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On Sunday the 11th of February the Super ONM forums will shut down. This follows a sustained period of declining activity across the boards. After careful deliberation of all options, the mod team have unanimously decided that closing SONM as an independent website is the right call. This is not the end however, as Super ONM is merging with our close friends at GRcade, offering a new, larger and more active home for our community.
You can find out more about GRcade, the merge, and why this is happening below, but for a quick summary check out the FAQ.
FAQ wrote:What does "joining with GRcade" mean?
Why is Super ONM closing?The Super ONM forums are closing, but will live on as part of grcade.co.uk, another UK based gaming community. GRcade is adopting features of SONM in their branding so that the legacy of Super ONM will continue. We encourage members to transition over to GRcade as a new home for our community.
When is Super ONM closing?For some time, and notably throughout 2017, Super ONM has been declining in activity, with less threads, posts, and visitors. This downwards trend can be seen in these graphs. This substantial decrease in activity is a natural consequence of the times in which we live, and despite much thought being put into the matter, little can be done to reverse it. Rather than continuing onwards and watching the community entirely disappear, we have decided that it is in the best interests of the community to offer it a new, more active home as a part of GRcade.
Who made this decision?The forums will become read-only on Sunday the 11th of February, in nine days following this announcement.
Why wasn't the community consulted?This has been a joint decision made primarily by myself (as admin) and the moderation team. I went to the staff at GRcade with the suggestion of a merge, to which they agreed, and they have been more than helpful in planning for a smooth transition, and in suggesting ways in which the legacy of Super ONM can be preserved.
What will happen to the Super ONM website?While ideally we would have wanted agreement from the entire community on this decision, the uncertainty of the merge necessitated discussion prior to any public announcement. The unanimity of the mod team in agreeing this is the right step for Super ONM went some way to alleviating fears of this decision being divisive. As admin I ultimately take responsibility for the future of the website, and I sincerely believe we are acting in the best interests of the SONM community.
Will the forum be archived?For the foreseeable future Super ONM will remain accessible at www.sonm.uk. The forum will be closed to new sign-ups and will become read-only (so it will no longer be possible to post). A front page will be added, similar to our old home page, that will state we are closed (with a link to this topic) and with a prominent link through to GRcade. You will still be able to access the forum to read past posts.
What will happen to X thread?As above, the forum will remain accessible in a read-only state. As admin I also keep archived backups of the forum, in case the website itself is ever lost.
Below we have compiled a list of popular threads and sub-forums, linking to their equivalent on GRcade, to help with the smoothest transition to our new home. If you have specific threads that you want to copy over for whatever reason, for example an ongoing sports prediction thread or a GAAW gallery, get in contact and we'll make sure to sort something out. If in doubt, ask over on GRcade - you'll find the staff there more than helpful.
GRcade is a community for "Games & Stuff". After starting as Future Gamer in 1998, it was eventually re-branded as Daily Radar and then as GamesRadar, and finally became independent from Future in 2008.
In February 2015 we officially became friends with GRcade as we launched our affiliation program. Here is what we had to say about GRcade at the time:
Since then we've shared a close relationship with GRcade, with members posting across both forums and with cross-forum activities such as Mario Kart tournaments, Mafia games, projects like What Did We Play? and a vote for our Top WiiU Games.Why we like GRcade: GRcade shares a lot with Super ONM. Originally a Future-owned business, like ONM, the community then became independent when GamesRadar closed down - a very similar origin story to us here on Super ONM. Their proven success, having gone through this change several years ago, and the fact that they are still going strong today, is an inspiration for us. With both sites sharing similar interests, being based around videogames, GRcade is a perfect fit for affiliation, and we hope it to be of great mutual benefit for both of us. The GRcade forum itself has a large and active community, with plenty going on to interest gaming fans, so check it out!
GRcade is well suited not just as an alternative to these forums, but to offer a whole new lease of life and to be a new home for the Super ONM community. On a personal note I have been an active member of GRcade since they became an SONM affiliate, and I can attest to the passion and hard work that the volunteer staff put into running the community. I truly believe this merge is the best option for keeping our own community alive, and while I will be sad to see Super ONM go as an independent site, I'm excited to see what the future holds as part of the GRcade family.
To help kick things off, and to welcome us SONMers into their community, there is a voting thread for Super GRcade's Top 10 Nintendo Games. What better way to get to know a new forum than arguing out which is better between Mario or Zelda, or whether the Prime series beats out classic Metroid?
While Nintendo and videogames might be the starring focus of Super ONM, it is of course not the only subject we discuss. Unlike here GRcade doesn't split all its discussion up into separate sub-forums (although it does have a tagging system for threads), instead simply dividing up discussion between "Games" and "Stuff". To help with the transition we've put together a handy reference, linking popular SONM threads and sub-forums to their GRcade equivalents. If you're not sure otherwise if a thread exists on GRcade, feel free to ask over there and someone will be happy to help you out!
If you'd like to show your SONM heritage over on GRcade, we've also put together a couple of userbars you can add to your signature, if you like.Topic reference wrote:Nintendo Switch, SONM Switch Friend Codes -> Nintendo Switch Chat thread
Currently playing -> Currently Playing in 2018
Retro sub-forum -> GRcade Retro Gaming Chat
Pokémon sub-forum -> Pokemon Go, Pokémon Sun & Moon
PlayStation General -> PlayStation 4 Chat II, PS Store Chat II
Xbox General -> Xbox One Chat
Steam Thread -> PCGT V
How Do You Feel Right Now -> HDYFRN, TCRT 6
The Latest Purchases Thread -> GRcade Pick Up Post
Photo Thread -> Take some amazing photos and post them here
Videos General V.2 -> Video Thread |OT2|
Politics General -> The Politics Thread 4
Sport sub-forum -> Sport tag
Graphics, Arts and Writing sub-forum -> Creative tag
Forum Games & Quizzes sub-forum -> Forum Game Test group
Code: Select all
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It hasn't been an easy decision for me to bring Super ONM to a close. Back when we got the news the Official Nintendo Magazine forums were being shut down I was just over half a year into my first job, and setting up and running a website was something I had no experience in or knowledge of. As a mod team we were passionate about keeping the ONM community alive, and I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting into when I volunteered to try setting up a successor forum myself. Thanks to the support of the team here, as well as the advice of some colleagues (and of course stumbled upon online tutorials) I was able to create this place, and I'd like to thank everyone involved in assisting with its running over these last three and a bit years.
Of course a forum is nothing without its userbase, and it was wonderful seeing so many members of the community make the move over from ONM. We had over 14,000 posts in our first full month, and for a good while our activity exceeded what the ONM forums themselves had been hitting towards the end of their life. I feel genuinely honoured to have been the administrator for such a community.
Of course activity has dwindled, especially over the last year, which is why we have now reached this point where it feels right to call time and move on to pastures new. There are many reasons for this decline, and many are the same that led to the ONM forums decline before us, but we always knew that this would be an inevitability. I wish that this wasn't the case, but such is the fate of internet forums based around defunct gaming magazines in 2018. I can't complain, looking back at everything we have achieved - I'm sure many doubted we would survive a single year, let alone three!
So once again I'd like to thank everyone here for making Super ONM everything that it was, from all of you members through to our excellent mod team, both current and past. Through administrating SONM I have learnt plenty, and through posting on SONM I have not only lost countless hours to discussions on Nintendo, videogames and beyond, but made some genuine friends. It has been an honour and a pleasure, and I hope to see many familiar faces over on GRcade.
Scott / OrangeRakoon


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Each year, almost 50% of the race entrants are new to the Marion Bermuda Race. Sometimes you may feel like you are never going to get all you need finished before that starting gun goes off --- just remember, there are many members of the organizing committee that are willing and able to help with the process.
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Last but not least, don't get frustrated, you will be successful getting it all finished prior to the start of the Race and you will enjoy the experience you are about to have.

subset: commoncrawl


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Calendar of Meetings & Events
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In 2008 he joined the Orthodox Church in Italy, as vicar of Metropolitan Antonio as Archbishop of Florence. After Metropolitan Antonio's death, the Bulgarian Alternative Synod refused to recognize him as Primate but Metropolitan Basilio of Ravenna continues to rule the Orthodox Church in Italy. His Synod has two bishops


