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Look, you and I have been friends a long time, right? I mean, we've had our ups and downs, our petty disagreements, the occasionally awkward passes at one another's girlfriends, or spouses, or mothers...but most of the time we've been tight, right? And don't think it hasn't meant a lot to me.
So listen, there's something you should know, before we go on this camping trip you're so inexplicably hot about. See, occasionally--not all the time, just every now and then--I have this...well, problem when I sleep. Mostly after I've been drinking, and since we're packing all this beer and sharing a tent, I thought I'd best warn you. It's a little embarrassing, and it can get messy.
You see--I gush in my sleep. Uncontrollably. Copiously. I gush and gush and gush until I'm all drained and emptied out. And it's especially bad when I've just seen a movie like the amazing blood-soaked 1972 trash-gold cinematic obscurity, Three on a Meathook. When I've got something like this in my subconscious, chances are I'm going to gush over it.
I mean all over it. Buckle in, folks:
We open with a naked blonde babe crawling out of bed, which in my book is the second best place to start a movie. It's even better when her bed partner is a balding, paunchy, sideburns-sporting 70s hunk as he is here, because that pegs the sleaze-meter at just the appropriate level. You wonder what kind of drunken swinging Bacchanalia had to happen before the credits for this girl to end up with THAT guy, and that sort of speculation just engages my imagination and puts the Vicar right in his happy place. It also makes me nostalgic, but that's a different story.
Our unnamed slice of hotness is getting ready to go on a trip with three of her best girlfriends, and no amount of protest or promises of more sweaty disco-sex on our hero's part can convince her to stay. (If only she had partaken in more hambeast love, a lot of tragedy might have been avoided--that's a tip, girls, write it down.) The vivacious quartet is soon on the road, and not long after that stop at a roadside lake for an impromptu skinny-dip. Like you do, when you're on a road trip with your girlfriends. Am I right, ladies?
Unfortunately the girls don't see the strange sunglass-wearing man in a canoe on the lake, nor do they hear the ominous music that plays every time he shows up. Soon they're obliviously on the road again, and--wouldn't you know it?--the girls' car breaks down! Not only that, but who should show up but the ominous stranger! Luckily once he takes his sunglasses off he's not nearly so ominous--he is Billy Townsend (James Pickett), a baby-faced introvert more than willing to offer the girls food and lodging at his father's farm for the night. To their credit the girls show some reticence, but in the end they go along. Hey, what's the worst that could happen, right?
At the house we meet Billy's father, Paw (Charles Kissinger, how I'm missing yer), who is none too happy that Billy has brought a lot of "TRASH" into "his MOMMA'S HOUSE." Come on, Dad, they're standing right there. Billy won't turn the girls out, though; one man's TRASH is another man's babelicious boarder, I guess. After a dinner of the strangely delicious but unplaceable gray meat that the Townsend farm is famous for ("It's veal," Paw explains), the old man ominously tells Billy, "You know what happens when you're around women, son!" The lights go out, Paw gets drunk in his room, and everyone retires for the night.
The acting up to this point has been wooden to the point of laughability, and the camera work static and fairly uninteresting (though when the camera does become mobile later, the previous stillness lends it more import--a nice but probably unintentional touch). Billy's comedic earnestness makes things better, though, as does Paw's cartoonish curmudgeonliness and the girls' stilted line readings. And the music--dear god, the music!--if you're not grinning and tapping your toes, you can get out of the tent now.
Still, nothing has prepared us for the carnage that is about to be unleashed. In short order one of the girls takes an ill-conceived bath, which gives us more boobies before ending up about the way you'd expect. The two girls in the bedroom receive shotgun blasts that splatter them all over the guest beds, a surprisingly brutal visual with some nice caro syrup FX work. But the piece de resistance is the fourth unlucky daytripper, who flees into the basement (GREAT idea, babe) and creeps silently along a large brown-paneled wall before taking an axe to the neck in one of the three or four greatest decapitation scenes it's ever been my pleasure to laugh at! Really, have a look:
"just like what happened after your momma died!" apparently, and even though he doesn't remember hacking the three girls to bits, Billy is overwhelmed with guilt and wants to turn himself in. His dad puts the kibosh on that, though, and sends the young man to town for "supplies" while he cleans things up and covers the bloody tracks. We're led to believe Paw has some experience in this arena.
After stopping at a general store to get the supplies, Billy surprisingly doesn't feel any better about the quadruple murder/mutilation he left back home and decides to go out on the town and get schnockered. Like you do. Soon he's tooling around the bad part of town in his pick-up; the juxtaposition of the idyllic rural scenes we've had up to now with the seedy, used-car-lot-strewn urban wasteland is jarring. Despite being a rube from the country Billy happens upon the BESTEST SEEDY BAR IN TOWN. How do I know it's the best? Because the house band is the amazing AMERICAN XPRESS, a 10+ member funkadelic funksplosion of truly funktastic proportions. Seriously, now, have a look at these guys.
While AMERICAN XPRESS play the absolutely funkeriffic tune "WE ARE ALL INSANE" ("Life is so ridiculous / And I am so meticulous / I don't even like black licorice / And we're allllllllllll … INSANE!"), Billy orders whiskey after whiskey. I think he has a flashback to his father berating him for killings in his past, though that may actually come later. Anyway, his conspicuous consumption draws the attention of barmaid Sherry, who uses her preternatural powers of empathy to see that something is bothering him. They engage in some minor flirtation before Billy smiles winningly and passes the hell out.
I must say a few words here about the astonishing performance by Sherry Steiner as Sherry. Steiner is a lovely woman with sensitive eyes, lovely dark hair and a beautiful smile; she also delivers every line as if she were playing the mother in a spoof of one of those high-school personal hygiene films, with such earnestness that you half expect her to start instructing you on the proper way to floss. So kind, so sincere, so carefully enunciated and measured in her speech--seriously, she's like the best dental assistant EVER, as we shall soon see.
Billy wakes the next morning in Sherry's bed, hungover but otherwise on top of the world! A day that started in murder and terror ends in AMERICAN XPRESS and barmaid nookie! Nothing could ruin this moment, right?
WRONG--amazingly, asoundingly, unprecedentedly, and most of all HILARIOUSLY, Billy has WET THE BED! And it's a plot point! Holy crap--er, piss--if I hadn't been in love with the movie before now, that totally sealed it. Anyway, Sherry is not bothered in the least by it, even saying "I like to take care of you!" before getting up for a nude walkaround the piss-soaked bed en route to getting dressed. (Hang onto this one, Billy! She's a KEEPER!)
She cooks him breakfast, and then we get a "falling in love" montage that would be awesome in its cheesiness even if it hadn't just followed a scene of intimate protagonist incontinence--walks through the park, picnic on the grass, even LOVE SWINGING, all to some absolutely spendiferous music that must be heard to be believed. Finally the day must come to an end, and as they say goodbye Billy invites Sherry out to the farm for a weekend stay, apparently having completely forgotten what happened the LAST time he had overnight female guests. Love does funny things to a guy.
