text:
Soccer As World Passport
"We are trying to establish very big soccer academy investments not only in Uganda but for the whole of East Africa,� Brockstedt tells The Black Star News
[International: Sports]
Soccer, or better, football, as most of the world knows the game, offers talented young Africans an opportunity to showcase their skills on the global arena, while also earning some serious money.
Two talented young Ugandans, Benjamin Ochan and Daniel Serunkuma who were with Uganda's Kampala Kids League (KKL) and Friends Of Football (FOF), now play in Århus, in Denmark.
Ochan, described as Uganda's huge hidden talent, and one of the most disciplined players, just turned 18, Tuesday, making him eligible to sign a contract, although there may be a bigger payday if her waits a while. Ochan trains with Viborg, which is not a very strong team; it is fourth from the bottom in the Danish Premier League. He will play his first match this Saturday, against B'93; maybe his skills will help lift the team's fortunes Clause Brockstedt manager of Ochan and Serunkuma says, "I can tell you Benjamin is definitely going into the window with the best contract next years. Although, he turned 18 years, it's not wise for him to sign a useless contract. He will make a bigger one next year."
For the last nine months, Brockstedt has been at the center of a program to improve the welfare of the Ugandan teenagers, including taking them to watch some big-time matches in both Spain and German.
Brockstedt has bigger plans for the East African country's talents. "We are trying to establish very big soccer academy investments not only in Uganda but for the whole of East Africa," he tells The Black Star News.
Recently, English powerhouse Manchester United and England International Rio Ferdinand visited Uganda and toured several sports centers and saw young promising players.
Both Ochan and Serunkuma, who turns 18 on December, were provided neat apartments at the AGF Academy where they have lived, trained and studied the Danish language. Ochan is a prized goalkeeper while Serunkuma is a promising master midfield general.
Previously, Uganda has promised a mere handful of recognized International professionals, such as the late Magid Musisi, a.k.a. Tyson, and Livingston Mbabazi, who played for European Clubs Rennes of France and St. Patrick Athletic of Republic of Ireland, respectively. Now the teenagers carry hope for the future.
Investigative reporter Miwambo, who writes for The Black Star from London, is a big sports fan. He can be reached at email@example.com
To comment or to subscribe to or advertise in New York's leading Pan African weekly investigative newspaper, or to send us a news tip, please call (212) 481-7745 or send a note to
Also visit out sister publications Harlem Business News www.harlembusinessnews.com and The Groove music magazine at www.thegroovemag.com
"Speaking Truth To Empower."
Latest comments
- Ann GarrisonFebruary 22,2018 @ 08:03 PM
I think you have "Filtered HTML" turned on here. If you switch to "Full HTML," it will probably...
googletag.pubads().definePassback('6785150/BENN/BlackStarNews', [[300,250]]).setTargeting('fold',['BTF']).display();


text: Ophthalmology is a branch of medicine which deals with the diseases and surgery of the visual pathways, including the eye, hairs, and areas surrounding the eye, such as the lacrimal system and eyelids. The term ophthalmologist is an eye specialist for medical and surgical problems. Since ophthalmologists perform operations on eyes, they are considered to be both a surgical and medical specialty.

subset: commoncrawl


text: On this episode of Dirt Every Day, Fred Williams takes to the mountains of Mammoth in his 1965 Dodge M37 to try some snow wheeling away from the busy city. While in Mammoth, Fred meets up with his friend Shane and agrees to take him to the coast at Big Sur to go surfing. Along the way Fred decides to take Shane 4-wheeling in Hollister and even lets him drive "The Dumpster". Fred ends his journey on the towering sand dunes of Pismo Beach


text:
Delvo®Cheese CC-300 and Delvo®Cheese CC-200 have been developed to allow medium and large scale cheese producers to create dairy products with great texture and mouthfeel, while maximizing profits through optimized processes. The CC-300 range features set times between 5 and 5.5 hours, and provides fast and consistent acidification as well as a higher curd integrity to allow a more accurate dosage of the cream. The result is a more optimized and cost-effective cheese making process with improved yield and optimum product quality. The CC-200 range was developed for cheese plants using mesophilic solutions, and delivers improved phage protection with four rotations and superior curd integrity. Both range cultures are able to preserve the fresh and characteristic mild flavor over the course of the product's shelf life.
DSM, www.dsm.com


text:
Gender undisclosed? It's elementary Ms. Watson.
Nice avatar. U2 is hands-down one of my favorite bands of all time!
I am very sorry to hear of your daughters paralysis Domosoyo!! I can't imagine how hard it is for her being 13! It's definitely a tragic event. I hope I will be able to provide some of the information you are looking for. Will she be able to cath herself if she goes through with the mitrofanoff surgery? That is one thing she should figure out. Good luck to your daughter in learning how to live with her new life she has. If she would like to talk with someone she's free to send me a message. My injury is a bit lower then hers so some things I wouldn't be able to relate but most other things I probably would.
Senior Member


text:
Featured [more]
Steelers #43 Troy Polamalu Black Field Shadow Stitched Football Jersey
$49.00 $19.99
Save: 59% off
Raiders #3 Carson Palmer Black Stitched Football Jersey
$49.00 $19.99
Save: 59% off
Your best selection
Our company is your best choice on the Sport jerseys business, we are professional in doing wholesale jerseys for more than 5 years, and have a lot of old customers from worldwide, they like to do business with our company and we are major doing the business about Wholesale Basketball Jerseys,Wholesale Hockey Jerseys and Wholesale Baseball Jerseys,our customers like the wholesale Football jerseys,cheap Football jerseys and discount Football jerseys. Why we say our company is your best choice? because our company supply the lowest factory price you will find from our website, the price is really the lowwest, and we guarantee all the Sport jerseys you order have the super A quality and 100% cotton, give you the comfortable feeling while you wear our jerseys. The most important is our company's service have receive a lot of good feedback, we can slove your every questions and give you the most professional answer! Hope we can do a long term business with you, thank you in advance!
Who's Online
There currently are 208 guests and
10 members online
Home - Soccer Club - Cruzeiro Esporte Clube Jersey - Cruzeiro Esporte Clube Blank Home Soccer Club Jersey
It is wholesale price for u, also when order around 1-9 pcs, should add 25$ shipping fee to the total sum of your order, and when order more than 10 pcs, no shipping fee. UPS OR DHL (more order 60pcs ) 3-4 days USPS (1 - 59 pcs) 4-7days If you can not get the players that you want, you can email us the order list of players by email , We can get any players that you want for sure. send order like followed form: 9# Inzaghi AC Milan Red/Black Home M*5 L*5 100% polyester. mesh panels and advanced moisture-wicking fabric comfort no matter. Printed number and number on the chest, back and sleeves logo embroidered on each sleeve and chest Decorated in the team colors


text:
/ Jan 23, 2020 Suunto 3 Fitness Becomes Suunto 3 and is Precision Made in Finland
Today is day 1 of Suunto Vertical Blue and it looks like it's going to kick off in style. There will be 11 national record attempts with an average depth of 71 meters!!! The day should end with some huge annoucements, says organizer Will Trubridge. For the latest results, check out the official event Facebook page. In the meantime, enjoy the video below.


