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Senate Bill 132 went in effect on January 1, 2014 — now known as Fish and Game Code Section 4801.5. Within a week, the new law helped save the life of an orphaned lion cub in Buellton. Visit our Public Safety Incidents in California Since SB132 page to catch up on the latest news stories and see Senate Bill 132 in action!
Senator Jerry Hill, Half Moon Bay Mayor Rick Kowalczyk, the Mountain Lion Foundation, other wildlife groups, the press, and the community all gathered Sunday afternoon to celebrate the passage of Senate Bill 132.
The new law makes California a little safer for mountain lions and helps provide assistance to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife when resolving lion encounters with the public.
The Mountain Lion Foundation thanked Senator Hill and his dedicated staff for all their hard work to pass the bill.
Although the live lion was unable to make an appearance, the event was a great opportunity for MLF staff to meet our amazing supporters in Half Moon Bay. Thank you to everyone who attended on Sunday, and a huge thank you to everyone who wrote support letters to get the bill passed.
There is still more work to be done to save lions, but we were thankful to have a day to stop and celebrate just how far we've come!
Come celebrate with the Mountain Lion Foundation, Senator Jerry Hill, Half Moon Bay Mayor Rick Kowalczyk, and many wildlife organizations that helped pass this landmark legislation.
Senate Bill 132 is a small step towards greater protection of mountain lions. It requires the use of nonlethal procedures when a mountain lion accidentally wanders into town and poses no threat to the public. Learn more about the new law one month before it goes into effect, and see a live mountain lion ambassador up close!
When: Sunday, December 1st, 2013
Start Time: 11:00 am
End Time: 1:00 pm
Where: Mac Dutra Park, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019 (corner of Main Street and Kelly Street)
Free and open to the public. Please join us!
Click here to view or print the event flier.
Click here to view or print the event press release.
WE DID IT! Today, Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 132, officially making the bill California state law. The Mountain Lion Foundation (MLF) thanks the Governor, Senator Hill, and the entire California Legislature for voting to pass this landmark legislation that will help protect mountain lions that come into contact with people but pose no imminent threat to public safety.
Thank you to all our members and supporters who helped pass this bill!
The Mountain Lion Foundation (MLF) applauds the California Legislature for voting to curtail the inhumane practice of killing mountain lions that come into contact with people but pose no imminent threat to public safety.
Senate Bill 132 — authored by Senator Jerry Hill, D-Santa Clara — passed the Senate and Assembly unanimously, but returned to the Senate floor today for a final vote on amendments made in the Assembly. The bill passed the concurrence vote with only two nay votes, easily achieving the 4/5ths vote required for changes to Proposition 117, the California Wildlife Protection Act of 1990.
For more information, read MLF's August 26th news story, Californa Senate Bill 132 Passes Out of the State Legislature.
The bill now advances to the Governor's desk with widespread public support. "With this very important vote, California is one step closer to ending the unnecessary killing of mountain lions." said Timothy Dunbar, Executive Director of the Foundation. "We applaud Senator Hill for recognizing the value of mountain lions to California's environment and for championing nonlethal responses to mountain lion encounters."
Please send a letter in support of Senate Bill 132 to:
Governor Jerry Brown
c/o State Capitol, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 95814
You may also telephone the Governor's office to express your support: (916) 445-2841
or you may EMAIL the governor.
Congratulations Everyone!!!! At 2:13 pm today, California Senate Bill 132 passed out of the Assembly on a 75 to 0 vote after presentation by Assemblymember Roger Dickinson. Thus, the bill has received not a single nay vote throughout its voting history. Thanks to all of you who have supported the bill with your donations, calls and letters, and thanks to Senator Jerry Hill and his remarkable staff for getting us this far. SB 132 is now expected to appear once more before the Senate for concurrence of a technical amendment on Monday, August 26. Then on to Governor for signing. We'll need your help again in urging the Governor to sign, so keep an eye out here for the latest call to action!
Senate Bill 132 passed California's Assembly Appropriations Committee today. The bill is expected to be presented on the Assembly floor for a vote this upcoming Monday, August 19th.
Senate Bill 132 passed the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee this morning. For the latest review and summary of the bill, read the Assembly's SB 132 Brief.
The bill is now being reviewed by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. We are preparing for the Assembly floor vote. To help ensure SB 132 passes this critical step with the necessary 4/5ths vote, please contact your Assembly Member and ask him or her to vote for Senate Bill 132.
Click here to look up your Assembly Member.
After being suspended for over a month, the bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee and a floor vote in the Senate.
SB 132 needed a 4/5ths vote on the Senate floor to pass. Not only did it receive enough votes, it passed unanimously, with every single Senator voting in favor! Our staff is thrilled and hoping for similar results as SB 132 now moves to the Assembly.
Just after 10:00 a.m. this morning Senate Bill 132 was heard by the Senate Natural Resources Committee. Twenty organizations submitted support letters ahead of time, and not a single group formally opposed the bill. During the hearing, eight of the nine committee members were present (Senator Canella was absent), and all eight voted in support of SB 132. Senator Canella later also voted to approve the bill.
Senate Bill 132 will now head to the Senate appropriations committee and then a floor vote in the Senate. If 4/5ths approval is achieved, the bill will proceed onto the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee for another hearing. To help Senate Bill 132 continue to pass smoothly through the legislature, please sign up for updates and MLF will notify you of future action items. Thank you.
Senate Bill 132 will be heard by the Senate Natural Resources Committee on April 9th. Support letters for the bill will be given to the committee members on April 1st for review.
Thank you for helping MLF pass this important bill.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife released a "draft" version of its revised mountain lion guidelines. The new policy will direct Department personnel when responding to mountain lion public safety and depredation incidents.
The Department has included sections about rehabilitating mountain lions as well as partnering with outside organizations to help resolve potential public safety situations with nonlethal measures. However, CDFW will not be able to utilize these new options until Senate Bill 132 passes thus giving them the legal authority to do so.
In addition to the improved treatment of mountain lions that accidentally wander into town, the new policy provides a flow chart to help advise wardens in the field on appropriate actions to take, and it also requires reporting of all incidents into the Department's records database.
These much-needed guidelines are a good step forward for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. MLF will continue to work with Senator Hill to get SB 132 passed into state law.
Senator Jerry Hill held a press conference today in San Mateo to announce his mountain lion public safety bill. This legislation (Senate Bill 132) will require the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to utilize nonlethal options when responding to mountain lion incidents when there is no imminent threat to human life.
The nonlethal procedures CDFW will be required to utilize under Hill's legislation include capturing, pursuing, anesthetizing, temporarily possessing, temporarily injuring, marking, attaching to or surgically implanting monitoring or recognition devices, providing veterinary care, transporting, hazing, rehabilitating, and releasing.
However, the legislation still provides CDFW with the authority to kill mountain lions if the lion can reasonably be expected to cause immediate death or physical harm to humans.
The legislation also authorizes CDFW to develop partnerships with veterinarians, scientists, zoos and other individuals and organizations to work with state game wardens when mountain lions wander too close to humans. This is an important change since wildlife and nonprofit organizations throughout the state have the capability and experience to assist with mountain lion incidents.
"The safety of Californians is priority number one, but the law needs to be changed to give wardens more nonlethal options when dealing with the increasing number of mountain lion encounters in our neighborhoods," Hill said.
"Californians value mountain lions as the last remaining apex predator in the state; contributing substantially to environmental health. Senator Hill's legislation reflects those values and will help to ensure that mountain lions remain in the wild for future generations to appreciate," said Tim Dunbar, executive director of the Mountain Lion Foundation.
The California Department of Fish and Game released the results of the necropsies conducted on the remains of two mountain lions shot by law enforcement in Half Moon Bay on the first of December 2012.
Far from the subadult cats that officials had feared would threaten the public, these were kittens a third the size and age originally estimated.
In their press release, the Department admitted that they hope to learn from the experience. "I regret this unfortunate incident in Half Moon Bay for all involved," said DFG Director Charlton H. Bonham.
MLF's Executive Director, Tim Dunbar, was mentioned in the press release, which noted that recent meetings between the Director of the Department and the Mountain Lion Foundation are preparatory for a proposed review by the department of the department's responses to interactions with mountain lions. That review may be available as early as January.
In response to MLF's action alert, letters and emails by many MLF members have helped to keep this tragic incident from being just brief newsbite, and the sad deaths of these two kittens may have some meaning if they have moved the director's office of CDFG in the direction of real change.
Dunbar notes that "The necropsy results reinforce our opinion that fundamental changes are needed in the way the department assesses risk and handles perceived public safety issues with mountain lions."
On Saturday, December 1st, the California Department of Fish and Game shot and killed two mountain lion kittens in Half Moon Bay.
MLF, the public, and wildlife rescue groups throughout California are now calling out the Department, saying their actions were unjustified and unacceptable treatment of a state protected mammal.
Policies and procedures need to be revised immediately. Please help us in this endeavor by contacting California Department of Fish & Game Director Bonham.
Director Charlton Bonham
CDFG Office of the Director
1416 Ninth Street, 12th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 653-7667
Please send MLF a copy of your letter and cc emails to email@example.com. Thank you!
In your letter or telephone call, please point out:
These methods are currently being used by wildlife agencies in other states. It's time for California to catch up!
This evening two mountain lion kittens were killed in Half Moon Bay by California Department of Fish and Game wardens.
The estimated 25 to 30 pound cats were spotted on Friday and officers reportedly tried to shoo them towards Burleigh Murray Ranch State Park - located just half a mile east of town.
The park also connects to the San Francisco State Fish and Game Refuge to the north and Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve to the south.
When the siblings were seen again Saturday huddled in a backyard on the edge of town, CDFG wardens felt they had no choice but to kill them. A spokeswoman for the department said tranquilizing even small lions is too risky and could put the public in danger if the animals try to flee.
Others question how much danger two house cat-sized lion kittens really pose, and feel the department should have done more to resolve the situation without lethal force.
Additional criticism arose after the department also speculated the cats were nine-months-old and might have been pushed out of their territory by an older lion. Both of these predictions do not match up with basic mountain lion biology, nor are they consistent with the estimated weight of the cats. A thirty pound lion is closer to half of the age guesstimated by the department and is far too young for a lion to have its own territory.
Mountain lion kittens are dependent on their mother until they reach approximately 18 months of age. During this first year and a half of life, a mother lion will frequently stash her kittens in a safe place while she is off hunting. Young lions are unable to protect themselves or outrun a predator, and so survival relies on the ability to stay still, quiet, and camouflaged in the brush until mom returns.
CDFG reported the two kittens did not run away when wardens approached and appeared to have blank stares on their faces. This natural instinct of trying to stay undetected was unfortunately interpreted as being accustomed to people and an immediate threat to public safety... which justified shooting the pair.
The Mountain Lion Foundation is continuing to investigate this killing and has offered its assistance to the department to revise the state's mountain lion public safety procedures and help fund non-lethal methods.
The Mountain Lion Foundation, founded in 1986, is a national nonprofit organization protecting mountain lions and their habitat. The mountain lion is also known as cougar, puma, panther, and catamount.
We believe that mountain lions are in peril. Our nation is on the verge of destroying this apex species upon which whole ecosystems depend. Hunting mountain lions is morally unjustified, and killing lions to prevent conflicts is ineffective and dangerous. There is a critical need to know more about the biology, behavior, and ecology of mountain lions, and governments should base decisions upon truthful science, valid data, and the highest common good. Conserving critical lion habitat is essential.
Together, we can save America's lion.
If you live outside California, please forward the link to your California friends and consider posting it on Facebook.
If you live in California you can help by writing a support letter to Senator Hill (the bill's author) telling him why you want Senate Bill 132 to pass. These letters will be used to demonstrate support for the bill as it passes through the legislature and across the desk of the Governor for signature.
A few minutes of your time could make a big difference and help California's mountain lions. Check out MLF's support letter for an example.
Senator Jerry Hill
Attn: Nate Solov
State Capitol, Room 5064
Sacramento, CA 95814-4900
This bill is currently supported by:
Action for Animals, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), Animal Rescue Team, Born Free USA, Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife, Inc. (CLAW), Earth Island Institute's Wildlife Alive Project, East Bay Regional Park District, Feline Conservation Center, Felidae Conservation Fund, Fund for Animals, Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), In Defense of Animals, Marin Humane Society, Mountain Lion Foundation, Oakland Zoo, Ojai Wildlife League, PawPAC, Planning and Conservation League, Project Coyote, Public Interest Coalition, Sierra Club California, Sierra Nevada Alliance, and Wildlife Emergency Services.
Want to add your organization to the list? Please email us a copy of your support letter.
No minimum gift is required to become a member of the Mountain Lion Foundation. Just make the donation you can afford using any of the following methods.
You can make a tax-deductible donation with your credit card using Paypal's secure server by clicking on one of the links below.
You may also mail your contribution to Mountain Lion Foundation, P.O. Box 1896, Sacramento, California 95812 or call us at 916-442-2666.
Additional options for making a gift are available by clicking HERE.