The movie slows down a little after that, as Billy and his father spar for a while over whether Billy should even be having a relationship, let alone inviting TRASH out to his MOMMA'S HOUSE again. (As Billy drives up Paw is tellingly coming out of his smokehouse, padlocking the door carefully behind him.) Once again Billy sticks to his guns, and after only a little more padding Sherry is coming up the drive to the house, inexplicably having brought her blonde friend Becky with her for her dirty weekend with Billy. On the other hand, this IS the 70s--ménage? Maybe "Three on a Meathook" is some kind of swingin' euphemism...
Paw gets drunk again, making a bad impression; Becky, Sherry, and Billy go for a long playful romp on the farm and in the surrounding wilderness, to the strains of more of the film's wonderful synth-based score. Later Sherry and Becky (the very cute and amazingly-named Madelyn Buzzard) are in the bedroom talking about Billy, and Becky delivers the speech of the movie, telling Sherry in her friend's earnest, hygenist tone about her one true love and the tragic end of the affair:
"They sent him an invitation to die in one of their wars...and then sent me a telegram to say that he had." Looking directly at the camera, Becky imparts to her friend (and you, the audience) this nugget of wisdom: "Take all the happiness you can--at best life's a short ride, and it isn't always round trip." Wow, that's ama--hey, wait, what?
Anyway, after that they have dinner, where the still-plastered Paw serves up more of his special "veal" and we get more suspicious comments about the nature of the meat. Becky goes to her room and Sherry makes as if to follow, but at the last moment stops, turns slowly (I expected the 3 stooges "slowly I turn" routine--it had exactly the same timing) and comes back to kiss Billy passionately. Cue the music! They fall into make-out silhouette on the couch, doing the hopefully pee-free nasty this time. Presumably Paw takes the back staircase up to his room later.
So here's the kicker--as it turns out, Billy is NOT to blame for the killings out at the ranch! It's actually PAW doing the killing! (<--Spoilers!) We discover this when a heavy-breathing Paw strolls into Becky's room in the middle of the night and plants a pickaxe in her chest, My Bloody Valentine-style! Awesome. Practiced in the ways of stealth impalement, Paw wakes up no one with his hijinx.
In the morning Sherry discovers her friend missing and asks Paw about it ("I've never known here to get up early before!" What, never?) and is rebuffed and thrown out of the house. Wandering around on her own (you may well ask "where's Billy?" but it will avail thee naught) she stumbles into the smokehouse and finds the titular three, though on THREE SEPARATE meathooks and not one as the title suggested. False advertising! It's not clear which three they are, but at this point it doesn't matter. The screaming Sherry races back to the house and bursts into the kitchen to confront this grisly scene:
the most incredible deus ex machina EVAR occurs--and if you want to know what it is, you'll just have to hunt this flick down and watch it, because I'm not telling. Suffice to say that the only thing more amazing and hilarious is the 10 minute post-rescue exposition with an unnamed Expert, who somehow is able to tell Sherry and Billy everything we need to know about what they just experienced. Nobody seems to worried that they've been dining on human flesh for the better part of the movie, Dad gets committed for life, and the credits roll to put an end to the seemingly interminable awesomeness.
Three on a Meathook is not for everyone's tastes. (HAW!) In fact it might be a good acid test for readers of this site to see if your tastes are down with mine and the Duke's. If you can watch this movie and be put off by the hilarious music, the over-earnest acting, the crazy plot developments, and the low-tech gore, then you know you're not part of the congregation I'm preaching to.
But if you watch it and find yourself grinning like an idiot with every Mr. Rogers-intoned profession of love, every overwrought bit of dialog and wonderful strain of synth-addled score--in short, if you will let yourself be entertained by the ineptness that approaches high art, then stick around. You're going to agree with me when I give Three on a Meathook 2.75 thumbs--it's a bit slow in spots, silly in others, but the quicker bits, the amazing ending, and AMERICAN XPRESS more than make up for it.
If you agree, pack up the truck. We're going camping.
PS--This is so far as I know my first exposure to the cinema of director William Girdler, who also directed The Manitou and other well-known but yet-unseen-by-me 70s obscurities, but it will not be my last. Apparently I'm not the only one enraptured by his cinematic output: here is a whole website devoted to Girdler's art, including trivia, interviews, an even more detailed plot summary of Three on a Meathook, and most valuably, an audio clip of AMERICAN XPRESS! Listen now, thank me later!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Three on a Meathook (1972): or, What am I, Chopped Liver?
Posted by The Vicar of VHS at 2:25 PM
Labels: '70s, 2-3 thumbs, Cannibalism, Psycho Killer
7 comments:
- Karswell said...
> see if your tastes are down with mine and the Duke's
What am I, chopped liver too?
The Manitou is pretty good, I remember it being AWESOME when I first saw it as a kid, but in more recent years the turdball special FX really foul up the ending with some super stink.
Also, "Three on Me Meathooks" would make a great Popeye cartoon title.
- May 21, 2008 at 4:01 PM
- The Vicar of VHS said...
>>What am I, chopped liver too?
Sorry, Karswell--I figured you might be tiring of the endless adulation and thanks I've been giving you for every movie lately. (Well, not EVERY movie...Velvet Vampire, for instance... :) ) But all right:
LET IT HERE BE KNOWN THAT KARSWELL OF The Horrors of It All! IS A GOD AMONG MEN WHO PROVIDED ME WITH THE MOVIE HERE UNDER CONSIDERATION, AND ALSO HAS A LUXURIOUS THICK HEAD OF HAIR AND GIGANTIC MAN-BITS.
Better? :)
- May 21, 2008 at 4:16 PM
- Tenebrous Kate said...
This sounds like an astonishing cinematic experience indeed.
Perhaps Sharon just has... erm... Really Special Needs and Billy's... uhh... Accidents meet these needs. I'd like to think that they're somewhere basking in the afterglow of their mutual bizarreness. It's a beautiful love story, really.
If you can watch this movie and be put off by the hilarious music, the over-earnest acting, the crazy plot developments, and the low-tech gore
You're implying that these are qualities some people *don't* seek out in their movie-tainment? I don't want to know such people!
- May 21, 2008 at 4:21 PM
- The Vicar of VHS said...
>>You're implying that these are qualities some people *don't* seek out in their movie-tainment? I don't want to know such people!
Incredible, but true, Empress. They do exist--I've got several of them locked in the dungeon as we speak, watching an endless loop of The Sinful Dwarf...
That oughta larn 'em! :)
- May 21, 2008 at 4:25 PM
- Karswell said...
>I figured you might be tiring of the endless adulation
Nah... me never gits tired of endless adulation. Or talking like Popeye apparently.
One of these is true, the other is quite possibly more false than Pamela Anderson's (pick a part.)
- May 21, 2008 at 5:26 PM
- The Vicar of VHS said...
- May 22, 2008 at 8:36 AM
- venoms5 said...
I remember seeing this one in the video store in the regal video (I think it was Regal) hard plastic clamshell box. I never did get to see it till picking up the Video Treasures LP mode tape.
I found it to be a nice slice of 70's exploitation goodness. And it was before TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, too.
Girdler definitely got better as the decade went on. A shame he was killed in that helicopter crash.
- July 22, 2010 at 8:42 PM


