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Photo courtesy of Kustom Group
However, waxes and additives suppliers have had their own challenges, beginning with the raw materials they need.
"The wax industry had its challenges in 2012," said Craig Baudendistel, director of sales for Shamrock Technologies. "Supply and pricing stabilized on many waxes products and PTFE feedstocks. There were a few feedstocks that continued to be tight in supply with continued price escalation."
Alan Kalmikoff, president of Keim Additec Surface USA, LLC, said that the availability of waxes that were short in 2011 were improved for 2012.
"In particular, Montan wax and PTFE were less tight," Mr. Kalmikoff said. "Carnauba wax was less so and more expensive in 2012.
"The Montan wax issue is a very interesting one as it is not a renewable resource, yet very popular for its properties and with few options as alternatives," Mr. Kalmikoff added. "While Montan is basically fossilized plant life, carnauba wax, while similar in chemical structure, does not provide similar properties. Keim Additec has developed alternative polyolefinic materials that have been proven to be effective and successful."
"Our sales into the North American graphic arts market were steady," said Rich Czarnecki, technical director at Micro Powders, Inc. "We do see a number of growth opportunities in emerging markets where new and diverse players are entering the industry."
"Overall, we have seen slow growth on a volume basis in 2012, consistent with the economy," said Julie Vaughn, vice president of marketing and business development for Emerald Performance Materials. "However, certain product lines have experienced better-than-market growth rates, benefiting from the drive to low VOCs and more environmentally friendly materials."
"For Kustom Group, the additives market rebounded somewhat in 2012 versus 2011," said David Aynessazian, vice president sales and marketing, Kustom Group. "At Kustom Group, we consider a product used at a level of less than 5% of a formulation to be an additive. In the past few years a number of market changes have forced ink companies to have to choose from a smaller number of suppliers who are offering a consolidated number of product offerings at a time where the market is asking for ink diversity and value added. This has thrust additives into the spotlight, as they can help to push an ink to perform in a specific way that the printer requires without having to completely reformulate.
"No ink type is immune from a need for an additive regardless of chemistry (oil-based, aqueous or energy cure) or press configuration (flexo, offset, screen, gravure, spindle, pad or inkjet)," Mr. Aynessazian added. "The result is that additives increased because more ink was made in 2012 versus 2011, but also because additives were used to a greater degree in 2012 versus 2011."
Raw Materials
Waxes and additives suppliers have had their share of challenges on the raw material side, and securing availability and managing costs have been essential.
"First, our purchasing group has to stay on top of continual global raw material markets in order to anticipate changes in supply and costs," Mr. Baudendistel said. "Secondly, we need to keep our customers informed of these market changes so they know what to expect in terms of supply, demand and pricing. I believe Shamrock has done a good job managing both challenges."
"Costs have remained fairly stable this year," Mr. Czarnecki said. "We are fortunate to have strong long-term relationships with our major supply partners, and have been able to secure as much material as needed to meet the needs of existing and new customers alike."
"As additives are only a small portion of the ink and make a huge difference in performance, typically the price pressures on these materials are not as intense as for those materials that encompass the other 95+% of the formulation," Mr. Aynessazian noted.
"Overall, supply/availability of raw materials is not an issue," said John Erbeck, market manager - graphic arts for Emerald Performance Materials. "However, certain specialty raw materials that are in short supply are causing longer than normal lead times as well as some spikes in material costs. In those cases, we have worked with our customers to more closely manage the planning process."
Mr. Aynessazian said that the bigger issue for the additives market lately has been increased regulation, as some raw materials have been forced out of the market.
"Regulations like REACH, Swiss Ordinance, and EUPIA have forced many raw materials out of the market, as the cost of registering and testing some materials is simply too high for the small amount of sales they produce regardless of how unique they are," Mr. Aynessazian noted. "As a result, even in the additives business, it is necessary to find a way to do more with a smaller stable of chemical choices. To cope, Kustom Group has had to partner with our suppliers in an even greater way to jointly understand the market for a given material and find multiple uses to increase the volume used to help assure a continued supply."
Industry Trends
In talking with manufacturers of waxes and additives, the importance of maximizing performance of inks is of critical importance. Mr. Aynessazian said that Kustom Group sees two trends in the additives market.
"The first trend is toward more 'green' products which have lower VOCs, less odor and less objectionable chemicals in them, and secondly, a trend toward products with greater utility for multiple uses in different applications," Mr. Aynessazian said. "The reemergence of 'green' has been driven by packaging print buying companies, who are insisting that the packaging that they are using for their products contain only a specific list of chemicals on them and are lower in residual odor. To comply with these new restrictions, additive makers have to develop new products, which offer similar performance while following these new rules.
"Other additive buyers are pushing to consolidate the number of products that they purchase and the number of suppliers that they deal with as a way of reducing inventory dollars," Mr. Aynessazian observed. "This is forcing additive producers to look at their products in a new way. We all have to ask ourselves, 'besides the intended purpose of my product, what else might it be used to do.' This has caused many to slightly modify products so that other uses may be possible which offers the added utility to the customer that they are looking for."
Ron Levitt, regional sales leader for Shamrock Technologies, said that ink manufacturers are looking to improve their formulations while keeping an eye on their costs.
"Customers, more than ever, are looking to maximize the performance of their inks while lowering their raw material costs. Shamrock has responded with high performance, lower cost PTFE products such as our new Black Sheep PTFE powder series. We are now ready to introduce dispersions of these powders as well," said Mr. Levitt.
Mr. Kalmikoff noted that low migration technology has taken a pretty drastic eye on paraffin wax, as Nestle's has included it as a material to be eliminated.
"There's a lot of discussion regarding why all paraffin waxes need to be included, but that is the trend for the moment," Mr. Kalmikoff added. "We are developing new paraffin wax emulsion-free coatings to help our customers move in a different direction."
"Water-based and energy curable applications continue to show the most customer activity and R&D investment," Mr. Czarnecki said. "Another trend that we have seen in the last few years is that customers have become smarter about the quality vs. price argument.
"Formulators who switched to lower quality, less well controlled particle size waxes have come to realize that they end up causing more problems for customers who expect the same performance with every batch of ink," Mr. Czarnecki added. "It ends up being more cost effective for them to utilize higher quality waxes, often at a reduced percentage vs. the lower cost alternatives. Formulators cannot afford to take the risk that lower cost alternatives will give them the consistency and surface properties their customers demand."
"The overall trend in the industry has changed a lot over the last couple of years, with a shrinking lithographic ink market and competitive expansion in both the offset ink and flexographic ink colorants markets," Mr. Erbeck said.
"We have also seen that customers continue to focus on solutions that maximize their production efficiency, improve their print quality, and lower VOCs, and they often look at additives as a key part of that solution," Ms. Vaughn said. "New products need to deliver more than just low or no VOCs. Our focus as a raw material supplier is to develop and supply additives that deliver numerous functional performance benefits."
Patrick Heraty Jr., market segment manager, coating additives for Evonik Goldschmidt, said that regulatory changes continue to create trends in the ink industry.
"Meeting the requirements of the Swiss Ordinance is becoming more and more important," Mr. Heraty said. "Preventing migration of ink components, like mineral oil, into the package itself or what it protects is critical. VOC regulations are growing more stringent as well. Even the small amount of VOC from additives used at minute levels can push a formulation out of customer compliance.
The demand for packaging that differentiates products for the consumer market also continues to accelerate. Unique ink technologies help create this kind of packaging
"The switch to electronic media from traditional printed forms is driving the search for new markets for ink manufacturers," Mr. Heraty added. "The recent announcement that Newsweek will cease production of its printed magazine at year's end is just the latest example. Evonik-Tego is working closely with our ink partners as they identify new opportunities. We are providing unique solutions that help our partners enter these new markets."
New Technologies
To meet the needs of the ink industry, waxes and additives manufacturers have developed a wide range of new products during the past year. For example, Shamrock Technologies launched its new Black Sheep line.
"Shamrock introduced our high performance, low cost Black Sheep product line this year," Mr. Levitt said. "Although darker in color the Black Sheep products provide equal performance to our higher performing SST-3 at great cost reduction."
Mr. Kalmikoff said Keim Additec Surface will introduce a new wax emulsion where the wax has a specific gravity of 1.0. Enhanced stability is the attraction for this material. Keim-Additec Surface will also be addressing the issues of MVTR, low Cobb values and KIT values from a wax emulsion perspective in 2012.
"With the introduction of several new products this past year, Emerald has sought to bring features which offer valuable benefits to the end user, and also address the need for low VOCs," Ms. Vaughn said. "For example, we recently introduced Kalama K-FLEX 975P, a patent pending low VOC coalescent with excellent performance characteristics in both ink and OPV applications. Another example is our newest Lucida Colors energy cure dispersions for flexo and offset printing inks were formulated to have both low odor and improved handling, and excellent light stability – a combination not previously available. In the defoamer area, we have several zero-VOC defoamer offerings that offer a range of performance benefits and won't impact gloss or clarity. Our FOAM BLAST UVD is highly effective in these energy curable systems. FOAM BLAST 295 is specifically designed to provide excellent clarity – a key performance gap in the industry - while control foam in fountain solutions and other graphic arts applications. FOAM BLAST 331E is an excellent choice in applications where broad indirect food contact clearances are needed."
"Evonik TEGO has introduced several new products recently which are of interest for the printing inks industry," said Jennifer Turner, marketing manager, coating additives for Evonik Goldschmidt. "TEGO Dispers 688 is a new premium dispersant for matte UV curable printing inks. Processing and productivity can be improved during manufacturing due to the excellent rheological profile. Low thixotropy, low viscosity and good yield points can be seen even with the highest concentrations of matting agents. TEGO Foamex 823 is a high performance defoamer with good compatability for waterborne printing inks. It is easy to incorporate and suitable for many different binders. It is also compliant with the Swiss Ordinance. TEGO Foamex 831 is a silicone-free defoamer concentrate for waterborne printing inks especially for printing packaging. The 100% active matter concentrate is in compliance with the Swiss Ordinance. TEGO Foamex 833 is a silicone- and mineral oil-free defoamer which has excellent compatability, good foam inhibition, fast foam break-down and superior long term efficiency. It is ultra low VOC and is Swiss A list compliant."Expectations for The Coming Year
With the added importance in the role of waxes and additives as well as the increased emphasis on environmentally friendly products, suppliers are looking ahead to the upcoming year.
"With the introduction of several new products in 2013, we expect the coming year to be an extremely active one," Mr. Kalmikoff said.
"We have a positive outlook for 2013, driven by continued reformulation toward low and zero-VOC systems, further expansion in to new market areas and offering materials with more environmentally friendly profiles," Ms. Vaughn said. "We continue to focus on and be excited about the opportunities in these areas."
"Our expectations are positive," said Mr. Heraty. "The technology shift to more environmentally friendly inks mirrors our product portfolio. The demands for more functional inks also fit our line. With the election resolved, no matter who has won, the economic uncertainty that has slowed growth should be eliminated. More announcements of traditional printing being eliminated are inevitable unfortunately. But we do expect the packaging industry to remain strong and drive increases in the business. Digital printing will also continue its growth, offering opportunities for new challenges to conquer and new business to realize."
"Kustom expects 2013 to be a good year in the additives business versus both 2011 and 2012," Mr. Aynessazian said. "We offer many unique additive materials that are finding homes in more and more formulations. With the communications revolution that we are experiencing, we are finding that 'word of mouth' about the unique products that we have is spreading through social media and various internet communications to places around the world. We are getting contacted through our updated website from potential customers from countries that we had never heard from or visited before. Although sales in 2012 were relatively small outside of North America to these countries, the significant part for us is that we had sales to four other continents, and we believe that this bodes well for future increased sales as it looks like our products work well in many markets."
"We are looking for continued growth in 2013," Mr. Levitt said. "A combination of new customers and products should help us attain our goal."


