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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — John Elway insists Joe Flacco is at the top of his game at age 34 even though the former Baltimore Ravens quarterback hasn't thrown a pass in the playoffs since 2015.
"Joe is a perfect fit for us," Elway said at Flacco's introductory news conference Friday. "He's played in a lot of big games, he has a lot of good football left in him. At 34, (I) feel like he's just really coming into his prime."
That echoed comments Elway made Wednesday when he told the NFL Network that Flacco's "arm strength is still great" and "he's just going into his prime," even though the veteran QB was supplanted by rookie Lamar Jackson last season and didn't play in the Ravens' wild-card loss to the Chargers.
Elway, who sent a fourth-round pick to Baltimore for Flacco in a deal worked out five weeks ago, trusts he's finally found a worthy successor to Peyton Manning — another Super Bowl winner who came to Denver for the second chapter of his storied career.
Flacco said he'd love to reach out to Manning as he tries to follow his lead in Denver.
"I am new to this. It's completely different and obviously I'm going to find my way through it mostly on my own," Flacco said. "But ... it would probably be a huge benefit to talk to somebody like him, who has not only gone through it but has been successful."
It also appears Elway is trying hard to sell his latest quarterback acquisition to an antsy and skeptical fan base that has suffered through Mark Sanchez's flop, Trevor Siemian's fall, Brock Osweiler's flounder, Paxton Lynch's fiasco, Case Keenum's failure and Chad Kelly's flameout in the three years since Manning retired.
No matter the motivation, Flacco appreciates Elway's endorsement .
"I definitely feel that way," Flacco said of being in his prime. "So, it feels good to hear somebody say that. I mean, shoot, with Tom Brady now quarterbacks are playing until they're about 60 years old."
Flacco, who's 7½ years younger than Brady, said he's healthy and hardy and can't wait to get going.
"I'm as healthy as I can be, as a physical and ready to go as ever," Flacco said. "So, I'm excited about what lies ahead for me and my future. I'm not putting a number on how much I've got left to play. I'm going to play as long as I can and hopefully they're dragging me out of this building a long time from now."
Flacco, whose last playoff appearance was a 35-31 loss at New England on Jan. 10, 2015, has three years and $63 million left on his contract with a 2019 salary of $18.5 million.
Flacco missed just six games in his first decade in the NFL and was Baltimore's starter last season until he injured his right hip in a loss at Pittsburgh on Nov. 4. Jackson took over and went 6-1 to get the Ravens into the playoffs for the first time since the 2014 season.
"If I have to reflect back on that time in Baltimore, it was not very fun. It was miserable sitting there on the bench and not being able to contribute, not really feeling like you're a part of the team," Flacco said. "But if that's what it takes to be in this situation right now and be as excited about it as I am and my family is, then that's what it takes."
The Ravens went 106-72 with Flacco as a starter, including the postseason, where his 10 playoff victories since 2008 rank second behind Brady among active quarterbacks. Nobody has more road playoff wins than Flacco's seven.
"As we recall, there was one four or five years ago that was pretty painful here in Denver," Elway said of Baltimore's 38-35 win in double-overtime over the AFC's top seed on Jan. 12, 2013, "and hopefully we'll have a lot more of those miracles on our side this time rather than against us."
Flacco heaved a 70-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones in the final minute of regulation when safety Rahim Moore mistimed his jump while going for the interception instead of the tackle. That play represents the Broncos' Bill Buckner moment and it propelled the Ravens to their second Super Bowl title a month later.
Flacco said he's still driven by his love for the game, not by his disappointing end in Baltimore.
"I'm really not trying to think too much about my past and why I'm here," he said. "I'm really just trying to be excited for the fact that I am here and the offense that we're getting ready to run and the team we're getting ready to build."
Notes: The Broncos re-signed TE Jeff Heuerman to a two-year deal worth about $9 million.
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/tag/NFL and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
Follow Arnie Melendrez Stapleton on Twitter: http://witter.com/arniestapleton


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A logo music that reminds a Carillon sound.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Anyone who uses social media marketing to promote themselves or their business wants people to see and interact with all the content they're sharing. Sometimes that just doesn't happen. You have an off day, a post that gets less engagement than you had hoped, or nothing but crickets.
But there are a few things you can do with your social posts to increase the odds of engagement. Here are 6 tricks to get you more clicks.
1. Use hashtags
Hashtags help to highlight the topics you're talking about in a social post and make your content more searchable. And they're used on all the social networks. When you use a hashtag, the network will turn it into a link, and when you click on it, you'll see all the posts on that network that also use that hashtag. When people click on those hashtags, your post will be shown as part of that conversation. Take a look at Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+ and Instagram and see what topics are trending. Use relevant hashtags for those topics in your post, and your content will be more likely to be seen by a larger audience.
When Spike TV's Frankenfood truck stopped by my office to give out free samples and publicize the show, I took an Instagram photo, and shared it on Twitter, using their #frankenfood hashtag in both places. Frankenfood saw the tweet and retweeted it, resulting in a 52 engagement actions, including 14 link clicks, 11 clicks on the tweet to expand it, 9 clicks on the photo, and 7 favorites.
2. Use the hashtag #mostpopular
Everyone is interested in the latest trends – we want to know what everyone is talking about, what's popular. Why can't it be your content?
If you've been using a link shortener like bit.ly or Hootsuite's ow.ly when you're sharing links to your content or curated content, check your stats at the end of the week. Which of your posts got the most engagement? Retweet yourself or repost on Facebook using the same link and tell your followers it was your best content of the week by adding the hashtag #mostpopular. Anyone who read it or missed it will see that it was trending and they'll be curious – why was this so popular?
A few weeks ago, I tweeted a link to a blog post about the Seinfeld emoji app, and also shared the link to the blog post on Facebook.
It got the most clicks out of my tweets that week, so I retweeted it that Friday as my #mostpopular tweet, and got a few more clicks.
3. Use an interesting fact, stat or tip
People love trivia and learning little nuggets of information that help them connect the dots about what's happening in the world around them. Think about the content you personally or your friends share on Facebook. I bet there's at least one thing that shows up in your news feed that makes you think "Hey! I didn't know that. Pretty cool." Do the same thing for your followers. Share something that makes you say that, but make sure it's relevant to your business and your social voice, and link to the news story or blog post that talks about the stat, fact or tip.
Make it stand out visually – create some graphics with free tools like PicMonkey or Canva to Illustrate your stat, fact or tip. Share the image in your social post and link back to the blog post or article.
Here's a tweet I posted that includes a link to tips on finding the best time to post on social media. People are always looking for tips like this!
4. Share multimedia
By now, it's no secret that photos, video and graphics get more engagement than a text post. It's why all of the top networks – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, and Instagram have either improved the quality of the display of visual posts in their newsfeed, or added it or are all visual. If you haven't started sharing multimedia, what are you waiting for?
Post photos to visualize your blog posts. Post photos on their own. Show off what you do, what you sell, or what happens behind the scenes (to show off your personality). You don't need a professional camera for this. Use that gadget you keep in your pocket all day and on your bedside table at night – your smartphone. Smartphone cameras have improved a lot. That's one of the reasons your iPhone is so expensive. It's a fancy camera! Just make sure your photos are sized appropriately for the social network you're posting to. Not sure what size you need? Check out this handy social media size guide for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest and Instagram.
This is a simple photo collage I shared on Twitter when our office started offering manicures at work from Manicube. You can see it got some nice engagement when you view the stats via Twitter's analytics tools – 13 clicks to view the photo, 10 clicks on the link (which linked to the original Instagram photo), a few favorites, retweets and clicks on my profile. Pretty sweet!
Please promise me that you won't use your iPad or whatever tablet you own to take pictures. That's embarrassing. It looks like you're holding up a book and smashing your face in it. Just don't. Cameras are tiny. Use your smartphone.
Your phone also records video, so share that too. Record a greeting to your fans – tell them what's new. Or try a how to video that includes instructions on how to use one of your products. Just make sure the video is short. Attention spans have changed – more than half of viewers will stop watching a video within the first 90 seconds.
5. Tag people
If you want people to see your posts, sometimes you have to do something that personally asks them "Hey would you please click on this?".Try tagging people in your posts. When you tag someone, they get a notification and they'll be more likely to click on your post and share with their networks, which gets you more clicks.
But don't be obnoxious about it, like this person. It's like they're on a public sidewalk shoving a flyer in my face: "HEY I DON'T KNOW YOU, BUT READ THIS THING!" First of all, I don't know who you are and if you're credible. Secondly, you clearly aren't a social media expert because you didn't shrink your link in your Twitter post and you maxed out your 140 characters with a long link. So no, I might not like your post. Also, I might just block you and report you for spam.
How do you do it the right way? Relevance. Tag them if you or someone else mentions them in the thing you're linking to (like a blog post). Tag them if you have a relationship with a person and you know them well enough that they would be interested in the thing you're linking to. I tag my alma mater, Purdue University, when I see a blog post or news article that mentions them or their community (which is also my hometown). Sometimes they are very generous and retweet me, which gives my tweet more exposure to their 44,000 followers. Here's a recent tweet I shared about a Forbes article that listed my hometown as one of the top places for small businesses and careers. It's relevant to Purdue so they retweeted it. According to Twitter's analytics, the link got 66 clicks!
6. Post on multiple networks
Another great way to get clicks is to post the same content on multiple social networks so that more people will see it. You don't have to be on every network – just the ones that are relevant to you and your audience.
It's OK to post on multiple places because your followers aren't exactly the same people following you every place. If you were to print out a list of your Facebook fans, Twitter followers, Instagram followers, etc., you might have some overlap, but there could be some people who follow you on one or a few places, but not all. Don't isolate your content to one network – people might not catch it there if they follow you on a different network. Or if they are following you on multiple places, well, clearly they like you. They won't mind seeing the same thing a few times – in fact, they might scroll by and make a mental note to read your content later when they see it on Facebook, and make the move to click when they pass by it on Twitter.
Just make sure that you are not auto-posting and blasting out the same exact thing to multiple places. Keep in mind the nuances and etiquette of posting on each channel. If you're auto-posting your Facebook posts to Twitter, those Facebook posts won't work as tweets. If you exceed the 140 character limit in your Facebook post, it will get cut off on Twitter, which means a long link you post on Facebook might end prematurely in your tweet. Also, if you're not changing up the content a little bit for each channel, you're not really giving people a reason to follow you in multiple places.
Also, make sure you are shrinking your link so you can tell where the traffic came from. I shortened the link to an infographic I created and shared it on my personal Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Notice how each of the posts are a little bit different:
According to HootSuite, it got 22 clicks in the first 24 hours. On the day I posted it, it was the only one of the links from my tweets that I shared on multiple networks. You can see referrals came in from LinkedIn and Facebook.
How do you get clicks?
These are just 6 examples of how to get engagement with your content. How do you do it? Leave your tips in the comments or link to tips that you've seen on other blogs. I'd love to learn a few new tips!