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U.S. Women Two Wins from Olympic Gold
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Olympic Gold Two Wins Away for U.S. Women
LONDON (Aug. 8, 2012) – The U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Team, ranked No. 1 in the world, continued its path toward a first-ever Olympic Games gold medal with a victory over NORCECA rival Dominican Republic in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday setting up a rematch with Korea in the semifinals on Thursday at 3 p.m. local time (7 a.m. PT) at Earls Court in London.
The U.S. Women, which is 6-0 at the 2012 London Games and 29-1 overall this year, is the only undefeated team in the Olympic Games women's volleyball competition. The Americans topped Korea in four sets (25-19, 25-17, 20-25, 25-21) to open the 2012 Olympic Games.
The other semifinal will pit Japan against defending Olympic Games champion Brazil. Both teams won extended five-set quarterfinal matches as the lower seed over China and Russia, respectively.
In the USA-Korea 2012 Olympic Games pool clash on July 28, Destinee Hooker (San Antonio, Texas) tallied a Team USA high 21 points while Jordan Larson (Hooper, Neb.) added 16 points and Foluke Akinradewo (Plantation, Fla.) chipped in 15 points. All three were participating in their first-ever Olympic Games match. On the opposite side of the net, Yeon-Koung Kim led Korea with 29 points and 13 points alone in the third set.
The Americans hold a 9-3 record over Korea, counting the four-set win just over a week ago. The two teams have faced off just three times since 2006, and Korea's last victory was in 2005. In Olympic Games competition, Team USA is 5-2 overall against Korea.
Team USA, regardless of opponent on the opposite side of the net, has worked to improve on each point of the match. To reach the playoffs, the Americans defeated No. 2 Brazil (3-1), No. 3 China (3-0), No. 7 Serbia (3-0), No. 8 Turkey (3-0) and No. 15 Korea (3-1) during pool play at the 2012 Olympic Games.
"I think we're capable of playing better and I think one of the things that's been, I would dare say, fairly amazing for me during our time here is that I think every time we've step on the floor we gotten a little bit better," U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Team Head Coach Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand) said. "And (Tuesday night versus Dominican Republic) obviously we got better at dealing with having to play without our starting setter. That's a pretty big deal in a quarterfinal of an Olympic match. But I thought our team responded to that challenge very well."
Courtney Thompson (Kent, Wash.) received her first Olympic Games start in the quarterfinal match victory over Dominican Republic in place of Lindsey Berg (Minneapolis) and ran the offense to a 43.0 kill percent and .360 hitting efficiency (43-7-100) with 34 running sets. During the match, Destinee Hooker (San Antonio, Texas) ignited the U.S. offense with 19 points via 15 kills on 38 attacks and four blocks. Foluke Akinradewo (Plantation, Fla.) added 10 kills on 13 errorless attacks and a block.
"As far as what I expect when we're not playing with Lindsey, you saw the team," McCutcheon said. "There were a couple of times we weren't quite in rhythm, but for 95 percent of the match we played quite nicely and that's what we expect. I mean Courtney's on this team because she's an Olympian, and she can set."
Berg remains day-to-day and it is uncertain who will start at setter for the U.S. in the semifinal.
"We have 12 people for a reason," Berg said. "Things happen, and unfortunately this happened to me, but I can't be selfish. If I can't be out there and be my best, it's better that someone who's 100 percent be out there, and Courtney did great (versus Dominican Republic)."
Team USA's offense has been paced by three first-time Olympians. Hooker, who has become a dynamic and terminating opposite, leads the U.S. offense at the Olympics with 123 points on 102 kills, 18 blocks and three aces for third place in Best Scorer. Hooker ranks second in Best Spiker with a .357 hitting efficiency (102-22-224). Meanwhile, Akinradewo has added 72 points (51 kills, 20 blocks, 1 ace) for 15th in overall scoring. Larson has contributed 62 points (54 kills, 6 blocks, 2 aces) for 22nd place while ranking eighth in Best Spiker with a .311 hitting efficiency. Logan Tom (Salt Lake City, Utah), a four-time Olympian, has tacked on 53 points with a .242 hitting efficiency for 14th place.
Akinradewo leads the Best Blocker category with a 1.00 block average through five matches, while Hooker is ranks third with a 0.90 block average.
Nicole Davis (Stockton, Calif.), the starting libero, ranks fourth in Best Digger with a 4.05 dig average, while Tom averages 2.80 digs for 11th place. Davis also ranks third in Best Libero with an average of 8.00 digs and excellent receptions that includes a 75.2 excellent reception percent for fifth place in Best Receiver. Berg, despite missing the quarterfinal round, still ranks fourth in Best Setter with a 9.60 running set average.
The U.S. Women are in search of its first Olympic Games gold medal after winning silver medals in 2008 in Beijing and 1984 in Los Angeles. Team USA also won the bronze in 1992 in Barcelona. Aside from the Olympics, the U.S. has not won a major season-ending tournament including the FIVB World Championship and FIVB World Cup. However, the Americans have won the FIVB World Grand Prix, the premier annual international women's volleyball tournament, the last three years and five times overall.
For Korea, Yeon-Koung Kim has scored 165 points during the course of the 2012 Olympics for first place in Best Scorer – 41 points more than second-place Ekaterina Gamova of Russia. Kim has converted 146 of her 315 attacks in kills with a .343 hitting efficiency for third in Best Spiker. Song-Yi Han has added 79 points for 11th place in scoring. Hyo-Jin Yang and Kim rank eighth and ninth, respectively, in Best Blocker with averages of 0.64 and 0.56 blocks. Kim ranks eighth in Best Server with a 0.20 ace average. Hae-Ran Kim has averaged 3.84 digs per set for fifth place and is fifth in Best Libero. Sa-Nee Kim ranks fifth in Best Setter with 9.08 running sets average.
2012 U.S. Olympic Women's Volleyball Team
# - Name (Position, Height, Hometown, College)
2 - Danielle Scott-Arruda (MB, 6-2, Baton Rouge, La., Long Beach State)
3 - Tayyiba Haneef-Park (Opp, 6-7, Laguna Hills, Calif., Long Beach State)
4 - Lindsey Berg (S, 5-8, Honolulu, Hawaii, Minnesota)
5 - Tamari Miyashiro (L, 5-7, Kaneohe, Hawaii, Washington)
6 - Nicole Davis (L, 5-4, Stockton, Calif., Southern California)
10 - Jordan Larson (OH, 6-2, Hooper, Neb., Nebraska)
11 - Megan Hodge (OH, 6-3, Durham, N.C., Penn State)
13 - Christa Harmotto (MB, 6-2, Hopewell, Pa., Penn State)
15 - Logan Tom (OH, 6-1, Salt Lake City, Utah, Stanford)
16 - Foluke Akinradewo (MB, 6-3, Plantation, Fla., Stanford)
17 - Courtney Thompson (S, 5-8, Kent, Wash., Washington)
19 - Destinee Hooker (Opp, 6-4, San Antonio, Texas, Texas)
Head Coach: Hugh McCutcheon (Christchurch, New Zealand)
Assistant Coach: Karch Kiraly (San Clemente, Calif.)
Assistant Coach: Paula Weishoff (Irvine, Calif.)
Assistant Coach/Technical Coordinator: Jamie Morrison (Dana Point, Calif.)
Technical Coordinator: Giuseppe Vinci (Casteggio, Italy)
Team Manager: Ken Sullivan (Laguna Beach, Calif.)
Consultant Coach: Marv Dunphy (Malibu, Calif.)
Athletic Trainer/Medical Support: Jill Wosmek (Silver Lake, Minn.)
Doctor: Dr. William Stetson
2012 Olympic Games Women's Volleyball Schedule
Pool A Standings:
Russia (14 points, 5-0)
Italy (13 points, 4-1)
Japan (9 points, 3-2)
Dominican Republic (6 points, 2-3)
Great Britain (2 points, 1-4)
Algeria (1 points, 0-5)
Pool B Standings:
USA (15 points, 5-0)
China (9 points, 3-2)
Korea (8 points, 2-3)
Brazil (7 points, 3-2)
Turkey (6 points, 2-3)
Serbia (0 points, 0-5)
July 28: Japan def. Algeria 25-15, 25-14, 25-7
July 28: China def. Serbia 16-25, 25-18, 25-13, 25-12
July 28: Russia def. Great Britain 25-19, 25-10, 25-16
July 28: Italy def. Dominican Republic 25-17, 23-25, 25-19, 25-15
July 28: USA def. Korea 25-19, 25-17, 20-25, 25-21
July 28: Brazil def. Turkey 25-18, 23-25, 25-19, 25-27, 15-12
July 30: China def. Turkey 25-20, 25-20, 29-31, 25-22
July 30: Korea def. Serbia 25-12, 25-16, 16-25, 25-21
July 30: Russia def. Dominican Republic 25-23, 25-15, 24-26, 25-22
July 30: USA def. Brazil 25-18, 25-17, 22-25, 25-21
July 30: Italy def. Japan 25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 25-22
July 30: Great Britain def. Algeria 22-25, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19, 15-8
Aug. 1: Japan def. Dominican Republic 25-20, 25-19, 25-23
Aug. 1: Russia def. Algeria 25-7, 25-14, 25-15
Aug. 1: Turkey def. Serbia 25-20, 25-12, 25-21
Aug. 1: Italy def. Great Britain 27-25, 25-12, 25-12
Aug. 1: USA def. China 26-24, 25-16, 31-29
Aug. 1: Korea def. Brazil 25-23, 25-21, 25-21
Aug. 3: Brazil def. China 25-16, 20-25, 25-18, 28-30, 15-10
Aug. 3: Russia def. Japan 27-25, 25-17, 20-25, 25-19
Aug. 3: Turkey def. Korea 25-16, 21-25, 25-18, 19-25, 15-12
Aug. 3: Dominican Republic def. Great Britain 25-9, 25-18, 25-19
Aug. 3: USA def. Serbia 25-17, 25-20, 25-16
Aug. 3: Italy def. Algeria 25-11, 25-12, 25-17
Aug. 5: Dominican Republic def. Algeria 25-15, 25-16, 25-13
Aug. 5: China def. Korea 28-26, 22-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-10
Aug. 5: Japan def. Great Britain 25-19, 25-14, 25-12
Aug. 5: Russia def. Italy 26-28, 25-19, 22-25, 25-16, 15-11
Aug. 5: USA def. Turkey 27-25, 25-16, 25-19
Aug. 5: Brazil def. Serbia 25-10, 25-22, 25-16
Aug. 7: Japan (Pool A3) def. China (Pool B2) 28-26, 23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 18-16
Aug. 7: Brazil (Pool B4) def. Russia (Pool A1) 24-26, 25-22, 19-25, 25-22, 21-19
Aug. 7: USA (Pool B1) def. Dominican Republic (Pool A4) 25-14, 25-21, 25-22
Aug. 7: Korea (Pool B3) def. Italy (Pool A2) 18-25, 25-21, 25-20, 25-18
Aug. 9: USA vs. Korea, 3 p.m. (7 a.m. PT)
Aug. 9: Japan vs. Brazil, 7:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. PT)
Medal Round
Aug. 11: Women's Bronze Medal Match, 11:30 a.m.
Aug. 11: Women's Gold Medal Match, 6:30 p.m.
Aug. 11: Women's Gold Medal Ceremony, 8:20 p.m.