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Flossin: Floyd Mayweather Showing His Jewelry & All His Championship Belts
Footage is a bit old. taken before his lastest fight. Off the Pound 4 Pound DVD
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I must admit that I really have been enjoying the prayer shawl knitting this week. It fits my mental energy so well. The knitting itself is not challenging: it's all a simple K3, P3. The yarn is bulky and on the size 11 needles, it goes fast. And I enjoy so much the idea that these shawls will go to people who have lost much in the hurricane and who will be warmed by the shawls. I have tried to challenge myself a lot this last year with the sweaters I've made, and that has been a good thing, but returning to shawl knitting like this at a time when I seem to tire more easily has been a real blessing.
One of the reasons I'm tired is that I'm putting in more overtime. With the storm, the elections and my own regular work, I have had plenty to do. Also, I'm slowly losing weight, mostly because I'm eating less. This is making me very happy, though.
I have reached the 4-foot mark on the Red Heart Artesano teal shawl, which photographs much too grayish because the early morning light in my living room is supplemented by so much yellow light from my lamps. Trust me, it's teal. In my last photo of this shawl, one end was draped over the top of a chair and the other end hit the seat. Now, I can drape the shawl over the chair back and it covers the seat. In another 10 inches or so, I'll bind off, then knit two strips of cables to sew on each end. I really don't like fringe.
The second shawl is a bit wider because it's a thicker yarn, Bernat Chunkee Boucle. I used the same number of stitches (75 in each row) for both shawls. This boucle is a yarn I have fought with in the past, but the joy of making these shawls is so great that I find the yarn is not bothering me. That's good because I bought a ton of this yarn a few years ago in several color ways, and I really want to use it up, but that may take the rest of my lifetime. Now, though, I am feeling such gratitude that I have it on hand to do something like this.
Last evening, my cat wanted to go into the attic, so I pulled down the attic steps and we both went up there. I figured that I'd bring down some more yarn to make shawls with. I easily found the Patons Divina yarn that I got on clearance at Michael's a few years ago for $1 per ball. I made a shawl with some of it last winter, but there is plenty more for a few more shawls. I also found some green mill ends from Bernat that I want to use to make fingerless gloves for a friend of mine. And then I tried to find more of the Bernat Chunkee Boucle, but it eluded me. I'll find it eventually. That's okay. I have plenty of this light blue; enough for several more shawls if I want to make them now. And with the Divina and a large quantity of Lion Brand Homespun up there, I can make bulky-weight shawls for a long time.
My friend Laurel loves to tease me about how I blog that I don't need to buy yarn, but then a few entries later, I confess to buying more. Well, Laurel and everyone else, I am proud to say that I haven't bought new yarn since the Knit-and-Spin event at Woods Edge in October (right after Stitches East), even though I've gone to yarn stores and looked at bargains. I donated yarn to the Night for Simon at Down Cellar, but I didn't go back and buy any. So I have gone one month now without buying yarn, and when I looked at all the stuff in my attic, I was reminded again how I really don't need to buy anything. I am so enjoying this!
In a few days, it will be Thanksgiving. How did that holiday sneak up on me so fast? But I am already feeling a deep gratitude — for all the protection my family and I experienced during Hurricane Sandy and afterward, for all the yarn in the attic, for having a job that I enjoy and for the opportunities I have to give to others. Not in any particular order. They're all important.
Mom and I were talking last evening about how this is going to be a very simple Christmas this year. We've both had major expenses come up. I should be knitting Christmas presents, but here I am making shawls for people I don't even know, and somehow that seems so right. In fact, I'd say it's exciting.


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Early Learning Initiative
The museum is pleased to be part of this University Circle Incorporated program that emphasizes literacy and school readiness for 900 preschool-aged children in the Cleveland area and Lorain County. Critical skills are developed within the rich environment of the museum's galleries and studio classrooms.
For more information and a list of participating school districts and cultural institutions, please visit University Circle Incorporated's Website.


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Jim's upbringing suggested that he would be a Christian. After all, his mother and father were both very committed to their faith and his father was a Baptist preacher. In their home, they taught their faith to their children. They regularly read and interpreted the scriptures with their children and worked diligently to steep them in the culture and power of the Faith that had gripped them and begun the process of redemption in their own lives. Jim, however, showed an incredible focus in his faith life. When he went away to Wheaton College, he went with the intention of becoming a missionary in another country. He excelled in the subjects that he described as useful for mission work but lagged in classes that he felt were unimportant in the development of his spiritual maturity.
He declined to be in clubs and organizations that did not offer any discernible benefit to a missionary and so he missed out on at least one year of free tuition because he felt the expectations of the group would have distracted him. He majored in Greek so that he would be fit and ready to translate the New Testament into whatever language he needed to. He began to associate himself with non-denominational groups–he had shed a denominational identity so that he could be more focused on missions and less on politics and polity. He insisted that he would be a conscientious objector if drafted and also refused to become engaged in political conversations and debates as he cast aside whatever weighed him down in his pursuit of missions. He was focused and knew that he was being called to be a missionary–he just didn't know where.
When he graduated, he had no immediate direction or goals. He felt a call to mission work but felt no specific guidance. Consequently, he was unwilling to go anywhere or do anything without God's movement and leading. He returned home and worked various jobs in churches and schools. Eventually he was offered a full-time teaching position but he turned it down to continue his own study and preparation for missions. He continued to correspond with his missionary mentors and study languages in preparation for a specific call he felt was just around the corner. When a missionary to Ecuador began telling Jim about the Quichua people. He studied their language and the process of converting a spoken language to a written language before finding another unmarried man to go with him to Ecuador as a missionary to the indigenous peoples.
While serving as a missionary in Ecuador, Jim could not shake the feeling that there was an increased depth to his calling. After getting married and serving as a missionary alongside his wife, he began to feel called further into the wilds of Ecuador. The people he knew as the Auca–that are now known as the Huaorani–had little contact with outsiders. Jim's heart broke for a people disconnected from the Faith that moved and sustained him. So, along with his friends and colleagues (Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete Fleming, and Nate Saint), he began reaching out to the people by bringing gifts and offering hospitality to a people who had no reason to know or trust him.They established a camp and started to build relationships with the very guarded Auca people. They even took one of the men–whom they called "George"–in their plane to see the jungles and terrain from above. Yet, the language barrier became a danger when George went back and maligned the men. Unexpectedly, and for no comprehensible reason to the missionaries, a party of ten men with spears approached their camp one night and murdered the missionaries brutally. When his family retrieved Jim's possessions, they read in his journals: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."
The martyrdom of Jim Elliot was not the end of the outreach to the Auca people and, in fact, was only the beginning of the mission work there. Years later, even the men who murdered Jim and his friends would be converted and repent for their past sins. Jim's focused approach to mission work has been deservedly lauded by many as an atypically wonderful approach to the missionary commitment.


