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Try to guess the most-played song on my iPod.
Nope, not My Hands. No, not Contigo. Not even Crazy.
It's David Archuleta's Good Day Utah performance of "Waiting On the World to Change," with Dean Kaelin on guitar. The way David sings that song just takes me places. I can't even really describe it. Once he gets going, it's like I'm not even listening to anything, just feeling … swimming in it.
I get that feeling again with these recent acoustic performances. Crazy is intense, TMH is hauntingly beautiful (who knew?), and then SBL and Crush in the Lexington studio (see below) absolutely pushed me over the edge. I happened to tune in to the radio broadcast in time for both songs and the purity and texture and maple syrup smooth sweetness was almost more than I could bear.
If you're wondering why I haven't mentioned Elevator, it's because I've saved it for last. I am so in love with that song, I want to walk down the aisle with it. Yes, he has yet to nail the vocals. Which usually I would care about. But. I. Don't. Weird, huh? [Edit: He did nail 'em, right here!]
Unlike NAVGL and Parachutes & Airplanes and SBL, which all had to grow on me… I was smitten with Elevator practically from the time I pushed that play button.
There's something about the story it tells, the magic of the melody, and the thrill of not knowing where it's taking me next.*
Where's his voice going? What does it all mean? And I have to keep going back for more, to look for answers, ask more questions, sing along.
But there's another layer that, try as hard as I might, I am at a loss to explain. It's a feeling that bubbles up inside each time I hear it. It's a tingling that starts somewhere near my aorta and radiates outward. A joyful, cartwheel feeling that leaves me lightheaded and smiling.
Acoustic David FTW!!!
So what do you guys think? Which is your favourite live performance so far? Are you on Team Elevator yet?
Elevator WNCI 97.9FM (via JR4DA), Ohio
Crush acoustic, Lexington, KY
SBL acoustic, Lexington, KY
*P.S. I added the Louisville Bash highlight reel to the "Must See" sidebar … and I added up David's screen time and they were clearly taken with him because his segments make up about half of the whole vid (including a full minute of the camera following only him as he runs on stage to join We The Kings, leaps like a wild man, then runs off). As awestruck says, "another one bites the dust." 🙂


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Complete the Family Vacation Planner Form below to directly email the Family Vacation Providers matching the Experience you specify. They will send you their detailed information directly.
Mid Cities Events, Coupons, Reviews!
Mid Cities Events, Coupons, Reviews!
Complete the Family Vacation Planner Form below to directly email the Family Vacation Providers matching the Experience you specify. They will send you their detailed information directly.
Amazing Scavenger Hunt Adventure
Dallas/Fort Worth
Looking for a way to turn Dallas or Fort Worth into a giant game board? Urban Adventure Quest has created a family-based scavenger hunts that combines the fun of the amazing race with a three-hour tour. Guided from any smart phone, groups make their way among well known and overlooked gems of the city, solving clues and completing challenges while learning local history. Using a smart phone as 'the guide' allows teams to start when they want and determine their own pace of play. Stop for lunch midway or just enjoy the sights and sounds of the city.' why not, it's your schedule? Offered at a fixed price for a group vs. per person pricing, this city tour/game offers a great value to those on a budget. Great for ages from 7-70. Register @ www.UrbanAdventureQuest.com. (less) ... Read more
Toyon Bay
Explore LEGOLAND Discovery Center, the ultimate indoor playground for kids who are the biggest fans of LEGO! LEGOLAND Discovery Center Grapevine is one of DFW's best attractions for kids! Reach out and touch the stars in our 4D cinema, build the fastest car in LEGO Racers: Build & Test, zap the bad guys in Kingdom Quest Laser Ride, or have the ultimate LEGO birthday party. Plan your family visit and jump into the biggest box of LEGO bricks! (less) ... Read more
Grand Prairie
We have five fun-filled family attractions. Ripley's Believe it or Not! 12 galleries of the weird, strange, and bizarre! Louis Tussuad's Palace of Wax has over 200 life-like figures of hollywood, history and fear! The Ripley's Enchanted Mirror Maze is 2000 sq ft, of endless passages, dead ends, and fun. Try your skill at the Ripley's Impossible Laser Race. Bump, dip, and shake your way through our 7D Moving Theater.
Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Waterpark
Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Waterpark is a 26-acre oasis of thrilling waterpark adventures. The third waterpark in the Schlitterbahn family of parks features more than 30 attractions designed in the Schlitterbahn tradition of ride innovation. The park also features the next generation of the award-winning Transportainment river system that combines three unique rivers into one endless floating adventure. And an award winning Heated-Indoor Waterpark section open in early Spring and through December.
Schlitterbahn Waterpark and Resort New Braunfels
New Braunfels and Galveston
Waterpark and Year Round Resort Schlitterbahn New Braunfels Waterpark is the #1 Waterpark in the World for the last 18 Years. Located on the banks of the springfed Comal River in New Braunfels, Texas, Schlitterbahn's flagship waterpark has 40 attractions on over 70 acres. Family-owned and operated, Schlitterbahn provides a staggering variety of rides, slides, and water adventures from mild to wild. Waterpark Location: 400 N. Liberty Avenue, New Braunfels, Texas 78130 Phone: (830) 625-2351 The Resort at Schlitterbahn New Braunfels is open year-round. Guests can enjoy the family excitement and convenience of a resort and waterpark during the summer and the beauty of a Hill Country Getaway year-round. With hotel rooms, one and two bedroom suites, Riverbend Cabins, Treehaus Luxury Suites, and vacation homes, The Resort at Schlitterbahn has a wide range of accommodations for any type of vacation (less) ... Read more
SEA LIFE Aquarium will transport you into the amazing underwater world. Come nose to nose with sharks and prepare for astonishingly close views of everything from humble starfish and seahorses to graceful rays. To get any closer you'd have to get wet! Are you a Shark lover or Seahorse fanatic? Perhaps it's the graceful rays or the clever Octopus that you love the most. Maybe you simply can't decide! Here at SEA LIFE you can make up your mind and see them all - from the curious and the rescued to the rare and the enigmatic. And you'll be able to get closer to them than ever before. (less) ... Read more
SeaQuest Interactive Aquarium Fort Worth
Fort Worth
SeaQuest Interactive Aquarium offers a completely interactive, hands-on learning experience for the entire family. Designed as a 'Quest of Edutainment', visitors to SeaQuest will journey through realistically themed exhibits where they will connect with the animals through various hands on encounters such as feeding sharks, stingrays, capybara, giant sulcata tortoises, large exotic birds species, and thousands of other creatures along the way. Anyone in search of a more. daring experience can enjoy walk-in bird aviaries, feeding caiman alligators or snorkeling in their giant snorkel tank filled with reef sharks, stingrays and hundreds of other tropical fish. Sea Quest Interactive Aquarium also offers an exclusive private event venue which is ideal for school field trips, birthday parties, and private events. Explore, discover and learn more about the world we live in, as well as create lasting memories for the entire family and kids of all ages at SeaQuest Interactive Aquariums. (less) ... Read more
SpeedZone Dallas has high octane thrills you won't find anywhere else. We have Private Meeting/Banquet rooms and picnic pavilions that are the perfect venues for birthdays, parties, corporate parties, events and team building, and family gatherings. Our Full Service on-site catering and Caf and Sports Bar options provide a variety of food choices for all types of events. With Slick Trax, Turbo Trax, Arcade, Miniature Golf, Mini Bowling, Dragsters, a Looping Coaster, and so much more, SpeedZoneDallas is the fastest fun around!
Little Elm
Dozens of Cities across the US
RV rentals make for the perfect family getaway. Enjoy days filled with long hikes and exploring the outdoors while evenings are spent around the campfire before returning to a cozy bed for some R&R. RVs let you and your family travel comfortably, and park up close to your favorite places. Whether you want to visit a national park, a certain attraction, or just enjoy time spent on the road making stops along the way, an RV from RVshare is the perfect option for your next vacation. Enjoy peace of mind when you rent an RV from RVshare with insurance, 24/7 roadside assistance, and our worry-free rental guarantee. Search through thousands of RVs ranging from huge Class A motorhomes to small pop up trailers. Our platform makes booking safe and easy. (less) ... Read more
Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Waterpark
Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Waterpark is a 26-acre oasis of thrilling waterpark adventures. The third waterpark in the Schlitterbahn family of parks features more than 30 attractions designed in the Schlitterbahn tradition of ride innovation. The park also features the next generation of the award-winning Transportainment river system that combines three unique rivers into one endless floating adventure. And an award winning Heated-Indoor Waterpark section open in early Spring and through December.
Win an Oceanfront Condo and Change Your Life! - ENDS 9/30
New INTERACTIVE Kids Mystery Activity
Medieval Times in Dallas is Re-Opening on the 15th!
Outside Fun for the Whole Family
Outside Fun for the Whole Family
Bavarian Inn Lodge ReOpening July 1, 2020