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My two cents….the Phillies have made their 40 man roster stronger by outrighting both P David Herndon, as well as utility infielder Michael Martinez off the 40 man today. Herndon was subsequently picked up by Toronto. With a number of difficult decisions upcoming over the next several weeks prior to the Rule 5 draft, this clears necessary space for some of the bigger prospect names to be added into the mix in the short term.
148 thoughts on "Addition by Subtraction"
Shame to lose a quality reliever in Herndon, but it's going to make for one less tough decision down the line. Herndon was a true professional and even when he wasn't pitching (or pitching well) I liked having him around the younger guys. Best of luck to him in the frozen tundra.
Any prognostications on who gets added to the 40 man and who is left open for the rule 5 draft?
We can spin it all different ways, but BOTH of these guys stunk. Granted, Martinez stunk more, but Herndon had no future here.
Martinez had no place on a major league roster, period. Herndon was a quasi decent reliever who had some value while making the major league minimum.
To Herndon, happy trails. To Martinez, good riddance.
Martinez was able to squeeze 1.5 seasons of ML salary without any talent whatsoever. Hope he banked that cash.
Three more years of major service, i believe he gets a pension,There is a guy martinez who if he didnt always hit for the fences, might have been a decent player, i say might,
I'll say this, when he had his treds in 2011 he was a better player, then he cuts them this year and look what happens! I blame his barber for his slide.
This team has assembled some of the worse bench nontalent in my memory and that is a long time. Worse they hold on to them even when they proven they can't play a lick. To whit I give you Terry Harmon MLB 1969-1977 . Let him in a game he was to mess it up
I know you have brought this up before but I think the huge problem hasn't been the bench talent but the lack of depth when that bench talent was forced into a starting role. I am not going to defend MM, but when Wigginton or Nix is your pinch hitter of platoon bat that you don't have to rely on your bench looks much better. That being said it is definitely an area that the team could improve without breaking the bank by just being smarter and better prepared.
Wheels, this is a long running obsession with you, and one where I'd at least like you to engage the arguments of the many people who disagree with you. As I've said before, while obviously not defending every signing/move last season (I never really liked the Wigginton acquisition, and I share the consensus opinion on Martinez), or historically, the team actually does a pretty good job of filling out the bench. As Matt says correctly, the problem last year was that these guys were forced by injuries into starting roles, and that some of them (the relievers especially, to the extent that you include them in the "bench") were injured themselves.
Basically, you make three errors:
(1) Most significantly, your expectations for what a good bench should be are wildly out of whack. Especially post free agency, teams don't and shouldn't spend a lot of resources on the bench. The bench talent – and not just for the Phillies – reflects that.
(2) You focus on the negatives without acknowledging the positives. Nix last season was fine when he was healthy (he was a lousy PH, so what – that was a tiny portion of his PA), Pierre was a great sign, Galvis did a good job before getting injured, Mayberry was very good after a rough start, they did eventually add Kratz who performed well (and see below regarding Schnieder), Frandsen did well for the team, Thome contributed before the trade, and so on. The top 7 bench guys (I'm not even counting Ruf) contributed a total of 6.6 WAR – that's huge, granted it was inflated by the fact that most of them were pressed into starting roles to some extent.
(3) You ignore defense and positional flexibility, the latter of which is particularly important in the days of 12 man pitching staffs. The former is exemplified by your lack of appreciation of the importance that the team places upon the hard to measure defensive value of the back up catcher; the latter is exemplified by your lack of understanding of the need for a team to have a player like Martinez (not that I disagree with you on the bottom line; he had no place on a major league roster. But the decision to go with him at least becomes understandable when one considers the need for positional flexibility. The same can also be said for Wigginton.)
Harmon is actually a perfect lens through which to view your distorted expectations of bench performance. He wasn't much on offense, but that in a era where even most regular middle infielders weren't good hitters. Even so, he had some offensive skills – decent BB rates, decent contact hitter. His defense was good. He was, for his era, pretty much what you could expect from a bench middle infielder, no more, no less. In 1972 he was actually one of the better players on a notoriously bad Phillies' team.
In contrast, during the same time period, the middle infield reserve for the Big Red Machine was a guy named Darrel Chaney. Harmon is Derick Jeter compared to Chaney. Well, I exaggerate. But the point is that that's the kind of player teams were rolling out as middle infield reserves. Look at 1974 – probably the BEST true bench middle infielder was Gene Michael. The best. and he was basically Terry Harmon on a career basis, except that he was a regular for most of his career.
I really don't understand the wigginton signing from the start, terrible defense,and not a lot of offense. but i really can only go on this year, never really saw much of him on other teams, a bench to me is sometimes luck, you pick up a guy and he has a career year. we let go of dobbs, who was awful for two seasons , he goes to florida and has two nice seasons, plays about 120 games and produces for them.
Well I understood it. Doesn't mean I liked it (though, to be fair, my reaction at the time was probably more lukewarm than negative). He is a guy who had positional flexibility, was cheap, and wasn't THAT far removed from seasons as a decent hitter.
The biggest problem in retrospect is that he was forced by circumstance to amass 360 PA, most of them while playing at first base. Arguably the Phillies should have anticipated this, given the Howard injury. It's here that positional flexibility rears its ugly head. If one recalls the start of the season bench, as planned at least, if they signed a real first baseman instead of Wiggington (even setting aside salary issues), they would have been overly lacking in positional flexibility on the bench. One could argue that the Thome signing backed them into that particular corner, but then again Thome played well and got them a pretty decent return when he was traded.
All that said, in retrospect at least he was not a good addition to the team. at all
I don't think 1974 is relevant to today, heck I don't even think 08 is relevant. Different front office regimes have different philosphical views on building out the bench. The one thing I do agree is that in the NL positional flexibility is paramount which is why I believe Nix stays, Mayberry Stays, Galvis assumes MM's role and Big Nate might find he is the odd man out.
Neither was making next year's team and the Phils correctly exposed Herndon, who won't be ready until June or July of next year anyway, to protect one more young guy. It looks like our 40 man roster currently is at 36 including Polanco and Wig which will represent 6 spots after they're released. The FA signing can start pretty soon after the WS ends but the Phils will have to consider the Rule 5 draft in the timing of the signings. I expect a CF and an 8th inning guy to be signed so that will use up 2 of the 6 open spots and I counted 6 guys that need to be added to the list. I think they will definitely protect Collier and Castro but not James or Duran while the pitchers are obvious. Savery is probably the next guy to go although Valdes could be next also depending on what the team thinks of him and his chances of pitching in Philly next year. I suppose they could trade Nix or Scheirholz to free up a spot but I think that spot will ultimately go to a corner OF signing or trade. Schwimer might go also I suppose. Let's get this WS over so we can get on with the Hot Stove season…
I dont think Castro needs to be protected. Noone will take him.
I disagree completely. Castro will be selected in the rule 5 if hes not protected.
I think Castro is a definite future major leaguer in some capacity, most likely as a 4th of. He would definitely be taken by someone. He can play all 3 of positions, he can throw, and he routinely knocks in runs. I can see him as a great pinch hitter bench guy in the future.
It doesn't work that way on protecting guys on the 40-man roster for the Rule 5 draft. Once you put them on the 40-man, you have to keep them on the 40-man roster or expose them to waiver claims, when you remove them. A guy claimed on waivers just needs to be kept on the other team's 40-man, not on their 25-man for the whole year, as in the case of Rule 5, nor is there the $50K cost of claiming someone in the Rule 5. Therefore, we have more chance of keeping a prospect by exposing him to the Rule 5 draft than we do if we protect him from the Rule 5 and then remove him from the 40-man to add a FA. IF we are going to add 2 FA, then we can really only protect 4 guys from the Rule 5. The other reason not to add 6 guys and get up to 40 on the 40-man is that it allows us to make a Rule 5 pick, if the Phillies see someone they like.
Some good news….Derrick Mitchell has re-signed with the Phillies for a ninth season in the organization.
That's good news although Ruf, Gillies, and Castro will be the starters unless Ruf surprises us. Gillies gets hurt so often though, a back up is needed. Susdorf still coming back?
Derrick Mitchell has more Athletic ability in his little finger than some of the guys you mention…
Look, it's all well and good to support family, but why do so anonomously?
Seriously, even assuming for the sake of argument that you are correct, his gifts still haven't manifested themselves on the field. He's a AAAA guy who might – might – get a brief taste of the major leagues at some point, but he isn't a prospect.
He has played every position in the Phillies system except shortstop but now as a pitcher out of the pen who can throw in the mid to high 90′s and gaining control and command, don't rule him out as a member of the Phillies pen sometime during the 2013 season….who will be Tim Kennelly.
After 20 innings pitched ever? Hardly. I did see the Cubs signed our old friend Jesus Sanchez the other day ( speaking of former position players).
The fun of relief pitching is that you never know.
Collier is doing pretty good in afl. but shows no power, wonder if he is still consider a good prospect, after the drug incident and his lack of power,I really never saw him play,and wonder what kind of player he would be compared to,by people who have seen him.and if he has a shot to help us,
Collier comp to Garrett Anderson.
As to his prospect status, it's up, not down, after a solid 2012. He's not a can't miss A level prospect, but he's a guy who is one breakout season away from being a serious prospect, and with the tools to have that breakout season.
As for power, he hasn't displayed much so far, but he did have a career high in HR this season, and scouts see more HR as his body continues to mature.. He's never been a player that's likely to develop 20 plus HR power. He's a guy, if things break right for him, profiles as a Victorino type player, with maybe more speed. (and despite fans being down on him this season, with some cause, a cost controlled Victorino type player would be of considerable value.) A center fielder with speed, decent on base ability, and good defense doesn't have to hit a ton of HR.
From PhoulBallz.com….With the Lara Cardenales, outfielder Tyson Gillies, who has steadily concerned both the Phillies organization and its fans with his long list of injury troubles and his off-field issues, is currently sidelined with a right hamstring strain. In four contests, the British Columbia native who turns 24-year-old on Halloween, went 7-for-15 (.467 average) with a double and a triple while driving in two runs. Gillies knows his body well following a stream of hamstring and foot issues in recent years and proclaimed, via Twitter last week, that he would be okay. Right now, the lefty hitting prospect is day-to-day and is expected to return to action by mid-week.
Gillies played yesterday and went 2 – 5. Don't know if he'll ever stop being Mr. Glass.
I thought Victorino had plus plus speed. I doubt Collier is that fast and I am still not sure is even an above avg CF. I also doubt he has Vic's arm in the OF.
I do agree that he showed improvement and has upside,
Victorino ran a 10.80 100 meter dash in High School. That's really really fast for a high schooler. In Phila he would be considered a elite track and field athlete. I doubt Collier is anywhere near those times.
Yeah I doubt colllier has victorinos speed, nor power
On the speed front, I will defer to some extent to the comments above, while noting that Collier is certainly fast, so I'm not sure that Vic gets a big edge there.
On the power front, you're at least potentially wrong (remember, we're talking upside here). Look at Victorino's minor league power numbers – they were as anemic as Collier's. Certainly looking at his frame, Collier seems like someone who could develop a little more power than Vic. Suddenly developing mid range power as a player approaches his mid 20s is actually reasonably common (and no, not just because of PEDs).
Not sure why people jumped all over the Victorino comp and not the Anderson comp. Vic is not a perfect comp, but probably a better comp than Anderson. Of course, once again we're talking upside; his change of reaching it is still pretty slim.
He has to be able to play CF to make it and he didn't play CF before this year. This was a god year for him however and he still has a chance to become a player. He was always thought to have a max of a 300 hitter with 15 homers with speed. This year in AA will be huge for him. It looks like Jiwan will be moved out of CF again if he's back.
Maybe Charlie Manuel needs to see this:
Why is Kelly Dugan never talked about as a prospect? He was arguably Lakewoods MVP and has great defense out in right.
Wow…..I just lost 5 minutes of my life that I'll never get back reading all those posts about Herndon!!! Bottom line, he was serviceable and filled a huge need for a bullpen arm a few years ago when they picked him. He was a sinkerballer pitcher who most thought would do well at CBP. Now, the Phils have several younger players that need protecting so Herndon was just keeping that roster spot warm til now. WHile I liked him, Im not sure he even merited the amount of comments at the top of this post.
Um… the post was about him getting taken off the 40 man roster.
Ummm….and this should come as no surprise to anyone. The fact that it took up so much space is a mystery to me as the PHILs have numerous young players who need to be protected. This was a no brainer decision!
It was a no-brainer for us to waive Herndon because we have other pitchers coming up (and he's still recovering from TJ). The big argument was that some of us thought Herndon was serviceable, while the other side thought he was dog crap.
I really get nervous on a prospect,when someone says he didnt face good competition,or he didnt do well against better competition,but like his athleicsm and body, has tools, remember hewitt, didnt hit in the summer maine league and it was ignore, and he didnt play against good competition, couple of quotes, i remember after he was drafted, its happen to guys from this area, never made the impact we thought like , ben davis, second pick in draft , kid from new jersey rowell i think its spelled that way, he face lesser,i know people who played against him and said to me he isnt as good as they say,but you take those comments with a grain of salt.so my question is this., how much stock you put in the competition they faced in high school? do you take it serious or just look at the bat speed and other things,
Of course, when it comes to lesser comp in this area, you can say the same about Mike Trout playing down in the pines of south Jersey.
I need to have a celebration that Martinez is gone. Wish someone else claimed him!
Herndon being claimed is surprising since he will be out for a couple months. Toronto does not have better middle reliever candidates? One thing that could help Herndon though is if he velocity increases after TJ as has occurred for a few pitchers. Never good when a team loses talent, but Herndon is replaceable, just nice that he had Majors experience.
Sebastian Valle went 1-4 2B BB last night, changing his approach, watch!
Ifoget was it collier or gose who was the high school pitcher who threw 95 or so??
Do you mean James? He was up to 95 as well.
Anyone have a BP subscription? a post went up over there today talking about Phillies players in the instructs, curious to see the report
Does anyone know why Maikel Franco only has 1 AB in the DWL? Is he hurt?
Just started this week.
Jonathan Villar and Jarred Cosart have to be protected by the 'Stros or lost in Rule 5.
Villar is a toolsy shortstop that the Astros will certainly want to be patient with. Jonathan will enter his age 22 season with five years of experience and 162 minor league stolen bases to his credit. Still a bit raw and immature, Villar's 2012 season ended early when he broke his hand trying to beat up a door. Although he still has a lot to learn, Villar is rated as one of the Astros top prospects.
At the time of his trade, Villar was an essential piece for the Stroes. He was speedy and with good range at SS, but had error problems which usually gets worked out in the 2-3 more minor lg seasons. He would be the Phils proximate candidate at SS now taking 1 -2 seasons to come together.
Now we do seem to have a superior SS coming along; his write-up after just his first season in pro ball was extraordinary. Should mean 3 more seasons of minor lg ball to make his entrance to MLB.
This offseason must produce not only several new players to the roster, but also will test the FO's longer term plan. We should know that this team desperately needs to get some young, fresh blood or it will continue to fade away. With Howard and Utley and Halladay health questionables and the outfield bereft of starters, plugging holes should be aimed at '13 AND beyond.
The pressure on RAJ will be to somehow maintain the high attendance rate as well as growing the team for post '13. I believe RAJ will have to show some daring and put some established guys on the trading block or continue the down-tread for the club.
It is essential that they retain their #16 draft choice in the June '13 player draft, because that could give them a shot at a special pitcher of extraordinary potential. For the sake of comp, consider how the Giants parlayed some early draft pick (ses Bumgarner, Posey, etc.) to form a solid foundation for progress FROM WITHIN.
The draft choices lost via FA signings shows how far behind the Phils are now on "can't miss" prospects. It is now time for a change…but will RAJ rise to the occasion or fall back to his plan of the last few years?
MM and Herndon done.
Again ArtD with a pitcher at 16th, I think not. Do you think the Phillies organization are in dire needs of pitching in their system…check the last draft and see the majority of the top ten picks are pitchers. I suppose Watson, Gueller, Milner, Guth and Brady are not what you wanted! IMO it will be the best right-handed bat on the board, and there will a be a few good ones available at that spot.
You don't draft for major league needs.
Their job is to draft the best player available. If it's a left handed bat, a right handed bat, pitcher, whatever, it doesn't matter.
Art, if you are waiting for the team to rebuild by trading veterans, you're going to be waiting a long time. Thankfully.
Every team is different. The Phillies, looking at their current roster, are not in a position to go that route in rebuilding. Why? There are 8 guys signed for next year (assuming Ruiz' option is picked up; we're not counting pre-FA controlled players, who after all the older players you are referring to).
-one guy has an untradeable contract (Howard)
-three guys have contracts that, while not horrible, are far from bargains. Trading those guys would likely not bring back prospects commensurate with the qualities of the players traded (Lee, Rollins, Papelbon)
-three guys are going into the last year of their contract, and, for one reason or another (health mainly), not the kind of guys who will bring a big haul of prospects for one year of control (Utley, Ruiz, Halladay)
-one guy is probably valuable, but a just signed young pitcher that should still be around when the team again contends (Hamels)
Of that group, Hamels aside, Lee is the one guy who likely could get an a-level prospect. I wouldn't do it, and I doubt that the Phillies will.
Expecting Amaro to … what, exactly? Trick other teams into over paying for our veterans? – is highly unreasonable.
I realize that there is a contingent around here tired of watching older players and who would rather watch young guys. Your'e entitled to your aesthetic preference. But please don't pretend that trading away the veterans for (figuratively) pennies on the dollar is going to result in anything other than a 100 loss team. The Phillies don't want that to happen, I don't want it to happen, nor do most of their fans, and I can promise you it won't happen.
I think you are exactly correct on this. The Phillies will try to win in 2013, which says trading away our vets is a bad thing to do. There is also no reason to do it. We aren't going to be able to sign equivalent FA to replace them for the money saved. We don't need to shed salary. The team's coffers have ample cash and we got under the salary cap last year. Last year's deadline deals brought some fresh talent to the top half of the farm, while other talent already in the system progressed a year, so that the top half is in better shape than it was last winter.
I understand in baseball doesn't allow teams to trade draft picks. However, if a team gambles and makes a qualifying offer to say Tori Hunter. If it appears nobody is going to sign him, can the angels offer another team player(s) to a team to sign him? Hmm.
A 'qualifying offer' comes only from the team that has had the services of the player, in this case the Angels. In the absence of that offer or if the player declines the offer, the player becomes a free agent. Any offer made by another team is not a 'qualifying offer', it's just an offer.
Your question implies that the Angels might have a reason to induce another team to sign Hunter. I have to assume that the reason would be so that the Angels would get the compensatory draft pick. Keep in mind that with the qualifying offer needs to be at least $13.3 M on a one year contract, that becomes an expensive draft pick measured in terms of the compensation necessary to induce another team to sign a guy like Hunter if they weren't inclined to do so any way. Since the Angels would pick near the end of the first round, I can't see the issue arising since the draft pick would not hold
value sufficient to justify the type of transaction I believe you're describing..
A team doesn't pick for needs? The best player available? Check our draft of '11. We surely were in desperate need of infielders at SS, 3b, and 2b. Now check how many of our first 15 picks, and earliest, which consisted of a bundle of infielders. The picks are more than just what the big club needs but also about the farm system needs.
Also: how many of our prospects need to be traded to supply us with outfielders, and a 3rd baseman, and who are they? Yes, we have TWO pitchers nearing ready: Martin and that tall guy from local climes: Biddle. And perhaps Pettibone. Other than them I see a bunch of disappointments who look like they couldn't fire a fb ACCURATELY through a 2′ CARDBOARD BOX. Compare with the Giants who have grown their staff from within by smart drafting AND holding on to then for the bigs.
We need some outstanding prospect pitcher who wows us all and others.
Do not sell Trevor May or Adam Morgan short, as apparently you have done by omitting them from your select list because, '. I see a bunch of disappointments who look like they couldn't fire a fb ACCURATELY through a 2′ CARDBOARD BOX'. No prospect is plus-plus in every category.
Drafting for needs. is a big mistake,ask the philadelphia eagles. They came out this week and said,for two drafts. they drafted for needs, and came out with danny watkins ,who sinks,kid from temple in second round jarrett who got cut and so on,so you should imo draft best available.
Yes, in the latter part of the first round, but there is that 'line in the sand' when teams have to make a decision and draft for need or best available when you have a so-called 'lottery' pick, where there is a group of players that are variably equal potential and talent. Phillies at 16th may be a little outside that luxury.
Baseball is almost always draft best available in the early rounds. Of all 4 major sports I believe baseball easily has the highest miss rate of early draft picks. taking best on the board maximizes the success rate. As mentioned, add the fact most players are years away from the bigs so mlb need is hard to gauge down the road versus organizational need is.
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Are you sick and you look for the treatment to cure your illness? Most people will do it but not all of them have that money in the right time. Perhaps, you have already used your money for other important things and disease is something unpredictable that will come to you suddenly. That is why, you need a protection called health insurance that will cover all your medical expenses with its benefits that are useful and beneficial.
Do You Get Advantages From Health Insurance?
Before registering in the right company that will offers you the best health insurance, you need to know the advantages of this protection as the following:
• Maternity cover
Health protection is not only designed for those who get sick but also for maternity matter. Pregnancy is something all mothers in the world want but during pregnancy, mothers can be weak, abnormal and they are easy to get sick. In order to prevent that, pregnant woman has to check their health regularly to hospital until they give birth. However, to check and also prepare for the birth are expensive but you can make it cheaper with something useful from the beginning before your wife is pregnant. You can register to health protection company because it will cover all the examinations during pregnancy until give birth using normal or surgery way.
• Prescription drugs
If you just buy for some medicines in the drug store because you are sick, you can ask them to make the proof and you can make a claim to the company. All your medical prescription from the hospital or doctor personally will be covered too so you don't have to worry if you are out of drugs, you can buy them easily. If you ask from the doctors to give you prescription without examination, the company will still pay for your expenses.
Because of that, you don't need to be afraid to save your money for health insurance since health can be expensive if don't keep it well.