text:
In a first, scientists have detected rings encircling an M&M-shaped asteroid known as Chariklo.
Until now, only the solar system's four gas planets — Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus and especially Saturn — were known to have rings.
"It was an extremely surprising discovery," said James Bauer, a planetary astronomer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge who was not involved in the finding. "No one has ever seen rings around a comet or an asteroid before. This is a brand-new area."
The two concentric rings around Chariklo are dense, thin and bright, according to a report published online Wednesday by the journal Nature. Observations made with seven different telescopes in June 2013 indicate that the outer ring is about 2 miles wide and the inner ring measures roughly 4 miles wide. The elliptical rings are separated by a gap of about 5.5 miles, and they are probably made of water ice, scientists reported.
Chariklo, a 155-mile-wide rock that orbits the sun between Saturn and Uranus, is part of a class of objects known as centaurs. These space rocks are thought to be part comets, part asteroids.
Scientists believe Chariklo's surface is made of carbon silicates and organics, with icy materials trapped below. It reflects just 3% of the light that hits it, making it darker than asphalt — and thus difficult to study from Earth.
The rings were discovered when an international team of scientists observed Chariklo passing in front of a distant star. Using a technique known as occultation, they took careful measurements of how long the asteroid blocked the star's light.
The scientists, led by Felipe Braga-Ribas of Brazil's National Observatory in Rio de Janeiro, were hoping to get a more precise idea of the centaur's size. But something unexpected happened. The star's light went out briefly twice, then for a long time, and then briefly twice again. Something around Chariklo was clearly blocking the star as well.
"We had puzzling data that we did not know how to reconcile," said Jose Ortiz of the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia in Spain, a member of the research team and coauthor of the paper. "But when I realized that an elliptical ring could explain all the secondary occultation events, I almost jumped out of my seat!"
Scientists used a similar method to discover the rings of Uranus and of Neptune. "This is a great technique for finding faint rings, and the evidence is very credible," Bauer said.
Amy Mainzer, an astronomer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who was not involved in the study, said that "until now, we had no idea that anything but the giant planets could have rings." She added that the team's discovery "is amazingly cool."
Nobody knows exactly how Chariklo's rings formed, but the Nature authors suggest their origin is probably tied to some sort of collision. One scenario is that another asteroid slammed into Chariklo, knocking ice off its surface that reformed as rings. Another possibility is that something hit a moon orbiting the centaur and the debris from that collision made the rings. Or perhaps two small moons of the asteroid smashed together, forming the two circles.
"I particularly like the scenario of the total or partial disruption of a moon through a relatively small collision, but so far we have little information to decide which mechanism is best to explain what we saw," Ortiz said.
The scientific team is hoping to get some time on the Hubble Space Telescope to collect actual images of Chariklo and its rings. They are also planning to observe it with a network of telescopes during three more occultation events expected to occur this year. The centaur is currently moving through a crowded star field, so such opportunities are relatively frequent.
Although Chariklo is the first small planetary body to be discovered with a ring system, it may not be the last.
"We are looking for rings around other bodies, and in fact, we think we have found another object that may have very similar rings to Chariklo," Ortiz said.
The European Southern Observatory, whose telescopes were used to study Chariklo, prompted intense speculation about the team's discovery by announcing Tuesday that scientists would reveal "a surprise discovery in the outer solar system."
Astronomers and sky-watching buffs took to Twitter to share their guesses about the news, often with their tongues in their cheeks.
"Kuiper Belt objects not only icy, but also fruit-flavored like Popsicles," tweeted Erik Gregersen, an astronomy editor at the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Astrophysicist Katie Mack wrote: "ISON had friends, and they want vengeance," a reference to the comet that disintegrated upon its near approach to the sun last year.
The folks at ESO couldn't help commenting on the rumors.
"Some of your #ESOrumors are really funny," the observatory's main account tweeted. "Better than the real thing."
Twitter: @DeborahNetburn


text:
Focus on Scholarship: Dr. Michelyn Bhandari
Dr. Michelyn Bhandari, Associate Professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Administration, has published numerous journal articles and conducted many presentations. Her scholarship centers around the field of Public Health Systems and Services Research, which is a developing field focusing on the organization, staffing, financing and management of public health with the ultimate goal of helping public health to be more effective and productive in its mission to improve health status.
Hear what Dr. Bhandari has to say about her scholarship in her interview for the Focus on Scholarship webcast series.


text:
"Ide-skel is a skeleton (or framework) of IDE for Emacs users. Like Eclipse, it can be used as is with some predefined plugins on board, but is designed to extend by Emacs Lisp programmers to suite their own needs. [...] http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/IdeSkel [...] The only currently known external plugin for ide-skel is SqlPlus (http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/SqlPlus)."Read more »
IDE Skeleton
http://lists.gnu.org –
can.axis 11 years 17 weeks ago – Made popular 11 years 17 weeks ago
Category: High End Tags:
Category: High End Tags:
- Login to post comments


text:
Financial Aid Acronyms
ACG (Academic Competitiveness Grant) – For citizens who have graduated from high school in a rigorous program of study after June 2005; and eligible to receive the Federal Pell Grant. Sophomore students require a grade point average of 3.0 or higher.
COA (Cost of Attendance) – This budget includes tuition, fees, room, board, books, supplies, transportation and personal expenses for one academic year of education. The COA is used to determine the maximum amount of financial aid that a student can receive for an academic period.
EFC (Expected Family Contribution) – Measure of the family's financial strength based on income, assets, family size and etc., submitted on the FAFSA. The EFC represents the money the federal government believes your family can contribute toward one year of college.
FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) – A form required by the government for application to any federal aid program; this form is used to determine the expected family contribution based on family financial information. This form is also used to determine the specific Federal Student Aid Programs that can contribute to a student's total financial aid package and in what proportions.
FAO (Financial Aid Office) – NMU's Financial Aid Office is located at 2107 C.B. Hedgcock.
FSEOG or SEOG (Federal Supplement Educational Opportunity Grant) – Grant that is campus based and provides assistance for Pell eligible recipients. The amount may vary at different schools based on availability and funding parameters.
FWS (Federal Work Study Program) – Funds used for community or campus employment; all money earned through this program based on need is considered non-taxable income.
GPA (Grade Point Average) – The average grade earned by a student, figured by dividing the grade points earned by the number of credits attempted.
MCS (Michigan Competitive Scholarship) – Available to Michigan undergraduate students pursuing their first degree at an approved Michigan post secondary institution.
MEAP (Michigan Educational Assessment Program) – This is a standardized test that is taken by all public school students in Michigan from elementary to junior high. The high school test was replaced by the Michigan Merit Exam, if the student scores a high score they get the Michigan Merit Award for $2.500, a college scholarship.
MET (Michigan Educational Trust) – This prepaid tuition program offers several options to the Michigan family to lock in tuition at Michigan public institutions.
MPN (Master Promissory Note) – A legally binding loan agreement a borrower signs to promise to repay the loan, with interest, in periodic installments. The note may be signed in writing or electronically. A borrower may receive multiple loans under the same MPN.
PELL (Federal Pell Grant) – This is an entitlement from federal government to eligible undergraduate students.
PLUS (Parent Loan for Undergraduate Dependent Students) – Provides parents and students with an alternative way to finance attending college.
SAP (Satisfactory Academic Progress) – Federal regulation requires that all financial aid recipients progress at a reasonable rate toward achieving a certificate or degree. This is measured by the student's cumulative grade point average; the number of credits earned in relation to those attempted; and the maximum time frame allowed to complete an academic program.
SAR (Student Aid Report) – The official notification sent out after the FAFSA has been processed. This document will state your expected family contribution.
SMART (National Science & Mathematics Access to Retain Talent Grant) – This grant is available during the third and fourth years of undergraduate study to full-time students who are eligible for the Federal Pell Grant and who are majoring in physical science, life science, computer science, mathematics, technology, engineering or foreign language that are determined critical to national security.
TIP (Tuition Incentive Program) – This is a State of Michigan program that encourages eligible students to complete high school by providing tuition assistance for the first two years of college and beyond.