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Dick Clark earned the joking moniker of "America's Oldest Teenager" during his three-decade run on "American Bandstand," which started when he was pushing 30 and ended as he neared 60.
But even if he'll be best remembered for giving a national television platform to the powerful, music-driven youth culture of the Baby Boomer-era, his greatest legacy may be the by turns graceful and defiant way he tackled the challenges of illness and aging.
Clark, who died Wednesday at age 82, could have simply disappeared from public life after a stroke all-but robbed him of the power of speech eight years ago. But Clark bravely fought back to regain his ability to make himself heard and return to his perch in Times Square, counting us down – sometimes haltingly – into an annual rebirth.
It's that spirit that helped propel Clark to the top of the entertainment business for more than five decades, despite never being a traditional entertainer. He didn't sing or act or tell jokes particularly. But he found that just being a version of himself – affable, but no fool; good looking, but not threatening to guys or parents; eloquent, but plainspoken – served him well, from "American Bandstand" to various incarnations of the "Pyramid" game show to his nearly four-decade run on "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve"
His most admirable triumph may be sticking to that successful formula of being genuine, even after a December 2004 stroke forced him to bow out of that year's New Year's Eve show on ABC. He returned to ring in 2006 – a performance both rousing and uncomfortable as he struggled to keep up with the countdown.
Some critics – and, no doubt, many longtime fans – cringed. But he became an inspiration to stroke victims and offered a defiant answer to a youth culture – one he helped create – that favors beauty and flawlessness over not-always-pretty reality.
He showed up year after year, impeccably clad in a tuxedo, glimmers of his once preternaturally boyish face shining through occasionally as he soldiered through his on-camera stints. Still, his voice seemed to get stronger with each passing post-stroke year, with his final countdown emerging as perhaps his finest.
Bandleader Guy Lombardo, the New Year's Eve host favored by the parents of the generation Clark most influenced, used to quip that he'd take New Year's Eve with him when he died. Dick Clark made no such claim on the big day, grooming Ryan Seacrest as his replacement. But perennially packed Times Square will feel far emptier without Clark this year, and for many New Year's rockin' Eves to come.
Hester is founding director of the award-winning, multi-media NY City News Service at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is the former City Editor of the New York Daily News, where he started as a reporter in 1992. Follow him on Twitter.


text: After an acrobatic plunge through the Martian atmosphere, NASA's Mars rover Curiosity touched down safely in Gale Crater. Immediately, the rover began shooting photos, beaming them back to scientists and engineers waiting eagerly on Earth. Here, we've gathered some of our favorite images from (and of) Curiosity. Above: Ultimate Self-Portrait Curiosity has taken many pictures of itself, but this one — from Mars day 84 — is probably our favorite. The high-res photo combines 55 images and shows the rover parked near a site named "Rocknest," where it scooped its first sample of Mars soil. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science SystemsUltra High-Res Descent Video You can take the plunge with Curiosity as it descends into Gale Crater. This ultra-high-res video, filmed by a camera on the rover's belly, captures the rover's landing sequence from the moment the protective heat shield popped off until the rover's dusty touchdown. It's unlike anything we've ever seen before. Video: Bard CanningParachuting Into Gale Curiosity's daring descent into Gale crater was captured by a camera aboard a different spacecraft: NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which managed to get a shot of Curiosity parachuting to the Martian surface. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of ArizonaFirst Image After Touchdown "It's a wheel!" Moments after Curiosity landed safely, shouts from team members in mission control at JPL described the first image beamed back to Earth by the rover: this photo, which includes Curiosity's rear left wheel. Image: NASA/JPL-CaltechCatching Sky Crane's Descent Stage Biting the Dust In the first of these photos, snapped moments after landing, a plume of dust can be seen rising from the crater floor behind the rover. In the second picture, taken 45 minutes later, the plume is gone. Scientists think they caught the cloud formed by the descent stage — used to lower the rover on cables to the Martian surface — as it crashed into Mars. Image: NASA/JPL-CaltechBehold, Mount Sharp! This first image of the summit of Mount Sharp — the pile of sediments rising from the floor of Gale Crater — came back to Earth the day after Curiosity landed. Eventually, the rover will begin to climb the mountain and read the history of Mars in its rocky layers. Image: NASA/JPL-CaltechFirst Self Portrait Three days after it landed, the rover returned its first full self portrait to team members back on Earth. The 360-degree portrait was taken by one of Curiosity's navigation cameras, located on the rover's mast. Image: NASA/JPL-CaltechDistant Crater Wall The first high-res images from Curiosity's Navigation Cameras captured the rover in the foreground, with Gale Crater's craggy rim rising in the distance. Scour marks near the rover were left by the sky crane's retrorockets, fired during landing to keep the rover from crashing to Mars. Image: NASA/JPL-CaltechSix More Weeks of Winter On day 12, Curiosity lifted her head and saw her own shadow. This image is one of 26 stitched together to form a full panorama. Image: NASA/JPL-CaltechMount Sharp, Close-Up This beautiful, zoomed-in view of the base of Mount Sharp was captured on Aug. 23. The pointy mound in the middle stretches 1,000 feet across and is 300 feet tall. Eventually, Curiosity will begin exploring these colorful layers. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS360-Degree Color Panorama This beautiful, full-color panorama is a mosaic of images taken by Curiosity's 2-megapixel MastCams. Released on Aug. 27, the scene shows the crater's hazy, far-off rim and Mount Sharp looming nearby. An interactive, zoom-able panorama brings the Martian landscape to life. Image: NASA/JPL-CaltechHi, Guys. Curiosity's most adorable self-portrait comes courtesy of the camera on its extendable arm. Images: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems.Laser Rock on Mars Curiosity's first laser-target was this pyramid-shaped rock, photographed on Mars day 43, and named after deceased team member Jake Matijevic. After lasering Jake with the ChemCam instrument and studying its composition, the team determined that the rock — while similar to that found on the Hawaiian islands — represented a completely new type of rock on Mars. Image: NASA/JPL-CaltechCrescent Moon During its 45th day on Mars, Curiosity photographed Phobos, one of the two Martian moons. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science SystemsRocknest In October, Curiosity finally found a good Mars sandbox to play in. Here's a shot of the site, called "Rocknest." Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.Alien Landscape Snapped during the Rover's 120th Martian day, this crazy-looking rock outcrop — informally named "Shaler" — is near Glenelg, where three types of terrain meet. The image spans 3 feet in the foreground. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS


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Milling With Waterjet
Machine with abrasive waterjet and control the depth of cut. For the right parts, this fledgling process may offer a compelling alternative.
Abrasive waterjet cutting can be used for milling. The process that typically cuts edges, slots, and holes can also be used in controlled-depth applications where the jet doesn't pass all the way through the workpiece. In other words, it can mill surfaces. It can even be used to mill out pockets.
This may come as a surprise. It's less of a surprise to waterjet machine maker Flow International (Kent, Washington). For several years now, researchers at this company have been experimenting with abrasive waterjet as a milling tool. And though no waterjet milling machine has yet resulted from this research, the company says it does now have the process expertise to build one. For now, the company is talking to potential users and trying to gauge the market interest in this process.
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Dr. Mohamed Hashish is the researcher who has led the development of waterjet milling at Flow. "At this point, any waterjet milling system would be a custom build," he says. But if the company finds high demand for this process in any particular metalworking segment, then a standard waterjet milling machine designed around the needs of that group will soon follow.
Such a machine would use the same nozzle, jet and garnet abrasive as a conventional abrasive waterjet machine. The difference would be in the way the machine moves. Milling with waterjet involves moving the workpiece past the nozzle so fast, the amount of material removed can be precisely controlled. This generally means mounting the workpiece on some spinning surface while the nozzle moves in a straight line. Then, completing the milling process is a piece of hard tooling—a mask. The mask lays over the workpiece like a stencil, allowing the waterjet to mill only certain regions. Where the mask has a hole in some given shape, the waterjet mills a pocket to that same shape in the workpiece beneath it. The depth is determined by the number of passes the workpiece makes under the jet. This depth can be held to an accuracy of ±0.002 inch.
What kinds of machined parts make the best candidates for this process? Dr. Hashish says the list includes parts whose material and/or geometry make traditional milling problematic.
For example, the workpiece may be made of some difficult-to-machine material like titanium, Inconel, or another aerospace metal.
Or, the difficulty may come from the geometry. The pocket may have thin walls that are difficult to mill without deflection, or acute internal corners that are just plain difficult to mill.
In any of these cases, the new alternative—milling with a jet of water carrying garnet abrasive—may well be a diamond in the rough.
Waterjet Basics
This non-traditional application of abrasive waterjet may interest some to whom waterjet machining is an unfamiliar process, so here is a brief primer:
Abrasive waterjet machining can be thought of as a water-driven grinding process. A narrow, high-pressure jet of water carries particles of garnet abrasive at speeds ranging from 1,000 to 2,400 feet per second. This garnet does the cutting. And there are few materials, metal or non-metal, that cannot be cut in this way. In metalworking, abrasive waterjet machining often finds work cutting hard steels, aerospace alloys, and other materials that are difficult to machine through a more conventional, mechanical cutting process. However, waterjet machining also offers other advantages. One is that it's a "cool" process. Because there is no heat-affected zone, waterjet is a candidate for applications where thermal-induced micro-fractures or distortions in the part are unacceptable.
This article uses "waterjet" and "abrasive waterjet" interchangeably, but it's worth noting that the terms are not necessarily synonymous in larger contexts. There is such a thing as pure waterjet cutting used outside the metalworking industry. But in the context of machining metals and other hard materials, "waterjet machining" can be assumed to mean abrasive waterjet machining, with the hard garnet particles added to the jet.
Historically, controlling a waterjet's depth of cut has been difficult. That's why waterjet machining is typically used in applications where depth of cut doesn't matter. These include applications where the jet passes all the way though the workpiece, like slotting, drilling, and machining cut-outs. Machining when the jet does not pass all the way through has traditionally been limited to "artistic" purposes, like etching and labeling.
Waterjet milling does add control over depth of cut. Thanks to this addition, waterjet cutting when the jet does not pass all the way through can be used not just for appearance effects, but also to produce features that are functional.
Rotary Motion
Flow experimented with several approaches to achieving this depth control. These included using a weaker jet, as well as dynamically affecting the jet through pulsing or changing its parameters on the fly. In general, these techniques proved impractical. Instead, the most effective approach was found to be the simplest one: moving the workpiece under the nozzle fast enough that the jet can only remove a small amount of material at a time. For example, moving a titanium workpiece at a speed of around 900 feet per minute results in a milling depth of cut of about 0.001 inch per pass.
Achieving this kind of speed inevitably involves some sort of rotary motion. There are two possible approaches. One is to place the workpiece—or several workpieces at once—on a large turntable. While the table spins, the nozzle moves along the radius like the needle of a record player. The other approach is to mount one or more workpieces on the surface of a spinning cylinder—either the outer or inner surface. The nozzle then moves parallel to the axis of rotation, similar to the way a lathe tool would move during an OD or ID cut, respectively.
Whichever approach is used, one distinct advantage of waterjet milling is that its efficiency is relatively unaffected by batch size. The process is well-suited to machining many parts at once. Whether one part or many parts are mounted on the spinning surface, the cycle time may well be the same. In addition, these parts do not even have to be identical. The geometry of the milled part comes not from any variations in the machine's toolpath, but from the geometry of the mask. Therefore—so long as all of the masks are ready—a batch of all-different parts could be milled in one cycle, just as easily as a batch of identical parts.
Process Advantages
The mask is made from a material that is more resistant to erosion from the abrasive waterjet than the workpiece itself. A steel mask can be used for aluminum or titanium workpieces. Other workpiece materials may call for a tungsten carbide mask.
The need to machine this mask before any waterjet pocketing can be performed has to be figured into any economic justification for this process. The mask does wear out. For instance, the steel mask cited in the application example (see Sidebar) is good for three parts. Therefore, one-third of the cost of producing this mask would be added to the direct cost of waterjet milling the part to determine the true unit cost.
Because it is solely the geometry of this mask that determines the geometry of the workpiece, complex geometry does not add to the difficulty or expense of the waterjet milling process. This gives the process an advantage over mechanical milling, where certain features add to the difficulty and cycle time. For example, acute internal corners may require time-consuming light cuts with small-diameter tools. And thin walls may require similar light cuts to machine them without deflection. But in waterjet milling, considerations like these disappear. As long as the features are in the mask, corners can be machined as easily as straight walls, and thin walls can be machined without any lateral deflection.
However, mechanical milling can achieve a much better surface finish. Says Dr. Hashish, "With waterjet milling, about the best finish we can achieve economically is 120 microinches."
He says waterjet milling also competes with chemical milling. Against this environmentally-unfriendly process, waterjet milling may one day offer a compelling alternative. In addition to the disposal considerations, the waterjet process also offers functional advantages, he says. Among these are that waterjet milling makes it easier to vary the milling depth for different regions of the workpiece. Another advantage is that waterjet is not sensitive to the workpiece material. Forgings, heat treats and composites all can be milled effectively using waterjet.
Still another advantage over chemical milling, he says, is that waterjet milling makes it possible to control surface finish. A 120-microinch finish may be the smoothest surface possible, but for jobs demanding a finish rougher than this, abrasive waterjet makes it easily possible to vary the surface finish accordingly.


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It's a funny thing about students. They claim to have no money, but they certainly don't act like it. I guess this behavior is consistent with having a lot of learning left to do however. Unfortunately, this is the sort of learning that Section 59 allowed for, and that's far too late for this lot.
Havana owner Jan Stevenson said she asked the first four to leave after they smashed a window and spilled red wine in their room.
"I showed no mercy there and I thought, 'Oh well, this will deter them [the other students]', but nothing did," she said yesterday.
"They were honestly like a pack of wild animals. It was horrible."
Mrs Stevenson, 52, said she decided to evict the remaining students after they defied non-smoking rules, and left alcohol and food rubbish everywhere.
"They're meant to be poor, impoverished students but I've never seen so much alcohol ever consumed."
She had to shampoo carpets in at least 12 rooms and dryclean every duvet and bedspread when they left, She estimated the clean-up would cost $5000 to $6000.
Cleveland Motel owner Cynthia Hawkins told a similar story, saying she had already recorded damage worth $2300, including a broken bed and wrecked toasters and kettles.
After discovering a television set ruined by beer spilled through it, she said the final cost would likely be about $3500.
"We had one room totally trashed and it had vomit from one end to the next. You couldn't move in it because it had so many crates of beer."
Ms Hawkins said the students were intoxicated from the day they arrived and ignored rules banning glass in the motel's mineral pool.
"Beer bottles were floating around in the pool."
But there's another side to this! Oh yes, they was robbed, robbed gov'ner!
But games organisers say the moteliers overreacted, punishing a large group of students for the actions of a few and acting in an "inhumane and unjustifiable" way towards the main group.
He said the 88 students at Cleveland Motel had been told to leave at 10.30pm on Thursday in pouring rain, prompting University Sport NZ to call police.
Oh, the poor wee darlings had to leave in the rain, so they called up the boys in blue.
I guess if you can't get them to fix the damage, watching get their marching orders out into the cold, wet night by the police they called is some small consolation.
Update: It gets better.
These students may now get kicked out of university. Remember, they called the police.
Victoria University vice-chancellor Pat Walsh said he met student leaders today and asked for a detailed report on the incidents.
"I am very concerned about this issue and it is my firm view that any inappropriate behaviour by students is unacceptable," he said.
Prof Walsh said the university had a statute governing student behaviour and set procedures applying in circumstances where acceptable standards of conduct were not met.
"The statute covers any conduct which directly relates to a person's status as a student of the university including behaviour while in attendance at the University Games.
"Penalties under the student conduct statute range from being required to give an apology to an aggrieved party, to an exclusion from enrolment for up to two years."
Think they've worked out by now that they were the ones in the wrong?


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This year, Microsoft and Apple are both introducing new versions of their operating systems with important changes to their user interfaces, and with a flurry of publicity. A third major company is also overhauling its PC operating system, but you probably won't hear much about it.
Google redesigned its PC operating system, Chrome OS. While Google is a major rival to Apple and Microsoft in things like search, smartphones and browsers, Chrome OS hasn't dented the competition in the year since it emerged. It was meant to be radically different than Windows and the Macintosh operating system, a refreshing change for a new era. But it had serious limitations, principally that it ran only apps inside a browser on a handful of special, low-powered laptops called Chromebooks and could do almost nothing when it wasn't online.
The new version, which I've been testing, aims to address some of those issues and it makes some progress. But I still can't recommend it over a PC or Mac for average consumers who are looking for the greatest versatility in a laptop. I still find it more of an evolving project than a finished product.
Its fundamental limitations remain. Most importantly, you still can't install your favorite programs, be they Microsoft Office or iTunes or Firefox—only a few thousand "Web apps" that run inside the Chrome browser. And it still only works on specific hardware: that laptop called the Chromebook or—new this year—a small desktop called a Chromebox. The only hardware maker producing the 2012 versions of these machines so far is Samsung, though Google says more are coming.
New Chrome OS allows for multiple windows and has a taskbar at the bottom like Windows.
Chrome OS does have some admirable qualities—especially its philosophy of simplicity and of being wedded to the cloud. For instance, because it's designed to fetch your apps and documents from the Internet, you can replicate your entire computer by just logging in on any other Chrome OS PC. And, if you mainly use the Web and live in the cloud, it may be the ticket for you, especially as a second machine.
Last year's inaugural version of Chrome OS was little more than a giant browser in which you ran only Web-based apps. The new redesign of Chrome OS, released late last month, represents something of a retreat from that dramatic strategy.
Now, Google is touting the new release for features that make it look and work more like a Windows PC or Mac—for instance, multiple, movable windows; a strip along the bottom that holds the icons of apps you use; a slightly greater emphasis on doing things offline; and greater focus on finding and launching apps. None of this is revolutionary for people used to traditional computers.
What Chrome OS is exactly can be confusing. While it looks and works a lot like the browser of the same name, Chrome OS is a full-blown operating system that, unlike the Chrome browser, can't be installed on PCs and Macs. Also, Chrome OS is unrelated to Google's best-known operating system, Android. The latter is meant to power smartphones, tablets and some other miscellaneous devices.
Chrome OS still only works on specific hardware: a laptop called the Chromebook or—new this year—a small desktop called a Chromebox.
I tested the redesigned Chrome OS on the new Samsung Chromebook, a model which Google claims has up to three times the performance of the original Chromebook. This laptop has a 12-inch screen, weighs 3.3 pounds and is about 0.8 of an inch thick. I didn't run a formal battery test on it, but Samsung claims it gets up to six hours on a charge, less than the claims for the MacBook Air or the new Windows ultrabooks. In my tests, the battery easily lasted a full day in light to moderate use. The Chromebook is sold online and costs $450. A model that includes a slow, 3G cellular modem is $100 more. The Chromebox desktop is a small box that comes without a screen, mouse, or keyboard, and sells for $330.
Because it's primarily meant as a portal to the Internet, the Chromebook has only about as much storage as a smartphone: 16 gigabytes, rather than the hundreds of gigabytes common in other laptops. And it has a wimpy processor, one of Intel's entry-level Celeron models.
In my tests, the new Chromebook performed well and did everything it promised. Unlike in the first iteration, I was able to use multiple independent windows and to minimize them or resize them easily. I could store frequently used apps, which still run in browser pages, in the bottom strip, similar to the Windows taskbar or Mac dock—again, nothing new there, but a welcome addition.
I was also able to play music and videos, to view and edit photos, and to view (but not edit) Microsoft Office documents. These abilities are a good thing, but also have been long available on other operating systems.
In the next month or two, Google plans to automatically update Chrome with two important features: the integration of Google's online file-storage locker, Google Drive, right into the Chromebook's file system; and the ability to edit documents when offline. I was able to test pre-release versions of these features and they worked fine. Google Drive can already be installed and integrated into the Windows and Mac file systems.
In fact, all of the important features of the Chrome OS—which is still at heart just a big browser—are available in the Windows and Mac versions of the Chrome browser, including the ability to run Web apps, programs like Google's office suite, or Web-based games. Google concedes this, but says that, by making the whole computer a browser, it has simplified the overall experience.
Google has big plans for the Chrome OS. It has built-in features it claims will work great with future touch-screen hardware.
But, overall, I'd say, if you only have the budget for one main computer, you're better off with a Mac or a PC.
Write to Walt at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Prepare Athletes
Phased Reopening for Athletics & Activities
Kent School District (KSD) athletics and activities will resume in accordance with the "Safe Start Washington" phased reopening approach issued by the Office of the Governor.
As King County meets requirements to move into each phase, KSD will reopen our athletic facilities following guidelines from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and King County Public Health.
What is allowed or not allowed in each phase is subject to change following new direction from the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and/or the Governor.
Phase 2
- No athletic practices or camps on or off campus unless specifically allowed by OSPI and/or the Governor's Office.
- Tennis courts, ball fields, tracks without turf and parking lots open to the public.
Phase 3
- Outdoor training and practices allowed once school facilities are cleared for usage.
- Tennis courts, turf fields (except French Field), ball fields, and tracks open to the public.
- French Field and track is closed for a construction project.
- All users must follow KSD and Public Health guidelines.
Phase 4
- All indoor and outdoor training, practices, and meetings allowed.
- All users must follow KSD and Public Health guidelines.
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Register athletes online using FamilyID. This secure platform provides families with an easy, user-friendly way to register students for athletic programs.
- Convenient: Create one profile to register multiple children for multiple sports and seasons.
- Mobile friendly: Register on any mobile device.
- Accessible for all: Visit your school's office to complete the online registration if you do not have access to a computer or mobile device. If you do not have an email address, you will need to use your student's KSD email address to create an account.
Parent and Student Athletic Handbook
View the Kent School District (KSD) Parent and Student Athletic Handbook and Middle School Athletic Handbook to learn what it takes to be a successful athletic participant through code of conduct, eligibility standards, and more.
Participation History and Physical Examinations
Complete a current Participation History and Physical Examination form before participating in athletics. Physicals are valid for 24 months from the date of examination and may not expire during the season in which the student is participating.
High School Athletes
A current physical examination must be completed prior to participation in grades 9-12 and must be dated after June 1 of the eighth-grade year.
Middle School Athletes
A current physical examination must be completed prior to participation in grades 7-8 and must be dated after June 1 of the sixth-grade year.
Health Resources
View the concussion in youth sports fact sheet to learn about symptoms, common treatment options, and preventative measures athletes can take while participating in sports.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest
View the sudden cardiac arrest information sheet to learn about causes, common treatment options, and preventative measures athletes can take while participating in sports.
Student Accident Insurance
We offer student accident insurance through Myers-Stevens & Toohey & Co., Inc. with services ranging from student health and accident plans to prescription drug discounts and even interscholastic tackle football coverage.
For more information about insurance offerings, or to enroll, visit the Myers-Stevens & Toohey & Co., Inc. website or call 1-800-827-4695.
If you are already enrolled in the student accident insurance program, you may submit a claim using the Student Insurance Claim form.
Contact Us
JoAnne Daughtry
Athletic Director
(253) 373-7716
Stacy Herrick
Athletic Assistant
(253) 373-7764


