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Question: And this is a sincere question. I'd really like to know the answer. When will enough be enough? What is it going to take to get people to stop bellyaching and take action? (Same question phrased two ways) — jtl, 419
Written by William F. Jasper via The New American
The rollout fiasco of ObamaCare and the ongoing uproar over its hidden traps and broken promises has obscured another domestic agenda item of the Obama administration that may prove nearly as pervasive and invasive as his nationalized healthcare initiative.
The clock is ticking on the federal Environmental Protection Agency's draft proposal to grab regulatory authority over virtually all surface water and groundwater throughout the United States. If not stopped by Congress, the agency could assert jurisdiction over even intermittent seasonal streams, isolated wetlands, ditches, trickles, puddles, and ponds. In September, the EPA issued a draft scientific study purporting to find that virtually all wetlands and streams are "physically, chemically, and biologically connected" to downstream waters over which the EPA already claims authority. Moreover, says the EPA study, even many "ephemeral streams" and "prairie potholes, vernal pools and playa lakes" that are dry most of the year can be found to have some connectivity to downstream waters.
At the same time that it released its science report, the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers sent a draft regulation to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for interagency review. The White House is supposed to release the proposed regulation to the public by mid-December, but preoccupation with ObamaCare and other matters could delay that release.
Predictably, the EPA's expansive claim to regulatory power is being cheered by "environmental" NGOs that applaud every move to expand, concentrate, and centralize the power and reach of government. And just as predictably, the EPA proposal is generating vigorous opposition from property owners, farmers, ranchers, and industry, as well as state and local governments, who will be directly affected by any new EPA rulemaking on these matters.
The EPA's new study, Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters: A Review and Synthesis of the Scientific Evidence, is generating controversy for its claims and methodology, as well as for the political nature of its release before being subjected to scientific peer review. Since passage of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA) in 1972, the EPA has been torturing the law's text to claim practically unlimited jurisdiction over all waters. However, the act does not regulate all waters; it regulates "navigable waters," defined as "waters of the United States" (33 U.S.C. §§ 1344, 1362(7). To a reasonable layman, the term "navigable waters" would obviously not apply to puddles, vernal pools, ditches, and seasonal streams. But to EPA bureaucrats bent on limitless authority, the CWA wording was no obstacle; it has continued to assert its power despite being slapped down in court decisions.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against the EPA's ludicrous stretching of "navigable waters" in two of its three decisions concerning this issue. In United States v. Riverside Bayview Homes, Inc. (1985), the court upheld the EPA's claim to jurisdiction over wetlands adjacent to navigable waters because it found that the adjacent wetlands were "inseparably bound up" with the navigable waters.
In Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (2001), the Supreme Court rejected the EPA's claimed regulatory authority over isolated ponds because they were a "far cry, indeed, from the 'navigable waters' and 'waters of the United States' to which the statute by its terms extends."
Following their SWANCC defeat, the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers adopted the scheme of claiming that isolated waters were not outside their jurisdiction if, somehow, those waters could be arguably "connected" to navigable waters. This "any connection" theory of water regulation was challenged in Rapanos v. United States (2006).
The Supreme Court, in its Rapanos decision, found that the Army Corps of Engineers had gone "beyond parody" in claiming that land — whether wet or dry — somehow falls within the definition of "waters" under the CWA. The court referred to Webster's New International Dictionary (2nd edition, 1954) to inject some common sense into the agency's absurd interpretation. The court ridiculed the corps' "land is waters" interpretation, stating:
The definition refers to water as found in "streams," "oceans," "rivers," "lakes," and "bodies" of water "forming geographical features." All of these terms connote continuously present, fixed bodies of water, as opposed to ordinarily dry channels through which water occasionally or intermittently flows. Even the least substantial of the definition's terms, namely "streams," connotes a continuous flow of water in a permanent channel — especially when used in company with other terms such as "rivers," "lakes," and "oceans." None of these terms encompasses transitory puddles or ephemeral flows of water.
The restriction of "the waters of the United States" to exclude channels containing merely intermittent or ephemeral flow also accords with the commonsense understanding of the term. In applying the definition to "ephemeral streams," "wet meadows," storm sewers and culverts, "directional sheet flow during storm events," drain tiles, man-made drainage ditches, and dry arroyos in the middle of the desert, the Corps has stretched the term "waters of the United States" beyond parody. The plain language of the statute simply does not authorize this 'Land Is Waters' approach to federal jurisdiction.
The court also revisited again the navigable waters issue, noting that a reasonable interpretation requires "at bare minimum, the ordinary presence of water." Further, the court stated:
In addition, the Act's use of the traditional phrase "navigable waters" (the defined term) further confirms that it confers jurisdiction only over relatively permanent bodies of water…. Plainly, because such "waters" had to be navigable in fact or susceptible of being rendered so, the term did not include ephemeral flows.
The court also noted that the corps, like the EPA, had continued to assert its expansive regulatory claims despite the court's SWANCC decision. According to the court:
Even after SWANCC, the lower courts have continued to uphold the Corpsí sweeping assertions of jurisdiction over ephemeral channels and drains as "tributaries." For example, courts have held that jurisdictional "tributaries" include … a "roadside ditch" whose water took "a winding, thirty-two-mile path to the Chesapeake Bay," … and (most implausibly of all) the "washes and arroyos" of an "arid development site," located in the middle of the desert.
Not to be deterred, the federal bureaucrats have, since SWANCC and Rapanos, focused on developing their "connectivity" theory, in order to meet the "significant nexus" standard that Justice Kennedy set down in his concurring Rapanos opinion.
The text of the EPA's Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands study (also known as The Synthesis Report), together with the alarming trend of the agency's abuse of power — especially under the current administration — gives every reason to believe that the agency intends to run roughshod over private homeowners, farmers, ranchers, loggers, miners, manufacturers, energy producers, developers, and local and state governments. All under the pretext, of course, of protecting the purity of water from evil polluters. And — with the blessing of "science."
The EPA and Army Corps of Engineers have fashioned their connectivity standards to trump the "navigable waters" limitations and appear to meet the "significant nexus" requirements of the Supreme Court. The Synthesis Report states:
All tributary streams, including perennial, intermittent, and ephemeral streams, are physically, chemically, and biologically connected to downstream rivers via channels and associated alluvial deposits where water and other materials are concentrated, mixed, transformed, and transported.
Further, it signals that more wetlands battles are in the works, even though the "wetlands" may be "prairie potholes" unconnected to the "waters of the United States." According to the EPA's report:
Wetlands in landscape settings that lack bidirectional hydrologic exchanges with downstream waters (e.g., many prairie potholes, vernal pools, and playa lakes) provide numerous functions that can benefit downstream water quality and integrity….
In unidirectional wetlands that are not connected to the river network through surface or shallow subsurface water, the type and degree of connectivity varies geographically within a watershed and over time.
It continues:
Further, while our review did not specifically address other unidirectional water bodies, our conclusions apply to these water bodies (e.g., ponds and lakes that lack surface water inlets) as well, since the same principles govern hydrologic connectivity between these water bodies and downstream waters.
The Synthesis Report reconfirms agency plans to target "ephemeral or intermittent" water flows, stating:
Even infrequent flows through ephemeral or intermittent channels influence fundamental biogeochemical processes by connecting the channel and shallow groundwater with other landscape elements.
The report's glossary also provides cause for concern, giving, for example, this definition for "connectivity": "The degree to which components of a river system are joined, or connected, by various transport mechanisms; connectivity is determined by the characteristics of both the physical landscape and the biota of the specific system."
Considering past abuses of the EPA and other federal regulatory agencies, it does not require great imagination to realize this definition alone supplies enormous opportunities for tyrannical overreach. Will the EPA determine that your "prairie pothole" with a few inches of seasonal water — be it 5, 10, 20, or 32 miles from the nearest "navigable waters" — is "connected," nonetheless, because "landscape" criteria developed by the agency's "scientists" say so?
And if that doesn't work, there's always the "biota" criterion. "What the heck is 'biota,'" you ask? The Oxford Dictionary defines it as "the animal and plant life of a particular region, habitat, or geological period: the biota of the river." Other reference sources say it refers to any "organisms" — animal or plant — in a region or habitat. It is far from wild speculation to imagine that the EPA (perhaps with the assisting prod of a lawsuit by enviro-activists) may use its new connectivity weapon to find a bug, frog, fungus, weed, bird, bush, rodent — any organism — to claim a connection between one's property and far off "waters of the United States," no matter how absurd and "beyond parody" the contention may be.
The EPA's connectivity theory and its proposed new regulations to implement it have been subjected to many critical legal reviews by many groups, including the Missouri-based Property Rights Coalition and the Waters Advocacy Coalition, which is composed of organizations such as the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Forest & Paper Association, Irrigation Association, National Association of Home Builders, National Association of Manufacturers, National Association of Realtors, National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Mining Association, and National Council of Farmer Cooperatives.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, is among the members of Congress who have denounced the EPA's new water regulatory plans as "a massive power grab of private property across the U.S."
