text:
Family Feud: Ravens and 49ers square off in Super Bowl XLVII
New Orleans, LA – The Brothers Harbaugh are getting ready for the culmination of one of the biggest sibling rivalries of all-time in Super Bowl XLVII when John's Baltimore Ravens take on Jim's San Francisco 49ers at the New Orleans Superdome.
But, this isn't Peter and Bobby Brady splitting the room down the middle with some masking tape. This is a good-natured clash between two brothers who have grown into a pair of the best football coaches in the world.
The game will mark the first time in any of the four major North American professional sports that brothers will match up against one another as head coaches in a postseason game.
"I guess it's pretty neat," said John Harbaugh, who has eight postseason wins in his five seasons with the Ravens, a number which matches former Raiders mentor Tom Flores for the most since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger.
"It's pretty cool. But it's really about the team. It's about the players. That's what it's about. It's about those guys. The more we focus on those guys, the better it is for everybody."
Perhaps, but the focus remains on the Harbaughs.
Maybe the upcoming Harbowl is so intriguing to the American people because we lack leadership on many levels. Real leaders make tough decisions, popular or not, and respect is earned when they show the courage of their convictions.
Both Jim and John Harbaugh have proven themselves as leaders in the 2012 NFL season.
Neither the Niners nor the Ravens would be getting ready for the Super Bowl in the Bayou unless each Harbaugh brother didn't pull the trigger on an extremely difficult and controversial season-altering decision.
In Jim Harbaugh's case, he made the high-profile move from game manager Alex Smith to the dynamic Colin Kaepernick at the quarterback position, not exactly a no-brainer since Smith took the 49ers to the NFC title game after the 2011 season and had San Francisco at 7-2-1 with one of the best touchdown-to- interception ratios in the game before suffering a concussion against the St. Louis Rams in Week 10 of the 2012 campaign.
Harbaugh, who sees Smith and Kaepernick on a daily basis, far more than the rest of us, felt the second-year pro from Nevada gave him the best chance to win the big game and after Colin rallied San Francisco from a 17-point deficit in Atlanta during the NFC Championship Game -- something the far-less explosive Smith could have never done -- it's hard to argue with the Niners mentor.
Although not as captivating, Jim's older brother had his own season-defining moment with the Ravens.
Despite his team's 9-4 record and spot atop the AFC North, John Harbaugh fired his offensive coordinator, Cam Cameron, and elevated quarterbacks coach Jim Caldwell, the former head man in Indianapolis, to the position after Week 14.
From the outside looking in, it seemed like a panic move and not the type of thing you do to a first-place club, but Cameron had been roundly criticized for his handing of quarterback Joe Flacco and running back Ray Rice.
The change looked suspect early.
Caldwell replaced Cameron before a Week 15 contest in Denver, a game in which the Ravens struggled mightily, especially early with five straight three-and- outs en route to a 34-17 shellacking at the hands of the Broncos.
Since then, though, the Ravens offense has turned it on, first putting up 533 yards against the New York Giants in Week 16. After resting players in the regular season finale at Cincinnati, Baltimore rung up a franchise postseason record 441 yards in the first round of the playoffs against the Colts.
The Ravens then won the sequel in Denver by hanging up 38 points the Broncos before destroying New England in the second half during a 28-13 win in the AFC Championship Game at Foxboro.
"We haven't changed a lot," Baltimore's Harbaugh said. "It's still the same system that we had in place. We call things the same way. Everybody puts their imprint on it, and Jim's done a great job with that. We have grown a lot in the last month. There's been some growth, and it has shown up in stats and things like that, and that's a credit to all of our guys, not the least of which, obviously, is coach Caldwell."
The 49ers (5-0) and Ravens (1-0) are a combined 6-0 in the Super Bowl. San Francisco won Super Bowls XVI, XIX, XXIII, XXIV and XXIX while Baltimore took Super Bowl XXXV.
This marks the 49ers' first big game appearance since the 1994 season and the Ravens' first return trip since the 2000 season.
"It's an unbelievable feeling to be in the Super Bowl," said 49ers Pro Bowl linebacker Patrick Willis, who leads his team with 19 tackles in the postseason. "I'm really grateful for this."
The Ravens are 3-1 all-tine versus the Niners and John is 1-0 against Jim, winning the first Harbowl, 16-6 on Thanksgiving Day in 2011.
That one marked the first time head coaching brothers battled each other in the NFL. Flacco connected with tight end Dennis Pitta for a game-winning TD in the fourth quarter while the Baltimore defense limited the 49ers to 170 total yards to get John the win over Jim.
The sequel will take place in front of 100 million or so of the Harbaughs' closest friends.
"Anybody who has a brother, especially one that's close in age, gets it," John said. "You just grow up fighting for everything. You fight for the extra hotdog. You fight for girls. You fight for everything. We both got our girls, but we both want a victory this week."
QUARTERBACKS: The underrated Flacco has thrown eight touchdown passes and no interceptions with a 114.7 passer rating so far in this postseason. The only signal-callers in NFL history to finish a full postseason with at least nine touchdown passes and no interceptions are both former 49ers, Steve Young after the 1994 season, and Joe Montana, who threw 11 touchdown passes and no interceptions in the playoffs after the 1989 season.
Flacco also set a single-season career high in passing yards with 3,817 yards during the regular season, while connecting on 40 completions of 25-or-more yards, which set a Ravens' season record and led the NFL.
The win in the AFC Championship Game at New England marked Flacco's sixth road playoff victory, the most in NFL history. His eight postseason wins overall are tied with Ben Roethlisberger for the second-most in a quarterback's first five NFL seasons, trailing only Tom Brady (nine).
Under Caldwell, who agreed to come back as Baltimore' offensive coordinator for the 2013 season, the Ravens have stitched together a Daryle Lamonica- or Jim Plunkett-type Raiders offense designed to stretch the field and get vertical during a dink-and-dunk era.
"This is just one of those things you dream of when you are a little kid," said Flacco about advancing to the Super Bowl. "You watch Joe Montana and those guys in the Super Bowl. So to be here at this point is pretty special."
Kaepernick, meanwhile, has compiled a passer rating near 100.0 while amassing a 7-2 mark as the 49ers starter since taking over for Smith. In the postseason, he has a a 105.9 passer rating and has rushed for 202 yards. No player has ever posted a 100-plus passer rating and rushed for at least 200 yards in a single postseason.
For the opposition it's all about forcing the strong-armed Kaepernick to read the defense and make the proper progressions in the passing game. He's most dangerous when the running game is hitting on all cylinders, opening up easy play-action reads.
"When I first started starting, I was just trying to do well and make sure we were winning games," Kaepernick said. "Things have gone right while we have been playing. We're here."
Smith, if his mind is right, would have to be regarded as the best caddy in the business. Baltimore's backup, Tyrod Taylor, is largely untested.
RUNNING BACKS: A strong running game opens up that play-action for Flacco, who throws one of the best deep balls in the NFL. Rice is the bell cow, totaling 1,621 yards from scrimmage, the NFL's ninth most. He was one of three players to post 1,000 rushing yards and 400 receiving yards.
Rice ranked second in the NFL in catches by a RB (61) and fourth in receiving yards (478), marking his fourth straight season with at least 1,600 yards from scrimmage. Dating back to 2009, Rice owns an NFL-high 7,506 total yards from scrimmage (5,066 rushing & 2,440 receiving), including a league-best 39 games where he's gained 100-or-more total yards.
Rice has also got help this time around with rookie Bernard Pierce, who ran for 532 yards as a team-leading 4.9 yards per carry, giving the Ravens a nice compliment.
"It all comes down to execution, and that's what it's going to be all about on Sunday," Rice said. "Whatever the team executes, whoever goes out there and plays a more physical game and executes at a high level (is going to win)."
Over the course of his eight-year career, Frank Gore has been the go-to guy in the backfield for the 49ers. Gore has been more than productive after being selected in the third round of the 2005 NFL Draft and his productivity since that time has allowed him to become the franchise's all-time leading rusher. In 2012 Gore ran for over 1,200 yards and is getting more comfortable with the read-option after struggling at first when Kaepernick took over.
The Niners were lacking a compliment to Gore after Kendall Hunter went down with an ankle injury but the small and speedy LaMmichael James, who is well- versed in the read-option attack from his time in college at Oregon, is now a much bigger threat with Kaepernick playing in the pistol. In fact, James' speed makes things much tougher on the edge for the opposition.
"They have a physical defense, but we also have a physical offense," Gore said. "We're just going to keep chipping away, do whatever it takes, like we did all year to get where we're at. (We have to) take those three to four to five (opportunities) -- when we get opportunities to make big plays, we're going to make them."
At fullback both have good ones. Baltimore's Vonta Leach is the best lead- isolation guy in the business, while the Niners' Bruce Miller is a capable lead blocker and a little more nifty with his feet.
WIDE RECEIVERS: Anquan Boldin has been a beast in the postseason for the Ravens, snaring 16 catches for 276 yards and three TDs, averaging 17.3 yards per catch and 92.0 yards per game. Since becoming a Raven in 2010, Boldin has totaled the NFL's most playoff receiving yards (512) and is deadlocked with Niners tight end Vernon Davis for the most receiving TDs (five) over the last three years of postseason play.
Meanwhile, Torrey Smith is one of the top vertical threats in the league, ranking fourth in the NFL with a 17.4 yards per catch average, posting a career-high 855 yards on 49 receptions. Fleet-footed return specialist Jacoby Jones is the third option for Flacco and another big play threat, albeit far less consistent.
For Frisco Randy Moss is just a bit player these days and the veteran will want to take advantage of what is probably his last opportunity to win a Super Bowl. Moss was ever so close in Minnesota in 1998 and New England in 2007 but ultimately came up short. Hall of Fame numbers like 155 career receiving touchdowns and 76 receptions of 40 yards-plus turned into 28 catches and just two scores in the Bay Area this season but the rangy receiver is still a threat, especially in the red zone.
"Randy is going to be a Hall-of-Fame player, and he is someone who deserves a Super Bowl ring," Kaepernick said. "We want to send him out the right way."
Michael Crabtree is the No.1 outside the numbers threat for Kaepernick and he will be playing with a clear mind on Sunday after prosecutors announced that criminal charges won't be filed against Crabtree after an alleged sexual assault in a hotel after the team's playoff victory over the Packers earlier this postseason. Crabtree was never detained or arrested in the matter, and he cooperated fully with their investigation but it had to be weighing on him.
Crabtree became a greater focal point of the offense following Kaepernick's ascension to the starting QB position, and recorded a career-high 85 receptions for 1,105 yards and nine TDs in 2012
Depth is sorely lacking without the injured Kyle Williams (torn ACL). Ted Ginn is just a return guy at this point and A.J. Jenkins and Chad Hall are not going to scare anyone.
TIGHT ENDS: Pitta posted career highs of 61 catches and 669 receiving yards and seven TDs and has a knack for finding the soft spot in a zone. He isn't the best blocker in the world, however, leaving that for Ed Dickson, who is basically just an outlet receiver in the passing game. Veteran Billy Bajema is also around to move the pile in the running game.
"Ed and I work well together," Pitta said. "I think we both have important roles on this team. It's fun to play with him and to have been here these last few years with him."
The one position which seemed to take a step back for the Niners after Kaepernick took over seemed to be tight end. That all changed in the NFC Championship Game, however, when Colin rediscovered Vernon Davis, who tortured the Falcons in the middle of the field. Perhaps the most athletic tight end in the game, linebackers are far too slow to deal with Davis and safeties get engulfed by his massive frame. Backup Delanie Walker gets open often in the flats but is prone to drops.
OFFENSIVE LINE: The offensive line shift in Baltimore has fueled things. Bryant McKinnie was once a Pro Bowler in Minnesota and although he's seen his better days and lives an undisciplined lifestyle, he's a natural left tackle, enabling Michael Oher to move back to where he's far more comfortable -- the right side. Rookie Kelechi Osemele also kicked over to left guard where his size and strength makes a big impact, especially in the running game.
Veteran pivot Matt Birk, a six-time Pro Bowl selection, could join Ray Lewis in retirement after the Super Bowl. Like Lewis, he's a natural leader who makes all the right protection calls on the line of scrimmage. The other starter is right guard Marshal Yanda, Baltimore's best offensive lineman. Yanda is a road-grader in the running game and mirrors in pass protection well.
"I think it's a pretty solid group that we have up there right now," Flacco said. "Bryant (McKinnie) is fresh and playing quick and moving well, and obviously, with his stature out there, he's a big strong guy. So, I think that allowed us to put Mike (Oher) on the right side, bring K.O. over to the left guard. He's a great young player. It gives us five really good talents up there, and they've been playing really well together, so you've got to give the credit to those guys."
The 49ers' offensive line is the best unit in the NFL. In the playoffs, the Packers front seven played the role of speed bump against San Francisco while in Atlanta, Gore could have driven a Humvee through some of the holes he was given.
The stalwarts are on the left side with both tackle Joe Staley and guard Mike Iupati were honored as Pro bowl starters. Center Jonathan Goodwin, right guard Alex Boone and right tackle Anthony Davis round out the impressive group.
"We feel special man. In football, the front sets the tempo and we always have that," Iupati said. "It's true in every phase of football. The offensive line starts the game and sets the tempo. If we can protect the quarterback then everything is good. The receivers will be wide open and give them a little time."
DEFENSIVE LINE: The Baltimore and San Francisco defenses are similar. Both use a 3-4 scheme with one stalwart on the defensive line and a linebacking corps filled with playmakers. For the Ravens the big dog on the line is Haloti Ngata, a tremendously strong player who engulfs blockers. Ngata teams with nose tackle Terrence Cody, a difference maker with limited snaps, and Pernell McPhee, a solid if unspectacular edge player. Ma'ake Kemoeatu also gets significant repetitions inside and is just a tad behind Cody as a run stuffer.
"We are really pretty young, expect for those two guys," defensive coordinator Dean Pees said when discussing Ngata and Kemoeatu. "One thing they bring is in the classroom is the experience of how to be a pro, how to study, how to watch film, how to do all those things, plus that -- Then you add onto that their physical ability. They're two big guys that can kind of hold forth in there. They have done a great job. I'd say it is a combination of both of those things."