subset: commoncrawl


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Ecuador and Greece drew 1-1 in a Flushing friendly. Writes ESPN New York, "While the Mets were away, Citi Field played host to its first soccer match — a 1-1 draw between Greece and Ecuador. It attracted 39,656 spectators, outdrawing all but the Mets' home-opener crowd of 41,075."
After seeing this level of attendance and fan enthusiasm, Fred Wilpon'll probably evict the Mets before the next homestand. What would it cost to buy a couple of Central American nations?
Here's Ecuador's pretty tying goal:
And here are the Greeks celebrating the draw afterward:


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Folks got concerned when the word "Halo" wasn't on a list of upcoming games in an official Microsoft Xbox One update. Fret not, Master Chief lovers, you'll get your Spartan on this year, according to an Microsoft representative.
In a post that stated the Redmond-based tech giant sold more than three million Xbox Ones last year, Xbox marketing bigwig wrote the following:
We're excited for the year ahead and will be working hard to bring Xbox One to more fans and more markets around the globe. 2014 will be a promising year with many more great games on the way for Xbox One including "Titanfall," "Watch_Dogs," "Project Spark," "Sunset Overdrive," "Tom Clancy's The Division," "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt," "Destiny," "Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare," and "The Elder Scrolls Online," among others. More games, more features, more content, more fun – all coming your way this year.
People furrowed their brows at the apparent omission of Microsoft's premier first-party franchise but a tweet from Xbox PR manager Rob Semsey soothed any concern that players might not see the Chief in 2014.
Microsoft Studios chief Phil Spencer has previously talked about the timing needed to get full-sized Halo games onto Xbox hardware and, with 2012's Halo 4 in the rear view mirror, a new entry in the series sure seems likely for this year.


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The US Federal Trade Commission told online advertisers to do a better job of self-regulating how they track people's activities - or the government will step in and do it for them.
The regulatory agency issued a report Thursday with minor tweaks about how online targeted ads systems should collect, save, store, and share user information. The industry remains self-regulated despite calls from privacy groups for legislation on how companies are allowed to collect and use the data.
FTC adherence to a Bush administration policy of voluntary policing of internet advertising may be nearing the end of its rope, however. Commissioner Jon Leibowitz called the freshly modified guidance the industry's "last clear chance" to show that self-regulation will effectively protect consumer privacy.
After considering public comments from a November 2007 Town Hall meeting, the FTC offered its four revised principles for online ad punters:
1. Web sites are expected to provide clear and prominent notice regarding behavioral advertising as well as an easily accessible way for consumers to opt-out.
The agency said that because privacy policies posted on companies' websites are often too long and difficult to understand, ad-tracking disclosure mechanisms should be made separate and meaningful to users.
2. Companies should provide reasonable security for any data they collect for behavioral advertising and only retain data as long as it's needed for legitimate business or law-enforcement needs.
The Commission said the protections should be based on the sensitivity of the data and the nature of a company's business.
3. Websites are urged to obtain the express consent of users before they make material, retroactive changes to their data-collection policies.
"It is fundamental FTC law and policy that companies must deliver on promises they make to consumers about how their information is collected, used, and shared," the report states. "An important corollary is that a company cannot use data in a manner that is materially different from promises the company made when it collected the data without first obtaining the consumer's consent."
4. Companies should receive express consent for use of "sensitive data."
Although the Commission didn't offer a definition of "sensitive data," it did say that the clearest examples are items such as financial data, data about children, health information, and geographic-location information. The FTC added that it encourages industry, consumer, and privacy advocates to develop more-specific standards to address the issue.