text:
You can cut the tension with a knife.
A return to form, not without its flaws but still scary good.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a conscious effort from Capcom to get the franchise back on track after a number of years going wayward and it's great news for gamers that they achieved just that.
The first thing to say about RE7 is that it is one of the most terrifying games you will ever play, and it is unrelenting in that sense, each time you play your nerves will be frazzled by the end.
Capcom has delivered on its promise to get the series back to its origins.
The tight focus on the storyline and mission works well because it really does cut down on the game being a procession of events to get to the good bits.
There is an unbelievably strong storyboard and at all times you could literally cut the tension with a knife... actually on several occasions you will have to. This could stand alone as a good movie.
The detail of the graphics is so good it will make your stomach churn.
My favourite aspect of RE7, though, is undoubtedly the ingenious inclusion of the different family members and the playable flashbacks.
This is the game's crowning achievement and ensures you never get bored with the action.
The move to first person is another departure for the RE series but it paid off in what was a delicate balance between the originals and the new while the VR option is said to be a great addition, although I have not played it.
RE7 is not without its faults, though. Boss battles - yes they're back - can at times be an annoyance and often serve to break the intense atmosphere that builds throughout.
Enemy AI is not great and could be a lot more challenging while puzzles are also a bit of a sideshow.
Regardless of that this is the closest Capcom has come to recapturing the essence of RE and we can only hope they will continue up this path with more of the same in the future.


text:
Are you looking for apps to help your child with their literacy? Here are 15 of the best reading apps for kids, including some for kids learning to read, and others for established readers.
Sign up for our free monthly newsletters. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, Instagram, Youtube & Pinterest.
#1. Montessori Crosswords
Based on the proven Montessori learning method, Montessori Crosswords helps kids develop their reading, writing, and spelling skills by building words from a set of 320 word-image-audio-phonics combinations using a phonics-enabled movable alphabet.
Available on iTunes & Android.
#2. The Sight Word Adventure
The Sight Word Adventure app is a thorough and comprehensive practice system for some of the most important early-reading words that every child must master to gain fluency. Children can learn to recognise, read and write up to 320 words.
Available on iTunes.
You may also like 10 of the Best Educational Apps for Kids reviewed by Families
#3. The Land of Me – Story Time
The BAFTA nominated Land of Me Storytime app is a beautiful picture book world, where the characters are alive and where every choice you make has dramatic results. What's the story? You decide! Join Eric the raccoon, Buddy Boo the bear and Willow the owl on an epic journey through your child's imagination.
Available on iTunes.
#4. Starfall Learn to Read
Learn to read with Zac the Rat. Each numbered section features a vowel sound and its related spelling. Your child will hear, touch, read and eventually master this sound-spelling through a variety of engaging activities, movies, and songs. Encourage your child to play and explore! Perfect app for emerging readers and English language learners.
Available on iTunes & Android.
You may also like 20 of the Best Educational Apps for Preschoolers
#5. Billy Possum's Interactive Comprehension
Created as part of a PhD research project, The Adventures of Billy Possum is a beautifully illustrated children's story adapted from the book 'The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum'.
Throughout each of the 25 chapters, emphasis is placed on 'making meaning' at the sentence and text level achieved. Software can be switched on, to help educator/parent understand the child's reading comprehension, and how many times hints etc. required.
This is a great app for kids who love to read and is best suited for 9-11 year olds.
Available on iTunes.
#6. Playtales
PlayTales' stories are designed to educate, entertain, and inspire young readers ages 1 to 12. The PlayTales library features classic children's tales such as The Ugly Duckling and Sleeping Beauty along with new favorites like Pocoyo, Popeye, Betty Boop, and Felix that Cat.
All stories feature a playable format with amazing animations, stunning sound effects, and original music. Three reading options: "Autoplay" "Read to me" and "Read by myself"
Available on iTunes & Android.
#7. MeeGenius
Captivate your child's imagination by giving them access to hundreds of read-along books with MeeGenius, turning your mobile device into an expansive library of digital books for children up to 8 years old. All MeeGenius books are available with read-along word highlighting, rich illustrations, and engaging story narration.
Available on iTunes & Android.
#8. Dr. Seuss's ABC
Learn your ABCs with Dr. Seuss in this interactive book app for young readers! Explore pictures, learn new vocabulary, and personalise the story with your own narration. From Aunt Annie riding an Alligator to the Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz, learning to read is an unforgettable adventure with Dr. Seuss!
Available on iTunes & Android.
You may also like 10 of the Best Learning Games for Toddlers & Preschoolers
#9. Kids Learn to Read (Lite)
Featured at the Google I/O conference, Kids Learn to Read app is a delightful game that invites preschoolers to blend sounds into words, read and form simple words, identify spoken words and learn word families.
Available on Android in Lite & Full Version
You may like this Positive Childhood – Reading & Books
#10. A Story Before Bed
A Story Before Bed app is the first & only service that lets you record a children's book online with audio and video. Kids can play back the recording as often as they like on iPad, iPhone, Mac, or PC. Comes with some free books and option to pay a monthly subscription to access their complete library of books.
You will also like – 20 Free Educational Apps for Kids Reviewed by Families
#11. Phonics Genius
One of the best ways to rapidly learn how to speak, read, and recognise words is through phonic awareness. The Phonics Genius app is specifically designed to help kids recognise and distinguish words by sounds, using fun interactive games. There are over 6000 unique words so kids should never tire of it!
Ideal for kids aged 1-6 yrs.
Available on iTunes.
#12. Monkey Word School Adventure
Join Monkey and his jungle friends as they explore a fun-filled world of letters, sight words, phonics and spelling. Seamless game flow allows your child to jump right in and begin playing and learning in a captivating way. Lessons range from letter recognition and writing, to spelling and phonics, introducing word components and much more!
Best for ages 3 to 7.
You may also like 11 Free Educational Games Online the Kids Will Love
#13. iPlay&Sing
iPlay&Sing is an interactive application aimed at preschoolers. It will help prepare your child for school and keep them entertained through the use of a bright, colourful, fun learning and activity zone.
The game concentrates on early learning development through the use of touch screen games and vocal guidance.
Available on iTunes.
#14. Elmo Loves ABCs
This is an app full of games, activities, and videos, which will help teach your child about letters, sounds, and words. It has songs and videos about letters. It has colouring pages and games about letters. It has all the letters from A to Z! Elmo even made a new alphabet song for it. All kids love Elmo so they'll love learning with Elmo loves ABCs.
Available on iTunes.
This is worth a look – 30 Magical Christmas Books Kids Love & 7 Cool Math Game Websites for Kids
#15. Learn With Homer
The Learn with Homer app combines the best research on how children learn to read with innovative game design in an immersive learning experience. It develops confident readers by progressively building over 50+ skills, including phonics, blending, comprehension etc.
Best for 3-6 yrs.
Available on iTunes
Online Reading Resources
- Reading Rockets help you find the very best educational apps that provide practice with essential literacy skills. Help kids build skills in print awareness, phonics, spelling, vocabulary, and writing.
- Reading Eggs makes learning to read interesting and engaging for kids, with great online reading games and activities.
Over to you! Have you any learning to read apps for kids that you can recommend?