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FREMONT, Calif. - June 14, 2011 - Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) today announced the portable Logitech® HD Webcam C615 for easy video calling and HD recording on the go - whether you're at a birthday party or on a business trip, on a PC or a Mac. The webcam's fold-and-go design, coupled with autofocus capabilities and a 360-degree swivel rotation, expands the possibilities of what you can capture in full HD video anytime, anywhere.
So you can better stay in touch with your friends, family and coworkers, the Logitech HD Webcam C615 lets you make video calls in HD 720p on Skype™, FaceTime® for Mac, Logitech Vid™ HD and Windows Live™ Messenger, as well as video calls on Yahoo!® Messenger, iChat, AOL® Instant Messenger (AIM®) and other popular instant messaging applications. It also includes one-click HD video and photo upload to Facebook™, as well as HD video upload to YouTube™ and Twitter, so you can easily share your video recordings. To bring you extra flexibility, the webcam comes with a 3-foot USB cable with an extender, and has a tripod-ready design so you can easily capture video from any vantage point.
"We know how important it is for today's travelers to stay connected, whether they're on the road for business or leisure, so we are pleased to offer an HD webcam that simplifies video calling and sharing videos on the go," said Joerg Tewes, vice president and general manager of Logitech's consumer video business unit. "The Logitech HD Webcam C615 is designed for maximum flexibility no matter what your needs may be, with the equipment necessary for HD recordings right in the box and easy-to-use editing features for both Mac and PC users."
The Logitech HD Webcam C615 features built-in autofocus, helping ensure your picture quality will be razor sharp - even in extreme closeups - and a built-in mic that helps make sure background noise won't spoil your video calls. With Logitech's newest webcam, users can also capture software-enhanced 8-megapixel images, while built-in Logitech Fluid Crystal™ Technology gives users smoother video, sharper pictures, richer color and clearer sound in real-world conditions.
Pricing and Availability
The Logitech HD Webcam C615 is expected to be available in the U.S. in June for a suggested retail price of $79.99, and expects to be available in Europe and Asia in September. For more information on Logitech webcams and worldwide availability, please visit http://www.logitech.com/webcams.
About Logitech
Logitech is a world leader in products that connect people to the digital experiences they care about. Spanning multiple computing, communication and entertainment platforms, Logitech's combined hardware and software enable or enhance digital navigation, music and video entertainment, gaming, social networking, audio and video communication over the Internet, video security and home-entertainment control. Founded in 1981, Logitech International is a Swiss public company listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (LOGN) and on the Nasdaq Global Select Market (LOGI).
Last updated: Apr 7, 2020 at 12:04 pm CDT


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Apple CEO Steve Jobs said Tuesday that his company didn't begin the long-running feud with Adobe over Flash, but only reacted after its rival "started to raise a stink."
In an interview Tuesday night at the D8 Conference , Jobs told Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg that Apple didn't cast the first stone.
"We didn't start off to have a war with Flash, or anything else. We just made a technical decision that we weren't gonna put the energy into getting Flash on our platform," said Jobs. "We told Adobe, if you ever have this thing running fast, let us know, which they never did."
Apple decided to ban Flash from its iPhone before it introduced the first-generation smartphone in 2007, Jobs added, and told Adobe as much. Only later, claimed Jobs, did Adobe come out swinging.
"It wasn't until we shipped the iPad and it didn't use Flash that Adobe started to raise a stink about it," Jobs said. "That's why I wrote 'Thoughts on Flash,' We were trying to be real professional about this and not talk to the press. We didn't think it was a matter for the press. [But] we finally said enough is enough. We're tired of these guys trashing us in the press over this."
Jobs' hammered Flash in his April 29 missive, in which he cited several reasons for banning Adobe's popular technology, ranging from poor performance to security issues.
In the same letter, Jobs stuck to Apple's decision to also bar iPhone and iPad software created with cross-platform compilers, another point where Adobe and Apple are at odds.
Adobe's Flash Professional CS5 includes a cross-platform compiler that lets Flash developers easily create native iPhone and iPad applications, something that Apple refuses to allow. According to reports, that part of the companies' feud has attracted interest from antitrust regulators at the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
Yesterday, Jobs said that consumers would ultimately decide whether Apple's Flash ban was the right decision.
"Sometimes you just have to pick the things that look like they're going to be the right horses to ride going forward," said Jobs, citing Apple's decision to dump the floppy drive from its original iMac in mid-1998 as an example. "Sometimes people call us crazy."
But he defended Apple's choice of technology horses.
"Flash looks like a technology that has had its day, but is waning," Jobs said, "and HTML5 looks like the technology that is really on the ascendency right now."
Apple has aggressively pushed HTML5 -- the next-generation of the underlying language used to create Web sites -- and its support for embedded video as the right substitute for Flash. But there, too, Apple faces resistance. Two weeks ago, Google debuted a new royalty-free video codec that will compete in HTML5 with the H.264 codec that Apple's backing.
Jobs didn't sound worried that any of these conflicts would upset the Apple cart. "It will all work itself out," he said, talking about consumers and how their choices, not Apple's decisions or Adobe's or Google's, make a product a success or failure. "[And] people seem to be liking the iPad."
On Monday, Apple announced it had sold 2 million iPads since the tablet went on sale in the U.S. March 12.
Adobe did not respond to a request seeking comment on Jobs' claims that Apple's rival started the public spat between the two firms.
Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld . Follow Gregg on Twitter at @gkeizer or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed . His e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.com .
Read more about mac os in Computerworld's Mac OS Topic Center.


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Question: "Would the discovery of Noah's Ark be important?"
Answer: There have been numerous claimed discoveries of Noah's Ark in recent years. The discoveries have been in various locations, ranging from Mount Ararat in Turkey, to a mountain range in Iran, to an entirely different location on Mount Ararat (with a visitors' center). It is not the purpose of this article to evaluate whether or not the Noah's Ark discovery claims are legitimate. Rather, the question at hand is: If Noah's Ark was discovered, would that be significant? Would the discovery of Noah's Ark cause people to turn to God in faith?
The discovery of a boat-like structure in the mountains of the Middle East, carbon dated to approximately the time of the biblical account of Noah's Ark (2500 B.C), with evidence of animal life once having been aboard would surely be a tremendous discovery. For those who believe in God and trust in the Bible as His inspired Word, it would be powerful confirmation that the Bible is true and that early human history occurred precisely as the Bible describes it. A verified discovery of Noah's Ark would likely cause many seekers and open-minded skeptics to at least re-evaluate their beliefs. For the close-minded critic and hardened atheist, however, the discovery of Noah's Ark would not make one bit of a difference.
Romans 1:19-20 declares, "For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse" (ESV). If a person is rejecting the clear evidence of God in the universe, no biblically-related discovery would change his/her mind. Similarly, in Luke 16:31, Jesus declared, "If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." No discovery, no argument, and no miracle will change the mind of a person who has been blinded by Satan (2 Corinthians 4:4) and is, with a hard heart and closed mind, rejecting the light of the Gospel.
Conversely, would it matter if Noah's Ark is never discovered? No, it would not matter because the Christian faith is not built on every biblical account being explicitly/conclusively proven. The Christian faith is built on faith. "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29). With that in mind, though, there are two primary explanations for why Noah's Ark might never be discovered. First, the wood of the Ark would have been very valuable post-Flood. Noah and his family would have needed wood to build their homes. It is possible that Noah and his family, or their descendants, deconstructed the Ark and used its wood for other purposes. Second, even if Noah and his family left the Ark intact, approximately 4500 years have passed (if the biblical account is interpreted strictly literally). A wooden structure exposed to harsh elements for 4500 years would, for the most part, decompose/decay into virtual nothingness.
While the discovery of Noah's Ark would be a tremendous and powerful archaeological find, it will never be something Christians should place their faith in. The discovery of Noah's Ark, or the Ark of the Covenant, or the Garden of Eden, or any other biblical artifact will not prove the Christian faith and will not change the mind of anyone whom God is not drawing (John 6:44). "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).