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Please update your bookmarks to point to the current Eau Claire Area School District website: www.ecasd.us
Christina Schroeder (Cheer&Stunt) firstname.lastname@example.com
Kristen Hartzel (Dance) email@example.com
ACCA safety certified since 2003; updated 2009
NFHS certified
CPR and First Aid
UCA Five Star Coach 2000-2010; NCA Coach Certification 2010-2011
WACPC Coach of the Year 2011
This web site is intended for Fall Cheer&Dance athletes and parents to find and access information about Memorial Cheer&Dance. I hope you find it helpful! Please click on the links for specific information and calendar.
Information about Cheer&Dance fall team:

subset: commoncrawl


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07 X2 Fly high ballast install
I did the quick and easy version of how to install the custom fly high ballast rear sacs and the integrated bow sack. The Fly High ballast added a total of #1525 pounds +. The rear are #400+ each and the bow is #725+. So total ballast now with factory and Fly High kits is #2363+ (Factory is 225# each for port and starboard and 388# for KGB).
It was really easy install and took an hour and half probably to complete from start to finish. Use a hair dryer to heat the tubing to fit on the connectors or it is near impossible to get them on. I used all quick disconnect from Fly High so I can easily take the system out if needed and for winterization.
Also I re-programmed my ballast timers which I will include at the end.
Parts list for the rear;
2 custom X2 fly high rear sacs
2 90 degree angle 1" threaded one side and other side to accept 1" hose
2 straight quick disconnect fitting from Fly high with nipple inserts for the bags
2 90 degree quick disconnect fittings from Fly High with nipple inserts for the bags
6 1" stainless hose clamps
2 3' sections of 1" hose
Parts list for the bow;
1 Fly high integrated bow sac (comes with nipple plug for third hole in sac)
1 90 degree angle 1" threaded 1 side and other side to accept 1" hose
2 straight quick disconnect fittings from fly high with nipple inserts for the bags
3 1" stainless hose clamps
1 5' section of 1" hose
Locate the rear overflow hose coming off the ballast tanks which can be found underneath the rear seats shown in pic.
Unscrew clamp and take off hose. Next take out the existing black straight fitting with a wrench.
Last edited by Roonie's; 07-30-2008 at 08:58 AM.
Next screw in the 90 degree angle and use teflon tape. and add the new piece of hose onto it with clamp.
Then hook the new piece of hose onto the bottom inlet in the fly high sac as it will now serve as the filler and the old overflow tube then gets a quick connect put on it and serves as the new overflow for the whole system.
Push the bag back into the rear compartment and make sure lines are straight and not kinked and that is it for the rear ballast install........ As I said I did the super easy install way as some have done much more elaborate installs.
Might be better off going back to the straight barbed fitting, rather than the 90... hose looks a little kinked.
Looks clean and easy though!
2007 ProStar 197
1996 ProStar 190
The integrated bow sack is a little more involved but still fairly eay to do. First locate the overflow off the KGB found in the pic below.
Unscrew clamp and disconnect overflow hose. This hose will be pulled through the instrument panel and serve as the overflow for the bow ballast. I took out the straight black fitting going to the ballast tank and replaced it with a 90 as my new hose fit right over it without effort and I wanted a snug fit. Here is the same view with the new 90 and hose attached.
Next you have to push the hose underneath the gap into the storage compartment under the dash.
And install the bow ballast and quick disconnects and hook up the supply line to it.
On the other side you can now pull the overflow hose through into the compartment under the drivers dash. The hardest part here is getting out the access panel. I left the length on it so I can switch it back to regular ballast if I need to take out the fly high. Hook the quick disconnects up and install on bag.
Put the access panel back and it will clear the hose at the bottom no problem.
That is it for the install. Now for the re-programming of the timers..........
It is kinked because the bag is pushed forward into the seat compartment to do all the connections. Once connections done you push bag back into rear compartment and kinks go away.
Fill-drain time set up (reprogramming the pump)
disconnect all batteries from main boat connections for at least 30 seconds. Disconnect plug between pump and active Intelligence box until prgramming is complete. Reconnect power from battery and immediately start toggling switch to enter program mode.
Push toggle to the fill position and toggle between fill and drain 5 times stopping in the off position each time (fill-off-drain-off-fill-off, etc). Do not rush. This should be done in a slow methodical 1 second at each postion pace. Unit will blink when you have entered program mode and the number of blinks will indicate the current fill time in 30 second intervals. The lowest default time is 2 minutes. Therefore 1 blink = 2 minutes, 2 blinks = 2 min 30 sec, 3 blinks = 3 min, etc.
To increase fill time - toggle between off and the fill position, each toggle increases the fill time by 30 seconds up to 6 minutes maximum.
To decrease fill time - toggle between off and drain position, each toggle decreases by 30 seconds.
Increments are 30 seconds (approx. 3.5 gallons per toggle) with minimum fill time of 2 minutes and maximum of 6 minutes. Also the pumps fill at approx 10 GPM.
Reconnect power to pump and run pump in drain cycle until pump stops automatically. This must be done to reset unit timer to zero after programming.
Last edited by Roonie's; 07-30-2008 at 08:57 AM.
roonie, very nice setup.
when are you going to be down my way so we can get this done in under a hour.
Roonie you should have used the 90 degree high fly inserts for the top of the back bags they work awesome while removing strain from the overflow inlet vs using the straight.
Another note make sure the hose going to the KGB isnt piched by the side wall, I have herd of MC having some issues with a few KGB tanks exploding from a pinched hose (they will not warranty which is common sense but if it happened it wouldnt be able to be replaced without removing the deck, better safe than sorry). There is a kick panel right around the area held down by 4 screws, we removed it and routed out a half moon with a jijsaw worked perfect and will not allow pinching to occur.
Congrads-how do you like it? The wake for surfing is killer with one bag filled and trim plate set to 53% we noticed.
Last edited by TheOneandOnly; 07-29-2008 at 09:50 PM.
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European style chocolate bars are made with high quality fermented cocoa. With is smooth and creamy chocolate that will melt in your mouth you can taste the different fruity and citrus notes. All its natural ingredients provide a unique flavor and scent. Handmade European gourmet bitter chocolate with 70% select organic and fermented cocoa from Chiapas with sugar. This is a 3.52 oz chocolate bar wrapped in a food grade poly paper covered food grade paper sheet. Ingredients: Cocoa and Maguey Nectar
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One Success Tip - Daily
Tuesday, 11 November 2008
Today, Define the Value you Add!
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.
Albert Einstein
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Many small business owners choose WordPress, to power their website's because of its flexibility. WordPress is relatively straightforward and easy to install however sometime many users, as most beginners do, end up installing WordPress in a subdirectory instead of the root directory ( e.g. http://www.exampledomain.com/subdirectory/ instead of http://www.exampledomain.com ). So if you accidentally installed WordPress in a subdirectory (or maybe want to move WordPress to a subdirectory) but don't want to impede usability and user experience of your site ( i.e. visiting your website with "http://exampledomain.com" ), then you're in the right place.e.g. http://www.exampledomain.com/subdirectory/ instead of http://www.exampledomain.com i.e. visiting your website with "http://exampledomain.com"
In this article, I will cover two scenarios : when WordPress site is installed in its own directory and when moving an existing WordPress install from the root directory to a subdirectory. For both scenarios, I will show " how to get rid of /subdirectory/ from your site's URL " without affecting the user experience. Your visitors will not even know that files are stored in a subdirectory.I will cover two scenarios how to get rid of /subdirectory/ from your site's URL
Let's say you've downloaded the latest stable release of WordPress and install it in a subfolder named "wordpress". So the site is accessible using this URL (http://yourdomain.com/wordpress). Now continue with the following steps.
Login to the backend of your new WordPress site and navigate to Settings > Permalinks screen and set a proper permalink structure. Once you click "Save Changes" button, a .htaccess file will be generated automatically, which used for hardening site security, URL redirection, URL shortening, etc. Sometimes this .htaccess file doesn't create or updated automatically. Then, you should check if WordPress has the write permission. If not setting the file permissions to 644 is recommended. If the issue persists, you should contact hosting provider to confirm the mod_rewrite module is enabled.Settings > Permalinks
"She shouldn't have done that." "How could she think that?" "I can't believe she actually went there!" "I would never do that…"
Sound familiar? Anyone ever whispered phrases like that in your ear? Or, have you ever muttered them under your breath?
I've heard that kind of stuff and said that junk and thought it too! When it comes to being judgmental, I admit, I have blown it! But, I don't want to be a judgmental woman; I want to be a woman of good judgment.
So, what is the difference?
Discernment sees right and wrong. Discernment is able to judge rightly.
When you are showing good judgment — when you discern something that isn't quite right, it strikes a chord in your heart… usually an out-of-tune, dissonant chord. It's like smelling something stinky and wanting to sniff out the source. That is a spiritually mature impulse.
Just as quickly as a toddler goes from total contentment to a total meltdown, we can go from humble discernment to haughty judgementalism!
It's all in how we handle the discernment.
1. Quick to elevate me Do I feel better about myself because she is so much worse than I am? If we observe someone's brokenness and go straight to pride about our own apparent wholeness, then we are being judgmental. Knowing truth of Scripture and using it as a magnifying glass to point out what she is doing wrong so it can spotlight what we are doing right is a big red flag that we are in judging mode.1. Quick to elevate me
2. Quick to gossip When I see something questionable in her life, do I go talk to God about her or do I talk to everyone else about her? Gossip is the megaphone of a judgmental spirit. If we are quick to share the, "you won't believe…" or "did you hear that she…" then chances are, you have jumped on your high horse and are galloping up the high hill of judgementalism.2. Quick to gossip
Pray for her, giving her the dignity and respect she deserves. Her behavior may not warrant respect, but she does because she, like you, is loved by God.
3. Quick to critique Do I have a critical spirit when it comes to her behavior or a compassionate perspective? Judgmental women are critical of others. If she did it wrong, or not in the way we would have done it, then she is subject to our criticism.
Under Armour lacks a purpose. Or, if they do have one, it's either beyond mundane or ignored.
I suggest Under Armour hire some real communications professionals who know how to create, embed and activate a purpose. If they don't, they'll continue to wreak havoc on their image, reputation and sales.
One more year of this and Under Armour will be underwater.
I've just returned from The Arthur W. Page Society 's superb annual conference in San Diego. And, while the conference theme was, "Search for community in a (dis) connected world," there were a surprising number of speakers who addressed the power of humor in business.
Oscar Munoz, CEO of United Airlines, said his use of humor, authenticity and doubling down on the airline's "purpose" were key to his ability to weather the widespread outrage after the "
Grunland SB0497 Wedge Sandals Women Grey DWCiErhc
" on flight 3411.
Rich Jernstedt, former CEO of GolinHarris (now Golin), erstwhile chair of the Council of PR Firms and current head of his own consulting firm, shared a priceless "Page Moment" that occurred long ago and far away, AND demonstrated the legendary Al Golin's use of humor in an intense situation.
The Golin team had just entered the massive boardroom of a large prospect they were pitching. As everyone pulled up a chair, Mr. Golin flipped backwards and, chair and all, fell on the ground. Instantly, he said, "And, now, for my next act…"
There was no response from the stone-faced prospects (probably out of politeness—not just sure how to react) but, later, after Golin had been awarded the business, the client contact said Mr. Golin's use of humor and ability to take the incident in stride was a decisive factor in their selection. While their non-verbals may have indicated otherwise, the prospect team was in search of an agency that could not only do the job but, critically be a FUN partner.
I experienced a similar occurrence when we pitched Yahoo's business. Right smack in the middle of the presentation, we were explaining how we would roll out a local market campaign. To illustrate it, one of our San Francisco employees selected a last-second slide to pinpoint the various markets we'd be targeting.
The lead prospect took one look at the slide and said, "You do know you're using Google Earth in that slide, correct?"
I immediately spoke up and said, "John, we purposely inserted that slide to make sure you were paying attention." The entire room broke out in a hearty laugh. My comment not only saved the day, but created an instant bond with the Yahooligans by sharing an "inside joke." We were awarded the business a few days later.
Afterword: In his remarks at the Page conference, Rich shared research conducted by The Hay Group that showed "executives who were ranked as outstanding used humor twice as often as those ranked average." The same survey showed that humor used skillfully:


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Did you read today's front page stories & breaking news?
From the Wires
Actuate to Present at the 15th Annual Needham Growth Conference
By: Business Wire
Jan. 7, 2013 07:00 AM
Actuate Corporation (NASDAQ: BIRT), The BIRT Company™ – delivering more insights to more people than all BI companies combined, today announced that the Company's Chief Executive Officer, Pete Cittadini and Chief Financial Officer, Dan Gaudreau will present at the 15th Annual Needham Growth Conference at the New York Palace Hotel in New York City.
The presentation will take place on Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at 4:10 pm Eastern Time. One-on-one meetings with management can be arranged through Needham. A live webcast of the presentation will be available at www.actuate.com/investor. A replay of the webcast will be available for a limited time thereafter.
Actuate founded and co-leads the BIRT open source project, which is used by 2 million developers around the globe and serves as the foundation of the ActuateOne® platform. Applications built on ActuateOne deliver more business and consumer insights to more people than all BI companies combined - ensuring organizations are ready for the exponential growth of Big Data and the proliferation of touch devices.
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text:
Forget boycotting Olympics to protest Russia's anti-gay laws
Canadian sporting icons such as Sidney Crosby can speak out against Russia's new anti-gay propaganda laws until the cows come home and the Russian government won't bat an eye.
Despite what people in the West may feel about the Russian government's new anti-gay legislation — and there is a growing movement for a boycott of this winter's Sochi Olympics — the Russians realize that there will never be a boycott of their Games and therefore likely don't care what Crosby or any other non-Russian athlete thinks of the law forbidding the promotion of homosexuality.
The Games will go on. And they should.
All a boycott would do is punish the athletes, and the athletes don't deserve to be punished for something they have nothing to do with. They're innocent cogs in this play. There are other ways to protest.
Still, what might give the Russian government a jolt is if a high-profile Russian athlete spoke up against the new legislation. That might result in the Russian government losing some face, which is the most, really, we could hope for in this situation. But don't hold your breath. It's one thing to criticize the Harper government in Canada or the Obama administration in the U.S., but Russia is a different story. A Russian athlete could get into serious trouble for protesting their government. Russian law isn't as touchy-feely as Canadian law. Russia is technically a democracy, but not necessarily rife with the liberties that we have. Bad things sometimes happen to Russian people (including many journalists) who speak out against their government, so it shouldn't be a surprise that the reaction of Russian athletes so far has been either supportive of the law (former New Jersey Devils star Ilya Kovalchuk and pole-vault great Yelena Isinbayeva), or indifference (hockey star Alexander Ovechkin).
"I agree, of course. I'm Russian and we all have to respect that," Kovalchuk told TSN this week, when asked about the legislation that bans the promotion of "non-traditional" relations. "It's personal and, like I said, it's a free world, but that's our line. That's our country, so everybody has to respect that."
When Ovechkin was asked about the situation, the Washington Capitals sniper said he'd rather talk sports, not politics.
Still, it would be something if a courageous Russian athlete publicly criticized the Russian government for passing such a law, though we have to curb our frustration if that doesn't happen.
In our enlightened society, we sometimes forget that our values don't necessarily match those of others. A 2013 survey found that 74% of Russians said homosexuality should not be accepted by society. We don't have to like that, but we have to accept it. Values differ the world over, and not just from country to country.
Look at what's happening in Quebec. Polls show that 58% of Quebec residents support that province's proposed Charter of Values, which would prohibit public employees in public offices from wearing religious headwear and symbols.
A lot of people found the "free world" statement by Kovalchuk ironic. What's so "free" about not being able to publicly promote homosexuality?
But what Kovalchuk is probably trying to say is that the Russians should be free to do what they want, such as passing their own laws, without outside interference. Again, we don't have to like it, but many people don't like some of the things we do, either.
Many Muslim nations, for example, find Canada's liberal laws, such as gay marriage, offensive. That's just the way the world works. If something offends us, we should speak out. And we should speak out about the anti-LGBT laws in Russia, and hopefully there will be protests before and during the Sochi Games.
That's already happening. At the world track and field championships last week in Moscow, at least two Swedish athletes competed while wearing rainbow nail polish. Still, nothing will really hit home unless a high-profile Russian protests.
It will be interesting to see what happens when the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar rolls around. Qatar's homosexuality laws are more oppressive than Russia's. Homosexual acts between adult males are illegal in Qatar, something Russia decriminalized in 1993. In 1995, an American citizen visiting Qatar was sentenced to six months in prison and 90 lashes for homosexual activity. FIFA — the world governing body of international football — is keeping a low profile on the subject for a variety of reasons, one being that they love the money holding a World Cup in a oil-rich emirate will bring.
Money talks. The Sochi Olympics will be the most expensive Games in history, meaning that the IOC would do everything in its power to prevent a boycott of the Games and certainly would never allow the event to be moved to Vancouver, as some have suggested would be an appropriate move.
There are ways to protest. Don't buy Russian vodka. Boo Kovalchuk the next time he plays in Canada. Wave a rainbow flag in front of the Russian embassy.
But get over any boycott or relocation talk.
It's not going to happen. Nor should it.


text:
May 14. 2013 8:54PM
Streak grows
Roger Brown's Diamond Notes: North's win streak just keeps growing
New Hampshire Union Leader
Nashua North pitcher Kyle McCarthy throws to a Bishop Guertin batter during their game at Holman Stadium in Nashua Monday. (Mark Bolton/Union Leader)
STRANGE as it may sound, the 33-7 beating the Londonderry baseball team handed Nashua North last month may have been just what the Titans needed.
North (12-4) has won six games in a row since that loss, and has climbed to No. 2 in the Division I standings.
"In a lot of ways we needed that game," Nashua North coach
Kyle Harvell
said. "It's definitely fair to say we benefited from that game.
"We walked in there that day thinking we were pretty good. We thought we could just go through the motions. It refocused us on the way we're supposed to play. We've always been good physically. We've really grown up mentally."
North stretched its winning streak to six games by beating Bishop Guertin 5-1 Monday night.
Kyle McCarthy
pitched six innings and struck out seven to collect the win.
Mike Robert
pitched a scoreless seventh.
"Nobody's been playing over their head," Harvell said. "Everybody's contributing. (The Londonderry loss) had to be a teaching tool. You can't forget about it because it did happen.
"We've learned something in all four of our losses, and that Londonderry game put us in a pretty good place mentally. We told the kids that sometimes the scoreboard lies and that they should only worry about what they can control. They don't need to worry about the outcome. They need to worry about playing the game the right way."
Londonderry (11-3) is the only team ahead of North in the Division I standings, so a rematch in the Division I tournament — perhaps even the Division I championship game — is a possibility.
"We have two pitchers (McCarthy and Robert) who I would put up against anybody else," Harvell said. "I feel good about what we have for a team. It's a long year and a tall mountain we're trying to climb."
GREAT WHITE: You can look long and hard, but you won't find any major flaws in the White Mountains Regional softball team.
White Mountains, which improved its Division III record to 13-0 by beating Kennett of Conway 5-1 Monday, is the only unbeaten high school softball or baseball team in the state. The Spartans of Whitefield have dominant pitching, a .460 team batting average and have been playing solid defense as well.
"I feel we're a complete team," White Mountains coach
Forrest Hicks
said. "These girls have played together a lot."
White Mountains has 10 players on its roster who played in more than 100 games for the Way North summer league team last year. Junior pitcher
Erica Millett
is among those players. Millett is 11-0 with a 0.56 ERA this spring. Sophomore
Rebecca Hicks
, Forrest's daughter, hasn't allowed a run in 16 innings.
White Mountains, which beat Stevens of Claremont in last year's Division III championship game, has surrendered 13 runs in its 13 games.
"If Erica's not the best pitcher in the state, she's probably very close," Forrest Hicks said. "She throws multiple pitches, she throws hard and she has great control."
All but one player in the White Mountains starting lineup is batting over .400. Hicks is batting a team-high .547, followed by
Kaylee Savage
(.523) and
Chelsea Payer
Forrest Hicks said he expects Gilford and Campbell of Litchfield to be among the major obstacles between White Mountains and another state title.
"I don't want to sound arrogant, but I'm really not surprised by how the girls have been playing," he said. "We were competitive against a lot of good teams in the summer. The only real surprise has been the consistency of our defense."
MONEYBALL: Proceeds from today's Bow at Pelham baseball game will benefit the American Cancer Society. The Pelham players will wear pink jerseys that were donated by the Pelham Police Department. Fans are encouraged to wear pink as well to show their support. Admission is $1 and donations can also be made during the game, which is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
NOTEWORTHY: Derryfield stole 19 bases during its six-inning, 15-5 victory over Epping on Monday.
Chris Rizos
Noah Goldstein
each had five stolen bases. ...
Adam Routhier
had eight hits in 10 at-bats, drove in seven runs and scored five times in Goffstown's three victories last week. ... Hanover's
Joe Cravero
followed up last week's no-hitter against Lebanon by pitching a complete game to help Hanover defeat Coe-Brown of Northwood 3-2 Monday. Cravero (4-1) struck out 12 and allowed four hits. ... The NHIAA softball tournaments in all divisions will begin May 29. The Division III NHIAA baseball tournament is scheduled to start May 28, and the Division I, Division II and Division IV baseball tournaments will start May 30. The preliminary-round games and quarterfinal-round games in each sport will be played at the home of the higher-seeded team. ... Alvirne's 11-1 triumph over Salem on Monday was career victory No. 300 for
Mike Lee
, who is in his 30th season as Alvirne's head coach.
"Diamond Notes" appears Wednesdays in the New Hampshire Union Leader. Email staff reporter Roger Brown at email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @603SportsMedia.