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Barack Obama made reforming the U.S. health insurance system one of the main themes of his 2008 presidential campaign and the highest-profile focus of his first term in office.
He worked with House and Senate leaders to maneuver the bill that created the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) through Congress, and, since then, his administration has posted implementing regulation after implementing regulation.
Gov. Mitt Romney, meanwhile, comes from a party that has made fighting PPACA a sacred duty.
Here, then, is LifeHealthPro's comparison of the candidates' views in six key health policy categories, drawn mainly from the candidates' websites and, in some cases, from party platforms.
1. Commercial health insurance system change
President Obama focuses on his site mainly on what he believes PPACA already has accomplished or is set to accomplish as the law takes effect.
Obama says PPACA already is improving health care access for millions of Americans and "ending insurance abuses" by letting young adults stay on their parents' coverage up till age 26; forbidding health insurers from imposing lifetime benefits caps; limiting insurers' ability to impose annual benefits caps; requiring insurers to pay for checkups, vaccinations and other preventive care without imposing out-of-pocket costs on the patients; and requiring that plans that spend more than a certain percentage of revenue on administrative costs send their customers rebates.
PPACA already prohibits health insurers from denying coverage to children with preexisting conditions, and it will prohibit PPACA from denying coverage to anyone with preexisting conditions starting in 2014, Obama says.
In the section on "access and affordability," Obama does not mention the health insurance "exchanges" — the Web-based insurance supermarkets that PPACA is supposed to create in 2014.
Mitt Romney would "roll back all the benefits of health reform," Obama says.
Romney says he would repeal PPACA.
"The bill, itself more than 2,400 pages long, relies on a dense web of regulations, fees, subsidies, excise taxes, exchanges, and rule-setting boards to give the federal government extraordinary control over every corner of the health care system," Romney says. "The costs are commensurate: Obamacare added a trillion dollars in new health care spending. To pay for it, the law raised taxes by $500 billion on everyone from middle-class families to innovative medical device makers, and then slashed $500 billion from Medicare. Obamacare was unpopular when passed, and remains unpopular today, because the American people recognize that a government takeover is the wrong approach."
Romney says he would return responsibility for regulating local insurance markets and providing care for the poor, the uninsured and the chronically ill to the states.
A Romney administration would limit moves to apply federal standards and requirements to private insurers, he says.
Romney says he would encourage use of health insurance exchanges, and that he would promote the use of high-risk pools, reinsurance and risk adjustment mechanisms to help people with chronic health problems who cannot qualify to buy conventional health insurance.
He also says he would work to "prevent discrimination against individuals with pre-existing conditions who maintain continuous coverage" and "facilitate [health information technology] interoperability."
Next: Women's health and abortion
Image, above left: Supporters and opponents of health care reform rally in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, March 27, 2012, as the court continued arguments on the health care law signed by President Barack Obama. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
2. Women's health and abortion
The Obama team has worked to link the fate of PPACA to the fate of PPACA provisions that require most health plans to include benefits for contraceptive services in the package of basic preventive services that must be covered without imposing out-of-pocket costs on the patients.
"Thanks to Obamacare, many insurance plans are beginning to fully cover birth control without co-pays or deductibles as part of women's preventive care — potentially saving women hundreds of dollars every year," Obama says in a section on women's health and birth control. "Mitt Romney would repeal Obamacare, and give employers the authority to limit women's access to common forms of birth control."
The Romney campaign website does not mention abortion or birth control in its discussion of health issues.
The Republican Party, in its platform, says the following about federal health care policy and abortion: "Through Obamacare, the current administration has promoted the notion of abortion as healthcare. We, however, affirm the dignity of women by protecting the sanctity of human life. Numerous studies have shown that abortion endangers the health and wellbeing of women, and we stand firmly against it."
Next: Medicare
3. Medicare
Obama says PPACA already has made important changes in Medicare, such as requiring basic Medicare to impose a package of basic preventive services without imposing out-of-pocket costs on the patients, and reducing the size of the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan "doughnut hole" — the gap between the point at which routine prescription coverage ends and catastrophic coverage begins.
"Mitt Romney would end Medicare as we know it," Obama says in a section on "security for seniors." "Instead of their guaranteed benefits, new retirees would get a voucher that they would have to use to buy coverage, which could increase costs by more than $6,000 per year."
Romney says in his own discussion of his Medicare plan that he wants to modernize entitlement programs and guarantee their vitality for future generations.
"Instead of paying providers directly for medical services, the government's role will be to help future seniors pay for an insurance option that provides coverage at least as good as today's Medicare, and to offer traditional Medicare as one of the insurance options that seniors can choose," Romney says. "With insurers competing against each other to provide the best value to customers, efficiency and quality will improve and costs will decline. Seniors will be allowed to keep the savings from less expensive options or choose to pay more for costlier plans."
Medicare would stay the same for retirees and near retirees, Romney says.
Younger workers would get a fixed amount that they could use to buy either traditional Medicare coverage or private plan coverage, and they would have to make up the difference out of their own pockets if they wanted to buy more expensive coverage, Romney says.
"Lower income seniors will receive more generous support to ensure that they can afford coverage; wealthier seniors will receive less support," Romney says. "Competition among plans to provide high quality service while charging low premiums will hold costs down while also improving the quality of coverage enjoyed by seniors."
Next: Medicaid
Image, above left: In this photo taken Aug. 21, 2012, Mike O'Malley, 55, left, and Sharon O'Malley, 53, pose for a photo in Chicago. Mitt Romney's Medicare plan would have very different effects on couples and siblings just a few years apart in age. (AP Photo/Sitthixay Ditthavong)
4. Medicaid
Obama says of Medicaid — the program for poor people and for eligible nursing home patients — mainly that he believes Romney would cut federal Medicaid funding.
Romney says he would replace the current Medicaid funding formula with a "block grant" program that would provide each state with a set amount of cash that it could use as it wished. He says he would "limit federal standards and requirements" for Medicaid as well as for private insurance.
The Republican Party platform includes an extensive section on long-term care finance.
The party says in the platform that it wants to ensure that America's aging population has access to safe and affordable care.
"Because seniors overwhelmingly desire to age at home, we will make home care a priority in public policy," the party says. "We will champion the right of individual choice in senior care. We will aggressively implement programs to protect against elder abuse, and we will work to ensure that quality care is provided across the care continuum from home to nursing home to hospice."
Next: Tort reform
Image, above left: Dr. Steve Auerbach, a pediatrician, participates in a rally in support of Medicaid funding outside the Waldorf Astoria hotel, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012 in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
5. Tort reform
Obama says nothing in his comments aimed at voters about "tort reform" — the idea of controlling health care costs by reducing what doctors and other providers spend to protect themselves against lawsuits.
The Obama for America (OFA) campaign does talk about torts on the "terms of service" page for the site.
"In no event shall the aggregate liability of OFA, whether in contract, warranty, tort (including negligence, whether active, passive or imputed), product liability, strict liability or other theory, arising out of or relating to the use of or inability to use the sites or the site materials exceed any compensation you pay, if any, to OFA for access to or use of the sites," the campaign says in the terms of service.
Romney says he would promote free health insurance markets by capping non-economic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits.
Next: Health accounts
Image, above left: nuttakit/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
6. Health accounts
Obama says nothing on his campaign website about health savings accounts or health reimbursement arrangements on his websites.
Romney says he would "unshackle HSAs by allowing funds to be used for insurance premiums." Although he has vowed to streamline the tax code, he also says he would "end tax discrimination against the individual purchase of insurance" and encourage independent entities to rate health plans.
Romney also talks about wanting to let health insurers sell coverage across state lines.
A provision of PPACA, the multi-state plan provision, apparently would let some carriers sell coverage across state lines through exchanges starting in 2014. Neither Obama nor Romney has mentioned the PPACA multi-state plan provision.
Image: As part of his health policy, Romney has mentioned a desire to let health insurers sell coverage across state lines.
Visit LifeHealthPro.com/election for more on the presidential race, including:
Obama vs. Romney: 6 key differences on taxes, regulation
Obama vs. Romney: 8 best lines from the Town Hall Debate