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My favourite Starman died on January 10th, and being a huge fan, it left me feeling rather sad. He was an extraordinary, innovative talent, driven by a healthy dose of curiosity and foresight, ensuring he was always ahead of the game, with an eye to the future. He left his unique mark on music, art, and fashion, and shared with us his fascination for space and planets, which he made reference to throughout his career.
If your children are young, it's quite likely David Bowie is not on their radar, so consider this a great way to explore the solar system and its wonderful planets… while you play Starman or Space Oddity in the background! For those who loved Bowie's work, why not make him a glow-in-the-dark planet to go along with the lightening-bolt Bowie-asterism, as a tribute to him.


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Please enter your Mobile Number and Education Level to proceed.
Career Guide to 3000+ students till date
Have been conducting career guidance workshops in 30 schools in Mumbai, Pune, Panchgani, Nasik and Goa for the past 5
Have engaged with approx. 3,000 students both collectively in groups as well as individually for various programs
Deep knowledge of various career options available and the course details
Handled more than 5000 career queries on email over the last 5 years
Commerce Graduate and an MBA in Finance from IIM Indore
Defense & MilitaryArmy Related CareersDesigning & ArtAccessory DesignersArchitectView more »
Founder And Director At Canvas Career
Mr. Prathamesh is a Certified Career Consultant by Psytech International (bps) UK and is also a Certified Trainer for Life Skills; he is pursuing Narrative Therapy from Adelaide, Australia. He has been in to career counseling for more than 8 years now he practices MINDFULNESS psychotherapy with students. He possesses vast experience in teaching and career counseling. Currently he is associated with FUEL NGO. He had counseled over laces of students and is a founder director of Canvas Career Consultancy, committed to conduct Psychometric assessments for students and do career counseling by making them aware about new career avenues
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FreeLancer Academic and Career Guidance Counsellor
Mrs. Halima is a postgraduate in psychology from Osmania University and a International Diploma in Guidance & Counseling in collaboration with COL, Canada. She posses Enormous experience in Academic and Psychological Counseling and had done Project on "Counseling & Guidance using ACA & APA standards ", "Motivation to enhance academic achievements"," Comparative analysis of Self Confidence of undergraduate boys & girls". She had worked as an Academic Research Associate at Indian Institute of Management, Indore. She specializes in educational, career and academic counseling and guidance, Organizational behavior.
AgricultureAgriculture & Allied FieldsBiological ScientistDietitianEnvironmental scientistView more »
Career Counsellor and Co-Founder of CANVAS CAREER
Mr Tejas is a practicing Career Psychologist. He is a certified Master Trainer of Life Skills from (Khemka Foundation) Delhi and holds more than five year of experience as Career Psychologist and life skill trainer. He has counselled around 50,000+ students over conferences in various part of country .Scholarships and competitive exams are his special areas.
Career Counselor
Ms. Meghna is a owner of Shiksh Vikas and is an expert in Career Counseling and Career Coaching she keeps her main focus on issues such as career exploration, career change, personal career development and other career related issues in order to provide right solution to an individual or student regarding a career query. She has had a extensive experience in education management and is well versed in her field of counseling and guidance.
AgricultureAgriculture & Allied FieldsDietitianFishery ScientistBiological ScientistView more »
Career consultant/ Immigration lawyer at Mahavir OEC.
Mr. Dharmesh is a B.A. LL.B.(Advocate). He has versatile experience as an immigration lawyer and Career consultant. At present he is a manager and partner of Mahavir Overseas Education Centre at Porbandar. He have advise thousand of candidates for their academic, career and overseas settlement issues and specializes in immigration matters.
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The setting is your office. You're bathed in the dull glow of your computer screen, staring at a blank page in Word, trying to write a paper.
The cursor is watching you, mocking you, laughing at your inability to get words out.
Your mind locks up as you wonder "what do I have to say?" The more you try to force out words, the harder it becomes, and eventually the frustration leads to you sitting there, at your desk with your head in your hands, wondering how you'll ever finish.
You then Google "how to overcome writers block" and end up on this post.
Writer's block is a tough thing to deal with, but one we'll all have to tackle at some point – either at the start of our training while we're writing outlines and proposals, at the end when we're writing up manuscripts and theses, or afterwards, as we're working on papers and other documents. So the question becomes, how do you deal with it?
Now, I'm going to state the obvious here, but it's a necessary point: The hardest part of writing is starting to write. Once you start though, it becomes infinitely easier to get content out onto the page. To help you kick start your writing process, I'm going to give you a few tips, and as always, I'd love to hear what you do to overcome writers block when it hits in the comments.
1) Isolate yourself. Remove all distractions – phone, coworkers, cats, get rid of it all. You want to be able to focus exclusively on writing. The fact is that if you have an easy out, you're more likely to take it, i.e. "I'm stuck, I wonder if anything has changed on Facebook in the past 3 minutes? And this Buzzfeed article seems great, and look at what this cat is doing…" It's tough to start writing, and removing distractions means you'll struggle through those tough parts rather than put it off and do something else. You need to power through this part.
2) Talk it out. This one sounds strange, but is one of my favourites and has been hugely effective for me. Occasionally, I'll close my office door, stand up, and pretend I'm giving a talk about whatever it is I'm writing about. Now only does this get you thinking about the topic at hand, but without the intimidation of the cursor and blank word document staring at you, it is easier to just get your ideas out. Be organic: stand up, pace back and forth, talk like you normally would, and don't focus on the minutia of your project. Talk about the broad strokes and the flow of your arguments, and see if they helps you over the initial hurdle.
Alternative: Grab a coworker, go for coffee, and outline your paper/idea to them. Tell them their job is not to have a conversation with you – their job is to ask questions and prod you when you get stuck, and help you jump start your writing. Obviously, you owe them coffee/donut(s) for listening to you 🙂
3) Write an outline. For those who don't like talking things out, this is an effective alternative. Sketch down the key points you want to make in each paragraph, and write as much information about each paragraph as you can without losing momentum. Even if you do talk it out, this is a good way to conceptualize your work. By the end, you should have something like this:
Paragraph 1: Open with a scene about writers block
Paragraph 2: Describe writers block, transition into list
Paragraph 3: Start outlining key points
4) Start writing. Don't think about grammar, phrasing, punctuation or language rules. Just get words out. Ignore word choices, ignore making things sound "professional." Just get those ideas out and onto the page. At this point you want to have something out there to look at and critique, and hopefully, if you followed steps 1 through 3, you've got a few ideas up your sleeve now. Remember: the ideas don't have to flow. You can write two distinct paragraphs, making two very different points, and that's fine. You can go back later and fine tune things. Again, all you're trying to do here is get something out onto the page that you can work with.
5) Do something else. Up until this point, I've talked about isolating yourself and focusing on writing. Here, I'm going to suggest leaving it, but with one caveat. Go and do something else that gets you moving, but not something that engages you entirely – something like cooking, cleaning, going for a run, lifting weights etc. Something that allows you to get yourself up, but without taking your full attention. There's a reason why we have our best ideas in the shower, and turns out it's because of the combination of 1) the release of dopamine, 2) being relaxed, and 3) being distracted enough that your subconscious can engage and work on a problem, results in you being more creative (science here)
Before you know it, you've got an outline, some body text and a fleshed out idea of what you want to say, and that's half the battle right there. After you've got a skeleton to work with, it becomes a lot easier to start writing, and begin building your arguments.
How do you deal with writer's block?


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Abhay and I fell in love at the cinema: a relationship studded with sprocket holes. First date was Herzog, first kiss Godard; our first 'I love you' followed a screening of Cocteau's timeless Beauty and the Beast. Our romance burned like an old projector lamp: fiercely, and for a short time. We lasted six months.
But Thomas – now, Thomas is different. His mixtape won me over: Shaa'ir and Func, Sulk Station. Cool, but not self-consciously so. We unspool slowly, comfortably, easily into each other. I think I'm on the right track with this one.
This story was written for Bench Media's One Frame Stories, which calls for stories of under 99 words based on an image prompt. My submission to Frame Two got lost in the system somewhere, so I'm publishing it here.
You can submit to the latest OFS round here. Only 99 words! It doesn't take long.
(Photo by Jan Photography)


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Gusto Urasoe Makiminato Store in Kyushu Region, Japan
Write a review
- Kyushu Region, Japan
- Cuisine : International
- Something is wrong? Please edit this place!
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Back to business …
Now that we've entered the †Easter† season, I've continued to prepare for my dissertation defense
Right down to what I wear!
I actually sought consult from my personal stylist/classmate who finished his Ph.D. two years ago
As of this month!
I ended up scoring another A'GACI number that matches up with almost all-of-the-above ~ plus has this ☼spring's☼ on-point trend: polka dots!
Then I had to remind myself of this scripture that I came across during †Lent†:
Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
Therefore do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or "What shall we drink?" or "What shall we wear?" For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of †GOD† and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." ~ Matthew 6:25-27, 31-34


