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This collection is open for research; access requires at least 48 hours advance notice.
Transferred from the North Carolina State University Rugby Football Club
[Identification of item], North Carolina State University, Student and Other Organizations, Rugby Football Club Records, UA 021.490, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC
The nature of the NCSU Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NCSU Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.
The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
Processed by Kellie Strickland,
Encoded by Kellie Strickland,
This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which North Carolina State University assumes no responsibility.
The North Carolina State University Rugby Football Club was organized in 1965. The records for the first few years of the club's existence were reportedly intentionally destroyed. The club competed with a number of teams up and down the Atlantic seaboard as a member of the Eastern Rugby Union and later joined the United States of America Rugby Football Union. The team has toured outside the region, including vists to Great Britian and has hosted teams from the United States and abroad. The Rugby Football Club remains active as of 2008.
The records of the North Carolina State University Rugby Football Club include correspondence, schedules, game records, financial records, and other club business.
The collection is organized as a single series with general club business and correspondence at the beginning followed by the club's financial records.


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by Brian Chitemba
Latest fire raises stink: VP Mujuru
Brian Chitemba Investigations Editor Vice-President Mujuru says she is confused and unsatisfied with explanations regarding the cause...
by itai mazire
Millions lost to diamond smuggling syndicates
Itai Mazire Sunday Mail Reporter Some mining companies at the Chiadzwa diamond fields are allegedly defrauding Zimbabwe of millions...
by kuda bwititi
Sino-Zim energy projects to create 20 000 jobs
Kuda Bwititi Sunday Mail Reporter Energy and telecommunications projects under the economic co-operation agreements signed between...
Councils sell land to pay salaries
Charlotte Musarurwa Municipal Reporter Urban councils countrywide are selling land earmarked for property development to meet their huge salary bills even...
Schools engage lawyers over unpaid fees
Pamela Nyabadza and Spiwe Nyamasotera Sunday Mail Reporters Primary and secondary schools are approaching lawyers to seek advice on how to recover outstanding...
BREAKING NEWS: Tennis superstar Cara Black close to double glory!
PHOTOS: Harare City's 2-1 victory over Chiredzi FC in the Chibuku Super Cup
PHOTOS: FC Platinum's sensational victory over Caps United at Chibuku Super Cup
Maternal mortality ratio drops
Capital markets primed for increased FDI
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MOTORING by Augustine Moyo: 'I rethink on E15′
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Garden Affair: The magnificent AVOCADO
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subset: commoncrawl


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Blog & Updates
Immigration Policy Update for May 27, 2011
May 27, 2011 - Posted by Maurice Belanger
A spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is making its way through the House of Representatives. On May 24th, the House Appropriations Committee passed the bill, which will go to the House floor as early as next week (the week of May 31). Following is a report on some of the immigration-related provisions in the bill. The DHS appropriations bill governs spending for the immigration agencies (ICE, CBP, USCIS) that are part of DHS.
This is the first full-year DHS spending bill authored by the new Republican leadership in the House. Overall, the bill continues the Republican's recent tendency to throw money at enforcing our broken immigration laws, increasing budgets for programs that do nothing to address the policy flaws that underlie our broken system. While there has been a lot of talk this year of the need to cut government spending, the reality in this bill is that the House is ready to spend even more money on programs that have proven controversial while doing nothing to reduce the nation's undocumented immigrant population and our economy's dependence on workers who now cannot work legally.
At the same time, the bill eliminates the Administration's efforts to bring immigration fees into line with the actual costs of processing applications, and it also eliminates government spending to help immigrants integrate.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
The Committee approved about one-third of the funding requested for USCIS.
Fee Reform: The Administration's fee reform effort would receive no funding. The Administration requested $207 million for the processing of refugee and asylum applications, for which there is no charge. As part of an effort to more closely align immigration fees with the cost of processing applications, the Administration requested appropriated funding for this activity. The Committee rejected the request, and directed USCIS to include the cost of processing asylum and refugee applications into the fee study that it is currently undertaking to form the basis of its next fee adjustments. The current fee schedule does not include this cost. In the past, refugee and asylum processing costs added, on average, about $40 to each application for an immigration benefit (such as an application for naturalization). If this bill becomes law, we can expect the refugee and asylum application surtax to return.
Immigrant Integration: The Administration requested $19.75 million for immigrant integration programs and for the operations of the Office of Citizenship. The Committee rejected the request. In its report on the bill, the Committee noted that it "supports the efforts of the Office of Citizenship to promote civic education through the naturalization process." Not, apparently, enough to provide funding for this purpose. Instead, the Committee expects all activities of the Office, including the immigrant integration grants for which appropriations have been received in the past two years, to be funded out of the Fee Account. Regarding the integration grants, which have been awarded to non-profit groups that help immigrants prepare for citizenship, the Committee specified an appropriation—out of the Fee Account—of $8.5 million (the same amount for which appropriated funds were allocated in the current Fiscal Year). If funded through the fee account, the integration grants might add roughly another $1.50 to immigration applications (based on a proportional projection from the cost of processing refugee and asylum applications).
The Forum has produced two documents pertaining to the issues of immigrant integration and fee reform in the Appropriations process:
- Making the Fee Structure of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services More Transparent
- Modest Investment for Immigrant Integration Should be Preserved
While the Committee couldn't find any money for immigrant integration, costs concerns were not a factor in enforcement budgets. Customs and Border Protection got $8.77 billion—$44 million more than the President asked for in his budget, and more than half a billion dollars more than allocated in FY 2011. Within that amount, border security between ports of entry gets $3.62 billion, $191 million more than last year—enough to bring the Border Patrol up to 21,370 agents.
ICE was allocated $5.5 billion, $25.6 million more than the President requested and $84.8 million more than in 2011. Secure Communities got $194 million, $10 million more than the President requested. ICE Detention and Removal operations were awarded $2.75 billion, $26.7 million more than the President asked for, to raise the minimum number of detention bed spaces that ICE must maintain on a daily basis from 33,400 bed spaces to 34,000—and the Committee directs ICE "to intensify its enforcement efforts and fully utilize these resources."
Other Appropriations
The DHS Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties received $21.1 million, $3.5 million less than requested. The Committee gave the Administration the $72.3 million it requested for the Alternatives to Detention program.
Positive provisions
The report accompanying the bill contains some positive language. Among other things, it directs Customs and Border Protection to keep better statistics on detainees in short-term detention. It encourages CBP to deploy more community relations officers in border communities. It directs CBP to treat unaccompanied minors with special concern. The Committee also directs ICE to include better information and more detailed statistics in its reports on the Secure Communities program. It directs ICE to report on its plans to implement Office of Inspector General recommendations from a 2010 report on the 287(g) program. There is also language directing USCIS to report on and to guard against abuses of the E-Verify work authorization verification system.
We expect the bill will be scheduled for a vote the week of May 30. There may be an "open rule" for this bill, meaning that there will be no limit on the number of amendments that will be considered. If this is the case, we expect a number of additional enforcement-only provisions to be offered.
The Senate has not yet begun to consider its version of the DHS spending bill. The Senate will have its own priorities, but will set them out on a later timeline.
Indefinite Detention Bill Proposed
On May 24, the House Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement held a hearing on a bill introduced by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, that would give the Secretary of Homeland Security authority to detain immigrants indefinitely if they are subject to a final order of removal and cannot be deported for some reason, or if they are subject to a removal order that has been stayed by a judge while their immigration case is on appeal.
H.R.1932, the "Keep Our Communities Safe Act of 2011" would, in effect, mean life in prison for certain immigrants who have been ordered removed but who cannot be deported because, for example, the immigrant's country of origin will not accept deportees from the U.S.
In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled in Zadvydas v. Davis, that immigrants who have been ordered removed cannot be imprisoned by the government for more than six months if there is no reasonable likelihood that the individual will be removed. (This does not include any sentence imposed by the criminal justice system, if the person is convicted of a crime.)
Rep. Smith's bill would allow the government to detain these individuals indefinitely. Such a bill, if enacted, would (again) be subject to a constitutional challenge. As the ACLU's Ahilan Arulanantham said in his written testimony for the hearing, in our system, "detention without trial is the narrow exception. The Constitution's Due Process Clause protects each person's freedom by ensuring that no one is detained absent strong procedural protections to prevent the unnecessary deprivation of liberty."
There is no companion bill in the Senate.
Mandatory E-Verify Bill Expected in June
As part of his enforcement-only agenda, Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) is expected to introduce a bill that would make the use of the E-Verify electronic work authorization verification system mandatory for all businesses in the U.S.