The headliner of San Francisco's 3-4 front is veteran Justin Smith, a high- motored four-time Pro Bowl selection who is still dealing with a triceps injury suffered in Week 15. Smith is still plenty banged-up but his presence and leadership can't be emphasized enough, although his main attribute, prodigious strength, has certainly been curtailed.
"I think it's getting better every week," Smith said when talking about his arm. "I can do more stuff every week. It heals up the more time goes by. It's feeling better. I'm getting used to wearing the brace a little bit better. I know how many more games I have left now, so it's just four more quarters."
Isaac Sopoaga's job at nose tackle is to tie up multiple blockers in order to help Willis and NaVorro Bowman flow to the ball. The 6-foot-2, 330-pound product generally does a nice job keeping opposing offensive linemen get to the second level. Ray McDonald rounds out the unit and is a nice 3-4 end, stout enough to occupy blockers and athletic enough to occasionally get upfield.
"It all comes down to if you prepare during the week, and you work hard and you go out there and make plays you're going to win ball games," McDonald said.
LINEBACKERS: Lewis, who will be calling it a career after this game, belongs on the Mount Rushmore of linebackers. Although not the player he once was, the leadership he brings to the field had been sorely lacking from the Baltimore defense. His running mate inside is the underrated Dannell Ellerbe, who was second on the team in tackles this season and can create havoc with his penetration skills.
Terrell Suggs is the 2011 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, who missed the first six games of the season after tearing his Achilles in the offseason and has also struggled with a biceps injury, He's not the same explosive guy who has 84 1/2 sacks since entering the NFL in 2003 but Suggs is still more than capable of contributing, although his biceps could make it difficult to hold the edge, especially in the read-option.
Rookie Courtney Upshaw brings youth and explosion to the unit while Paul Kruger has developed into a more than solid situational pass rusher, amassing a career-best and team-high nine sacks, 7 1/2 of which came in the Ravens' final eight games.
The 49ers, however, possess the best linebacking unit in all of football. Aldon Smith will likely finish third in the NFC Defensive Player of the Year voting after piling up a team-record 19.5 sacks.
"He's setting records left and right, so I think anytime anybody does that it's surprising," Justin Smith said. "Just his transition into the NFL and how easy he's made it look, that's what the great ones do -- they make it look easy."
Bowman and Willis are both All-Pros and if anything Bowman has actually surpassed his more high-profile colleague as an all-around player. Willis, though, is the unquestioned leader described by head coach Jim Harbaugh as "getting the job done kind of guy and not taking credit kind of guy."
"I've always had high expectations for myself," Willis said. "Any time I'm able to make a play or do something that most (people) don't think I could do or can do. For me, in my mind, I've already seen it or felt like I could do it. So I don't get overly excited about anything because in my mind I'm just doing my job."
Ahmad Brooks, meanwhile, would be the best 'backer on a lot of clubs and he's the fourth best for Niners defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.
CORNERBACKS: It took quite awhile before Baltimore recovered from the loss of its best corner Lardarius Webb to injury (ACL). Former first round pick Jimmy Smith simply hasn't developed but the unheralded duo of Corey Graham and Cary Williams have combined to settle things down on the outside. Neither player is going to conjure up visions of a shutdown corner but they've done their part.
"One unit. Through all our ups and down, we've stuck together," Pees said when talking about his corners. "We always believed, and we kept our eyes on the prize, and that's what we just kept doing."
The 49ers haven't recorded a ton of interceptions but regulars Carlos Rogers and Tarell Brown have down a solid if unspectacular job while nickel back Chris Culliver brings some size and big play ability to the defensive backfield.
Rogers went to the Pro Bowl in 2011 but Brown has been San Francisco's top corner in 2012, amassing 13 passes defended. Rogers still carries the reputation, however, and teams tend to look elsewhere. When things are spread out and Culliver is on the field, the opposition will take its shots at him but the South Carolina product was second on San Francisco with two interceptions and led the club with 15 passes broken up.
"I think it's going to be very competitive out there," Brown said. "(The Ravens are) definitely going to take their shots, they're definitely going to come after us, but we look forward to it. I think we'll stand up to the challenge. Let the best man win."
SAFETIES: Ed Reed, a Louisiana native and the eight-time All-Pro, would love to garner his first Super Bowl crown in the Bayou. Reed has 61 career picks in his 11 pro seasons, including 4 thefts for 78 return yards and a TD during the 2012 campaign.
"Going home. I'm speechless when it comes to talking about going home for this Super Bowl," Reed said. "It's amazing to me. I just give everything to God on that one. This is just amazing. Everybody doesn't get this chance to even play in the Super Bowl, win the Super Bowl. It's just amazing to me. I'm just soaking it up, just really enjoying it -- ever minute, every second."
Reed doesn't have the wheels he once had but still has the football smarts to make things happen. Matching up with Davis could be a problem, however.
"He's a receiver to me," Reed said. "(He's a) 4.3-4.4 (40-yard dash) guy. That size -- He's definitely a threat that you've got to know where he is at all times. So, you've got to watch the guy at all times. He might not have been as much as a threat with [Colin] Kaepernick in there, but he's always a threat."
Reed's running mate, Bernard Pollard, is a big hitter and intimidator. The AFC Championship Game swung dramatically in Baltimore's favor when Pollard blew up Pats running back Stevan Ridley with a vicious helmet-to-helmet hit that knocked Ridley cold before he hit the ground, causing a fumble. Like most safeties who bring the wood, however, Pollard struggles in man-to-man coverage.
It's not like Ronnie Lott is manning the back end for the 49ers but dual Pro Bowl selections Dashon Goldson and Donte Whitner provide an intimidation factor for Frisco, at least one as big as you can have in today's watered down, overly regulated product.
Both are big hitters, wrap up well and limit yards after the catch. Goldson is probably the better of the two in pass defense but neither are spectacular when matched up in man-to-man coverage.
"There is a lot of want to. Guys want to make plays, we want to make our tackles, we want to win, and we want to compete," Goldson said when talking about the 49ers' defensive backfield. "There is a lot of want to in our secondary."
PLACEKICKERS: Rookie Justin Tucker recorded 132 points in his rookie season, the third most in Ravens history. Tucker made 30-of-33 field goal attempts overall in the regular season for a 90.9 percent success rate, the second-best mark in team lore and also second by a rookie kicker in NFL history behind Minnesota's Blair Walsh, who was 35-of-38 in 2012. Tucker hasn't had many chances in the postseason, converting the a 47-yard game-winner at Mile High in the second overtime against Denver and his only other chance, an easy 23- yard attempt, making him a gaudy 32-of-35 overall in his first year as pro
If it weren't for Walsh's own extraordinary rookie season in Minnesota Tucker probably would have made a number of All-Pro teams.
Tucker's mirror in Super Bowl XLVII, San Francisco's David Akers, has the experience edge and the more impressive resume but the six-time All-Pro hasn't been nearly as effective as Tucker this season, something Ravens special teams coordinator Jerry Rosburg has downplayed.
"Every kick has a life of its own. So, you go face that next kick, that's what you do," the coach said when talking about the struggling Akers, who missed an NFL-high 14 field goal attempts in 2012, just one year after banging through an NFL record 44.
That said, Tucker's season as a whole and his approach to his craft has to have Rosburg feeling good, especially if the Super Bowl comes down to one kick.
"The most important confidence that Justin Tucker brings to the kicking game is confidence in himself," Rosburg said. "He can kick, and he knows he can kick, and his teammates know he can kick. So it just keeps growing that way, and we're happy we have him."
PUNTER: Baltimore's Sam Koch is looking forward to matching his skills against one of the best in the NFL, San Francisco's three-time Pro Bowl punter Andy Lee. Koch recorded a career-high and franchise-record 47.1 gross punting average this season and also set a team record by producing a 40.8 net average.
A three-time Pro Bowler, the monster-legged Lee has already set the 49ers franchise record for most punting yards and also ranks first in team history with a 45.9 yard gross average. During his 2012 season, Lee led the NFL with a 43.2 net average, ranked third with 36 punts inside the 20 and made a few All- Pro teams. He's one of the best.
LONG-SNAPPER: Don't underestimate Morgan Cox's steadiness as a long snapper when it comes to Tucker's and Koch's success for the Ravens. Cox, an undrafted free agent out of the University of Tennessee, has been a big upgrade since replacing veteran Matt Katula in 2010.
Veteran 49ers long-snapper Brian Jennings is a two-time Pro Bowl selection and has even developed a program on the art and science of long snapping. Generally when a placekicker struggles, some of it has to do with inconsistent snapping or holding but that hasn't been the case in San Francisco.
RETURN GAME: The Ravens usually use Pro Bowl kick returner Jacoby Jones on both punts and kicks. Jones ranked first in the NFL by posting a Ravens' franchise-record 30.7-yard kickoff return average and 9.2 on punts, including three returned for TDs -- two kickoff returns (108 yards and 105 yards) and a punt (63 yards). Jones has generally been bottled up on kickoffs in the postseason, netting 17.3 per return but he's upped his production on punts, averaging 13.7 on six returns. Backup receiver Tandon Doss and veteran safety Ed Reed also take the occasional punt for John Harbaugh's club.
"(David) Akers has got a really strong leg. He can kick out of the end zone and that punter (Andy lee), he's a climber too. So you've got to be patient and wait on your opportunities," Jones said.
Williams was the goat in the 2011 NFC Championship Game, muffing a pair of punts which enabled the New York Giants to move on en route to a Super Bowl crown. Ginn, who was injured last reason, returned in 2012 and did a steady if unspectacular job, averaging 10.2 yards per return with a long of 38. Ginn has returned three kickoffs and three punts in his career for TDs but has lost some of that great long speed which made him so dangerous in the past.
Ginn and James have each gotten their fair share of kickoff returns with Ginn averaging 23.0 a pop and James up at 29.8 with a long of 62. Clearly James has more juice than Ginn at this stage but ball security will be paramount in this game and Ginn is considered the more secure option.
SPECIAL TEAMS DEFENSE: During the offseason, the Ravens signed Graham, who earned special teams Pro Bowl honors with Chicago during the 2011 campaign. In addition to Graham, Baltimore also boasts another Pro Bowl special teamer in linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, who has made three trips to the NFL's All-Star game. Ayanbadejo (187) and Graham (110) have combined to post 297 special teams tackles during their careers. In 2012, Ayanbadejo posted 14 special teams stops (most on the team), Graham, who started the final eight games at cornerback, totaled six while second-year special teams standout RB Anthony Allen had 12 special teams tackles. After allowing 7.8 yards per punt return and 23.2 on kickoffs in the regular season, Baltimore's coverage units have been shaky in the postseason, allowing 20.9 on punts with a TD and 32.5 on kickoffs with another score. Both returns TDs were by Denver's Trindon Holliday.
The 49ers coverage corps was great during the regular season on punt coverage and less so with the longer field on kickoffs, limiting teams to 6.9 yards per punt return and 26.9 on kickoffs. Backup cornerback Tramaine Brock, reserve linebacker Michael Wilhoite and veteran safety C.J. Spillman are the keys to San Francisco's coverage units.
COACHING: A lot of people are rooting for John Harbaugh, the perceived "underdog" who rose up through the NFL ranks the hard way. The Ravens head coach wasn't a star quarterback at a football factory like Michigan, wasn't a first round pick by a marquee franchise like the Chicago Bears, didn't spend 14 years in the NFL as a player, and wasn't the flavor of the month as a coaching candidate after a stellar stay at Stanford -- that's Jim's resume, a big man on campus-type background.
John spent his college years as a defensive back at Miami-Ohio, and was perhaps best known as the roommate of Brian Pillman, who went on to become a huge wrestling star with both Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling franchise and Vice McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment empire.
The older Harbaugh brother didn't play a down in the NFL and spent 13 years toiling the college ranks as an assistant at places like Western Michigan, Pitt, Morehead State, Cincinnati and Indiana before Ray Rhodes and Andy Reid gave him a shot as the Philadelphia Eagles special teams coach.
John tutored the Birds special teamers for nine years before getting promoted to defensive backs coach and most were stunned when the Ravens took a flyer on him and made him their head coach in 2008.
Hindsight says Baltimore was right. Under John, the Ravens have recorded at least 10 wins in four of five regular seasons, and own the NFL's second-most wins (62, including playoffs) since his arrival in the Charm City. One more victory in the Super Bowl and Baltimore would match New England, who has amassed 63 wins since '08.
Jim, on the other hand, is 27-8-1 through two years as the Niners coach with two NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl appearance but had "admitted" John is the better coach.
"He's just trying to soften me up," John said. "I know how he operates, I've heard that before. He's a great coach. I'm proud of Jim, I'm proud of what he's doing. Proud of their accomplishments, I'm very impressed by their team. It's not surprising. It's the same way that he's played and coached or whatever he's done his whole life."
-Super Bowl XLVII will be the second (Super Bowl XXX between Dallas and Pittsburgh) in which each team lost its conference title game the previous year. In 2011, the 49ers lost to the New York Giants in the NFC Championship game and the Ravens were defeated by the New England Patriots in the AFC title tilt.
-During the championship games, the Ravens and 49ers became the first set of road teams to win conference titles since 1997 (Denver and Green Bay). In the second halves of their games, the Ravens (21-0) and 49ers (14-0) outscored their opponents 35-0.
-The AFC (47.7 million viewers) and NFC (42.0 million viewers) Championship Games ranked as TV's most-watched programs since Super Bowl XLVI.
-Kaepernick will be the fourth quarterback in the Super Bowl era to start the Super Bowl in the same season as his first career NFL start, joining Tom Brady (Patriots), Kurt Warner (St. Louis Rams) and Vince Ferragamo (Los Angeles Rams).
-Kaepernick's seven career regular-season starts are the third-fewest for a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl, trailing only Jeff Hostetler (Giants, four) and Ferragamo (five).
OVERALL ANALYSIS: San Francisco is certainly the more talented team but Baltimore has the experience advantage and any intangible edge Lewis' last run may provide.
"The 49ers will win if we play to the highest level of our potential." Davis said.
That's probably true but the Ravens seem to have taken on a team of destiny look. Meanwhile, Flacco already has eight postseason wins under his belt while Kaepernick has just nine NFL starts.
Expect Baltimore to get it done with a late Tucker field goal.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Ravens 23, 49ers 20