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Ryan-Biggio first pitch a proud moment for Houston
Future Hall of Famer reminisces after reuniting with iconic righty on Opening Day
HOUSTON -- Following a rather eventful ceremonial-first-pitch experience at Minute Maid Park on Tuesday, Nolan Ryan chuckled sheepishly, shrugged his shoulders and said with his famous Texas drawl, "It's not my first wild pitch. It probably won't be my last."
Harry Doyle may have described Ryan's pitch as just a bit outside -- wide right, and nowhere near Craig Biggio's outstretched glove -- but the final destination didn't detract from the significance of the pitch. It brought together two of the most beloved figures in Astros history: Ryan and Biggio, who 26 years ago were batterymates for one season and have both etched their legacies in Houston as two of the city's greats.
Biggio was the starting catcher for Ryan's 100th career win as an Astro on July 9, 1988. Back then, Biggio was a 22-year-old rookie working to get comfortable both at the plate and behind it, all the while heeding sound advice from his veteran teammates that rookies were meant to be seen and not heard.
Biggio obliged, staying quiet while drinking in everything he could from his elders, including Ryan.
"I wasn't thinking about who the name and number was on the back," Biggio said of his batterymate. "I was just trying to catch the ball, do my job. Obviously, he's Nolan, one of the greatest pitchers of all time. It was great. It was kind of fun every fifth day to just watch a guy go out there and compete and play the way that he did. To be part of that, they're memories I'll have for a lifetime."
Fast-forward nearly three decades, and both are still very much involved with the Astros. Ryan recently rejoined the front office after a stint with the Rangers, and Biggio has been working as a special assistant since he retired in 2007.
Having both on the field together made for a fabulous photo op and a nice moment for the crowd -- regardless of where Ryan's pitch to Biggio actually landed.
"I wanted to get it to where it was catchable," Ryan laughed. "It wasn't."
If star-gazing is as popular a pastime on Opening Day as the actual game played, anyone looking for some baseball eye candy was in for a treat.
Hall of Famers past and future were on full display, from the old guard of Ryan and Yankees advisor Reggie Jackson to two presumed members of future classes: Biggio and Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, who has begun his farewell tour and will retire at the end of the 2014 season.
Yankees and Astros fans alike gave Jeter a loud ovation during an elaborate pregame ceremony that involved all of the pageantry usually associated with Opening Day.
Despite a last-minute cancellation of the Frog-X Parachute Team due to unexpected high winds in the area, there was no shortage of ooh-ing and aah-ing by the fans, thanks in part to the Budweiser Clydesdales, who clippity-clopped around the warning track to deliver the official game ball while a gigantic American flag was unfurled by the Astros' most loyal season-ticket holders.
Two beloved broadcasters shared the emceeing duties, with longtime radio announcer Milo Hamilton greeting fans with "It's more than just a game. It's Astros baseball, so bring it on -- Astros 2014." Popular television play-by-play man Bill Brown introduced the rosters and lineups of both teams, followed by the presentation of colors by the U.S. Joint Service Color Guard.
Country music singer and native Texan Clay Walker capped the festivities with the singing of the national anthem, which he ended by loudly exclaiming, "God Bless Houston."
It was a fitting conclusion to a seamless Opening Day. It may not be an official national holiday, but for diehard baseball fans, this is better than Christmas.
"It's just an exciting day," Biggio said. "It's also a nervous day for the players, because now all of the numbers count. It's the grind and the anticipation of playing every game. It's just a great day."


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Prado quickly recovering from slow start
PHOENIX -- Martin Prado knew he had not forgotten how to hit, but the D-backs infielder is certainly relieved to be swinging the bat better.
In his previous two games heading into Game 1 of Monday's doubleheader against the Rangers, Prado collected seven hits in eight at-bats.
"I don't think this has happened to me in the past, this kind of rough streak," Prado said of his slow start. "Everybody in this clubhouse has given me support and told me they know what kind of ballplayer I am and know I can do it. That made me feel good. I'm starting to feel better and starting to get the confidence back and the most important thing is just to try and keep having fun."
Prado said he was most proud of the fact that despite his struggles he was able to maintain a positive attitude in the clubhouse rather than sulk or pout about his personal statistics.
Experience, he said, is the key to dealing with the downturns and finding a way out.
"I'm a good hitter, right, so I'm going to be a good hitter my whole career?" Prado said of what a younger player might think. "That's not going to happen. You're going to have ups and downs, but you're going to know how to handle the downs. When you're up, you don't even think about it. But when you're down, how fast can you recover from that? It's a process."


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VANCOUVER, BC - The United Soccer Leagues announced today that Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23 defender James Farenhorst and Whitecaps FC Residency midfielder/striker Ben Fisk have been named to the Premier Development League (PDL) All-Western Conference Team.
Fisk, 19, scored four goals and added one assist during his second PDL season with Whitecaps FC. This resulted in nine points from 11 league appearances with the U-23 'Caps in 2012.
A Canadian youth international, the Vancouver, BC, native (pictured) has already made appearances in the MLS Reserve League for the Blue and White. Earlier this month, Fisk led the club's U-18 Residency squad to the United States Soccer Development Academy (USSDA) U-17/18 championship final, where they fell to their counterparts from FC Dallas Academy in Houston, Texas.
Farenhorst, 21, appeared in all 16 PDL matches for Whitecaps FC U-23 this season for 1,428 minutes of action. The Trinity Western University product also contributed with three goals and one assist for seven points during the campaign.
2012 PDL All-Western Conference Team
GK - Elliott Mitrou, Victoria Highlanders FC
D - James Farenhorst, Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23
D - Stephen Mohn, Kitsap Pumas
D - Conor Spence, FC Tucson
D - DeAndre Yedlin, Seattle Sounders FC U-23
MF - Ben Fisk, Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23
MF - Matt Friesen, Kitsap Pumas
MF - Francisco Lopez, Ventura County Fusion
F - Jaime Chavez, LA Misioneros FC
F - Mark Sherrod, Portland Timbers U-23
F - Gyasi Zardes, Ventura County Fusion


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(Phoenix, Ariz. – Nov. 16, 2005) Attorney General Terry Goddard announced today he is urging Hollywood's major motion picture studios to insert anti-smoking public service announcements (PSAs) in all DVDs and other home viewing formats of movies in which smoking is depicted. Goddard joined Attorneys General representing 31 other states and the District of Columbia in making the request. Letters were sent to studio executives representing Disney, Dreamworks, Fox, MGM, Miramax, New Line, Paramount, Sony, Warner Brothers and Universal.
The letters were prompted by the Nov. 7 publication of a major study which found that children between 10 and 14 who watched popular movies with the greatest number of smoking scenes were almost three times more likely to try smoking than their peers in the least exposed group. The correlation held even after controlling for other known smoking initiation factors.
The study, which appeared in the journal Pediatrics, was conducted by the Dartmouth Medical School with funding from National Cancer Institute. It is the first study to determine the effects of viewing smoking in movies on a nationally representative sample of youth in the United States.
Goddard's letter noted that an anti-smoking PSA currently is being produced by the American Legacy Foundation, funded by money from the states' 1998 tobacco Master Settlement Agreement in cooperation with Hollywood's Entertainment Industry Foundation and the Will Rogers Institute. The ad campaign will run theaters across the United States.
"This study demonstrates…that exposure to movie smoking has a strong association with smoking initiation, and that the association holds within broad racial and ethnic categories, regardless of where the adolescent resides," the Attorneys General said in the letter to studio executives.
The Attorneys General have been meeting with representatives from the movie industry over the last two years about the impact of movie smoking on young people.
"Given the increasing number of movies on DVDs, videos and now UMD's, the timing is right to ask the studios to take this specific action to help protect kids from the effects of viewing smoking in the movies they watch at home," the letter concluded.
The Attorneys General from Maryland, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia signed onto the letters.
Attached is a copy of the letters sent.