There is still no sign that Republicans who now control the Judiciary Committee (having jurisdiction over immigration) will attempt to seriously address the need to fix the broken immigration system. Despite billions of dollars being spent on immigration enforcement, and enforcement "benchmarks" set in the last round of immigration reform legislative efforts having been largely met, Republicans continue to call for more enforcement. They continue to move the goalpost.
The President, in his speech in El Paso on immigration reform and border security on May 10, made light of this fact:
"You know, [opponents of immigration reform] said we needed to triple the Border Patrol. Or now they're going to say we need to quadruple the Border Patrol. Or they'll want a higher fence. Maybe they'll need a moat. Maybe they want alligators in the moat. They'll never be satisfied."
In the White House "blueprint" for immigration reform, "Building a 21st Century Immigration System," released to coincide with the President's trip to El Paso, there is a hopeful sign that the President might be establishing his own goalpost regarding E-Verify:
"Most importantly, [implementing E-Verify] must be accompanied by a legalization program that allows unauthorized workers to get right with the law…."
It's early in this debate yet, but expect to hear a lot about E-Verify in the coming months.
Resources from the Forum: For more information on this subject, see our one-pager, "E-Verify Without Reform Cannot Succeed," and listen to a recording of a Forum briefing for reporters on the E-Verify program.
Supreme Court Rules in Arizona E-Verify Case: On May 26, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an Arizona Law, the Legal Arizona Worker Act, was not pre-empted by federal law. The law conditions a business license in Arizona upon using the E-Verify system to check workers for authorization to work in the U.S. While the Court acknowledged that only the federal government can regulate immigration, the Court saw the issue as a business licensing issue, and that Congress exempted state laws pertaining to business licensing from preemption in the Immigration Reform and Control Act. Arizona's more controversial SB 1070 was not a licensing law.
The win in court for Arizona is not a win for the state's economy. Arizona's workers and businesses are working around this scheme to enforce dysfunctional laws. Half of employers are not even using the system for new hires; some workers and business have moved off the books and into the cash economy; and some have been able to get around the system by using documents that made them appear to be authorized.
The Forum's reaction can be read in this release.
USCIS Launches Citizenship Public Awareness Initiative
On May 25, USCIS launched a Citizenship Public Awareness Initiative, which will take the form of a series of radio, print, and Web ads and PSAs over the next several months to encourage eligible immigrants to apply for U.S. Citizenship. Ads will be heard on 250 radio stations and will appear on 400 Spanish-language news and social media Web sites. The Initiative also seeks to promote awareness of the citizenship process and where immigrants can find resources produced by USCIS to help them prepare for the test.
USCIS is seeking the assistance of community groups to extend the reach of this Initiative. All of the print and radio ads and flyers produced for the Initiative are available from USCIS's Web site for download. There are 30-second radio spots in English, Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. There are 11" x 17" poster-size versions of the print advertisements in English, Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. There are also English and Spanish flyers available. All materials can be obtained on the Citizenship Awareness Initiative Web page (http://www.uscis.gov/citizenshipawareness), and other resources from the Citizenship Resource Center can be accessed from that page as well.
Haitian TPS Extended
On May 19, DHS announced an 18-month extension of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for nationals of Haiti. Haitians were granted TPS after the January 2010 earthquake near the Haitian capital killed more than 300,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless. TPS is extended through January 22, 2013. USCIS has a Fact Sheet on the TPS extension here, and the Fact Sheet is accompanied by a list of links here you can find more information related to Haitian TPS as well as to TPS-related forms.


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Indiana State Police conducted two saturation patrols Friday night and early Saturday morning targeting dangerous and impaired drivers in Knox and Vanderburgh Counties.
Between 8:00 Friday night and 4:00 Saturday morning, troopers arrested five impaired drivers. All five drivers are currently being held on bond.
Those Driving While Intoxicated arrests were:
Vanderburgh County:
• Dalton Ireland, 21, Evansville, IN (BAC .16%)
• Laura Smith, 31, Evansville, IN (BAC .27%)
• Samantha Monsen, 23, Henderson, KY (BAC .15%)
Knox County:
• Thomas T. Dye, 50, Vincennes, IN (BAC .09%)
• Emmanuel T. Messer, 22, Vincennes, IN (.11%)
Indiana State Police says they are committed to traffic safety and will continue to conduct saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints to apprehend impaired drivers and to deter others from drinking and driving.
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The Entourage movie will be coming to a theater near you next summer!
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Men at Work is rolling the dice on a Las Vegas reunion! Molly Sims will guest-star as a love interest for Gibbs, who is played by her former co-star James Lesure, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively.
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The cast of Men at Work might want to start looking at bigger office space.
The TBS comedy is adding Jane Seymour, Ed Asner and star Danny Masterson's sister, Alanna, to its impressive list of guest stars for...read more
Entourage's Emmanuelle Chriqui talks the possibility of Sloan and E getting back together, and talks upcoming guest stars!|Entourage|Emmanuelle Chriqui|Matt Mitovich|
Watch 'Entourage 71' on HBO on xfinityTV.com
From acclaimed writer-director Sebastian Gutierrez comes an outrageous, genre-bending, multi-layered comedy about one day in the lives of ten seemingly disparate women - including a porn star, a flight attendant, a psychiatrist, a masseuse, a bartender and a pair of call girls -- all with one thing in common: trouble. Carla Gugino ("Sin City") stars as Elektra Luxx, a world-famous porn star whose future is thrown for a loop with the news that she's pregnant and Adrianne Palicki ("Friday Night Lights") is Holly Rocket, a not-too-bright adult industry newcomer with an inconvenient aversion to girl-girl action. Their paths intersect with, among others, a hilariously suave British Rock Star (Josh Brolin), a bright neurotic with a dark past (Connie Britton, "Friday Night Lights") and a call girl with a tricky client (Emmanuelle Chriqui, "Entourage"). The talented cast also includes Marley Shelton ("Grindhouse"), Simon Baker ("The Mentalist"), and Joseph Gordon-Levitt ('500 Days Of Summer").
Rick movie trailer - starring Bill Pullman, Dylan Baker, Sandra Oh, Agnes Bruckner, Aaron Stanford, Robin Goldsmith. Directed by Curtiss Clayton. Genre: Drama
Rating: R
More Clips & Interviews
A na ve young man assumes a dead man's identity in order to join an underworld game of Russian roulette. The stakes are high, but the payout is more than he can resist.
A naïve young man assumes a dead man's identity in order to join an underground game of Russian roulette. He finds himself embroiled in an underworld labyrinth of power, violence, and luck. The stakes are high, but the payout is more than he can resist. His only collateral is his life and however long his luck can hold. Are his odds any better than any other player in this most deadly game?
A naïve young man assumes a dead man's identity in order to join an underworld game of Russian roulette. Costarring Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, and Michael Shannon.
More Emmanuelle Chriqui Movies Videos
As Gibbs (James Lesure) agrees to marry his British girlfriend to get her a green card, Milo (Danny Masterson) is upset to learn his new girlfriend is close friends and business partners with her female ex. Tyler (Michael Cassidy) fights for their new boss' (guest star David Krumholtz) approval.
Also Available On Amazon Instant Video and VUDU
Just as Jane narrows down the Red John list to seven suspects, Red John strikes again – and the victim is linked to Jane's past in the fifth season cliffhanger finale. LAURA SAN GIACOMO guest stars as social worker Miriam Gottlieb.
Also Available On Amazon Instant Video and VUDU
Lorelei Martins returns, determined to find out if Red John had a role in her sister's death, and Jane is forced to confess to Lisbon his part in Lorelei's prison escape. EMMANUELLE VAUGIER guest stars as Melissa Enfield, a trustee at a women's shelter.
Also Available On Amazon Instant Video and VUDU
Tron reveals to Beck that he is dying from a virus.
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Ryan Phillippe, Numb3rs vet David Krumholtz and Entourage alum Emmanuelle Chriqui are slated to guest-star on Men at Work's upcoming third season, TVGuide.com has learned exclusively.
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[WARNING: The following story contains spoilers from the Season 5 finale of The Mentalist. Read at your own risk.]And then there were seven.The Mentalist finale: Who is Red John?As promised, The Mentalist's Season 5 finale found Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) narrowing down the list of people who could possibly be his serial killer nemesis Red John to just seven names. But in a final twist and display of power, Red John "changed the game" by predicting — in the form of a video message from the now-dead Lorelei Martins (Emmanuelle Chriqui) no less! — which seven names Jane was going to end with. He also shared this parting threat: "I'm going to start killing again, often. Until you catch me, or I catch you."Creator Bruno Heller insists that one of these suspects is indeed Red John...