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Research support for this article was provided by the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute.
Veronica Gallon went and got her gun. This was just the kind of thing she and her husband, George, had left the north Jacksonville ghettos to avoid: some guy banging and rattling the door in the middle of the night, like a crazed killer or God knows what. Veronica wasn't having it. So she grabbed her gun and plopped down on the front room rug.
"I was in my PJs, looking at TV and getting ready to go to bed for work," she recalls. She doesn't answer her door at night, so at first she just ignored the knock. "Then the knock becomes a banging," she continues, her voice rising. "I peep out the blinds, and I see this white guy," she explains. "I could see him, but he couldn't see me." She noticed his car was idling, with the driver-side door standing open. "Whatever he came to do, he was gonna do it and jump!"
Veronica knew the house was in foreclosure, of course; not a day goes by without a reminder. "First time the phone rings in the morning, it's them," George says with a sigh. "Last time the phone rings at night, it's them." But she long ago checked out of the process in frustration. She couldn't keep up with the bizarre twists and turns, the seemingly random letters from companies she'd never heard of making demands she couldn't believe. But she never imagined that the man banging on her door worked for a company that worked for a company that services her loan on behalf of some Borg-sounding entity called ABFC 2006-HE1 Trust.
Veronica is an ebullient woman. At 45, she radiates giddy teenage youth, doubling over in belly laughs at her own jokes. But she insists her quick smile morphs just as effortlessly into a snarl, and it was only after Veronica called George, at his job as a night security guard, that she calmed down. They both swear it's just dumb luck that American Home Mortgage Servicing didn't lose a contractor that night.
We hear a lot about the big picture of the mortgage crisis: at the end of last year, a little more than 11 percent of homeowners were delinquent or in foreclosure. But the Gallons reveal what it looks like in the micro. All over the country, confused, struggling borrowers and an opaque army of industry contractors are fumbling toward each other in the dark, with guns drawn.
Every effort to date to order that chaos has failed utterly. The mortgage industry got things started in July 2007 with its cruelly named HOPE NOW program. George W. Bush offered a narrowly tailored Federal Housing Authority (FHA) refinancing program, dubbed FHASecure. And last summer, Congressional Democrats finally came in big with HOPE for Homeowners, which put up $300 billion for FHA-administered refinances. All these plans have two things in common: they relied on the industry's voluntary participation, and they didn't work.