In a November 12, 2013 press statement, Rep. Smith declared:
The EPA's draft water rule is a massive power grab of private property across the U.S. This could be the largest expansion of EPA regulatory authority ever. If the draft rule is approved, it would allow the EPA to regulate virtually every body of water in the United States, including private and public lakes, ponds and streams.
"The Obama administration's latest power play to regulate America's waterways is an unprecedented effort to control the use of private property," Smith said.
A week prior, on November 6, Rep. Smith and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Chris Stewart (R-Utah) sent a letter to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) outlining concerns about the "rush" process by which the EPA is attempting to expand its jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act.
"Rather than allowing time for a review of their proposed regulations, the EPA is rushing forward regardless of whether the science actually supports the rule," the chairmen wrote. "The proposed rule could give the EPA unprecedented power over private property in the U.S. Racing through the approval process without proper peer review and transparency amounts to an EPA power play to regulate America's waterways. Such unrestrained federal intrusion poses a serious threat to private property rights, state sovereignty and economic growth."
As we have reported previously (see here and here), last year the U.S. Supreme Court handed down another slap to what it called the EPA's "high-handedness" in the agency's abuse of "wetlands" regulations to stop the Sackett family of Priest Lake, Idaho, from building their dream home on a residential lot. In spite of having gotten all the necessary local permits, the Sacketts were prevented from building their home for five years and threatened with outrageous fines of $75,000 per day.
Nevertheless, it doesn't seem to matter how many times the Supreme Court or other courts may rebuke and rebuff the regulatory overreach of the EPA, Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Forest Service, or any of the other myriad federal alphabet soup agencies; the bureaucrats unrepentantly and relentlessly return to their grasping agenda with nary (or barely) a pause.
The Sacketts were fortunate to have been represented by capable counsel provided pro bono by the Pacific Legal Foundation; many thousands of other American homeowners, farmers, and business owners have been bankrupted by similar federal regulatory attacks, or have simply given up, caved in to the demands of federal agencies, and paid exorbitant fines. Who, besides the likes of Bill Gates or George Soros have the financial wherewithal (not to mention the time and energy — which could involve many years of litigation) to take on the federal government?
Should American citizens be forced to undergo such extortion, humiliation, and abuse at the hands of our "public servants"? Unfortunately most members of Congress — even those who claim to oppose the notorious "overreach" of the EPA and other agencies Congress has created, funded, and is charged with overseeing — do little more than plead with the agencies to stop abusing powers they are not authorized under our Constitution to exercise in the first place. On November 13, Senate Western Caucus Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wy.) and Congressional Western Caucus co-chairs Stevan Pearce (R-N.M.) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wy.) joined 27 other Caucus Members in sending a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy in a futile effort to convince the agency head to "change course."
"We urge you to change course and to commit to operating under the limits established by Congress, even if those limits are impermissibly overlooked in the so-called Connectivity Report," the 30 senators and congressmen implored. "We ask that you work with Congress to address these issues keeping in mind the need to provide clean water for our environment and communities, while also acknowledging the important role states play as a partner in achieving these goals."
Any members of Congress that seriously expect Administrator McCarthy to take their plea to heart probably also believe the Easter Bunny delivers the eggs to the White House for its annual Easter egg hunt. Or, more likely, they believe that by this practically empty gesture they can engage in a defiant pose that will (they hope) satisfy their constituents that they are doing their jobs and defending their constituents rights and interests.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has gone a different route, proposing genuine, substantive remediation, in the form of the Defense of Environment and Property Act of 2013 (S. 890). The legislation, which he introduced in May — five months before the EPA unleashed its new proposed power grab — would thwart the connectivity gambit of the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers by, among other things, strictly defining "navigable waters" and "waters of the United States," as well as requiring any federal agency that issues a regulation that "diminishes the fair market value or economic viability of a property" to pay "the affected property owner an amount equal to twice the value of the loss."
Sen. Paul's bill has six cosponsors: Mike Lee (R-Utah), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), David Vitter (R-La.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). The federal legislation-monitoring website govtrack.us gives S. 890 only a "5% chance of getting past committee" and an even slimmer "2% chance of being enacted." That dismal prognosis is based upon a legislative history, the website notes, in which "only 11% of bills made it past committee and only about 3% were enacted in 2011–2013."
An identical House version of the bill, H.R. 3377, sponsored by Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and cosponsored by Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) and Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) is given a slightly better (but still bleak) chance of passage by govtrack.us: 9% chance of getting past committee; 3% chance of being enacted.
However, there are many current dynamics that could change those gloomy forecasts. Widespread anger over the broken promises of ObamaCare and the hidden mandates, fines, and taxes that are coming to light could betoken a significant shift in public opinion against more fedgov regulatory intrusion. The NSA spying and warrantless search scandals are stirring bipartisan outrage across the political spectrum. The administration's continuing assault on our crumbling economy is causing widespread defections across all of Obama's key demographic support bases. Then there is the current Supreme Court case of Bond v. United States, another astonishing example of fedgov officials reaching "beyond parody" to the realm of the absurd. In this case, currently being heard by the court, defendant Carol Anne Bond is being prosecuted by the federal government under legislation to implement the United Nations Chemical Weapons Convention. What did Bond do? She caused minor burns to the fingers of her husband's paramour (whom he had impregnated) by putting a homemade caustic chemical on the door handles of the woman's home, car, as well as on her mailbox. For that minor act of soap opera revenge federal prosecutors leapfrogged state jurisdiction and made it a federal case based on a UN treaty! With this kind of outrageous overreach being the rule of the day for the Obama administration, many people will have no difficulty at all in recognizing the frightening potential for horrendous abuse imbedded in the EPA's inventive "connectivity" doctrine.
Opposition to the administration's ever growing cascade of executive orders, regulations, abuses, and usurpations could hit a critical mass that coincides with incumbent jitters about voter retaliation in the fast-approaching 2014 elections. Significant input from agitated citizens could propel Sen. Paul's S. 890 and Rep. Thornberry's H.R. 3377 to passage.
However, it may begin to dawn on a great many people that even these bills are far too little too late; even if enacted, they deal only with one facet of the EPA's vast abuses and usurpations, leaving intact its many other unconstitutional arrogations of power.
In an essay earlier this year, entitled "Is It Time to Get Rid of the EPA?," Henry I. Miller, M.D. answered that question in the affirmative. Dr. Miller, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and adjunct fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, was himself for many years a federal regulator (at the Food and Drug Administration, FDA). His extensive dealings with the EPA convinced him that it is "a miasma populated by the most radical, disaffected and anti-industry discards from other agencies" with an "entrenched institutional paranoia and an oppositional worldview."
"I found EPA to be relentlessly anti-science, anti-technology and anti-industry," Miller said. "Since it was created in 1970, EPA has been a rogue agency — ideological, poorly managed and out of touch with sound science and common sense. It is past time to consider whether the nation's experiment with a free-standing environmental agency has failed, and whether its few essential functions should be relegated to less science-challenged agencies and departments."
As many articles published by The New American have shown (see links below), Dr. Miller's characterization of the EPA as a "rogue agency" is far from exaggeration. Its abolition is the ultimate solution that Congress should be aiming at. Any legitimate functions it serves and police powers it exercises can be, and should be, left to the state and local governments to perform, as our nation's Founders intended, as our Constitution mandates, and as experience proves is not only more efficacious in protecting the environment, but also in encouraging prosperity and preserving liberty.
Related articles:
Supreme Court Ruling: Victory for Property Owners, Defeat for EPA
TONIGHT!: Sen. Rand Paul Hosts Tele-Town Hall on EPA Regulatory Overreach on "Navigable Waters"
EPA Closure of Last Lead Smelting Plant to Impact Ammunition Production
EPA Shutting Down Last-standing U.S. Primary Lead Smelter
Obama EPA War on Coal to Shut 200+ Coal-Fired Plants, Devastate Economy
EPA Proposes Stricter New Standards for Soot Pollution
Just Freeze! EPA Says Burning Wood Is Bad, but so Is Natural Gas, Coal, Oil
EPA Declares Human Breath (CO2) a Pollutant
Obama Eyes "Executive Orders" to Circumvent Congress
Sky-high Electric Bills Courtesy of Obama EPA's War on Coal
The EPA's Property Wrongs in America
Danger: Federal "Regulatory Cliff" Ahead
10,000 Commandments — The Hidden Tax
Books by Dr. Jimmy T. (Gunny) LaBaume
A Handbook for Ranch Managers A Comprehensive Reference Manual for Managing the Working Ranch. Click here to buy the paperback version from Land & Livestock International's Rancher Supply aStore.
Digital media products such as Kindle can only be purchased on Amazon.com. Click Here to buy the Kendall Version on Amazon.com
To purchase an autographed copy of the book Click Here
The Betrayed: On Warriors, Cowboys and Other Misfits. Click here to buy the paperback version from Land & Livestock International's Rancher Supply aStore.
Digital media products such as Kindle can only be purchased on Amazon.com. Click Here to buy the Kendall Version on Amazon.com
To purchase an autographed copy of the book Click Here