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By Jonathan Kimak
This mouse is really made of wood. It's called the Jupiter Mouse and was created by Actbrise Electronics. It's made from Chinese flowering ash(ironically found in Japan). In addition to the four buttons, the Jupiter Mouse is also motion sensitive and will move the on-screen cursor based on the direction and speed that you move the mouse. This is an expensive choice for a mouse at $232, but if you can afford it, it might be a nice way to browse.
Check out this video to see the mouse in action.
[ Jupiter Mouse ] VIA [ TechEBlog ]


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Beat the Streak Report: Weekend, May 6-8
Finally, Andre Ethier has company. Fearless BTS leader jngmz733 tied the
Fartful Dodger at 29 games yesterday, gracias to Albert Pujols' 3-for-3 effort against Josh Johnson and the Marlins.
Fearless BTS leader jngmz733 may or may not have later held the A's to one run over 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision at the Oakland Coliseum. The investigation is still pending. Police line, do not cross!
Prince Albert wasn't among your top 15 selections yesterday, which makes sense because only a
doofus prescient genius would pick against JJ. At Sun Life Stadium. With a right-handed batter. Who came into the game batting .233.
Greatest hitter of his generation or not, that's the kind of recklessness that sends even experienced Streakers tumbling down the steep, slippery slope of Mt. 30 Games. The air gets thin up here, folks. No need for an added degree of difficulty.
Friday's picks:
(Make a BTS pick)
Oh, hello there …
• David Wright: .500 AVG (6-for-12) since '06 vs. Dodgers starter Hiroki Kuroda
• Miguel Cabrera: .444 AVG (4-for-9) since '06 vs. Blue Jays starter Jesse Litsch
• Alex Rodriguez: .444 AVG (4-for-9) since '06 vs. Rangers starter Matt Harrison
Feeling kinda spicy?
• Bill Hall: .607 AVG (17-for-28) since '06 vs. Pirates starter Paul Maholm
You'll thank me later …
• Shane Victorino: .185 AVG (5-for-27) since '06 vs. Braves starter Derek Lowe
• Lance Berkman: .188 AVG (3-for-16) since '06 vs. Brewers starter Randy Wolf
Saturday's picks:
(Make a BTS pick)
Oh, hello there …
• Shin-Soo Choo: .455 AVG (10-for-22) since '06 vs. Angels starter Jered Weaver
• Andre Ethier: .412 AVG (12-for-29) since '06 vs. Mets starter Chris Young
• Miguel Cabrera: .455 AVG (5-for-11) since '06 vs. Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero
Feeling kinda spicy?
• Alex Gonzalez: .471 AVG (8-for-17) since '06 vs. Phillies starter Roy Oswalt
You'll thank me later …
• Travis Hafner: .048 AVG (1-for-21) since '06 vs. Angels starter Jered Weaver
• Aramis Ramirez: .163 AVG (7-for-43) since '06 vs. Reds starter Bronson Arroyo
Sunday's picks:
(Make a BTS pick)
Oh, hello there …
• Grady Sizemore: .583 AVG (7-for-12) since '06 vs. Angels starter Dan Haren
• Michael Young: .438 AVG (7-for-16) since '06 vs. Yankees starter CC Sabathia
• Denard Span: .444 AVG (4-for-9) since '06 vs. Red Sox starter Jon Lester
Feeling kinda spicy?
• Kevin Kouzmanoff: .450 AVG (9-for-2o) since '06 vs. Royals starter Jeff Francis
You'll thank me later …
• Brandon Phillips: .143 AVG (3-for-21) since '06 vs. Cubs starter Ryan Dempster
• Jose Bautista: .154 AVG (2-for-13) since '06 vs. Tigers starter Brad Penny
Leaderboard time!
Dodgers.com headline: Ethier plans to take hit streak into Mets opener.
OMG can we like that status a million times! Retweet! You look so hot in your new default! Wait, what?
Top MLB streakers
Andre Ethier: 29 games
Jacoby Ellsbury: 14 games
Elvis Andrus: 11 games
Matt Holliday: 11 games
Ben Zobrist: 11 games
(Make a BTS pick)
48 Comments
Ethier more than likely won't be starting tonight. His elbow still bothers him and they may give him another day. That is per rotoworld.
He is , per MLB Network.
I'm taking A-Rod today to get to 11.
Highest no selection is on page 2 with a streak of 20 that is now 0.
I don't know what I would do if I got went to pick a player and found out that the game had already locked and I was at 20 and did not have a pick submitted yet. Today's lock wasn't even that early. I'm on the west coast and it still didn't lock until 11:15am. No excuse for not making a pick. Once you get a good streak going pick five days in advance just in case you can't get to your computer for some reason.
Or do a little research and fill the next 9 days with DL players before they go on the DL. For example. Both N.Morgan & E.Chavez broke bones in yesterday games. They were still valid picks most of the day today but are now off the select lists. Could have filled your picks with them as I did; just in case.
LaV's List
Friday's Top Picks of the current Top2500,
140 Batters picked overall
Batter, Times Picked, Percentage
Miguel Cabrera 318 12.85 (2nd)
Andre Ethier 233 9.41 (1rst)
Alex Rodriguez 219 8.85
Matt Kemp 161 6.51
Placido Polanco 149 6.02
Michael Young 139 5.62
Joey Votto 99 4
Ichiro Suzuki 75 3.03
Jose Reyes 71 2.87
Albert Pujols 70 2.83 (3rd)
Matt Holliday 67 2.71
Starlin Castro 57 2.3 (3rd)
Highest "No Selection" 😛 pg# 2 with streak of 20 back to zero.
Yesterday's Top2500 Reset rate was 17% with MIGGY reseting the most.
There was also 10.16% PPD due to players not playing, These streakers do not reset, but did not increase either.
Got Pinched OR 1 AB Wonders
TOP2500 saved or reset by PHA (going to include any pinch hitters and/or double switch, 1 AB or More)
A Rod NYY, SAVED 24, PR in 4th (2-2)
B Posey SF, RESET 16, highest was 22 gamer
A Avila DET, RESET 5, highest was 12 gamer (came in def in 8th, 1AB)
C Crisp OAK, RESET 9 , highest was 11 gamer
H Matsui OAK, RESET 4 highest was 10 gamer
K Kouzmanoff OAK, RESET 1 was 11 gamer
D Stubbs CIN, SAVED 3 highest was 16 gamer
R Branyan ARI, RESET 1 , was 10 gamer
W Helms FLA, Def in 7th, 1AB BB, was 9 gamer.
Bloggers Group Top2500
UserName, Streak, Page#, Rank, Pick
sclennin, 13, pg 30, 525, ROBO-Kemp (PICKED 161X)
yanksgiantsdevils33, 10, pg 63, 1521, A-Rod (PICKED 219X)
wurster, 9, pg, 100+, 2089, Ichiro (PICKED 75X)
gurpsing, 9, pg 100, 2089, Gaby Sanchez (PICKED X)
Bloggers Reset Yesterday
GL to all
jngmz733—> WENT WITH ETHIER FOR 6TH STRAIGHT DAY HE WAS AVAIL
@00Liber and those that followed DL picks of gottaweartheshades…. FYI: Today, he picked another player not on the active roster though his streak is at 1. My guess is that he is playing against his own group for some pot of money; their rules are anyone's guess. So what we thought was a strategy to remain near 1st place on the leader board may have been false.
And the Top2500 20+ club took a big hit today. Currently 38 moved on, 6 still waiting: 2x Ichiro, 2x Brantley, 1x G.Sizemore, 1x Hafner
Should have included this too. 29, at 19-gamers or better, have been reset. Maybe a couple more before the night is over.
A Rod singled in the 5th inning, onto 11! 🙂
@Champ88. Out of curiosity, what's your season AVG? I'm also tracking mine, but for grins only: 312. Also tracking % of 1st hits off starters, excluding 0-fers & DNP: 22 out of 26 days: 846
Is today the day for Ethier? Ethier's numbers are very good against pitcher Chris Young: 412 lifetime. But that may be the hook that reel's in Ethier and his pickers today. Chris Young is outstanding so far this year, though only pitched 4 games. He is limiting hitters to an insane .146 AVG (12 hits in 82 ABs) and lefties are less successful, batting just 104 (5 hits in 48 ABs). If he pitches to his potential, Ethier may have to be very alert & good today else he will end his streak at 30, similar to Ryan Zimmerman, 2 years ago. Let's hope is elbow doesn't keep him out of the game so we can see a good contest within a contest.
Drats. The excitement/chess-match is over. Chris Young not pitching after all. Gee is in instead.
Well, Ethier made it exciting. 0-4 in 8th but game tied. Will he see another AB?
I'm taking Robinson Cano to get to 12.
Highest no selection is on page 13 with a streak of 15 that will be reduced to 0.
