text:
Lemirande ready for jump to Division I
JANESVILLE—The Madison Capitols. The Janesville Jets. The Youngstown (Ohio) Phantoms.
Janesville native Conor Lemirande has been climbing the hockey ladder for years, and it paid off recently with the opportunity to play at the NCAA Division I level.
Lemirande reached the next rung by verbally committing last week to play for Miami University in Ohio.
"It's definitely been stepping stones," Lemirande said. "I played for the Janesville Jets for two years, and that was a great opportunity. I took that stepping stone, and the next one was coming out to play at Youngstown."
"Playing in college is something I've always dreamed of."
Lemirande chose the RedHawks for several reasons, listing a strong coaching staff and future group of teammates, as well as Miami being a business-oriented school.
He'll also get a chance to play with his cousin—Andrew Schmit, a Grafton native, will be a senior next year.
"You've just got to be an every-day guy," Lemirande said of his mentality heading to the collegiate level. "You've got to do the right things every day—work on your skating, your stick work, something every day to be a better player than you were the day before."
That work ethic has been a staple of Lemirande's at every level.
Playing with the Jets during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, he had 32 points in 110 games, but his impact was felt far more than the statistics show. Lemirande was a team captain and won the North American Hockey League's Messier Project Leadership Award for service work in the community.
"I have to thank the Janesville Jets and the city of Janesville for the opportunity they gave me," he said. "Janesville is a great city, and I'm really excited for what the Jets have done there in moving players on. It's a great place to have the team."
But eventually it was time for Lemirande to test his skills at the next level.
He moved up to Youngstown, which plays in the United States Hockey League. There, he is an assistant captain and has 14 points in 44 games.
"If you play junior hockey, you always want to play at the best possible level you can succeed at," Lemirande said. "Being an older guy here was definitely nice. You've got another year on some guys, being 20 years old. That was a huge part of my success this year."
The 2012 Janesville Craig graduate has also continued his work off the ice.
"You have to thank the fans for coming," Lemirande said, "because we wouldn't have the opportunity we have playing hockey at the junior level without the fans' commitment."
He has just a few weeks left at that junior level before he continues his climb to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference.


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Newbie question about the first life
Discussion of all aspects of biological molecules, biochemical processes and laboratory procedures in the field.
Moderator: BioTeam
Newbie question about the first life
Are there any theories on which chemical processes made the first cell ?
Is it true that we don't know which processes that could have made the first cell, but it is a theory that the first cell was made by chemical processes in the ur-soup?
The second question seems to be the same as the first one expressed differently, and if so then there's a last question that would be a second one and not a third one. Supposing it's only two questions, the answer to the first one would have to be "yes", and if I understand the other one then maybe the answer would be something like this: if you're a materialist, it's obvious for you that life first appeared in the course of certain chemical interactions and that all the manifestations of life are explainable through mere chemical ditto, but if you believe in immaterial phenomena it will be obvious for you that an Invisible Presence is running the show and that nothing happens by chance, so that the entire Universe is a deliberate, artificial creation, which means that nothing is "natural", meaning "spontaneous". Everything just SEEMS to be so, because the Presence must hide in a free-will Universe in order for reasoning creatures to be able to choose to believe or not to believe in Its Existence. Otherwise it wouldn't be a free-will Universe, the Ultimate Explanation would be inescapable and there would be no disagreement regarding that matter. I'm afraid I might've misunderstood the questions.
The answer to the first one is straightforward. In the Beginning there was the Haldane-Oparin thesis, but Haldane and Oparin freely and spontaneously disagreed as to the initial conditions necessary for the appearance of life. Eventually Urey worded the thesis differently and along with Miller he started to make experiments in a lab. They placed in a glass container what seems to have been the primordial atmosphere, they let sparks fly in it and they managed to synthesize several compounds that you need in order to create life. The conclusion was that lightning had done the same thing in the primitive Earth.
piscilactovegetarian: What do you mean by immaterial phenomena, and what do you mean by that an Invisible Presence is running the show ?
I come back here six days later and now I no longer understand my own first sentence. It's like a tongue twister. At least I can console myself by seeing how your own second question sent on Feb. 5 is just as incomprehensible. It seems to be the first question all over again followed by another one.
Why not start once again. "Are there any theories on etc.?" Yes. "Is it true that we don't know etc.?" We still don't, but several convincing chemical pathways have been shown to be plausible. They're discussing now what came first: the cell or the mitochondria (chemical factories) it harbors. Maybe a mitochondrion was first, then there were more and they got together loosely and founded a sort of colony and eventually some of them created the first cell.
I've heard about the "primordial soup", but it's the first time I see someone calling it the "ur-soup". Is this an allusion to the city Ur of the Chaldeans??? I'm guessing wildly. Sorry.
The "Invisible Presence" would be the Unknown God, as in the following quote: "And though as I walked upon your floors I saw many statues to many gods and I found this one, one that said 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' " "Immaterial" or "incorporeal" things are things like apparitions, made up of stuff that is too "subtle" or "ethereal" to be perceived by the conventional senses.
For example, you're falling asleep and all of a sudden you find that you can see through your eyelids, then you find yourself up against the ceiling, in a corner of your room, like a balloon, and you see your own body lying there, and then several things can happen, like going out on the street and floating around until you reach the corner. You can go into a panic and this makes you go back instantly and "wake up". Actually you were wide awake, but in another, "immaterial" realm. It can be either spontaneous or deliberate since there are many ways to make it happen, but it's dangerous if you're a newbie.
A neurologist at the University of Amsterdam has recently learned how to, by stimulating a certain part of the brain, but he's a materialist and he thinks it's merely an electrically induced fantasy, not a gateway to the Beyond. He also has a scientific explanation for seeing "the light at the end of the tunnel", but not, as far as I know, for walking out of the tunnel and onto a prairie. This other explanation of his has to do with "tunnel vision" due to a lack of blood circulation in the eye. The Dutch doctor thinks he has all the answers, but he's still groping in the dark.
piscilactovegetarian: You wrote: «They're discussing now what came first: the cell or the mitochondria (chemical factories) it harbors. Maybe a mitochondrion was first, then there were more and they got together loosely and founded a sort of colony and eventually some of them created the first cell.» I am wondering, what kind of chemical processes do they suggest could have made the first cell or mitochondria?
Before the first cell there must've been a far simpler structure isolated from its environment by a primitive boundary, but what led to this was not any entirely chemical process but "physical chemistry", a rearrangement of elements involving both chemical and merely physical interactions, as in the formation of "colloidal" droplets in water where polymers (complex molecules) are dissolved that can be seen in laboratories.
Before that happened, there had to be the kind of monomers (simple molecules) that earthly life needs and that electric discharges in the atmosphere (lightning) helped to put together (also UV radiation, radiation issuing from radioactive elements in exposed rocks and shock waves caused by lightning and meteors, but to a much lesser extent).