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Black women have received little attention for the critical role they have played in maintaining their families and contributing to their communities. After running across a brief reference to Rachel Whitfield (1814-1908) a "former slave who made it on her own as head of a household, subsistence farmer," I began searching for more. I found Rachel's story in Women in Early Texas, an account written by her granddaughter, Lela Jackson. In 1852 Jim and Rachel Whitfield lived with their six children in Arkansas, Missouri. Their master, a man named Whitfield sold Jim to a slave owner, and the family never saw him again. Then, Rachel, age thirty-eight, and the children were put together on the auction block. They were purchased by a man named Washington McLaughlin, and they began a months-long trip to Texas, sometimes on foot and others times in an oxcart. They finally settled on a site with deep, rich soil on the north bank of the San Gabriel River in Williamson County.
The slaves cut thick brush and a variety of trees to clear the land, built cabins, and prepared the soil for planting. Lela Jackson writes that McLaughlin "was not even-tempered and, at time, whipped the slaves." At other times he gave them passes, which were required to leave his land. If they went out without a pass, they could be whipped for being out without permission.
Just before the Civil War soldiers rode into the plantation, took supplies, and then headed south. One of the slaves heard McLaughlin read the "Proclamation of Freedom," but he waited for several days until early one morning he gathered the slaves and angrily announced: "You are now free people. You are free as I am. You can go anywhere you want to. You can stay here if you wish, but I don't need you. I can do without you."
They stood in silence, stunned, unsure of what freedom meant. Finally the cook went to the kitchen and prepared breakfast for the McLaughlin family. After the master had eaten, he told all the slaves to leave, not allowing them to eat or carry anything with them.
They slipped along the river, finding places to hide, unsure of their safety, listening for any strange noise. Rachel's oldest son Allen married that spring and helped Rachel and the younger children settle in a log cabin next to a creek. They foraged for wild plums and berries, ate pecans and black walnuts, and got permission to milk a stray cow in exchange for raising its calf for its owner. The milk, butter, and cream stayed fresh in a bucket they lowered into a well. They moved about as the seasons changed, picking cotton and vegetables for landowners. They gathered prairie chicken eggs and trapped birds, squirrels, and possums.
They ironed clothing for white people using flat irons that they heated on a fire log in the yard. Rachel made quilts and asked men to save their ten-cent Bull Durham tobacco sacks, which she ripped open, bleached and used to line her quilts.
The high point in their lives came on "pastoral days," the Sundays when a preacher held worship services. People came from miles around, and for those who could not read, the leader "lined" out the words. They also enjoyed baptizings in the creek, sing-songs, camp meetings, and dances. When someone died, Rachel and her daughter, Demmie, prepared the body and laid it out on a board or a door that was balanced on chairs. Coffins were made from the plentiful local cedar and stained dark brown. Rachel, who lived to ninety-three and all her children held the respect of both their black and white Williamson County neighbors.
Black Women in Texas History chronicles the lives of amazing black females from the days when they first arrived in Texas as both free and slave—during the Spanish Colonial Period—up to their present influence on Texas' politics and education. One of those women was Lulu Belle Madison White who graduated in 1928 from Prairie View College (present Prairie View A&M University) with a degree in English. Before beginning a ten-year teaching career in Houston, White joined the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) where her husband had been active for several years. She resigned from teaching after nine years and devoted the rest of her life to bring justice to the black community. She was an amazing fund-raiser and organized new chapters of the NAACP throughout Texas. Even before the Supreme Court in 1944 found that the white primary was unconstitutional, White had started organizing a "pay your poll tax and go out to vote" campaign. She was the strongest advocate in Texas for using the black vote to force social change. She argued: "we cannot sit idly by and expect things to come to us. We must go out and get them."
She sought to educate the black community by leading voter registration seminars, and she urged black churches to speak up about public issues without endorsing specific candidates. She pressed white businesses to hire blacks, using boycotts, protest demonstrations, and letter-writing campaigns to influence the change.
In 1946 when the NAACP began its push for integrating the University of Texas, there was only one state-supported black college in Texas—Prairie View A&M—and it did not offer training for professional degrees. White not only persuaded Herman Marion Sweatt, a black mail carrier, to act as the plaintiff against the university, she raised money to pay his legal expenses. Years later Sweatt claimed that it was White's encouragement that helped him maintain his resolve. When the state offered to open a separate black university with its own law school in Houston instead of integrating the University of Texas, White supported Sweatt's rejection of the proposal on the basis that separate was not equal and only continued the status of Jim Crow.
The victory of Sweatt v. Painter before the Supreme Court in June 1951 opened the door for Brown v. Board of Education and the march toward dissolving the color line in education. A week before Lulu White's unexpected death in 1957, the national NAACP established the Lulu White Freedom Fund in her honor.


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Teen Shoots Family to Death: Here Are 5 GOPers Who Still Think We Don't Need Gun Control
The mass shooting of six- and seven-year-old children at Sandy Hook Elementary was a terrible tragedy, made all the more painful by each unnecessary gun death that follows. This weekend the country saw another awful incident, in which a teenage boy apparently gained access to an assault rifle and killed five individuals, including three young children, at a home near Albuquerque.
CNN reports that the victims included a local former pastor and his family members; each victim was shot multiple times. The shooter "may be a family member," according to police.
"Initially responding deputies entered the home and found the five deceased inside the residence, so obviously it was a very gruesome scene," [Lt. Sid] Covington told reporters. There was no indication of a motive so far, he said.
Of course, shooting deaths happen every day in the U.S., but mass shootings, especially those involving children, have a way of focusing attention on our nation's gun violence problem. And rightly so. President Obama has attempted to channel the grief over Sandy Hook into legislation by announcing an array of gun measures meant to prevent similar shootings from happening in the future. It's hard to argue that fewer mass shootings of innocent children (or anyone, for that matter) wouldn't be a positive thing. With stronger laws, perhaps we could prevent shootings like the one that just happened in New Mexico. And yet, many right-wing politicians are fighting the measures tooth and nail. Here are some of them.
1. Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS)told the AP recently: "The right to bear arms is a right, despite President Obama's disdain for the Second Amendment."
2. Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) is leading the conservative battle cry to impeach Obama over the new gun measures. "I will seek to thwart this action by any means necessary, including but not limited to eliminating funding for implementation, defunding the White House, and even filing articles of impeachment," he said in a statement.
3. When asked about impeachment, Rep. Trey Radel (R-FL)told a right-wing blogger, "All options should be on the table, undoubtedly." He went on to incorrectly describe the measures as "an executive order to ban guns, to take guns away."
4. Republican Texas State Rep. Steve Toth wants to pass a law allowing "Texas police officers to arrest federal law enforcement agents who attempt to enforce any federal bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines within the state," the Huffington Post reports. "We can no longer depend on the federal government and this administration to uphold a Constitution that they no longer believe in," he said in a statement.
5. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant also wants to block any new gun control laws in his state. He said that Obama's announcement "infringes our constitutional right to keep and bear arms as never before in American history.... I am asking that you immediately pass legislation that would make any unconstitutional order by the President illegal to enforce in Mississippi by state or local law enforcement."
It's worth noting that it' not just Republicans who might make it difficult for substantive gun safety measures to pass; red-state Dems may pose a hurdle as well.


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City decides both Wiles and Hayling will be honored
2 recipients for La Florida Award
2 recipients for La Florida Award
In a decision that was anything but unanimous, the St. Augustine City Commission decided Monday night that two men will receive the La Florida Award.
While all five commissioners were in agreement that Herbert L. "Herbie" Wiles and Dr. Robert B. Hayling were worthy of recognition, there was fiery debate on the issue of them both being recipients this year.
The normal protocol is for the La Florida Award to be shared by no more than eight living members at any time. And each recipient must be voted in unanimously.
However, two commissioners brought nominations forward, making it impossible for either Wiles or Hayling to get unanimous choices.
That left the commission with the option of changing the rules in some way or having no immediate replacement for the late Jerry Kass.
What to do about the impasse resulted in debate.
Commissioner Leanna Freeman and Vice Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline were the most vocal for each respective side.
Sikes-Kline, who nominated Hayling, first introduced the plan of expanding the award to 10 living recipients.
"Changing the number is the expedient way to honor both of these honorable men," Commissioner Bill Leary said.
Commissioner Roxanne Horvath recommended that the number be altered to nine, which seemed to mollify Sikes-Kline and Leary. Leary had nominated Wiles.
Freeman didn't like either expansion. She also found it unnecessary because Hayling had already been honored with the de Aviles Award and hasn't lived here for almost five decades.
"I absolutely don't support changing it," Freeman said. "My feeling is we should have a moratorium on this now."
Freeman said it was the commission's job to make difficult decisions rather than just change the rules when it suited them. She said there was nothing wrong with the La Florida Award slot being vacant until a choice was made.
"You're changing the rules for political convenience," Freeman said.
Sikes-Kline countered: "That is cynical."
Freeman asked the commission if she had brought forth a nomination of her own, would they further expand the award.
Her objections were not shared by the rest of the commission, however.
After adopting a resolution that would allow for the expansion of La Florida Award recipients to nine living members and that their selection be based on a simple majority, the commission voted to allow both Wiles and Hayling to receive the award.
Voting for Wiles was unanimous, but Freeman voted against Hayling because of the objections she had already voiced about the awards changes.
Mayor Joe Boles said the entire process of choosing the La Florida Award was flawed and suggested a moratorium on future awards until the commission can come up with a more appropriate system.
"We made this problem ourselves; we'll fix it ourselves," he said.
Boles also stressed to the public that the commission's bickering over the award process should not tarnish the honor for Hayling and Wiles.
"We are delighted they will be La Florida Award winners," he said.
Prior to the actual vote, Leary gave an emotional account of his decision to nominate Wiles for the award. Leary said he'd had a long conversation with Kass not long before he died. He said it inspired him to find someone worthy to replace Kass as a La Florida Award winner.
And to prove just how gracious Wiles is, Leary said, the longtime philanthropist even asked to be withdrawn from consideration if it was going to cause a fight.
Instead, a compromise was struck, and Wiles and Hayling can both enjoy the city's highest honor.
"He (Wiles) is everything this award was intended to be," Leary said.