LaV's List
Saturday's Top Picks of the current Top2500,
141 Batters picked overall
Batter, Times Picked, Percentage
Joey Votto 408 16.48
Andre Ethier 381 15.39 (1RST)(2ND)(4TH)
Ichiro Suzuki 306 12.36
Matt Holliday 154 6.22
Miguel Cabrera 137 5.54
Lance Berkman 124 5.01
Albert Pujols 101 4.08
Jose Reyes 77 3.11
No Selection 51 2.06
Robinson Cano 50 2.02 (4TH)
Aramis Ramirez 4 0.16 (2ND)
Highest "No Selection" 😛 pg# 13 with streak of 16 back to zero.
Yesterday's Top2500 Reset rate was 31.85% with MIGGY reseting the most.
Got Pinched OR 1 AB Wonders
TOP2500 saved or reset by PHA (going to include any pinch hitters and/or double switch, 1 AB or More)
J Heyward ATL, SAVED 3, (came in def, 1AB)
W Valdez PHI, RESET 1,
B Wallace HOU, 23, BB
G Jones PIT, RESET 1
Bloggers Group Top2500
UserName, Streak, Page#, Rank, Pick
sclennin, 14, pg 20, 326, MATT HOLLIDAY (PICKED 154X)
yanksgiantsdevils33, 11, pg 42, 1001, ROBBIE CANO (PICKED 50X)
gurpsing, 10, pg 65, 1366, HOWIE KENDRICK (PICKED 3X)
dodgerlu, 9, pg 79, 1951, ALBERT PUJOLS (PICKED 101X)
tolvar, 9 pg 82, 1951, ROBO-KEMP (PICKED 40X)
forcook, 9, pg 90, 1951, ROBO-KEMP (PICKED 40X)
Bloggers Reset Yesterday
wurster, 9,RESET BY Ichiro
GL to all
jngmz733—> WENT WITH ETHIER FOR 7TH STRAIGHT DAY HE WAS AVAIL
Mark, still want me to post the listing tomorrow? I got today's listing just in case.
Ya please if u don't mind. Not going to be able to be at comp when games lock.
Is anyone happier to see Longo back than Ben Zobrist? Hell of a game from them. Upton as well.
The 62 players in the 19+ range trying to get to or stay at 20 games or better.
A.Ethier 18x
I.Suzuki, 11x
J.Votto 7x
M.Holliday 5x
C.Rasmus 3x
Each of these picked twice
Mi.Cabrera, M.Kemp, A.Pujols, L.Berkman
Each of these picked once
A.Ramirez, D.DeJesus, Me.Cabrera, D.Navarro, J.Reyes, A-Rod, D.Jeter, R.Cano, M.Young
Missed one. C.Rasmus 4x. Now they add up to 62
Votto oh-no! Most picked amongst the Top2500 & 2nd most picked for the 20+ club.
Top 8th: leads off & Russel (not a great pitcher) runs count to 3-2. Walks (0-2). Next 3 Reds out
Bot 9th: Votto pickers hoping for a tie. 4 Cubs up, 3 down no scoring
Top 9th: Votto pickers need 3 extra batters to come to the plate, against CHC pen, to bat this inning. 3 up, 3 down.
Bot 9th. Still hoping for a tie. Lead-off home run. Tied. Now hoping for no more runs. Next 3 batters: Out, Single, Out. Here comes PH Baker against Dusty Baker's Reds: High fly ball that bounces off the warning track & sneaks above the basket in center field. Runner on 1st, who was around 3rd base headed home, called back to 3rd; ground rule double. Just need one more out & Votto due up 3rd in the 10th… Fukudome on a 2-2 count, singles up the middle. Game over.
Anyway, as a Cubs fan, I found the game exciting as both a Fan and BTS player. Guess you had to be there 😉
Again I pick a great hitter against a bad pitcher and he's pitching a no-no through 5. Grrrrr!
Yep, know what you mean. I have a pick in that game too. I saw that match-up and thought to myself, "I gotta get some of that fun"; expecting the Cards to have a 10+ hit game. But appears Gallardo is having his game of the year.
I'm surprised you picked the right game. Verlander's got a no-no going too.
Well, you said a "great hitter"? Doesn't really describe anyone in the TOR lineup today. As far as Cards go, Gallardo should be out after the no-hitter is broken up; he's over 100 pitches.
True, but it's gonna take nothing short of a miracle to get Holliday to the plate again.
Not true. Barring a double play & Cards taking lead this inning without Holliday coming to bat, he'll bat in the 9th.
And BTW, both our picks need to get a hit next inning else hope for extras and an 11th inning.
I see that now. Hopefully the closer or reliever is bad.
Who'd you pick?
Prince Albert. He'll bat 2nd unless Rasmus hits a double/triple in which case he'll either be walked or sac fly if a triple. You'll need to hope Holliday comes up with 1st base occupied or all bases empty.
Back to 0 we both go.
Gallardo's no-no is broken up. I think he's going to pitch through the 8th.
Another no-no. This one by Verlander & 1 walk from a perfect game!
The BTS world will be suffering this Saturday — massive resets and potentially more to come in the later games
Cmon K-rod. Shut those dodgers down.
Don't know if you been tracking… 62% reset and climbing.
Of the 62 that could've been at 20+ after tonight, just 20 made it with A-Rod giving hope for 1 more.
I haven't been home since noon but I have been periodically checking in amd seeing the notables go down.
Congrats yanks. You survived the massacre.
Robinson Cano triples in the 3rd, onto 12! 🙂
I took Miguel Cabrera to get to 13. I noticed that he has had back to back to back O fers. I don't see hm going O fer on 4 straight days.
Highest no selection is on page 1 with a streak of 23 will now return to 0.
Sunday's Top Picks of the current Top2500, 175 Batters picked overall
Batter, Times Picked, Percentage
Lance Berkman, 277, 11.07
Ichiro Suzuki, 186, 7.47 (Leader's pick)
Andre Ethier, 160, 6.42
Carl Crawford, 133, 5.29
Miguel Cabrera, 112, 4.48
Joey Votto, 84, 3.31
Matt Holliday, 83, 3.35
Grady Sizemore, 75, 3.03
Adrian Gonzalez, 70, 2.79
Robinson Cano, 70, 2.83
Albert Pujols, 68, 2.71
Michael Young, 60, 2.42
Ryan Braun, 58, 2.3
No Selection, 52, 2.06
Marlon Byrd, 42, 1.66
Highest "No Selection" 😛 pg# 1 with streak of 23 back to zero.
Yesterday's Top2500 reset rate was truly horrific: 65.04% with Votto, Ethier, & the STL big 2-5 hitters reseting the majority.
Got Pinched OR 1 AB Wonders Top2500 saved or reset by pinch hitters and/or double switch, 1 AB or more
W.Valdez PH reset 2, highest was 14-gamer
M.McCoy defensive switch reset 1, a 14-gamer (1 AB)
Re.Johnson PH reset 1, a 9-gamer
A.Callaspo PH reset 1, a 11-gamer
Bloggers Group Top2500
UserName, Streak, Page#, Rank, Pick
yanksgiantsdevils33, 12, pg 13, 304, Mi.Cabrera
gurpsing, 11, pg 22, 441, C.Coghlan
tolvar, 10, pg 28, 652, I.Suzuki
forcook, 10, pg 30, 652, R.Braun
BLACKHAWKS, 6, pg 100, 2170, R.Braun
Bloggers Reset Yesterday
sclennin @ 14 reset by M.Holliday
dodgerlu @ 9 reset by A.Pujols
Resets yesterday were so massive, the standings dropped from needing 9 games to get on page 100 of the Top2500 to just 6 now. Two of every three were reset!
Miguel Cabrera singled in the 8th inning, onto 13! 🙂
@LaVolpe: I saw you asked for my stats on an earlier commenting thread.
Through today, I am doing sort of bad, as I am only 36 for 142 so far or just a .254 batting average.
My success rate is 24-15 or just a .615 winning percentage.
The only good news is that I am a historically slow starter.
I was hitting just .245 on June 5th last year, before rallying to hit .330+ over the rest of the season.
So hopefully the same happens this year!
By the way, do you happen to know where I can find the double and triple splits?
espn.com will give you the splits per month if that is what you are looking for. Example
Well I meant splits like how lefties hit at home (double) and how lefties hit at home during the day. (triple)
Do you know where I can find those?
Also, what is your success rate for this season so far?
yes, same place. Try pasting URL I gave you in your browser. I think that is what you are after.
I did, but it only lists them out individually.
For example, if I want Michael Young's double split in 2010 for righties at home, I cannot just add the 2 splits together, since he clearly did not get 807 AB's in that situation, but rather some unknown number under 485 AB's.
On that page on ESPN, I cannot find anyway to combine those 2 splits together.
Unaware of any free site out there that provides that detail. You may have to locate one where you can write your own queries/criteria to be searched within their databases.
Do you know any pay sites out there that provides those details?
I am just wondering since you specifically mentioned that there were no FREE sites that gave that info.