text:
Peregrine Academic Services provides nationally normed, summative assessment services for General Education (GEN ED) academic requirements that are used for internal and external programmatic evaluation. The customizable service is easily managed and can be effectively integrated into any undergraduate or graduate program to comprehensively evaluate retained student knowledge associated with the academic degree program's learning outcomes.
The assessment service is specifically designed to address most institutional accreditation requirements related to learning outcomes assessment, quality assurance, and external academic benchmarking.
The most common assessment construct is an Inbound/Outbound Exam approach. Students at the start of the academic program complete the Inbound Exam. The Outbound Exam is administered to the students at the end of the academic program. Many schools also use a Midpoint Exam to measure student progress. All exams are provided online, with or without an exam proctor, using a secure web service that includes safeguards to ensure exam integrity.
The difference in Inbound and Outbound exam scores, both cumulatively and individually, is your direct measure of learning and the value added by the academic institution. Program-level and course-level learning outcomes are evaluated, analyzed, and assessed using the detailed reporting provided with the service. External benchmarking includes the comparisons of the percent change and the Outbound Exam results to other academic institutions. Collectively, the assessment construct is designed to satisfy several programmatic and institutional accreditation needs.
Please click on the video to watch an overview of the General Education Programmatic Assessment Service.


text:
choose type:
DescriptionBring a splash of color to your living space with this vibrant light bulb! Controlled via a remote, this bulb can be set to more than 16 colors with five different light intensities. You can choose between cycle, fade, strobe, and flash modes and easily install in any standard E27 light socket. What's more, the build is engineered with an energy efficient design, helping reduce your power bill as it brightens up your space.


text:
All possible flavors of great Alibi stories, events and deals delivered to your inbox each week.
Reporter, columnist and pompadoured-man-about-town Dan Mayfield has left the Albuquerque Journal after six very visible years, announcing that he's the next to helm Albuquerque the Magazine. Besides churning out culture-heavy copy at that daily paper, including a New Mexico film industry beat, Mayfield tells me that managing the Friday Venue section has given him plenty of experience editing a publication. Still, when he starts work in a few weeks, Mayfield says he'd like to get a feel for how the magazine operates from the ground up, first by sitting at the copy desk and engaging in the nuts and bolts aspects of putting the publication together. December will be his official first issue in the EIC hot seat. Whether he'll still have time to do his doo-wop radio show Sundays on 1600 AM, we'll just have to wait and see.


text:
Another week, another mystery â now with the ability to zoom! (Zoom.It) Read the guidelines below, then comment and be sure to include a link to a corresponding map. Then, this Friday we will reveal this photos location in the comment section of this post! And, enjoy the latest twist, brought to you by Zoom.It.
Here are the guidelines,
If you can correctly identify the photo with a link to Google Maps showing where it is, or should be*, you win! Leave a comment here on the blog or on our Facebook Page. Every Friday we will reveal the photo and congratulate the winner! (The first to post the correct answer & link) (*It is estimated that 40% of photos document places that are no longer standing. So, if you can tell us where the subject of the photo used to be, that will work too.)


text:
Helen Mirren to play Queen Elizabeth II again
(CBS/AP) Helen Mirren will take on the role of Queen Elizabeth II again, this time in a new play about the monarch's relationship with British prime ministers.
The 67-year-old actress won an Academy Award in 2007 for her performance as the British monarch in "The Queen," a drama about the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana. Mirren won praise for her turn as a monarch whose stiff upper lip hides a beating heart.
She will play the queen again in "The Audience," a play by Peter Morgan, who wrote "The Queen" and "Frost/Nixon." The play imagines private meetings between the queen and the prime ministers of her 60-year reign, from Winston Churchill to David Cameron.
Directed by Stephen Daldry ("Billy Elliot"), the play opens at London's Gielgud Theatre in February.


text:
Home / Artists & Schedule / Info & FAQ / Mobile Apps / HSB11 Potluck / Mailing List Signup / Nighttime Events
Arrive at the park in style with your own copies of the HSB11 map, schedule, and artist bios! Simply download these PDF files and print them out at home before sauntering down to the park. Note: Thursday's morning schedule for the kids is not included in these files. View the full schedule to view Thursday's schedule.
Download & Print: HSB 2011 Map // HSB 2011 Schedule // HSB 2011 Bios
You will need a PDF viewer such as Acrobat Reader to view and print these files.
See below for the 2011 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival schedule. If you have questions, please check out our Frequent Questions page.Note: Schedule and show times are subject to change.
|Thu Sep 29 (10:30am - Noon)
This year's educational program, now on Thursday, September 29 from 10:30 a.m. - noon, will take place as part of the Daniel Pearl World Music Days. Thousands of Bay Area middle school students will be entertained by MC Hammer and Poor Man's Whiskey and will receive educational information about the importance of this month-long celebration through music. The tenth annual Daniel Pearl World Music Days, held October 1-31, invites musicians worldwide to participate in the global event and to use the power of Daniel's love of music to help spread a message of hope and unity.
If you would like to come enjoy this program and are NOT part of an already-scheduled / planned school group, you are welcome to do so, but please be aware that the school kids' area will be fenced off and you will need to find a spot to enjoy the music which is outside of the fenced area.