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Over at UTSanDiego.com, I explored whether the Padres whiffed by not drafting Stanford pitcher Mark Appel in 2012. This month, the Astros selected Appel first overall.
Appel, you'll recall, was a consensus top-five talent who fell past the Padres to No. 8, where the Pirates drafted him. Last summer, creating a big splash throughout MLB, a seasoned league source told me that $6 million wasn't going to land Appel for the Astros, who had the largest draft pool of money. Houston had considered Appel, a Scott Boras player, for the No. 1 pick but took a prep shortstop who signed for $4.8 million. A member of Appel's camp, meantime, told me that "financial parameters" hadn't been discussed with Houston.
The recent U-T story I wrote about Appel came a week before the Astros signed him. According to Baseball America's Jim Callis, the signing bonus was $6.35 million.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Friday, June 7, 2013
Scouts talk Padres draft
Scouts from other teams talked about three players drafted by the Padres, starting with top pick Hunter Renfroe.
Posted by Tom Krasovic at 1:01 PM No comments:
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text:
MIAMI (AP) — Singer Miguel Bose has been named the 2013 Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year.
The Latin Recording Academy announced the Spanish singer's selection Wednesday. He will be honored with a tribute gala and concert in November before the Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas.
President and CEO of the Latin Recording Academy Gabriel Abaroa Jr. called Bose a talented performer and philanthropist who has had a profound impact.
Bose has recorded more than 30 albums and also appeared in more than 35 films. His many chart-topping singles include "Anna" and "Salamandra." His albums have received certified platinum status throughout Latin America, Spain and Europe.
The Grammy-winning musician has also donated his time and talent to social and environmental causes.
Past award winners include Shakira, Gloria Estefan and Carlos Santana.


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Plant-Wide Control Approach
Herding Cats: Successfully Manage All Those Process Variables With a Systematic Approach to Plant-Wide Control
By Sigurd Skogestad
A chemical plant may have thousands of measurements and control loops. By the term "plant-wide control," I do not mean the tuning and behavior of each of these loops, but rather the control philosophy of the overall plant with emphasis on the structural decisions:
- Selection of controlled variables (CVs, "outputs")
- Selection of manipulated variables (MVs, "inputs")
- Selection of (extra) measurements
- Selection of control configuration (structure of overall controller that interconnects the controlled, manipulated and measured variables)
- Selection of controller type (PID, decoupler, MPC, linear, quadratic, Gaussian (LQG), aka, optimal control, ratio, etc.).
In practice, the control system is usually divided into several layers, separated by the time scale (Figure 1).
Control structure design (plant-wide control) thus involves all the decisions necessary to make a block diagram or process and instrumentation diagram that includes the control system for the entire plant, but does not involve the actual design of each individual controller block.
In any mathematical sense, the plant-wide control problem is a formidable and almost hopeless combinatorial problem, involving a large number of discrete decision variables. In addition, the problem is poorly defined in terms of its objective. Usually in control, the objective is that the CV (output) should remain close to its setpoint.
However, what should we control? The answer lies in considering the overall plant objective, which is to minimize cost, that is, maximize profit, while satisfying operational constraints imposed by the equipment, marked demands, product quality, safety, environment and so on.
Actually, the "original" mathematical problem is not so difficult to formulate, and with today's computing power, it may even be solvable. It would involve obtaining a detailed dynamic and steady-state model of the complete plant; defining all the operational constraints; defining all available measurements and manipulations; defining all expected disturbances; defining expected, allowed or desirable ranges for all variables; and then designing a nonlinear controller that satisfies all the constraints and objectives, while using the possible remaining degrees of freedom to minimize the cost. This would involve a single centralized controller that, at each time step, collects all the information and computes the optimal changes in the manipulated variables.
Although such a single, centralized solution is foreseeable on some very simple processes, it seems to be safe to assume that it will never be applied to any normal-sized chemical plant. There are many reasons for this, but one important one is that, in most cases, one can achieve acceptable control with simple structures, where each controller block only involves a few variables, and such control systems can be designed and tuned with much less effort, especially when it comes to the modeling and tuning effort. After all, most plants operate well with simple control structures.
Real-World Control
So how are real systems controlled in practice? The main simplification is to deconstruct the overall control problem into many simple control problems. This deconstruction involves two main principles:
- Decentralized (local) control. This "horizontal deconstruction" of the control layer is mainly based on separation in space, for example, by using local control of individual process units.
- Hierarchical control. This "vertical deconstruction" is mainly based on time scale separation (Figure 1).
We generally have more centralization as we move upwards in the hierarchy. Such a hierarchical (cascade) deconstruction with layers operating on different time scales is used in the control of all complex systems.
The upper three layers in Figure 1 deal explicitly with economic optimization, and are not considered here. We are concerned with the two lower control layers, where the main objective is to track the setpoints specified by the upper layers. A very important structural decision, probably more important than the controller design itself, is the choice of controlled variables (CVs) that interconnect the layers. More precisely, the decisions made by each layer (boxes in Figure 1) are sent as setpoints for the CVs to the layer below.
A Plant-Wide Control Procedure
No matter what procedure we choose to use, the following decisions must be made when designing a plant-wide control strategy:
Decision 1—Select "economic" (primary) controlled variables (CV1) for the supervisory control layer (the setpoints CV1 link the optimization layer with the control layers);
Decision 2—Select "stabilizing" (secondary) controlled variables (CV2) for the regulatory control layer (the setpoints CV2 link the two control layers);
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text:
In 2000 NPR's Terry Gross conducted a terrific interview with Dion Dimucci, whose birthday we're celebrating today. It's an utterly engrossing interview, no pun intended, by turns funny and moving, equal parts talk and song. Listen to Dion sing "Jambalaya" and recall that when he started performing the song at age 13 he had no idea what gumbo was. Listen to Dion recall Father Joe, the neighborhood priest. The interview is also updated with good excerpts of Dion's 2006 "Bronx in Blue" release. Check out the interview here.
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text:
I meet and speak to many Karate students and instructors. Quite often I am asked, "What dan are you?"
I wish that I could come up with a funny answer, like "No, my name is Charles, not Dan."
It seems that one's dan ranking has become the primary indicator of one's accomplishments in Karate.
If you say, "Nidan," the questioner will probably say, "Oh" (like that is not too good).
If you say, "Hachidan," the questioner will probably say, "Oh" (like that is impressive).
If you say, "I'm sorry, but I feel that numerical indicators of one's level in Karate are very shallow and often inaccurate measures," the questioner will probably think, "Not very high, eh?"
You can't win.
When I speak to people, I am more interested in who their Sensei is/are and how long they have trained. I respect that hard work that goes into dan ranking, but also recognize that many dedicated and fine students have lower or no ranking, while the opposite can also be true (unfortunately).
I also find it interesting when someone asks me, "How long have you practiced Karate?" When I say 35 years (or whatever), they then usually ask, "So you are a black belt?"
I feel like saying, "Not yet, but in a few more years maybe!"
Skill is what counts. With skill, rank is irrelevant. Without skill, rank is meaningless.
Just checking... what dan was Itosu Sensei? Oh yeah, they didn't have dan grades back then. Dan grades were a modern invention borrowed from the sport of Judo (which may have borrowed it from the the Japanese board game of go).
Charles C. Goodin
What Dan Are You?
I meet and speak to many Karate students and instructors. Quite often I am asked, "What dan are you?"
Posted by Charles C. Goodin on Friday, December 11, 2009


text:
17,245 ft²OfficeN/ANot Available
Credit Suisse acquired the property in 2006 and appointed Canderel as property and leasing manager. This office building greatly enhances Canderel's presence in Montreal's downtown core. Place du Canada comprises 22 floors and 397,931 sq. ft., 352 parking stalls and is located adjacent to the renowned Marriott Château Champlain hotel. The building is home to the National Bank of Canada, Fuller Landau Associates and Guarantee Insurance Company. The property is located on Montreal's most strategic intermodal hub with easy access to the Ville-Marie expressway, convenient entry to the Metro via the underground city and is close to both commuter train stations and the South Shore transit Authority's downtown terminal. The property has been certified LEED.
- Perfom advanced demographic analysis
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text:
Joseph's Treetop View
Like this entry? Favorite it below!
- Name:
- Joseph
- Location:
- Bethesda, MD
- Square Feet:
- 900
- Division:
- Small
- What I Love About My Small Home:
- First of all, its situation on the 7th floor of my 16 floor building, with windows looking west/south-west, which means it's always full of light, sunny from noon to sunset, followed by often starry nights. Second, I love the organization of my space. Since I spend most of my time writing on my computer (I teach French literature), I've transformed the master bedroom into my working space and library, and I've been using the smaller room as my bedroom. I divided the third space into dining room and living room. Finally, I furnished these spaces by giving each their own style: modern design in the dining and living room; wood tonality in the bedroom (the bed is made of South African wood); two tonalities for the working space (the library shelves are white, and the table I use as desk is in cherry wood from Tennessee). So overall, what I love here? The well-lighted rooms and the space setting and tonalities.
- Biggest Challenge of Living in a Small Space:
- Understanding that I should not follow the usual model which makes of the master bedroom the most important room, but switch its function and make it into the library working space instead. Once this was understood and the decision to switch taken, the apartment took shape almost on its own. Everything else followed then, including of course the choice of the furniture – I have always thought that in such a small space design style and light colors (white and beige as a basis, with red chairs and black armchair to bringing an efficient and delightful contrast) would give breath to the whole, with the help of course of the extraordinary sunny light I enjoy most of the time.
- If I am the Grand Prize winner of Small Cool, the item(s) or project(s) from my home design wishlist that I'd like to spend my winnings on are::
- If I win the prize, I would start working on the kitchen, putting in a new countertop and cabinets in a classic style to match the rest of the apartment.