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The Top 3 Considerations and Top 3 Pitfalls of Children's Picture Books
Although this post is primarily aimed at those self-publishing picture books, there are some valid points in this post for all picture book writers to consider.
A great an in-depth overview on the various elements that go into writing a picture book. I love the diagram included at the end.
Casey McCormick has compiled a post on appropriate word counts for picture books based on her knowledge as an agent intern and research (she lists her sources at the end of the post if you want to check them out).
12 Common Picture Book Mistakes
A list of common errors picture book writers make.
Story Skeletons: Teaching Plot Structure with Picture Books
Although this post is meant to be a teaching tool for young readers/writers in the classroom, it's a great post for writers of picture books as well. It focuses on the basic structures used in picture story books and includes examples of each structure.
5 Rules for a Breakout Picture Book: A Quick and Dirty Guide
An editor gives 5 tips on making your picture book great.
5 Tips for Creating Characters for Kids
Character development is not just important for novel length manuscripts, it's important to create fully developed characters for children's stories and picture books as well.
Picture Book Construction: Know Your Layout
A must read post for picture book writers on picture book layout and having an awareness of page breaks.
Tips for Writing Picture Books
5 great tips for writers of picture books.
Getting Your Children's Book Published
A checklist of things you need to do when preparing to send your MS to publishers, specifically for children's writers.
Only One Published Book? Aaack!
What picture book writers can do on library/school visits if they only have one published book.
Do You Want to Write Books for Children?
This post covers some common misconceptions and mistakes made by picture book writers and how you can fix/avoid them.
Try This Picture Book Editing Checklist
For anyone out there writing or editing a picture book this is a great checklist to refer to, from the editors of Children's Book Insider, the Newsletter for Children's Writers.
Writing the Longer Picture Book
Mara Rockliff talks about writing longer picture books (over 600 words), including important tips for authors to keep in mind when writing a longer picture book.
How Not to Write a Rhyming Picture Book
Children's author Juliet Clare Bell shares her 7 top tips on how not to write a rhyming picture book.
9 Factors That Make a Picture Book Successful
If you are a picture book writer this is a post well worth reading. These are nine important elements to writing an effective picture book.
The 6 Most Common Mistakes Made by Aspiring Children's Book Authors
6 common mistakes this editor sees made by picture book authors and some advice on how to avoid them.
For All Picture Book Writers, Read This
Links to a four-part interview with Vice President and Editorial Director of HarperCollins Children's Books and a three-part interview with Golden Books/Random House Editorial Director. Lots of great little nuggets of advice for picture book writers in both interviews.
Picture Book Tips from Successful Agents
Children's book author and editor Tamson Weston consulted with agents on what makes a picture book successful and shared the top five tips for making your submission stand out.
Writing Easy Readers – Or How To Get 2nd Graders to Love You
5 quick tips for appealing to early readers as shared by an author of children's chapter books.


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The St. Louis Rams continued their efforts to shed running backs Thursday as Daryl Richardson was released, according to the NFL's transaction wire.
Richardson, a 2012 seventh-round draft pick, played in eight games in 2013, amassing just 215 rushing yards at a 3.1 yards-per-carry clip after a solid rookie campaign. He was expected to contend for the No. 1 job as late as training camp last season. However, the emergence of Zac Stacy shelved those plans indefinitely.
With Stacy now firmly entrenched in the starting spot and the arrival of third-round selection Tre Mason as a change-of-pace back, the writing was on the wall for the talented 24-year-old Abilene Christian product to tote the ball even less in his third season.
After reportedly shopping prospective third-stringer Isaiah Pead to no avail during last weekend's draft, general manager Les Snead found his solution to thin the running back corps heading into the team's offseason workouts, which begin June 3.
The "Around The League Podcast" predicts which rookie quarterbacks will start first and what veterans are in trouble after the draft.


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http://mmajunkie.com MACAU – It may be too early to call it a "career resurgence," but Takanori Gomi at least got the conversation started on Saturday.
The Japanese veteran won for the second straight time, taking a "Fight of the Night"-worthy split decision from "TUF 6" winner Mac Danzig. Gomi won with a pair of 29-28 scores.
The lightweight bout was part of the main card of Saturday's UFC on FUEL TV 6 event at CotaiArena in Venetian Macau Resort Hotel. It aired on FUEL TV following prelims on Facebook.
A minute into the fight, Gomi connected with a nice right hand as he tried to set the faster pace in the standup game. But Danzig stood in, looking to counter even as Gomi went body-head. They clinched, and Danzig got the better of it as he wrapped up a textbook Thai plum and worked knees to Gomi's body. Halfway through the frame, Gomi landed a double-leg takedown, but Danzig scrambled back to his feet after 30 seconds without taking much damage. Back on the feet, Gomi's offense came through kicks to Danzig's lead left leg. But with 20 seconds to go, Danzig landed a single-leg takedown and some ground-and-pound closed the round, perhaps with a little momentum shift to his side.
In the second, though, Gomi continued working a heavy volume of strikes, backing Danzig up several times. After a heavy shot from Gomi that had Danzig scrambling to adjust his mouthpiece, the American circled out of danger and looked to work a left hook in the counter-striking game. But Gomi stood in and continued to work his jabs as Danzig looked for bigger shots, preferring quality over quantity. With 90 seconds left in the round, Danzig landed his second takedown of the fight. When Gomi tried to reverse to his feet, Danzig sank in a guillotine choke. He couldn't hold it, but got it back as the round closed – though he couldn't finish it.
Quickly in the third, Danzig looked to land, but Gomi snuck a left hand in that wobbled Danzig, then put him on his back. He tried to throw upkicks as Gomi moved in, but had to settle into half guard along the fence, hoping to wall walk. Gomi stood up and looked for a guillotine. But Danzig looked for a leg lock that Gomi defended, then turned into a leg lock of his own. It wasn't there for either fighter, and Danzig fell back into guard before working back to his feet halfway through the round. With two minutes left, Gomi tried to throw Danzig to the mat. Danzig briefly had the better position, but couldn't take advantage and with 90 seconds left, the two went back to the center of the cage and looked to trade with the fight potentially hanging in the balance. A right hand from Danzig had Gomi gesturing to Danzig to throw more. Danzig shot, but couldn't get the takedown. Both fighters landed big punches down the stretch, but for the sixth straight fight on the card, it would go to the judges.
After three close rounds, it was Gomi taking a split decision that had the fans in Macau responding with a bit of a boo-buzz over the 29-28, 28-29, 29-28 split call.
Gomi (34-8 MMA, 3-3 UFC) gets back to .500 in the UFC after starting his Zuffa career 1-3. His TKO of Eiji Mitsuoka at UFC 144 in February snapped a two-fight skid for the PRIDE veteran. Danzig (21-10-1 MMA, 5-6 UFC) continued to go up and down in the UFC. After starting 2-0, the Season 6 winner of "The Ultimate Fighter" lost three straight. He now has alternated wins and losses for six fights.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on FUEL TV 6 results include:
- Takanori Gomi def. Mac Danzig via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Jon Tuck def. Tiequan Zhang via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
- Takeya Mizugaki def. Jeff Hougland via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-27, 30-27)
- Alex Caceres def. Motonobu Tezuka via split decision (28-29, 30-27, 30-27)
- John Lineker def. Yasuhiro Urushitani via unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)
- Riki Fukuda def. Tom DeBlass via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
For complete coverage of UFC on FUEL TV 6, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.
(Pictured: Takanori Gomi)