text:
Kosovo households are the largest in Europe. In the countryside, where two thirds of the population lives, the average household has more than 6 members – compared to the average EU household size of 2.5 members. One has to go to South East Anatolia today to find families of similar size. This also explains why even poor villagers in Kosovo usually have very large houses. In the rest of the Balkans, where the same traditions existed until two generations ago, the traditional patriarchal family has long since disappeared.
Kosovo households are often multi-family households, with several brothers staying together with their parents even after marriage. The expression "patriarchal" denotes that all men of the household remain in the family home after marriage and create large, multi-family household economies:
"The basic principle of the zadruga [the Slavic term for such families] was that the male members never leave the common home. Sons and their descendents remain within it, and only daughters leave it – to marry and become members of the zadrugas of their husbands. The zadruga was governed by a hierarchical system, every member having a definite rank within it. Rank was determined by age and sex, the sex criterion being stronger than the age criterion: all males were superior to any of the womenfolk …"
(Vera Ehrlich)
In a pre-industrial society, large families made sense both economically and socially. Half a century ago, land was plentiful in Kosovo. Without mechanisation, the scarce resource was manpower. Having many men in one household meant greater wealth and influence, allowing more land to be cultivated and more livestock to be tended. Households were self-sufficient in most respects, from food and clothing to construction and furniture making, and participated only marginally in the cash economy. High mortality rates also kept population growth low, preventing households from becoming unmanageably large.
As an economic unit, the patriarchal family acts like a true collective. All property is held collectively. All major decisions – from when to plant the crops or slaughter an animal, to what constitutes 'a proper way of life' – are taken by the head of the household (zoti i shpise). The authority of the male head of the household persists in rural families to this day.
The father decides how remittances from family members abroad should be spent, how much schooling the children should receive or how to invest the family resources. The pre-capitalistic character of the collective is stressed by the rule that each adult male is considered to contribute an equal share to the family income – regardless of his actual labour contribution and the actual revenue earned. Income is pooled, and family members are entitled to equal provision for their basic needs. When households split up, all property. including the land, is divided equally among the brothers.
Women, on the other hand, hardly ever stay within the same village. Since wives always come from other villages, and daughters are expected to join another familyupon marriage, investment into the female members of each family stays minimal. Consequently, women do not inherit any share of family property and occupy only a subordinate role within the household. Perhaps one of the most critical products of this tradition is the prevailing attitude that "educating females does not pay off".
The greatest importance is assigned to the birth of a male heir – the crucial task of every married woman. Without a male heir, it is the husband's brothers – and not his wife or his sisters – who inherit his property The widow, in such a scenario, becomes dependent on the husband's brothers – or is forced to return to her parents' household. Even today in Kosovo's villages almost all women over 30 are married. Divorce is rare.
Faruk Kelmendi, a respected journalist born in the western part of Kosovo, cites one more argument for the survival of the traditional multi-family household.
"This was also a form of resistance against the system and its politics. […] It was a sort of instrument of war for the Albanians, because they had no weapons, no equipment, no army, no education. 90 percent of Albanians were illiterate, because children were not sent to school. The big family was symbolic, metaphorical for a sort of army or military organisation."
Since the 1950s, an improved health system led to a rapid decline in child mortality, giving rise to spiralling population growth in large households. As late as the 1980s, population growth was over 2.5 percent, higher than in the 1940s, a rate at which the population doubles within 30-40 years.
Since the 1970s, Kosovo villages have been suffering from over-population. As the land has continued being split evenly among brothers, the average farm size has shrunk to less than 2 hectares per family. A growing number of rural households have no agricultural land at all. As a result, the pressures on rural Kosovo and its only functioning social security system – the patriarchal family – are increasing, with no solution in sight.
May 2008


text: I started getting the return below my injury after the 2 year mark. Currently though most doctors and therapists tend toward cutting therapy short the later any return begins. Those who get natural recovery tend to so early on and you are gaining back a lot early on. Keep at it. You may be able to help someone newer in the gym coming up when the therapists are too busy to load weights or adjust tightness on an Uppertone or other gym equipment where they only need things added then you go do your stuff and the newer person gets a few extra minutes that they may desperately need. Good luck!


text:
The Daily Word in Flooding, Bacon, Bacteria and Pornotopia
It's Friday the 13th.
Al-Qaeda chief urges attacks on the US.
Bake your bacon in the oven the right way.
Low levels of gut bacteria may be linked to bitchiness and other disorders.
The Ig Nobel Prizes.
Roadkill: the ethical meat.
Monkeys think long and hard about bananas.
Grohl and Novoselic reminisce about Nirvana.
Fancy things are better. Right?
New Mexico is scheduled for more rain through Sunday. Despite the many complications and inconveniences it's caused already.
The New Mexico Supreme Court rules in favor of Pornotopia.
Happy birthday Barbara Bain.