text:
Introducing: The Projecteo website
Hello all of you lovely people, we have some exciting news... today we launch the Projecteo website!
Here's the link:
On the site, you'll be able to order Projecteos,... Read more
Here we go...
Hello all,
First of all, my apologies for the lack of updates recently - it's been quite a couple of weeks.
The first batch of Projecteos that were supposed to... Read more
How to upload images and update addresses
Hello everyone!
We'll be sending out access codes this Wednesday 27th March to our 150 early bird backers!
A few people have been asking how they will upload their images... Read more
Exciting times ahead.
Hello everyone,
It's been quite a week.
First of all, we have some some exciting news…
After showing the samples to as many people as possible at SXSW, we were... Read more
Projecteo Progress
Hello everyone.
I hope this finds you well and you had a lovely weekend.
It's exciting times at Projecteo HQ. We received samples last week and are now in the... Read more
Projecteo shipping update
Hello all,
I hope this finds you well. Last week, we received our last set of samples from the factory. In an ideal world, we would have signed off on... Read more
Batteries and macro lenses
Hello everyone,
I hope this finds you well. Just a quick word on batteries. When the second batch of samples arrived we noticed that one of the Projecteos had switched... Read more
China update #1
Hope you had a lovely holiday and are all looking forward to 2013.
We've been all over the place overseeing the production of Projecteo and thought you may like to... Read more
2789 backers and $87,162 in 35 days! And it's all down to you. A massive thank you to each and everyone who helped us get here, you've been absolutely amazing.... Read more
New Instagram Terms of Service
Hey everyone,
Many of you have been asking about how Projecteo will be affected by the changes to Instagram's Terms of Service. If you haven't read them and would like... Read more
Packaging strecth goal pictures
Hey everyone.
It seems that a few of us have been having trouble viewing the images from update #6 on some browsers. As we can't edit an update more than... Read more
Mini cinema packaging?
Hello everyone,
I hope you had a great weekend.
Thank you all so much for your amazing response to the colour variations. It was great to get a sense of... Read more
A splash of colour.
How are we all?
I know I keep on saying this but... Wow. Seventy five thousand dollars. AWESOME.
Due to your incredible response to the last post about... Read more
Three little things...
Just a quick update about three things I couldn't wait to tell you about:
1. A massivethank you. We just hit $60K. Over three times our original target of... Read more
Projecteo is GO.
What a crazy couple of days. Funded in under 24 hrs then a mad panic all day as amazon payments went a bit wonky for a few hours.
... Read more
A few people have been asking how extra wheels are going to work and how much they will cost.
How it will work
You'll be able to order extra wheels... Read more
Hello everyone!
What a crazy few hours it's been! Way over half our funding in half a day?! Thank you so much. We're super excited and incredibly humbled by your... Read more


text:
26 Lindsey Williams
|Columbus, OH
|High School:
|Columbus Academy
Williams has outstanding athletic tools and will look to re-establish himself as one of the Ivy League's elite strikers. He earned honorable mention All-Ivy recognition last fall after finishing fourth on the team in goals (3) and points (7). One of his goals was the game-winner in a 1-0 victory over Fairfield. Williams enjoyed an outstanding sophomore season when he earned first team All-Ivy and second team All-New England honors after leading the Ivy League in points with 24 and tying for the league lead in goals with 10. He was named the Ivy League Player of the Week following his performance against Cornell when he scored two goals, including the game-winner, and also was selected to the Yale Classic all-tournament team. As a freshman, he tied for third on the team in scoring with seven points, despite being limited to 13 games because of injury. For his efforts, he was named honorable mention All-Ivy. In the season opener against Harvard he scored twice and as a result was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week. At the Columbus Academy, Williams was the Ohio Division III Player of the Year. He also was a first team all-district and first team all-state selection.
Williams' Statistics Overall Ivy GPGSGAPGAP 2001135317204 20021616104244210 20031715317000 Career4636166386214


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INDIANAPOLIS – Real Salt Lake selected two players in Thursday's 2013 MLS SuperDraft, picking University of Maryland MF John Stertzer in the first round with the 12th overall selection and trading up two spots in the second round to grab University of New Mexico FW Devon Sandoval with the 29th overall pick.
The 22-year-old Stertzer was a standout at Maryland, appearing in 79 games, making 49 starts, scoring 25 goals and registering 13 assists in four years with the Terrapins. The Oakton, Va. native was a Third Team All-American in his senior season in 2012, when he helped lead Maryland to the NCAA College Cup, an ACC Tournament crown and an ACC regular season co-championship.
"I'm just so happy," Stertzer said. "It's an unbelievable opportunity to be a part of such a great club and I can't stop thinking about the chance in front of me. I'm just looking forward so much for the chance to go out to Utah and Real Salt Lake. I know I have a lot to learn but I'm going to work my hardest to make an impact on the team."
The 6-foot, 170 lb. Stertzer was First Team All-ACC in 2011 and 2012 and ACC Championship All-Tournament Team in 2012. Maryland qualified for the NCAA Tournament in all four of Stertzer's years in College Park. He was one of two Maryland players – along with D.C. selection Taylor Kemp – selected in the first round on Thursday.
"Stertzer is a guy we feel like can contribute for a long time," Real Salt Lake GM Garth Lagerwey said. "He's potentially a really solid player and we're excited to add another young dynamic kid to our midfield. We've got six, seven young guys in there now and I think it'll be a fantastic competition there this year with guys battling every day to see who emerges and gets the minutes."
Real Salt Lake traded up two spots to grab Sandoval, sending the Philadelphia Union the 31st overall pick in Thursday's SuperDraft and the 12th and 17th overall picks in Tuesday, Jan. 22's MLS Supplemental Draft for Thursday's 29th overall pick.
"I couldn't be happier," Sandoval said of joining RSL. "I had the opportunity to come out and train with RSL for a week over the summer and I really enjoyed it. It was an awesome experience and it's an awesome team, one of the best in the league. It's where I really wanted to play and when I heard my name I was just really happy."
The 21-year-old Sandoval started his college career at San Diego State University but transferred to his University of New Mexico Lobos after his freshman year. The Albuquerque native starred for the Lobos, earning Second Team All-American honors in 2012 and finishing his four-year college career with 28 goals and 17 assists.
"I'm really happy that we were able to get a domestic forward in Devon Sandoval," Lagerwey said. "We got deeper at forward and I think that's really important. I also think that the type of forward that Devon is is really important. He's a true No. 9 and you just don't find them very often among American players. He's a player that trained with us this summer, so we know him pretty well and we know he's a really good person."
Both Stertzer and Sandoval will report to Rio Tinto Stadium for the start of Real Salt Lake's preseason camp this Saturday, Jan. 19. RSL will travel to Casa Grande, Ariz. on Monday, Jan. 21 for its first training sessions of the preseason.
Player: John Stertzer
Position: Midfielder
Height: 6-foot-0
Weight: 170 lbs.
Date of Birth: Oct. 4, 1990
Hometown: Oakton, Va.
Citizenship: USA
College: University of Maryland
How Acquired: Selected by Real Salt Lake in the first round (12th overall) of the 2013 MLS SuperDraft on Jan. 17, 2013
Player: Devon Sandoval
Position: Forward
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 185 lbs.
Date of Birth: June 16, 1991
Hometown: Albuquerque, N.M.
Citizenship: USA
College: University of New Mexico
How Acquired: Selected by Real Salt Lake in the second round (29th overall) of the 2013 MLS SuperDraft on Jan. 17, 2013