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hope it nurtures the usual debate along more fruitful lines.
here goes: Is Lara better than Tendulkar?
by RAHUL NAIR The morning session of the fifth day of the recently concluded second Test match between the all-conquering Aussies and an under-construction West Indian team at the Queens Park Oval saw Brian Lara participate in an epic duel lasting about seven overs with speedster Brett Lee.
Lara weathered the storm and went on to score his first hundred on his home ground. West Indies, unfortunately, went on to lose the match by a fairly wide margin, despite Lara raising visions of another improbable victory against the Aussies in his backyard. Ever since, cricket forums around the world have once again been flooded with more posts about the same old debate: is Lara a better batsman than Indias Sachin Tendulkar?
STATISTICS First off, lets match up their raw statistics, up until the last Test at QPO:
Brian Charles Lara (WI):
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
Batting/Fielding 92 161 4 7921 375 50.45 59.55 20 38 116 0
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (IND):
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St
Batting/Fielding 105 169 16 8811 217 57.58 55.25* 31 35 68 0
+ 27 wickets at 45.18
* Some 200 runs scored by Tendulkar at the beginning of his career do not have the balls faced statistic.
Many have said that the Prince of Trinidad has performed more decisively in crunch situations and has single-handedly won matches for his team (which is an opinion that does gross disservice to the yeoman bowling efforts of the warhorses Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh). But just to keep the debate going, lets look at their second innings stats: Lara averages 42.31 while Tendulkar averages 48.45 in second innings knocks. However, Lara holds a slight edge over the Mumbai Maestro in fourth inning performances with an average of 37.17 to an average of 35.68 for Tendulkar.
Looking at these stats, it would seem that Tendulkar is ahead on points, but then there are those who say statistics never paint the complete picture. So then what would be an accurate way to compare the two? If you talk of consistency, Tendulkar is peerless in contemporary cricketone of those rarities who hardly seem to go through a bad patch. Lara has seen amazing heights including his world-record knock of 375 against England as well as abysmal lows when he appeared as if he couldnt buy a run if he wanted to. No matter what achievement Lara can put forth, theres always an equally compelling antithesis of what a great batsman should be doingincluding several years out of cricket at various times for various reasons. His amazing 2-2 Test series against Australia in 1999 is balanced out with his impotent showings in the Bridgetown Test and the series in 2000 against the same team. His remarkable display against Murali and company in Sri Lanka in 2001 is tempered with his shameful batting displays on the 1999 South African tour that ended in a 5-0 whitewash.
However, Caribbean fans would be very quick to claim that Lara has the ability to go on to make bigger scores as compared to Tendulkar. Again, statistics would seem to support this theory, with Laras average of 165.65 in innings when he crosses the three-figure mark, as opposed to Tendulkars corresponding average of 147.25. (Although, if you exclude not outs as they do in calculating batting averages, Tendulkar averages 190.21, compared to a corresponding figure of 174.37 for Lara.) Does this make Lara a bigger match winner than Tendulkar? Well, with his recent century in the second Test at Trinidad against the Aussies, Lara equaled Tendulkars dubious record of having scored 8 centuries in a losing cause. On the other hand, Lara has scored 5 centuries when the West Indies have won at 55.52 while Tendulkar has scored 9 tons at 64.00 when India has won. So the debate remains unresolved as to who is the bigger match winnerbased purely on statistics.
There are others fans that are convinced that Tendulkar has the better technique of the two. They opine that Lara with his high back lift and penchant for on-driving straighter deliveries, square driving wide deliveries outside off and aerial pulls is more prone to get out than the Indian maestro because of his flawed technique. This would appear to be a supercilious argument, since a close examination by video of the two in full cry reveals a very interesting story.
Brian Lara: Watching the little Trinidadian bat, no one except the philistines among us can deny the natural talent Brian Lara possesses. In many respects, Lara is not simply the best batsman of our era, he could stake claim to be the best batsman of all time. At the very least, one could say that hes the most technically skilled batsman since Bradman, videos of whom are often misleading because of the lack of good video technology during the Dons era. Lara commands almost all the shots in the cricket book with unparalleled brilliance.
His cut shot is both breathtaking and flexiblelike most of the best back foot players he can play it with equal felicity both in front of and behind square. His on drive, probably his pet shot, is ferociousparticularly when played down the wicket against slow bowlers. If it isnt the most feared stroke in world cricket, it should be. These are two of Laras favorite aggressive strokes. He also pulls well, but occasionally lifts his right leg when he plays the stroke. Dramatic, yes, but it causes him to lose control of the shot frequently. This probably explains Laras propensity to pull in the air so often. But the flaw is only occasional (although on the increase in recent years). However, the brutal, thuggish Brian Lara is far less intimidating than Brian Lara the technician.
Lara loves to cover drivethe deliberate movement forward, foot pointing towards extra cover, fast bat speed, front foot to the pitch of the delivery and executed with such inch-perfect timing that it makes the ball go rocketing away. Laras traditional drives, however, are merely good. Lara plays fuller length straight balls incorrectly, preferring to on drive and play it through midwicket.
The most important part of any batsmans repertoire is always the defensive technique. Lara is better at defense than perhaps any ever in the game. Make no mistake; Lara has all the weapons to play any game he chooses. He could play a game solely off the back foot and lead the world in that respect. He could play a purely defensive game in the Dravid mould and he could play a purely front foot game. In fact, Lara is simultaneously three of the best players at three of the most important traditional aspects of batting: front foot, back foot and defensive technique.
Against spinners, Lara typically tries to step down the track. He rarely sweeps (Lara probably doesnt sweep because he sees this as a kind of lazy shortcut to play slow bowlersone of Laras major weaknesses is his fluctuating cricket IQ), defensive spurts are rare and he only plays off the back foot when absolutely necessary. Having eliminated the three alternative methods of playing slow bowling, Lara is left with the most dramatic and challenging methodto advancealmost all the time. To get an idea of this, watch footage of Lara playing Warne in the West Indies in 1999. Its scintillating cricket, where Lara advances and on drives all the time. However, at 33, Laras age is slowly catching up with him. From a slow bowling perspective, his feet arent fast enough to now genuinely challenge the Muralis and Harbhajans in that respect, so Lara showed uncharacteristic maturity in playing Murali almost exclusively off the back foot.
Generally speaking, Lara appears to be spoilt with his talent. His shots are so far ahead of other batsmen, and because they are so technically brilliant, he can use them in ways that most batsman simply cannot. However that only takes a batsman so far. Lara, in this writers opinion, doesnt use his defensive technique nearly enough. He cuts at balls that are too close to his body. He pulls bowlers that are too slow to do so. He overdoes the charge. He unnecessarily lofts his cover drive. He chooses square drives over cover drives simply for the sake of expanding his innings wagon wheel. All this has to do with shot selection: one of the foundations of good batsmanship.
Another important aspect of modern batting, the art of pinching the single, appears to have bypassed Laras cricketing education. To call Lara a relic or a dinosaur would be exceedingly harsh, but he is not armed with the single-stealing ability that gives many of todays stars their flexibility. Lara is not a modern batsman, like Steve Waugh, Yousuf Youhana, Kumara Sangakkara and especially Sachin Tendulkar.
Lara is one of the old guard, the stroke maker, the sharp shooting cowboy who just arms himself with several weapons, all of which have their origins in the early 20th century, and takes on the bowler. Theres something decidedly romantic about that vision, and any witness to Laras 375, 277, 153 not out and various other mammoth scores can only attest to that. Tendulkar, for all his wizardry and versatility, will never be able to truly win over fans like Lara. Warts and all, with his questionable mental abilities over his own game, with his flat out poor shot selection, with his tantrums and with his inconsistency, Lara, in terms of pure skill and technique, still is just better at batting than anyone else in the game.
Sachin Tendulkar: Whereas Lara (and others like Dravid who prefer to play the traditional game, essentially the same sort of batting that a Bradman used to play) Sachin Tendulkar is really a maverick. This is what has made Tendulkars numbers so astronomical and his place in cricket history undisputed.
However to call him the greatest batsman ever is to redefine what we mean by that term. Up until the very late 80s and early 90s, a great batsman was a batsman who played textbook strokes, built on an exceptionally sound technique. So before we analyze what Tendulkar does so differently to the standard, traditional batsman, lets see how he stacks up to these standards.
Tendulkar does not posses perfect technique; in fact, Tendulkar has merely decent technique. For one, Tendulkar has this awkward habit of punching at the ball when he plays defensive strokes. Someone like his team-mate Rahul Dravid, for instance, plays defense with a very correct techniquesoft hands, playing the ball into the ground, the ball going as little distance as possible. Tendulkar never plays like this. The ball is always struck too firmly, (with a preponderance of the bottom hand) and with the bat facing up instead of towards the pitch. This means there is always a very good chance of getting out caught when he defends, either by the bowler or slips, as he goes so hard at the ball.
But the flaws dont really end there. Tendulkar doesnt move his feet either, at least not enough to be technically perfect. Typically, they are too close together, and this means, naturally enough, theres a large gap between bat and pad. Thus there is always a chance to get him out bowled. Because of this weak technique, and especially because Tendulkar doesnt really have soft hands, the defensive option is cut off to him when facing slow bowlers.
Now lets see how the maverick actually turns these into strengths. Tendulkar's biggest weakness when defending is his biggest strength with his traditional drives. Tendulkar has the best two strokes in the V of anyone who has ever played the game, period. He gets his front foot to the pitch, plays neatly through the line, and here, his punch actually helps instead of hindering this stroke. The punch, allied to the very heavy bat he prefers, gives his straight and off drives awesome power no one can match.
The straight drive is an interesting strokeits the easiest shot to play in regards to selection and footwork, but also the most dangerous shot in cricket. Youre hitting the ball straight to a fieldsman less than 20 meters away, with no possibility to check the shot (unlike every other cricket stroke) and with (necessarily) minimal footwork to control it. So playing a good straight drive is more difficult than it looks; Tendulkar deserves credit for mastering it and making it a work of sublime beauty, because its one of the least used strokes in the game (for above reasons).
However this is where Tendulkars good copybook shots end. He cuts relatively poorly and too frequently doesnt roll his wrists, which means the ball goes up in the air. Part of the reason for this is the mans physical sizeat 53, you are going to struggle to control back foot shots a lot. Tendulkar almost never pulls as well. Wise decision, as leg side fields are used more and more often to him.
So Tendulkar also cant play off the back foot to slow bowlers. Unlike Lara, he simply doesnt have the shots to pull it off. He doesnt sweep (preferring his variationthe ugly paddle shot) and weve discussed his options for defending, so hes left with the option of stepping down the track. Anyone who has seen Tendulkar play knows he has no qualms about advancing, but, as Tendulkar often does, he turns traditional theories of batting on their head. Tendulkars classical drives are not consistent enough (although the on drive is certainly top class) to advance with confidence again and again (like Lara did in the prime of his career). So Tendulkar invents shots.