Monomers started to come together and assemble polymers. These were 1) nucleic acids, which now both carry and pass on hereditary information, and 2) proteins, which can be either a) structural elements (building blocks for organic tissue) or b) enzymes (biocatalysts). An example of this would be the synthesis of the amino acid serine in the primitive atmosphere, thus: two molecules of formaldehyde condense to form glycoaldehyde, which Strecker synthesis could have converted into serine using glycoaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide and water. Serine has a hydroxyl group in its side chain.
There are lab models that show how monomers make polymers but no models showing how the genetic machinery could have developed.
The first creatures were bacteria (that's the plural, the singular being "bacterium"). They are prokaryotic cells (they lack a nucleus). This type of simpler cell has no mitochondria (plural [singular: "mitochondrion"]). Then came the eucharyotic cells (nucleus-bearing cells), which do have them. I seem to remember having read something about mitochondria having appeared before they were engulfed by a cell but I haven't been able to find the source. If it's true, then I guess it was a bacterium that did this, thus taking a big step on the way to becoming the first eukaryotic cell, so bacteria and mitochondria must've developed independently and side by side before coming together.
(Coincidentally, enzymes are mentioned in one of my lists of exceptional cases at http://excepciones-zoologicas.blogspot.com, a bilingual website: in animals the ONLY biochemical reactions that don't involve enzymes are spontaneous degradation reactions. It's in the third list ["Physiology"], which I haven't uploaded yet. Actually this is a general rule since it also holds true for creatures other than animals. I've already told about that website here, in two zoology discussions, because it will be useful for people who want to study Biology as a career.)
Thanks, piscilactovegetarian. You wrote: «Before the first cell there must've been a far simpler structure isolated from its environment by a primitive boundary, but what led to this was not any entirely chemical process but "physical chemistry", a rearrangement of elements involving both chemical and merely physical interactions, as in the formation of "colloidal" droplets in water where polymers (complex molecules) are dissolved that can be seen in laboratories.» I'll have to understand the first section of what you wrote first, so I'm wondering what you mean by: «primitive boundary» and «"colloidal" droplets in water» that are «,dissolved» and «seen in laboratories». Thanks a lot
Chapter XLZVIII
The "primitive boundary" is simply the limit beteween the tiny droplet, globule, globulet, sphere or quasisphere and its surroundings. Those globules are colloidal, meaning that they're the kind of mixture called a "colloid", which is halfway between a homogeneous and a heterogeneous mixture, as explained in elementary chemical textbooks. In a colloidal solution the dissolved particles are larger than those in a true solution.
The concentration of dissolved polymers in the globulets is higher than in the surrounding watery environment. In lab experiments they can create such globules, which are not really the ancestors of the cell , but they show the complex chemical interactions that could've led to the formation of the first cell.
More about the mitochondria: there are two theories about their presence in cells. One of them says that the first host that "swallowed" one was a eukaryotic cell, the other one says that the host was a bacterium, in other words, a prokaryotic cell. I'm not really sure about the idea that motochondria were developed inside a cell rather than being initially like very simple cells that were swallowed by a far more complex cell. Either I read about this somewhere or I remembered vaguely something I read and then I made up the idea. Anyway, it looks like now everybody assumes that all mitochondria were once free agents.
They also say now that chloroplasts, too, were pre-existing, free-swimming creatures that ended up inside cells as "endosymbionts".
The discovery of the difference between pro- and eukaryotic cells is relatively recent and was made possible when the electronic microscope was developed and it was seen that bacteria have no nucleus and that all other kinds of cells do have one. This changed the way in which creatures are classified. The big difference was not really between "plants" and "animals" but between cells with no nucleus and cells with a nucleus. When I was in school all creatures were either plants or animals (and some, like "Euglena", seemed to be both, or halfway in between), so there were only two kingdoms of creatures: the Plant and the Animal Kingdoms (and there were three kingdoms in Nature, the other one being the Mineral Kingdom). Shortly after I graduated from high school in 1969, biologist Lynn Margulis's five-kingdom system replaced the two-kingdom system. Now algae and fungi are no longer "plants". The five kingdoms: Animal, Plant, Fungi, Protoctista (algae and slime molds, and not to be confused with the kingdom Protista suggested by Haeckel in the 19th Century), and Monera (bacteria). The first four are all prokaryotes. Bacteria are now seen as special creatures, unlike all others. (Maybe they're extraterrestrials, placed on Earth by those who travel back and forth in flying saucers and take some people for a ride???)
This complicated things greatly for me when I started to make my lists of zoological exceptions, so in order to simplify I chose to keep using the two-kingdom system, as explained in the Foreword. In my world, bacteria are still animals (and fungi and algae, still plants). Half a century ago everything, and not just the way Nature was classified, was simpler.
J. Bean, how many people know that now there are five kingdoms and no longer just two? The lists of zoological exceptions are an amateur's project for the billions, not for the tiny professional minority, so simplifying the classification of life forms was far more adequate. Even so, 1) I doubt that most individuals belonging to that minority are aware of most of the nearly one thousand cases I've gathered so far and consequently they could find the lists useful, and 2) I am no more of a simplifier than BioLib, where they seem to believe that Nature offers only minerals, fungi, plants and animals, or they care less or not at all about the two groups that are missing in their records, which is quite unfair for professionals to do.
Please tell them that eventually I will add a much shorter list of botanical exceptions and would appreciate their reporting on additional examples, both zoological and botanical, as per the two-kingdom system. Also, will you please ask them what ever happened to "socialism with a human face"? "Savage capitalism" is now everywhere and getting rid of the "useless eaters" as though they were algae, slime molds and bacteria. Even ex-KGB Lieut. Col. V. Putin is playing that infamous game now. Hail Pussy Riot!!! I thank you in advance.
The aforementioned neurologist at the U. of Amsterdam is Dick Swaab, MD. His case is not unusual: in Northern Europe, when asked, 70 % of the people claim to be atheists.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
PCR from cDNA question
Discussion of all aspects of biological molecules, biochemical processes and laboratory procedures in the field.
Moderator: BioTeam
2 posts • Page 1 of 1
PCR from cDNA question
Hi All,
I want to PCR a 2kb long segment of a gene out of the cDNA made from total RNA extract but have been experiencing many weird problems so I hope the brilliant minds here can shed some light on it.
The total RNA was extracted from ~100 whole embryos (~1000 cells each) of an invertebrate marine species using QIAGEN RNeasy Plus mini kit eluted with 40ul RNase free water. Nanodrop gives a low reading and a weak absorption peak (~10ng/ul). Gel analysis of 3ul such RNA yielded no bands (not even the ribosomal RNAs). The RNA sample have been heated at 65C for 5min before electrophoresis to eliminate hairpin structures.