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By the end of The Mentalist's Season 5 finale, viewers will finally know Red John's real name.On Sunday's episode (10/9c, CBS), Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) narrows down his list of suspects to seven people. And despite the twists and tricks of the past (remember Bradley Whitford as Red John?), creator and executive producer Bruno Heller insists that one of the names on Jane's list is indeed his serial-killing nemesis.Spoilers! Get scoop on 39 must-watch finales"The cards are up on the table and they're the real cards," Heller tells TVGuide.com...
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As fans of The Mentalist know only too well, you'd have to be nuts to purposely piss off Red John. But that's just what will happen in Sunday's episode, titled "There Will Be Blood," when the serial killer's accomplice, Lorelei Martins, goes rogue. Played by Entourage's Emmanuelle Chriqui, the needy, high-strung Lorelei packs an all-purpose gym bag of devastation (gun, Taser, rope, handcuffs) and sets out to avenge the murder of her sister Miranda — a crime that...
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Bloggers with Attitudes
Andrew Dodds,
If you think tamino is harsh there, you should look at how philosophers debate. There are ways to call someone's competence into question, and tamino's blog post is not one of them. This is just blogging with an attitude.
Bloggers with attitudes are not to be taken seriously. Querents that ask tough questions are to be taken seriously. What are we to make of querents that ask tough questions backed up by blog posts containing abusive attacks?
All this is quite secondary to the topic of my question to tamino. Are we to take seriously interlocutors that switch topics? By chance I am not a scientist, that would give me the right to shame you.
Had tamino owned his schtick, I would not have minded much. But he contested that his blog post contained abusive attacks. Had I read Joshua's post and tamino's answer to it, I would not have bothered. Boys will be boys, I guess.
If you think tamino is a tough customer, try answering Andy Lacis' comment reproduced here:
Somehow, when I read Andy Lacis' comment, I hear a scientist at work. When I read tamino, I mostly read a blogger with an attitude. He should at least wait to hold the ball in the end zone to parade.
Quite frankly, I'm getting tired of bloggers with attitudes.
(Source: judithcurry.com)


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Jan 18 2013
The Music with Talking Thing has to end
I listen to a lot of ambient music during the day while I work -- I've always listened to something in the background while writing -- generally instrumental stuff streamed through Last.fm which I can tune out but which gets rid of the bleak silence of my office hereon the Cape or in Manhattan. I've noticed over the last six months a lot of music incorporates people speaking -- not singing -- fragments of everyday conversations over the music. This is not singing. This is talking. Thank god Last.fm has a "ban" button so I can banish this stuff forever. But I swear there's more of it and it keeps coming.
I give you "Little Fluffy Clouds" by The Orb.
And finally, "Close Your Eyes and Daydream" by Obfusc. This one was the last straw and forced this rant out of me.


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Winter Book Sale
The Friends of the Library Winter Used Book Sale runs January 31st - February 2nd. Friday January 31st from 7-9 PM is the Friends only Preview Night – you may join at the door. On Saturday, February 1st – 9AM – 5PM. Sunday, February 2nd – Noon – 5PM.


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There Is No Such Thing as a Crash-Proof Stock
Timothy is a member of The Motley Fool Blog Network -- entries represent the personal opinion of the blogger and are not formally edited.
Over on MarketWatch an article entitled "Three crash-proof blue-chip stocks" was published on Monday, in which the author put forth three big-name stocks that he believed could weather a pullback better than the rest. The three stocks put forth were Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN), and, believe it or not, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).
But there is no such thing as a crash-proof stock, and for a long-term investor it doesn't make sense to look for one. A stock falling in price during a pullback is an opportunity, not a crisis, and trying to time your selling in order to avoid fluctuations in price is a recipe for disaster. Not only is the strategy a bad one, but the stocks suggested aren't exactly low-risk.
The worst of the bunch
Exxon Mobil is an enormous company, with nearly half a trillion dollars of revenue in 2012. This size, however, makes it difficult for the company to grow at any significant rate, and in fact revenue and earnings have been on the decline recently. After a small drop in revenue in 2012 the second quarter of 2013 saw a year-over-year decline of 16.4% while net income was more than cut in half.
I think there is this inherent assumption that Exxon is so big that it is also safe, but price is a significant factor in determining the risk. Big oil stocks like Exxon are often bought for the dividend, and Exxon offers the lowest dividend compared to its peers. A projected yield of 2.78% is well below the 3.27% yield of Chevron (NYSE: CVX), for example. And while Exxon has grown its dividend at an annualized rate of 9.3% over the past decade Chevron has trounced this with 10.5% annual growth. While both companies have fairly low payout ratios Exxon has a greater potential for earnings declines thanks to its larger size. Chevron saw EPS decline by 24% in Q2, far smaller than Exxon's 55% drop.
These are the reasons why Chevron is part of my Ultimate Dividend Growth Portfolio while Exxon is not. There's simply no reason to choose Exxon over Chevron at current prices, and in the event of a major pullback I'd expect Exxon to be hit the hardest to bring its dividend in line with its peers.
Biotech is safe?
Amgen is a leading biotechnology medicine company with a market capitalization topping $80 billion. As the MarketWatch article stated, Amgen does have $22 billion in cash, but the article fails to mention the $24 billion in debt on which the company pays $1 billion per year in interest. Interest is not exactly my favorite use of cash as an investor, and that interest eats away nearly 19% of the company's operating profits.
The stock, having risen considerably since the beginning of 2012, is not a very good value at all. The stock trades at nearly 20 times last year's earnings, a steep price to pay for an $80 billion company. Analysts are expecting just 8.8% annual earnings growth, putting the PEG ratio well above 2. Because of all of this Amgen will likely be one of the worst hit in the event of a pullback. The stock isn't outrageously priced, but it's not cheap, and I severely doubt that it is "crash-proof." If anything a crash would be the best time to pick up shares on the cheap, because right now the stock isn't a very good deal.
A fuzzy future
Apple is difficult to value because its future profitability is unclear. In fiscal 2012 Apple recorded $44.15 per share in earnings. Couple that with about $140 per share of net cash and the adjusted P/E ratio sits at just about 7.5. The problem is that earnings have been declining. The most recently reported quarter saw an EPS decline of nearly 20% year-over-year, and it's difficult to predict when and at what level this will stabilize.
Apple may well be the most crash-proof stock of these three simply because of its giant cash cushion, and in a no-growth or slow-growth scenario the stock is a steal. But this is not a guarantee, and as the iPhone continues to lose market share while the iPad faces inexpensive competition, margins will likely get squeezed. A low-cost iPhone which is rumored to be planned will result in lower margins and may cannibalize normal iPhone sales, and the lack of new groundbreaking products makes future sources of profits unclear.
At $700 per share the stock seemed cheap, and then it proceeded to fall below $400 per share for a time. The same crash-proof argument could have been made at $700 as is being made now, and it clearly wasn't true then and it likely isn't true now. There is a floor created by the cash, but earnings could continue to fall indefinitely, creating a significant risk.
The bottom line
There is no such thing as a crash-proof stock, and buying expensive stocks like Exxon and Amgen certainly isn't the way to achieve any sort of safety. Apple's future is so fuzzy in terms of profitability that calling it a defensive stock is a little crazy. The best way to deal with a crash is to use it as an opportunity to buy stocks at a discount, not to worry about short-term declines in your holdings.
Do you know the major developments that could crush Apple? The secrets to success that could make investors like you rich? The answers are simpler than you think, and The Motley Fool is sharing them in a free report titled, "5 Secrets to Apple's Future." Inside, we outline critical information every Apple investor must know, so click here now for your free report.
Timothy Green has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Apple and Chevron. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is this post wrong? Click here. Think you can do better? Join us and write your own!


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Two teenage boys from Sandwich were charged Sunday with larceny for allegedly going door to door in a Forestdale neighborhood collecting money for Sandwich High School when according to the police they were planning to keep the cash.
Police were called to Greenville Drive for a report of the two boys soliciting donations for the high school student council. The residents who called said the boys seemed suspicious and "looked out of place."
Police searched the neighborhood and recovered a box labeled "Sandwich High Student Council" and "Thank You for your Donation." After speaking with 20 residents, the police were able to identify the suspects.
Both boys, each 17 years old, have been charged with larceny under $250. It was determined that $30 had been collected.