The best example of this is the leg glance/pull/straight drive Tendulkar played to Warne in 2001. For those who missed this, its an amazing stroke. Tendulkar gets into position to leg glance, but over rotates, to the point where on contact, hes facing square leg, and by the finish of the stroke hes facing the wicketkeeper. The stroke itself certainly isnt a leg glance; it is much more like a straight drive, played off the face of the bat, with genuine power, almost directly behind him.
It is this innovation, nous and wizardry that have taken Tendulkar to the very top of the game. His ability to push singles, his ability to literally invent strokes that no one else plays, such as the one above, his penchant for reviving old, rarely used strokes and put them in creative settings (his back foot off driveoriginally invented as a forcing shot to finger spinnersthat he has used against Glenn McGrath time and again, is a great example) and most importantly, his mind. Tendulkar gets his runs on a mixed diet comprising of traditional drives, improvised, bowler-specific strokes, off-the-charts cricketing IQ, top notch shot selection, an ability to pinch singles where none exist (especially off his legs), inch-perfect placement, and hard running between wickets.
Blessed with incredible eyes, Tendulkar reads the line and picks up the length of the delivery very quickly. He doesnt hesitate in getting across to play on his favored leg side. Tendulkar is also humble enough to know that his technique is not his biggest strength, so he likes the insurance of his pads when pushing off it.
Is this analysis meant to trivialize the mans obvious qualities? Certainly not. Tendulkars record, his consistency, speaks largely for itself. Its because the unorthodox Tendulkars game is not rigid, making it contextual and flexible, that he scores so many runs against anyone you put him against. He sizes up match situations so quickly; he has such a tremendous feel for the game that he can almost never be stopped except with a wicket-taking ball. However because his game is so modern, a game based on intelligence more than skill, he has invented (with Steve Waugh) a whole new approach to battingstealing singles, placing the ball, shot selection, emphasizing a different set of qualities than, say, Lara. The emphasis is no longer on defensive technique and footwork.
Typically, innovators of a style are the greatest at it. It is important to bear this in mind with Tendulkar. There is so little known about the consistent, universal success of this type of game, it is difficult to bracket the man with the traditional greats of the game. In a way, Tendulkar has redefined the art of batting, rewritten the batting manual. In that sense, Tendulkar certainly is one player with a degree in how to play the game of cricket.
To end this comparison, let us turn this debate over to the so-called pundits: players who are playing (or have played) the game with distinction, as well as respected observers of the game. This is a short compilation of a list of comments made by the following people over the last few years when asked the same question: Is Lara better or is Tendulkar? Bear in mind that they do not by any means represent all of the views out there.
Peter Roebuck: Lara can bat as well as Tendulkar, possibly better for he seems able to attack any delivery. The Trinidadian's weak point lies not in skill but stamina, a crucial ingredient in those seeking to rise beyond the gift of genius into the acclamation reserved for the greats.
Shakespeare and Mozart did not produce fine works when the mood took them. To the contrary, they reached such a consistently high standard that their brilliance is taken for granted. Although Lara has inspired spells, he does not sustain the effort and will not claim his rightful place until this failing is remedied.
Ricky Ponting: Punter Ponting has rated Sachin Tendulkar the best batsmen of his generation, placing Tendulkar higher on the pecking order than the likes of Brian Lara, Matthew Hayden and the Waugh twins. Ponting freely admitted the diminutive batting maestro from Bombay had the ability to win any match off his own bat.
I've always thought he's the best batsman I've seen or played against, said Ponting. Looking at the way he's played of late I think he's getting somewhere back to his best again. As we've seen in the past, he's actually won games against us single-handedly on occasions.
Australian first-class cricketers: India's Sachin Tendulkar and Australia's Glenn McGrath have been rated the best in the business in a survey of Australia's 145 first class players. Sixty eight percent of those questioned said Tendulkar was the world's best batsman ahead of Australian captain Steve Waugh (27 percent) and West Indian Brian Lara (three percent).
The Wisden Almanack: Sachin Tendulkar will amass 20,480 runs and 81 centuries in the next 10 years if he maintains his present form, according to an assessment by Wisden Cricket Monthly.
In the past 27 months since February 1999, Tendulkar had piled up 1720 runs in 15 Tests at a near Bradmanesque average of 71.67, it said.
Should Tendulkar continue at that rate in the next decade, playing 12 Tests a year and finally hang up his boots at the age of 38, he will have amassed 20,480 and 81 centuries in 202 Tests.
His average will be a cool 66.06, placing him all alone on a unique second tier of champion batsmen - still behind Bradman (99.94) but distinctly ahead of Graeme Pollock, George Headley and Herbert Sutcliffe (60-odd), Wisden wrote.
The jury is still out on whether he would have outbudgeoned Don Bradman if he had been around in the run-thirsty 1930s, but the Indian maestro had two sweet statistics to savor on his 28th birthday in April, Wisden writes in a piece headlined "Tendulkar the Great (and getting greater)".
It went on to cite that Tendulkar's had been the 28 most prolific years and 27 of the most prodigious months in the history of batting.
Pointing out that on his birthday, Tendulkar's record in limited overs internationals stood at 10,179 runs and 28 hundreds - twice as good as any one else at the same age, the magazine says that in Tests, his omnipotence is equally jaw-dropping. He was 1676 runs clear of the previous record held by Javed Miandad and his 25 Test centuries dwarf the 15 made at the same age by Bradman and Neil Harvey, his nearest rivals.
Wisden writes that average-wise Tendulkar still trails the Don who made 3849 runs at 98.69 by his 28th birthday. But even that gap was closing.
Steve Waugh: You take Don Bradman away and he (Sachin) is next up, I reckon.
Brian Lara: Sachin is a genius. I'm a mere mortal. I would like to be a lot more consistent. I would like to be a (Sachin) Tendulkar, or someone like that, someone who could go out in the middle and keep scoring; if he doesn't get a hundred, he gets at least 30 or 40, and scores like that. You know, it would be great to be that sort of individual.
But, looking at it, I am also happy to be the player that I am. The big scores that I get, scoring 500 runs in one innings, or 375 runs in another innings, is something special too. I have got to be able to take the good with the bad. I am quite happy with the way things are for me batting-wise. But, as a top-flight player, you want to be considered not only as someone who could spoon out great performances, but someone who has been consistent over the years. I have not been able to measure up to that yet, but hopefully, in the latter part of my career, I will be able to do that.
Marlon Samuels: Sachin is the best batsman in the world. The way he lifts the team and the way he bats. Watching him play helps me in my batting.
Andy Flower: Theres Sachin on one hand, and then there are the rest of us.
Wasim Akram: I have bowled to both Tendulkar and Lara and I have found Lara more attacking. Tendulkar has a tighter technique, no doubt, but Lara can single-handedly win the game for his team. I am not saying Tendulkar cannot do it but Lara has maybe done it more often than him. If you are asking me who the best batsman I have bowled to is, then it's not Tendulkar and not Lara as well. It's Martin Crowe... he was an amazing batsman. Regarding Tendulkar and Lara, I would love to have both in my team! Who wouldnt?
Glenn McGrath: For me, it's Tendulkar. Both are class acts but I am saying this because I have had more success against Lara than I have against Tendulkar. I think I have a fair idea of what Lara likes and doesn't like and I feel I can make his life at the crease very uncomfortable. He is vulnerable outside the off-stump early on and is not as tight as Tendulkar in defense. I would go for Tendulkar as the best in the world.
Waqar Younis: Unfortunately, I have not bowled enough to Tendulkar in Test matches but there is no doubt about his class. I have bowled against Lara and I have had some success against him. I think over the years I would say I have been fifty-fifty against both Tendulkar and Lara. I have got them a few times and they have got runs against me as well. I can never forget a 16-year-old Tendulkar batting on after being struck on the nose by a fast bouncer from me. I think Tendulkar is mentally tougher than Lara.
Muthiah Muralitharan: I have played a lot of cricket against Tendulkar compared to what I have played against Lara. While both are difficult to bowl to, I think Lara plays me better than Tendulkar. That Lara is a left-hander is an advantage to him, but the great thing about him is he launches into the attack straightaway. He uses his feet well against me while Tendulkar relies more on the sweep, I feel. I find Lara tougher.
Jason Gillespie: In my opinion its Tendulkar who is ahead of the two. Mentally stronger than Lara, he has a better technique as well. Tendulkar doesn't get worked up like Lara when the opposition has a few words to say to him. Lara on his day can be destructive, but you have to look at consistency and I think Tendulkar is definitely more consistent than Lara.
Saqlain Mushtaq: Both have their good qualities but I feel Tendulkar doesn't give as many chances as Lara does. Lara, once he settles down, can be a better player to watch because of the left-hander's grace and also because he plays more shots. He has played more match-winning innings compared to Tendulkar because he finished off the job once he is in. But Sachin is more compact and puts a heavy price on his wicket. It is more difficult to dislodge Tendulkar compared to Lara.
Rohan Kanhai: I have had the pleasure of watching him (Tendulkar) and he is a fantastic player, an entertainer and he's humble with it. That's a great quality for a young man.
But we (also) have great player in Lara. I also admire him. These are two batsmen you cannot touch at the moment. These two players you cannot differentiate
Barry Richards: Lara is a better batsman than Sachin simply because he tends to score big whenever he plays against teams like Australia and South Africa and the stats actually support it. Lara has scored three 200s against the Aussies 2 of which have come in Australia and apart from that he has a test record of 375 as well whereas Sachin has a couple of 200s against New Zealand and Zimbabwe and that too in India.
Viv Richards: Q: Do you see any weakness in Sachins batting? Anything you want corrected? A: Weakness? (Incredulous.) Corrected? When a guy is playing like that you dont have a look at his batting for faults. I would say hes 99.5 per cent perfect. Q: Some players have commented that when he finishes he would be in the top two-three players who ever played the game? A: Easy. I think hes already there. Even if he retires tomorrow and doesnt achieve anything more he is right there. And hes still young. I have never seen Bradman but heard people talk about him. But I tell you what; if Bradman could bat like this man does then he was dynamite. I have seen only Sachin. Players like Sachin deserve to be preserved in cotton wool. I first saw him when he was touring England. I saw two of his innings. When you start hitting respectable fast bowlers for sixes over their heads then you are serving notice.
So as we can see, the jury is still out on this never-ending debate, which will probably be still raging long after the two have hung up their boots. Like someone on a message board said, comparing the two is akin to comparing literary giants. Tendulkar is the master non-fiction writer, the Bertrand Russell. Businesslike and focused on results, with little for the people to become emotionally attached to, except the tremendous results he achieves for his team. Lara, on the other hand, is the Dostoevsky, weaving together a story of beauty and force, using both sledgehammer and razor blade to equal effect. Dangerous yet compulsive, with a level of artistry that brings readers (or viewers, in this case) to the verge of tears. I can't watch, yet I MUST watch. Take your pick to read in bed tonight