text:
Report: West Can Use Science To Forge Ties With Iran
The National Iranian American Council is out with a report that examines what the West can do to cultivate the resurgence of moderate forces in Iran. Steve Inskeep talks to President Trita Parsi about the council's conclusions and recommendations.
Report: West Can Use Science To Forge Ties With Iran
Western and Iranian negotiators have a tough job to conclude a long-term deal on Iran's nuclear program. Many in the U.S. Congress want tougher sanctions on Iran rather than the reverse. Iranian conservatives argue the United States cannot be trusted. The National Iranian-American Council says it wants to weaken those Iranian hardliners.
The group has urged loosening sanctions on Iran for years, and now Trita Parsi, the group's president, says he wants to challenge a powerful Iranian narrative - the story that the U.S. and its allies are simply out to oppress Iran.
TRITA PARSI: This narrative has roots that date back a hundred years because of the history of Iran with the West. Now, of course like all narratives there's some grains of truth in it and there's a lot of falsehoods in it.
INSKEEP: The narrative is that the West has been a colonial power here in the past. They've put us down in the past. They're still trying to do it now. They're not being honest about their...
PARSI: Exactly. And at the core of this narrative is that the West does not want Iran to develop scientifically. And when there's been assassinations of nuclear scientists, it's been a narrative that's become very strong. But thanks to the elections, a group of people came to power who, for a very long time, have believed that it lies in the interest of Iran to have a better relationship with the West and that they actually can find many areas of collaboration and cooperation.
INSKEEP: In other words, that the West can, to some limited extent, be trusted.
PARSI: Absolutely. In fact, one of the core individuals of this narrative is the foreign minister. He oftentimes says that there can only be a win-win solution or there will be a lose-lose scenario.
INSKEEP: Iran's foreign minister Zarif.
PARSI: Either both lose or both win. It was the dominant narrative of the Khatami administration; that's part of the reason why the Iranians collaborated extensively with the United States in Afghanistan in 2001. It was people like Zarif who were at the helm of that. Thanks to the elections, they're now back into power, but they have one big challenge.
They have never truly been able to prove that their narrative of collaboration and greater flexibility actually yields any positive results for Iran.
INSKEEP: And this matters, I guess we should emphasize, because while Iran is far from being a Western-style democracy, there are a lot of different power centers within Iran and whose idea of the world prevails determines how much Iran might be willing to make a final nuclear deal.
PARSI: Absolutely true. But not only that, this may also help define who determines the direction of Iran going forward for decades to come, not just on the nuclear issue, but on its domestic politics, everything from the degree of repression to Internet freedom to just plain acceptance and respect for human rights.
All of this can be affected by what happens with this nuclear deal and if we can manage to disprove the hard line narrative to show that there is much more for Iran to gain by being collaborative, by taking a risk for peace.
INSKEEP: If you can prove that, but how would you prove that?
PARSI: Well, we're suggesting seven different projects that all focus on expanding collaboration between Iran and the United States in the scientific field. These have nothing to do with the nuclear program. It would be, for instance, collaboration in neuroscience. The Iranians are actually very, very advanced in that area, and I know a lot of American neuroscientists who would like to have far greater collaboration.
It's a win-win.
INSKEEP: I want to be sure that I understand what you would hope to accomplish with these kinds of efforts. You don't think that the most hard line Iranian officials are going to change their minds about the United States or the West because of a scientific conference, do you?
PARSI: No. But we believe that the receptivity for the narrative amongst the population and within the elite will significantly weaken.
INSKEEP: Since we're talking about competing narratives in Iran, let's talk about narratives in the West. I'm imagining an Israeli official or quite a number of American officials too saying to you, what on Earth are you talking about? These guys are very dangerous. We need to keep the pressure on and you're talking about scientific conferences and green energy for them? Why give them anything?
PARSI: If we're afraid that the Iranians have green technology, which actually makes nuclear energy less attractive, if we're afraid of that, then perhaps there's something to that hard-line narrative that says that the United States is against development of science in Iran. I don't think that's true. I think there's some elements here who have become so ingrained in this belief that this enmity is unresolvable so they want to take it to the final logical conclusion, which is a military confrontation.
Certainly there are people in Iran who are very much afraid of losing an enemy. I hope that's not true in the United States.
INSKEEP: Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council. Thanks very much.
PARSI: Thank you.
Copyright © 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.


text:
Kelly Orchards is a family farm founded in 1982. We specialize in tree fruit and also raise berries, pumpkins and fall squash. Our crops are grown using Integrated Pest management (IPM).
IPM uses cultural practices, natural predators and pesticides to control pests and diseases with as little impact on the environment as possible. We monitor pest presence in the orchard by scouting, using pest specific traps, weather conditions and degree-day models to predict pest in-migration.
We use cultural practices and careful selection of pesticides to promote natural controls and predators of pests. We time sprays to only spray when pests are present and have reached damaging levels and use selective rather than broad spectrum pesticides with low toxicity to non-target organisms so there is minimal impact on the environment.
Kelly Orchard's mission is to make available to local consumers the highest quality fresh fruits, to provide them with an enjoyable experience when they visit the farm and to produce our products with the least impact on the environment possible.
We market our fruits PYO, retail at the farm, at farmers markets and wholesale. Contact us for more information. Find out what is going on and available on our Facebook page.
You are always welcome at Kelly Orchards. We are open daily, 9am-5pm in season, call ahead for what's available.
Hope we see you soon, The Kelly Family.
website design - the nerve


text:
If you miss the crude pixelated graphics from videogames of yesteryear, and don't mind wearing a pack that's probably designed with kids in mind, this Uanyi Pixel Art backpack will appeal to your retro 8-bit style.
The backpack comes with a small mountain of silicone pixel blocks that attach to a flexible panel letting you recreate your favorite 8-bit graphics if you've got enough patience. In a way it's kind of like a wearable version of Lego, except distinct enough to avoid lawsuits and litigation from the Danish brick maker. But for $80 you can probably get yourself a pack that's focused more on comfort and ergonomics, and a stack of old NES carts to get your 8-bit fix.