text:
January 06. 2013 1:03AM
Tracking NH's relationship with wind energy
By MICHAEL COUSINEAU
New Hampshire Sunday News
Developers say wind tax credits are not crucial to local projects
Wind energy would power the equivalent of about 1 in 4 New Hampshire households if companies proceed with plans to build five proposed wind farms over the next several years to join three others already in service.
Opponents, however, say the higher costs, government subsidies and impact on the landscape aren't worth the price for renewable energy.
The state's third wind farm, a $120 million project in Groton featuring 48 turbines, became operational Dec. 28, joining wind farms in Lempster and the Dixville Notch area.
Companies are "looking at New Hampshire's wind resource and drawing up some of these proposals," said Timothy Drew, a staffer on the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee, whose approval is needed before wind projects get developed.
At least two more projects are expected to receive key decisions from the Site Evaluation Committee next month.
The committee will start its deliberations on the Antrim wind farm on Feb. 5 at the Public Utilities Commission office in Concord. The deliberations will precede a decision on whether to green light the construction. An appeal would delay the project.
For a proposed wind farm in New Ipswich and Temple, Timbertop Wind I LLC wants the committee to take over jurisdiction to streamline the process. A decision on that also is expected in February, Drew said.
Timbertop, a wholly owned subsidiary of an affiliate of Pioneer Green Energy, is asking the committee to take over jurisdiction because New Ipswich adopted a 2010 ordinance for wind farms and passed a stricter one in 2012 and because the two towns call for different standards for such projects.
"If you're spending millions of dollars as we have and the standards are changing midway through the process, that's a very difficult thing for a developer to spend money on if the standards continue to change," said Adam Cohen, founder and vice president of the Texas-based company.
Ed Dekker, a member of the New Ipswich Planning Board, told the New Hampshire Union Leader last week that the company's move is intended to thwart the will of the people who voted overwhelmingly to pass tight restrictions on wind farms in their communities.
As for why companies are eyeing New Hampshire, Cohen said he thinks it is "because New Hampshire has set up a process to approve projects" based on their merits.
The eight wind projects, if built, are predicted to generate about 361 megawatts of electricity.
That translates to enough to power more than 120,000 New Hampshire households, according to Tom Frantz, director of the electric division of the Public Utilities Commission, which regulates power companies.
He said his calculations factored in the fact that wind farms produce energy about 30 percent of the time.
But not everyone is ready to embrace wind energy.
Rep. Harold "Skip" Reilly, R-Grafton, has proposed legislation calling for a moratorium on all wind power construction until the state updates its energy plan.
"First of all, are we getting any benefit out of this power? It's all going into the grid and it's not being used by us," Reilly said. "It's not reducing our electric rates."
Hundreds of residents at various meetings have expressed opposition to the wind turbines, he said.
"They're ruining the aesthetics of the area here with these wind mills. The only thing they're benefiting is some foreign company to come in here" and hurt the views, Reilly said. "It's not giving New Hampshire anything but a headache."
According to a report released last month by the Environment New Hampshire Research & Policy Center, a non-profit environmental group in Concord, New Hampshire could save 23 million gallons of water and avoid the vehicle pollution equivalent of 12,000 cars annually with wind energy under construction by displacing energy generated from plants using fossil fuels.
But these trade-offs come with a cost.
The federal government offers a 2.2 cent-per-kilowatt-hour tax credit for operating wind farms.
New Hampshire law - known as the Renewable Portfolio Standard law - also requires power companies to generate or buy a certain percentage of power from renewable energy sources or purchase renewable energy certificates from suppliers through the New England Power Pool generation information system. For 2013, that percentage totals 12 percent.
"With the exception of energy from the (proposed) Northern Pass, which is priced at market and requires no customer subsidies, all new energy sources, including wind, are above market, especially now, due to the historic low natural gas prices," said Michael Skelton, spokesman for Public Service of New Hampshire, the state's largest electric company
"We are interested in purchasing any type of renewable energy at market prices. But the reality is renewables cannot be built based solely on market prices. They need subsidies, federal incentives like tax credits, and long-term power purchase agreements in order to be economic," Skelton wrote. "As a regulated utility charged with being a low-cost provider, PSNH cannot buy power from above market sources without state-mandated policies like the NH RPS law and the approval of regulators. Our purchase from the Lempster project, for example, allows us to fulfill a portion of the NH RPS law."
PSNH purchases 90 percent of Lempster's wind power. The Northern Pass project, which has yet to announce a new route for proposed transmission lines, is a joint effort by PSNH's parent company, Northern Utilities, as well as Hydro-Quebec and NSTAR.
"The drawback for wind is its reliability and intermittent nature, which is a further reason PSNH supports biomass and hydroelectric sources, which are highly reliable," Skelton said. "Base load energy sources, like Northern Pass for example, are necessary because intermittent energy sources are not always available.
"All New England states have renewable energy policies in place," Skelton said. "The recent uptick in new wind projects seems to indicate that developers are responding to demand driven by other state's policies."
Wind supporter Jim Rubens, a former state senator and a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the state has "good wind resource."
As for the government's financial help, Rubens said, fracking and some other fossil fuel industries also receive subsidies.
"You drive new energy sources down the cost curve faster as a result of these subsidies and taxpayer-financed? R & D," Rubens said.
Congress renewed the federal tax credit for 2013.
Iberdrola Renewables, a Spanish company, has plants operating in Lempster and Groton, with a third, the Wild Meadows project, proposed for the Alexandria-Danbury area. The plants that are operating now are eligible for the tax credit while the Wild Meadows project, if approved, isn't projected to generate power until 2015, according to project developer Ed Cherian.
Cherian said Lempster, which became operational in 2008, "certainly met all of our expectations."
The Lempster wind farm has a 15-year deal to sells its power to PSNH and the NH Electric Co-op. Lempster's wind farm generates an operating profit, but it hasn't paid back its capital costs yet, Cherian said.
Its Groton plant has a 10-year power pact with NSTAR, PSNH's parent company.
Cherian said the energy market is complex, but said wind costs more than power from natural gas.
Cherian said "it's hard to speculate what the market for renewable energy" would be without the state requirements.
New Hampshire is "an expensive state to work in," he said.
The permitting process is "very comprehensive; its very expensive. It's many, many months of hearings" and requirements, Cherian said.
"It's probably scared off other investors because of the amount of cost and the amount of uncertainty in trying to make an investment in the wind farm," Cherian said.
Cherian also cited wind energy's favorable attributes.
"We're not using water. We're not using any combustion. There's no global warming impact. We're not extracting fossil fuels. These are all hidden costs in other types of electric generation," he said.
Companies conduct tests on possible sites to see what turbine configuration is needed.
"Without diving into the physics of it, a taller tower and a larger rotor both generally help increase the amount of energy each individual turbine can produce," Paul Copelman, Iberdrola's communications manager, said in an email. "That's not to say that we're necessarily seeking the tallest towers and longest blades at any proposed site. We have to evaluate specific site conditions, the likely behavior of the wind, as well as the cost of the machines themselves."
Lempster's project, for instance, called for a tower height of 256 feet, or 396 feet if you count to the tip of the turbine blades.
But not everybody is a convert.
The Schaefer family from Antrim's Salmon Brook Road, who live on property adjoining the proposed Antrim wind farm, wrote to the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee to oppose the project.
"To allow a nonresident, for-profit group to forever scar this area we have to live in daily and planned to retire in is nothing short of taking our constitutional rights from us," the letter said.
- - - - - - - -
Michael Cousineau may be reached at