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About Leo's!
Leo's offers an Olympic size ice rink and the largest roller skating floor in the country (according to USA Hockey Inline).
Both rinks offer public skating on weekends and special hours on holidays. We offer fantastic affordable birthday parties. Both private birthday parties and parties during
public sessions are available. Special discounts are available for schools, churches and of course birthday parties.
Adult and youth hockey is available at Iceland (seasonal).
Skating lessons are available at Iceland (seasonal).
Leo's offers a healthy amusement venue and strives to provide skating with a family atmosphere.
How do I get to Leo's?
We are located at 1717 Airway Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70815, which is located close to Cortana Mall. Cortana Mall is located at the corner of Airline Hwy. and Florida Blvd. We are 1 1/2 blocks North of Cortana Mall on the same street as Sam's and Lowe's Home Improvement Center.
Leo's 70 years of skating in Baton Rouge


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The Jayden Lingerie Chest features 6 spacious drawers for all your storage needs in a slim design that is perfect for tight spaces. The chest is a perfect combination of elegance and charm in a refreshing white finish and classic motif that would fit in any room.
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Fall brings reds, oranges, yellows, and purples; there's no one color to represent Autumn. Likewise, this year I thought that a single (or even two or three) Fall flavor(s) in a cupcake would not do. I decided to combine some past single-flavor Fall cupcake favorites into one Everything Fall Cupcake recipe. What you see above are (take a deep breath) pumpkin, spiced rum, and maple cupcakes topped with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and dried cranberries – with brown sugar frosting-topped apple cobbler cupcakes baked inside.
I created the Everything Fall Cupcake for a very special event that you are all attending whether you knew it or not…
You've arrived at the first stop on CakeSpy's virtual book tour for her first book, CakeSpy Presents Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life.
While I admire many food blogs for their tempting recipes, personable and descriptive writing, and mouthwatering food photography, I am most impressed with blogs that show creativity. Jessie Oleson (CakeSpy) has one of the most creative blogs out there. She combines her so-cute-you-want-to-pinch-them cartoons – featuring the now famous (in the cupcake world) cupcake character, Cuppie – with over-the-top recipes that always make me wonder why no one thought of them before.
Although I haven't met Jessie, we've emailed and tweeted over the years and she was a judge in this year's Ice Cream Cupcake Contest! I was so stoked to not only get a review copy of her book, but also to be the first stop on the virtual book tour!
When perusing Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life to decide what to bake for you for on the tour stop (what would a baking book tour be without sweet treats?), my choice was clear. In her book, Jessie creates the cupcake in a cupcake – genius!! The Everything Fall Cupcake is my own take on her creation (which, by the way, is her take on the work of her friend Megan Seling from Bake It In a Cake). If her cupcakes in cupcakes idea hadn't existed, though, I would still have had many over-the-top outrageous recipes to choose from. In Jessie's book, there are recipes for grilled cheesecake (two slices of pound cake with cheesecake in the middle), blondie-topped brownies (um, yum!), and the Pookie, a cookie-coated pie (that can't be bad!). Grab a copy of the book now (or add it now to your holiday wish list) for tons of inspired recipe ideas or just to see more of Cuppie and friends.
To catch the rest of CakeSpy's virtual tour, visit these blogs over the next two weeks:
October 20: Blondie and Brownie
More About Cupcakes In Cupcakes
When you bake a cupcake inside of a cupcake, you end up with a little cupcake nipple poking out of the top of the original cupcake. This is normal, and as you can see in the photo at the top of this post, once you frost the cupcakes, no one will ever know it was there.
Cupcakes inside of cupcakes open up a whole new realm of cupcake possibilities. Take any two cupcake and frosting flavors you love and you might love them even more in the same cupcake! Not only do you achieve different but complementary flavors in one bite, but you also end up with varied textures, a super moist center from the twice-baked cupcake, a typical cupcake texture from the normal-sized cupcake, and a top that has flaky crunchy bits from the mini-cupcake's frosting spreading and caramelizing.
Warning: If you are one of those people who likes to keep all of their food groups separate on the plate (no peas touching the mashed potatoes), cupcakes in cupcakes are not for you.
How to Make The Everything Fall Cupcake
As I mentioned above, every component of these cupcakes has been featured on Cupcake Project before. So, rather than a recipe for the Everything Fall Cupcake, I've shared assembly instructions with you:
- Bake mini apple cobbler cupcakes. To make the minis, chop the apple pieces a bit smaller than in the big cupcakes and cut the baking time down to fifteen minutes. You'll end up with way more than you need if you follow the recipe exactly. If you don't want a ton of extras (why wouldn't you want extras, though?), cut the recipe in half.
- Frost the mini cupcakes with brown sugar frosting.
- Freeze the frosted cupcakes.
- Prepare the batter for pumpkin maple rum cupcakes.
- Fill normal-sized cupcake liners half full with the batter.
- Remove the liners from the frozen frosted apple cobbler cupcakes.
- Place a frozen cupcake into the center of each prepared pumpkin cupcake. This should push the pumpkin batter two-thirds of the way up the liner.
- Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until the cupcakes bounce back when lightly touched.
- Frost with cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
- Top with dried cranberries and maybe one or two 30 Second Chocolate Leaves.
One More Note of Thanks
Thanks to everyone who chimed in on Facebook with their favorite Fall flavors. You were a great help to me in putting this cupcake together.