As of this time, not all victims who provided donations have been identified. Police encourage anyone who donated money to the suspects to contact Officer Daniel J. Perkins at the Sandwich Police Department at 508-888-3343, extension 341.


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By CHARLES ODUMAP Sports Writer
ATLANTA (AP) - Kevin Ware is with his teammates on Louisville's Final Four bench.
There was a loud cheer when Ware, on crutches and surrounded by photographers, followed his teammates onto the floor before the game. He sat on his bench, with his injured leg resting on a stack of towels.
Ware says he feels "great" and added, "Obviously, it's great to be home."
Ware signed with Louisville from Rockdale County High School, about 30 miles east of Atlanta.
Ware's right tibia snapped and broke through his skin in Sunday's Midwest Regional win over Duke. The gruesome injury ended his postseason as a player but didn't end his role as a teammate.
Louisville players paid tribute to Ware, No. 5, before Saturday's national semifinal, wearing T-shirts over their jerseys in pregame warmups with the words "Ri5e to the Occasion."
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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|July 29, 2005
Analyzing TEDS Using the New Graphing Features of the Online Data Analysis System (DAS)
|In Brief
The combined 1992-2002 TEDS file will be used to demonstrate the new graphics capability of the DAS, which was added in March 2005. When generating frequencies or crosstabulations, chart options are now available to produce bar, stacked bar, pie, and line charts.
The procedures described in this report only work with MS Internet Explorer, version 5 or higher. To explore the new charting functionality:
|Figure 1. Run Frequency or Crosstabulation (with charts) Input Screen
The resulting pie chart is displayed in Figure 2. For all years combined, the percentage of cases in each region is highest in the Northeast (31 percent), and almost equally distributed in the South, West, and Midwest (24, 23, and 22 percent, respectively).9
|Figure 2. Pie Chart Results for Regional Distribution of Substance Abuse Treatment Admissions: 1992-2002
To examine the relationship between region and admissions involving heroin, return to the input screen by clicking on the Back button. This time we will generate a crosstabulation and stacked bar chart.
|Figure 3. Stacked Bar Chart Results for Regional Distribution of Heroin Admissions: 1992-2002
Finally, to examine trends in admissions involving heroin for each Census region, we will return to the input screen once more to generate crosstabulations and line charts.
|Figure 4. Line Chart Results of Yearly Heroin Admissions, by Census Region: 1992-2002
|Figure 5. Selection of Paste Special Options in PowerPoint
There is a convenient way to proportionally adjust the size of the graphic in PowerPoint:
|Figure 6. Adjustments to Picture Scale in PowerPoint
Access the latest TEDS reports at:
This page was last updated on May 16, 2008.
End Notes
1 The archive is supported by the Office of Applied Studies, SAMHSA, and is based at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan.
2 The DAS is based on Survey Documentation and Analysis (SDA) software developed at the Computer-assisted Survey Methods (CSM) Program at the University of California at Berkeley.
3 The concatenated file is revised annually based on new and updated data. This report is based on the data available as of May 2004.
4 Using the DAS, this file may also be used to subset and download records for a given State or metropolitan area.
5 See previous short reports for further instruction on using the DAS at http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/SAMHDA/das.html.
6 Heroin Flag (herflg) records if heroin was reported as the primary, secondary, or tertiary substance of abuse at the time of admission. [Note: The primary substance of abuse is the main substance reported at the time of admission, and secondary/tertiary substances are other substances of abuse also reported at the time of admission.]
7 Year of Admission (year) is the year of the client's admission to substance abuse treatment.
8 Census Region (region) is based on divisions used by the U.S. Bureau of Census, 1970 Census of Population. The four regions are comprised of the following states and territories: The Northeast region of the United States is composed of nine States: CT, ME, MA, NJ, NY, NH, PA, RI, and VT. The Midwest region of the United States is composed of 12 States: IL, IN, IA, KS, MI, MN, MO, NE, ND, OH, SD, and WI. The West region of the United States is composed of 13 States: AK, AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, UT, WA, and WY. The South region of the United States is composed of 17 States: AL, AR, DC, DE, GA, FL, KY, LA, MD, MS, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA, and WV.
9 For further details, including results to additional decimal places, or counts of cases, consult the frequency or crosstabulation table accompanying the chart output. Row totals and color-coded indication of the strength of statistical results are additionally available in the crosstabulation output.
10 Results are provided for each value of the control variable, and for all valid cases.
11 To save the graphic as a file that can be inserted into another application, right-click directly on the DAS graphic and select "Save Picture As" to specify file type, location, and name.
The Drug and Alcohol
Services Information System (DASIS) is an integrated data system
maintained by the Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). One component of DASIS is the
Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS). TEDS is a compilation of data on the
demographic characteristics and substance abuse problems of those
admitted for substance abuse treatment. The information comes primarily
from facilities that receive some public funding. Information on
treatment admissions is routinely collected by State administrative
systems and then submitted to SAMHSA in a standard format. TEDS records
represent admissions rather than individuals, as a person may be
admitted to treatment more than once. State admission data are reported
to TEDS by the Single State Agencies (SSAs) for substance abuse
treatment. There are significant differences among State data collection
systems. Sources of State variation include completeness of reporting,
facilities reporting TEDS data, clients included, and treatment
resources available. See the annual TEDS reports for details.
Approximately 1.9 million records are included in TEDS each year.
The DASIS Report is prepared by the Office of Applied Studies, SAMHSA; Synectics for Management Decisions, Inc., Arlington, Virginia; and by RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina (RTI International is a trade name of Research Triangle Institute).
Access the latest TEDS public use files at:
Other substance abuse reports are available at:
The DASIS Report is
published periodically by the Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse
and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
All material appearing in this report is in the public domain and may be
reproduced or copied without permission from
SAMHSA. Additional copies of this report or other reports from the
Office of Applied Studies are available on-line:
http://www.oas.samhsa.gov. Citation of the source is appreciated.
For questions about this report please e-mail:
Access the latest TEDS reports at:
This page was last updated on May 16, 2008.


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Moms Then and Now
How motherhood expectations have changed over the years
How Times Have Changed
Imagine sitting in a waiting room at the pediatrician's office holding your brand new baby in your arms, and striking up a conversation with the woman next to you. She, in turn, is cuddling a newborn and humming softly. You start off with the typical banter concerning the babies' sleeping and eating habits, and as you continue to chat, you can't help but wonder where she's from. For instance, when you mention that your obstetrician was also expecting, the woman shakes her head and says, "A female obstetrician. Now that's something. I've lived in three states and my OBs were always men. I never met a woman OB-GYN."
OK, that could just be an aberration, but then she mentions that she never had a single ultrasound. Just when you're beginning to think that things couldn't get weirder, she tells you that she has no memory of the labor and delivery of her firstborn: She was knocked out cold and woke up to find out she'd had a healthy baby boy. The final shocker comes when she describes feeding her second child rice cereal when he was just 4 weeks old!
What is wrong with this woman? Is she pulling your leg?
No. She's the baby's grandmother, and she's describing the life of a typical new mom more than 30 years ago.
Congratulations, You're Pregnant! Let's Party!
New grandmother Diana says, "My friends and I often joke about how things have changed over the years and how did our children ever survive pregnancy and birth? We were given very few guidelines about foods during pregnancy, especially the first three months." As strange as it sounds to mothers today, little was understood 30 years ago concerning the physiological relationship between a mother and her growing fetus. Moderate smoking and drinking during pregnancy were commonplace.
"I have this hilarious and disturbing picture of my mother relaxing with a cigarette when she's about 8 months pregnant with me," describes 34-year-old Amy. "She's tapping ashes into a dish that's resting on her enormous belly."
My, my, how times have changed. Millennium moms not only shun tobacco and alcohol, they avoid soft cheeses, caffeine, aspirin, swordfish, sushi, even hair dye. On the other hand, while our moms ate and drank on the wild side, they tended to take it easy from a physical standpoint, for fear of harming the baby or causing a miscarriage. Now we know that the womb is one secure little cocoon, so moms-to-be are sweating it out on tennis courts, doing aerobics, running, and of course, practicing the uber-popular yoga.
Breastfeeding? That's for Hippies.
The only trend more popular than prenatal yoga it seems is breastfeeding. Today's mostly bottle-fed mothers are nursing their babies in record numbers. What was viewed as unhealthy and somewhat primitive just three decades ago is now touted as "the healthiest choice" in the literature on the back of formula cans. The percentage of US breastfeeding mothers reached an all-time low in the 1970s. "At that time, breastfeeding was frowned upon," explains Jerri, grandmother of a 4-year-old.