subset: commoncrawl


text:
- < All instruments
- Folk
- Accordion (1)
- < All Genres
- < Folk
- Patriotic
1 results found
List results in: Detailed View | Thumbnail View
Sort results by: Price | Release Date | Popularity | Title
Mary's A Grand Old Name (Accordion) by George M. Cohan. Arranged by Gary Meisner. For easy piano. Children; Folk; Irish; Patriotic; Traditional. 2 pages. Published by Hal Leonard - Digital Sheet Music (HX.28301). About Digital Print Sheet Music Digital Print is printable sheet music available anytime, anywhere. Just purchase, print and play! View your online sheet music at home, school, work or anywhere you have a computer connected to the Internet. With Digital Print, you can print your digital sheet music immediately after purchase, or wait until its convenient. And our software installation is easy - we'll guide you through the simple steps to make sure you have Adobe Flash Player, Adobe AIR and the Sheet Music Plus AIR application. Learn more
Pages: 2
Instruments: Accordion, Folk
Genres: 4th of July, Children, Memorial Day, Patriotic, St. Patrick's Day, Celebrations, Miscellaneous, Folk


text:
This video is not available to view on this website. Click the button below to view it on our app.
To view this programme on mobiles or tablets please download our UKTV Play app.Download the app from the App Store
We're unable to show this programme on mobiles or tablets yet, but we're working on making it available soon.
Well, we can safely say your ad blocking software is working well. All you have to do is remove or temporarily disable it, and we can resume normal transmission.
Already disabled or removed it?
Just refresh the page and try again.
Currently our video library can only be watched from within the UK
Series 3, Episode 10


text:
Carbon Notte Headphones
Orders placed Monday-Friday before 1 PM EST will begin processing that day, excluding holidays, and will ship within 2 business days pending availability and credit verification. All orders placed after 1 PM EST will begin processing the next business day, and ship within 48 hours.
Orders placed on Friday after 1 PM EST will begin processing on the following Monday. KirnaZabete.com will contact you with a follow-up email if the merchandise you have selected is not currently in stock or if we need additional identification provided for credit verification. We use UPS and therefore are unable to deliver to APO/FPO addresses, as well as P.O. Boxes. We do not offer Saturday delivery.
You may be required to sign for your package upon delivery.
US Returns Policy
Items must be returned new, in their original condition and with all garment tags still attached. Merchandise returned without the original tags attached will not be accepted.
All merchandise is quality-inspected prior to shipment. If you find a product to be defective, please notify our Returns Department as soon as possible.
Shoes must be returned in their original, undamaged shoebox as this is considered part of the product.
All merchandise discounted at 50% or more, or marked "Final Sale", is considered FINAL SALE. Items designated as FINAL SALE cannot be returned or exchanged.
To ensure that your return is adequately protected in transit, we recommend you send your items to us in the original packaging provided.
A pre-paid UPS shipping label is provided for your convenience. No postage is required upfront. A $10 return shipping fee will be deducted from your final refund.
All returns are to be registered with our Returns Department at email@example.com. Please note that returns cannot be accepted without a Return Authorization Number. A Return Authorization Number must be requested within seven days of order delivery. Return Authorization requests made after seven days will be evaluated based on the discretion of the Returns Department, and may be declined. See "How Do I Make a Return?" for more information.
A Return Authorization Number is issued solely as a preliminary return management measure. Please note that a Return Authorization does not guarantee that a return will be accepted if the merchandise is found to be damaged, missing garment tags or otherwise not in original condition. If you are returning a product due to defect, please include this information when requesting a Return Authorizaton.


text:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (US - BD)
Or as Gabe likes to call it: Indiana Jones and the Director Doesn't Care Anymore
Harrison Ford is back as Indiana Jones, the aging treasure hunter and college professor, this time forced by evil communists onto the trail of a mysterious crystal skull. On the way Indy meets up with a kid named Mutt (Shia LeBeouf), and the kid's mother…Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen). Plus or minus a few double crosses, that's pretty much the story.
I'll come right out and ask—did anyone really expect a great movie out of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? After all the behind the scenes fiascos with scripting woes and possible falling out between the creative types? Perhaps a closer glance at the writer and director's recent resumes might have been a good cue? When has Steven Spielberg ever been known to deliver on a project when he wasn't interested? Wasn't Munich a good enough launch into officially adult filmmaking for him to officially move on? Does he really owe George Lucas this much? And come on people, I'm like the only guy left in the world that still defends the Star Wars prequels, hasn't Lucas developed enough negative surplus for you guys yet?
Frankly speaking, and putting my review here in an immediate framing as to not offend any of the film's fans, I'm not an Indiana Jones die hard, and my sense of nostalgia is not afraid of a little hard love every once and a while. I believe Raiders of the Lost Ark is a masterpiece, Temple of Doom is trite and Last Crusade was a fun enough time at the movies, and a fine last act. I wanted more Munich and Minority Report out of Steven Spielberg, not more Indiana Jones. The first time I found myself developing any interest in the project was when the cast was announced, but I still wasn't quite excited enough to go see the movie in theatres. However, I'm just not a big enough stick in the mud to turn down a Blu-ray viewing on a cool fall day.
For my basic enjoyment I developed a ten item checklist of necessities:
1. Indiana Jones in a hat. Check.
2. Indiana Jones whipping something. Check.
3. Faceless thugs being dispatched in a manner probably too graphic for a PG-13 movie? Check.
4. Sallah. Wait, where the hell is Sallah? That's an anti-check.
5. Cate Blanchete looking refined, sexy, and commie? Check.
6. Lots and lots of cobweds? Check.
7. Double Crosses (that was quick). Check.
8. Marrion Ravenwood (I love you Karen Allen). Check.
9. Creepy crawlies (no confined spaces this time, but still pretty gross). Check.
10. John William's original cue. Check
Nine out of ten makes for a modest success I suppose.
For the record Crystal Skull is better than a lot of the critics have labelled it, but it's still pretty weak, mostly for different and sadder reasons than The Phantom Menace. When George made The Phantom Menace he put everything he had into it, and didn't have to share almost any of the creative control. When Menace hit the fault laid on Lucas' personal problems as a storyteller and filmmaker. Now after almost ten years, and three 'great comebacks' that were largely considered mistakes, Lucas' inability to let the past go has sucked in a more impressive creative talent, and one that's actually managed to grow as a filmmaker.
I didn't see a single press release or interview during the production of this film that lead me to believe that Spielberg had any interest in the project. He's always appeared good natured, and happy to be push Shia LaBeouf's career along its merry little way, but his general malaise was always damning. Those of us keeping an open mind can look way back in development and plainly see the seeds growing from the first script chats. It sounds absurd as all get out, but I kind of like the idea of Indiana Jones vs. the Invaders from Mars. The reasons for not going the full on sci-fi route makes sense (though for some reason Independence Day didn't stop Spielberg from making War of the Worlds). Then looking at the record we can see it took something like twenty years for Ford, Lucas, and Spielberg to decide on a middle ground, which was written up by Stephen King's best adaptor Frank Darabount. Apparently everyone but Lucas liked the script (sight unseen I'm willing to bet large money it was the better script), and after George's rejection the air went out of the project. Spielberg brought on his blandest capable conspirator David Koepp to keep Lucas' awful sense of dialogue in check, and went through the numbers. You can see it all there on screen.
I don't like to play the Lucas blame game, because I think the guy is a genuine artist and has a hugely important place in film history (and again, I actually enjoy the prequels), but here it's obvious that the man isn't only continuing to deal with his never ending Star Wars and Saturday morning serials obsessions, but his post- Young Indiana Jones historical diddling has taken precedence, as has an official mid-life crisis level re-re-visitation of his greasy roots. This isn't just Indiana Jones 4, this is Star Wars 7, American Graffiti 3, and chance to deal with the one major element of 1900s pop-culture George hadn't yet dabbled in—the red scare. Spielberg has no place in this film beyond his work with an awesome cast (he's even fully dealt with red scare sci-fi in the far more efficient and relevant War of the Worlds remake), but then, working with Steve again is really just another symptom of confused midlife crisis.
Spielberg appears to have taken too many pieces of advice from Lucas on the film's look. Steve works best with realism, sometimes hyperrealism, George is a champion of the staged and painterly look. Too much of Crystal Skull looks particularly staged. I'm guessing that Spielberg objected to too many digital backdrops and met half way with practical sets that can't pass as real despite their enormous budget. Spielberg also opts for a more modern lighting scheme, which kind of jibes with the series' previous visual thesis. The beard can still kick out the big set pieces from a bull horn in the Porto-john, but it's simply obvious that his heart isn't fully in this one. We're talking Lost World levels of fun without magic.
But despite a lacklustre script that basically amounts to some new actiony thing happening every ten minutes, and a brilliant director's most average effort in a while, the actors actually manage to pull off some spectacular feats of enjoyable characterization. Harrison Ford has been on the road to nowhere for so long I'd personally written him off, hoping that he could find some kind of Bill Murry-esque bit part adventure. Low and behold Harry had it in him for one last go. He plays Jones with a near perfect mix of old school slyness with just enough oldness as to not alienate his audience. John Hurt and Karen Allen don't get enough screen time to really do us proud, but their general warmth is affecting. Winstone and Blanchett don't over excite (they were hired for very specific talents), but manage plenty of good face time, and though a little stilted coming off a film saving role in Transformers, Shia LaBeouf does not suffer acute Shortround-ites. There isn't a lot of drama in the dialogue or action, but the occasionally hitting jokes keep things moving. The grab the snake scene is probably the closest the film gets to the real joy of the original film.
I'm not sure how much of my vague disapproval with the look of Crystal Skull has to do with this Blu-ray disc's almost blinding clarity. It looks like the powers that be reached another stalemate in the film quality. Apparently Spielberg refused to go full on digital (which was a beautiful look for the Star Wars prequels), but went for a very clean, anamorphic 35mm. I'm not usually one to harp on tradition if filmmakers want to move on, but the first three Indiana Jones films had such pleasant grain and imperfections to them. Sometimes this super pristine transfer, without a smidgen of dirt, grain, of even real life texture looks a little bit like a made for TV movie on Sci-Fi HD. This isn't a bad thing for the purposes of my video review, because it is immaculate, it just isn't quite what I was expecting (honestly, I kind of like the look shoddy blue screen effects).
The majority of the film features powerful, high contrast, and deeply dark textures. The cave diving stuff is rich in detail, ensuring every single one of those mossy and cobweb encrusted walls are impressing the hell out of us. My favourite scene visually is at the beginning of the film, when Indy accidentally finds himself on a proto-'50s town block settled to be big boy bombed. Here Spielberg and DP Janusz Kaminski (who deserved the Oscar for Munich) channel a bit of Tim Burton and David Lynch zaniest, including some really wonderfully vibrant hues and a little clever soft focus (which follows through in a few more of the film's stylized scenes). The film's climax features a more metallic and slightly lavender look, which is really the worst case of lacking texture in the whole film, but also the most immaculate part of the whole disc.
Despite iffy scripts and bored directors, I don't think any of us were disappointed in good ole' Ben Burtt and his memorable sound effects collection. The quality of this Dolby Digital TrueHD track shouldn't come as a surprise given the pedigree or the effort Paramount usually puts into their big releases. The opening act pretty much contains everything you need—a car chase, a few fist fights, whip cracks, some explosions (including a nuke), and some specifically Ben Burttian extras, like magnetized ammunition. The killer ant scene is another fun bit, featuring some huge surround sound creepy crawling, but the sci-fi finale is Burtt's finest moment, recalling classic genre buzzes and beeps, vamped up with a modern slant, including some heavy bass and lively multi-channel spinning.
John Williams is getting old, and I've been regularly disappointed with his more recent scores (comparatively speaking of course), with the exception of Revenge of the Sith, which built gracefully and tonally on the original prequel cues. He doesn't pull off the same shocker magic with Crystal Skull, but Williams restraint in using unaltered version of old cues is admirable, and gives the full on theme a great bump when it finally springs in. The score is of course well represented on the track, featuring full and immersive symphonic sounds that stand out effectively against all manner of otherworldly sound effects.
The extras begin with disc one, which itself begins with three Indian Jones timelines. The first is a production timeline of the film, the second is a historical timeline of the events that occurred around the story of the film, based in fact, and the third is a story timeline of the events concerning the actual crystal skull. The timelines are mostly made up of slides with facts and photos. Unfortunately slides that do feature video only feature scenes from the film or behind the scenes footage, no documentary footage on the real life events
'The Return of the Legend' is made up of stuff that's been making the rounds since last April, parts of which were on the latest trilogy DVD release. It's a basic EPK, but with more post-release spoilers than the usual pre-release EPK. If ever there was proof that Spielberg was roped into this you only need to watch the poor sap crushed 'neath the boots of Lucas and Ford, and only get particularly excitable when complaining about the pre-production problems. The seventeen and a half minute featurette features some hi-def footage from the original trilogy, if that kind of thing might make your day.
'Pre-Production' is all about… the pre-production process, beginning with a whole lot of digital pre-viz. Is this where the maestro lost his way? Did he rely too much on pre-viz and lose his Saturday Morning Serial on-the-spotestness? Later the direct and DP talk a bit about the effort they made to match the look of the original movies (which I disagree with personally), the cast and crew touches on the costume design, LeBeouf's casting, sword training, and a myriad of other preparative techniques and news that don't really flow very well. The whole thing is eleven minutes.
Disc one is completed with two trailers, Trailer One and Trailer Two. No sign of the Cat in the Hat.
Disc two features the plate of meat and potatoes, the 'Production Diary'. This documentary covers pretty much every little thing one might want to know about the film, and it moves at a brisk and clean pace. The documentarians do the Lucasfilm brand proud, as with the exception of the non-extras that were a part of the latest Indiana Jones cash-in release, most of the studio's produced DVD documentaries have been generally good little movies. There are some elements to the doc that seem to disprove some of my theories on the lacking quality of the overall film, but it also appears that there was a whole lot of important footage delegated to second unit folks (which is more in keeping with Lucas' filmmaking style). The six part feature runs about one hour and twenty minutes.
The main doc is augmented by a series of shorter featurettes. 'Warrior Make-Up' is five minutes and concerns the concept and make-up execution of the very briefly featured generic Latin American 'warriors'. As character designs I'd call these guys a whole lot less interesting then the similar characters featured in Apocalypto, The Fountain, and of course, The Lord of the Rings. 'The Crystal Skulls' is a ten minute coverage of the history of the world's real crystal skulls and the prop construction very briefly. I actually saw this featurette in parts on television too. 'Iconic Props' is a slightly conceited ten minute look at the film's main props (come on now, 'iconic'?).
'The Effects of Indy' is a little longer, about twenty two minutes, covering pretty much every detail of the practical effects, the miniature work, the compositing work, and the digital animation. The featurette has a classy way of not dividing up techniques as much as scenes, putting equal emphasis of all the different brands of effects artists. I'm becoming so very jaded to special effects and special effects documentaries these days.
'Adventures in Post Production' is a glance into the world of editing, sound editing and design, and John Williams' music. It's so cool to see Michael Kahn not only still working, but able to cut an action scene just as well as the younger, commercial trained guys. Ben Burtt's screen presence hasn't become any more assured since the Star Wars documentary days, but his well stream of talent speaks for itself. Like all these technicians at the height of their power, Benny's got some back-up these days, but he's still very hands on. Williams is regal as ever, and has made me appreciate his new cues a little more. I'm beginning to think that perhaps my problems were in the placement and editing of the music, not the music itself, because I didn't get this sense of nostalgia out of the tracks when blaring on screen.
'Closing Team Indy' ends things on a sappy and mawkish nostalgia note, and a love letter afterthought. Basically we're talking three and a half minutes of face to name end credits. The collection is finished out with three pre-viz sequences, and four image galleries.
There was no way Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was going to be Raiders of the Lost Ark, but it could've been Hook, so I suppose we're lucky we got a Lost World out of the deal. The worst news would've been if Spielberg managed to undershoot the quadruple threat of both National Treasure and The Mummy films, which were flat out Indy rip offs, and which generally weren't good. From the standpoint of similar means of entertainment and storytelling, in 2008 I'd recommend Hellboy 2 over Crystal Skull. Though both films were flawed, it just seems that del Toro had the gumption to make something with real energy. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to watch A.I. now so I can see Spielberg direct with his balls a bit, final film be damned.
*Note: The images on this page are not representative of the Blu-ray release.
Review by Gabriel Powers
Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13
Disc Details
Release Date: 14th October 2008
Discs: 1
Disc Type: Blu-ray Disc
RCE: No
Video: 1080p
Aspect: 2.35:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: Yes
Audio: Dolby Digital TrueHD 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 French, Dolby Digital 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
Extras: Interactive Timeline, Return of a Legend, Pre-Production, Production Diary, Featurettes, Galleries, Pre-Viz, Trailers
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Harrison Ford, Shia LeBeouf, Karen Allen, Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, John Hurt
Genre: Action and Adventure
Length: 122 minutes
6Review Guide
Award Details
Follow our updates
New Editorials
Joe Lynch DVD | HD | BD David Hayter US - DVD R1 | BD RA SXSW Film 2013 - Part 1 US - DVD | HD | BD Will streaming kill physical media? DVD | HD | BD Gabe's 2012 Wrap-Up DVD | BD
Released Soon
Sorry to Bother You US - DVD R1 | BD RA Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again US - DVD R1 | BD RA Creepshow: Collector's Edition US - BD RA Patient Zero US - DVD R1 | BD RA How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Ultimate Edition US - DVD R1 | BD RA
Hot Reviews
House on Haunted Hill (1999) US - BD RA Ant-Man and The Wasp US - BD RA Prince of Darkness UK - BD RB [REC] Collection, The US - BD RA They Live UK - BD RB
Most Talked About
Solo: A Star Wars Story US - BD RA The Meg US - DVD R1 | BD RA Exorcist II: The Heretic Collector's Edition US - BD RA Mandy US - DVD R1 | BD RA Mission: Impossible – Fallout US - DVD R1 | BD RA