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The Ashland-Boyd County Health Department in Ashland, Boyd County, Ky. has been awarded an $87,010 cooperative agreement for local environmental protection projects. The cooperative agreement was awarded under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) Program to help communities develop collaborative strategies to achieve local environmental protection goals.
Under the CARE program, the health department will create a self-sustaining community-based partnership; help the Ashland community understand its pollutants and risks; set priorities for risk reduction and implement strategies for reducing exposures to local toxic pollutants.
Established in 2005, the EPA CARE program is a competitive cooperative agreement program that offers an innovative way for communities to take action to reduce toxic pollution from numerous sources. Through CARE, communities create local collaborative partnerships that implement local solutions to reduce releases of and minimize exposure to toxic pollutants.
There are two types of CARE cooperative agreements. The smaller Level I cooperative agreements are up to $100,000 each and help communities organize and create collaborative partnerships dedicated to reducing toxics in their local environments. Level II awards are larger – up to $300,000 – and are designed to support communities that have already established broad-based partnerships and have identified the priority toxic risks in the community. Level II communities are further along in the CARE process and are prepared to measure results, implement the risk reduction activities, and become self-sustaining.
More information about CARE and the cooperative agreements is available at: http://www.epa.gov/care


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An insurance research laboratory required a specialized and controlled environment to conduct fire testing on its clients' products. A large moveable ceiling platform fitted with a sprinkler system is positioned over the clients' products and is ignited. After the fire is extinguished the laboratory analyses the results and is able to advise clients on how best to set up their facility to reduce fire damage. (i.e. optimum height and number of sprinklers required to immediately extinguish a potential fire).
Handling Specialty designed, manufactured and installed the 80'x 80' moveable ceiling for this unique testing facility. The platform travels vertically 50'; the top of the platform reaches 69' in the air at its highest point of elevation.