text:
Jack Dyer
Assist by Chris Hussey
Michael Symes
Assist by Chris Hussey
Jack Dyer
Matthew Palmer
Michael Symes
Jimmy Phillips
Player was substituted for tactical reasons
On:Jimmy Phillips
Off:Lee Bell
Player was substituted for tactical reasons
On:Adam Tull
Off:Robbie Weir
Player was substituted for tactical reasons
On:Michael Symes
Off:Rene Howe
Adel Taarabt
Assist by Bryan Ruiz
Hugo Rodallega
Hugo Rodallega
Player was substituted for tactical reasons
On:Alexander Kacaniklic
Off:Adel Taarabt
Player was substituted for tactical reasons
On:Pajtim Kasami
Off:Ashkan Dejagah
Player was substituted for tactical reasons
On:Hugo Rodallega
Off:Giorgos Karagounis
Fulham escaped a Capital One Cup giant killing on Tuesday evening as they defeated Burton Albion 5-4 on penalties after the game had finished 2-2 after extra-time.
Adel Taarabt's first goal for the Club looked to have won things for the visitors at the Pirelli Stadium, before Jack Dyer popped up with five minutes remaining to force an additional 30 minutes of action.
Sascha Riether went close for Fulham when he hit a post, but it was the Brewers who broke the deadlock when substitute Michael Symes headed in at the far post. It looked as though it was enough to send Albion through, until Hugo Rodallega struck at the death.
It meant penalties were inevitable, with John Arne Riise smashing home the decisive spot kick after David Stockdale had denied Dyer.
Martin Jol made four changes from the side that lost to Arsenal on Saturday, with Darren Bent given a full debut, while Ashkan Dejagah and Bryan Ruiz made their first appearances of the season. Giorgos Karagounis was also handed a first start of the new campaign.
Burton started with purpose but Fulham quickly worked the first opening on three minutes when Brede Hangeland came within an inch of Karagounis' corner after Riise had won the set-piece off Phil Edwards' shins.
Good running by Taarabt a minute later brought the first save of the match, with the Morocco international shooting down the throat of Dean Lyness, who held well.
Some quick pass and move football on 12 minutes saw Dejagah cut inside before finding Bent who had made a stealthy run into the channel, but the striker's low ball across the face was confidently claimed by Lyness.
Rene Howe showed good strength to hold off Hangeland six minutes later – the striker managed to get his shot away but his contact was scuffed and the effort trickled harmlessly wide of Stockdale's post.
The Whites – in their new red away strip – worked a dangerous opening with 24 minutes on the clock as Taarabt advanced before disguising a square pass to Bent, who rifled in an effort that was deflected behind for a corner.
After a speculative effort from the right boot of Chris Hussey had flown wide, Karagounis was next to try his luck from range but while his 25-yarded was dipping, it never had quite enough on it to trouble Lyness.
The away side opened the scoring in fine style in the 35th minute through the mercurial Taarabt. The playmaker – who had been on the end of many a stray leg throughout the first half – skipped inside his man from the left hand side of the area, before clipping a low effort beyond Lyness and inside the far post to open his Fulham account in pristine style.
Burton had been sitting deep with 10 men behind the ball whenever Fulham were in possession, but the goal had forced them out of their shell and Howe forced a smart save from Stockdale on 40 minutes following a powerful run.
Jol made one change at the interval, with Taarabt replaced by Alexander Kacaniklic in a like for like change.
After a slow opening to the second period, it was 10 minutes before the first chance of note, with Lyness claiming Dejagah's ferocious effort from distance at the second attempt.
A sublime ball over the top from Karagounis four minutes later found Ruiz who got the ball under control expertly and rounded the 'keeper, only for a Burton defender to recover brilliantly to get a block in as Ruiz pulled the trigger for what would have been a certain goal.
A defensive lapse by Ian Sharps on 67 minutes allowed Bent to get in behind but with Lyness rushing out quickly, our number 39 could only prod into the stopper's advancing torso.
And the Whites went close again to a second four minutes later, with Bent involved once more when he collected Ruiz's exquisite through ball before seeing his drilled cross just turned around the post by a man in yellow.
Roared on by a vocal home crowd, Burton then had their best spell of the game, culminating in Dyer fizzing a well struck shot marginally wide of Stockdale's far post, before Hussey volleyed an effort into the keeper's arms shortly after.
If anyone looked like scoring it was going to be the Brewers, and they did just that with five minutes remaining when Dyer drilled a fine effort into the back of the net after meeting Hussey's accurate cross first time.
The vociferous home crowd thought they'd won the tie in normal time when the ball was bundled beyond Stockdale and beyond the line, but Symes was adjudged to have used his arm and the goal was ruled out.
It was a frenetic climax to the 90 minutes as Bent then saw his legs taken away as he went to connect with substitute Pajtim Kasami's cross, but the referee ruled no foul, despite the boisterous claims from the Fulham fans behind the goal.
With extra-time underway, the first opportunity fell the way of the hosts, with Stockdale doing well to watch the flight of Damien McCrory's deflected effort from 20 yards out to hold the shot.
Bent then forced a top class stop from Lyness at the other end when he smashed a powerful effort towards the near post following a corner that the goalkeeper did brilliantly to beat away.
Neat footwork from Kasami in the 96th minute saw him work some space for himself inside the penalty area – the Swiss twisted and turned before firing in a low effort that Lyness pushed against the post and behind for a corner.
Riether was then relentlessly unlucky as he was twice denied a goal two minutes later. Firstly, he crashed Kacaniklic's cutback against the post, before the follow up was blocked on the line by Sharps.
With Fulham in control, Burton's second goal came as a bolt out of the blue when Symes rose highest at the far post to nod in another fantastic Hussey cross. Jol then played his last throw of the dice by throwing Rodallega on for Karagounis.
Only a fingertip save by Stockdale in the 109th minute kept Fulham in the contest, as our goalkeeper flew to his left to magnificently tip over Jimmy Phillips' goalbound shot. And he was in action again with five minutes remaining, when he got down low to deny the excellent Hussey.
Time was running out for Fulham, and a speculative effort from Kacaniklic on 116 minutes was all too easy for Lyness who claimed comfortably, but there was nothing he could do about Rodallega's strike a minute later.
With a plethora of bodies inside the box, Scott Parker managed to get a shot away that came back off the crossbar and, following something of a scramble, Rodallega was on hand to plant a great strike beyond Lyness.
And the Colombian almost eradicated the need for penalties in the final minute of extra-time, but his well struck volley flew just wide, with Kasami doing likewise with a first time effort shortly after that proved to be the final chance in the 120 minutes.
The penalty shoot-out took place in front of the Fulham fans, but the travelling support couldn't put Symes off as the former Everton youth team player calmly sent Stockdale the wrong way.
Bent was then up first for Fulham, and the England man made no mistake, leaving Lyness with no chance as he thumped an effort into the top corner.
Albion substitute Adam Reed then followed Symes' example as he also rolled his spot kick to the left as Stockdale dived in the opposite direction.
Fulham were then given a huge slice of luck as Ruiz's penalty hit the post before coming back off Lyness and into the net.
It was then advantage to the visitors as Dyer saw his kick brilliantly palmed to safety by Stockdale, with Riether converting to make it 3-2 to the team in red.
The pressure was then on McCrory who was up next for Burton, but the midfielder made no mistake as he emphatically put the ball beyond the reach of Stockdale, who guessed the right way.
Rodallega – Fulham's extra-time hero – netted confidently to put Hussey under pressure, but Burton's Man of the Match slotted home well.
It meant it was all on Riise, and the Norwegian opted for power, blasting an effort straight down the middle to send his side into the Third Round.
Competition: Capital One Cup
Date: Tuesday 27 August 2013
Kick-off: 7:45pm
Venue: Pirelli Stadium, Burton
Attendance: 4,002
Referee: Andy Madley
Line-up: Lyness; Edwards, Sharps, Holness, McCrory; Bell (Jimmy Phillips 61'); Dyer, Palmer, Weir (Adam Tull 61'), Hussey; Rene Howe (Symes 78')
Unused substitutes: Morch, Slade, Harness, Knowles
Manager: Gary Rowett
Line-up: Stockdale; Riether, Hangeland, Hughes, Riise; Dejagah (Kasami 84'), Parker, Karagounis (Rodallega 103'), Taarabt (Kacaniklic 45'); Ruiz; Bent
Unused substitutes: Etheridge, Briggs, Sidwell, Boateng
Manager: Martin Jol


text:
There are 26 parishes within the Canterbury District, each with a designated parish clerk.
This tier of local government is the closest to communities.
View a full list of parishes and contact details
We manage annual Concurrent Function Funding awards (support for core parish functions, such as grass cutting etc), and an annual Small Capital Grant Scheme.
For further information about the support that we offer parishes, please contact Stacey Wells firstname.lastname@example.com
Village Design Statements and Parish Plans
These documents consist of a survey of your community undertaken by the community for the community. To highlight the good and bad about living in a particular area and set out local people's views on what future changes are needed to improve that area, or even what should remain the same.
Parish councillors
Your Parish will be managed by a group of elected Parish Councillors. See below information, and if you wish to become involved, or require further information, contact your Local Parish Council Chairman or Clerk.
Roles and responsibilities undertaken by Parish Councillors
Parish Councillors have various roles and responsibilities that they undertake within their role
- Attend Parish Council meetings - usually once a month
- Take any issues raised by residents to the parish council on the residents' behalf
- Carry out duties to uphold the local by-laws, to protect the local environment and infrastructure, footpaths and highways, lobby for improvements to services, implement new projects for the benefit of the parish such as new play areas and better sports facilities, fund raising for new projects, etc
- Comment on all planning applications within the parish
- Sit on sub-committees where appropriate, such as Planning, Finance, Amenities, Countryside, Recreation, and Open Spaces.
Eligibility to become a Parish Councillor
A Parish Councillor must be aged 18 years or over, be a qualifying Commonwealth citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Ireland or a citizen of another member state of the European Community, and
- Be on the electoral role in the parish; Or
- During the whole of the twelve months before he/she was nominated as a candidate, occupied land or other premises as owner or tenant in the parish; Or
- During the same period, resided in that area or within three miles (4.8km) thereof; Or
- During the same period, has his/her principal or only place of work in that area.
Parish Councillors are elected for a term of four years. They retire together on the fourth day after the date of elections every four years.
A Parish Councillor has no personal financial liability in respect of anything done in good faith for the purpose of any of the council's statutory functions.