The cDNA was obtained using iScript reverse-transcriptase, primed by random hexamers. Curiously, the same cDNA gives weird results when taken as template to amplify specific gene products:
for some proteases, very bright bands.
for some transcription factors highly expressed at the same time, no bands at all.
for a housekeeping gene in the species (ubiquitin), no bands.
the regions of these gene i am amplifying are all 2kb, cycler conditions and PCR rxn mix followed factory recommended protocols. In all cases the primers, enzymes (Advantage 2 from Clontech) and other reagents were tested and they work fine with controls.
My question: to me everything points to the quality of the cDNA, maybe low concentration of the gene products present in the total sample. But why some genes can be amplified but others not?
Disclaimer: I normally work with plasmid/genomic DNA, so might be wrong in my suggestions.
Possible problems may be:
1. low amount of mRNA. You don't have that many cells total and you can't be sure that mRNA is stable for your genes of interest. Possible solution -- increase number of cycles.
2. Primers. If you used primers many times before, freezing-thawing can affect their quality. Making new primers from stocks can help. I assume you checked specificity but might be worth looking again.
3. GC content. If primers/genes of interest have high GC content or plenty of hairpins, specific conditions should be applied. In case of normal PCR it means special buffers, DMSO/BSA, etc.
4. Chealating agents. Don't know if any of your solutions have them. If 'yes', Mg2+ concentration should be adjusted.
2 posts • Page 1 of 1
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text:
Solar tour includes Janesville stops
The public is invited to see renewable energy up close during the 2013 Wisconsin Solar Tour on Saturday, Oct. 5.
The free tour will stop at nearly 100 sites around the state, including Janesville.
Sites will showcase advances in energy-efficient construction, new products, sustainable landscaping and renewable energy technologies. The tour is intended to demonstrate� that renewable energy is practical, reliable and affordable in today's economy.
This tour will give interested buyers a chance to talk with people who live and work with renewable energy and green building features.
Tour sites are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
In Janesville, visitors can get a tour at:
-- AgSun Corp., 1321 S. Jackson St., Janesville, 608-756-8633.
-- UW-Rock County, 2909 Kellogg Ave., Janesville, 608-758-6565.
The tour is sponsored by the Midwest Renewable Energy Association. It is part of the National Solar Tour coordinated by the American Solar Energy Society.
For a complete listing of tour sites, visit midwestrenew.org.


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Human Inferiority
Human Anatomy, Physiology, and Medicine. Anything human!
Moderator: BioTeam
Human Inferiority
Isn't it pathetic how stupid and inferior people are compared to the animal kingdom. I seriously want to talk about this. People believe they are smarter than most animals even though they have no idea how to survive without the assistance of modern technology and other human beings. We are a pathetically dependant species that will most likely not even survive past this century. We actually know that we are killing ourselves through pollution, but we continue to do it anyways. Please discuss this.
Technology and cooperative defense are part of our biological nature. To criticize us for group dependency is to criticize ants, or termites, or Volvox.
I agree that the typical feeling of "dominion" people have is idiotic, but let's see a more legitimate treatment. You were getting there in your last statement.
You make an excellent point. However, ants and termites do not create their own imaginary ideas and form that illusion into reality. Humans have came up with the concept of mathematics and now use it to explain nearly all forms of science. However, mathematics is just based on the imaginary numbers that were invented by people thousands of years ago. It has no true meaning. If you were to raise a child but not teach to them anything that involves mathematics and ask them when they are grown up what is the number 1, they will have no idea what you are talking about. We attempt to understand how and why things work and often believe the explanations to the point that they become reality to us. However, this is never true. Things can never trully be understood and attempting to do so is pure stupidity. And yet, we keep trying so proving our inferiority to just acept things as they are continue on with life like the rest of the world does.
Re: Human Inferiority
I totally disagree about human inferiority. Rather, we are the 'most superior' mammal ever to have evolved. Humans are the only mammal to disperse itself to all continents. The only other ones (like rats) required human assistance to achieve the same feat. Humans live in a wider range of habitats than any other species - from Arctic ice to desert, to tropical rain forest.
We do this by means of technology. However, this is not a weakness. It is a strength. No other organism can do what we can, since we are the only ones able to use more advanced technology.
Humans learn. Our society changes. For example : the percentage of our population to die by human on human violence has been dropping steadily.
Murder rates drop dramatically. Medieval England had a murder rate of 100 homicides per year, per 100,000 people. Today it is down to just 1.
Pollution is getting less as we learn. Europe and the USA had terrible air and water pollution 100 years ago. Today we breath much cleaner air and our rivers are much less polluted. Lifespan has doubled over the same time.
No, humans are not inferior. Quite the opposite.
Re: Human Inferiority
Creating new technologies isn't a bda thing, you're right about that. However, we have become too dependant on it and if a disaster, such as a CME, ever happens and wipes out all technology on the planet, it will be very unlikely that humanity will survive and if we do we will be completely different than we are today. It's not the technology that makes us inferior, it's that we can no longer survive without it.
Re: Human Inferiority
We never could survive without it. Technology includes such things as banging two rocks together to break open edible nuts. Our first human ancestors 200,000 years ago already had simple technology, and could not survive without it. To be human is to use technology, however primitive or advanced.
There is evidence to indicate that even Homo habilis was using substantial simple technology, several million years before Homo sapiens even came into existence. You cannot separate humanity from technology. It is part of what we are.
To suggest it is a weakness because we could not live without it is like suggesting that the fangs and teeth of a lion are a weakness, since it cannot live without them. Humans have evolved as technology making and using animals. It is our main adaptation for survival.
Re: Human Inferiority
Yes i completely agreee with you about our ancestors. The fact that they used simple technology meant that they truly were superior. However, if we modern primates as an example, while they use tools like rocks as well, that's not how they always get food. And also, they often learn how to do it themselves. It is inde[pendant of each other. While we may have once been like that, today we depend on such advanced technology for the most simple of tasks. We require education to do so and often don't even know how half of the things in our daily lives work. So while humanity may have once been superior to all other lifeforms, we are among the lowest today.
Woud like to start from the beginning. You state that human are inferior. Define inferiority.
While doing you are asked to keep in mind that the products of our ingenuity and culture as much part of our evolutive make-up than our genes.
Yes it is a loaded question. But it is fair game, considering that your opening statement is as loaded as mine.
Science has proof without any certainty. Creationists have certainty without
any proof. (Ashley Montague)
Re: Human Inferiority
By inferior i mean that we are more pathetic and less deserving of life than other life forms on the planet.
Re: Human Inferiority
Humanity does not have long claws, or massive limb tearing arms. So what?
We have a brain. We have an unspecialised body with excellent vision, and arms that can do almost anything, driven by that magnificent brain. Humans are superior to any other mammal. Given time, we will not only be the only mammal to self distribute to all continents. We will also be the only mammal to colonise planets around other stars. And we will bring our fellow Earth dwellers to live with us. Hopefully without the mosquitoes, flies and rats this time!
Humanity will create new Earths around other stars, and the giant redwood will climb into the sky under an alien sun.