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Pharrell's Grammys Hat Sold to Arby's For $44,100
Going once, going twice… sold! Fast food chain Arby's were the highest bidder on Pharrell's infamous Grammys hat, which he sold on eBay to benefit his charity, One Hand to Another. The ten-gallon Vivienne Westwood hat sold for $44,100.
During the 2014 Grammys, Pharrell's hat garnered such buzz that Arby's even got in on the action, tweeting the singer:
Hey @Pharrell, can we have our hat back? #GRAMMYs
— Arby's (@Arbys) January 27, 2014
Well, more than $44,000 later (all for a good cause, of course), the fast food giant got their wish:
.@Pharrell You're welcome. We're HAPPY to support a great cause & get our hat back. Good luck at the #Oscars tonight! pic.twitter.com/2oA7qDPX9z
— Arby's (@Arbys) March 3, 2014
No word on if Pharrell will also be auctioning off the similar hat he donned at the Oscars last night, March 2.

subset: commoncrawl


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Food & Drink
Northwest Wine: Italy's most famous grape plays small role in Washington
It is the most famous of Italian wine grapes, but in the New World, sangiovese plays only a minor role.
Best known as the primary variety in Chianti Classico, Sangiovese also is the main grape in Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano — two hill towns in southern Tuscany. The red grape takes its name from the Latin phrase for "the blood of Jove," with Jove being the mythical Jupiter, the Roman king of gods.
In its native land, sangiovese produces a wine that is simply sublime, especially with Italian foods such as lasagna and tomato-based pasta dishes. Sangiovese is lighter in color, with bright acidity and moderate tannins. Red-toned fruits often highlight food-friendly sangiovese.
Italian immigrants brought sangiovese to the New World when they arrived and planted them in sunny California in the late 1800s. In Washington, sangiovese did not begin to gain traction until the mid-1990s. By 2004, about 500 tons were crushed by Washington winemakers. That increased nearly three-fold by last fall, when grape growers harvested 1,300 tons, making it the sixth-most-important red grape in the state.
The grape tends to grow well in Washington's arid Columbia Valley, but winemakers struggle to know what to do with it. Occasionally, it is blended with other varieties to give it more boldness, though many winemakers work to craft it in the style associated with Tuscany.
It is worth noting that Marchesi Antinori, which has been making wine in Italy since the 1380s and produces some of the most famous Chianti Classico in the world, is a co-owner of Col Solare winery on Red Mountain (with Ste. Michelle Wine Estates). Col Solare produces a Bordeaux-style red — but not a sangiovese.
Sangiovese will never be more than a niche grape for Washington and the rest of the West Coast. Here are a few examples we've tasted recently that are worth tracking down.
Five Star Cellars 2010 Sangiovese, Walla Walla Valley, $30: The nose hints at red plum, red cherry and rich chocolate. On the palate, it's big, bold and dark with firm tannins that stretch out the finish. (14.6 percent alcohol)
Malaga Springs Winery 2010 Sangiovese, Washington, $29: This well-structured red carries aromas of cherry, rose petal, crushed walnut and dusty oregano. Black cherry and dark strawberry flavors highlight the palate. (13.3 percent alcohol.)
Trio Vintners 2011 Flash Point Reserve Sangiovese, Yakima Valley, $29: Red plum, black pepper, vanilla and toast aromas lead to flavors of plum and raspberry with a rich finish. It will be released by the Walla Walla producer in October. (14.2 percent alcohol)
Mannina Cellars 2012 Sangiovese, Walla Walla Valley, $22: This is a classic Washington sangiovese, thanks to aromas and flavors of plum, cherry, red currant and strawberry, all backed with trademark acidity. (13.7 percent alcohol)
Kaella Winery 2011 Ciel du Cheval Sangiovese, Red Mountain, $25: Additions of cabernet sauvignon (7 percent) and merlot (7 percent) give this example hints of black currant candy, cherry taffy, raspberry and chocolate, while the palate brings dark plum, red currant and dried cranberry as well as barrel notes of chocolate and toast. (14.3 percent alcohol)
Helix by Reininger 2009 Sangiovese, Columbia Valley, $27: Aromas of black currant, dark cherry and earthiness of black truffle and porcini mushroom give way to flavors of black cherry and dark plum. It's all backed with fine-grained tannins. (14.8 percent alcohol)
Eleganté Cellars 2009 Sangiovese, Walla Walla Valley, $26: Hints of high-toned red fruit such as raspberry, red currant and cherry highlight this gorgeous Sangiovese from a Walla Walla airport winery. (13.1 percent alcohol)
Kyra Wines 2010 Sangiovese, Wahluke Slope, $18: Based in Moses Lake, winemaker Kyra Baerlocher is crafting superb reds and whites. This is a suave sangiovese with notes of dried strawberry, red cherry and even a hint of caramel. (13.7 percent alcohol)
Eric Degerman and Andy Perdue run Great Northwest Wine, a news and information company. Learn more about wine at greatnorthwestwine.com.