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This is the fourth in a series of posts labeled "Hindsight" that discuss games you may have thought we were done writing about. Last time: Wolfenstein. This time: Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.
How often do gamers commend the bravery of the people who make games for them to play? A gamer might respond: How often do the games they play give them reason to?
How often, though, do gamers, myself included, have trouble distinguishing bravery from stupidity, innovation from mistake?
Bravery is a value developers seldom promote. Bigger, we hear. Better, we're told. More badass, it's hyped.
Bravery? That commodity goes unsold. Yet last year I found bravery through another B-word: Banjo. I found it in a game that I mistook for stupid, for which I was stupidly mistaken. This was Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, a sequel from Microsoft-owned Rare studios, a game no one thought was slavishly copying its predecessors or other games, but a game that was possibly an evolutionary error. Again, my mistake.
The early Banjo Kazooie games, made in the 90s in the shadow of Super Mario 64, were character-based platforming games. You controlled Banjo the bear, who ran around in yellow shorts and a blue backpack that contained his bird-friend, Kazooie. You jumped. You squashed enemies. You collected shiny gold things. And while that all made the game a lot like Mario, it wasn't until Banjo's fourth game, the 2008 Nuts & Bolts, a game I played in 2009, that I realized how those early Banjos weren't just similar to Mario but similar to just about every other game. To put it another way, when I played Nuts & Bolts, I realized how different this new one was from just about every other game I'd ever played.
The difference between Banjo new and Banjo old wasn't what you'd think it was, had you tried the game early like I did or seen an ad or read a preview. The new game was bigger and — here's a nice b-word — beautiful, offering players some of the most vast and gorgeously designed cartoon 3D worlds ever rendered in a video game. Vast as the game world was, it wouldn't make sense to force the player to run through Banjo's world. While the game would require the player to squash enemies and collect shiny gold things, the player would be abetted in that adventure with vehicles: Cars, planes, tanks. Just as the railroad, the automobile and the passenger plane made our great Earth small enough so that we could traverse it like 17th-century settlers in a village, Banjo's vehicles would make his great world down to the scale of his earlier ones.
Nuts & Bolts would be a platformer with vehicles — that was the innovation, yes? Or, to some, that was the ruin. Change our games for sequels, gamers chant, but the backlash sometimes betrays them: Don't change them too much. Banjo needs a floating platform on which to jump to, right? Cars don't jump onto floating platforms, not well.
Rare pitched another innovation with the new Banjo, one that easily aroused suspicion. This new game, they showed, would let gamers create their own vehicles, opening access to a garage of collectible fenders and engines and wings and egg-shooting guns. Wheels, tired, fuel tanks, springs, armor, chairs, trays, rear-view mirrors and rocket engines. Plug them all together and don't think too much about how user manipulation of content might interfere with tight, careful level design. For those of us who liked being led through a Banjo Kazooie obstacle course of a level, it now seemed we'd have to do more of the work ourselves, not only going through the course, but constructing our means to do so.
Rare conceded one cheat: They'd make some vehicles for the player, make it easy. You don't need to build your own, they said. You don't need to customize your cars, trick out your rims, pretend you're playing LittleBigPlanet or do your own mash-ups. Just play with what we give you, if you must. That's how I decided to play.
So early last year, I put Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts in my Xbox 360 and started to play and started to get disappointed yet again. This was not the Banjo of old, the one I knew I liked and had recognized it wouldn't be. But it was also something that didn't feel like a good change. First impressions, thankfully, can be wrong.
I played with custom vehicles, driving my Banjo car or flying my Banjo plane across a field or through some giant innards of a computer, collecting shiny things and hauling stuff. I found some racing levels, and frowned. Rare had said that we shouldn't worry that Nuts & Bolts was a racing game, despite the addition of racing levels. But, oh, here was racing.
Then, a turn happened, both in the game and in my attitude. And it happened on a racing track. The old way you play games — the way I first attempted to play Nuts & Bolts for a few hours — is that you try a level or a mission and, if you fail, you try it again. Maybe you gain experience points, your character levels up and it gets easier. Maybe, more often, you just try it and try it and get better, learn the intricacies of the mission or level, and finally you get it. That's how it normally works. That's how I've approached Mario games. That's how I've approached Banjo games. That's how I've approached racing games.
In Nuts & Bolts, however, in one mission, I kept failing. I couldn't win a race. The other racers passed me every time. I messed up the same turns. And I probably could have overcome all that by trying and trying and trying again. But the lightbulb went on. I went into the Nuts & Bolts garage. I started rebuilding my vehicle. You construct these vehicles as if you're making Lego builds, bolting on cubes and cones, latching one part to the next. I was having trouble making a turn? I'd reshape the fender. A guy was passing me on the sides? I'd add a gun on the side to shoot him away. I was falling behind? I added an extra engine, some extra fuel and then lightened the chassis so I was still swift enough.
I didn't get better at the game. I made myself better at the game — by making something better for myself.
And I didn't only have to do it in racing levels. I could do it in collection levels. I did it in aerial dogfight levels. I made planes when I think they thought I'd make helicopters. I made an absurd transforming boat when I think they thought I'd use a car. I made a vehicle that could bounce over my enemies instead of fighting them. I took glee in breaking things apart and solving problems my way.
That's how I discovered the bravery. This wasn't a game designed for me to sit back and play it, nor was it a game that allowed me to make some simple tweaks. This was a game that presented some problems and, in a manner of speaking, gave me the ability to break it, to hack it, to re-set the rules by re-setting what my character could do. It would be like allowing a player to give Mario a gun or offer Lara Croft a jetpack. Or, it would be like allowing Master Chief to suddenly be a foot shorter if there was a level in Halo where he needed to be harder to hit or if, in Madden, I could change the shape of the football to match my technique and get the bounce I wanted.
My Banjo discovery changed the way I played the game. It also changed my view of the kinds of problems we face in games and the ways with which we might be given the opportunity to address them.
What I thought was a mistake of design revealed itself to me as bravery, as a developer willing to concede control to its player, willing to let its player mess with its game. This wasn't classic Banjo. This wasn't classing anything. This was new. This was bold. This was brave and maybe the best thing about 2008 gaming I experienced in 2009 or any other year, a breakthrough I couldn't appreciate in an hour of playing time, but that I found at long last.


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NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals Event - The Long Run
Racers and records prevail over bad weather at the All-Star Nats
Related Video
Covering the dragstrip's quarter-mile distance as quickly as possible--and beating an opponent to the finish line--is a heads-up drag racer's objective every time a 'Stang enters the staging beams. Competitors in the NMRA affirm this notion time-and-time again, posting performances that sometimes seem beyond imaginable at nearly every event on the circuit.
Case in point: In Super Street Outlaw, the sanction's premier class, it was only five years ago that racers and Mustangs were getting to the other side with average e.t's of 7.70 seconds (at 180 mph). At the time, 7.70s--and Jim Blair's then-mind-bending 7.50/185 shot in the second event of the 2006 season--were considered insurmountable given the engine/power-adder combinations of the time, and, of course, the true 10x10.5-inch rear tire that gives the category its strong appeal with racers and fans alike.
Through the course of those five years, many rule changes have altered power-adder types and sizes and the minimum chassis weights that are permitted in SSO. As one would expect, racers' adaptation to the changes has brought forth performance that none of us ever thought possible on that 10-and-a-half-inch tire.
Although a wicked spring storm and lengthy track stoppages due to oil downs and crashes played havoc on the event's schedule all weekend (all elimination rounds were run on Sunday and weren't completed until 10 p.m.), race fans were treated to remarkable performances nonetheless at Commerce, Georgia's Atlanta Dragway. That's where Super Street Outlaw pilots and their NMRA/NMCA colleagues met for the third-annual Nitto Tire All-Star Nationals.
Highlighted by Chris Tuten's 7.08 and John Kolivas' 7.11 e.t.'s (with eye-popping 208-mph speed) in qualifying, The Freak Show stole the show, as three other players in the class, including multi-time champion John Urist, joined Chris and John in the race to become SSO's first driver to reach the 6-second zone.
In situations where car counts are low at ProMedia's dual-sanction events, cars in similar classes are combined and run in one eliminator. At the All-Star Nationals, short numbers warranted uniting NMRA Pro Outlaw 10.5/NMCA Super Street 10.5W, NMRA Hot Street/NMCA Pro Stock and NMRA Xtreme Drag Radial/NMCA 275 Drag Radial competitors, where (with the exception of Edgar Rice's NMCA SS 10.5W 'Stang) NMRA runners prevailed each time.
Despite the aforementioned setbacks, seeing near-6s on small tires and record performances in other categories, a robust car-show field (look for our feature story on Jim Pennington's beautiful '95 GT in an upcoming issue), and an awesome Georgia crowd throughout the weekend made the marathon '11 Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals a huge success.
Your tech editor's and ace-lensman Paul Rosner's photos of event highlights and NMRA class winners are straight ahead.
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Lawrence, division-leading Dunedin take rubber game vs. Daytona Cubs
DUNEDIN — Casey Lawrence struck out nine in eight shutout innings Tuesday night to lead the Dunedin Blue Jays to a 3-0 win over the Daytona Cubs at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium.
Lawrence (2-0) allowed four hits and lowered his ERA to 0.75 — second in the Florida State League to Jupiter's Anthony DeSclafani — and helped Dunedin (14-5) take the rubber game of the three-game series against Daytona (8-11).
DeSclafani threw five scoreless innings in a 3-0 win over Bradenton on Tuesday to stretch his streak to 15 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run to start the season.
Ben Carhart had two of the Cubs' four hits, including a double in the sixth inning.
Jon Berti went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and Aaron Munoz went 2 for 3 with a double and RBI for the FSL North Division-leading Blue Jays.
Daytona is off today and returns to action Thursday to begin a seven-game homestand with a 7:05 p.m. game against Lakeland at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.