That is not true. The same could be said of certain people that are generally thought of as helpless and unable to survive. And yet, they manage to do so. Also, we were not once so pathetic. We may have been superior at one point but that point is not anymore. Also, very little time has passed since the current, pathetic form of humanity has been here. It is still too soon say we are still here.
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text:
Janesville teacher pay hike is zero, for now
JANESVILLE--The new world of teacher employment is about to arrive in Janesville.
The immediate impact: As the school year begins, Janesville public school teachers will receive the same pay they got last year.
The school district and teachers negotiated and failed to reach a contract earlier this year. Then last week, the two sides went to mediation and failed again, spokespersons for both sides said.
The only question in negotiations was base pay, as required by the state law governing public-employee union negotiations known as Act 10. This is the first year that Janesville teachers face the new rules.
The law restricts any pay hike to the rate of inflation, which this year was set at 2.07 percent.
The Janesville Education Association's opening bargaining position was the full 2.07 percent. The school board offered zero; no change.
"It is clear that at this point that we are at an impasse," school board President Greg Ardrey said Wednesday after the board was updated by officials in closed session the night before.
It appears the board will impose a settlement, as Act 10 allows.
"That's what we're going to have at this point," Ardrey said.
Dave Parr, Janesville Education Association president, said that's what he expected after mediation failed.
If the board imposes a settlement, it needs to decide what the pay increase, if any, will be. That's a conversation the board must have in open session, probably during one of its two meetings next month, Ardrey said.
The board includes some who usually come down on the side of increasing teacher pay, those who don't and some who will be making their first such decisions.
Ardrey said he expects the discussion will be "interesting."
Meanwhile, teachers still are wrapping their brains around the new reality.
Under the old rules, in the absence of a new contract, teachers would move ahead on the salary schedule based on years of service and college credits. The salary schedule is gone, but Parr said many teachers don't understand that.
The automatic pay hikes were referred to as "steps" and "lanes."
"I am asked nearly every day, 'When do I get my step and lane?'" Parr said. "It's still a hard adjustment to make because they've never known anything else."
It's also confusing because teachers' colleagues in surrounding districts all got increases for years of service, and some got increases for education, Parr said.
The Janesville School Board could have given those kinds of increases, but it chose not to, Parr said.
Parr still is holding out hope that a challenge to Act 10, now before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, will result in the law being overturned.
The state Constitution outlaws discrimination, Parr reasons, and the fact that school boards have given bigger pay increases to some employees while giving less to teachers is discriminatory.
If the Supreme Court rules in the teachers' favor, and if the ruling is applied statewide, even though it stems from a Dane County case, then the Janesville union would file for back pay that it should have received, Parr said.
Lawyers for school districts have argued that the Dane County case cannot be applied statewide.
If the district and union had come to a voluntary settlement, then the union would not be able to file for back pay, Parr said, so he believes the school board is taking a risk by imposing a settlement.
But if Act 10 remains in effect, changes for Janesville teachers are far from over. An official at Tuesday's school board meeting said the administration plans to go forward with a new kind of salary system starting in the 2014-15 school year.
The system would divide teachers into four pay groups: beginning, developing, effective and distinguished.
Teachers hired this year are being assessed to determine what level they are in, said Steve Sperry, director of human resources.
Teachers new to the profession are being paid the starting salary from the old salary schedule, around $35,000, Sperry said.


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Arrowhead library hub to move to Milton
MILTON—What is now the Milton City Council chambers will become the new home of Arrowhead Library System's central offices, the city of Milton announced.
Milton Mayor Brett Frazier announced Arrowhead, Rock County's library system, plans to lease the current council chambers and other space in the lower level of the Shaw Municipal Building at 430 E. High St.
A lease was agreed on in a closed session and approved by the city council Tuesday night. Arrowhead plans to vacate 2,200 square feet of space it now leases at the former U.S. Post Office at 210 Dodge St. in Janesville.
Arrowhead, which serves seven libraries in the county, including Hedberg Library in Janesville and libraries in Milton, Edgerton and Beloit, will use the space in the Shaw building for its five administrative staff members, and as the central hub for RockCat, Arrowhead's countywide book and material exchange system.
The move to the Shaw building, which Arrowhead System director Steve Platteter said will happen in July 2014, places the Arrowhead's central offices in the same building as Milton Public Library, which is one of the busiest libraries in the county.�
The two-story Shaw building now houses the library and Milton City Hall, but the city plans to move the city hall funcations to the former Dean medical building at 710 S. Janesville St., which the city is renovating and building out for a combined police station/city hall.
That project is slated for completion by June. The city plans to turn over the entire Shaw building to the library. The library and the city are working on plans to expand the library to both floors at the Shaw building.
The city has budgeted $155,000 for renovations for that expansion, and the library's board and its foundation are working on plans to raise money for other parts of the project, which will include more space for library users and conference rooms for the library and the public, city officials have said.
Platteter said Arrowhead has been in talks with the city since September on a lease. He said the Shaw building has better physical access than its current location in Janesville for moving the 20,000 books and materials the system transfers to libraries each week.
Arrowhead also serves as a clearinghouse for the state for book transfers to schools and local nursing homes.
Platteter said the move also will allow Arrowhead staff to link into the RockCat system through Milton Public Library's existing computer network, which will make the transfer of books and materials more efficient.
Arrowhead also will share conference rooms at the library, which is now on the ground floor of the building.
Frazier said the city won't immediately have to renovate city council chambers for Arrowhead to move in.
"We could make some upgrades, but it (council chambers) could function fine as is. They (Arrowhead) could move in now," Frazier said.
He said the city and the library board earlier debated whether to put a permanent bookstore in council chambers once the city moves out, but he said the city had then developed plans to offer the space up.
"If this (lease) hadn't happened, we'd have had a 2,400-square-foot vacancy we'd still have had to find a use for," Frazier said.
Because the library expansion is planned on the ground level and second floors of the Shaw building, Arrowhead's location downstairs won't affect the library's expansion plans
Frazier said Arrowhead's move to the Shaw building gives the library a leg up on efficiency for its own users and solidifies the library, which had 80,000 visitors last year as one of the cornerstone libraries in the county.


text:
Not all business like proposal to localize Walworth County health inspections
ELKHORN — Not all business owners are on board with a proposal for Walworth County to take over health inspections from the state.
Because of state budget cuts and because the majority of counties now conduct their own inspections, not all venues are being inspected when they should be and state response times to emergencies are slower than the county could respond, said Linda Seemeyer, Walworth County health and human services director.
"It's not good," Seemeyer said.
That's not to say the state isn't trying.
Three state food and health inspectors are assigned to inspect the 783 facilities licensed by the state Food Safety and Recreational Licensing Section, said Chuck Warzecha, director of the state Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health Programs.
The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection inspects the remaining 144 facilities.
Seemeyer and Janis Ellefsen, Walworth County public health officer and manager, are proposing a five-year plan for county workers to take over the inspections. The two will share the proposal at a public hearing Wednesday, March 19.