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Using a weedkiller, students at Fairfield College in New Zealand drew a 40-foot dick into the grass inside the college campus which was then captured by Google Earth.
Go to Google Maps and search for Fairfield College, New Zealand. Zoom in and you'd be able to see the artwork :P Here are the coordinates -37.7633,175.2749 (Direct link to the map)
The images were spotted by David McQuoid while searching for a property nearby. At first I thought it was a large piece of artwork,he said.
Acting Principal Gerhard van Dyk says he'll contact Google to digitally remove the lawn loins.


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Win a Clarisonic Mia From BellaSugar
Last Day For Your Chance to Win a Clarisonic Mia!
It's the holiday season, and we're getting in the spirit with 15 days of amazing giveaways! Every day one of the PopSugar Network sites (plus our sister sites Fashionologie, ShopStyle, and PopSugar's FreshGuide) will feature a new giveaway. Pop is giving away a $2,500 shopping spree to Shopbop.com; Geek is going with an HP Envy laptop; and Fit's featuring a $1,000 gift card from New Balance. Here on Bella, we're giving away 10 limited-edition Clarisonic Hope Mias to 10 very lucky readers! As you know, we're big fans of the product but that's not all – the design of the Hope Mia is inspired by the Look Good... Feel Better "Hope is Beautiful" public service campaign, and $15 from every Clarisonic Hope Mia sold will be donated to the program. So you can look good and be charitable at the same time!
To enter, all you have to do is "Like" BellaSugar and Clarisonic on Facebook, and then comment on Bella's Facebook wall telling us what beautiful skin means to you. How easy is that? Check out the official rules here. The Clarisonic Mia giveaway is only open for a week, so act now! Also, you won't want to miss any of our other fabulous giveaways, so stay tuned every day and enter them all. Good luck and happy holidays.


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Q A friend told me you were asking about Prius folks with beyond 150,000 miles. I have a story for you.
Pat Moran
El Dorado Hills
A I love good stories.
Q I loved my old Prius, a 2005 model that might be on the road today — one that we drove 530,000 miles — until we were rear-ended in February 2012.
Pat Moran
A Did I read that right — 530,000 miles? And on the same battery without problems?
Q The only problem that I had regarding the battery was a cooling issue that occurred due to dog hair sucked into and clogging the battery cooling fan located below the rear seat. Toyota did not design an air filter for this rear seat vent. It is probably the only design flaw I would mention about the car. The clogged dog hair cost me about $1,500 as the Toyota technicians replaced $1,100 worth of logic boards before they found the dog hair in the fan.
Pat Moran
A Several dozen testimonials rolled into Roadshow, and almost all praised the Prius, with owners saying fears of needing to replace the hybrid battery at the cost of several thousand bucks were overstated. Experts say replacement batteries are the exception rather than the norm, and the vast majority of owners will never incur the cost of a replacement unit.
Q My Prius is a 2002 model, which has now reached just under 160,000 miles. I have never had any trouble with the hybrid battery. … I have over 175,000 miles on my Prius and the battery is going strong. … My wife's 2008 Prius has over 190,000 miles and no battery issues at all. … Our son sold his 10-year old, 194,000-mile Prius and had no battery problems.
Nancy Schulenburg, Sheri Byrne, George Leavell and Gay Crawford
A And …
Q We bought one of the very first Priuses in 2000. It is a 2001 model. The local papers featured us with this new arrival. The batteries lasted seven and a half years. Toyota charged us $500 for installation, but gave us the batteries for free. My wife still drives the car, it gets 43 mpg and it has never needed any significant repairs.
Marty Mackowski
Portola Valley
A And …
Q We got our Prius in 2001, and the batteries outlasted the transmission, which finally died at 224,000 miles in 2010. The battery is working fine.
Tara Woods
Rancho Palos Verdes
A And …
Q I have a 2004 Prius that has 246,000 miles on it. This includes lots of freeway driving, moderate in-town driving, and about 2,000 miles a year driving to Lake Tahoe in winter. I still get around 48 mpg, which is about what I got when it was new. The battery is working perfectly.
Howard Hammermann
A Mrs. Roadshow, we have a mere 99,000 miles on our 2006 Prius. Sounds like we're good to go for many years.
Q We have a 2002 Prius we purchased new, and now have over 240,000 miles on it, still using the original battery pack. I'm not looking forward to the day when the battery dies. Do you know how that happens? Is it a sudden and precipitous event that may leave me dead in the water far from home, or more like a gradual decline that'll give me a little warning?
Steve Ikeda
A Prius owners in chat groups say the instrument panel lights up like a Christmas tree when the electric battery is dying. But when will it die? These batteries are under warranty in California for 10 years/150,000 miles.
Follow Gary Richards at Twitter.com/mrroadshow, look for him at Facebook.com/mr.roadshow or contact him at firstname.lastname@example.com or 408-920-5335.


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Steve Barrett was honored for his service in a pre-race ceremony before Saturday's racing began at the Speedbowl. He spoke with announcer Matt Buckler about trying to put together the resources to get his damaged car back on track by the end of the year before being presented with a driver's suit and other goodies.
However, there was one more thing.
Being a member of the military is all about sacrifice.
When Street Stock driver Steve Barrett was deployed to Afghanistan in July 2012 as part of the National Guard's 1109th Theatre Aviation Maintenance Support Group, he gave up his favorite hobby — racing at the Waterford Speedbowl — and left his family to fulfill his duties as a technical inspector for helicopter blades and sheet metal at Bagram Air Force Base.
Little did Barrett know about the sacrifices his friends, family and even some people who never met him were making back home.
Barrett badly wrecked his No. 14 Street Stock in a race in April 2012, and decided not to make the expensive repairs with his deployment on the horizon.
Barrett was honored for his service in a pre-race ceremony before Saturday's racing began at the Speedbowl. He spoke with announcer Matt Buckler about trying to put together the resources to get his damaged car back on track by the end of the year before being presented with a driver's suit and other goodies.
However, there was one more thing.
Barrett's wife, Teresa, a pit steward for the Speedbowl, took the microphone and introduced the final surprise: A brand new No. 14 Street Stock, which drove out of the pit area with "Barrett" written across the front windshield.
It came to a stop at start-finish line in front of a shocked, and understandably emotional, Steve Barrett.
"When we unveiled the car, it was just amazing to see his reaction," Teresa said. "I was fine. I didn't start crying until he started crying, and then I lost it."
Steve still was shaking about 15 minutes later as he posed in front of the car with those who helped him on the backstretch.
"I had no idea," Steve said later. "I just figured out (Friday) — I had to work on my truck, fix a brake line — I just figured out my (Street Stock) motor was missing."
When questioned about the motor, Teresa told her husband she was having the motor fixed as a welcome-home gift. Steve, a veteran of 27 years, arrived home from the Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan on April 27.
Steve missed racing so much while he was away that he bought a remote-control car to drive around the base. He spent much of his free time planning how he was going to get back racing once he returned home.
"That's all I was thinking about the whole time I was over in Afghanistan," the Preston native said. "I've got to come home and work on my car, which I enjoy — I like working with my hands and the work and everything else — but logistically, I'm thinking I have to do this and I have to do that.
"I was in no rush. As long as I got out by the end of the season, I was going to be happy, but I don't have to worry about that, apparently."
Shortly after Barrett left last summer, his friend, Jeff Winsor, came up with an idea while watching the evening news.
"I said to my wife, 'What do you think about fixing Steve's car?' She said, 'Are you crazy?' Well, that was the censored version," Winsor said.
After talking a bit more, Jeff and Julie Winsor decided to attempt it.
"I knew I could do it, but I didn't know how I was going to do it," Jeff said.
Jeff approached Teresa, and she initially was hesitant, but a short time later she said, "why not try?"
Jeff assembled the Fab 5, but not the University of Michigan men's basketball version. The fab in this case stood for fabricator. It consisted of Jeff, Pete Pollard, Bob Desrochers, Jim Phillips and Steve McKee.
At the same time, "Racers for a Soldier" was started to fundraise and solicit donations. "Racers for a Soldier" raised money through raffles and spaghetti dinners and accepted donations. The group even raised money on Saturday and held a raffle. Steve Barrett bought ticket No. 14, completely clueless that he was benefiting his own cause.
Starting with a bare 1988 Chevrolet Monte Carlo chassis donated by Pollard, the Fab 5 got together every Thursday night, and for full days every Sunday — 10-14 hours, according to Jeff — and worked for nearly eight months.
Gary Espinosa, of Larry's Auto Machine, repaired the motor — one of the most costly components — for free. Various other people came together to donate other parts.
"It's just amazing all the help and support that we got from everybody that is building the car, donating the parts, donated time," Teresa said. "I'm literally just blown away by it all. It is such an amazing thing."
Before the pre-race ceremony, Teresa had her husband helping out in the pit area, as she and everyone else at the track tried not to spoil the biggest secret in Southeastern Connecticut.
"(Saturday) morning, all day long, I've just been a bundle of nerves hoping that it was going to go off right," Teresa said. "We kept the secret for this long. Now, are we going to be able to keep it for these next couple of hours?"
Steve Barrett still was visibly emotional following the pre-race ceremony, and he was mum on whether he would take his new car for a spin on Saturday.
Teresa was not.
"Oh, he's racing. I'm not giving him a choice," she said with a laugh. "I brought his shoes, his gloves, everything he needs."
Sure enough, following the Legends race, Steve Barrett ran 10 practice laps in preparation to compete in the 50-lap feature event.
"Hands down, the best thing I've ever driven," he said afterward.
The driver, who started his career at Thompson Speedway in 2001 and had run three full seasons at the Speedbowl, couldn't believe the attention to detail that the Fab 5 had put into the car — right down to his nickname, "The Animal," being printed above the driver's side window.
"I've always said that the racing community is a family, and this just proves it to me that they are indeed," Teresa said. "Whether they are from this track, Thompson, any other track, it's a big racing community family, and this proved it to me."
The Barretts did volunteer work on the "Extreme Home Makeover" home in Griswold a couple of years ago, and Steve Barrett said he finally understood how that family felt when their home was presented.
"The amount of people, how do you say thank you to that many people in a way that is appropriate?" Steve said. "I don't know. I am going to try. I don't even know where to start."