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'American Idol' Recap: America Gets the Chance to Vote for the Top 12 Girls
Tonight (Feb. 29) marked the second live performance episode of 'American Idol' Season 11. All the girls performed this evening, with only half able to go through to next week. It was another mixed bag of talent, with country gals and torch singers sharing the stage. We also tried to keep track of how many times Randy Jackson said "Yo" but it was futile. It's like every other word.
The Top 12 girls performed, and now you get to vote on who stays sand who goes home, America. To help you with the voting process or to familiarize yourself with the contestants if you abstain from voting, consult PopCrush's recap of the events.
Chelsea Sorrell: The cowgirl sang 'Cowboy Casanova' but it wasn't her best showing. She was a bit nasally and nervous, but there was equal parts sass, spunk and sex appeal in her version of the Carrie Underwood tune.
Erika Van Pelt: This spunky blonde delivered a confident and spot on performance of Heart's power ballad 'What About Love', and her velvety voice gets under our skin in the best possible way. EVP is one DJ who can sing.
Jen Hirsh: In her pre-performance package, Hirsh said she wanted to demonstrate her love for Adele's 'One and Only' through her performance. We've said this before – covering Adele is akin to covering Mariah. Diva'ing ain't easy, but Hirsh came pretty damn close. She hit a lot of big notes.
Brielle Von Hugel: The Staten Islander with the stage mom just wants to "pawfowm," as she said in her thick "New Yawk" accent. When she got down to the task at hand, which is the singing, she offered up her rendition of the classic '(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay.' She's this season's Haley Reinhart, with her smoky style and sense of the blues.
Hallie Day: From waitresing in Baltimore to the Top 24 of 'American Idol,' Hallie Day was feelin' good and soundin' it, too. She turned in a torchy and escalating version of 'Feeling Good.'
Skylar Laine: If Tina Turner went country, it'd sound like the performance Skylar Laine turned in tonight. She is a pistol and a mini Reba in the way that way she stomps around the stage and she utilized that big, commanding voice when singing Faces' 'Stay With Me.' She is a rockin' country who exudes star quality from every pore and ame alive in front of the crowd.
Baylie Brown: Lone Star's ballad 'Amazed' was her choice of song, but unfortunately for this performance, she did not sound as pretty as she looks. Her dress was too tight and she could feel her heart beat and it distracted her. Aw, poor gal.
Hollie Cavanagh: She sang Christina Aguilera's 'Reflection' and she had a big dragon to slay, since aping Xtina is not easy. But she hit some gorgeous notes. She also has an accent that sounds Australian. Anyone else notice?
Haley Johnsen: Pretty Haley turned in a Florence + the Machine like rendition of 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)' and we liked her quirky vibrato, but it wasn't the right song for her. The judges didn't love it, with Randy calling it "train wrecky."
Shannon Magrane: The tall teen sang the gospel tune 'Lights the World,' showing off her diva-ness. Most 16-year-old's don't possess this kind of passions. She gave J. Lo her first "goosies" of the night.
Jessica Sanchez: Despite a sore throat during rehearsals, the soulful singer rocked 'Love You I Do' as if there was not a thing wrong with her gullet.
Elise Testone: Another 'Idol' hopeful tackled Adele. They're a brave bunch. Testone played piano to 'One and Only,' which Jen Hirsh also sang. Testone, 28, has such a husky tone.


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As fans flood the streets of New Orleans in anticipation of Super Bowl XLVII, thousands of people are working around the clock to get ready for the big game.
ModSpace is there too. As the trusted provider of mobile office trailers to the NFL, CBS Sports, ESPN and many more, we've set up a modular city adjacent to the Superdome for the massive support network. Here are a couple images of the temporary buildings that are helping people put on the biggest sporting event in the U.S.


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Title Page
Joint Resolutions
Index to the Laws
Index to the Resolutions
Titles of Laws
List of Resolutions
The five hundred and thirty-first volume of the Archives of Maryland series was originally printed in 1864 by Richard P. Bayly. The Archives of Maryland edition was published in 2002 by the Maryland State Archives. This volume covers the Session Laws passed during the 1864 session.
This information resource of the Maryland State Archives is presented here for fair use in the public domain. When this material is used, in whole or in part, proper citation and credit must be attributed to the Maryland State Archives. PLEASE NOTE: Rights assessment for associated source material is the responsibility of the user.
An Archives of Maryland electronic publication. For information contact


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Style # 202684
Shimmer sequin detail and body-sculpting design make this bebe party skirt a basic essential in every girl's after-dark closet. Offers a heavy stretch. Try it with a peplum top and a pair of skyscraper heels.
- 86% rayon, 14% spandex.
- Center back to hem: 17" (43 cm).
- Dry clean.
- Imported.
- Model is 5'9" and is wearing a US size S.
Sequin Bandage Skirt is rated out of 5 by 2.
Rated 5 out of 5 by wisconsin from Perfect for the Holidays!! LOVE THIS SKIRT!! Bought it in both colors. Looks exactly like the picture. I'm 5' 105lbs and bought the XS. It's a bit snug on my rear end and makes it look flat. So I'll have to try to stretch it out... but it's worth it! It's longer too, 17" so it's perfect for any holiday party!
Date published: 2012-11-26
Rated 5 out of 5 by Shelly from Quality Made! Amazing skirt. The fit and feel are great! I love the quality and weight of the material and the sequins are perfectly lined up. Very Happy!!!
Date published: 2012-11-10