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The Twitter Mailbag is back, and just in time to do some post-UFC on FOX 6 reflection and pre-UFC 156 prognostication.
Plus, what would a week in MMA be without more speculation about who should (and absolutely should not) be Anderson Silva's next opponent?
If you've got a question of your own, jump on Twitter and aim it in the direction of @BenFowlkesMMA.
* * * *
@benfowlkesmma #TMB if Edgar loses to JA does he go back up to a stacked 155 where he's lost twice to the champ or stay at thinner 145 div?
— Joshua Arambula (@mataleonmma) January 30, 2013
That is the conundrum you face when your solution to losing a title fight is to drop weight classes. Call it Kenny Florian Syndrome. You can only drop so far before you run out of excess pounds to shed. Then what? It's kind of like transferring to a different high school every time something embarrassing happens in gym class. Pretty soon you run out of schools and you have to choose between learning how to live with the snickers or dropping out and working at the bowling alley (and not the classy bowling alley on the good side of town, either).
The fact that Frankie Edgar is getting an immediate shot at Jose Aldo's featherweight title is kind of a good news/bad news situation, in that sense. The good news is he gets to fight Aldo right away, and after the champ has been off for more than a year. The bad news is he doesn't get a chance to test the featherweight waters before jumping into the deep end. If Edgar loses on Saturday, and particularly if he loses in decisive fashion, are people going to want to see him fight featherweight contenders after that? Are they going to have any interest at all in ever seeing him as a lightweight again?
It's a tough spot. Dropping weight classes opens up some new opportunities, but it also slams some doors. Of course, Edgar only has to worry about that if he doesn't win.
@benfowlkesmma Is it me or does it seem that when it counts the most Cerrone can't seal the deal. What if anything can he do to change?
— Jason Rule (@JasonRule) January 30, 2013
It does kind of seem that way, doesn't it? Against Nate Diaz, Donald Cerrone spent most of the night walking flatfooted into strikes. Against Anthony Pettis, he got utterly destroyed. Neither performance looked anything like the Cerrone who showed up against Dennis Siver or Jeremy Stephens. I'm not sure what conclusion we're supposed to draw from that. Is he choking when the stakes get too high, or is he just not quite good enough to reach that top level? And really, which would be better?
I'm starting to suspect that Cerrone might be the type of fighter who never holds a UFC title, but also never puts on a boring fight. A lightweight Chris Lytle, if you will. Would that be so bad? I don't think so. Not as long as he can make his own peace with it, and as long as he doesn't try to do it for too long.
@benfowlkesmma If Bigfoot beats Reem, where does he stand? Aren't we all hoping for a good fight, but ultimately for Reem to win? #tmb
— Baltasar Shepard (@BaltasarShepard) January 30, 2013
I can't speak for the MMA world as a whole, but that's almost certainly what the UFC is hoping. If Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva somehow beats Alistair Overeem, it's hard to imagine anyone getting too enthusiastic about seeing the Brazilian challenge for Cain Velasquez's heavyweight title. The memory of their last meeting, which ended with Silva drenched in his own blood, is still too fresh.
When I spoke to Overeem on the phone this week, even he acknowledged that he was thinking of the bout with Silva as a "warm-up fight" after a long layoff. Based on what he's seen out of Silva, and on how he's handled his own sparring partners, Overeem said, Silva "should not be a problem."
The 4-to-1 odds in Overeem's favor confirm that he's not the only one who thinks so. And yeah, you're probably right. There's probably a lot more people hoping for an Overeem win that would set up a very intriguing title fight than there are those hoping for a Silva upset that would set up, well, something else. What that something would be is anyone's guess, but I can't imagine that it would be a title shot, and that means this is a dangerous matchup for the UFC. Any time you have a fight that means one obvious thing for one fighter and something far more vague for his opponent, you have a potential problem on your hands. Just look at the Vitor Belfort-Michael Bisping fight. If Silva does win, maybe his best bet is to follow his countryman's lead and call out Jon Jones. My guess is his chances of getting that fight would be about the same as Belfort's.
@benfowlkesmma If you were the career advisor of Rampage Jackson, what would you be saying to him right …. now
— Christopher Cheung (@christopher_kit) January 30, 2013
Let me do all the talking. And I do mean all of it.
@benfowlkesmma #TMB Who do you put in next against Demetrious Johnson? He has already beat the top 3 in division in McCall, Joe.B and Dodson
— Jordan Clarke (@laungtoonlad06) January 30, 2013
True, Johnson has beaten all three of those guys. Would it bum you out too much if I told you he's probably going to have to beat them all again if he wants to remain UFC flyweight champion? The division is still finding its legs in the UFC, so right now it's a bit of a round robin at the top. Joe Benavidez and Ian McCall will fight each other at UFC 156 on Saturday, and the winner has a pretty solid claim as the next contender for Johnson's title. Because, well, who else?
I'm not saying it's always going to be this way at flyweight, but it is going to be this way for the immediate future. That's why, if I were a UFC exec, I might be more concerned with stocking the 125-pound division before I started worrying about creating a 115-pound class. If we learned nothing else from the Tim Sylvia-Andrei Arlovski show that dominated the UFC's heavyweight division in the middle of the past decade, it's that fans don't want to see that same guys fight over and over and over again.
@benfowlkesmma when the ref asks fighters at the beg of a fight, "any questions from you?" What kind of question do you think he's expecting
— Roger Crandy (@rogercrandy) January 30, 2013
I think he's hoping for no questions at all since he already went over everything with both fighters in the locker room. But as Dan Severn proved way back at UFC 12, sometimes a referee has to expect the unexpected.
@benfowlkesmma rampage says the UFC are cheating fighters out of ppv %. I thought the UFC never told media actual numbers? #twittermailbag
— justin keating (@bigkeats) January 30, 2013
You thought right. The UFC is notoriously tightlipped about stuff like that, which makes you wonder what "Rampage" Jackson was talking about when he claimed that the UFC would give the media one figure for pay-per-view sales while giving fighters another. Except in rare instances, the UFC doesn't give us any numbers, so it kind of seems like Jackson was, you know, just saying stuff.
At the same time, there is a larger issue here with the UFC's fondness for secrecy. You know how Dana White is always saying that the UFC doesn't disclose the true extent of what fighters are paid because it doesn't want to expose them to the various scumbags of the universe who, we're told, would immediately target them for their vast wealth? Funny how that went out the window as soon as Jackson started complaining. Then White was suddenly eager to give out exact figures on what he was paid. At the time of this writing, it does not seem like that disclosure immediately resulted in Jackson being set upon by scumbags. Kind of makes you wonder if that explanation is just a convenient excuse for the UFC's financial secrecy, and if that won't eventually cause more problems than it solves.
@benfowlkesmma pls explain why Weidman should fight AS next. He KOed Munoz, decisioned a WW and subbed a nobody. Not super impressive. #tmb
— MMA Dude (@mmaduder) January 30, 2013
I love it when we in the MMA universe decide we want to make someone's accomplishments seem smaller. That's how a win over a former middleweight title contender on less than two weeks' notice becomes "decisioned a [welterweight]." Wonderful.
But fine, you make a point I've seen several others make. Weidman still has fewer than 10 pro fights, and his biggest win was over Mark Munoz, who was himself just barely beginning to climb up to the top contender platform. Is that enough? If we were talking about the lightweight division, I might say no. But look around at middleweight right now and tell me who else is there? Alan Belcher just got Okami'd. Michael Bisping completed his usual cycle of getting within one fight of a title shot before losing. Vitor Belfort has already tasted the sole of Silva's foot, and Hector Lombard is still just 1-1 in the UFC. You're telling me Weidman is really that much of a stretch?
You could definitely make the case that he's not ready, or that he should win one more once he comes off his injury layoff. That's reasonable. You could also argue that Strikeforce champ Luke Rockhold deserves an immediate look. I mean, as long as Gilbert Melendez gets one, right?
I'm just saying that, style-wise, Weidman seems like the middleweight who a) has the most with which to threaten Silva, and b) has not already been throttled by him. Given the current state of the division, that's enough for me.
@benfowlkesmma do you think DW is trying to get in Cyborg's head with his recent comments or does he know something we don't? #TMB
— Joshua Arambula (@mataleonmma) January 30, 2013
I think what White knows is that fear is a powerful motivator for fighters. It's just that, more than most people, what they really fear is the notion that anyone will think they are afraid. Want to get Cristiane "Cyborg" Santos into a fight with Ronda Rousey? Tell people she's scared of that fight, and that's the real reason why it isn't happening. Watch how fast she volunteers for it after that. That's some playground psychology right there, and it's the type that is proven to work on professional fighters.
@benfowlkesmma is Matt Hughes' saying that he wished he had fought Anderson Silva a shot at GSP not taking that fight?
— sonnysaggese (@sonnysaggese) January 31, 2013
It's possible. We know Hughes isn't one to shy away from a thinly veiled slight, particularly when he has a chance to aim one at an old rival, but that seems just a little too cynical an explanation even for me. I think it's more likely that Hughes' regret at not having fought Silva is one of those things you can only feel after enough time has passed to make doing anything about it impossible. It's kind of like how 40-year-old lawyers wish they'd gone to art school while creatively stunted baristas wish they'd listened to their dads and gone to law school. Once you know there's no chance that you'll have to do it, a lot of bad ideas start to seem like good ones.
@benfowlkesmma you get to pull two fighters out of retirement to do battle. Who do you pick? #tmb
— Robert Brown (@Wolvengray) January 30, 2013
That Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko fight that Dana White teased seemed like a fine idea. And by fine I mean totally insane, yet irresistible.
@benfowlkesmma would it be considered voluntary manslaughter if Dana/Joe Silva knowingly and willingly put Cung Le in cage w Anderson? #TMB
— Lou Giordano (@LouG_or_Dano) January 30, 2013
At the very least it seems criminally negligent. Look, can we stop talking about a Cung Le vs. Anderson Silva fight as if it's a real possibility? It's not, or at least it shouldn't be, but the superstitious part of me fears that we only make it more possible by discussing it. It's like getting on an airplane and obsessing over what would happen if someone opened the emergency exit mid-flight. It starts out as a harmless, if twisted, fascination, and the next thing you know you feel weirdly compelled to do it. Let's just put it out of our minds. Le is a 40-year-old man with a 2-1 record in the UFC. There is no reason for him to fight the greatest middleweight in MMA history right now. There just isn't. Now let us speak of it no more.
Ben Fowlkes is MMAjunkie.com and USA TODAY's MMA columnist. Follow him on Twitter at @BenFowlkesMMA. Twitter Mailbag appears every Thursday on MMAjunkie.com.


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Volunteers make it happen
"If you want to raise money for a good cause in Estherville, just throw a party."
Someone said something very similar to that at a recent fundraiser.
And it couldn't be closer to the truth.
Some very recent examples would be the CAASA Idol fundraiser Saturday, March 8 that entertained a sold-out crowd at the Estherville VFW. Folks had a great time, entertainers had a great time and even the servers had a great time. And it all went for a great cause.
Another great fundraiser (plus a fun event) was a dance with The Senders last Saturday at the Estherville Elks Lodge, sponsored by the Black Knights Car Club. The dance floor filled up right away with folks who enjoyed the classic rock 'n roll of this classic rock group. The Black Knights donates money to worthy causes just about every time they hold a meeting, so you can be assured that the money people spent for the dance will be enjoyed twice – once when they were dancing to the music and again when someone in need gets help.
The firefighters pancake breakfast last Sunday is another excellent example of people having fun and raising money at the same time. The Estherville Fire Department is raising money for a new rescue vehicle that would have multiple uses, whether it would be for fires, car accidents or rescue.
The Friends of Fort Defiance made plans for summer projects at their meeting Tuesday. They would like to invite everyone to the Whitetail Ridge Interpretive Trail dedication 1 p.m. Saturday, May 3 and Fort Defiance Day 1-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27. And, yes, it will be a good time too.


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If you're a PHP developer and are looking for some new tools to "up your game" and improve your development life, check out this new post to /r/php on Reddit.com. Developers of all kinds have shared tools they've found useful in their own development (and maybe you can too).
In other words, what tools make your development life easier and why? Can be anything from database design to FTP clients to workflow planners. Which tools can you just not live without?
Among the many tools on the list are things like:
- PHP CodeSniffer
- PHPUnit
- IDEs like PHPStorm, Netbeans and editors like Sublime Text
- Git
- Composer
- Vagrant/VirtualBox
- Xdebug
- Redis
- Behat
Check out the full post for the complete (and growing) list.