text:
I am a uh, designer of websites, and I would like to use the phrase for my profession correctly. Unfortunately, webdesigner is flagged by Google Chrome's spellchecker as a misspelling, and web designer and web-designer are suggested as alternatives. Dictionary.com only suggests web designer, not even web-designer.
Is webdesigner a misspelling?


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"Thank you so much to you and the dancers for a great show last week! We have had some great feedback from the team "the greatest opening day", and the flash mob was the "highlight of the week"! ...Now, how can I work in a dance number in every event from now on?!"
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Herbert Smith Freehills
The detail and thought behind the entertainment was impressive, and really made a difference to the overall theme and atmosphere as we partied Havana Style, complete with our very own Fidel Castro and beautiful Cuban dancers thanks to Applause. Easy, thorough, organised, everything you want when managing an event!"
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EBOS Group
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"The magician was a great sport and made an active effort to do tricks in front of the client, which was great. The adagio trio was fun and quirky. The client loved it when they roamed around the room and just did little tricks like stand on top of one another and take pictures with guests. The aerialist was the true highlight though and we loved her performance! The makeup and outfit was spot on for her and she represented the Flying Maiden well! Thank you for making the custom designed outfit!"
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Olympus Australia
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BNI CBD Enterprise
"The 90's Trivia was awesome, the team had so much fun getting into it. The hosts we had were awesome, they did a fantastic job getting everyone into it and flooding our minds with the good old days."
Valerie McMahon


text:
Professional surfing is the dream job right? Getting paid fist loads of cash to split your time evenly between the water and bars all over the globe. For those of us chained to desks and bound to building sites, it always will be the dream.
Davey Cathels, Garret Parkes, Caio IbelliWatch Trailer
|Professional surfing. Its the dream job right? Getting paid fist loads of cash to split your time evenly between the water and bars all over the globe - its a hard one not to envy, and for those of us chained to desks and bound to building sites, it always will be the dream. Its not all beer and skittles though. The reality is, professional surfers probably spend more time going through security checks in airports than they do in bars. More time breathing the recycled air inside a pressurized Airbus than they spend surfing heats and in the midst of it all, there is the bonus stress factor involved in making those heats in generally shitty waves, in order to retain sponsors and make enough money to get themselves to the next contest. We wrangled some of the best junior pros from all over the world and stuck them on a boat in Indonesia for a couple of weeks with only one agenda find waves whilst heats, bars, girls and stress were all put on the backburner.
|Shortboarding, Surf Travel Movies, Boat Trip
|Davey Cathels, Garret Parkes, Caio Ibelli, Shaun Joubert, Tom Woods, Keanu Asing, Kai Hing
|Shaggadelic Productions
|not rated
|Running Time
|34 minutes
|Audio Language
|English | Stereo
|Download Resolution
|HD | 1280x720 (1.06 GB) SD | 848x480 (482.30 MB)
|Streaming Resolution
|HD | 1920x1080
|Additional Features
|Chapter Markers
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text:
Two Houston youngsters are featured in ESPN's annual "My Wish" series, in which children facing life-threatening medical issues are paired with athletes through the Make-A-Wish foundation.
The series began Sunday on "SportsCenter" and will continue on the daily newscast this week.
The first episode Sunday featured 6-year-old George Gring, the son of Clayton and Katherine Gring of Houston, who spent a day earlier this spring with his favorite player, Panthers quarterback Cam Newton. The child, known to his family as "Mighty George," was diagnosed last year with lymphoma, underwent surgery and is now in remission.
Monday's episode, which debuts on the 5 p.m. "SportsCenter," will feature Jace Andrews of Montgomery, 12, the son of John and Julie Andrews, who joined his favorite player, Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox, in mid-May in an effort to hit a ball over the Green Monster at Fenway Park. Jace has undergone several heart surgeries.
Chris Connelly hosts the series, which has aired annually since 2006, also will host "My Wish" episodes featuring young patients with the University of Michigan football team and with Olympic gold-medal winning gymnast Gabby Douglas.


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Summers are usually a dry time for the gaming industry, as developers and publishers tend to aim for releases during the beginning and end of yearly cycles, but we were in luck this time around. Naughty Dog has been treating PlayStation 3 owners with a beta for its upcoming blockbuster, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, and boy has it been great. So much, in fact, that it's become the most popular beta not only in recent memory, but EVER on a PlayStation platform.
Naughty Dog's Arne Meyer has posted a list of statistics following the conclusion of the Uncharted 3 multiplayer beta.
- Total unique Beta players: 1.53 million people
- Total kills: 1.9 billion
- Total Cash collected: 1.4 TRILLION dollars (that's greater than the gross domestic product of Spain, the eleventh highest GDP in the world!)
- Total shots fired: 48 billion
- Total matches completed: 22 million
- Total time played: More than 362 years worth of matches
The beta's vast library of customizable items, from weapons and attachments to characters and outfits, are great additions to the series, and have made extended play more rewarding. Uncharted 2 had a tendency to reward infrequently, but was still able to keep thousands of fans entertained for months, so it's no surprise that its successor's beta has been extremely popular.
If you're one of the 1.53 million gamers who played the beta, will you be purchasing the full product later this year?