text:
UPDATE: Three dogs killed in Hooksett FireBy BENJAMIN C. KLEIN
Union Leader Correspondent
June 13. 2013 8:45AM
HOOKSETT - Three dogs died and two dogs survived a two-alarm fire this morning at a house on Roy Road in Hooksett.
According to Hooksett Fire Department officials, two of the family's five dogs survived the two-alarm fire early Thursday morning at 8 Roy Road.
"When crews got there this morning, the fire was visible through the roof. The house suffered heavy loss; the majority of the structure is damaged beyond repair," assistant fire chief Dean Jore said.
Sandra and Galen Benjamin are listed as the owners of the house, and according to fire officials, of the four people living in the house, none were children. Jore said the family was probably asleep when the fire started.
Jore said the cause of the fire is still undetermined.
Previous story follows:
HOOKSETT - Two pets are still unaccounted for after a home was engulfed in a two-alarm fire early Thursday morning.
Four people made it out to safety when the home at 8 Roy Road caught fire about 4 a.m.
The home is located off South Bow Road, and when firefighters arrived, the flames were shooting from the home and quickly went to two alarms. By 6 a.m., the fire was under control although firefighters were still pouring water on it.
According to Hooksett Fire Chief Michael Williams, two pets from the single family residence are still unaccounted for, while another two are safe. No one in the family was injured, Williams said, but the fire was heavily involved in the back of the house and required roughly 40,000 gallons of water to put out.
Williams said the State Fire Marshal has been requested to investigate the fire, and he said the cause is still undetermined. Fire departments from Auburn, Pembroke, Candia, Goffstown and Chester assisted with mutual aid.


text:
Bedford dog park supporters cry foul
BEDFORD - The town council Wednesday night took no action on moving forward with a proposed dog park despite lengthy debate over who was to blame for the wording of a warrant article on the park that some claim was made intentionally confusing to voters.
Instead, councilors agreed to let volunteers willing to self-insure themselves against liability come forward and take responsibility for the park, which includes paying to build the facility and maintain it after it's built.
But the president of the Friends of Bedford Canine Corner (FBCC) doesn't believe such volunteers will come forward, and he blames some members of the town council for intentionally trying to torpedo the plan.
"We understand that a small group of councilors met in a non-public meeting to write their own wording for the questions in the dog park ballot article," Fred Hurwitz told the council. "This was without the knowledge or involvement of the FBCC. Personally, given the years of work those of us on the FBCC board have put into this initiative, I find it a surprising lapse that our feedback was not requested."
Councilor Bill Dermody, however, took offense at Hurwitz's allegation, saying no such effort was made to sink the plan. "I'm rather perplexed at what was described here," Dermody said. "There were no three councilors who wrote in a closed-door meeting."
Dermody said fellow councilor Jim Scanlon, who is in favor of the dog park and at one time sat on the FBCC board, "participated in the full discussion and the vote on the wording." Dermody added that, "Jim agreed with it and said it wasn't necessarily what he would write, but he was comfortable with it."
In earlier comments Scanlon had supported Hurwitz's contention that the wording of the warrant article was exclusively the product of members of the council opposed to a dog park.
Last night, Scanlon chastised the council for what he described as a poor attitude toward the dog park idea. "We had a poor attitude about the dog park; we began looking more at obstacles than objectives," Scanlon said. "I don't think holding people's feet to the fire is a sign of a cooperative attitude toward volunteers. This dog park is attainable, and it is attainable without controversy. I believe we can get there."
Hurwitz is not so certain. Despite a promise from the FBCC that they would raise the money to build and maintain the park, no one on the FBCC board has indicated that they would be willing to assume liability for the facility through self-insurance.
Hurwitz told councilors that the second part of the ballot question dealing with the dog park was "fatally flawed from its conception." Hurwitz added that Question 2 "confusingly mixed issues of maintenance cost and a leasing arrangement." As a result, he said, people were clearly confused. "The town council has known for over a year, ever since the former chairman (Dermody) first brought up the topic, that the FBCC would never sign a lease," Hurwitz said. "No group has ever come forward to sign a lease and no one knows of a reason to expect that anyone will."
Town Councilor Normand Longval sided with Hurwitz and Scanlon. "There was no input on that ballot from councilors in support of the dog park and that troubles me," Longval said. "It sounds to me that this was shoved in front of us."
Town Council Chairman Chris Bandazian disputed that charge. "The wording was available before the meeting and nobody was taken by surprise," he said.
The vice chairman of the council, Bill Jean, said he would support a dog park "as long as it comes with no taxpayer expense."


text:
Gun missing from police evidence room a mysteryBy KATHRYN MARCHOCKI
New Hampshire Union Leader
July 18. 2013 9:05PM
MANCHESTER - The search for a revolver discovered missing when the court ordered it destroyed last fall continues, though police suspect it likely was sent to a company that pulverizes unwanted weapons and did not properly record it, the assistant police chief said.
"We don't know if this was human error - that someone didn't document properly, that the weapon wasn't destroyed properly - or if the gun is missing," Assistant Police Chief Nick Willard said in a telephone interview Thursday.
"The most likely scenario, just in my view, is that it was destroyed and wasn't properly recorded," Willard said.
Still, he said the department is actively investigating the weapon's disappearance and is "open to any possibility" of what may have happened to the silver revolver.
"My hope is the weapon still turns up. But, right now, it wasn't where it was supposed to be, which causes us concern. It may very well be here, but it is something we are taking very seriously given our stellar track record," Willard adding, noting the department's high scores in audits of its evidence room required for accreditation.
Police seized the weapon from Christopher Jaskiel, 34, on Aug. 1, 2011, after Jaskiel threatened two people with it near his 44 Notre Dame Ave. home. Jaskiel pleaded guilty to one count of criminal threatening last Sept. 24. Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Gillian Abramson sentenced him to a suspended 3- to 6-year prison sentence and ordered Manchester police to destroy the handgun, ammunition, knives and brass knuckles they seized from him.
Willard said police realized the weapon was missing before they moved into their new Valley Street headquarters after Christmas, but did not specify when it was first noticed and reported missing and by whom.
"We were preparing to move. It was realized the weapon wasn't in evidence though we have information that (other) evidence associated with the gun was destroyed," Willard explained.
Handwritten notes on evidence vouchers indicate police destroyed six of the nine pieces of seized evidence on Sept. 26. A notation indicates the ammunition was destroyed Feb. 6. There is nothing to indicate either the handgun - identified as a "Horsely" - or another piece of evidence identified only as "DAF3" was destroyed.
Willard said there are three other possible explanations for the gun's disappearance.
The gun could be lost, he said. Staff searched the old Chestnut Street police station for it without success. They continue to look through evidence boxes to see if it accidentally went into another box while police packed up and moved evidence to the new station.
Willard said he doesn't believe the weapon left the Chestnut Street station. He described the weapon as "pretty shabby." "It's in extremely poor condition. It's not something of value that somebody would want."
Still, he acknowledged, "It's a firearm. You can draw your own conclusions to firearms being out on city streets."
Willard said it also is possible someone assigned to the evidence room accidentally released the weapon to a civilian.
He said officers are retracing all 222 guns returned to their owners in the nine months since Sept. 24. As of Friday, he said officers had contacted all but about 10 of the 111 owners.
"At this point, no one has a gun that is unaccounted for," Willard said.
A handgun was accidentally released to the wrong owner last June, but the error was discovered the same day by evidence technician Judith Routhier, who tried to retrieve it after accidentally releasing it to the wrong person, according to the police report and Willard. Routhier sought Willard's help, who recovered it after reviewing video tapes that confirmed the weapon was given to the wrong person.
Lastly, the gun could have been stolen from the evidence room. Willard considers this the least likely situation,
He said officers took statements from all four sworn and civilian evidence room staff about the possibility the gun may have been taken. All four - Sgt. Stephen Reardon, who was brought in to oversee purging of evidence during the move, Officer Robert Freitas, a special police officer who assisted with evidence purging, and civilian evidence technicians David Dido and Judith Reardon - denied having any involvement in the weapon's disappearance, he said.
"We didn't accuse them of anything," Willard said.
"They have been actively part of the trying to locate the weapon and have been very helpful...They take pride in what they're doing down there. They always have. The fact that there is a missing gun causes them great consternation," he added.
Willard said one one member of the evidence room staff no longer works for the department, but wouldn't discuss details because it is a "personnel matter."
Click here to view the evidence voucher from this case.
Click here to view the original court documents from this case.