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The Eagles have traded guard Stacy Andrews to the Seattle Seahawks, the Eagles announced Saturday. The team received a 2011 seventh-round draft pick from Seattle, according to a league source.
"I think Stacy feels more comfortable at the tackle spot, and he's voiced that," Eagles general manager Howie Roseman said. "We feel that with the addition of Reggie Wells and the health of our offensive line we feel comfortable at the guard position. We think it was a good fit on both sides."
Andrews said, by phone, that he'll compete for the right tackle job with the Seahawks. He said that when he restructured his deal with the Eagles during the off-season that Roseman said he would be the starter at right guard. Roseman said that the he said he would have the opportunity to "compete" for the job.
"It's a business, that's the way I look at it," Andrews said. "I understand that it isn't personal and that the Eagles just wanted to go in another direction."
Andrews did intimate that he thought the ill-will born from his brother Shawn's situation with the organization spilled over onto his plate. Andrews' agent, Rich Moran, said that he wasn't disappointed that things didn't work out between the Eagles and his two clients.
"I think that what happened with Stacy had a lot to do with what happened with Shawn," Moran said. "He was playing his brother's position. If Stacy knew that he was being signed to play guard he would have never signed."
Roseman said that Nick Cole is now the starter at right guard. The Eagles also traded for Wells on Friday, surrendering a 2011 seventh-round pick to Arizona.
The Andrews deal went through three minutes past a 6 p.m. deadline, according to Roseman, so the team was forced to release another player. They cut guard Max Jean-Gilles, who is technically a free agent, but the Eagles expect to re-sign him Sunday.
Earlier, the Eagles waived 10 players and waited until the last minute to cut wide receiver Kelley Washington. The 10 players were : safeties Quintin Demps and Macho Harris, tight end Cornelius Ingram, wide receivers Chad Hall and Jordan Norwood, guards Fenuki Tupou and Dallas Reynolds, center A.Q. Shipley, defensive end Eric Moncor, and defensive tackle Jeff Owens.
The Eagles also traded linebacker Tracy White to New England for a conditional 2012 draft pick, giving them the required 53 players on the roster as of this evening.
The Andrews era, meanwhile, is over after just 18 months. He was the Eagles' prized off-season free agent acquisition a year ago when the team signed him to a 6-year, $39 million deal. Andrews was coming off a torn anterior cruciate ligament, however, and the Eagles moved him from tackle to guard.
Andrews and his agent Rich Moran have said that when they initially signed with the Eagles they thought the then-five-year pro was going to replace Jon Runyan at right tackle. But the Eagles had other ideas and slotted him to be the right guard next to his brother, Shawn, who moved to right tackle.
Shawn never played there because of back (and other) issues. Winston Justice filled in at right tackle and Stacy Andrews stayed at right guard. He hardly played last season, however, as he recovered from the ACL and learned a new system.
The Eagles asked him to restructure his contract in the off-season, which he agreed to. He arrived at training camp still at right guard, but he continued to have trouble adjusting and struggled in three preseason games. He suggested earlier this week that he was more comfortable at tackle.
He may get his wish now that he's been jettisoned to Seattle.
The Eagles have announced that they have released safeties Quintin Demps and Macho Harris, tight end Cornelius Ingram, wide receivers Chad Hall and Jordan Norwood, guards Fenuki Tupou and Dallas Reynolds, center A.Q. Shipley, defensive end Eric Moncor, defensive tackle Jeff Owens and linebacker Tracy White.
The team still has two more players to cut before 6 p.m.
There are still a number of players remaining that are probably still sweating out the final cuts. Among them are wide receivers Kelley Washington and Hank Baskett, cornerback Jorrick Calvin, linebackers Moise Fokou and Jamar Chaney, tackle King Dunlap, and guards Max Jean-Gilles and Stacy Andrews.
Fokou, Baskett, Dunlap and Andrews are probably safe, unless the Eagles can swing a trade for Andrews.
Demps was drafted in the fourth round of the 2008 draft. He played some as a rookie and was billed as the 2009 replacement to Brian Dawkins at free safety. He lost that spot, however, to Harris at training camp. Demps was seen at the NovaCare Complex loading a trash bag of belongings into his Mercedes. He gave a peace sign and then drove off without comment.
Harris started in eight games last season, but was also eventually replaced. He was moved to cornerback this spring, but injured his hamstring during camp and was switched back to safety just a week ago. He was selected in the fifth round of last year's draft.
Ingram, also a 2009 fifth-round pick, never got to play for the Eagles. He tore his anterior cruciate ligament last August, a year after suffering the same injury to the same knee, and spent last season on injured reserve. When he came back this year he appeared to be nowhere near the same player. He missed part of the preseason with swelling in his calf/knee area. There's a chance he could land on the practice squad since he's yet to play a down in the NFL.
The Eagles have been active players in the week leading up to final cuts, and that hasn't changed in the hours leading up to the 6 p.m. deadline for NFL teams to trim down to 53 players.
The Eagles acquired defensive end Antwan Barnes from Baltimore for a 2011 draft pick Saturday. A league source said the pick was a seventh rounder. With the addition of Barnes, the Eagles need to trim 13 players from the roster. They've already cut at least two.
A.Q. Shipley said he was released this afternoon. The second-year center is waiting to see if another team will pick him up. He said the Eagles told him to stay in the area in case they want to bring him back to the practice squad.
"I knew it was going to be tight," said Shipley, a former standout at Penn State. "I knew it was going to be a numbers game."
With starter Jamaal Jackson seemingly close to a return from knee surgery, Shipley became expendable with guard Nick Cole and Mike McGlynn also able to play center.
The Eagles also released wide receiver Chad Hall, according to Adam Caplan of FOXSports.com.
While Barnes played some strong-side linebacker with the Ravens, the Eagles brought the 25-year-old aboard to be a pass-rushing end, according to a team source. A fourth-round draft pick in 2007, the 6-foot-1, 251-pound Barnes notched three sacks in 11 games last season.
Barnes addition could be bad news for one of the Eagles' ends, particularly Darryl Tapp, or a linebacker like Moise Fokou, who had been playing some end as of late.
In acquiring Tapp in the off-season, the Eagles gave Seattle Chris Clemons and a fourth-round pick. They also signed Tapp to an extension. That doesn't necessarily mean he's a rock-solid bet to remain with the team. He has not been productive in the preseason.
Fokou led the Eagles in tackles in the preseason finale against the New York Jets while the starters rested. Fokou opened camp as the starter at strong-side linebacker, but lost the job to Akeem Jordan almost immediately.


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Shaban withdraws from congressional race
Second-term state Rep. John Shaban, an attorney from Redding who has earned a reputation as a thoughtful, articulate lawmaker in the state Capitol, has dropped his bid to win the GOP nomination to challenge U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat from Greenwich.
"Over the last 2 weeks we have been monitoring funds, delegates and the general traction of our campaign," Shaban said in an email to supporters. "While we have sufficient delegate support to primary, the momentum is moving away from us based on a number of factors -- some under our control, some not."
For the sake of party unity, Shaban said he decided to withdraw from the race and instead seek re-election to the 135th District, representing Redding, Easton and Weston.
"I believe we elevated the discussion on issues important to voters -- fiscal sanity, limited and local government, and promoting prosperity through private sector growth," Shaban said. "We also highlighted our need as a party to communicate better with unaffiliated voters by focusing on improving the opportunities for everyone's children and grandchildren."
Shaban threw his endorsement to Dan Debicella, who is pursuing a rematch against Himes.
"While our styles may differ, the substance of our beliefs do not," Shaban said.
Debicella, a Shelton businessman who served two terms representing the state's 21st Senate District, ran against Himes in 2010 after winning a three-way primary. Himes won the election, 53 percent to Debicella's 47 percent.
Also pursuing the GOP nomination is Carl Higbie IV, a former Navy Seal from Greenwich.
Himes, first elected to Congress in 2008, is seeking a fourth term.
-- Ken Dixon


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I figured, I'd start the blog off with my favorite extended rule of all time, the messagebox().
This powerful, yet widely overlooked, extended rule, can help you with many different scenarios.
It is often part of my first response, when someone asks me a question.
Why is my field writing out the wrong data? - Did you messagebox the variable, to see where it picked up the bad data?
Why isn't my IF statement working? - Did you messagebox the values to see what they contained?
Why is my temp group not writing out all iterations? - Did you messagebox the indexes?
I could go on and on, but you'd probably hit the back button, if you haven't already.
For GSW (Sterling Gentran:Server for Windows), the messagebox will pop up an actual box to the screen. While the messagebox is on the screen, the translation is paused. Based on the 2nd parameter you use, different buttons will be available (such as OK, Yes, No, Cancel etc.), and can return different values back to the translator. But for now, we'll focus on just displaying values.
For SI (IBM Sterling B2B Integrator), the messagebox will write to the tx.log, and does not show on the screen.
(Stay tuned to the end of this blog entry, to get the super secret way to see the values easier!)
Using messagebox() is easy, you just pass it a string and the number 0 for the 2nd parameter (again, GSW can take values other than 0).
The string can either be a string variable or a #field name.
A lot of people get discouraged, when trying to use the messagebox(), because they'll simply display the value. With SI especially, seeing a bunch of values show up in a log, isn't that helpful. The secret, is to add literals to a string, and combine values into one line.
String[100] msg;
msg = "";
msg = "First field: "+#fielda+" Second field: "+#fieldb;
(Note the spaces within the quotes, for easier readability)
Assuming you had 2 fields in your map named fielda and fieldb, and they contained the data ABC and 123 respectively, your message would show up as:
First field: ABC Second field: 123
This is a lot more helpful, especially when looking thru logs, and the possibilities are wide open to all that you want to combine into 1 message. They can also help vent frustrations, when a rule is giving you trouble. I've been known to add messages like:
msg = "WHY IS VARIABLE store no: "+store_no+" WHEN IT SHOULD BE 1234?!";
(Yes, it's those little things, that entertain me…)
One limitation with messagebox() (hey, pobody's nerfect!) is that it can only use strings. So, any numeric or date values, that you want to peek into, have to be converted. But we can use the same logic with them. I use this a lot with indexes, when loops are not writing out correctly:
One limitation with messagebox() (hey, pobody's nerfect!) is that it can only use strings. So, any numeric or date values, that you want to peek into, have to be converted. But we can use the same logic with them. I use this a lot with indexes, when loops are not writing out correctly:
String[100] msg;
String[5] str_x, str_y;
msg = "";
x = "";
y = "";
$Temp[x][y].#temp_field = #fielda;
msg = "Stored: "+#fielda+" into: ["+str_x+"]["+str_y+"]";
This would give a message such as:
Stored: ABC into: [2][3]
Usually, if you're storing into a temp with indexes, there would be multiple lines, so this becomes helpful when you see a number get skipped, or the child not resetting correctly. Then you can narrow it down as to what's causing the index not to have the correct value.
I could go on for days with examples. If there's something that you would like to see more information on, leave a comment, and we can do an entry specifically for it!
Now, for the super secret, SI "I hate combing thru the logs to find my messages" way.
With the addition of SWIFTNet support a few versions back, you can use the cerror() extended rule instead of messagebox(), just switch the order of the parameters.
Whatever number you put for the first parameter, will be the "error number" that shows up in the translator report. I use this to my advantage, when I add multiple cerrors, I use unique numbers in each, so I know which cerror was executed.
This will display the message right in the translator report.
Report Entry:
Section: INPUT Severity: ERROR
SyntaxSpecific: false Syntax: -1 Code: 1
10004: Field Name
Field 1: ABC
10019: Location Index
Code:, will show the number that you included, and if it's a "real" error number, will show the description for that error. I like to use single digits, so I can tell them apart from real errors.
10004: Field Name, will show the string below it. In this case Field 1: ABC is the output from my msg variable.
Cerror() is real handy, but does have the limit of the number of errors that will show up in the translator report. Also, it does cause an actual error to show up in the translator report. This is fine for maptest, but if you're testing an entire BP flow, it would cause an error.
Overall, learn to embrace the messagebox() and it will make your mapping life that much easier.
Thanks for reading!
Pat Frey – IBM Support