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Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L Lens
Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L Lens
Rental Includes:
• Front Cap
• Rear Cap
• 72mm UV Filter
• Lens Hood
The Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L USM Lens boasts very high quality with a very fast maximum aperture that is perfect for low depth-of-field and low light shooting. It can focus relatively close to a subject with just a 1' minimum focusing distance. It can be paired with both full frame sensor cameras, such as the Canon 5D Mark III, and with crop frame sensor cameras, such as the Canon 7D Mark II. The focal length equivalent on crop frame sensors is 56mm. This lens is considered among many Canon shooters as a definitive prime lens, along with the Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L and Canon EF 85mm f/1.2L. It is well suited for landscapes, events, group portraits, and street photography. Please note that this is the original version of the Canon 35mm f/1.4L. For the latest version, please see the Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II.
• Focal Length: 35mm (56mm Equivalent for Crop Sensors) with a Canon EF Mount
• Maximum Aperture: f/1.4
• Apterture Range: f/1.4-f/22
• 1' Minimum Focusing Distance
• 63º Angle of View
• 0.18x Magnification
• Filter Size: 72mm
• Length: 3.4"
• Weight: 1.3 lbs


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Import events to Google Calendar
You can transfer your events from a different calendar application or Google Account to Google Calendar.
Note: When you import an event, guests and conference data for that event are not imported.
Step 1: Export events
First, export your events as a file that you can import into Google. Choose one of these options:Export from another calendar application
Most calendar applications, like Outlook Calendar or Apple Calendar, let you export your events.
- Open the calendar application where your events are currently stored. It's often easier to do this from a computer than a phone or tablet.
- Look for an option to Export.
- If you're given the option to choose from different file formats, choose CSV. If you're using an Apple device, choose vCard.
For more help, look in your calendar application's help center or try using the words
export calendar in your search.
Your file will be saved on your computer where your downloads are usually saved, or the place you chose while saving. Now you can move on to the next section to import your calendar.
If you have more than one Google Account, you can export your calendars from one account and import them into another.
- On a computer, sign in to the Google Account that you want to export from. You can only export from a computer, not a phone or tablet.
- Follow the directions for exporting your calendar. You'll need to download an ICS file to your computer.
- Sign in to the Google Account where you want to import.
- To learn how to import, see the next step.
Note on sync: Imported events won't stay in sync between your two accounts. If you want your calendars to sync, you should share your calendar with the other account instead of exporting your events.
Step 2: Import events into Google Calendar
After you've exported your events, you can import them into Google Calendar. You can import ICS and CSV files on a computer.
- Open Google Calendar.
- In the top right, click Settings Settings.
- Click Import & Export.
- Click Select file from your computer and select the file you exported. The file should end in "ics" or "csv".
- Choose which calendar to add the imported events to. By default, events will be imported into your primary calendar.
- Click Import.
If you're using a ZIP file, find it on your computer and open it. You'll see ICS files for each of your calendars. Take the individual files out of the ZIP file, and import each ICS file individually.
Note: Repeating events might not show up that way if you import them from a CSV file, but they'll be on your calendar as a series of one-time events.
Advanced: Create or edit CSV or iCal files before importingCreate or edit a CSV file
You can import CSV (Comma Separated Values) files into Google Calendar. If you get an error while importing a CSV file, you might be able to fix the formatting.
- Open an existing CSV file or create a new one using a spreadsheet editor like Google Sheets.
- The first row of your spreadsheet will include headers like
Start Date. The headers must be in English. See the list below for the correct headers.
- Each row below the header row represents an event. See example:
Start date
Start time
Final exam
- When you're done, save the file as a .csv file. You can then import the file into Google Calendar using the directions above.
Headers and event formatting in CSV files
Only the first two headers in this list are required, the rest are optional.
Important: The headers must be in English as shown below. If any event details have commas (like the location example below), you can include them by using quotation marks around the text
The name of the event, required.
Final exam
Start Date
The first day of the event, required.
Start Time
The time the event begins.
End Date
The last day of the event.
End Time
The time the event ends.
All Day Event
Whether the event is an all-day event. Enter
Trueif it is an all-day event, and
Falseif it isn't.
Description or notes about the event.
50 multiple choice questions and two essay questions
The location for the event.
"Columbia, Schermerhorn 614"
Whether the event should be marked private. Enter
Trueif the event is private, and
Falseif it isn't.
The examples above would create the event "Final exam" on May 30, 2020 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The location would be "Columbia, Schermerhorn 614," the description would be "50 multiple choice questions and two essay questions," and it would be a private event.
iCalendar files are a standard calendar format used to transfer calendar data. If you get an error while importing an iCAL ("ics") file, you might be able to fix the formatting.
- Open an existing ICAL file or create a new one. You'll need to use a text editing application that can save iCalendar files.
- Format your file according to the guidelines below. You can export an ICAL file from Google Calendar to use as an example.
- When you're done, save the file as an iCalendar ("ics") file.
Format iCalendar files
The first line in an iCalendar file must always be the header
BEGIN:VCALENDAR. This must be followed by other header information, including
VERSION:2.0 and
"PRODID:<[enter ID information here]>". The last line of the file must be the footer
END:VCALENDAR. Between these lines is where all the events in the calendar are entered. Each event must be between
BEGIN:VEVENT and
END:VEVENT lines.
If you need to manually edit an iCalendar file, make sure that each file contains the header and footer. If you're not sure where your header ends, just copy and paste the text until one line above
BEGIN:VEVENT, which is where your header ends and your event data starts.
Here's what an iCalendar file looks like. An iCalendar file can also have more information, but these are the required parts.
PRODID:< [enter ID information here]
(other header information goes here)
(event details)
(event details)
Get help fixing problems with importing.


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The GOP's media cocoon
A long-simmering generational battle in the conservative movement is boiling over after last week's shellacking, with younger operatives and ideologues going public with calls that Republicans break free from a political-media cocoon that has become intellectually suffocating and self-defeating.
GOP officials have chalked up their electoral thumping to everything from the country's changing demographics to an ill-timed hurricane and failed voter turn-out system, but a cadre of Republicans under 50 believes the party's problem is even more fundamental.
Story Continued Below
The party is suffering from Pauline Kaelism.
(Also on POLITICO: Full coverage of the war over the future of the GOP)
Kael was The New Yorker movie critic who famously said in the wake of Richard M. Nixon's 49-state landslide in 1972 that she knew only one person who voted for Nixon.
Now, many young Republicans worry, they are the ones in the hermetically sealed bubble — except it's not confined to geography but rather a self-selected media universe in which only their own views are reinforced and an alternate reality is reflected.
Hence the initial denial and subsequent shock on the right that the country would not only reelect President Barack Obama — but do so with 332 electoral votes.
( Also on POLITICO: Media fight on the right over GOP)
"What Republicans did so successfully, starting with critiquing the media and then creating our own outlets, became a bubble onto itself," said Ross Douthat, the 32-year-old New York Times columnist.
"The right is suffering from an era of on-demand reality," is how 30-year-old old think tanker and writer Ben Domenech put it.
Citing Kael, one of the most prominent Republicans in the George W. Bush era complained: "We have become what the left was in the '70s — insular."
In this reassuring conservative pocket universe, Rasmussen polls are gospel, the Benghazi controversy is worse than Watergate, "Fair and Balanced" isn't just marketing and Dick Morris is a political seer.
Even this past weekend, days after a convincing Obama win, it wasn't hard to find fringes of the right who are convinced he did so only because of mass voter fraud and mysteriously missing military ballots. Like a political version of "Thelma and Louise," some far-right conservatives are in such denial that they'd just as soon keep on driving off the cliff than face up to a reality they'd rather not confront.
But if the Fox News-talk radio-Drudge Report axis is the most powerful force in the conservative cocoon, technology has rendered even those outlets as merely the most popular destinations in the choose-your-own-adventure news world in which consumers are more empowered than ever.
Facebook and Twitter feeds along with email in-boxes have taken the place of the old newspaper front page, except that the consumer is now entirely in charge of what he or she sees each day and can largely shut out dissenting voices. It's the great irony of the Internet era: People have more access than ever to an array of viewpoints, but also the technological ability to screen out anything that doesn't reinforce their views.
"The Internet amplifies talk radio and cable news, and provides distribution for other sources like Newsmax," said Trey Grayson, 40, the former Kentucky secretary of state and the current head of Harvard's Institute of Politics. "Then your friends, who usually agree with you, disseminate the same stories on Facebook and Twitter. And you assume that everyone agrees with you!"
Grayson continued: "It's very striking for me living in Cambridge now. My Facebook feed, which is full of mostly conservatives from Kentucky, contains very different links to articles or topics than what I see in Cambridge. It is sort of the reverse up here. They don't understand how anyone would eat Chick-fil-A, watch college sports or hold pro-life views."


