaker," he joked about his ever-so-narrow win in Iowa over former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, an eight-vote margin out of about 60,000 cast for the two men.
"Do you think we can have more than an eight-vote margin here in New Hampshire?" he added. "I'm gonna try."
Polls suggest he's in good shape here, holding a huge lead over his nearest competitors. A new Suffolk University poll of New Hampshire released Wednesday showed him with 43 percent, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas with 14 percent, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with 9 percent, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman with 7 percent and Santorum with 6 percent. It was conducted Monday and Tuesday, before the Iowa results were known.
But in one sign that opinion could shift, Romney received only a tepid response at his rally in Manchester.
How the Iowa results impact New Hampshire and the rest of the campaign started shaking out on several fronts, including sharp attacks on Romney and developments that could help consolidate conservative voters against him, or keep them divided as they were in Iowa.
Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota dropped out of the race after a dismal sixth-place Iowa finish. She did not endorse another candidate.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropped back into the race less than 12 hours after saying he'd reassess his campaign following a disappointing fifth-place finish in Iowa. He'll attend weekend debates in New Hampshire but concentrate on South Carolina, hoping to score Jan. 21 in the first primary contest in his native South.
In New Hampshire, Santorum kept a low public profile after his strong performance in Iowa, holding an evening town hall meeting in Brentwood. Speaking in a packed meeting room, Santorum wasted no time in rhetorically attacking President Barack Obama.
"You believe here in New Hampshire exactly what they believe in Iowa, exactly what they believe in South Carolina," he said. "I bet you also believe that this government, under Barack Obama, is undermining that very basic principle of what America is all about. He is systematically destroying the work ethic. How? By the narcotic of government dependency."
Earlier, Gingrich opened the campaign's new phase with a withering attack on Romney, an apparent payback for the $3 million barrage of negative ads against him in Iowa mounted by Romney and a pro-Romney independent group. That assault crushed Gingrich's support and helped push him from the Iowa lead in mid-December to a distant fourth-place finish in the caucuses.
Abandoning the commitment he made in Iowa to avoid negative campaigning, Gingrich said he'll draw a stark contrast between his record and Romney's, which he characterized as moderate or liberal.
"Gov. Romney was first an independent, then repudiated Reagan-Bush, then voted for Paul Tsongas, the most liberal candidate in the '92 campaign, then ran to the left of Teddy Kennedy in 1994, then became a moderate to run for governor in 2002," Gingrich said.
He said that his opponent's "Romneycare" Massachusetts health care law called for state-funded abortions, and that Romney had appointed liberal judges and raised taxes on business.
"Gov. Romney ran a largely negative campaign of falsehoods ... the fact is three out of four Republicans rejected it," Gingrich told reporters in Concord. "He'll do fairly well here. But the fact is, Gov. Romney in the end has a very limited appeal in a conservative party."
Gingrich ridiculed Romney's Iowa win as weak, saying he barely improved his vote total from four years earlier despite four years of work and millions of dollars spent on TV.
"His additional 66 votes over 2008 came at a cost of about $100,000 a vote," he said — although a check of the final votes showed that Romney actually received six fewer votes in Iowa this year than he won there in 2008.
Romney, who appeared with two-time New Hampshire primary winner Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who endorsed Romney enthusiastically, did not directly address Gingrich's broadside. Romney aides said they were weighing how or whether to respond — though it's all but certain that Gingrich will pour it on in televised debates here Saturday and Sunday.
"Romney has nearly 100 percent name recognition in this state, and his approval ratings are high. These people have known him for years," said Tom Rath, a New Hampshire political veteran and senior adviser to Romney's campaign.
"It's a very hard case to make (against Romney) in this state," Rath said. "These people know his record, and they watched him grow."
He added, "Gingrich has had a rough time. A month ago, he thought he was the presumptive nominee. He's disappointed."
Gingrich also found himself targeted Wednesday by Paul.
The Texas congressman, who wants to pull U.S. troops back from overseas, accused Gingrich of being a "chicken hawk" who avoided military service himself but sends other people to fight now.
"You know when Newt Gingrich was called to service in the 1960s during the Vietnam era, guess what he thought of danger? He chickened out on that and he got a deferment. He didn't even go," Paul said on CNN. "So right now he's sending these young kids over there to endure the danger, and the kids over there and the military overwhelmingly support my campaign."
"I had two children," Gingrich said in response. "I never called for a deferment because it was automatic."
(William Douglas of the Washington Bureau contributed.)
Romney edges Santorum for Iowa win - by eight votes
With Iowa's voting, GOP likely to plot future path
Rick Perry says he's heading to South Carolina
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For more McClatchy politics coverage visit Planet Washington


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