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Value Line is regarded as the best independent research available. More than just recommendations, Value Line provides the rationale behind its picks for greater understanding.
Beta is a measure of a stock's systematic, or market, risk, and offers investors a good indication of an issue's volatility relative to the overall stock market. The market beta is set at 1.00, and a stock's beta is calculated by Value Line, based on past stock-price volatility. If an equity has a beta of 1.00, it will probably move in lock step with the broader market. For example, if the market rises (falls) by 10%, an issue with a beta of 1.00 will probably increase (decrease) by about the same amount. A beta above 1.00 indicates that a stock's volatility is greater than the market. For instance, an issue with a beta of 1.30 has a level of volatility 30% greater than the market average. Hence, given a 10% increase (decrease) in the stock market, our hypothetical issue will probably climb (fall) about 13%. The reverse is also true. A stock with a beta of .70 has lower volatility than the overall market, and a broad increase (decrease) of 10% would likely result in a 7% gain (loss) for our low-beta issue.
Betas tend to vary across companies and industries. Stocks of large companies with numerous operating segments, such as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), tend to have betas close to 1.00, as demand for their products tends to increase or decrease in line with aggregate economic expansion or contraction. Defensive stocks that generate relatively consistent earnings regardless of the economic climate typically have lower betas. For example,Abbott Laboratories (ABT), a pharmaceutical and healthcare company, has a beta of .60, 40% lower than the market. Demand for the company's products is inelastic, making it hard for people to stop buying them or find substitutes. All of this leads to a relatively steady earnings stream and the stock's lower level of volatility. Conversely, companies in cyclical industries typically have higher betas. AMR Corporation (AMR), which owns American Airlines, has a beta of 1.65, 65% higher than the market average. When the economy slows, demand for travel and other such luxuries tends to decline dramatically, and vice versa, resulting in more volatile earnings and share-price movements.
Conservative investors will likely favor stocks with low betas in order to limit volatility. However, investors need to remember that beta is a double-edged sword. Issues with low betas won't fall as much as the broader market on the way down, but when the market rallies, they will likely be relative underperformers.
Abbott Laboratories
NYSE Composite Index
AMR Corporation
Air Transport
All data as of 10/09/09


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The Waggin' Tail Mercantile, long the thrift store that raised money for The Animal Support Center, or TASC, is no more.
Linzy Behrs, former acting chairwoman of CATS (which has now merged with animal support group ASAP), recently accepted the assignment of renovating the establishment, which now has new looks, new merchandise, and a new name - Abundancia.
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PARIS, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- European Space Agency researchers say they're working on a high-tech, tight-fitting "skinsuit" to help astronauts overcome back problems in space.
Astronauts have been known to get taller by as much as 2.7 inches as their spines lengthen in weightlessness, with many astronauts suffering from backache during their missions as a result, the ESA says.
After a mission an astronaut has four times more chance of suffering a slipped disc than usual, the researchers said.
That led them to work on developing the "skinsuit," a tailor-made overall with a bi-directional weave specially designed to counteract the lack of gravity by squeezing the body from the shoulders to the feet with a similar force to that felt on Earth from gravity.
"Getting the suit to fit correctly was challenging," Simon Evetts of the Medical Projects and Technology Unit team at the European Astronaut Center said. "We needed to create a suit that is both tight-fitting but comfortable to wear, while creating the right amount of force in the right places."
ESA's Space Medicine Office is working with the Kings College in London and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to test prototypes, and ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen will be the first to wear the suit in space during a mission in 2015, the agency said.


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The rules of running a world-class legal department have changed. Legal departments are expected to run like a business. There has been a movement toward operating more efficiently and helping the business achieve a competitive advantage. Until recently, however, legal departments haven't had a specific role or individuals with the expertise to help general counsel achieve these objectives and deliver strategic value. Enter the Legal Operations Executive.
Last month in Chicago, a one-and-a-half-day conference was held with expert legal operations executives from across the nation. The conference was organized by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) and Huron Legal and was guided by a steering committee of leading legal COOs.
In an industry that is notoriously risk averse and slow to change and adopt business practices, more CEOs, CFOs and GCs see the value in not only providing great legal support that leads to a competitive advantage but also operating highly efficiently to provide value to their companies. To achieve that, forward-looking companies are adding operations professionals and chief of staff responsibilities in direct support of GCs and their legal teams.
Because the legal operations/chief of staff role is relatively new to the legal industry, legal operations executives must look outside the halls of their own organizations to brainstorm on best practices, identify cutting edge technologies and find innovative solutions to contemporary issues to help GCs drive a competitive advantage for their clients. Of the meeting participants in Chicago, well over half (61 percent) "invented" the legal operations role for at least one company. All have approached the cross-functional challenges with novel ideas, tackling issues involving not only legal and IT but accounting, sales, procurement, finance and other functions as well.
Like several others who helped plan this conference, I co-founded the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium in Northern California. This organization provides a forum for legal operations executives from Fortune 500 companies to meet in person every other month to exchange ideas, share best practices, and figure out how to drive change in the legal industry, to help their GCs benefit their clients. The success of that endeavor led me to jump at the chance to contribute to the planning of a national conference. As fellow steering committee member Elizabeth Jaworski of Motorola Mobility asserts, "we all have different cultures and strategic goals in our organizations. Hearing approaches within those varying factors gives attendees a menu of solutions to implement, like a shopping mall with a mix of high-end and mid-range stores."
We discussed metrics and analytics and dashboards, concepts well known to business operations, implementing effective strategic plans, and adding value through pro bono and diversity programs. We spent considerable time comparing notes on the latest and greatest tools and IT issues. For example, the closing session on "tackling emerging issues" discussed methods to improve law firm data security and how to handle the growing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend. It was fascinating to hear about the many different ways departments are using social media tools, such as wikis, YouTube training channels, Google Hangouts, and a Facebook-like connector for agile staffing, to name a few.
Most importantly, however, the group took away a broader understanding of how their fellow legal operations pioneers are harnessing technology, which emerged clearly as a critical—if not the most important—component of how legal can help drive a competitive advantage for the companies they serve.
Steering committee member David Cambria of CDW says the key benefit of the conference was "the ability to share, in real time, innovative and thought provoking ideas." Cambria challenged all of us to help shape the technology of the future, pointing out that there are many new legal technology vendors who are seeking beta clients to prove their product mettle, and will shape product development around the needs of savvy legal operations executives. Ultimately, the executives at this conference were creating new rules and redefining the game.


text: Sijun Forums :: View topic - Heya all! New pic! Log in to check your private messages Sijun Forums Forum Index >> Gallery/Finished Work View previous topic :: View next topic Author Topic : "Heya all! New pic!" AdezJmemberMember #Joined: 22 Oct 1999Posts: 220Location: Sweden! (Gothenburg) Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2001 3:43 pm i found a nice pic of the singer Jewel she's a good singer and very attractive! original sized version (1mb) http://deathseekers.nu/adezj/jewelbig.jpg ------------------ Adezj -oh! that wasn't me! Back to top BubonicmemberMember #Joined: 21 Sep 2000Posts: 209Location: Long Island, NY, US Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2001 3:48 pm nice job, i can see the likeness, but it seems a bit flat, add more colors and use the paint to define the forms of her face better.. Back to top AdezJmemberMember #Joined: 22 Oct 1999Posts: 220Location: Sweden! (Gothenburg) Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2001 3:53 pm actually im doing that right now ------------------ Adezj -oh! that wasn't me! Back to top NexmemberMember #Joined: 25 Mar 2000Posts: 2086Location: Austria Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2001 3:54 pm nice work. jewel kilcher is really good looking and she can sing, but she is very arrogant too (if you have seen some interviews with her). at least that was my impression of her. pic wise: you could make her lips a bit fuller for full sensous impact Back to top Display posts from previous: All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First Sijun Forums Forum Index -> Gallery/Finished Work All times are GMT - 8 Hours Page 1 of 1 Jump to: Select a forum Digital Art----------------Digital Art DiscussionWork in ProgressGallery/Finished Work Miscellaneous----------------Random MusingsArchive : Sep99 - Dec00 You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot vote in polls in this forum Powered by phpBB © 2005 phpBB Group


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Today's new invitation suite, Fairfield, has me sitting up straighter and speaking with a soft voice. This suite is so refined and sophisticated that it whisks me away from my desk right to this perfectly romantic inspiration board and extraordinary event.
Our team pulled together a few of our favorite new custom design elements to create this romantic suite — from the lattice pattern in Mist foil to the Luxe Board duplexed stock in London Fog featuring our new Caramel opaque ink in a traditional calligraphic typeface and finished with gold edge painting. It doesn't get much more regal and bridal than this!
We have really been enjoying the flexability of our new custom design elements. With the opaque inks and colored foil to match any palette and our new colored papers {more to come on our new colored foil and colored papers very soon!} we feel we could create just about anything you dream up!