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Country star Pride's path inspired by Jackie
KANSAS CITY -- Long before Charley Pride became a Country Music Hall of Famer, he had another career. He was a professional baseball player.
"I was pretty good," Pride said.
KANSAS CITY -- Long before Charley Pride became a Country Music Hall of Famer, he had another career. He was a professional baseball player.
"I was pretty good," Pride said.
Pride was talented enough to pitch and play outfield in the Negro Leagues for several seasons, but not quite good enough to make it in the Majors.
"I got to the Los Angeles Angels," he said of a tryout in 1961. "I just couldn't stay there."
Yet Pride accomplished enough in the baseball world to be honored by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City on Wednesday night. To kick off the Museum's annual celebration of No. 42, Pride was presented the Jackie Robinson Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 1997, under the direction of Commissioner Bud Selig, Robinson's No. 42 was retired across all of Major League Baseball in an unprecedented tribute.
Still close to the game as part owner of the Texas Rangers, Pride joined a select group that includes Henry Aaron, Frank Robinson, Don Newcombe and Rachel Robinson.
"I'm happy to be in that kind of company," Pride said, acknowledging this recognition came his way more for what he's done off the baseball field than on. Pride has been called the Jackie Robinson of country music for becoming the industry's first African-American star.
What doesn't make Pride too happy these days is a growing number of African-Americans who haven't followed the path blazed by Robinson.
"To see him go through all of that and have only about five percent of African-Americans in baseball today is hard for me to take," Pride said. "It hurts me."
When Pride was playing in the 1950s, he said he made $100 a month in salary and $2 a day in meal money. For one of 11 children born to sharecroppers in Sledge, Miss., that kind of money wasn't a problem, especially for a game he had taught himself to play.
Pride says he intended to become a country-music singer from the time he bought a guitar from Sears, Roebuck and Co. when he was 14. But seeing Robinson reach the Majors gave Pride another idea.
"I thought, 'Here's my chance out of the cotton fields,'" Pride said.
Pride believes he could have made the Majors, too, if he had not blown out his right elbow in Sikeston, Mo., in 1956.
"The main scout for the St. Louis Cardinals was there," said Pride, then with the Memphis Red Sox. "I hit a home run that Sunday in Memphis. The next day was my turn to pitch. The inning before, I struck out the side. Then they put a catcher out in right field and he missed a popup. I got a little testy and on the next pitch, I tried to snap off a curveball and cracked my elbow. The scout saw that, and I didn't see that scout no more."
With Tommy John surgery not yet an option, Pride said a family member treated his right arm with alcohol rubs. Pride returned to play several more years, but he had to rely on a knuckleball. When his fastball left him, he admitted, so did his childhood dream.
"My intention was to go to the Major Leagues and break all the records by the time I was 35 or 36 and then go sing," Pride said. "Wouldn't it have been something to be in the Cooperstown Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame? That probably never would be accomplished [again]."
Well, Pride still managed to be part of what might be an unprecedented transaction when he and a teammate on the Louisville Clippers were sold to the Birmingham Black Barons "so they could buy a bus."
Making the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000 and receiving an award named for Jackie Robinson 13 years later also is unique. Pride admitted near the end of his presentation, "I am blessed."
In more ways than one.
Stan McNeal is a contributor to MLB.com.


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Hayden Panettiere covers Women's Health October 2012. In the accompanying interview, the lovely 23-year-old actress talks about what makes her feel beautiful, both inside and out, and shares her secrets for staying slim, working out, which healthy foods give her peace of mind and body and gives her advice on learning to feel comfortable in your own skin. "People can tell when you're happy with being you and when you're not. It's only cheesy because it's true," she says. "As I've gotten older and grown into my body, I've started reali... Read More


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Roger A. Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., associate investigator, Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute and associate professor of Cancer Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, together with postdoctoral researcher Jiangbo Tang Ph.D. and colleagues, found a key determinant in the balance between two proteins, BRCA1 and 53BP1, in the DNA repair machinery. Breast and ovarian cancer are associated with a breakdown in the repair systems involving these proteins. Their findings appear in the latest online issue of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology.
The two proteins, BRCA1 and 53BP1, control which of two cell-repair mechanisms will be used: homologous recombination or non-homologous end-joining, technically speaking. This competition has proven to be a key factor in determining whether a cell becomes cancer prone as well as how a cancer cell will respond to chemotherapy.
The key step of the balance is acetylation, the chemical process of adding a compound called an acetyl group to other cellular molecules.
The researchers asked what cell signals determine whether BRCA or 53BP1 predominates at a DNA break site.
DNA in the nucleus is tightly packed around proteins called histones. Acetylation at a specific spot on histone H4 determines the answer. If H4 is acetylated at a specific location, then 53BP1 binding near the broken DNA region is strongly reduced. This leaves BRCA1 free to do the work, kicking in the homologous recombination tool to repair the break.
On the other hand, if acetylation is reduced, 53BP1 outcompetes BRCA1 at a break and the non-homologous end-joining tool repairs the break.
This mechanism can help explain resistance to a promising chemotherapy called PARP inhibition seen in patients and mouse models with BRCA1 mutations. Work from several other research teams surprisingly has shown that if neither BRCA nor 53BP1 are available, then the homologous recombination system goes into action even in the absence of BRCA1 and BRCA1 mutant cancer cells become resistant to PARP inhibitors.
Because of this, Greenberg says, there are some possible applications for making PARP chemotherapy more sensitive: "If you could inhibit specific acetylation events, then a patient's response to PARP inhibitors might be enhanced by hyperactivating 53BP1 binding to breaks in the context of BRCA1 deficient cancers. What's more, measuring the levels of acetylation at H4 might predict how responsive an individual is to PARP inhibitors."
"The story didn't fall into place the way we thought it would," says Greenberg. "We didn't realize that it was a combination of two epigenetic marks that drives the repair system. However, we were able to show that 53BP1 doesn't bind well to regions of histone H4 that are acetylated at a specific location on H4. Collaboration with Georges Mer, a structural biologist at the Mayo Clinic, helped provide the molecular basis for these findings. We think there will be further complexity to this regulation, creating the possibility for the discovery of additional mechanisms that regulate DNA repair pathways and response to therapy and potential new targets for diagnosis and therapy."
Co-authors are Nam Woo Cho, Erica M. Manion, Niraj M. Shanbhag, all from Penn, and Gaofeng Cui, Maria Victoria Botuyan, and Georges Mer, from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic.
The research was supported by the National Cancer Institute (1R01CA138835-01, 1R01CA132878, P50CA116201), a Research Scholar Grant from the American Cancer Society, a DOD Breast Cancer Idea Award, a UPENN-FCCC SPORE Pilot Grant, and funds from the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute and Basser Research Center for BRCA.
Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $4.3 billion enterprise.
The Perelman School of Medicine is currently ranked #2 in U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $479.3 million awarded in the 2011 fiscal year.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania — recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; and Pennsylvania Hospital — the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Penn Medicine also includes additional patient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region.
Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2011, Penn Medicine provided $854 million to benefit our community.