Joe Schaefer, a member of the Walworth County Board and the county's health and human services board, is against the county taking over inspections.
Schaefer has owned the Ye Olde Hotel Bar and Restaurant in Lyons for 45 years. He said his restaurant is inspected annually and believes the state is doing an adequate job.
Licensing fees would fund the county inspection plan, but it is too early to project how much it would cost, how much the fees would go up or if fees would go up at all, Ellefsen and Seemeyer said.
If the county takes over inspections, no more than 2.5 full-time employees would be added, Ellefsen said.
Schaefer said he has heard plenty of people criticize the county's permit and licensing fees. He said he couldn't speak for every business owner but said he wouldn't want to pay a higher fee.
The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the state Food Safety and Recreational Licensing Section are responsible for inspecting venues. Both are based in Madison.
In 2013, the state Food Safety and Recreational Licensing Section completed 796 inspections on the 783 facilities it licenses, said Jim Kaplanek, chief of the licensing section.
The 783 facilities include 402 restaurants. The state completed 412 restaurant inspections in 2013, Kaplanek said.
The 412 inspections include pre-inspections, routine inspections and second inspections. The numbers show that the section is not quite able to inspect all the licensed restaurants each year, Kaplanek said.
Ellefsen and Seemeyer said the state is working hard to complete inspections, but they believe the county can do a better job.
"They're really trying hard, but the state is also really supportive because they believe it can be done on the local level," Ellefsen said.
The point of the county taking over health inspections would be to ensure all 927 establishments in the county are inspected on schedule. It also would allow for a faster response time when an illness outbreak or emergency happens, Ellefsen said.
The state took 15 days to respond to a Thanksgiving outbreak of food-borne illness at a restaurant and grocery store, Ellefsen said.
"When my communicable disease nurse knew they were definitely tied to a facility or establishment, she would have walked next door and told the environmental health specialist who, within hours, would have been out to the facility to inspect," Ellefsen said.
Local inspections would keep licensing fees in the county. Local inspectors would partner with other local agencies such as fire departments or building and zoning offices.
"It's local control, local employees, local business, all partnering together to try and provide the safest and the best for our residents, our citizens, and our visitors," Ellefsen said.
Warzecha and Kaplanek echoed Ellefsen's statement. Both said counties can develop better relationships with facility owners and offer better service.��
"Having quicker, more attentive service for those restaurants is really quite helpful," Warzecha said. "We still make it a priority. We can often be there same day, but it's not quite as easy for us … The level of service definitely improves."
The state fees could go up in the next few years, Warzecha said. State licensed facilities pay anywhere between $45 and $685 to be licensed and inspected, according to a state Department of Health and Human Services public hearing handout.�
Other business owners feel the same as Schaefer, saying keeping businesses open and profitable in this economy has been difficult.
The possibility of higher fees is not something businesses can handle, Chris Marsicano said.
Marsicano and his brother David have owned the Village Supper Club in Delavan for more than 30 years. He also is secretary and treasurer for the Walworth County chapter of the Tavern League of Wisconsin and senior vice president of the Tavern League of Wisconsin. He said the Village Supper Club is inspected yearly and sees no reason for the county to take the inspections over.
"There have been no major outbreaks of food-borne illnesses, of deaths from food-borne illness in Walworth County in all my years of business," Marsicano said. "It's working now, and I don't think, at this time, we should burden the small business people. We just can't afford it."
Ellefsen said Walworth County had seven confirmed outbreaks of food-borne illness in the last 18 months.
An outbreak is defined as two or more people contracting an illness from the same drink or food. Confirmed means samples from the people tested positive at the state Lab of Hygiene in Madison.
Ellefsen said seven outbreaks might not seem like many, but she noted that the Centers for Disease Control estimates 95 percent of people never report feeling ill after eating something or somewhere.
Sixty-five health departments out of ninety-two in the state are contracted agents of the state, meaning they complete the health inspections the state previously did.
The five-year plan would ease the county into taking over all licensing and inspections from the state by 2017 or 2018.
The county already took a step in that direction in January by creating its own water-testing laboratory. Instead of sending water samples from private wells that serve public needs to Madison to be tested, tests are done at the county health and human services building.
The county spent $30 per sample for tests in Madison. Savings from the county conducting its own tests will pay for the cost of the local lab in 18 months, Seemeyer said.
Taking on health inspections could raise the Department of Health and Human Services from a Level 2 facility to a Level 3 facility. With the step up would come more grant funding for all of its programs.
If the plan is approved at a special March 20 county board meeting, inspections would not change. Ordinances would need to be adjusted to match the potential changes, Seemeyer said.
"We would follow the same rules and regulations the state would follow," Seemeyer said. "We're not making up new things at all."


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Released yesterday, the Pension Fiscal Fitness Monitor indicates that pension plans' funded status didn't change much in the second quarter of 2014. The measure is produced by Legal & General Investment Management America, Inc. (LGIMA) on a quarterly basis to help estimate the health of U.S. defined-benefit pension plans. It determines the change in funded status for a model plan that has typical liabilities and an investment strategy which places 60 percent of assets in global equities and 40 percent in global bonds.
For the traditional 60/40 model plan, funded status fell last quarter by less than half a percentage point; it remains just under 90 percent. With Treasury rates declining 22 basis points and credit spreads tightening slightly, overall liabilities for the model plan increased by just over 4 percentage points, while asset values increased 4 percent.
The good news from the report is that companies which have implemented a liability-driven investment strategy saw their funded status improve. The Pension Fiscal Fitness Monitor considers two types of plan de-risking. One involves allocation of 60 percent of assets in equities and 40 percent in fixed-income products. For this model plan, the funded ratio increased just under 1 percentage point in Q2/2014.
The other de-risking model, which LGIMA calls "Level 2 LDI," looks at the funding ratio of a typical U.S. corporate defined-benefit plan at the beginning of the quarter and builds on that information a custom liability benchmark and derivatives overlay. The Level 2 LDI model plan saw its funded status grow by more than 2 percentage points in the second quarter.
"We estimate that funded status levels for the average corporate defined-benefit plan with a traditional 60/40 allocation were unchanged over the quarter, as strong equity market returns helped to offset lower pension discount rates," says Don Andrews, head of LDI strategy for LGIMA. "It was a strong quarter for plans that had previously implemented de-risking strategies, as they were largely hedged from the fall in rates."


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Your Views: Retired teachers oppose cuts to senior care plan
We recently had to find a new physician because our doctor no longer wanted to practice in Wisconsin under new program changes. It was a devastating blow to us and almost impossible to find another doctor. Our concern now is that this is just the beginning. In 2010, more than $200 billion was taken from Medicare Advantage, the residual effect of which we're now experiencing. The backlash of funding cuts always impacts the unsuspecting public the hardest.