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Drew Doughty, Canada take down stodgy Finns
The bad news is Team Canada's forwards can't score.
That's a bad sign, especially since the men's hockey team's track record when it comes to offence on the bigger international ice surface is, well, awful.
But there is good news: they have defenceman Drew Doughty, some time to get their supposedly high-powered offence going and while their fancy skaters are firing blanks, they dodged the bullet that would have meant potentially facing Russia in the quarterfinals.
So there is that.
Doughty's fourth goal of the Olympics and second of the game gave Canada a 2-1 overtime win over Finland Sunday and a meeting in the quarterfinals Wednesday against the winner of the qualification playoff between Switzerland and Latvia Tuesday.
Not that anybody here is a pushover, but there isn't a country here that wants to take on the Russians on their home soil.
That task could fall to the Finns, as the loss to Canada dropped them to the fourth seed. And while they are the final team to advance directly to the quarterfinals, they will have to face the winner of the Russia/Norway qualification game.
Doughty, meanwhile, has been Canada's best player and it's probably not close.
"I don't know what's going on. I don't score like this in L.A. at all," said Doughty, who has eight goals in 59 games with the NHL's Los Angeles Kings. "A lot of it is just my teammates, they're doing a great job of getting me the puck. When you play with these high-skilled forwards, all you've got to do is find some room on the ice and they're going to find you, so, (I'm) just trying to get my shots through and on the net."
Doughty gave Canada a 1-0 lead at 13:44 of the first period on the power play, wristing a shot over the right shoulder of Finnish goaltender Tuukka Rask. Finland tied the game with two minutes to go on a deflection by Tuomo Ruuttu.
And now the tournament starts getting serious, especially for Finland and Russia.
Sweden finished first in the rankings with a 3-0 record and nine points. Team USA finished second with eight points (regulation wins are worth three points in the Olympics; victories in overtime or shootout are worth two).
Canada was third with eight points, having finished behind the Americans on goal differential (+11 vs +9).
Finland was tied with Russia on points, but got the fourth seed and a direct path to the quarterfinals with a better goal differential (+8 vs +3).
The three group winners and the team with the next-best record advanced directly to the quarterfinals.
The way the matchups shake out and if form holds, Canada could be on a collision course with the U.S. at the semifinal stage while Sweden's half of the bracket has Russia and Finland as the top contenders.
It looked like Canada had opened the scoring at the eight-minute mark of the first period when the puck wound up on top of the net and was swatted from there by Canadian forward Rick Nash, down Rask's back and into the net.
IIHF rules state that a goal is disallowed "if an attacking player contacted the puck with the stick above the crossbar."
After conferring and consulting the replay, the officials disallowed the goal.
Team Canada head coach Mike Babcock launched into a preemptive defence of his offensively challenged team when asked where he thought his team was at right now.
"You know, it's interesting. Every time I've come to Europe and coached a team, whether it be in '97, the world junior, or '04, the world championship, or this time, is no one ever seems to be happy with us," he said, "and I think we're competing like crazy, so I'm way happier than people that are sitting 200 feet away.
"It's a hard game. The European game is interesting; it's all about defence, the end zone is smaller . . . they get out on your 'D' so quick, the dynamic 'D' we have don't get to shoot any pucks; they play man-on-man and they're on you like glue, and it's hard, and you have to be committed to doing it.
"And the other thing that happens for the NHL player, and probably for you in the media, is the respect you have for the opposition — you say, 'well he doesn't play in the NHL.' They're playing for their country and they play hard and they make it hard on you, so we've just got to keep getting better."
Canada doesn't play again until Wednesday, so there's still time to do that.
But not much.
The qualification playoffs Tuesday will feature the following matchups:
Slovenia (8) vs Austria (9)
Czech Republic (7) vs Slovakia (10)
Switzerland (6) vs Latvia (11)
Russia (5) vs Norway (12)
The quarterfinals on Wednesday will break down this way:
1. Sweden vs winner of Slovenia/Austria
2. USA vs winner of Czech Republic/Slovakia
3. Canada vs winner of Switzerland/Latvia
4. Finland vs winner of Russia/Norway
The semifinals will be:
Winner of matchup 1 vs 4
Winner of matchup 2 vs. 3


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|2012-07-08, 06:47
|Link #181
Join Date: Jan 2004
Age: 36
I decided to actually read the 6-page bonus chapter, and while there isn't much info about the show, there are some interesting bits.
As I previously mentioned, the manga author actually went with the anime staff to do location scouting for the anime, here she goes into more detail about that trip. It was a one week trip to the Middle East with the director and some of the other anime staff. They visited three countries in total - Jordan, Turkey, and Israel. While in Jordan, they visited the Petra Ruins in the desert. In Turkey they were in Istanbul, scouting out architecture which gave off Arabian Nights vibes. For Israel, they were mostly taking references of old city alleyways (probably in Jerusalem). They also brought back various items from the trip to use as reference for prop designs in the anime, like a sheath for curved daggers, and so on.
It seems they're pretty positive about doing a good job with the adaptation, so hopefully it pans out!
|2012-07-08, 07:50
|Link #182
Know who you are
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Resides within the depths of Ned infested Glasgow
But that stuff doesn't come till later on so portraying how Mor is to begin with is better I think, paints a picture that won't throw people off too much to begin with.
Don't want to give the people that react to things too emotionally something to needlessly rage about, you know what they say "a picture can say a 1000 words"
There would be blood about how they don't have their happy Mor!
|2012-07-10, 01:29
|Link #189
Join Date: Jan 2004
Age: 36
The official Magi twitter account shared this: http://twitvideo.jp/contents/img/07i8j
|2012-07-10, 01:58
|Link #190
Secret Society BLANKET
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: 3 times the passion of normal flamenco
Dangit, why do these pics shaft Mor? ;-; Especially when she's looking so awesome in that 2nd pic, and yet she's cut off by that other magazine.
|2012-07-10, 08:36
|Link #192
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Georgia
Age: 21
They really are trying to promote this aren't they? Well at least their trying to make it a hit so hopefully the promotion pays off in the end.
@lowergear blame the fujoshi fans who this is being targetted towards too (probably) :P.
|2012-07-10, 08:53
|Link #193
Join Date: Jan 2004
Age: 36
As for the promotion on Magi, this is definitely something that Aniplex and Shogakukan are taking very seriously. They want this to be a huge hit. The main objective here is not just to make the anime itself popular, but for there to be a big mainstream push to raise awareness of the manga to drastically increase the manga sales of Magi.
The previous volume of Magi (12) sold about 130k copies. That's not really that great for a shounen manga of this quality, so they're probably hoping for a huge boost, which is certainly likely.
For reference, before the anime for Blue Exorcist was announced, the manga was selling less than 100k per volume. After the anime started airing and everyone started talking about it, in that year the sales of the manga jumped to almost 800k per volume. This includes all back copies of the manga too. In 2011, with 7 volumes released in total, Blue Exorcist series sales numbered 5.2 million that year.
Shogakukan is definitely hoping that Aniplex and MBS can work the same magic for Magi, and they're betting heavily on it. I really hope it succeeds, because the manga is really good!
|2012-07-10, 09:19
|Link #195
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Georgia
Age: 21
@duckroll And its certainly possible since magi has all the qualites that made BE into such a big hit well almost everything it just needs a staff full of big names for all the animation fanatics to take notice like BE did.
|2012-07-10, 10:03
|Link #196
Join Date: Jan 2004
Age: 36
Key visual 3 update: http://www.project-magi.com/
Warning, might not be safe for work!
|2012-07-10, 10:08
|Link #197
Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2011
|action-adventure, fantasy, shounen
|Thread Tools


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Baltimore, Md. – The Alvin & Lois Lapidus Cancer Institute of LifeBridge Health launched the new Comprehensive Bone and Soft Tissue Tumor Center, which provides the most advanced treatment options for rare tumors of the bone and soft tissue (fat, blood vessels, nerves, muscles, deep skin tissues and cartilage) in both adult and pediatric patients. The center offers a collaborative approach to care – working together with patients, their families and referring physicians.
The center is led by Albert Aboulafia, M.D., FACS, M.B.A., a fellowship-trained orthopedic oncologist. With more than 25 years of experience, Aboulafia is nationally and internationally recognized as a leader in the clinical and research aspects of the care and treatment of adult and pediatric patients with benign and malignant bone and soft tissue tumors. "I'm very excited to see the center come together with a dedicated team specialized in optimizing outcomes for both adults and children with potentially limb-and life-threatening conditions," said Aboulafia.
Two innovative programs define the center: the Adult Sarcoma Program and Pediatric Sarcoma Program. The Adult Sarcoma Program treats patients with rare sarcoma tumors using a full range of state-of-the-art therapies and the most recent surgical treatments as well as novel chemotherapy and biologic agents through clinical trials endorsed by the National Cancer Institute.
In collaboration with the Herman and Walter Samuelson Children's Hospital at Sinai, the unique Pediatric Sarcoma Program provides highly specialized care for children and adolescents diagnosed with sarcoma tumors, which represent 15 percent of childhood cancers. This is one of the only community-based hospital programs in the United States with a team composed of a pediatric fellowship-trained orthopedic oncologist, pediatric medical oncologists and radiation oncologists supported by a pediatric intensive care unit to effectively treat malignant tumors in children. Aboulafia specializes in limb-sparing surgery for pediatric patients utilizing bone grafts and transplantation, as well as expandable or "growing" prostheses. Sinai Hospital is one of the few health care facilities in the United States able to treat pediatric patients with the CyberKnife technology.
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|Fetish Dolls
Short review: The beautiful women inside are all featured in glamour content that has them in fetish action. They have rubber fetish, nylons, foot worship, strapon play, and all sorts of lesbian scenes. All of the scenes are professionally shot, high quality glamour scenes and the girls are some of the hottest internet models around. The kinky action lets you indulge in all of your dark fetish fantasies.
Content Amount: For a site that's been around for a few years, I was a bit disappointed in the content amount. They must rotate out one old gallery and replace it with a new one. However there is definitely enough scenes to last you for a couple weeks at least.