Jo-Ann, whose daughter-in-law has been nursing her grandson for the last 10 months, confirms that view. "Your friends discouraged it. Doctors discouraged it," she says. "Back then, you didn't question your doctors. They were gods. If your doctor said it, you did it!"
Hospital Births: What Baby?
What else did doctors recommend in those days? That moms spend four days in the hospital resting up while the nurses took care of the babies. In sharp contrast to the current focus on mother-child bonding via rooming in, the prevailing wisdom, which unarguably has its merits, was that labor and delivery (even if performed while unconscious) was tough work, so mothers should get all the sleep and recuperation time they could before going home. Newborns were brought in to their mothers every few hours for a bottle of formula, but most of the time, "Babies were in the nursery. I don't think they brought them to me at night at all," remembers Jo-Ann.
"I can't even imagine that," exclaims Karen, a mother of a 1-year-old. "My daughter spent every minute in the room with me and slept with me, skin-to-skin, at night. I used to get antsy if she was gone for more than 30 minutes for all those newborn tests." Chances are that while Karen probably felt more comfortable taking her new baby home after a couple of days of nonstop contact, her mother went home more rested and ready to take on the challenge of full-time parenting. Both approaches have their pros and cons, and both babies flourished at home.
Safety First … Ha!
"There are so many more safety products today than when my children were small," recalls Jerri. If you thought smoking during pregnancy was bad, how about a mother allowing her toddler to bounce around the backseat (or front seat) of the car without so much as a seatbelt?
"Stuffing crowds of people into VW Beetles wasn't just a college stunt," remembers Karen. "When I was a kid, we used to go out to eat with my dad in the driver's seat, my mom in the passenger seat, three kids sitting across the backseat and a child sitting in each floorboard." Jerri says that when her daughter was little, she actually fell out of a moving car and rolled on the pavement!
Car seats made their debut in the early 1970s and resembled hard plastic booster seats with trays. They weren't required to face backward or even to be placed in the backseat, but they were a good start. Modern-day moms can have their car seats professionally installed at police stations and hospitals while they unwrap their new video baby monitors and sleep apnea alarms. Their babies will eat organic baby food and start education early with baby gym classes and high-contrast color crib mobiles. Later, they'll color with nontoxic, washable crayons in coloring books made of recycled paper. It's a brave new world!
Generation X-hausted
Between putting batteries in the talking phonics ExerSaucer and attending Mom and Tot Pilates, millennium mothers are a busy bunch. "Moms in my generation had the gift of a slower pace and not as many outside pressures," Diana says. "Our kids played with friends after school and had fewer organized activities. They learned to have down time and entertain themselves. Our lives are on high speed today. Technology has allowed us to obtain information and solve problems in an instant. Often I see moms and dads responding to their children's needs and wants in that same fast-paced manner. They want quick fixes for everything from school problems to the common cold, if it doesn't happen quickly someone is at fault. Actually, no one is at fault. Sometimes it just takes time! Slowing down gives common sense a chance to kick in, and hopefully remembering that ultimately they are responsible for their children."
Though a grandmother for a mere three months, Diana's already a wise counselor. "Moms are not perfect people, and each generation is confronted with different challenges," she reminds us. "We are also products of our own upbringing, the good and the bad, although we fervently vow that we will 'never do that to our children!' But no matter what generation we're in, we are all moms stumbling through the best job in the world."
Read even more about how mothering has changed over the years here!


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"Comic book style post-apocalyptic fun!"
Normally the books I listen to are 20+ hours long and I definitely prefer longer stories; however, I decided to give Ex-Heroes a try for a change of pace and I am very glad I did. Combining zombies with super heroes didn't really seem like something I would get into but Peter Clines does so masterfully. I felt like I was listening to a comic book and enjoyed every minute of it.
In any post-apocalyptic story I am a stickler for details about the events that led to the collapse of civilization and I always have a real desire to know why it happened. Ex-Heroes does not disappoint on this front and I found the explanation to be perfect for the material. It added some decent depth to the overall story and good background to some of the characters.
This story has plenty of action, lots of zombies and zombie-killing, and some interesting super heroes with a sense of humor. Combine that with two narrators who do a great job with the characters they voice and you have a winning combination.
"48 more hours of Sanderson goodness!"
When I wrote my (too) short review of the first book in this series, The Way of Kings, I ended it with this sentence: "This book is so good I will gladly listen to it again as a refresher when book two comes out!"
Well I am back to say that I followed through on my promise and it was worth every second. The Stormlight Archive is epic fantasy at it's best and Sanderson shows why he is at the top of my must read/listen list. Here I am fresh off of investing close to 94 hours of my life listening to books 1 and 2 of the Stormlight Archive and I am ready for more.
The world is rich and deep, the characters are complex, and the magic systems are true Sanderson - well defined, unique, and interesting. All of the main characters are back and the story just gets bigger and bigger. For most authors the end of this book would be a satisfying conclusion to any series but it is obvious that this one is just getting started. Sanderson set the bar so awfully high with the Mistborn series that I am truly impressed he was able to surpass himself with the Stormlight Archive.
Veteran narrators Michael Kramer and Kate Reading are back and once again breathe life into all of the great characters. It was a pleasure to listen to them both for 90+ hours and I can't wait for book three. These two know epic fantasy and combine with Sanderson to form a perfect highstorm of epic proportions.
If you like fantasy books then you will feel like a kid in a candy store here. It is time for you to run up to the counter and plunk down your credit(s) to enjoy this wonderful experience. You won't find more hours of entertainment for so little cost anywhere else. Of course you should start with The Way of Kings but be assured that 94 listening hours later you will find yourself back at the candy store counter standing on your tip toes and holding up another credit. Of course, I will be standing right next to you. :)
"Solid Middle Books of the Series"
Although Volume 2 of the Ryria Revelations contains two books, Nyphron Rising and The Emerald Storm, I still felt how I usually feel after reading the middle book of a good trilogy - unsatisfied with how things are left off and ready for more.
Royce and Hadrian continue their adventures and do some digging into their pasts, while Arista sets off on her own and faces some serious challenges. Each of the characters is flushed out some and the bigger picture continues to come into focus. For me, The Emerald Storm was a bit of a tangent and did not advance the main storyline as much as I would have hoped, but any story involving Royce and Hadrian is entertaining so I'm not complaining.
Tim Gerard Reynolds does his normal excellent job bringing the characters to life and at this point I could not imagine anyone else voicing them. So if you enjoyed Volume 1 there is no reason to hesitate on picking this one up, just keep in mind that the story doesn't end here and you will have to pick up Volume 3 as well.
"Fun Short Story"
John Scalzi teams up with his friend Wil Wheaton again to deliver Fuzzy Nation, an entertaining short story set on a distant planet. Although this is a modern re-write of an older story it is still obvious that the original story is from a simpler time. Wheaton does his usual solid job as a narrator. He reads well but he doesn't do a lot of voices so his performances are slightly limited compared to some of the other narrators.
This is a classic tale of a corporation exploiting resources for profit and destroying the environment until a new life form is discovered - the "Fuzzies". There is an ensuing legal battle to protect the home world of the "Fuzzies" as scientists and lawyers square off with differing opinions. The moral compass of certain characters waver as vast sums of money are weighed against the protection of this newly discovered species. Scalzi injects his usual humor into the story and 7 hours felt about right for this one.
Although predictable at times if you are looking for a short, light sci-fi story then Fuzzy Nation will serve you well. Not quite a 4 star tale for me and I would have given it 3.5 stars if allowed.
"Decent Zombie "Journal""
This Zombie novel is delivered as a series of journal entries from a military man who just happens to start keeping a journal prior to the start of the apocalypse. This format works fairly well although as the book goes on some of the entries no longer feel like realistic journal entries. They are too long and detailed and instead feel like chapters in a normal story which works out fine.
Overall this book is less than 7 hours total and there is only so much that can be done in that time frame. At times things feel rushed as the main character has emotional highs and lows that don't match the amount of time that has passed in the book. I listened to this on a long drive and it kept me entertained but felt incomplete when it ended. This is an intro to the series and should be approached as such.
If you are like me and want background details into the root cause of the apocalypse then you should know that little information is ever provided, which in the end feels appropriate for the journal entry format used. As usual Jay Snyder does an excellent job narrating and although I wasn't left with a burning desire to listen to book 2 immediately I am sure I will eventually get to it on another long drive in the future.
"Entertaining from beginning to end!"