text:
Snow removal puts state $6 million in holeBy MICHAEL COUSINEAU
New Hampshire Union Leader
March 19. 2013 9:13PM
The state's Department of Transportation expects to spend $6 million more than budgeted for snow removal this winter and may need to ask the Legislature to approve money to cover the increased cost.
The state budgeted about $39 million for winter maintenance but expects to spend about $45 million. Last winter totaled about $32 million for "a relatively mild winter," department spokesman Bill Boynton said Tuesday.
"As always is the case, we don't know how the winters are going to play out," Boynton said, noting last month ranked as the worst month in 20 years on a winter severity index that measures the effect of weather on maintaining roads.
Before Tuesday's storm, Concord already had 72 inches of snow this winter, 17.2 inches above normal.
At the same point last year, the city saw 48.9 inches compared to a normal 54.8 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
A fleet of 310 state plow trucks and 437 hired trucks cleared 4,600 miles of state-maintained roads Tuesday. A statewide storm typically costs about $565,000 for an eight-hour shift without overtime, including staff, equipment and salt. An eight-hour overtime shift runs $609,000.
Some crews in southwest New Hampshire were called out at 10 p.m. Monday.
Last winter's budget had more than $7 million left over, with some of that money devoted to tasks such as tree trimming and guardrail work in the summer, Boynton said.
Politics Weather New Hampshire Top Section Stories Transportation


text:
The U.S. Attorney's Office announced Friday that federal charges will not be filed against former Asheville Police Department officer Christopher Hickman, the man who appears in
bow detail ballerinas Green Sarah Chofakian oTrPyZw4
Hickman still faces
Liana leather ballerina shoes Tory Burch FjpvUJ
When Rush tried to run, the video shows Hickman brought him down and repeatedly punched him in the head.
For Democrats, immigration is a political problem without a policy solution.
White backlash against mass immigration is, thus, a genuine liability for Democrats in many regions of the country (even as it is a liability for Republicans in others). But that liability can't be eliminated by securing America's borders.
immigration produced the bulk of America's demographic changes over the past half-century — and is poised to produce virtually all of those forecast for the coming decades. This is why the Republican Party's most overt enthno-nationlists (i.e.
Back Detail Jumper Dress Grey New Look EsxR8dt3r
and White House policy adviser Foldaway Tote purple star by VIDA VIDA JH8X9zzg
) are so eager to slash legal inflows. And yet, even the White House's radical immigration reform bill wouldn't DRESSES Kneelength dresses Laboart 338hJPfZlQ
. The relatively low birthrates of white, native-born Americans are enough to ensure that this country continues to diversify in the coming decades.
All of which is to say: Survey data, history, and basic chronology all suggest that the rise of nativism in the Republican Party — and the defection of non-college-educated whites from the Democratic Party — cannot be attributed to a deepening crisis of illegal immigration. To the extent that these developments are a response to the objective consequences of immigration policy over the past two decades (as opposed to media narratives about the same), they are a response to the steady growth in America's nonwhite, foreign-born population.
And Democrats cannot stymie such growth by rallying behind stricter rules for asylum, or more border security funding, or even Trump's border wall. To change the objective conditions fueling Trumpism, they would need to embrace restrictionist policies even more extreme than Stephen Miller's — a prospect that is neither ideologically nor politically tenable for Democratic officeholders.
This said, the party could try to ameliorate the subjective conditions fueling its struggles with culturally conservative whites. Democratic candidates — especially those in predominantly white, rural areas — might be wise to moderate rhetorically on immigration (or else, to say as little on the subject as possible, as Conor Lamb did in Pennsylvania earlier this year). And some such candidates would plausibly benefit from taking heterodox, hard-line positions on immigration policy (to signal their independence from their "amnesty" and "sanctuary city" loving co-partisans).
But there's little reason to think that the Democratic Party, as a whole, would benefit from pursuing that kind of triangulation. For one thing, Democratic voters have
Loafers dark navy Bottega Veneta Z7prHEiSj
on immigration than they are now (nor, for that matter, is the rest of the non-Trumpist portion of the electorate). And the Democrats have rarely been more dependent on the votes of immigrant communities — or the mobilization efforts of immigrant advocacy organizations —than they are today.
© 2018 CMH Services, Inc. All Rights reserved
Clayton Homes-Barboursville offers land and home opportunities in the following areas: Alkol, Alltizer, Apple Grove, Ashland, Ashton, Athalia, Barboursville, Bellefonte, Beverly Hills, Branchland, Catlettsburg, Ceredo, Chesapeake, Coal Grove, Cove Gap, Crown City, Culloden, East Lynn, Eleanor, Flatwoods, Fort Gay, Fraziers Bottom, Genoa, Glenhayes, Glenwood, Griffithsville, Hamlin, Hanging Rock, Huntington, Hurricane, Ironton, Ironville, Jefferson, Kenova, Kiahsville, Kitts Hill, Lavalette, Lesage, Meads, Midkiff, Millseat, Milton, Myra, Naples, Ona, Palermo, Pedro, Pliny, Prichard, Princess, Proctorville, Raceland, Radnor, Ranger, Red House, Rock Camp, Rockdale, Russell, Saint Albans, Salt Rock, Scott Depot, Scottown, Shoals, Sias, South Point, Southpoint, Summitt, Sweetland, Teays, Wayne, West Fairview, West Hamlin, Westwood, Willow Wood, Winfield, Worthington, Yawkey


text:
Well said. It also helps me see more clearly why I feel no resonance with what zavk is saying.daverupa wrote:If there are social imbalances or civil imbalances, these can be addressed with dialogue and policy, but trying to ensure that Dhamma practice somehow "accounts" for the innumerable Other in its uniqueness is going too far, isn't it? This reference to "in certain circumstances", as with much of how you've framed this so far, is quite non-specific, and it seems as though the examples you are able to provide are either hypothetical or personal. So the issue you're trying to bring up is starting to look locally relevant while being framed in global terms, and this is serving to obscure the issue, I think, rather than clarify it.
Personally, I regard other people as directed to by the instructions of the Sutta Pitaka, and there's plenty in there about how we do this, if we care to look. That's it - I don't feel any obligation to "change the [external] world". I don't mind if other people do, but I don't fancy being roped up for any crusades when there are more important things to be doing - i.e. striving for arahantship.
Since the Sutta Pitaka doesn't engage in socio-cultural analytics or thought-exercises such as the "greater recognition of different, multiple realities of BuddhismS" being proposed here as part of the Noble Eightfold Path, then neither do I, as part of my application of the Noble Eightfold Path.
If this topic requires one to apply a scholastic or activist lens to the topic, which is independent of the Noble Eightfold Path, then I think it's time I bowed out too, as neither frame of reference interests me - because for the reasons outlined previously, such "horizontal" ways of looking strike me as being counter-productive.


text:
February 16. 2013 11:09PM
Girl, 15, hit by sleigh horse
BRADFORD — A 15-year-old girl was injured Saturday when she was hit by a horse while it was being hitched to a sleigh, Fire Capt. Laurie Brown said.
Brown said horses were being hitched to the sleigh Saturday morning when the girl got into their path and one of them backed into her. She was taken to Concord Hospital for treatment of what Brown said were not life-threatening injuries.


text:
November 18, 1922 - March 13, 2013
Milford, PA
Betty Orben, 90, life long resident of Milford, PA passed away on Tuesday, March 13, 2013 in her home. Betty was born in Highland, NY on November 18, 1922 to George and Nellie Wyckoff. She married Raymond R. Orben, Sr. on March 27, 1943 and he predeceased her in death in 2003. Betty worked as a teller for the Pike Co. Bank retiring in 1985. A devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend she will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her.
Surviving are her sons, Raymond (Shirley) Orben, Jr., Gary (Debbie) Orben, Robert (Chris) Orben; grandchildren: Beth (Cam) Knox, Rusty (Kim) Orben, Katherine (Dr. Daniel) Herring, Kayla Orben, Courtney (Mark) DeWine, Robbie (Crystal) Orben; eight great grandchildren; sister, Mildred "Moo" Craft. She was predeceased in death by a sister, Olive Wright and brother, George Wyckoff.
Friends will be received at Stroyan Funeral Home, 405 W. Harford St., Milford, PA (www.stroyanfuneralhome.com) on March 18, 2013 from 12 to 3 p.m. A Funeral Service will begin at Stroyan Funeral Home on March 18, 2013 at 3 p.m. with the Rev. Linda Hale officiating.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations may be made to the Milford Fire Dept., P.O. Box 1369 Milford, PA 18337, American Cancer Society Pike Unit, 204 E. Harford St. Milford, PA 18337 or Karen Ann Quinlan Center of Hope Hospice, 99 Sparta Ave., Newton, NJ 07860.