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Thank you everyone who sent me treasures of gift or treasures of words..in precious hand written cards and envelopes! I read every card and letter...and I wish I had time to personally respond to each one! Thank you so much, it felt like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one!
huge love....and rhinestone encrusted letters...your kandee


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This video is called ♥♥ Giant Sea Turtles in Coral Reef (3 hours).
From WWF:
New Year Starts Off Right for Sea Turtles
A look at WWF's sea turtle conservation work happening around the globe in early 2014
A sanctuary for nesting created
Leatherbacks and hawksbills will benefit from Colombia's recent decision to protect an important nesting area along its Caribbean coastline. Beach degradation, pollution and egg harvesting are all threats to nesting turtles. For nearly 10 years, WWF has been working to see such a declaration come to pass. The turtle sanctuary will prohibit development along the beach and the government will provide funding for nest monitoring.
Widespread awareness to reduce bycatch
WWF launched an awareness campaign across the entire Adriatic Sea to reduce turtle bycatch in longline fisheries. As fishing gear is the greatest threat to most turtle species, and in particular, loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean, fishermen play a critical role in reducing bycatch. WWF is informing fishermen in important ports in countries along the Adriatic coast (Italy, Croatia, Albania, Montenegro and Slovenia) about the on-board best practices to release caught turtles and thereby reduce deaths.
Gillnet deterrents spread east
WWF will pilot a device that illuminates gillnets to prevent turtles from becoming entangled in them in a popular nesting area in Indonesia. The 2011 International Smart Gear Competition selected the device—called 'Turtle Lights for Gillnets'—as one of the winning ideas to address the threat of fishing gear to turtles. The design uses LED or chemical lightsticks to illuminate gillnets, which helps turtles to see the nets and avoid becoming entangled in them. Subsequent trials of this device in Mexico and Peru have had impressive results, with bycatch reduction rates of up to 60%.
Keeping those giant lizards away
Australia's eastern beaches near the Great Barrier Reef support nesting populations of endangered loggerheads. But over the past few years, predators—such as monitor lizards—are decimating as many as 80-90% of turtle nests, which is a blow to these fragile populations.
WWF partnered with local nest monitors and the Queensland government to test the effectiveness of a screen-like device to keep predators from reaching eggs and hatchlings. So far the device appears to be working, but studies still need to be done during peak hatchling period. We're hoping this device will give loggerhead hatchlings the best chance of survival to reach the water's edge.
Tracking the mysterious turtle
Very little is known about the flatback sea turtle, except that it is only found in waters between southern Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia, and only nests on Australia's northern coast. Scientists still need to learn about their migration pathways, diets, foraging grounds and health.
To help fill the knowledge gap, WWF is working with Queensland volunteers, government scientists and the indigenous community to track flatbacks on their journey between nesting beaches and feeding grounds. Four turtles were fitted with satellite transmitters last November, and as of Dec. 31, have remained close to Australia's northern shore. You can monitor the turtles' movements here.


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On Wednesday, I'm heading back to my grandparents' house for Thanksgiving via Amtrak. (They live near Philadelphia, I live in Boston.) Compared with the alternatives—either flying or braving the holiday-weekend traffic—I imagine this is the greenest way to go, since the trains will be packed. But it got me thinking: A few weeks from now, the train will have many more empty seats. Will it still be a more eco-friendly way to travel?
Last year, the Lantern pondered how you could make your turkey dinner greener—and even contemplated the heretical idea of eating Thanksgiving chicken instead. But while cooking a more carbon-conscious meal is a good step, the steps you take to get to the table in the first place can have a much greater environmental impact.
To answer the question of how to best make your trip home, the Lantern calls your attention to a recent study conducted by Mikhail Chester and Arpad Horvath, researchers at the University of California-Berkeley. When we typically think of the environmental impact of driving, we focus on the energy and emissions associated with moving a car, say, 30 miles. In reality, that sort of analysis is incomplete: How the car is made, how the road is built, and even whether the roads have been salted because of ice all have some effect, too. And while those effects are spread out over many cars and many different trips, they still take a toll. When we start thinking about train travel, the infrastructure matters even more, since getting a rail line up and running requires enormous amounts of construction and manufacturing.
The UC-Berkeley analysis tries to get a more complete picture of how we travel by taking all these variables into account—down to the impact of planting grass on the side of the road. Chester and Horvath's data suggest that riding in the average train is a significantly greener choice than the average car or plane. For example, they find that Caltrain (a system similar to Amtrak, averaging 155 passengers per train) produces less than half as many greenhouse-gas emissions or particulate matter per passenger mile compared with driving a sedan (average passengers: 1.58). * (The sedan comes out better when it comes to sulfur dioxide but much worse on volatile organic compounds.) And on Thanksgiving weekend, when trains are certain to be full and cars are likely to spend a long time idling in traffic, rail is easily a better option.
But you can come up with examples in which driving a car looks better. A train produces more emissions per trip than any car, bus, or truck; it makes up for that fact environmentally because it carries a lot more people. It stands to reason, then, that if you ride in a full sedan on a day when the train is pretty empty—and, in particular, if you are in a fuel-efficient car—the car could conceivably be greener per passenger mile. (The study says a car would need to have about three passengers—double the average—to break even environmentally with the typical train.) The numbers are even more striking for buses, which can experience extreme variability in ridership between peak and nonpeak hours. At peak hours—with 40 riders onboard—the Berkeley researchers find that buses often look like the greenest option, producing fewer greenhouse-gas emissions than even the average train per passenger mile. At off-peak hours, a bus looks a lot worse, performing even more poorly than a gas-guzzling pickup truck.
Does that mean we shouldn't run buses or trains during off-peak hours? No. If you want people to ride public transportation at rush hour, you need to make it possible for them to get around the rest of the day, too. (Not to mention the fact that some people—for either physical or economic reasons—simply can't drive.) And as long as those buses and trains are kept running, it's better—environmentally speaking—to take public transportation, since the marginal impact of your trip will be very low. (For more on this point, click here.)
Like any sophisticated environmental accounting, these evaluations have pitfalls. They rest on a lot of uncertain assumptions—how long a vehicle will last, for example—and require using data from a wide range of sources that may not always be reliable. (It's also worth noting that the Berkeley center where this research was conducted is sponsored by a Volvo-funded foundation, although that funding isn't directed toward specific projects.) Depending on the assumptions you make, similar data can be used to make contradictory arguments—see, for example, these arguments for (PDF) and against expanding rail systems.
But the Lantern thinks there are a few basic lessons that these life-cycle analyses can teach us. First, no matter what data you use, two very simple variables make a big difference: how far you travel and how many passengers are in your vehicle. Air travel is much maligned as a source of CO2 emissions, and the Berkeley research confirms that airplanes do emit more than trains or buses per passenger mile. But the differences aren't as large as you think, and the real reason air travel contributes so much to our collective carbon footprint is that we use planes for longer trips. That's not to say you shouldn't go to your Grandma's house for Thanksgiving, but if she lives across the country, any means of getting over the river and through the woods is going to have a hefty carbon footprint. Likewise, designing bus routes and train schedules that fit rider demand—along with encouraging urban development that gives transit more appeal—makesa big difference, owing to the environmental downsides of traveling alone.
Secondly, you can't discuss the environmental impact of getting around without considering the infrastructure that makes travel possible. We have a tendency to focus on the environmental impact of the things that move—the cars, trains, and planes we see getting from point A to point B. But Chester and Horvath found that in some cases, construction is the biggest polluter. Roads were responsible for more particulate matter than tailpipes, for example. For rail travel, operating the trains actually accounts for less than half of a system's greenhouse-gas emissions. The implication: Making concrete and asphalt in a more environmentally friendly way can be just as important as getting vehicles to run more efficiently. In other words, it's not just the road you take, but what it's made out of, too.
Is there an environmental quandary that's been keeping you up at night? Send it to firstname.lastname@example.com, and check this space every Tuesday.
* Correction, Nov. 25, 2008: This article originally misstated the relationship between the emissions produced by Caltrain and those produced by a sedan. The train generates less than half as many greenhouse-gas emissions or particulate matter per passenger mile as a sedan, not less than twice as much. (Return to the corrected sentence.)


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What is a Model?Definition quoted from Modeling Methodology for Physics Teachers (more info) (1997).
A model is a representation of structure in a physical system and/or its properties. It describes (or specifies) four types of structure, each with internal and external components:
- systemic structure specifies
- composition (internal parts of the system)
- environment (external agents linked to the system)
- connections (external and internal causal links)
- geometric structure specifies
- position with respect to a reference frame (external geometry)
- configuration (geometric relations among the parts)
- temporal structure specifies change in state variables (system
- descriptive models represent change by explicit functions of time
- causal models specify change by differential equations with interaction laws
- interaction structure specifies interaction laws expressing interactions among causal links, usually as function of state variables


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Want an acting role in "Jack and the Beanstalk" for the award-winning Rainbow Company Youth Theatre in Las Vegas? An open audition for roles is on Sat., April 17, at 1 p.m. at the Reed Whipple Cultural Center, 821 Las Vegas Blvd. North. Roles are available for ages 8 through adult. Participants are encouraged to dress comfortably. No prepared material or advance reservation is needed.
In this last production of the season, Jack's daring climb to the clouds is just the beginning of the suspense and fun as the hero outwits the socially challenged giant. Presented in a highly theatrical, stylized fashion with witty dialogue and entertaining antics, this re-telling of a favorite folktale promises to be entertaining for all ages.
The play will be performed at the Charleston Heights Arts Center in Las Vegas from June 4 through 13.
The nationally recognized Rainbow Company Youth Theatre holds auditions open to both adults and young people throughout the year. The award-winning staff offers classes in all aspects of theatre for ages 4 through high school at Reed Whipple Cultural Center and Charleston Heights Arts Center, and presents five productions annually that bring the magic of live theatre to family audiences. There also are spring break workshops and a summer conservatory.
Rainbow Company is a program of the city of Las Vegas. For more information about the audition, classes, or tickets, please call 702-229-6553.