The basic ingredients here are pretty typical for a fantasy series: multiple races, a religious mythos, plots & politics, and of course, swords & sorcery. However, Michael J. Sullivan and Tim Gerard Reynolds combine to prepare those ingredients in a masterful way that makes the whole greater than the sum of the parts. Reynolds in particular does an excellent array of voices and seems to fits the material very well.
The main characters, Royce and Hadrian, both have a sense of humor which keeps the tale humorous and entertaining throughout. Although they are both thieves who take jobs for morally ambiguous individuals, they maintain their own moral code so it is easy to root for them to succeed when things go awry. At times it can be hard to tell if Royce and Hadrian are one step ahead or one step behind but that's all part of the fun.
This audiobook is actually two books in one and well worth the single credit. The first book, The Crown Conspiracy, is a nice introduction to the characters and their surroundings and thus allows the listener to get oriented within the world. There is clearly more than meets the eye going on but the details remain hidden for the most part. In the second book, Avempartha, those details come to the forefront and the bigger picture starts to paint itself. For a while things get confusing but eventually enough details surface for it all to make sense. When book two ends there is still a lot left to sort out so the story won't feel complete without continuing on.
Theft of Swords is a worthy listen for both Fantasy veterans and newbies alike and it will leave you wanting more.
"An improbable series of events unfold..."
I picked up Reamde because the Audible blurb for this story involved an online game world, hackers, and a virus and it seemed like an interesting topic for a novel. That premise is just the tip of the iceberg and this tale veers all over the place. The main characters wind up all over the globe, and the online world of T'Rain, as spies, terrorists, smugglers, and the Russian mafia all get entangled into the plot. Every step of the way Stephenson ups the ante and the plot almost seems to run out of control.
Reamde moved along nicely but it was always just on the wrong side of being believable for me. The relationships formed by some of the characters were just too strong too quickly and the mechanics of the online gaming world of T'Rain were also just a little bit off. If you aren't an online gamer the latter may not be of concern to you at all; however, if you are picking this up because of the online game connection then you should know that it is only a small part of a much larger story. It is not as central to the tale as it was in "Ready Player One".
Reamde can be a fun thrill ride that will head in directions that aren't obvious but only pick it up if you are willing to embrace a chain of highly unlikely occurrences. Malcolm Hillgartner does a decent job of narrating although he deals with a lot of different accents to various degrees of success.
"Bean & Petra come to the forefront"
This book takes place on Earth after the Bugger War and per the author himself this book was inspired by a favorite board game from his childhood: Risk. This book presents to the listener a global game of Risk where the main players are Achilles and Peter Wiggen along with a few of the Battle School kids from Ender's Game. Political and Military maneuvering form the core of this story and Orson Scott Card has clearly put some thought into the geo-political scenarios he presents.
This book also flushes out the back stories of both Bean and Petra and the relationship between them. Bean winds up learning many key things about his own background as the story progresses and the way you view him will fundamentally change. I found Bean's backstory to be more interesting than I expected and for me this was the better part of the story.
Be warned that the recording is pretty poorly done. The readers are good but it is obvious that certain words like Hegemon were mispronounced during the recording. The solution deployed here was to edit in a different reader saying the word correctly after the fact and this makes for a pretty poor listening experience.
So if you can tolerate the poor recording and are interested in learning more about Bean and Petra then give this one a go but if you are looking for more space based Sci-Fi then you should look elsewhere.
"Interesting but not overly entertaining"
Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter team up to pen this novel with a very interesting premise: Humans figure out how to "step' which allows them to instantly teleport to an infinite number of alternate earths. Since the technology required to build a "stepper" device is readily available to almost everyone this changes civilization as we know it. Economies collapse and governments struggle to deal with the concept of governing across multiple earths.
This is an interesting concept for sure but the characters created by Pratchett & Baxter are a bit dry and not all that interesting. Pratchett's sense of humor does surface from time to time but those times are too few to carry the day. The story does get more and more interesting as the "Long Earth" is explored but when some larger plot lines eventually emerge the book ends and leaves you hanging.
Only take the plunge on this one if you are willing to pick up more than one book because as a standalone novel it feels pretty incomplete.
"Quaeryt is promoted and more battles ensue."
Quaeryt is promoted to Commander and he is once again leading his Imager/Troopers into battle. You know the drill: High Holders, iron darts, defensive shields, Antiagon fire, and concealment shields. Sound familiar? If you are thinking about reading book 7 then you know it is. In the end this was a little bit disappointing because the book started out well.
At the outset Quaeryt and Vaelora were sent as envoys to the nation to Khel to convince the Pharsi High Council to accept Bhayar's rule. I found Khel and the Pharsi people to be interesting and the High Council presented a different and unique challenge. The Pharsi added another dimension to the tale and the whole "Lost One" story line was getting fleshed out a bit more. Unfortunately, it didn't last.
The Pharsi story line was eventually put on hold in an unsatisfying way and the latter half of the book was back to the same pattern of battles with only one difference - the enemy now has some imagers of their own. This did make things slightly more interesting but when those Imagers started imaging iron darts and using the same shields I found myself a bit bored. In prior books we experienced Quaeryt "discovering" and creating these battle techniques for his Imagers and I would have expected foreign Imagers with many more years of battle experience to have slightly different abilities in their portfolio. Alas, not so.
So in the end this book is more of the same, for better or worse. The series continues to string me along and once again I find myself hoping for something better in the next book. Since it looks like the Pharsi story line will be picked back up in the book 8, perhaps my patience will pay off.
"Be ready to unravel a mystery..."
When you start with a world full of super heroes and zombies and then you add super soldiers and demons to the mix what comes next? Instead of adding a new class of character this time around Peter Clines decided he would throw us a curve ball and change the entire world instead. The narration was also changed to use just a single narrator - Jay Snyder.
This book brings back all of the main characters but they are not super heroes/super soldiers and there are no zombies. This abrupt change is disorienting at first and it takes a while to sort out where this one is headed. I found it interesting to experience the main characters in a more mundane setting and once the story picked up steam it was as engaging as the first three books in a different way. There are many Pop Culture Sci-Fi references to be found in this one and that just endeared the book to me even more. Peter Clines and Jay Snyder have delivered another solid, entertaining story and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.
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February 4, 2012
It's late in the first half of a tournament game, more than 3,000 basketball fans have filled the auditorium, and as the Patterson High Clippers of Baltimore toss the ball inbounds and head up the court, a spectator leans over to speak to his young son.
"Watch No. 3," he says. "I want you to remember what you see."
That player, a 5-foot-6 spark plug named Aquille Carr, seizes the "rock," crosses midcourt and unmoors a defender with a bounce. He levitates as he enters the paint. And as three big opposing players raise their arms, blocking access at every level, he flips the ball from right hand to left, curls an upward shot from somewhere near his hip while descending, and careens past the glass as the Wilson NCAA Special circles the rim and drops through.
The crowd gasps. Players on the other bench applaud.
"He went through the whole team," the father exclaims.
It's a longer way to the NBA than it is to the basket of Gonzaga College High School, the Washington-based prep powerhouse Patterson is playing tonight. But an impression is growing that Carr, an 18-year-old junior from East Baltimore with a 48-inch vertical leap, a worldwide following on the Internet and a nickname for the ages — "The Crime Stopper" — could reach exactly that height.
"His skill comes through the street, but the more his knowledge of the game grows, the more I [believe] the sky's the limit," says Tyrone "Muggsy" Bogues, the 5-foot-3 former Dunbar High legend who played 14 years in the NBA.
You can count on one hand the number of players shorter than 5 foot 8 who have made it to the NBA. Even fewer have weighed as little as the 140-pound Carr. Moreover, his inner-city background comes with the usual temptations, and he recently told his surprised family that he's to be a father in April.
No matter how many points he has scored (1,400 and counting at Patterson), scholarship offers he has fielded (more than two dozen, though he chose Seton Hall last month) or invitational tourneys he has ruled, he's going to have to elevate his game.
Sitting at the dining-room table of his sister's home in Belair-Edison, last year's Baltimore Sun Metro Boys Player of the Year flashes a smile that lights up the room — just as it lights up gyms, whether he's sinking a 3-pointer, jawing with refs or getting to his feet after a flagrant foul from an opponent.
"All my life, people have been saying, 'You're too small to do this,' 'You can't do that,'" Carr says. "I enjoy proving them wrong. What [those] people don't know is the size of my heart."