We're retired teachers here in Milton, and we don't have Medicare Advantage plans. Nevertheless, we're concerned that our fellow senior citizens will suffer if this program suffers more funding reductions. As we grow older, we typically have more need for medical treatment. If Congress targets Medicare Advantage for further cuts, the quality of services could decrease and costs would likely increase for the millions of seniors enrolled in Advantage plans.
In our retirement years, we remain politically aware and active when an issue needs our support. Health care for America's seniors is high on the list of priorities. Moving forward, our representatives in Washington need to help senior citizens across the country by opposing any further funding cuts to Medicare Advantage.


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Earnings credit rate (ECR) programs, a long-time feature of U.S. business banking, are heading overseas. Banks are preparing to offer the products outside the United States in response to customer demand and because they think it will help them to comply with new measures of deposit stability to be imposed by Basel III.
ECR arrangements provide companies with implied interest on their balances that they can then use to offset their bank fees. Banks that are expanding ECR outside of North America include Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citibank and J.P. Morgan Treasury Services.
While compensating balance arrangements have occurred informally outside the United States before now, "a more formal mechanical process is what some banks are beginning to roll out in response to Basel III," according to Greg Kavanaugh, head of the global liquidity product team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
"We're aware of several global and regional banks that are experimenting with ECR outside of the U.S.," added David Robertson, a partner and director at consultancy Treasury Strategies. "Basically they're piloting it to their largest and most sophisticated clients."
ECR evolved after Reg Q, enacted in 1933 amid the Great Depression, barred U.S. banks from paying interest on companies' demand deposits. Banks instead offered to forgo fees for the services they provided to companies if companies held a certain amount of deposits at the bank. In the 1970s, when interest rates began to rise, those arrangements were formalized as the earnings credit rate, Robertson said.
Now Basel III's emphasis on the stability of banks' funding is leading U.S. financial institutions to offer ECR more widely. Basel III measures funding stability with two ratios, the liquidity coverage ratio for short-term funding and the net stable funding ratio for long-term funding.
"As banks prepare to comply with Basel III, Treasury Strategies is doing a lot of modeling of how different products combine to make deposits more or less volatile," Robertson said. "What ECR does is, it says, 'This client is holding $10 million of balances to pay for services and I can prove those are sticky because they're getting this earnings credit rate.' These balances are driven by the relationship. In fact, the client is holding these balances specifically to pay for the transactional relationship," he said.
Erin Oswalt, who heads global revenue management for the global transaction services unit at BofA Merrill, said that the deposits involved in ECR arrangements "are closely tied to core operating activity—core payments and receivables. From a funding perspective, operating cash is a great funding source for a bank because it tends to be very stable over time," said Oswalt, pictured at left.
BofA Merrill has also seen increasing interest from multinational companies in using ECR outside the U.S., Oswalt said. "Clients are increasingly global, increasingly looking to how to leverage best practices from one region to another, and generally looking to use more centralized practices. So they're looking for more consistency from their bank in billing methodology."
BofA Merrill plans to roll out an ECR program "in a number of regions" outside the U.S. in the next six to eight months, Oswalt said.
J.P. Morgan Treasury Services will also offer ECR outside of North America, starting with the local in-country introductions of ECR in the Europe, Middle East, Asia and Latin America regions and then linking it to a global ECR infrastructure shortly thereafter.
ECR benefits both corporate customers and financial institutions, according to Chris Foskett, global head of treasury services sales at J.P. Morgan. "It enables companies to consolidate banking fees across the globe, leverage the value of their balances and, ultimately, reduce the expense of banking services," he said.
In North America, J.P. Morgan has expanded its ECR offering by allowing companies to use the implied interest on their balances to pay for a wider range of services, such as merchant servicing fees and interchange. Traditionally, ECR could only be used to offset fees related to the bank account, including wires and ACH charges. "We are looking at new applications of ECR with a multitude of the firm's investment and corporate banking products," Foskett said.
Michael Berkowitz, North America head of liquidity management services and corporate market management for Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions, said Citi, which already lets corporates use U.S. ECR balances to offset fees outside of the U.S., is in the process of allowing them to use balances outside the U.S. to offset fees.
At the same time banks are considering offering ECR overseas, the 2011 repeal of Reg Q raises the prospect that its use may decline in the United States. But even though banks introduced interest-bearing checking in the wake of the repeal, companies have been sticking with ECR.
"The corporate client base hasn't really changed their behavior," Oswalt said. "They haven't wanted to move away from ECR."
That reflects the "convenience and ease of use" ECR offers treasury departments, she said. "It's not just the math of the credit and the rate, it's also that they don't have to dedicate resources to managing the day-to-day flows. They can enjoy that full liquidity, have the cash when they need it but still get a return on idle balances," Oswalt said.
Treasury Strategies' Robertson, pictured at right, agreed that U.S. companies haven't shown much interest in the interest-bearing checking accounts banks rolled out, but noted that banks have offered companies a better rate on ECR than on interest-bearing checking.
"There was no point for a company to get interest checking," he said, but noted that that may change as interest rates rise. "In a higher rate environment, I think we'll see much more adoption of interest checking."
John Grout, policy and technical director at the Association of Corporate Treasurers in London, questioned how much interest treasurers outside the U.S. would have in ECR.
"I can see an advantage for the bank but I don't see an advantage for the company," Grout said. "It's less accounting for the company but most corporates would much prefer to have clarity – clarity of what the charges are, clarity of what the interest is."
Robertson said that while banks can probably sell ECR to U.S. multinationals familiar with the product, other companies might be more reluctant. Many executives in other countries won't be familiar with ECR, he said, and suggested the product will only take off overseas if banks use some promotional muscle.
"You're going to have to invest some time as a bank to explain how it works," Robertson said. "To some extent, I think whether it takes off depends on whether any bank out there is going to promote the heck out of it and use it to promote new client relationships."


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Carver Platinums
Anyone have wiring diagram for Amazing Platinums. Just replaced 1 60in ribbon and all eight woofers. Seems like there is very little bass. Sounds fine with powered sub hooked up and really bad without the sub. I know that they are wired in series and crossed at the 3rd woofer due to woofer being upside down. I'm quite amazed at the soundstage just need more bass. I have plenty of power 600x2.


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Steven Walters: What Vos, Fitzgerald will be fighting over next spring in state Legislature
The end of the regular fall legislative session sets up the 2014 wrestling match between the two top legislative Republicans—Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald—over what will and won't pass the Legislature before lawmakers finally go home in the spring.
Leaders of both houses of the Legislature often have session-ending disagreements, as they try to leverage—or extort—each other into acting on bills that passed one house and must pass the other to become law.
Every session end brings its own outrage and drama; senators, for example, sometimes just go home, thumbing their noses at pending Assembly-passed bills.
The 2011-12 session saw fewer of those power struggles because the two top leaders were brothers—Scott Fitzgerald in the Senate and his younger brother, Jeff, as Assembly speaker.
But Jeff Fitzgerald is now a lobbyist, and Vos has moved ambitiously to make his own mark in his first 11 months as speaker.