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NEXT EVENT: Friday January 20 2017
10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Margarita Cabrera: Space in Between – Arizona
Jan 20 2017 - 10:00am
"Space in Between – Arizona" is a collaboration between artist Margarita Cabrera, the Arizona State University Art Museum and Desert Botanical Garden. Cabrera's project is a continuation of her on-going work with Latino communities. "Space in Between" centers on the creation of artworks and promotion of cultural dialogues revolving around themes related to community, craft, immigration, cultural identity, labor practices and sustainability. Cabrera will lead workshops with communities from the Arizona region to create soft sculptures of desert plants made from recycled Border Patrol uniforms and embroidered with personal stories of immigration. The artwork will be displayed at the Desert Botanical Garden and will be the launch for a national traveling exhibition the following year. Support by CALA Alliance, National Endowment for the Arts, The Institute of Museum and Library Services, Museums for America Grant Number MA-20-14-0236-14. Mexican Consulate, Southwest Key and Latino youth from the Phoenix community. Image credit: Margarita Cabrera, "Space in Between – Nopal", 2010. Border patrol uniform fabric, copper wire, thread and terra cotta pot, 36 x 26 x 28 in. In Collaboration with Candelaria Cabrera. Photograph by Fredrik Nilsen
Desert Botanical Garden


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Now showing items 1-1 of 1
Amenity values of spring fed streams and rivers in Canterbury: a methodological exploration
(Lincoln University. Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit, 2007-12)
Groundwater allocation decisions have effects beyond the enterprises and land uses for which water is used. They may influence the quantity, quality and flow of spring fed streams within the catchment, and the in-stream ...


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Rocket leak delays ISS delivery launch
CAPE CANAVERAL - A space station cargo ship will remain Earthbound for a while longer because of a rocket leak.
With just over an hour remaining, the SpaceX company called off Monday's planned launch. Officials said they believe the problem can be fixed by Friday, the next opportunity for flying and the last chance before astronauts do urgent spacewalking repairs.
A helium leak in the first-stage of the unmanned Falcon rocket forced a halt to the countdown, the latest delay spanning the past month.
Over the weekend, NASA almost postponed the launch attempt because of a computer outage at the International Space Station. But mission managers decided Sunday that everything would be safe for the arrival of the Dragon capsule and its 2½ tons of supplies.
The computer, a critical backup, failed outside the space station Friday as flight controllers were trying to activate it for a routine software load. The primary computer has been working fine.
It's the first breakdown ever of one of these so-called space station MDMs, or multiplexer-demultiplexers, used to route computer commands for a wide variety of systems. Forty-five MDMs are scattered around the orbiting lab. The failed one is located outside and therefore will require spacewalking repairs.
The Dragon capsule holds a gasket-like material for next week's computer replacement. This new material was rushed to the launch site over the weekend and loaded into the Dragon. NASA said astronauts can make the repair without it if necessary.
NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Steven Swanson will perform the spacewalk next Tuesday - regardless of whether the Dragon flies by then. It will take several days to get the replacement computer ready, thus the one-week wait before the job, NASA's Kenny Todd, a station operations manager, said Monday.
SpaceX - Space Exploration Technologies Corp. of California - is one of two American companies hired by NASA to fill the cargo gap left when the space shuttles retired in 2011. Orbital Sciences Corp. of Virginia is the other.
If the SpaceX Dragon isn't flying by Friday, the company may have to get in line behind Orbital, on track for a May delivery run from its Virginia launching site.
The Dragon should have soared in mid-March, but SpaceX needed two extra weeks of launch prepping. Then an Air Force radar-tracking device was damaged in a fluke accident; an electrical short caused the instrument to overheat.
Monday's helium leak apparently came from a system that separates the first-stage during the first few minutes of flight.
Earlier in the afternoon, SpaceX signed a 20-year lease with NASA to take over the launch pad used during the Apollo and shuttle programs. Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39-A would be used for SpaceX launches with astronauts bound for the space station in three or four more years, if NASA approves the venture. Russia currently provides the only way to get astronauts to and from the space station.
Unmanned missions also are slated for this pad, possibly next year.
NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
SpaceX: http://www.spacex.com/


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'Precursor to 9/11': Trade center bomb echoes after 25 years
NEW YORK (AP) — In a room in the 9/11 museum, there are a police captain's poignant notes and a flashlight that illuminated the way to safety. Nearby, a letter from a trapped man tells his family, "I love you very much.... Do wonderful things in your life."
The artifacts aren't from Sept 11, 2001. They are reminders of a terror attack that foreshadowed it: the deadly World Trade Center bombing, 25 years ago Monday.
That shadow fell personally on Lolita Jackson. As a young finance worker, she picked her way down 72 flights of blacked-out stairs on Feb. 26, 1993, and fled the trade center's south tower again in 2001.
The bombing "tends to be forgotten because 9/11 was such a cataclysmic event," she says, but the blast has its own place in the lives and memories of an estimated 50,000 people who were in the twin towers that snowy afternoon.
The explosion killed six people, injured over 1,000, manifested the growing terror threat from Islamic extremism and led to safety improvements credited with helping some people survive Sept. 11.
It "was, in many respects, a precursor to 9/11," says museum President Alice Greenwald.
A bomb exploded in a rented van in a basement parking garage shortly after noon, causing a crater several stories deep and a boom felt many floors above.
The blast killed visitor John DiGiovanni and five people who worked at the trade center — Robert Kirkpatrick, Stephen Knapp, William Macko, Wilfredo Mercado and Monica Rodriguez Smith. Smith was pregnant.
Power was knocked out and pipes were severed, flooding backup generators. Elevators got stuck. A group of kindergartners was stranded for hours on an observation deck. Other people were trapped in the debris-filled garage. Police helicopters plucked nearly two dozen people, some disabled, from rooftops.
Some office workers broke out windows to try to clear smoke while awaiting help. Others made their way down, emerging coated in soot.
Jackson didn't feel fearful at first. What was terrifying was the 2 1/2-hour trek down the pitch-dark, crowded, smoky stairs, wondering what she would see at the bottom.
"You didn't know what was going to happen," recalls Jackson, who now works in city government.
Alone in a stalled elevator with smoke wafting in and no idea why, trade center worker Carl Selinger began to think he might not get out alive. So Selinger wrote a letter to his wife and children and waited. He was rescued after 5 ½ hours.
"I dealt with what I had to deal with," Selinger said at a recent discussion at the Sept. 11 museum.
Within days, a fragment of the rented van began leading investigators to Muslim extremists who sought to punish the United States for its Middle East policies, especially its aid to Israel, according to prosecutors.
As they pursued that case and learned about another plot to bomb New York City landmarks, then-Manhattan U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White "saw red lights blinking everywhere about how serious I thought this threat was from international terrorists," she told an audience Thursday at the museum.
Indeed, a letter found on an accused bombing conspirator's laptop made it chillingly clear the threat wasn't over.
"Unfortunately, our calculations were not very accurate this time. However, we promise you that next time it will be very precise and the World Trade Center will continue to be one of our targets," it said.
Six bombing suspects were convicted and sentenced, including accused mastermind Ramzi Yousef — a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who would later become the self-professed architect of 9/11. A seventh bombing suspect, Abdul Rahman Yasin, remains at large and is on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists.
After the bombing, the government-run trade center banned underground parking, installed battery-operated lights in stairwells and added security cameras, among other safety upgrades.
A memorial fountain was destroyed on Sept. 11. But bombing victims' names are now inscribed on one of the waterfall pools that bear the names of the nearly 3,000 killed on 9/11. A room in the Sept. 11 museum is devoted to the bombing, and a special temporary installation marks the 25th anniversary.
After poring through the installation one day recently, 15-year-old Raven Rucinski, of Michigan, was surprised she'd never heard much about the bombing. Catlin Roberts, 39, from Swansea, Wales, reflected on the legacy of an event she had only dimly recalled.
"I don't think, when this happened, people understood what the people who did it represented," she said.
This story corrects the spelling of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.


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April in the 'D'
Well, it's now April first, and that can mean different things to different people. If you're a prankster, than April Fools Day is the day for you, to basically get away with just about any jesting and not get into too much trouble for it. If you're my dad, then it's your birthday, so the kids and I called him to wish him a happy one (between periods of the hockey game, of course). If you're a wrestling fan, then today was WreslteMania, and one of my friends from work even took the night off to watch it with his dad. Nothing wrong with that. If you're a fan of Detroit sports, though, the calender turn means something a bit more…April in the 'D'. A term dubbed by Fox Sports Detroit, this is simply the time of year when Detroit sports fans can unite, as it means Stanley Cup playoffs for the Red Wings and the beginning of the MLB season for the Tigers. I'm honestly not sure how the Pistons are doing, but the NBA probably has playoffs coming up, too. This should be a great year for the Tigers, and I'm anticipating a lot of fun baseball for the kids and I. There are three reasons why being a Tigers fan puts us a step ahead of other baseball fans, and, no, those reasons are not Verlander, Cabrera, and Fielder. The reasons are Lauren, Allison, and now..Megan. Thank you Fox Sports for giving us the best of the best to represent Detroit, and all of Michigan!
You can follow these girls on Twitter @FSDetroit_Girls
Photos courtesy of Fox Sports Net


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