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Azerbaijan's atonement of a convicted
murderer who killed an Armenian army officer with an ax risks
reigniting a 20-year-old fight between a dual foes in a energy-
rich South Caucasus.
Ramil Safarov, who was portion a life judgment for slaying
Gurgen Margaryan in Budapest in 2004, was pardoned by Azeri
President Ilham Aliyev and promoted after Hungary transferred
him home Aug. 31. Armenia's council will reason an emergency
session today, while Europe, a U.S. and Russia have expressed
"deep concern" about informal stability.
Energy-exporter Azerbaijan fought Armenia over a Nagorno-
Karabakh enclave after a 1991 Soviet breakup, withdrawal tens of
thousands passed and some-more than 1 million displaced. While border
skirmishes given a 1994 stop glow haven't triggered renewed
conflict, Safarov being respected threatens a standing quo. The
territory stays a intensity peep indicate in a segment that
borders Iran and Turkey and endured a 2008 Russia-Georgia war.
Safarov's pardon
Article source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-04/ax-killer-pardon-reignites-caucasus-war-fears-in-oil-rich-region


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OTTAWA — Canadians could soon be hit at the cash register with credit card surcharges of as much as 10 per cent of the cost of their purchases, the Consumers' Association of Canada warned Tuesday.
The association says that could be the outcome of a pending ruling from Canada's competition tribunal, which is judging a case against Visa and MasterCard that was launched in 2010.
"It'll be like striking the marketplace with lightning. It'll disrupt the whole way that we pay for our goods," said association president Bruce Cran of Vancouver. "Nobody knows about it but you could wake up one morning — next week this thing might be out — and you could be paying, all of a sudden, a 10-per-cent surcharge on some things. So it's going to be a big shock."
The consumer group is siding with Visa and MasterCard, companies targeted in 2010 by tough-talking competition watchdog Melanie Aitken, who left her post as head of the federal Competition Bureau last year.
The bureau, backed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and the Retail Council of Canada, argues that merchants should be able to pass on credit card charges — typically anywhere from two to three per cent of the purchase — directly to consumers.
Retailers argue that the estimated $5-$6 billion a year in charges that retailers pay to credit card companies — primarily Visa and MasterCard — are "costs of doing business" that are already passed on to shoppers.
The bureau is challenging rules imposed by the credit card companies that prevent retailers from refusing to accept "premium" credit cards that offer reward miles, points and other benefits for consumers, but require higher processing fees to be paid by the merchants to the credit card firms.
Another rule prevents merchants from passing on costs of credit cards, and especially the premium cards, as a way of encouraging them to use cash or debit cards, which cost merchants a fraction of the cost of credit cards.
Hearings on the matter wrapped up last year, but an official at the Competition Tribunal wouldn't say Tuesday when the decision will be made public. The report is "still at the drafting stage" and has not yet been submitted for translation into French.
A Competition Bureau lawyer argued before the tribunal last year that the current situation is like a "reverse Robin Hood."
The $5-$6 billion in costs is passed on to all consumers, including those who use cash or debit cards. The wealthy, argued Kent Thomson, are more likely to use the premium cards.
"The least affluent consumers subsidize the purchases of the most affluent consumers," Thomson said.
CFIB president Dan Kelly, writing in the National Post Tuesday, also argued that the "opaque" credit card rules result in merchants and consumers paying needless extra charges that are steadily rising.
He argued that a tribunal decision in favour of the Competition Bureau's position wouldn't lead to a free-for-all of new consumer fees, though he acknowledged there may be a need for rules to make sure charges don't exceed the cost of fees paid to credit card companies.
"Small businesses are unlikely to impose fees on consumers very often. Nor are they likely to refuse a premium card from a customer," Kelly argued. "Merchants — particularly small ones — do not have the market clout and would not want to risk losing the customer to the shop down the street."
But he said the power to impose a surcharge or refuse a high-cost card will act as an incentive for banks and credit card companies to keep their fees low.
Cran said there's no evidence that merchants, if they are able to cover the cost of credit card charges with new fees to consumers, will pass on those savings through lower prices for their goods and services. He said Canada should look at Australia's experience after surcharges were allowed in 2003.
While rules have been recently tightened, a company called Cabcharge — which has developed a credit card designed for the taxi industry — is still imposing a 10-per-cent surcharge.
He said in some instances Australian merchants have charged a flat minimum fee which, in the case of a purchase of a small item like a coffee, could mean a charge approaching 100 per cent.
"In Australia it's become a huge profit centre for them, as opposed to just recovering the cost."
Cran rejected the argument that consumers, if faced with lofty credit card surcharges, could simply shift massively to the use of their debit cards or cash. At last year's tribunal hearing, Thomson said the debit card fee on a $200 purchase would be about 15 cents — whereas the credit card cost would be up to $6.
The reason? Loyalty reward programs.
"People love their points," Cran said.


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Full-Day Kindergarten
NEA recognizes that full-day kindergarten programs close achievement gaps between young children from minority and low-income families and their peers. By providing a solid foundation of learning to children from all backgrounds, full-day kindergarten programs ensure all students' academic, social, and emotional success.
NEA Tools and Information
- Full-Day Kindergarten: An Advocacy Guide ( PDF, 957KB, 52pp) - NEA leaders and members with advocacy expertise created this guide to support members in their full-day kindergarten advocacy efforts. It contains research, policy recommendations, sample legislation, talking points, and lessons from other states that have successfully enacted full-day kindergarten legislation.
- PowerPoint presentation ( PowerPoint, 929KB, 25 slides) - Provides key research about the benefits of full-day kindergarten and outlines the strategies and policy recommendations included in the guide.
- Letter to the editor ( PDF, 27KB, 1p) - This model can be used by teachers, parents, and other advocates.
- Kindergarten facts ( PDF, 73KB, 2pp) These fact sheets can be used to help others understand the importance of full-day kindergarten programs.
- Policy recommendations ( PDF, 36KB, 2pp) These recommendations can be given to state-level leaders to ensure full-day kindergarten legislation provides the best possible programs to young learners.


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Quote: "One has reasons to suspect that this matter is emitted from the black hole nonthermally, more or less as it came in, after doing a traversal of the interior regions." Ron Maimon in Do black holes accelerate in spin as they obtain more mass?
What are these reasons and how can this matter escape a black hole ?


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In a discussion with Scott about the "text in row" option for LOB (Large Object Data types: text, ntext, and image) data he questioned whether or not it was really a good idea to set… Well, I have mixed feelings about it really. In general I don't recommend it unless EVERY query tends to want the LOB data and if the LOB data is in general – narrow (meaning very few bytes). Yes, you do skip the extra lookup into the text/image b-tree but you also make all of the rows wider. If you don't want the text info most of the time (i.e. the description is only needed when they [occassionally] click on that button for the request, etc.) then you're putting all of those descriptions into memory when you don't really need to. It's [potentially] a great way to waste a large percentage of your cache.
So – I'd say that there really isn't a byte limit more than a usage rule. BUT – if you do want to skip that lookup (because most of the time you DO want to return the description) then I'd start to look at the data and see what the "average" byte length is. If most of the descriptions are small but they want to use the text datatype for the very rare and very large description then this is a GREAT feature to keep the small (and very frequently accessed descriptions) with the data row and avoid the lookups!
(fyi – the b-tree index is just like any other; it's the "index" associated with the table (object_id('tablename') = id) and has an indid of 255 in sysindexes. Each table has only ONE btree for all LOB columns of that table and seeing the indexes, statistics, etc. that each table has is interesting if you ever look at the system tables.)