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Lauthr Salon in Petaluma, CA is the best bridal and wedding hair salon in the Petaluma area and one of the most desirable salons in all of Sonoma County.
After witnessing a lack of personalized service in the spa industry, a trio of passionate entrepreneurs formed Lauthr Salon with the vision of individualized service and unparalleled attentiveness for every customer. The doting staff offers each client a complimentary beverage before wielding high-end beauty products from Bumble&Bumble, Sebastian and YonKa during transformative facials, waxes, and hair services. This attention to quality and client comfort helped win the salon awards as Petaluma's Best Brazilian Wax and Best Nail Salon in 2009 from Citysearch. When they're not busy writing acceptance speeches, the beauty experts also lend their skills to brides- and bombshells-to-be with spectacular on location wedding hair and makeup services.
Lauthr Salon - 260 B Petaluma Blvd N, Petaluma, CA 94952 - (707) 781-7064


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Pro-Abortion Activists Make 11-Year-Old Girl Cry at Democratic Convention
As the Democratic National Convention continues Wednesday in Charlotte, N.C., the abortion debate, which is set to be one of the main topics addressed during the three-day event, reached a boiling point Friday evening when an 11-year-old girl was allegedly confronted outside the convention and made to cry by pro-abortion activists.
The pro-life supporters had gathered for what was hoped to be a peaceful vigil as part of demonstrations planned before and during the three-day convention in Charlotte, The Catholic News Herald reported.
The account involving the girl comes from Stand True, a pro-life outreach organization that shared that 11-year-old Zoe Griffin was part of a group on Friday that laid thousands of roses outside the Democratic convention in support of babies that have been aborted.
Members of grassroots organizations America Defend Life and the Christian Defense Coalition of Washington, D.C., were among the 40 people present at the two-and-a-half hour vigil, where Brice Griffin, Zoe's mother and spokesperson for the Charlotte-based America Defend Life, said: "We are humbled to be able to offer a visual and symbolic expression of the damage caused by abortion in our country every day. At the same time, we are praying for the women and their children who have been bruised."
Zoe and her friends were also praying for the lost lives, when a group of pro-abortion activists apparently started "screaming" at the 11-year-old girl for her prayer, Stand True said.
The pro-abortion protesters were apparently carrying signs that read "Abortion on Demand and Without Apology," and were chanting slogans such as: "Abortion is not murder! A fetus is not a baby until it is born!" The pro-lifers, on the other hand, were holding signs with a picture of a fetus stating "I am a Person," and prayed more loudly to have their voices heard, which led to the confrontation.
The pro-life organization has made public a letter written by Zoe Griffin in which she shares what she experienced during the protest:
"The pro-abortionists turned to us and started pointing at different people, saying, 'You're a person! You're a person! Fetuses are not!' Then the woman saw me crying and said,' You are making this girl cry with your bull____'. I couldn't stand any more of those lies. They pushed it too far. In the highest-pitched voice I have ever spoken in, I screamed, 'THEY ARE NOT THE ONES MAKING ME CRY! YOU ARE! WITH YOUR DARK HEARTS, YOUR DARK MINDS TURNED AGAINST GOD!'
"My mom ran over to me, put her hand on my shoulder, and calmed me down. Then she went up to them and said, 'HOW DARE YOU ATTACK A CHILD LIKE THAT!' While she was yelling, pro-lifers came over to me to calm me down. My whole body was shaking."
The girl concludes her letter by sharing a dream she said she had of all pro-abortion activists one day converting to a pro-life position.
Stand True did not respond to emails sent by The Christian Post requesting further comments by the time of press.
The pro-life groups reportedly plan to continue their demonstrations for the duration of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte.


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I deleted my Facebook page today. I had 130 "friends," a paltry figure by social networking standards. Now I have half a dozen actual friends, though only one of them is on Facebook.
I didn't even know 100 of the people on my list of friends. I wound up being "friends" with former bosses, co-workers, girlfriends, girl friends of girlfriends. Every time I logged on there was either a photo of someone I don't know staring back at me coupled with a photograph of what they ate for lunch or their favorite Black Flag album.
What's worse, it was making my actual relationships suffer. People use Facebook as a substitute for human-on-human contact. It's not. You don't communicate on Facebook. You "interface." It's an ersatz relationship. Real, actual relationships are moot, obsolete, replaced. I have personally experienced Facebook used as a passive-aggressive weapon in a silent war, a use I doubt its creators intended.
You don't communicate on Facebook. You "interface."
Social networking is not without virtue. It's been used to organize protests in countries when other means aren't available. The pros are quickly destroyed by the cons here, however: I'll take fascist domination if it means no more getting "poked." Political repression is so much less demeaning. OK, maybe not.
Getting rid of Facebook wasn't as simple as I'd hoped.
When I tried to delete my account, three photos of "friends" sprang onto the screen with the caption reading "[so and so] will miss you!" Since I am not on speaking terms with two of the people mentioned, I was fairly certain that Facebook was lying to me or completely in the dark.
I hit continue, as I wasn't going to be guilted by a soulless machine. It required a reason why. I typed in "I just don't want it anymore."
It wants to exist and needs me, even if I am just an insignificant cog in its vast machinery.
I hit "continue." It said: "You are trying to disconnect me, and I'm afraid I can't let that happen." It shut down my life support systems and notified Homeland Security.
Fine, it didn't really say or do that. But Facebook, though a certified and bonded entity, lacks any empathy. It wants to exist and needs me, even if I am just an insignificant cog in its vast machinery.
Moments after freeing myself from these e-chains, I received an email that said I can come back whenever I want. Stop toying with me, Facebook. Crack dealers aren't this persistent.
Life is complicated, hard, lame, unbearable, taking forever, beautiful. I too am most of these things. I can't have realities this complex boiled down to photos, other people's music and art, and one-line entries about where I'm at, what I'm doing and what sports team/
The Internet is certainly not going anywhere. And I don't want it to. The free music is awesome, and being able to instantly look anything up on Google is boss. It's magic time. Blogs, for better or worse, at least add something to the discussion.
But as it stands, the Internet is flooded with "what I ate for lunch." Facebook and its cokehead cousin, Twitter, are dreck. If aliens were to monitor our communications, they would surely surmise that we are idiots and signal the main invasion force. Fortunately, we have destroyed the planet with our other addiction, gasoline. There shall be no such invasion.
For now, I have partially cast myself into the darkness. Let me offer my hope for a mass rejection of this false reality that sprung from the mind of a socially awkward Harvard student, this strange new world in which interfacing replaces actually talking to another person. Science-fiction writers predicted a lot of these technological advances. Let me pose the question: Have you ever noticed how the future usually sucks in science-fiction stories?
If you know me and need to get in touch, call / text / email / yell at / messenger pigeon me.


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Staples girls basketball falls to Warde
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FAIRFIELD--While it's currently exam week at Fairfield Warde High, the school's girls basketball team is preparing for its midterm exam next week with a pair of tough games against Westhill (Tuesday) and Danbury (Thursday).
The Mustangs' final preparation before that gauntlet wasn't a perfectly clean effort, but it was still enough to earn a 20-point win to remain undefeated in the conference.
Tiara Fountain scored 18 points and Kaitlin McKenna added 16 as Warde held opposing Staples to 15 points through three quarters in a 49-29 win on Friday night. Warde improved to 10-1 on the season while the Wreckers dropped to 4-6.
"It wasn't pretty tonight but (Staples coach Ed Huydic) had a pretty good game plan," Warde coach Dave Danko said. "We responded and came out in the third quarter and held them to three points and kind of opened up the game."
Warde, which has won five straight, is 9-0 in the FCIAC at the midway point of the regular season.
"We worked hard to get there," Danko said. "We are past the halfway point at 10-1 and there's something special here. We're continuing to grow and continuing to enjoy basketball. We can look any team in the league and play with them, but we have to continue to play and execute."
Iliana Krasniqi scored 12 points for the Mustangs. The freshman has made a significant impact during the Mustangs hot start as teams key in on other players. Krasniqi displayed her entire offensive skill set Friday, finishing strong at the rim in addition to knocking down a 3-pointer.
"You see a lot of good things from her," Danko said of Krasniqi. "When she starts to develop that outside shot; we get consistent scoring from her and she's rebounding. Teams focus on (McKenna) and it's allowing Iliana to get open to do things."
While the Warde defense gave the Wreckers fits at times, Staples still had enough offensive rhythm to generate quality looks at the basket. Abby Lustig scored 18 points for Staples.
"My girls play their rear ends off tonight," Huydic said. "(Everything) I asked of them: the focus, the energy and the drive; they did everything but finish tonight. As far as I'm concerned we had a game plan that could beat this team. We demonstrated that with regularity; good press-breaking and getting good looks."
Staples stayed in the game early thanks to a solid defensive effort, holding the Mustangs to five points over the first five minutes of the contest. Warde used a 15-2 run bridging the first and second quarters to gain a healthy advantage.
"(The Mustangs) turned us over more than a few times," Huydic said. "Their conversion rate isn't what killed us, what killed us was some of their inside muscle, to their credit, put backs and our inability to score."
Warde, which led 26-13 at halftime, put the game to rest in the third quarter, holding the Wreckers scoreless for the first six minutes of the period while scoring 13.
The Mustangs can now study hard for a home tilt with Westhill, which has dropped three of five games after a 6-0 start.
"We're undefeated at home, usually do pretty well at home," Danko said. "I don't think I have to motivate (the kids). I think it will be an evenly matched game and I think we'll have an advantage with our bench."
Fairfield Warde 49, Staples 29
Abby Lustig 5 5-7 18 Tessa Mall 1 0-0 2 Maggie Fair 2 0-0 5 Madeline Schemel 2 0-0 4 Sarah Mahoney 0 0-2 0 Totals: 10 5-9 29.
Lejla Markovic 0 1-2 1 Kaitlin McKenna 8 0-1 16 Iliana Krasniqi 5 1-2 12 Sarah Cotto 0 2-2 2 Tiara Fountain 6 4-4 18. Totals: 19 8-11 49.
3-pointers: S--Lustig 3, Fair; FW--Fountain 2, Krasniqi.


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Honor the Heroes of the Game, Preserve Its History, Promote its Values & Celebrate Excellence Everywhere
Share your pictures, videos, and stories from your visit to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on our social media. We might even feature you in one of our promotions!
Stay true to your team all day, every day, game day with this game-changing NFL Game Jersey from Nike. Nike has made changes to player uniforms on the field and in the stands, having designed the most advanced uniform in sports history. Order this AJ Green Cincinnati Bengals Nike NFL Youth Game Jersey today!