On one hand, the play against Gonzaga was nothing special. Carr did something like it several times that game, as he does nearly every time out. On the other hand, it's the kind of play Dime Magazine, an international basketball publication, surely had in mind last summer when it put him on the cover, a place previously reserved only for NBA stars, and called him "the most electrifying high school player in the country."
It's partly the size, of course. Scouts say few players at any level can do the things Carr does, but to see a guy no bigger than the kid scooping fries at McDonald's catapulting to the rim, crashing dunks and distributing bullet passes makes for great theater. It's also his biggest stumbling block.
Check out those few seconds at hoopmixtape.com, a website where a Carr highlight reel has drawn 3.1 million hits, and you'll glimpse the qualities many say he'll need if he's ever to play in the NBA: aggressiveness, the courage to take risks and rare control.
"Aquille has a gift," says Bogues, a Carr family friend who played for 10 years with the Charlotte Hornets. "But as I always tell him, 'You have to understand what we small guards have to do to get by. As you move up, you'll face guards who are much bigger and stronger, and just as fast. You have to show you won't be taken advantage of."
Carr, it seems, may have known that part from birth.
He first picked up a basketball at 4, when he grew sick of seeing his older siblings, Alan Carr Jr. and Ashlie Carr, playing hoops with the neighborhood kids and not involving him.


text:
Auto sales soared in September
Carmakers report large gains on strong demand for trucks and SUVs.
The auto industry enjoyed a spectacular month in September, reporting sales gains nearly across the board.
The sales momentum was solid enough to make the auto sector a beacon of light in an otherwise gloomy economy. Truck sales were especially strong -- another good sign for the economy because of the role trucks play in small business and construction.
"The automotive factors are more important than the economic factors," one industry consultant told Bloomberg. "The long-term demand remains."
The seasonally adjusted annual rate for light vehicles came in at 13.1 million units for September -- a bit higher than analysts expected -- according to industry tracking firm Autodata. That's up from 11.8 million in September of 2010, and a big leap from the 12.1 million seen in August and 12.2 million in July. In fact, the September rate is the fastest seen since April.
Total industry unit deliveries rose 9.9% from September of 2010 but fell 1.7% from August of this year.
Chrysler reported the largest U.S. sales increase, at 27% over September 2010. General Motors (GM) and Ford (F) saw gains of 20% and 9%, respectively. All three automakers beat analyst estimates for the month. Even the Japanese auto companies that were hurt the hardest in the March earthquake and tsunami are recovering. Car sales rose in Japan for the first time since the disaster.
GM said its truck sales rose 34% and car sales rose 12% to 207,145 units. "All of the factors that say this is a good time to buy a new vehicle outweigh the bad news that appears to be slowing down the broader economic recovery," said sales vice president Don Johnson.
Some of GM's best-selling vehicles last month included the Chevrolet Cruze, the GMC Terrain and Yukon, and the Buick Regal. Analysts had expected a 19% increase for the automaker. Still, GM shares fell more than 2% Monday to close at $19.73.
Ford was just behind its cross-town rival, with sales of 175,199 in September. Nearly 55,000 of those autos were of the F-Series pickup, and 20,000 were for the Ford Escape. The Fusion midsize sedan saw sales of nearly 20,000. Ford shares were also down Monday, however, falling 3% to close at $9.37.
Chrysler had its best September sales since 2007, with 127,334 vehicles sold, and its 27% gain beat the 20% that analysts were expecting. "There is no double-dip downturn going on around here," said Reid Bigland, the head of U.S. sales. Again, trucks were the star, with the Ram seeing a 42% sales increase.
Nissan's 25% gain in September to 92,964 units beat the 18% analysts were expecting. The automaker set a September record for car sales, with the Altima selling 24,356 units.
Volkswagen's (VLKAY) sales rose 36% to 27,036, fueled by new versions of the Passat and Beetle out in September. The Jetta remained its strongest seller, with 15,000 units moving off the lot -- a 40% increase from September of last year. But Volkswagen's ADR shares closed down 6% Monday to $23.31.
Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC) returned to full production in September after the Japanese earthquake but still saw a drop in sales for the month. Toyota reported a 17.5% drop in sales to 121,451 -- a lower drop than the 15% analysts were expecting -- and fell to fourth place overall behind Chrysler.
Honda's sales drop was 8% -- worse than the 6.1% analysts were expecting -- to 89,532 vehicles. Its top-selling model was the CR-V, and the Pilot and Odyssey also performed well.
"We're in a lot better position now than we were even 30 or 60 days ago," an American Honda executive told The New York Times. "Inventory is improving every day." Toyota's shares closed down nearly 2% Monday to $66.97, and Honda's closed down more than 1% to $28.74.
Zeke.....I really doubt YOU or MYSELF will be picking up the tab??
What are you trying to get at, and discover for the rest of us??
Fosz...and Shrimp The Auto sector is only a small part of the DOW, and by appearance only; I don't think traders looked "at any good news" today.....They just wanted to sell it down. vvvvvvvvvvvvv
And I guess you have to compare Chrysler's sales or 27% gain YOY to WHAT??
Strangerly the gas pinching and bitching Americans are buying what ??
Yeah, I think many were TRUCKS,,,that makes plenty of sense.
Maybe they think gas is going back to $1.99 a gallon??
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[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market finished an upbeat week on a mixed note. The S&P 500 shed less than a point, ending the week higher by 1.3%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+0.1%) cemented a 1.7% advance for the week. High-beta names underperformed, which weighed on the Nasdaq Composite (-0.3%) and the Russell 2000 (-1.3%).
Equity indices displayed strength in the early going with the S&P 500 tagging the 2,019 level during the opening 30 minutes of the action. However, ... More
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text:
This is that globe-that-has-a-secret-compartment-for-booze from the Skymall catalogue. It was backstage at Cinefamily the other night and I felt like I was seeing a celebrity. #skypaul (at Cinefamily)
Aaaaaall the way back in 2011 (were we ever so young?), I was flying across the country on an airplane that offered wifi but did not offer supersonic speed. So I passed the time by "live-tweeting" the SkyMall catalogue; I took pictures of their dumb merchandise and offered my own captions, uploading it all live to Twitter as I flew over the flyovers.
A few days ago, the delightful Gillian Jacobs began posting pictures of SkyMall items on Instagram, citing me as her inspiration. Well! She became my re-inspiration a day later, as I found myself on a five-hour flight with wifi, my phone, and a brand new edition of the SkyMall catalogue!
If you would like to see all of these— the ones I did in 2011 and the ones I did the other night— I have collected them all on a separate page:
All posts are tagged "SkyPaul" for your convenience. I KNOW YOU DON'T CARE, SHUT UP.
Spoiler alert! I virtually repeat two different jokes two years after originally writing them. Sorry. Please collect a full refund from the Tmblr bursr.


text:
Copper thief strikes multiple BISD campuses
Beaumont Independent School District police are currently investigating the theft of copper wire at four BISD campuses.
BISD spokesperson Ron Reynolds said at a press conference at the Bingman Headstart Pre-K4 Center on Wednesday, Aug. 14, that Price Elementary School, Vincent Middle School, the Paul A. Brown Center and Bingman all had overnight copper thefts over a two-week period, which left them with damaged and nonfunctional air conditioner chillers. Bingman was the most recent campus hit the night of Aug. 13 or the early morning of Aug. 14.
BISD Police Detective Sergeant Danny Moore said investigators are currently reviewing videos and testing physical evidence left at the scene by the perpetrators. Moore said because the insulated copper electrical wire was a large gauge and hundreds of feet were stolen at each of the four locations, he believes more than one person is responsible for the thefts, which started with Price Elementary.
"In my opinion, it's not just one person," Moore said. He said at least two shadows could be seen on the video, so at least two people committed all four thefts. He said because the modus operandi was the same in each theft and hundreds of feet were taken from each campus, he is "sure" the same perpetrators hit all four locations. He said he thinks at least one of those responsible has some knowledge of electrical systems because otherwise they would not have known where or how to disable the power to the A/C units.
BISD's HVAC and plumbing supervisor Robert Mann said despite the expense, he will make sure the A/C units for every school affected by the thefts are up and running in time for the start of classes on Aug. 26.
"We're doing our due diligence to get it together," Mann said. "We will get it done."
He said he would likely have to hire a contractor to help with the repairs. Reynolds said the estimated cost, including contract labor and materials, would be approximately $33,000.
Bingman Principal Lisa Bolton said teachers have been showing up for work at the center and preparing for the upcoming school year despite the lack of A/C.
"We have dedicated teachers who have been working, and now they are working in the heat," Bolton said. "They're troopers."