text:
Refrigerated Back Bar Coolers
Behind every bar there is a need for a refrigerated back bar cooler, and at Mission Restaurant Supply, you will find a large selection by trusted foodservice brands including True Mfg, Turbo Air and Metalfrio. Whether you\'re looking for a simple black vinyl unit with solid doors, a heavy-duty stainless steel model, or you\'re looking to boost visibility with glass door back bar coolers, there is a selection that will fit every aesthetic, capacity and price point. Equip your bar with quality refrigerated back bar coolers and other dependable bar equipment from Mission Restaurant Supply.


text:
Is life more like baseball, or is it more like soccer?
Baseball is a team sport, but it is basically an accumulation of individual activities. Throwing a strike, hitting a line drive or fielding a grounder is primarily an individual achievement. The team that performs the most individual tasks well will probably win the game.
Soccer is not like that. In soccer, almost no task, except the penalty kick and a few others, is intrinsically individual. Soccer, as Simon Critchley pointed out recently in The New York Review of Books, is a game about occupying and controlling space. If you get the ball and your teammates have run the right formations, and structured the space around you, you'll have three or four options on where to distribute it. If the defenders have structured their formations to control the space, then you will have no options. Even the act of touching the ball is not primarily defined by the man who is touching it; it is defined by the context created by all the other players.
As Critchley writes, "Soccer is a collective game, a team game, and everyone has to play the part which has been assigned to them, which means they have to understand it spatially, positionally and intelligently and make it effective." Brazil wasn't clobbered by Germany this week because the quality of the individual players was so much worse. They got slaughtered because they did a pathetic job of controlling space. A German player would touch the ball, even close to the Brazilian goal, and he had ample room to make the kill.
Most of us spend our days thinking we are playing baseball, but we are really playing soccer. We think we individually choose what career path to take, whom to socialize with, what views to hold. But, in fact, those decisions are shaped by the networks of people around us more than we dare recognize.
This influence happens through at least three avenues. First there is contagion. People absorb memes, ideas and behaviors from each other the way they catch a cold. As Nicholas Christakis and others have shown, if your friends are obese, you're likely to be obese. If your neighbors play fair, you are likely to play fair. We all live within distinct moral ecologies. The overall environment influences what we think of as normal behavior without being much aware of it.
Then there is the structure of your network. There is by now a vast body of research on how differently people behave depending on the structure of the social networks. People with vast numbers of acquaintances have more job opportunities than people with fewer but deeper friendships. Most organizations have structural holes, gaps between two departments or disciplines. If you happen to be in an undeveloped structural hole where you can link two departments, your career is likely to take off.
Innovation is hugely shaped by the structure of an industry at any moment. Individuals in Silicon Valley are creative now because of the fluid structure of failure and recovery. Broadway was incredibly creative in the 1940s and 1950s because it was a fluid industry in which casual acquaintances ended up collaborating.
Since then, studies show, theater social networks have rigidified, and, even if you collaborate with an ideal partner, you are not as likely to be as creative as you would have been when the global environment was more fertile.
Finally, there is the power of the extended mind. There is also a developed body of research on how much our very consciousness is shaped by the people around us. Let me simplify it with a classic observation: Each close friend you have brings out a version of yourself that you could not bring out on your own. When your close friend dies, you are not only losing the friend, you are losing the version of your personality that he or she elicited.
Once we acknowledge that, in life, we are playing soccer, not baseball, a few things become clear. First, awareness of the landscape of reality is the highest form of wisdom. It's not raw computational power that matters most; it's having a sensitive attunement to the widest environment, feeling where the flow of events is going. Genius is in practice perceiving more than the conscious reasoning.
Second, predictive models will be less useful. Baseball is wonderful for sabermetricians. In each at bat there is a limited range of possible outcomes. Activities like soccer are not as easily renderable statistically, because the relevant spatial structures are harder to quantify. Even the estimable statistician Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight gave Brazil a 65 percent chance of beating Germany.
Finally, Critchley notes that soccer is like a 90-minute anxiety dream — one of those frustrating dreams when you're trying to get somewhere but something is always in the way. This is yet another way soccer is like life.


text:
The Weakening of the Safe Water Drinking Act
In The Drink: South Carolina
In 1993 and 1994, more than 53 million Americans drank water that did not meet Safe Drinking Water Act standards. In The Drink is the first analysis of EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act compliance database to document these violations of tap water health standards on a community-by-community basis.
Widespread failure to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act is a symptom of increasing problems with drinking water quality in the United States. Drinking water plants are old and out of date, and water supplies are increasingly at risk from chemical and biological contamination. South Carolina is not immune from these problems; many cities and towns -- both large and small -- experienced violations or exceedances of EPA standards in the last year. These included violations of Maximum Contaminant Levels, (EPA's enforceable standards for chemical and biological contaminants), exceedances of the Lead Action Level, and violations of the Surface Water Treatment Rule (which requires water systems to adequately filter and disinfect water to prevent disease outbreaks).
The compliance data, which is supplied to EPA by state authorities, indicate that Lancaster County Water, Chester Metro (Ft Lawn), and Lancaster were the three water systems with the most violations or exceedances of drinking water standards in 1993 and 1994. Among large water systems (those serving more than 10,000 people) in South Carolina, Lancaster County Water, Chester Metro (Ft. Lawn), and Lancaster had the most reported violations or exceedances of drinking water standards in 1993 and 1994, according to EPA data.
The most common contaminants of state water supplies were Total Trihalomethanes and Coliform (TCR). South Carolina utilities such as Charleston and Aiken were affected by exceedances of the Lead Action Level, meaning that health threatening levels of lead were present in the water in many homes. Residents served by the Rock Hill and Lancaster County Water systems drank water that contained chemicals or radioactivity above health-based standards, and water systems like Greenville Water System and Rock Hill were affected by violations of microbial contaminant standards such as Total Coliform.
As this report goes to press, Congress is poised to weaken the baseline public health protections provided by the Act. These changes would weaken standard-setting provisions, curtail water safety monitoring, diminish the public's right to know about drinking water problems, and reduce protections for small and medium sized communities. Ironically, much of this effort to roll back standards is being driven by a massive lobbying effort by the nation's water utilities. As In The Drink documents, it's time to strengthen, not weaken, the law that ensures that America's drinking water remains safe.