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Christopher Kane Spring 2013 Ready-to-Wear Collection
In contemporary fashion, there are few pleasures as satisfying as following Brit designer Christopher Kane from Point A to Point B. While his pieces are almost always certainly 'pretty', they happen to be interesting enough to be equally 'lugubrious'. [gallery]
In contemporary fashion, there are few pleasures as satisfying as following Brit designer Christopher Kane from Point A to Point B. While his pieces are almost always certainly 'pretty', they happen to be interesting enough to be equally 'lugubrious'. Though Kane works alongside Donatella Versace on 'Versus', he shares a deeper aesthetic affinity to Miuccia Prada, specifically in regards to how both carefully straddle the liminal boundaries of the beautiful and the off-putting. Consider Kane's inspirations from recent seasons past. A year ago he looked to the melancholy world of female adolescence and boarding schools. The mood was so evocative of Sofia Coppola's "The Virgin Suicides" you could almost hear the Air soundtrack with the movement of those intricately folded cootie catcher skirts. There are few things as frightening as being a teenage girl, or so the countless parables about the horrors of female adolescence have led the world to believe, including Kane, who has made a statement worthy of the heavy notion.
Kane is a serious cinephile too. While some designers look to the art world for inspiration (Jason Wu and Bottega Veneta's Tomas Maier instantly come to mind), Kane penetrates the cultural prism through a film buff's line of sight. His Fall inspiration was as esoteric and strange a source as one could imagine – William Friedkin's "Cruising" (Al Pacino as an undercover cop in the gritty NYC gay scene on the hunt for a killer…say what? Come again?)
The horrors keep mounting in the Kane repertoire. Frankenstein's monster has been the star through-line of a fashion show before (e.g. Rodarte F/W 2009) and Kane obviously had a blast with distilling mad beauty out of this material. The entire enterprise is so commercially sound. Boris Karloff's iconic mug on tees will prove to be one of Spring's most ubiquitous pieces. They may even end up being collector's items. The plastic bolts used as closures on draped dresses and on white coats (these bolts made the latter look like lab utility coats, as if the bolts were placed there for easy access when fiddling in the laboratory). He opened the show with a white stamped cropped moto – the closure on the waist giving it a cool straight-jacket feel. If the strips of white medical tape slapped on top of one another in a column down a white top wasn't spooky luxe enough, the Tesla coil footwear may just be the literal winning ticket.
But this wasn't an all-out Frankenstein extravaganza. There was plenty of room for other macabre threads to creep into the line-up. Party dresses were constructed out of hundreds of plastic shower caps (here's looking at you Janet Leigh), while perspex-like bow belts perched on waists with ghostly gravitas. The archaic shape of that snap belt makes the garments (including those using the bow as a print) appear distilled from an old clanky daguerreotype. Who knows what will be the reigning feature of this maddeningly inventive show. Maybe the Karloff tees, the plastic bolt dresses (one hell of a brilliant identifier), or the shower cap outfits, perhaps. But for our money, nothing felt as cool as the finale dress. Pink organza holding up strategic lace cut outs with black gaffe tape, that humble adhesive surrounded by encrustations of jewels. Why pick any other poison?


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Facebook stock is so close to regaining its $38 IPO price
MENLO PARK -- It took more than 14 months, but Facebook stock on Tuesday climbed to within four cents of the price at which it was first offered for public trading last year, before its precipitous plunge last summer.
Facebook shares closed on Tuesday at $37.63 after climbing as high as $37.96. That was the closest it's been to the stock's $38 debut price since its market debut on May 18, 2012, which was followed by a steep drop last summer that wiped out billions of dollars in shareholder equity.
The company's much-hyped initial public offering set a record by valuing Facebook at a whopping $104 billion, more than any other U.S. company's IPO value in history. But the hype soon fizzled as investors sold on warnings that Facebook had missed a crucial shift in consumer habits.
Facebook had acknowledged in a little-noticed public filing last spring that it had no way of selling advertising for the smaller screens of smartphones and tablets, even though many people were using those gadgets instead of desktop computers. CEO Mark Zuckerberg later vowed to remake Facebook as a "mobile first" company, by redesigning the service for iPhone and Android smartphones and creating new ad formats for mobile screens.
By last week, Zuckerberg was able to report that mobile advertising contributed 41 percent of the company's $1.6 billion in ad sales for the second quarter. The news broke just one week after investors heard from Google (GOOG) -- Facebook's much bigger rival in the online ad business -- that its mobile ad business was still struggling.
Facebook shares, which began climbing this summer, spiked sharply last week and rose more than 40 percent since last Wednesday's earnings report.
"This was an inflection point quarter," said Mark Mahaney of RBC Capital Markets, one of several investment analysts who revised their estimates in recent days and projected that Facebook could rise above $38 this year.
Wall Street bears still caution that the social network remains vulnerable to changing consumer habits, especially among fickle teens, while bulls say it hasn't yet tapped all of its potential revenue sources.
Facebook announced Tuesday that it will partner with mobile game developers to promote their apps in exchange for a share of their income. Bloomberg News, meanwhile, reported Tuesday that Facebook is close to making its widely anticipated move into video advertising later this year.
"Facebook still has many growth levers left to pull," Mahaney wrote in a report to investors.
Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022; follow him at Twitter.com/BrandonBailey


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Yale economist Robert Shiller says he and a colleague have studied "inequality indexation" with the objective of showing how more complex systems of tax rates might work. Though the concept could irritate some, it aims to "help achieve a better society," the expert says in an excerpt from his new book, "Finance and the Good Society," posted Tuesday on Bloomberg.
"Rising inequality is certainly a valid concern, and one that must be addressed," writes Shiller, who–in the end–doesn't stridently come down in favor or the inequality-indexation scheme he describes. Instead, he shares it as another option to put on the policymaking table.
It's not that financial capitalism produces unjust wealth distribution, it is that some wealthy families "annoy others by 'showing off'–by spending extravagantly and wastefully on themselves." That leads to resentment.
In ancient times, Shiller notes, Greece forbade women from wearing extravagant clothing or jewelry.
"Neither a sumptuary tax nor a progressive consumption tax is an easy and obvious solution to the problem of wasteful and resentment-inducing consumption that announces wealth or social position," he writes.
"Ideally, estate taxes should be set at some intermediate level, so that they neither confiscate people's wealth at death nor allow it to pass entirely to the next generation," explains Shiller.
Taxes and Inequality
While one of "society's most important weapons against economic inequality is the progressive income tax … ," according to Shiller, "the income-tax system has never been designed with the express objective of managing inequality."
In his view, countries like the United States "would be wise to index their tax systems to inequality. Under such a system, the government would not legislate fixed income-tax rates for each tax bracket, but would instead prescribe a formula that tied tax rates to statistical measures of pretax inequality."
This means that if income inequality rose, tax rates would automatically become more progressive. "Inequality indexation could be considered a kind of insurance–against worsening inequality," Shiller writes.
Historic Analysis
Shiller worked with Leonard Burman, a tax policy expert at Syracuse University, to look at the possible effects of inequality indexation over time.
"We found that if one had been legislated in 1979, freezing after-tax income inequality at the then-current level, the marginal tax rate on high-income individuals would have increased to an extraordinarily high level, more than 75%, "he notes. "This indicates how much economic inequality has worsened since 1979."
Shiller concedes that societies have great trouble dealing with the issue of inequality in a systematic manner: "The principle has never been articulated that some degree of inequality is a good thing, that there should be some who are richly rewarded for their business success (or their parents' success), but that society should put some limits on this inequality."
Since such a principle has never been established and the impact of tax laws aren't looked at systematically, the wealthy "instinctively oppose any increase in their taxes, fearing that acquiescing even to a limited extent might leave them open to a haphazard series of tax increases that, in combination, could amount to confiscatory taxation," according to Shiller.
"The inequality indexation scheme may not ultimately prove to be the right course, but it at least illustrates how more complex systems of tax rates grounded in risk-management theory and behavioral economics could work," he concludes. "We could introduce more responsiveness and nuance into the tax system to help achieve a better society–one in which people feel that basic economic fairness is assured."
See AdvisorOne's Special Report, 22 Days of Tax Planning Advice for 2012, throughout the month of March.