Bolton said she is shocked someone would steal from schools serving local children and utilizing taxpayer dollars.
"I can't believe someone has the heart and the nerve to do this," she said.
Sgt. Moore said the schools are located in neighborhoods where he believes someone must have seen something during the thefts.
"Somebody knows what's going on," he speculated. He asked that anyone with information regarding these thefts call the BISD police at (409) 617-7001.
Just for curiosity, who's going to be repairing this 30 something thousand dollar job? Can't help but wonder if......there could be a connection. I get so tired of hearing BISD. Something ain't right about that place. Poor kids, the education they are getting is a far cry from the education they should be getting. And the taxpayers are being ripped off everyday by the majority of the school board. There needs to be some changes made.
Fight or Flight - cause and effect
BISD brings forth another connotation to the term 'FIGHT or FLIGHT'.


text:
There is a large bed in the middle of the stage facing the audience with dark, lightly disturbed navy sheets. There is also a boombox stage right. The lighting is low and romantic. On it, two teenagers in underwear sit facing away from each other. What sounds like elevator music is playing softly in the background. There is a large, pink vibrator in the middle of the bed. The mood is awkward. They speak with light Southern accents.
Mark (Nervously) : Its not like I don't, want to… per se, you know. I want to, I mean yeah definitely but - well yeah you know… right? Don't want to wake anyone up with the, ummmm noise. stuff. It's just with that, and all — (he eyes the vibrator). There'd be a lot of shaking and… noise. And my grandmother is right… right down the hall (his voice slowly trailing off) and she has this habit of sleepwalking, and I just went to church with her this morning and all. (Pause. The girl turns to look at the vibrator; Mark snaps back to look ahead of himself, avoiding eye contact).
Cassidy: It's probably not that loud Mark; it's not really that big or anything I don't think? (Mark gets up and looks down at it standing aimlessly, Cassidy becomes preoccupied with finding something on the floor) It's just kinda fooling around… it was stupid yeah I shouldn't have brought it or anything I wasn't really sure but it is here now I guess. I don't know what that means or anything but it is here and all…
Mark: Yeah, yeah I know but maybe later Cassidy, I'm going to get the music now though and I'll be right back. (He walks around the bed at a wide berth, he begins to fiddle with some dials on the boombox, talking while he does. He has difficulty turning the music off) I got this CD from my older brother when he went to college. It's pretty good, I mean, I like it at least. Machine must be broken. Yeah, damn thing always, acting up and… you know, stuff… Where do you even buy something like that anyway, I mean its just… wow. (We hear a creaking from stage right, from a door, but the two teens don't seem to notice. An enormous old man in a night gown walks serenely onst age from the left, asleep. She stops near the bed and moves to the beat of the song.) Anyways I'm just real tired and all, we gotta get back home and all tomorrow and — (He turns and sees his grandmother, and freezes in fear. The music is still playing faintly)
Cassidy (Believing he his only worried about the vibrator): Yeah we kinda have to leave tomorrow and all, but it will be our last chance and if you're worried about this thing then it was just stupid we don't even have to think about it if you're uncomforta — (She turns and reaches out for it, but as she is about to grab it she sees the grandmother and leaps back off of the bed. With a furvative whisper.) Sweet Jesus Mark how long has she been in the — has she? Is she even awake?
Mark (whispering back): No? No. I don't think so at least she probably would have, you know, seen it… (Pause as the two are unsure what to do)
Cassidy: Well?
Mark: Well?!
Cassidy: What do we do Mark!
Mark: I don't know usually I just prod her back into her room with a broom or something.
Cassidy: You prod her? With a broom?
Mark: You know, gently and all, just to kind of get her down the hall and such.
Cassidy: Well why don't you just use your hands! She's not a steer.
Mark: Well no, but… It's just she's really clammy at night. Like her skin is all wet and moist (he shudders as he says the word). And there's this thing she does when she sleeps that —
Cassidy: All right all right, let's find a broom then (The grandmother is slowly waltzing around to the other side of the bed).
Mark: Well I never said that I had one here or anything… Oh damn damn damn she's getting closer!
Cassidy: Well then what the hell are we going to — (she catches sight of the vibrator) use… (Mark notices her gaze and begins violently shaking his head. They pantomime an argument as the grandmother rounds the bed. Cassidy points urgently at the bed, and Mark finally rushes over and grabs it, holding it like a piece of trash)
Mark: Well now what I do?
Cassidy: I thought you said you'd done this before?
Mark: I mean I've seen it done before, I guess…
Cassidy: Just kinda… prod her, you know… Kinda push her with it or something.
Mark very tentatively pokes his grandmother with the vibrator, then again, trying to turn her around Cassidy creeps to pick up her clothes by the side of the bed. He succeeds, and he becomes more bold, pushing into her back. He brandishes the vibrator with something like confidence)
Cassidy: Yes! Mark that's it, don't stop now! (Mark now has his grandmother almost on the other side of the bed). I'm just going to get the music. (Holding her clothes in her hand, Cassidy begins to play with the boombox. Almost immediately the volume shoots up to an almost deafening level. Mark whips around in horror, the vibrator raised at his grandmother as she begins to dance with more gusto, Cassidy is panicking). It broke!
Mark: What do you mean it broke? Cassidy! Cassidy turn it off! (There are sounds of footsteps followed quickly by bright lights being turned on onstage as Mark's parents enters stage left, groggy and in sleep clothes. Mark freezes for a second before helplessly throwing the vibrator onto the bed. Cassidy, in horror, rips the plug for the boombox out of the wall. The grandmother stops dancing and wakes up.)
Dad: What is going on with that music… Why is your grandmother — (He notices the vibrator). Oh! (He sees Cassidy, clutching her clothes to her chest.) Ohhhhh…. Honey we should… (he looks at the grandmother, perplexed, then back at the vibrator, and back) We should, um… Well I don't really know what we should do.
Mark: Its not what it looks like Dad, you know. We were just trying to help Grandmother back into bed and all…
Mom: Trying to get her, with… well with — with that?! (The grandmother is rousing herself awake)
Cassidy: She just kinda came in here Mrs. Algernon. She sleep walks you know, and she just kinda came in and we well…. Yeah. Everyone is standing around awkwardly unsure of what to do. They try not to look at the vibrator, but they all risk furtive glances down at it, with a mixture of detest, dread, curiosity, and puzzlement. The Grandmother wakes up and looks around at everyone. She seems refreshed).
Grandmother: Oh Mark, good morning! I just had the loveliest dream of your grandfather was courting me all over again at that USO dance. He was a sly little devil… Cassidy, its good to see you are still with us this morning, thought you were going home. And Ben, Judith! Are we having some sort of party for brunch this morning? Oh that's lovely. (She notices the vibrator suddenly and stares at it a moment, everyone else looks at each other, frozen. Mark starts to back away) Is this…? Is this one of those dildos? Mark? (He stops, and she picks up the vibrator). Mark! Mark get your scrawny ass over back over here! Bringing this filth in my house. What are you, 16? God gave you a perfectly good one of these already, now didn't he. Psh… a dildo, in my house. (He walks up to her, his head down. She stares at him, then at the vibrator, then back down at him. And then she whacks him across the face with it, stuffs it in a pocket, and walks out.


text:
How to Build Practice Teaching System of Financial Mathematics in Local Universities
In this paper, the writer combined the experience in financial mathematics direction teaching with the results of the survey of tracking graduates, and analyzed the necessity for local colleges to carry out practical teaching in financial mathematics teaching. What's more, the writer also proposes some suggestion in establishing practical teaching system of financial mathematics.
Key words: Financial mathematics; Practical teaching; Teaching mode
Full Text:PDF
LI, Gao (2011). Local Teachers Colleges Financial Mathematics Teaching. Financial Times, (8), 188-189.
XUE, Jiajia, & QIAO, Lufang (2011). The Present Situation and Development of Financial Mathematics. Journal of Daqing Normal University, 31(3), 80-83.
ZHANG, Mingjun (2009). On the Mathematics in the Field of Finance Development and Its Application. Gansu Science and Technology, 25(4), 76-78.
ZHONG, Yunyan (2008). Financial Simulation Experiment Course Construction and Practice. Journal of Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University, (6), 113-115.
ZHONG, Yunyan (2009). On Financial Mathematics Teaching Reform. Journal of Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University, (1), 102-104.
ZHU, Fuguo (2009). Newly Built Local Universities Undergraduate Cultivation of Mathematical Finance. Journal of He Xi University, 25(2), 109-112.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968%2Fj.sss.1923018420120304.2514
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