Vos also leads a 57-member GOP caucus dominated by first- and second-term members who are not afraid of passing major, controversial changes. They don't see the need—or don't yet know how—to compromise with their tribal elders in the Senate. The 39 Assembly Democrats (three Assembly seats are vacant) can do little but protest and vote against Republicans' priorities.
Sen. Fitzgerald has been in the Legislature more than twice as long as Vos, and some of the 18 Republican senators don't share the zeal of new Assembly Republicans for many of the most controversial changes.
Five of those 18 GOP senators—including Fitzgerald—survived the unique crucible of a recall election in 2011-12. And 10 of the 18 are up for re-election next year. Although GOP senators say they are older and wiser, most Assembly Republicans are not impressed.
Think of any legislative session as a funnel, and only bills that pass one house or the other by Jan. 1 have a chance of emerging from that funnel before the session ends next spring.
Legislative leaders have said they may be in regular session a maximum of 27 days next year.
By March, Vos, Scott Fitzgerald and their respective caucuses will be fighting over:
Campaign finance laws: One Vos priority is an Assembly-passed bill doubling the amounts that donors can give candidates for governor and other state offices, including the Legislature, and making other changes. It has not gone anywhere in the Senate, however.
Voter ID: On the day a federal judge presided over a suit challenging a law requiring a photo ID to vote, the Assembly rewrote that same law to include provisions of an Indiana law.
Vos told reporters that the Indiana law had been ruled constitutional, so stealing its language amounts to buying insurance in case Wisconsin's first photo ID law is ruled unconstitutional.
Fitzgerald, however, has said the Senate will wait on a court ruling before passing a new photo ID requirement.
Abortion: Bills to prohibit an abortion because of the gender of the fetus, and to stipulate procedures that may not be covered by public-employee health care plans, were scheduled to be debated in the Senate last week. Though votes were delayed, they remain on the "must pass" list of some Republicans.
Meanwhile, the Assembly picked a related fight by endorsing a new "Choose Life" license plate.
Higher speed limit: An Assembly-passed bill raising the maximum speed limit from 65 mph to 70 mph is ideal end-of-session bargaining bait. If Fitzgerald can't get the Assembly to act on one of his priorities, for example, drivers may not be going 70 mph anytime soon.
It's also time to list bills that are dead.
Raw milk sales: A Senate committee rewrote, and then approved, a new version of a bill to legalize raw milk sales last week. But the compromise seemed to please neither side in the controversy, and Assembly leaders say the Senate must act on the issue first.
Common Core Standards: Some conservative Republicans want to delay, rewrite or repeal tougher national academic requirements being phased in for public schools. Leaders of the Assembly and Senate education committees oppose any change, however.
And the push to have a bipartisan panel draw new congressional and legislative districts every 10 years? Fuhgeddaboudit.
Steven Walters is a senior producer for the nonprofit public affairs channel WisconsinEye. Email firstname.lastname@example.com.


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2006 Photo Contest Winners
WARNING: All photographs are the property of the owner and are copyrighted.
Downloading of the photographs for private or public use is prohibited. Copying and use of any photograph requires the advance written permission of the owner and ARMY AVIATION Publications, Inc. Violators will be prosecuted.


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Tributes for 'wonderful' Sam Kelly
Tributes have been paid to the "wonderful" and "funny" actor Sam Kelly, star of 'Allo 'Allo! and Porridge, who died aged 70 after a long illness.
His agent Lynda Ronan said he died "peacefully" and left a "host of friends who were his chosen family".
Kelly acted in On The Up and Barbara, and recently played The Wizard in West End musical Wicked.
Ms Ronan said today: "Sam Kelly died peacefully this morning after a long illness bravely fought. He does not leave any family but a host of friends who were his chosen family. His death is a great loss to them and the profession."
Among the stars paying tribute on Twitter, Stephen Fry tweeted: "Very saddened to hear about Sam Kelly's death. He played a splendid Hitler in a comedy drama called Stalagluft I made with Nick Lyndhurst..."
Former Doctor Who Colin Baker who was at drama school with Kelly described him as a "lovely, funny, talented chap".
Sherlock actor Mark Gatiss tweeted: "Desperately sad news that the wonderful Sam Kelly has left us. Such a funny, talented man and one of the good guys. RIP Bunny Warren."
Mr Selfridge star Amanda Abbington said: "He was a gent and a darling. And he will be missed."
Citizen Smith and My Family star Robert Lindsay tweeted that he would dedicate tonight's West End showing of his stage show Dirty Rotten Scoundrels to Kelly.
He tweeted: "Feel so depressed about the amazing Sam Kelly's passing how do we manage a second comic musical tonight? we dedicate it to him RIP"
Emmerdale star Natalie Anderson tweeted: "Totally devastated to hear of the sad news of my friend and 'Wizard' Sam Kelly's passing!!! A truly wonderful and incredible gentleman!"
Comedy actress Rebecca Front, who starred in The Thick Of It, tweeted that Kelly was a "lovely actor".
Stage and screen actress Susan Penhaligon added: "Words cannot describe how sad I feel today, the glorious, funny, talented Sam Kelly has gone. He was a friend."
Magician Paul Daniels wrote: "RIP Sam Kelly. You were a funny guy."


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Beloit's speed too much for Parker soccer
Beloit Memorial's girls soccer team simply had too much speed for Janesville Parker on Monday night.
Olivia Valk scored twice and had one assist as the Purple Knights downed the Vikings in a Big Eight Conference opener at Parker.
"They look to be a really good team this year," Parker coach Steve Strieker said. "I'll be surprised if we face a team faster than that all year."
Valk struck first in the 13th minute and fed Stephanie Delatorre for another goal 13 minutes later.
Parker's Megan Fillion put the Vikings back within one in the 29th minute, and it was 2-1 at halftime.
"It's the second game in a row (Megan has) scored," Strieker said. "She has a real nose for the goal and worked her way open.
"Morgan Burner was playing all over the field. She's one of our fastest players and held the tide for us for a while. She usually plays forward and we were able to move her back and stop the barrage in the first half."
The Knights pulled away with three goals in a 14-minute span out of the break.
Parker plays at Watertown in nonconference action tonight.


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No one sure what to expect from post-prime Pujols
Will longtime superstar rebound from down first year in AL or decline further in 2013?
By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com
TEMPE, Ariz. -- There was that minor battle over billboards in those early days after Albert Pujols signed with the Angels. He took issue, just as he did in his St. Louis days, with the promotional references to him as "El Hombre," out of respect for Stan "The Man" Musial. And so the ads were appropriately adjusted.
These days, there would be no need to market Pujols as any variation of "The Man," anyway. The Angels' offensive dynamic has shifted so much in Pujols' short tenure that he is far from the sole focal point of production. That responsibility is now shared, of course, by Josh Hamilton and Mike Trout, with the former transitioning from one American League West juggernaut to another and the latter trying to follow up on an historic rookie campaign.