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- Professor, Communication, College of Liberal Arts
- Professor, Women's & Gender Studies
Dr. Srividya \"Srivi\" Ramasubramanian (Ph.D., Penn State University, 2004) is Presidential Impact Fellow, Professor of Communication, Affiliated Professor of Women's & Gender Studies, and Director of the Difficult Dialogues on Campus Race Relations at Texas A&M University. She has served as Associate Dean for Climate & Inclusion, Faculty Fellow for the Center for Teaching Excellence, Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, and as a Visiting Associate Professor at the London School of Economics and the National University of Singapore.
Ramasubramanian's scholarship addresses pressing contemporary global issues relating to media, diversity, and social justice. She is most widely recognized for her pioneering work on critical media effects, media literacy, difficult dialogues, race and media, and prejudice reduction, with over 60 publications on these topics in leading national and international outlets.
An internationally prominent scholar in her discipline, Dr. Ramasubramanian is Associate Editor of the Journal of Applied Communication Research and also serves on the editorial board of eight leading Communication journals.
Ramasubramanian has received numerous research awards including the TAMU Presidential Impact Fellow, the NAMLE Outstanding Media Literacy Researcher Award and the Liberal Arts Cornerstone Faculty Fellowship 2018-2022. Her commitment to teaching excellence has been recognized with the Center for Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellowship, Service Learning Faculty Fellowship, and Graduate Faculty Mentoring Award in 2017 and 2019. Her demonstrated diversity leadership and community engagement has been recognized with the Liberal Arts Achievements in Climate & Inclusion Award (for extraordinary and superlative dedication to climate and inclusion), NCA Mass Comm Division Service Award, ACE Award for Women's Progress (for promoting policies for advancement of women scholars), and the Outstanding Diversity Team Award.
- Ph.D. in Mass Communication, Pennsylvania State University - (State College, Pennsylvania, United States) 2004
- M.A. in Communication Management, Mudra Institute of Communications Ahmedabad - (Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India) 1998
- B.S. in Visual Communication, University of Madras - (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) 1996
Academic Articles40
- Sanders, M. S., & Ramasubramanian, S. (2012). An Examination of African Americans' Stereotyped Perceptions of Fictional Media Characters. Howard Journal of Communications. 23(1), 17-39.
- Ramasubramanian, S. (2011). The Impact of Stereotypical Versus Counterstereotypical Media Exemplars on Racial Attitudes, Causal Attributions, and Support for Affirmative Action. Asian Journal of Management Cases. 38(4), 497-516.
- Ramasubramanian, S. (2011). Television exposure, model minority portrayals, and Asian-American stereotypes: An exploratory study. Journal of Intercultural Communication. (26),
- Ramasubramanian, S. (2010). Testing the Cognitive-Affective Consistency Model of Intercultural Attitudes: Do Stereotypical Perceptions Influence Prejudicial Feelings?. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research. 39(2), 105-121.
- Ramasubramanian, S. (2010). Television Viewing, Racial Attitudes, and Policy Preferences: Exploring the Role of Social Identity and Intergroup Emotions in Influencing Support for Affirmative Action. COMMUNICATION MONOGRAPHS. 77(1), 102-120.
- Ramasubramanian, S., & Landmark, S. (2020). Ethics of Empirical Research. The International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology. (pp. 1-6). Wiley.
- Ramasubramanian, S., & Costantini, R. (2020). Intergroup Contact. The International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology. (pp. 1-5). Wiley.
- Ramasubramanian, S., & Sousa, A. (2019). Media and Ethnic Stereotyping. The International Encyclopedia of Media Literacy. (pp. 1-7). Wiley.
- Ramasubramanian, S., & Yadlin‐Segal, A. (2017). Stigma: Media Influence on. The International Encyclopedia of Media Effects. (pp. 1-10). Wiley.
- Ramasubramanian, S., & Murphy, C. J. (2014). Experimental Studies of Media Stereotyping Effects. Laboratory Experiments in the Social Sciences: Second Edition. (pp. 385-402). Elsevier.
- Oliver, M. B., & Raney, A. A. (2014). Media and Social Life. Media and Social Life. (pp. 46-62). Routledge.
- Ramasubramanian, S., & Murphy, C. J. (2014). Chapter 17 Experimental Studies of Media Stereotyping Effects. Laboratory Experiments in the Social Sciences. (pp. 385-402).
- Roskos-Ewoldsen, D. R., & Monahan, J. L. (2009). Communication and Social Cognition. Communication and Social Cognition: Theories and Methods. (pp. 273-291). Routledge.
- Ramasubramanian, S., & Martin, S. M. (2008). Teens and the new media environment: Challenges and opportunities. Media Messages and Public Health: A Decisions Approach to Content Analysis. (pp. 99-115). Routledge.
Conference Papers1
- Ramantas, K., & Vlachos, K. (2009). A combined TCP aware scheduling and assembly scheme for OBS networks.. 1-6.
Institutional Repository Documents4
- Ramasubramanian, S. (2020). Convener's Note: Media Rise's Quarantined Across Borders Collection.
- Ramasubramanian, S. (2020). Media Rise 2013 Prospectus.
- Ramasubramanian, S. (2020). Media Rise Press Release 2013 Festival.
- Earhart, A., Ives, M., Burkart, P., Ezell, M., Harner, J., Ramasubramanian, S., ... Vedlitz, A. (2009). Texas Center for Digital Humanities and New Media.
- COMM245 Diffcult Dialog Pwr Privl Diff Instructor
- COMM350 Theories Of Media Comm Instructor
- COMM407 Women Min & Mass Media Instructor
- COMM610 Soc Sci Meth In Comm Instructor
- COMM658 Seminar In Comm Culture Instructor
- Fowlds, Kelli (2014-12). Shared Experiences and Collective Production: Note Card Confessions on YouTube. (Master's Thesis)
- Martinez, Amanda (2011-12). 'But it's Just a Joke!': Latino Audiences' Primed Reactions to Latino Comedians and their Use of Race-Based Humor. (Doctoral Dissertation)
- Hatfield, Elizabeth Fish (2011-08). Motherhood, Media and Reality: Analyzing Female Audience Reception of Celebrity Parenthood as News. (Doctoral Dissertation)
- Whittle, John C. (2010-05). Measuring Morality: Moral Frameworks in Videogames. (Master's Thesis)
- Hibbeler, Britney L. (2009-08). Exploring Representations of Masculinity in Disney Animated Feature Films. (Master's Thesis)


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Lot 1 227th Street is a $60,000 property on a 5.00 acre lot located in Pleasant Hill, MO.
"Breathtaking" is how you will describe the surroundings at Bethel Estates. Choose this great location between Harrisonville and Pleasant Hill to build your dream home. Lots range from 5 to 8.85 acres. Pick your dream site before someone else does. Come experience Bethel estates!
|Exterior Features
Road Maintenance - County
Road Maintenance - Private
Road Surface - Gravel
|Land Type
Flood Plain - No
Rough Grade
Site Plan Approved
Topography - Rolling
Vegetation - Cleared
|Water Source
Perc Test Required
|Property Type
|HOA Fee
|School District
east lynne
Bethel Estates
The information displayed on this page is confidential, proprietary, and copyrighted information of Heartland Multiple Listing Service, Inc. ("Heartland MLS"). Copyright© 2020 , Heartland Multiple Listing Service, Inc. Heartland MLS and Realty Executives of KC do not make any warranty or representation concerning the timeliness or accuracy of the information displayed herein. In consideration for the receipt of the information on this page, the recipient agrees to use the information solely for the private non-commercial purpose of identifying a property in which the recipient has a good faith interest in acquiring. Data last updated 10/26/2020 at 03:34pm MDT.