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Powerful Syrian Islamist brigades, frustrated by the increasingly fractured Free Syrian Army (FSA), are joining forces in an attempt to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad, Reuters reports.
A citizen Deir Ezzor, a city in eastern Syria, told The Guardian that Islamist organizations "are the real fighters on the ground" while the FSA there "are only issuing statements" and "stockpiling weapons in the countryside for reasons we don't understand."
The man added that there is little coordination among FSA groups because there is "big conflict between the defected officers about who should be the commanders." Consequently, people are now "more supportive of the jihadi organizations than the FSA."
The jihadists brigades have decided to come together to form the "Front to Liberate Syria" and one jihadist leader told Reuters they have "more than 40,000 fighters now and the numbers are growing."
Reuters estimates that a force of that size would represent roughly half of Assad's armed opponents. That is, the organized half.
This does not bode well for the Western and Gulf nations backing the opposition, which have been hedging their desire to see Assad fall with the prospect of funneling guns and heavy weapons directly into the hands of radical groups like al-Qaeda.
According to a March article from the Brookings Institution (h/t @Anon_Central), the way to oust Assad relies on a functional FSA:
A U.S. or allied-armed opposition could gain victory in two ways: the FSA could defeat Syria's armed forces and conquer the country, or it could continue to gain strength and dishearten regime stalwarts, leading to mass defections or even a coup that causes the regime to collapse. The FSA would then become the new Syrian army, subordinate to an elected Syrian government, with the mission of ensuring the country remains stable and has protected borders.
That is the hope. The current reality is that the Syrian opposition forces are weak and despite a year of violence are finding it difficult to unite. Sect, ethnicity, region, strategy, and leadership all divide the opposition. ... The FSA, for its part, is currently poorly armed, disorganized, and divided from the broader political opposition movement. ... Thus, if the United States were to embrace the policy of arming the opposition, a key initial step would be to make the opposition more coherent.
It seems that the U.S. has chosen to provide arms (via the CIA) and ground support (via Blackwater veterans) to the rebels, no matter how dysfunctional the FSA is or how chaotic the country becomes.
So at this point, success may lead to armed and organized brigades of jihadist rebels competing for influence in the power vacuum that Syria would become.
SEE ALSO: Syria Is Looking At A Complete Free-For-All If The Assad Regime Falls >


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The year is 2010 and even though I shouldn't be surprised I am still quite baffled at how racial issues amongst the black community are still such an issue. You would think that we would be at a point now that we wouldn't still be walking around with hatred in our hearts for each other because of skin color; especially as we consistently acknowledge ourselves as "the black community."
However we all know that is not the case. We all know that more of us than we would like to admit have passed judgment or cast stereotypes on other African-Americans because of their "shade of brown."
Who hasn't heard that most light skinned people are stuck up, think they are better than darker skinned people, use your lightness as an advantage (and are allowed to) and just have overall cocky attitudes? Who hasn't heard that darker skinned African-Americans are meaner, have bad attitudes and generally don't like light skinned African-Americans?
Honestly, before I began this paragraph I had to stop and allow myself to write this post without bias because I have had my own personal experiences with light skinned people who would have probably swayed my writing had I wrote solely from my heart and personal experiences. I have fought my own battle with trying not to stereotype all light skinned people because of the immense number of arrogant, immature light skinned people I have had to deal with who meet and greet you with the words "I'm light skinned, I'm a redbone, I'm red….
Yesterday I read a Facebook status that stated:
Y do pple automatically assume all light skinned chicks r stuck up?? Im judged on my skin complexion everyday. MAN I LOVE TO PROVE THM WRNG! 😀
I am not light skinned, so I can in no way imagine how it feels to be judged all of the time because of my skin color. I guess I am a safe brown? I don't know. It sounds crazy even saying that because I guess medium brown is the only shade of the African-American rainbow that doesn't catch the flack of being too dark or too light. If you are too light some people (ignorant people) immediately think that you are stuck on yourself, you are siddity and cocky and you will use your skin color to your advantage and you will be allowed to get away with it. People will accuse you of getting more privileges because of your skin color and many will dislike you from the moment you walk through the door. If you are too dark some people (ignorant people) immediately think that your attitude will reach the room before you do. They will think that you are mean and spiteful and that regardless of the situation you won't agree, because you are confrontational and always hard to get along with.
Where do these ideas come from? Some will say slavery (I agree) some will say personal experiences (I agree) some will say ignorance (I agree)
I found this video on World Star Hip Hop and my first response was WOW. Not only was this so up close and personal, but it is exactly what I have heard all of my life from many light skinned and dark skinned people. Not only did it show a lot of the ignorance surrounding this issue, but it also showed why some of the judgments take place…take a look
Don't those things sound very familiar to you? I have heard each of those things countless times and even though its pure ignorance I won't lie and say that I haven't said some of the exact same things. I have come across some of the cockiest light skinned people you would ever want to meet and I have come across some of the meanest, most jealous dark skinned people you could meet and I have come across some of the meanest light skinned, most jealous light skinned, cockiest dark skinned, rudest light skinned, confrontational brown skinned, ignorant light skinned, ignorant dark skinned, arrogant brown skinned…..
you get the point
I say this to say, whatever shade of brown you may be love the skin you are in. Ignorance comes in every shade of color from powder white to black blue. Ignorance knows no color. We really need to stop with the stereotypes and hatred towards one another. Enough people of other races hate African Americans , we need to pull together and love each other as much as possible. We call ourselves the black community which relays a message of unity and togetherness, however within this community we are at odds with each other over skin color.
BGT said it best here —> The Beauty of Black
Black is beautiful let that be the end of the sentence. There should be no conforming or need to conform to what certain people have concluded to be the beauty of blackness….
As I was searching the net while writing this post I came across some very interesting blog posts, videos etc. concerning light skin vs dark skin. Here are a few links I found very interesting.
Womanist Musings-Light Skin Vs Dark Skin
How Colorism Colors Our Daily Lives


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MarketingWN necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 98 diseños de 41 diseñadores freelance.
What's unique about us: The complete shopping experience from start to finish!! We want to invite you to visit our site the same way we would invite you into our homes. Experiences such as effortless site navigation to ease of contacting customer service to speedy delivery of your beautiful scarf are virtues we hold near and dear to our hearts.
We pride ourselves on: Customer Service!! Since we have been in the online bazaar, we know what you want. We understand that ordering online can sometimes seem impersonal, we know because we shop online ourselves. We want you to feel the warm and fuzzies, and therefore we have someone always available via phone or live chat (so you can secretly shop at work).
A little about our family: Our CEO loves industry buzz words, our COO is "antsy" and believes in 18-hour work days, our CTO incites riots, our Director of Purchasing and Inventory Control is "persnickety", our Director of Customer Service should really be "the Coordinator of all things", our accountant, if she speaks, is in numbers, our Human Resources Manager is a chattie Cathy, our junior developer wears cowboy hats in rap videos, our Head Creative Agent can be best described by three words, "bed", "bath" and "beyond", our content developer is very feng shui, our logistics manager refuses to report problems, our newest hire is always tardy for the party.
Women (and men) ranging in age from 18-65. However our primary market will be 28-55 years old. Most of these women will be career and or style oriented with disposable/ discretionary income.
Thanks for visiting our project and considering to submit your design. We look forward to reviewing all of the submission and giving each one feedback.
Our primary colors are purple, black and pink.
Pantones are:
Purple - 19-2820 TC
Pink - 18-2436 TC
Light Purple - 16-3416 TC
Attached please find what we are currently using for a logo pre-launch.
Thank you for submitting your design!!
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.