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Brooke Shields made herself a fashion icon when she uttered the famous line, "Nothing comes between me and my Calvins." But, would she feel the same in today's economic climate? Would it be more like, "Nothing comes between me and my Gap low-rise boot cut stretch?"
USA Today ran a great story on the state of designer jeans in today's paper. Until recently, the recession hasn't dramatically impacted sales of premium denim. Now, however, uber-pricey brands aren't seeing growth while companies such as Levi's, Lee and Wrangler are still experiencing rising sales.
From the article: "The superpremium jean business has dropped off tremendously because the inspirational shoppers aren't going up that high, and luxury customers aren't buying two or three pairs anymore."
It has always suprised me that women fork out $100+ for jeans, but I guess when you employ the cost-per-wear formula, that results in "value" for many who wear the pants off of their J Brands and True Religions.
I love my jeans, but you do NOT have to spend $200 on denim to look like a star. I own a few pairs of Joe's Jeans, J Brand and AG, but I buy them at Filene's or Nordstrom Rack, where the options may be from last year, but they're also still in style and have a price tag of anywhere from $39 to $99 – much less than retail costs. I also supplement my denim wardrobe with less expensive, yet no less fashionable, pairs of jeans from J. Crew, Old Navy and others. H&M, Uniqlo and even Target have incredibly reasonable options, too. All of these pairs still have high-end lycra technology and come in great washes and cuts.
Believe me. Less pricey jeans look just as stylish as their premium counterparts when they have a good fit and are paired with a cute top, cut-appropriate shoes and darling accessories.
Have you quit buying expensive jeans during the recession? What are your favorite cost-conscious options?


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Get DVD Talk Feeds
Coming hot on the heels of 1985's Back to the Future was this low-budget little semi-laffer about a '50s-era greaser who is killed in an auto race ... only to be sent back from Heaven (30 years later) to befriend a dorky high school kid.
With its TV-style direction and blandly generic visual style, The Heavenly Kid feels like an ABC Movie of the Week, only with a few dirty words and bouncing knockers to earn the PG-13 rating. It's an entirely bland and inert little flick, and it's never actually laugh-out-loud funny in any discernible way, but the thing's still got a low-key likability that should appeal to fans of the 1980s.
Because man oh man is this movie dead-solid stuck smack-dab in the center of 1985. From the clothes and the slang to the music to the cars, The Heavenly Kid all but reeks of the tackiest of all decades, which means the flick might work as a kooky little time capsule experiment for you and your old high school buddies.
Starring Lewis Smith (as the ghostly greaser) and Jason Gedrick (as the zero (slowly) turned hero), The Heavenly Kid was (drably) directed by Cary Medoway, a filmmaker notable in that he never once worked again after this movie. His only other flick was 1984's Paradise Motel, which is precisely what you think it is. Fans of folks like Jane Kaczmarek, Mark Metcalf, and Richard Mulligan might be pleased to know that they're in this movie, so there; now they know.
Worthy of attention from only the staunchest of '80s archivists, The Heavenly Kid isn't so much an awful movie as it is just a "meh, whatever" flick. You'll rent it for the nostalgia value, you'll watch it ... and you'll forget completely about it within 24 minutes.
The DVD
Video: It's an anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) transfer, which is pretty cool coming from a studio that seemingly chooses its Full Frame releases via dartboard. Picture quality here is predictably flat and un-thrilling. Watchable, but not too slick.
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 English or French, with optional subtitles in the same two languages.
Extras: Just a handful of trailers for Christmas with the Kranks, Madison, and Saved!
Final Thoughts
Corny, obvious, sappy, simple-minded, and trite, it's got all the most obvious pieces from the time-travel comedies and the "geek turned chic" movies. The Heavenly Kid is neither good enough to get excited about nor bad enough to raise any tempers. It's just another piece of cinematic kitsch from a decade that churned out dozens of 'em.


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"We calculated that a cloud service from Fujitsu is about 25 percent cheaper than operating the infrastructure ourselves."
Oliver Maisch CIO, VBH Group
Metal fittings are the business of VBH Group. For more than 35 years, the market leader in the distribution of construction fittings has been supplying manufacturers and builders with everything they need to make and install windows and doors. Today the company is represented in 40 countries with 3,000 employees working in 130 offices. New IT capacities were required to support the existing and future business in a flexible and reliable way. VBH now obtains its cloud-base server, storage and security services from Fujitsu.
VBH Group uses world-wide available Cloud Services (200 KB/A4, 2 pages)
Share this page


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Just saw an excellent post in the Seattle Bike Blog on how Seattle commutes. Which got me wondering how Mercer Island commutes.
I went to the Census American communities Survey, just released for 2012, and looked at Mercer Island versus Seattle, Bellevue and all of King County:
In only a few minutes with the data a few things popped out:
1.Islanders drive more than the rest of King County.
2. Our mean commute is lower than Seattle, Bellevue or all of King County, probably because of how central the Island is.
3. Almost 10% of Islanders work from home, quite a bit higher than the rest of the county.
4. Islanders take public transportation at a much lower rate than the rest of the county. I think we'd take it more if we could get to the Park & Ride more easily or find parking there. These days, it's parked up before 8 am, causing a stressful morning for anyone planning to get a spot.
My husband and I have tried many of these methods– driving alone, carpooling, the bus, and biking– at different times. Basically anything other than walking. One of the nice things about Mercer Island is you can get almost anywhere, fast.
I wonder how these numbers will change when the Express Lanes give way to Light Rail. One would expect a dramatic drop in driving alone and a rise in public transportation. We'll see in about 10 years.


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Filigree Delight
Adult Birthday Invitations
Filigree Delight, Item# BI7612
Note: Sparkles are simulated and will not light up.
Filigree Delight, Item# BI7612
Note: Sparkles are simulated and will not light up.
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Driving Directions Card
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Place Card
Our modern Birthday invitation, "Filigree Delight" is composed of a symmetrical, ornamental design. The top section of the design showcases the honoree's name and is balanced with smaller elements anchored in the bottom corners. Many color options available.
You will be able to select the typestyle and ink colors to use for your personalized text during the design process. Start by clicking on the green 'Personalize and Continue' button. We recommend using the default typestyle and ink colors.
|Estimated Postage Required:
|$0.55 stamp - if other items are not added into the Envelope. Click here for additional postage information.
|Item Type:
|Flat Card
|Card Dimensions:
|5.25" x 7.5" (W x H)
|Printing Process:
|Digital Press
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|ModernB and Chopin
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|White Envelopes included. Printed return address and/or Calligraphy is available for an additional cost.
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|Inner Lined Envelopes available for an Additional $.40 each. Choose from 20 different colors.


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Sorry to post so many newbie questions, but is this correct?
is, afaik, the way that you creat a new class object dynamically.Code:aClass *myClass = new aClass;
My question is, is this the proper way to delete it?
by delete I am of course primarily concerned with freeing the memory up for further use in the program.Code:free(myClass);


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The fate of Raynham Park will once again be in the hands of the voters, with simulcast greyhound racing now on the line.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled on Tuesday that a statewide referendum can appear on the ballot in November asking voters to repeal the state's 2011 casino law, in a move that would also ban simulcast dog racing. Since Raynham Park lost live greyhound racing as the result of a 2008 ballot initiative, the business has relied heavily on greyhound simulcast gambling, which was preserved by the Massachusetts gambling law.
Raynham Park owner George Carney, who bought the establishment in 1966, said that he would wait and see how the vote plays out before considering the consequences for his business. Although he lost out on a slots license that was awarded earlier this year to Plainridge Racecourse, and Carney has no stake in any of the proposed resort casino projects in the state, he believes the repeal of the gambling legislation would be bad for the economy.
"I'd only be guessing (if the referendum will pass)," said Carney, when reached on Tuesday afternoon. "Not to duck an answer, I really don't know how it will play out. I would imagine some of the people who have been awarded a license would be more concerned. I don't have a dog in the race. … I'm not going to worry about it. If it passes, it passes. If it doesn't, it doesn't. If it passes, it would put a lot of people out of work who would need jobs."
Carney said that simulcast dog racing remains a big draw at Raynham Park, which hosted live dog racing starting in the early 1940s. Simulcast dog and horse racing has taken place for about 20 years at Raynham Park, Carney said, predating the ban on live greyhound racing in the state. Carney said that simulcast horse racing would continue regardless at Raynham Park because it is not included in the casino repeal vote.
"It's going to be interesting to see what happens," Carney said. "I'm going to continue to stay in business as far as everything is concerned. If dog racing is out, hopefully I can keep simulcast horse racing. Between dog and horse simulcast racing (at Raynham Park), I'd say it's probably around 50-50. A lot of the customers will shift from dogs to betting on horses. Dog racing always has been more popular."
State Sen. Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, also said that the casino repeal could be devastating economically, acknowledging the effect the ban on dog racing would have on the Raynham Park area.
"If pari-mutuel wagering is included, that would have a major impact on this region with Raynham Park," Pacheco said.
However, a Massachusetts-based greyhound advocacy group that was behind the 2008 referendum to ban dog racing in Massachusetts said revenue created by simulcast dog racing is minimal when compared with all the other gambling business in the state. Grey2K USA, which threw its support behind the "Repeal the Casino Bill" campaign last year, said that the $28 million gambled by Massachusetts citizens last year makes up only 13.5 percent of simulcast betting in the state.
Carey Theil, executive director of the Arlington-based Grey2K USA, said the most important point to consider is that state voters already rejected greyhound simulcast betting during the 2008 vote. But, Theil said, "the only reason Raynham Park is doing greyhound simulcasting today is because the politicians on Beacon Hill went against the will of the voters" and reauthorized simulcast greyhound racing in the 2011 casino bill.
Theil said that the spirit of the 2008 vote was not to allow state residents to gamble on greyhound racing taking place at "some of the worst tracks in the country" located in Arizona, Florida and Alabama. Theil said that throughout the summer, leading up to the November election, his organization will emphasize the scandals of dog mistreatment reported at the tracks that are providing simulcast races to Raynham Park and other facilities in Massachusetts.
Theil said that there has long been consensus throughout "the humane community" to oppose greyhound racing because of the nature of the practice, including small confinement areas for the dogs, constant injuries and questionable medical treatment. Horse racing, on the other hand, has not created such a problem, Theil said.
Theil said the 56 percent of voters who approved the dog racing ban in 2008, passing the act in 12 of 14 counties, will be part of the reason that the casino repeal vote succeeds.
"After the voters went to the ballot, why six years later are Massachusetts gamblers still being allowed to bet on these low-end dog tracks," Theil said. "We are confident that the question will pass. We are going to take our fight to the humane community and the voters and we are optimistic they will agree with our position."