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Warner Bros. is going super with their official Comic-Con gear this year. When fans arrive at the annual San Diego convention, they will be distributed one of several different official Comic-Con bags — each with its own detachable cape!
17 cult shows that deserve a movieEvery backpack is double-sided, featuring both the Comic-Con 2013 design on one side and one of Warner Bros.' TV series, feature films or animated movies on the other. The bags will feature designs from current TV shows The Vampire Diaries, Arrow, The Big Bang Theory, The Following, Revolution, Supernatural and Teen Titans Go! (featuring a Beware the Batman cape). In addition, attendees may also receive a bag featuring Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, the classic Batman TV series, 300: Rise of an Empire, The LEGO Movie and the upcoming Godzilla film.This is the fourth year Warner Bros. has sponsored the official Comic-Con bag, but this year's cape makes the accessories a must-have — especially for those who didn't already come in costume. Get your first look at the Vampire Diaries bag and cape below.


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RED SOX: Boston rallies late but falls to Texas Rangers
BOSTON >> Elvis Andrus hit a tiebreaking, two-run double in the seventh inning after earlier ending a 1-for-18 slump and the Texas Rangers beat the Boston Red Sox 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia doubled in a run for Boston in the eighth, but Joe Nathan pitched the ninth for his 18th save in 19 chances.
Neal Cotts (1-0) got the win despite walking three of the four batters he faced. Craig Breslow (2-1) took the loss.
The victory gave the Rangers their best record through the first 58 games at 36-22 -- their previous best was 35-23 three times in the 1990s. They also broke a four-game road losing streak.
Texas has the best record in the AL, while Boston is second at 36-24 after their three-game winning streak stopped.
Five Texas pitchers allowed Boston just five hits one day after the Red Sox got 19 in a 17-5 win over the Rangers in the opener of the three-game series.
Both starters pitched very well with each giving up just one run on a homer.
Adrian Beltre connected off John Lackey in the fourth for his 12th home run of the season. Dustin Pedroia tied it with his fourth homer in the sixth off Alexi Ogando, who returned after being on the disabled list since May 16 with a strained right biceps.
Andrus singled in the fifth then got the big hit on the first pitch from reliever Koji Uehara.
Breslow had relieved Lackey to start the inning and allowed a leadoff double to Mitch Moreland, who left the game with tightness in his right hamstring and was replaced by pinch-runner Jeff Baker. After Jurickson Profar grounded out, pinch-hitter Craig Gentry walked and Uehara replaced Breslow to face Andrus, who broke the 1-1 tie.
Ogando struck out six, walked three and gave up three hits in his first appearance since May 15. Lackey struck out five and allowed five hits and no walks in six innings.
Boston threatened with no outs in the seventh when Stephen Drew led off with a walk and went to second on a single by Jose Iglesias. After Jackie Bradley Jr. struck out, both runners advanced on a wild pitch. But Daniel Nava grounded out and Jonny Gomes flied out.
Saltalamacchia's double drove in Mike Napoli, who walked with two outs.
NOTES: Lackey didn't get a decision for the first time in his nine starts. He allowed three runs or less for the eighth time this season. ... Iglesias reached base for the 17th time in his 18 games. ... To make room for Ogando, the Rangers sent LHP Joseph Ortiz to Triple-A Round Rock. Ortiz allowed six runs in 2 1-3 innings in Boston's 17-5 win on Tuesday night. ... Derek Holland (5-2) pitches for Texas against Jon Lester (6-2) on Thursday night.


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Nirvana's Krist Novoselic Stands With Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder on Anti-War Views
On July 11, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder launched into an anti-war plea while performing in England. The musician's speech received much media coverage, even attracting negative publicity from some pundits accusing Vedder of being anti-Israel. However, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic has praised Vedder for expressing his views.
A few days after Vedder's plea, the musician addressed the views he expressed in England with greater detail in a post titled, 'Imagine That - I'm Still Anti-War.' Vedder also performed the John Lennon peace anthem 'Imagine' for the first time in concert during a July 18 solo show in Portugal. "I think it is the most powerful song ever written," Vedder expressed, "which is why I have never played it."
As for Krist Novoselic, the Nirvana bassist and political activist wrote a blog post supporting Eddie Vedder and his outspoken anti-war views:
Thank you Eddie Vedder for speaking up for peace in our world. Eddie has gotten some criticism over comments he made about the conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis. That situation has been messed up for so long, it is no wonder that even mentioning it is toxic. Let's face it, the relationship between the Palestinians and the Israelis is a disaster! I don't know how many times I have heard the same explanations and excuses and it matters not, there is a continuing catastrophe between those two peoples.
Our world is connected as never before. People from all corners of the planet share culture and commerce at the click of a mouse. In contrast to this great convergence of humanity, Israel is building tall concrete walls while Palestinians fire rockets over them. There's a shared recent history between these people, and I think there could be a shared future that's more in tune with what's going on with our ever-connected universe.
Hamas' policy of not recognizing Israel is a dead end. All our lives are a result of the course of history. In other words, one thing leads to another, and our circumstances bring us to where we are. Israel has been a state for over 50 years, and has grown to seven million citizens. Furthermore, Israel is an inclusive democracy with universal human rights. In fact, Arab Israelis, like all its citizens, can vote for parties who hold seats in the Knesset, the national legislature.
However, if there is to be recognition of the course of history, we cannot forget the demographic changes the idea of Israel has created over 50 years. The influx of people into Israel--mostly Europeans--has displaced some four million Palestinians. You can give any anecdote you want about how small Israel is in comparison to the rest of the Middle East but the sentiment is still there--Palestinians feel that their land was taken away.
The region is host to the convergence of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. It's where these religions started, and the region's extensive history draws from all three of these Abrahamic faiths. Radicals hold eschatological beliefs that, if manifested, could set off a major religious conflict in the region and world. You have to credit Israel for keeping a lid on this dynamic while at the same time granting religious freedom.
As we've seen with other conflicts, things do and can change. The "troubles" in Northern Ireland were a result of events a century ago, and after a proactive effort, peace has taken hold. Yugoslavia was another 19th-century idea that when put into practice caused much controversy and conflict. Today we find the south Slavs working to come together in the European Union. In both these cases, a resolution of the conflict was buttressed by the promise of the stability needed for prosperity to happen.
The people of Palestine and Israel deserve peace and prosperity. It is time to stop repeating the same old arguments, dogma and hate speech. It is the knuckleheads on both sides that should be criticized and not the singer from a rock band. In addition, both sides need to make hard decisions about finding a settlement to the catastrophe that is Israel/ Palestine.
Thanks Eddie for sharing your feelings. I stand with you my friend!!!
Pearl Jam are set to play a string of U.S. dates in October. For the full list of shows, click here.
Eddie Vedder Performs John Lennon's 'Imagine'
See Eddie Vedder's Great Leap + Other Epic Stage Dives