text:
There were 55 bookings at the San Joaquin County Jail in the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Sunday. At that time, there were 1,422 people held at the jail, which has an official capacity of 1,411. When the jail is full, some inmates may be released early.
There were 55 bookings at the San Joaquin County Jail in the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Sunday. At that time, there were 1,422 people held at the jail, which has an official capacity of 1,411. When the jail is full, some inmates may be released early.
Assault with a deadly weapon: Kevieyon Brown, 34, was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and robbery after he reportedly slashed a 51-year-old man with a disposable medical scalpel in an altercation in the victim's car about 8 a.m. Sunday. They car was parked in the 1700 block of W. Martin Luther King Boulevard and the victim reported the two had been smoking drugs together. When Brown attempted to get out of the car with the victim's phone, the two began to fight and Brown pulled out the scalpel. A third person, Leona Harmon, 47, jumped in to aid Brown, and was arrested for battery and warrants.
Stabbing: A 25-year-old man reported he'd been stabbed during a fight inside a residence in the 2700 block of Country Club Boulevard just after midnight Sunday morning. The man, who had non-life threatening injuries, got into a fight with a man who arrived at the location. Another man joined the fight and stabbed the victim. The two suspects are Latino men, the first described as 25 years old, 6-foot-1, 180 pounds with a tattoo on the right side of his forehead.
Shooting: A 22-year-old male who refused to provide details, sought treatment about 2:30 a.m. Sunday at a hospital for a gunshot wound sustained in the Hammer Lane and Kelley Drive area.
Assault with a deadly weapon: A 43-year-old woman sustained a non-life threatening laceration when she was struck across the forehead with a tire iron during an argument with an unknown suspect in the 2700 block of Wisteria Lane on Saturday afternoon about 4:40 p.m.
Robbery: A 30-year-old woman reported having the money from her cashed income tax return stolen near El Dorado and Jefferson streets about 11 a.m. on Saturday when she was accosted by a suspect riding a bike. The woman said the black man, aged 40-50, 6-feet, 180-190 pounds wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans, pulled her hair and punched her in the face and head before riding off with her purse.
Attempted homicide: Chad Elliott, 24, was arrested on Saturday afternoon on charges of attempted homicide after he stabbed his mother twice with a knife. The victim fled her home and called police about 1:30 p.m. from a neighbor's house in the 300 block of W. Locust Street. Responders sent her, by ambulance, to a south Sacramento area hospital for treatment and arrested Elliott without incident. He was booked into jail on charges of attempted homicide. His mother was listed in stable condition.
The California Highway Patrol did not submit an incident report for the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Sunday.
The Stockton Fire Department responded to 112 calls for service in the 24 hours ending at 8 a.m. Sunday, including three vehicle accidents, 88 medical calls and two structure fires.


text:
Posted on January 20, 2012
History of the U.S. Federal Census
Date: Tuesday, January 24
Times: 7:00 pm
Where: Helen Plum Memorial Library Genealogy Club, 110 W. Maple St., Lombard
Who: Matt Rutherford
More information: Library Adult Services, (630) 627-0316 https://www.helenplum.org/
In genealogy research, we often refer to the decennial U.S. Federal Census simply as "the census." But, in fact, it really is twenty-three separate historical documents, each reflecting the purpose, politics, and idiosyncrasies of its era. We will place each of the censuses in its proper historical context in order to better interpret and apply them to our research.
Submitted by Jeanne Park on February 25, 2012 Permalink
Submitted by frereg on February 29, 2012 Permalink


text:
Supermarket war heats up with customers the only clear winnerBy PAUL FEELY
New Hampshire Union Leader
July 01. 2013 10:53PM
Just in time for July 4th cookout shopping, the local grocery war is heating up.
Late last week, Shaw's and Star Market announced they were doing away with their rewards card program, opting to launch lower "card-free" pricing on thousands of items instead.
Hannaford Supermarkets, in similar fashion, introduced a price-cutting program at its locations two weeks ago. Market Basket, with a new location in Bedford and a newly relocated and expanded store in Nashua, appears to be continuing to keep pressure on regional competitors.
In a war between supermarkets, there's always one clear winner.
"No doubt, it's the customer," said Mike Berger, senior editor of the Griffin Report of Food Marketing, a trade paper covering the supermarket industry. "Lower prices are never a bad thing. The more they drop to keep up with each other, the more it benefits the consumer."
Shaw's launched its "You're in for Something Fresh" advertising campaign last week, announcing it would drop the Rewards program cards on June 28.
The company laid off 700 employees last November, and was bought earlier this year by Cerberus Capital Management.
The Shaw's program required customers to have rewards cards to get sale prices at checkout. Shaw's spokesman Steve Sylven said customers who wanted rewards cards had to supply their names, home and email addresses. Shaw's sent mail or emails to customers frequently, informing them of special deals that might take part in, based on past buying habits mined from rewards card data.
Lower prices instead
Customers like Ray Gorman of Manchester, shopping Friday at the Shaw's market on South Willow Street, said he will not miss the reward cards program.
"I didn't like that you had to give them all that information to get the better prices," Gorman said. "Why did they need all that from me?"
Sylven was unable to supply data on how many rewards card customers Shaw's had, and said the move was not an attempt to keep up with Market Basket.
"Simply put, we eliminated the rewards card because we want to offer the same price to all customers without a card," Sylven said. "In general, the cards were used to allow customers access to sales prices, and we did not currently have any points program with the card. Our business strategy is customer-centric, and we knew that pricing is very important to customers.
"That's why we've cut prices on thousands of items across the stores," he said. "These lower prices are not a short-term promotion, or a sales price that will change with the next circular release. These are lower prices that customers can expect from us every time they visit."
Market Basket's presence
Analysts, however, say the move by Shaw's, and the one the prior week by Hannaford — where prices were dropped on more than 4,500 items — indicate that new entries into the regional market are taking a bigger share of the grocery market.
"There's no question Market Basket is in the driver's seat behind these moves," Berger said. "They continue to expand, and they're not afraid of anyone. Shaw's is under a lot of pressure right now."
The Market Basket store on Donald Street in Bedford opened in May. That followed a location opening on Elm Street in Manchester in April 2012, and one in Hooksett on Market Drive in 2011.
The Bedford location was the 30th Market Basket to open in New Hampshire. In June, the company also opened an expanded store at Somerset Plaza in Nashua, a city that includes two Market Basket stores. Shaw's operates 33 stores in New Hampshire, while Hannaford has 37 locations.
While Berger said he thinks "it's a possibility" that other major food retailers could also abandon reward card programs in the coming weeks, a spokeswoman for Stop & Shop said that company has no plans to do so.
"While we do not discuss promotional strategy, I can confirm Stop & Shop continues to promote its loyalty card programs, as our customers can realize multiple types of savings when they use their Stop & Shop card," said Suzi Robinson, spokeswoman for Stop & Shop's New England Division. "These include weekly specials, Real Deals, and other promotional programs, including Gas Rewards."
Efforts to reach someone at Market Basket headquarters in Tewksbury, Mass., for comment on the recent moves by competitors were unsuccessful.
Other competition
Supermarket chains are also facing competition from nontraditional food stores, including retailers Target and Walmart; the latter is the largest grocery retailer in the country. Upstarts have also made inroads: The Market Basket on Daniel Webster Highway in Nashua is across the street from Trader Joe's, a California-based specialty retailer that moved its Tyngsborough Mass., store there last year, marking its entry into New Hampshire.
Major supermarket chains, popular elsewhere in the country, have expressed interest in expanding into the Northeast.
"Call me in a few years, and I bet we're having this same conversation about reaction to a Wegman's coming to New Hampshire," Berger email@example.com


text:
College Hockey: UNH hits a River Hawk roadblock to Frozen FourBy ALLEN LESSELS
New Hampshire Union Leader
March 30. 2013 10:40PM
MANCHESTER - A loud "Fro-zen Four, Fro-zen Four, Fro-zen Four" postgame chant picked up steam in the Verizon Wireless Arena, sending a Hockey East team off to Pittsburgh.
Problem for the University of New Hampshire hockey team was, the folks from UMass Lowell led the cheers.
Lowell got some sweet revenge with a 2-0 win over UNH in front of 8,357 on Saturday night and, even more sweetly, secured a berth in the Frozen Four that starts on April 11.
The Wildcats lost in the NCAAs for the fourth straight time in a Regional final and again came up one win shot of making their first Frozen Four since 2003.
"It's disappointing," said UNH senior forward John Henrion. "It's frustrating. We've been here three times in the last four years, twice here, unfortunately in front of our home fans. UMass Lowell is a great hockey team. We knew we had our hands full with them."
UNH finished with a 20-12-7 record and bounced back nicely to make its 11th national tournament appearance in the last 12 years.
The River Hawks, the hottest team in the country, had lost all three games they played against New Hampshire this year and had never been to the championship round of the NCAA Division I tournament.
Thanks to stingy freshman goalie Connor Hellebuyck and a tight defense in front of him, Lowell has become a shutdown team and is moving on.
The River Hawks are 28-10-2 and have won seven straight games and 14 of their last 15 heading to Pittsburgh. They won the Hockey East regular season title, the Hockey East tournament title and now the Regional.
Hellebuyck and the defense have not given up more than a goal in their last five games.
The Wildcats, playing without their two best forwards in injured junior Kevin Goumas and sophomore Grayson Downing, had trouble getting shots, especially high quality opportunities on Helllebuyck and the River Hawks.
"They're a good team," said UNH coach Dick Umile. "They make it tough and they don't let you open it up."
Lowell scored a huge goal in the final minute of the second period. The River Hawks the UNH net and Scott Wilson finally snapped the scoreless tie with 29.7 seconds to go in the frame.
The River Hawks were all over the Wildcats in the final minute. UNH goalie Casey DeSmith, the sophomore from Rochester, stopped an Adam Chapie shot and then another bid. But Wilson and his teammates kept coming and Wilson knocked in a rebound.
"That was a killer," said UNH junior defenseman Justin Agosta.
Much of the hottest action in the first two periods came in the last minute. One of UNH's best scoring chances came with five seconds left in the first period. He loaded up a slap shot from above the right faceoff circle but could not get the puck past Hellebuyck.
Defenseman Eric Knodel had a couple of the best chances. The best may have come with 11 minutes left in the game, a shot from the left point that Hellebuyck got his left skate on.
"It hit the toe of his skate," Knodel said.
Five minutes later, Lowell freshman Adam Chapie came down the left side and got just ahead of UNH defenseman Brett Kostolansky and with a nice move put a backhander over DeSmith's shoulder into the far side of the net.
Goumas and Downing were knocked out of Friday's 5-2 win over Denver with head injuries and were unable to go against UMass Lowell.
"That was not in the game-plan," Henrion said.
Downing left Friday's game after taking a couple of hits in the second period. Goumas was leveled by a Nick Shore check in the first minute of the third period. Shore, picked by the Los Angeles Kings in the third round of the 2011 NHL draft, was called for a five-minute major penalty for contact to the head and given a game misconduct.
Lowell plays Yale, a surprise winner of the West Regional, one Frozen Four semifinal in Pittsburgh on April 11.
The Bulldogs took out a couple of traditional Western Collegiate Hockey Association powers in the West Regional. Yale beat Minnesota scored nine seconds into overtime to stun Minnesota, the No. 1 seed in the regional, in its first game on Friday. The Bulldogs came back to beat No. 2 North Dakota, 4-1, on Saturday, to advance.