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Mitchell Anderson | December 21, 2009
By Mitchell Anderson • Monday, December 21, 2009 - 16:47
The leading elected "climate skeptic" in the United States got a taste of just how marginalized his world-view is when he breezed through Copenhagen last week.
The infamous Senator James Inhofe flew nine hours to Denmark and left hours later when he could only muster a handful of reporters to hear his conspiratorial views on climate change.
According to Politico, Inhofe's whirlwind visit was meant to deliver two messages: that climate change is a hoax, and that the US will never pass cap and trade legislation.
Decked out in black snakeskin cowboy boots, Inhofe's loopy views did not seem to win over the few reporters on hand to hear them in the conference centre stairwell.
A reporter asked: "If there's a hoax, then who's putting on this hoax, and what's the motive?"
"It started in the United Nations," Inhofe said, "and the ones in the United States who really grab ahold of this is the Hollywood elite."
One reporter asked Inhofe if he was referring to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Another reporter — this one from Der Spiegel — told the senator: "You're ridiculous."
His important work done, Inhofe burned another tank of jet fuel flying back to Washington.
On a completely unrelated note, the Oklahoma politician has received $662,506 in contributions from oil companies between 2000 and 2008, making him the leading recipient of oil funding in the US Senate where he is the ranking Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee.
However, one should not assume Senator Inhofe is soley concerned with interests of the oil industry. He also received $152,800 in coal contributions during the 110th Congress.
RickJames replied on Permalink
Moral Dilemmas
From Inhofe's perspective, burning jet fuel is no moral dilemma at all. I'm surprised you would call him on it.
I mean - you're almost asking for everybody to pile on about the green sides extravagance with the dino juice.
as always - I'm staying above the fray.
- also I should commend the reporters quoted above for their professionalism and even handed news gathering. It's quite refreshing to see honest, non partisans in the news biz. … Did they throw snowballs at him too?
Mark Francis replied on Permalink
Journalists should treat
Journalists should treat cranks as… cranks.
CamMacKay replied on Permalink
Inhofe was the most powerful man at copenhangen, who steered the course of events in 3 hours more than weeks of negotiating between politicians. Inhofe also represented the views of billions of people excluded from Copenhagen, If he was younger he would make an excelent presidential candidate.
And with the oil and coal
And with the oil and coal money given to Inhofe, it's apparent that Inhofe's message "confused" the delegates to the point of paralysis that they were no longer sure about AGW.
Billions of dollars spent on a lavishly financed conference is no match for the highly-sophisticated anti-AGW rhetoric of a crotchety, old Senator. If only he and Monckton had stayed away from putting their mind-spells on the AGW folk, humanity would have been saved.
Antocalypse replied on Permalink
I like your sarcasm
It's more likely that Inhofe and Monckton were there to be seen, and to create more idiotic sound bites that could be regurgitated again later for their industry masters.
Did these two clowns defeat science at Copenhagen? Certainly not. But greed and short-sightedness sure did.
What defeated Copenhagen
What defeated Copenhagen then? You had the greatest collection of warmies in history in one spot. Why didn't Obama deliver? Why didn't Brown?
It was China that defeated Copenhagen
China needed to kill Copenhagen to protect the 2 trillion in teasuries they held.
The Chinese have consistently read Climateaudit and after Briffas Yamal series got exposed, then Climategate, the Chinese concluded the science as all made up. They then went into a panic at the thought that Obama would trash the US economy with Cap and Trade, thus devaluing the US $.
In your dreams!
China pay attention to Climateaudit – now thats delusional.
Antocalypse replied on Permalink
Do you even read the posts?
I repeat, greed and short-sightedness defeated Copenhagen. Read, man, read!
To pin its success or failure on one or two principals, or who had the loudest cheering section, would be to simplify the meetings. It would be like saying the earth is in a cooling trend because the last couple of years were cooler than the hottest on record.
RickJames replied on Permalink
Purpose of Copenhagen
Perhaps you didn't notice but the purpose of Copenhagen was to afford everyone the opportunity to blame someone else for climate inaction. It worked out very nicely.
Read Marxist agit-prop? No thanks
I see, no one is to blame. You should read Monbiot's latest column, he is very CLEAR on who is to blame: BHO.
Mark Francis replied on Permalink
LOL! Kool-aid! I rarely say
LOL! Kool-aid!
I rarely say such things, but really!
So, Cam, it's all a conspiracy, eh? LOL.
RickJames replied on Permalink
Politics and Money
Interesting figures on Inhofe's oil and coal sourced contributions.
Of course he's just one senator and all his peers are likewise juiced up with cash from somewhere. Why don't they even the playing field and kill all the contributions public and private? Furthermore they could restrict campaign money to bare minimums so no one can buy their way into politics. Forget TV ads and all that junk. Let every candidate get a blog.
no - theres no way they would begin to consider that. Politics and Money are the system.
He also received $152,800 in coal contributions during the 110th
Aye. The very people responsible for this:
One year anniversary of the day clean coal died
which links back to desmogblog
23 December 08
Massive Coal Ash Spill in Tennessee puts the lie to Clean Coal
How can you justify any other action?
I figure Inhofe should cough up and help those affected. As should Bush and Cheney.
Is this 2008?
Seriously, the Bush and Cheney thing is getting a little tired. Who writes your stuff for you? Can't you get some fresh material?
the Bush and Cheney thing is getting a little tired
Crimes against humanity are not washed away with time.
Unlike the poor souls caught in a wave of coal slurry.
So how are Bush and Cheney
So how are Bush and Cheney responsible for the coal slurry? You never say.
Oh, that's right, EVERY SINGLE THING, no matter how tenuous the link, that occurred when they were in power is their fault. Are you a 9-11 Truther too?


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How to End the War on Terror
In breaking news this morning, suicide bombers have killed seven people in Afghanistan and wounded 17, most of them Afghan children on their way to school. According to a Taliban spokesman, their attack was in response to President Obama's visit to their country. The president signed a strategic pact with Afghanistan yesterday and spoke to our troops and then to the nation. He cannot announce such trips beforehand due to security risks, a fact that illustrates the ongoing threat posed by Islamic terrorists.
The president's trip coincided with the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death. Has his death made us safer? Yes and no. Killing bin Laden proved our military's ability to find and defeat the leaders of Islamic terrorism. However, in the year since, terrorist groups have spread into eastern Afghanistan, parts of Africa, southern Yemen, and Pakistan. Microterrorism remains the greatest threat against Americans at home, as "lone wolf" extremists are much easier to recruit and deploy than larger groups.
For example, seven people were arrested yesterday in Britain on suspicion of financing terrorism. Five self-described "anarchists" were arrested in Cleveland for planting what they thought were demolition charges on a bridge. In February, an immigrant from Morocco was arrested near the U.S. Capitol building; he was wearing what he thought was a suicide vest packed with explosives. And an Afghan immigrant who admitted planning to bomb New York City cinemas went on trial in Manhattan recently.
Can we expect this threat to diminish in coming years? No. Polls indicate that a growing number of militant Muslims around the world are willing to die for their faith, convinced that killing you and me is a defense of Islam required by the Qur'an. What can we do? The War on Terror is military – we must obviously remain vigilant in defending ourselves. It is economic and political – we must work to improve conditions in countries where our enemies are recruiting the next generation of terrorists.
Above all, it is spiritual – we are fighting an enemy that seeks to impose its fundamentalist version of Islam on the entire world. Jesus described their motivation: "A time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God" (John 16:2). Why? "They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me" (v. 3). Does this mean that the conflict would end if they knew Jesus?
Is this possible? More Muslims have become Christians in the last 15 years than in the last 15 centuries, many after seeing visions and dreams of Jesus. If radical Muslims came to Christ, how would they change? If they truly made Jesus their Lord, they would abandon retribution for reconciliation (Matthew 5:38-42), replacing an ethic of hate with one of love (John 13:34-35). Imagine the results in the War on Terror and the larger Muslim world.
What is our role? Jesus told us to "love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44). Have you prayed for radical Muslims to know Jesus yet today?


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Lynn Layman (right), manager
of supercomputing at Westinghouse Energy Center, who oversaw
the TCS installation, contemplates some of the 14 miles of
Quadrics interconnect cable by which 3,000 TCS processors
talk to each other rapidly and without stopping for long
Total TCS floor space is roughly that of
a basketball court. By careful site planning and redesign of
the AlphaServer configurations, PSC engineers reduced the
distance between processors, thereby also reducing the
cabling and minimizing network latency. Power cabling is
installed under a large signal-cable support grid just under
the floor (below left) that resembles a mattress
frame. A similar grid supports additional cables on top of
the AlphaServer cabinets.
Along with being a world-class computing
system, the TCS is a powerful generator of heat. With a
cooling load of 2.5 million BTUs, running the TCS is
equivalent to burning 169 pounds of coal an hour. More than
600 feet of eight-inch cooling pipe, weighing 12 tons,
circulate up to 900 gallons of water per minute. Twelve
30-ton air-handling units (white cabinets) provide cooling
capacity equivalent to 375 room air conditioners.