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In Wake of Anti-Gay Violence, Catholic Cardinal Launches New Attack on Same-Sex Families
2013 is only half over, but New York City has seen almost twice as many anti-gay hate crimes take place this year as in 2012. This, a May 26 New Civil Rights article noted, is part and parcel of a rising trend in recent years of violence targeting gays. But that worrisome uptick in brutal physical attacks against victims based on their sexual orientation didn't stop Cardinal Timothy Dolan for calling for Catholic priests nationwide to preach from the pulpit against family equality.
Moreover, Dolan chose the month of June -- traditionally the month when cities around the country and around the world celebrate Pride -- to launch this latest attack on same-sex families by the Catholic Church.
"Dolan, who is the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), and thus the top representative of the Roman Catholic Church in America, is also the Archbishop of New York, but has said not one word about the skyrocketing anti-LGBT violent hate crimes in his own back yard," the New Civil Rights Movement article noted.
"According to police, they have seen a 70 per cent spike in violent incidents targeting the LGBT community, from 14 last year to 29 in 2013," a Daily Mail article said, going on to report on the response from local GLBT equality leaders.
"No more violence," the head of Empire State Pride Agenda, Nathan Schaefer, said. "We won't stand for it as a community or as a city."
That's not the message Cardinal Dolan sent out in a bulletin insert he issued for national circulation.
"For the first time in our nation's history, the Supreme Court is considering two cases about whether or not marriage should be redefined to include two persons of the same sex," the bulletin insert reads. "These cases involve the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California's Proposition 8, both of which define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The Court is expected to rule on both cases by the end of June. A broad negative ruling could redefine marriage in the law throughout the entire country, becoming the "Roe v. Wade " of marriage."
"Roe v. Wade" is the Supreme Court case that found a woman has the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. In the wake of that case, instances of religiously motivated violence, including arson targeting family planning and abortion clinics, and assassinations of doctors providing abortion services, have taken place.
DOMA, a federal law signed in 1996 by then-president Bill Clinton, denies same-sex couples any and all federal recognition, and allows states to refuse to honor marriages granted elsewhere. The law is the reason why couples legally married in one state are rendered legal strangers simply by crossing a state line. The law also denies married same-sex couples federal tax benefits, pensions, and other protections routinely enjoyed by heterosexual couples.
DOMA is especially hard on bi-national gay and lesbian couples that, unlike heterosexual families, are denied the ability to sponsor their same-sex spouses, even if they are legally married.
Proposition 8 is the voter-approved ballot initiative that, in 2008, rescinded the then-existing right of California's same-sex families to enter into legal marriage. It was the first time that an existing right had been taken from a minority at the ballot box, and was subsequently found unconstitutional by two federal courts.
"The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has joined with many other organizations in urging the Supreme Court to uphold both DOMA and Proposition 8 and thereby to recognize the essential, irreplaceable contribution that husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, make to society, and especially to children," the insert continued.
Church teaching calls gays and lesbians "disordered" and says that God "calls" those who are romantically and sexually attracted to those of their own gender to lives of celibacy. As such, the Church holds that gays and lesbians should be denied married life.
The church has also declared that sexual affection between gay and lesbian spouses is "intrinsically evil," and stated that same-sex parents inflict "abuse" upon their children simply by providing them with loving, stable homes.
Dolan's tract used a number of coded references, including "religious liberty" and "freedom." It has been the claim of anti-gay people of faith that their own freedoms of worship and expression are eroded by laws recognizing same-sex relationships and allowing gays and lesbians to partake in the civil contract of marriage, with its 1,000+ legal rights and protections.
The bulletin insert outlined the religious, rather than the civil, meaning of marriage, and proceeded from an assumption that people of all faiths -- or no faith -- ought to be required to structure their family lives according to Catholic dogma.
"What is marriage?" the insert asks at one juncture. "Marriage is the permanent and exclusive union of one man and one woman, for the good of the spouses and for the procreation and education of children. One man, one woman - for life."
Indeed, although the Bible contains a scant half-dozen references to same-gender sexual activity -- most of them vague or mistranslated, and contested by scholars -- both the Old and New Testaments condemn divorce in no uncertain terms. However, to date, no ballot initiative has appeared in any state that would ban divorce, nor has the Church advocated for such a ballot initiative. The Church has, on the other hand, been highly active in bans targeting same-sex families from gaining marriage rights.
Marriage equality is now the law in twelve states. Thirty states have seen their constitutions amended at the ballot box to exclude same-sex families from marriage. The 2012 elections marked only the second time that anti-gay ballot initiatives have failed, with several anti-gay measures failing in a number of states.
Despite the plethora of legal protections and benefits available to married couples, especially on the federal level, Dolan's insert claims that marriage equality is not substantially beneficial.
"There are many ways to protect the basic human rights of all," the insert says, "but redefining marriage serves no one's rights, least of all those of children."
The bulletin encourages parishioners to work actively in efforts to derail and roll back legal progress for gay and lesbian families.
"Please consider contributing time, talent, and/or treasure to local or national efforts seeking to protect the unique meaning of marriage," the text reads.
The insert also calls for married heterosexuals to speak out about their own experience with marriage, while evidently ignoring the deep importance of marriage for same-sex couples.
"Be a witness for the truth of marriage in word and action," the insert advises. "Take advantage of opportunities to speak about marriage's unique meaning in conversation with friends, family, neighbors or co-workers." The text goes on to urge readers to "Share the truth in love."
But truth and love are often victims to politically motivated messaging, and The Raw Story suggested, in a May 26 posting, that anti-gay sermons from the pulpit could add fuel to the flames of anti-gay brutality and lethal violence in New York and elsewhere.
Indeed, the article noted, "While other stridently anti-LGBT groups like the Family Research Council and the National Organization for Marriage are denouncing the violence in New York, Dolan's move in the opposite direction is puzzling. But by encouraging more anti-equality sermons in Catholic churches across the nation and more expressions of anti-LGBT sentiment by parishioners, the potential for conflict and by virtue of that, violence, only grows."
Such an escalation in anti-gay violence would not be unprecedented, and anti-gay speech from religious leaders -- some of it exceedingly virulent -- is not uncommon. Last year, a number of comments and sermons targeting gays caught the attention of the media, including a pastor who said that parents should "give... a good punch" and otherwise inflict physical abuse on boys who seem effeminate, a pastor who called for a concentration camp for gays, and a religious leader who said that the government should impose the death penalty on gays.
One government that has mulled just such a death penalty for gays in recent years is Uganda, where lawmaker David Bahati -- a man with ties to American anti-gay organizations -- introduced the so-called "Kill the Gays" bill shortly after three American evangelicals visited that country.
In March of 2009, several American evangelicals traveled to Uganda and presented what they called the "Seminar on Exposing the Homosexuals' Agenda." Their talks contained assorted claims about gays and the "dangers" that gays pose to society, reported the New York Times in a Jan. 3, 2010 article.
The conference was put together by the Ugandan group the Family Life Network, which purports to uphold "traditional family values." The speakers included anti-gay writer and missionary Scott Lively -- author of a book that claims to tell parents how to "gay-proof" their offspring -- and Don Schmierer, a board member of Exodus international, an organization dedicated to the idea that gays can be "cured" through prayer and counseling.
A third speaker was also in attendance: Caleb Lee Brundidge, who claims once to have been gay, but now to be heterosexual. Mr. Brundage heads seminars focused on "healing" gays -- that is, attempting to turn them straight.
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ABERDEEN, Idaho — Well into a general sugar beet harvest that started nearly a week early, southeast Idaho growers report outstanding yields but disappointing sugar content.
Aberdeen area growers had early harvest from Sept. 17-21. Rather than shutting down for the standard two-week period prior to their general harvest, they resumed digging on Sept. 30, due to a shortage of canal water.
Beet growers need moist soil to facilitate unearthing beets without breaking off the tops. Predominately, growers with fields served only by canal water took advantage of the early start, though some have opted to gamble on timely rain to moisten fields and allow more time for cool, fall weather to elevate low sugar levels.
"The primary purpose of doing (harvest) a little bit early was because there wasn't going to be water in the canal to get their beets out at the normal time," said Steve Howser, general manager of Aberdeen-Springfield Canal Co. "They irrigated pretty heavily on the last week to 10 days we had water in the canal in hopes that the moisture would hold as long as possible."
Grower Dwight Horsch dug one field early, unable to access well water. Through Oct. 8, Horsch was about halfway through his sugar beet harvest, concerned leaving them in the field for too long would elevate the risk of them freezing in the ground.
Though Amalgamated Sugar Co. had it's most widespread sugar beet replant in history this spring due to late frost, Horsch believes he's now digging one of his top three yielding crops, at more than 40 tons per acre. His tonnage is still slightly less than last year, when Idaho growers had a record crop.
Though a hot summer helped the replanted beets catch up, Horsch acknowledged, "Part of the reason we got low sugars is they're young beets."
His sugar levels have come in at about 14 percent this year, compared with 17-18 percent last fall. Though sugar prices have also been low, Horsch believes the strong yields will give him a profitable crop.
Aberdeen grower Jeff Pahl believes his tons per acre will be in the upper 30s to low 40s, which could put this fall's crop slightly ahead of the crop he produced last season. Pahl, who started harvesting on Oct. 8, worries about low sugars and hopes a recent turn toward cool weather will raise them a bit.
George Schroeder, a Treasure Valley crop consultant with Amalgamated Sugar, said growers in his region started harvesting beets on Oct. 8. Companywide, he said, beets are averaging about 35.5 tons per acre, down about a half ton from last season. He's heard sugar levels in eastern Idaho have been down by at least a point.
Hundreds of sugar beet acres in his service area had foliage damaged by an early September hail storm, which left the plants to focus on regrowing leaves rather than accumulating sugars. He said those growers will wait until the end of the month to harvest, hoping to recover tonnage and sugar content.