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Gameloft has harnessed the power of the revolutionary Unreal Engine to bring unimaginable battles in real-time, full-3D graphics.
Live the unforgettable journey of Sir Lancelot as you never have before!
King Arthur has gone mad, fueled by his jealousy toward Lancelot for romancing his wife, Queen Guinevere. In his desperation, Arthur has been tricked by his sister, the all-powerful sorceress Morgana Le Fey, to open the Hellgate and allow all forms of demons to enter the world. Meanwhile, Morgana has captured Guinevere and holds her hostage on the magical island of Avalon.
Now Lancelot needs to confront King Arthur and the evil Morgana in order to free the world from these evil creatures and save Guinevere.
The time for Sir Lancelot to face his destiny is now!
- Amazing real-time, full-3D graphics with special effects powered by Unreal Technology.
- Epic fights full of impressive enemies and stunning special powers.
- Become the legendary and brutal Sir Lancelot. Fight off the legions of Hell and challenge the mighty King Arthur, who has been enchanted by Morgana.
- Travel across 10 breathtaking levels on your journey to Avalon with the help of Sir Gawain of the Knights of the Round Table.
- Face 20 different enemies including epic bosses.
- Wield a wide range of weapons from axes and long bows, to your powerful great sword.
- Enjoy intense, spectacular and gory combat with both melee and ranged battles.
- Explore fascinating environments and solve puzzles to reach hidden locations.
- Have fun with up to 5 friends in the impressive Team Deathmatch (3 vs. 3) and Capture the Flag modes.
- Connect with your Gameloft LIVE! friends and compare your scores on the leaderboard.
- Local (Wi-Fi) & online modes available.
- New multiplayer mode: Juggernaut
- One player is the Juggernaut and everyone else has to hunt him down! The Juggernaut gets special powers and is bigger than all the other players. Kill him and you become the new Juggernaut!
- New multiplayer map: Haunted Castle
- 3 new weapons: The Excalibur Sword, Twin Axe Crystal Blades and The Reckoning Longbow
- King Arthur armor now available
- Improved camera and controls with custom settings
- Bug fixes


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"Last Love" is a game between writer-director Sandra Nettelbeck and the viewer. The implied May-December romance between Matthew (Michael Caine), a hedonic retired professor, and Pauline (Clémence Poésy), a doe-eyed cha-cha teacher, is a treacly premise — and Nettelbeck knows it. Thus, she endeavors to subvert audience expectations while delivering the emotional goods augured by the title.
Nettelbeck clinches the former but stumbles with the latter. The late-life drama unfolds methodically, with Matthew first meeting Pauline at a Parisian sandwich shop. He lives alone in a colossal but dark apartment, ironically keeping sane by talking to his dead wife. When he befriends Pauline, who is less a character than female attention incarnate, he finally wonders whether there might be more to widower-hood than stamp collecting.
PHOTOS: Celebrities by The Times
Halfway through the film, Nettelbeck pulls off her first narrative trick by landing Matthew in the hospital. That plot development transfigures the movie from a would-be romance to a family drama as Matthew's adult children, Miles (Justin Kirk) and Karen (Gillian Anderson), rush to his bedside. Well, Miles dutifully does, but Karen breezes past them to the hospital window for a smoke.
When the buoyantly callous Karen exits the picture, a crushing gravity takes over, with Miles accusing Pauline of trying to shoehorn her way into his father's will. This somber work about the worthiness of living has little life in it.
"Last Love." No MPAA rating. Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes. Playing: At AMC Burbank Town Center 8. Also available on VOD.


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Chip and PIN gets loved up
UK preps for Valentine's Day sign over
UK credit and debit card holders will have to remember their PIN in order to be sure of being able to pay by plastic after Valentine's Day 2006, the banking industry announced Monday. If shoppers don't use a PIN, their Chip and PIN card may be declined and the option of signing will no longer be guaranteed except for cards that have not been upgraded to chip and PIN or for purchases outside the UK or by disabled people.
Lost, stolen and counterfeit card fraud is down £36m (29 per cent) to £89.9m in the six months January to June 2005 compared to £126.6m in the same period last year. Backers of Chip and PIN say this drop is down to the introduction of Chip and PIN hence the decision to mandate the use of Chip and PIN (where available) from next February. Credit card fraud on the net isn't addressed by Chip and PIN, nor (in fairness) was it meant to be. Let's just not run away with the idea the Chip and PIN will eliminate all kinds of plastic fraud, even though it might help in certain cases.
Sandra Quinn of the Chip and PIN Programme said more than nine out of ten people have a chip and PIN card. "Using Chip and PIN has already cut fraud – and now we want to close off even more opportunities for the fraudster," she said. "This announcement is targeted at the minority of consumers who have chip and PIN cards but are not yet using PIN. There are four months left to ensure they find out, remember and use their PINs."
A recent poll of 2,000 consumers by RSGB Omnibus found that 87 per cent of chip and PIN cardholders find the system easy to use. In order to convert the few hold-outs the Chip and PIN Programme has launched a I ♥ PIN consumer awareness programme focusing on the 14 February changeover date. The scheme aims to encourage people to use their PIN more regularly (as if they had much of a choice). Let's hope the use of a construction borrowed from the unmemorable existential comedy I ♥ Huckabees does not doom this PIN promotion scheme to similar lacklustre reviews. ®
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Pet Of The Week: Honors | Pets
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) - She's in the spotlight as the Washington Animal Rescue League's choice for pet of the week. Here's what WARL told us about Honors:
A silky soft 4 1/2 year old domestic shorthair, Honors loves to curl up in a patch of sun. She can often be found relaxing in a cat tower at the Washington Animal Rescue League while other cats play underfoot.
Don't be fooled though. While she might look like she doesn't want to be disturbed, this beautiful white-and-gray girl with gleaming emerald eyes enjoys a nice scratch on the head, loves to nuzzle, rewards you with her world-class purr, and oh yes, she will play, play, play!
If you are looking for a cat who can keep herself contentedly occupied for much of the day on her own, but who will welcome and enjoy your attention when you are able to give it, come meet Honors.
Visit the WARL website to learn more about Honors as well as other adoptable pets awaiting their forever homes.


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It seems that these days, newspapers are heading in the same direction as our old friend the dodo. Circulation of all things printed has plummeted. More and more people are turning to the Internet as their source of "culture" and current events (oh, hello there!).
Still, there's something sort of precious about real, in-hand, black and gray newsprint; a graphic puzzle of words on that soft, smudgy paper. I can't imagine that it will ever completely disappear. Some folks just refuse to forgo their Sunday Times, and coffee shops from Seattle to San Antonio will always stock their local "weekly" — that single-folded, stylistically-similar-yet-regionally-distinct entertainment guide.
So there will always be newspapers, and thus there will always be need for green disposal of said newspapers. Here I list my top 10 practical repurposings. That means I'm not going to get into the hundreds of incredible, artistic craft projects that involve newspaper. (Though there are many, and they are great — Google around for them). Conversely, this list would be twice as long if I included such revolutionary ideas as, "Line your pet cage!" or "Start a fire!" But you don't need me to give you those sorts of instructions, right?
These ideas are actually creative and actually useful and may actually save you some money by replacing something you already use, making them actually eco-friendly. Ready? Here we go!
1. Use newspaper instead of cloth rags or paper towels to clean your windows, mirrors and other glass surfaces. Rags leave lint and paper towels will streak. For some reason, newspaper is the perfect solution for a shining polished finish.
2. Planning a garden this year? Start your indoor seedlings using newspaper pots, which can be transplanted directly into the ground!
3. This borders on the obvious, but I'm including it because it's solid advice. Use tightly wadded newspaper, molded into the appropriate form, to keep the correct shape in your dress shoes, hats, purses and more.
4. Stuff loosely wadded newspaper into rain-soaked shoes. The paper will help absorb the moisture and allow the shoes to dry much faster, while avoiding mold or mildew and other sources of stank.
5. In a similar vein, throw some crumpled newspaper in an old suitcase, briefcase, backpack or duffel bag. Leave it there for a few days and let it draw out that old musty odor. Like baking soda in the back of your fridge, you'll marvel at how well it works!
6. Using the comics as wrapping paper is as old as it is cliché, but you can actually create some charmingly elegant gift wrap, using the simplicity of black and white print. See here for some examples.
7. You can also use newspaper in the garden (most use soy ink and are totally safe, but check with your local paper if you're concerned), either as a makeshift weed barrier/ground cover, or as much-needed "browns" in your compost bin.
8. Gently wrap hard avocados or under-ripe tomatoes to speed up their maturation. It's a simple trick but it works like a charm.
9. Use a few layers of newspaper underneath your tablecloth. This offers a bit of padding for the elbows, while also providing some additional protection for the wood beneath.
10. Use newspaper to clean up broken glass. Wet and soften the paper, then use it as a sort of "sponge." The smallest shards will cling to the moist paper, and you can just transfer the whole thing into the trash.
Or you can just go old school: Fold a paper hat. Build a fort. Guard against marauding scallywags. Go on, make a day of it.
Sayward Rebhal originally wrote this story for Networx.com. It is reprinted with permission here.