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Opinions continue to trickle in from different sources about Donovan McNabb and his return to Philadelphia.
Charles Barkley, a long-time McNabb supporter, thanks owner Daniel Snyder for sending him a Redskins No. 5 jersey, which he plans on wearing to Sunday's game.
"I've always said that Donovan's never gotten the respect he deserves in Philadelphia, and before Michael Vick got in the game, I didn't know that," Barkley said during an interview with Howard Eskin and Ike Reese on 610 WIP. "But I'm wearing my Donovan McNabb Jersey and I can't wait until Sunday at 4:15 Eastern."
Barkley hopes McNabb gets cheered by Eagles fans. He said when he returned to Philadelphia as a member of the Phoenix Suns, he received a huge ovation, and it was one of the greatest moments of his career.
He added that he's not worried about getting abused by Eagles fans for wearing Redskins colors and said he'll get the last laugh when the Redskins win. Barkley agreed to wear a Michael Vick jersey on TNT if the Birds win, and said he is pulling for Vick too.
"I'm really pulling for Michael Vick and I'm glad he's doing well, but he's just in the wrong place at the wrong time this weekend," Barkley said.
It's been awhile since Freddie Mitchell ripped McNabb, but he sounded off this week in an interview with Eskin and Reese, explaining why he has always had a problem with the former Eagles quarterback.
"I really didn't like him because he wasn't going down the progressions. He wasn't going one, two, three and then four," Mitchell said. "I was the third progression off the offensive playbook so it was like I'm running my routes as hard as possible and he's not looking at that. He's going from one to the safety valve, which was Brian Westbrook, which isn't a bad safety valve, but a lot of the great quarterbacks, they'll read down the progression and that's how the west-coast offense is supposed to be ran."
However, Mitchell said McNabb is now going through progressions better than he ever has, and the Eagles shouldn't have gotten rid of him.
Mitchell added that McNabb never made his teammates better, wasn't accurate and really did not want Vick here in the first place, despite what he said publicly.
"No, I don't believe he wanted him there at all because Donovan wants all the attention on him," he said. "When Terrell came, there was no attention to Donovan McNabb. Nobody cared about Donovan. It was the T.O. show. Now when Vick came, it's just more pressure on Donovan because he knows how Philly fans are. As soon as he throws that one ball in the dirt, they're going to be like 'Let's go to Michael Vick. What is he doing? We're paying him this money. Get rid of him.' From Day 1, they wanted to get rid of Donovan McNabb."
ESPN.com's Bill Simmons focused his Friday picks column on Vick and said he's rooting for the new Eagles quarterback:
If Vick didn't pay a reasonable price for his sins, it would be one thing. But he torched his career, blew a lucrative contract, went bankrupt, spent 19 months in prison and became a public pariah. That wasn't a reasonable price? Every prison sentence has four goals: remove a lawbreaking person from society; assess an appropriate penalty; incarcerate the individual as a deterrence from ever breaking the law again; and hopefully, rehabilitate him or her to become a contributing and upstanding member of society. With Vick, the first three goals were accomplished. The fourth goal seems to have been accomplished. What more do you want? Deny him a chance to make a living? Under what constitutional umbrella? The man paid his price.
You can follow Moving the Chains on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.
And download the 2010 MTC app from the ITunes store.


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2012-07-12 / Events & Calendar
Berner High School Class of '77 plans reunion for July
The Berner High School Class of 1977 is planning a 35th year reunion weekend starting Fri., July 13 with a pub crawl in Massapequa Park on Park Boulevard and Sat., July 14 with a picnic in Brady Park. For additional information, contact Julie Freund- Cappelluzzo at email@example.com or Debbie Doyle- Scott at email@example.com or Facebook berner Class of 77...35th reunion.
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text:
SEATTLE (AP) — Amazon.com Inc. and Viacom Inc. said Tuesday that they reached a deal on an expanded multiyear digital video licensing agreement that will bring hundreds of shows from Viacom's Nickelodeon, MTV Comedy Central and other channels to Amazon's video steaming service.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal comes just days after the expiration of New York-based Viacom's licensing deal with Netflix Inc. Netflix had been paying Viacom for the right to show a broad range of its programming, but the companies couldn't come to an agreement before the deal expired at the end of May.
As part of the deal announced Tuesday, Amazon's Prime Instant Video service will now offer unlimited instant streaming access to children's shows such as "Bubble Guppies," ''The Backyardigans" and "Blue's Clues," along with MTV and Comedy Central shows like "Awkward," ''Tosh.0" and "Workaholics."
The Amazon service also will show future episodes of "Dora the Explorer," ''SpongeBob SquarePants," and "Fairly Odd Parents."
In addition, select shows from Viacom's Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. channels will be available through Amazon's Kindle FreeTime Unlimited service, which includes a variety of children's books, games, apps, movies and TV shows, the companies said.
In morning trading, shares of Seattle-based Amazon rose 64 cents to $267.52, while Viacom's Class B shares rose $1.18 to $68.11.


text:
A powerful bombing rocked a central business district of central Beirut Friday, setting cars ablaze and killing five people, including a senior aide to former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, officials said.
The National News Agency said Mohammed Chatah and his driver were both killed in the explosion, which wounded more than 70 others. (AP)
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Volunteer Pages
Using eAYSO for Volunteer Registration
1. Login to the AYSO National Registration website at www.eayso.org. It is important to use the same login you created in the past (if you are a returning volunteer). Otherwise, you will create a duplicate volunteer record and your information and certifications will not show up correctly. Use the "Forgot Login" or "Forgot Password" links to retrieve your credentials if you do not remember them. If you are a new volunteer, click the "I am new to AYSO and want to voluneer" button to create a new eAYSO account.
2. Once you login, you will see the following Welcome screen. If you are a new volunteer, select "Apply as a new adult volunteeer". If you are returning volunteer, select "Apply as a continuing adult volunteer". You may notice that the link for "Apply as a continuing adult volunteer" is not active. This means that you already started the registration process for the current year (or the system THINKS you have). In that case simply select "Update Volunteer Information". There is really no difference between the two options.
3. If you are a new volunteer, the website will ask you to enter your personal information. If you are returning, the information on the website will be filled with your existing information and you will be asked ot verify/update your personal information. At some point in the process, the system may ask you for your volunteer job as in the screenshot below. Select "Rgnl Volunteer". This field is just a label and has no bearing on the actual role you will be peforming in our region.
4. After you have have entered/verified your personal information, the following waiver form will be displayed. You may electronically sign this document. If you are a returning volunteer, this will eliminate the need to print the form and submit the hardcopy. If you are a new volunteer, you will still be required to print a copy and submit the form for verification.
5. Scroll down on the waiver form to the Signature section as shown below.. Click on the box that says "I agree to use an electronic signature" and simply type your name in the "Signature" box.
6. Once you complete the waiver form, you will be asked to review the information one last time and submit the form. After one more Region Informaiton screen, you will be presented with the following Print Applications screen. If you are a NEW VOLUNTEER, you must print a copy of the form and bring it to your training course. If you are a RETURNING VOLUNTEER, you do not need to print the form as long as you successfully complete the electronic signature process online.


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Jazzman writes:
So this is kind of an interesting thought (or collection of thoughts) that's been going through my mind lately. Can planning be reconciled with libertarian or somewhat libertarian views, or are we all just a bunch of damn Commies? Hear me out -
First of all, I absolutely do NOT consider myself to be a libertarian. As someone with a planning education, I completely understand why America, in its present, heavily developed and industrialized form, cannot be quite as free as the Founding Fathers might have envisioned - the more urbanized a society gets, the more your actions affect the lives of others, thus the reason why big cities and states that have big cities in them tend to have much bigger, more powerful governments with much more regulation and oversight than places that are more rural in nature or are simply less densely populated.
However, I certainly believe in personal freedom to the extent reasonably possible, and there are times when I find myself muttering something or another about somebody being a damn Commie because I think they've just taken things too far.Some examples include Bloomberg's attempt in NYC to ban sodas (or I think it was sodas of a certain size), or San Francisco's attempt to ban male circumcision at city hospitals. The latter example is really far fetched, but if we look at the proposed soda ban in NYC, many do argue that the negative health effects of society is a cost that is borne by taxpayers because of increased health care costs - therefore government has a right to regulate it in the public interest. And yet, I still can't shake the feeling that if we follow this idea to its logical conclusion, somebody like Bloomberg or some other big city mayor will one day mandate everyone to eat a specific, government-approved meal that has been deemed "healthy" enough to negate the negative health effects that cost society as a whole so much money. Is this what we want? As planners, we are uniquely and acutely aware of how one person's personal decisions can have negative affects on their neighbors and on a city or a society as a whole - and we regulate accordingly. But how far do we take this? At what point do we draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough? Negative externalities be damned, let me have my freedom!
P.S. I do not want this to turn into a debate about whether Bloomberg's soda ban idea was right or wrong. I simply used that as an example. The idea I'm trying to float here is much bigger than Bloomberg or NYC, I'm trying to look at the big picture.
See the responses here.