It's a good thing, too. Because with Opening Day just a little more than two weeks away, there are still lingering questions about Pujols' preparedness for the season proper, to go along with the general questions about what can be expected from the 33-year-old slugger in this post-prime stage of his career.
Pujols, now five months removed from right knee surgery, ran the bases in a Cactus League game the other day -- all by himself. It seems strange to even have to note that, but the Angels were granted the rare allowance of using a "courtesy runner" for Pujols in his three previous appearances this spring.
The condition of the right leg is still shaky enough to prevent Pujols from doing anything in the field, aside from fielding a few ground balls in morning workouts. When he'll be slotted in at first base is an ongoing matter of mystery.
"Right now, he's really just getting into the flow of running and making turns on the bases," manager Mike Scioscia said Friday. "I don't think you want to add another variable of playing defense right now. But he is taking groundballs."
Taking groundballs and taking his time with the recovery. Pujols may have famously recovered from a fractured wrist in a mere two weeks in the middle of the 2011 season, but "The Machine" is, nonetheless, a human being. And people will wonder whether the bum knee that sullied his September last season is but the beginning of the various physical tweaks that inevitably impact a player's production as he ages.
When the Angels signed Pujols to a 10-year, $240 million contract 15 months ago -- a contract that promises him $30 million in his age-41 season in 2021 -- they did so knowing full well that the back-end "value" equation would be way out of whack. That was all well and good, though, provided Pujols mashed like a monster in the front end of the deal.
It is a credit to Pujols' superior skillset that he recovered from his abysmal April acclimation to the AL enough to post a .285/.343/.516 slash line with 30 homers, 50 doubles and 105 RBIs by season's end. Un-Pujols-like, perhaps, but 99 percent of Major League position players would sign up for those stats right now.
This season, you would venture to guess that Pujols' increased comfort with his surroundings and eventual trust in his knee will allow him to repeat, and perhaps exceed, that level of production. But that's if and only if his body is cooperative. Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here, but you'd hate to see this become an Alex Rodriguez redux in which a great talent sees his production drop precipitously.
Right now, Pujols moves in slow motion. And the uncertainty with his leg is enough to make him iffy for the Opening Day lineup, given that the Halos are forced to discard the DH at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. Pujols would be restricted to DH duties if the season were to start today, but he has been insistent that he'll be ready to play his position come April 1.
"In the batter's box, he'd be ready," Scioscia said. "The guesswork is going to come with how much he's able to play defense, how much he's going to have to DH. Right now, it's a little bit of a gray area. He'll probably get out on the field in the next week or so, and we'll see how he rebounds."
The Angels are stacked enough that they don't need the uber Pujols production of old. It is, however, the general expectation that the offense is going to have to bear the burden for a starting staff that is patchy beyond Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson. So while Pujols is no longer the sole focal point, he remains an awfully important point.
"Albert's a unique guy, because I think there's no doubt he takes a lot on his shoulders to be the guy who carries a team," Scioscia said. "But I don't think that's going to change his expectations for what he can do. He has the most talent around him that he's had in his career. I don't think it's going to change what his expectations are."
Perhaps having Hamilton hitting behind him will prompt Pujols to return to his more selective ways. According to FanGraphs.com, Pujols swung at 36.4 percent of pitches outside the strike zone in 2012 -- a huge rise from his 22.9 career percentage. As a result, he drew a walk in just 7.8 percent of his plate appearances, way down from his 12.7 career walk rate.
That could be the area most affected by Pujols' improved comfort level and improved protection in this loaded lineup.
"In the batter's box right now, he feels much stronger than he did at any time in September," said Scioscia, "and we're trying to manage that with what his workload will be, as far as playing defense right now."
One of Scioscia's many tasks this season will be determining how much DH time Pujols needs to maintain an elite level at the plate. Pujols made 34 starts in the DH slot in his inaugural AL season, and that number could be on the rise in 2013, especially in April. On those days, Pujols will be half "The Man" he used to be.
Anthony Castrovince is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his columns and follow him on Twitter at @Castrovince. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Eclipse Code Recommender is an intelligent code recommender system which seamlessly integrates into Eclipse's Code Assist, and predicts only those method calls that are likely to be used by a developer in the current (code) situation. It can currently predict method calls for instances of the SWT framework, such as SWT Buttons, Labels, and Texts.
AgileJ StructureViews is an Eclipse plugin that generates highly configurable reverse engineered class diagrams for Java programmers. It specializes in supporting agile project development through the automated production of high presentation quality class diagrams with project-specific content generated and regenerated with minimal user effort.
The DVT (Design and Verification Tools) is an Eclipse-based integrated development environment for the e and SystemVerilog verification languages. It is modern and powerful, yet easy to use. It helps design and verification engineers who are not satisfied with the limitations of plain text editors to easily read, write, and understand complex source code. The DVT enables efficient code writing and simplifies the maintenance of reusable libraries and legacy code. It comprises a complete suite of tools and integrates with all major simulators, revision control systems, and bug tracking engines.
Components 4 Java is a development tool for Java. It provides a framework to organize and separate different parts of code, and fills the gap between the class level and the library level as provided by the Java SE architecture. Additionally, you can organize your classes in well-separated and loosely coupled components. Those can be stuck together graphically into larger compositions. Finally, components and compositions will be distributed among Java archives as specified in assemblies.
InstaSearch is an Eclipse IDE plug-in for performing quick and advanced searches of source code files. It uses the Apache Lucene library for indexing and fast searching of files in the workspace. The search is performed instantly as you type, and resulting files are displayed in an Eclipse view. Each file then can be previewed using a few of the most closely matching and relevant lines. A double-click on the match leads to the matching line in the file.
The Chameleon Problem Solving Environment is based on the CPACS data format and allows third party application coupling for multidisciplinary simulation. It comprises a set of libraries and integration components for the commercial integration environment ModelCenter or the open source alternative RCE (http://www.rcenvironment.de/). It was initially developed from the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
Viable is a plugin for the Eclipse environment that provides an interface as similar to vi (specifically Vim) as possible while maintaining access to all the powerful features of Eclipse. It supports visual block mode, common normal mode actions, command line mode (including command line history), "window" splits and management, regular expression search and replacement, and external filters and commands.
Meshtool is a mesh network toolkit designed to assist in mesh monitoring, administration, and research. It is Eclipse-based and leverages many Eclipse frameworks such as EMF, GEF, and Teneo. OpenStreetMap is used for 2D map data while 3D geographic data support is in early development stages through the Nasa World Wind. Meshtool is still in an alpha stage, but is being actively developed.
kbd-cheatsheet is a small application that generates a list of Eclipse keyboard shortcuts from Eclipse's CSV export function. The shortcuts are grouped, sorted, and arranged according to user defined settings. Since the basis for the sheet is your current Eclipse installation, everybody can create their own personalised version.
A system optimization tool.
A micro Linux distribution for securely hosting a Tor server.


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The Evolution of Brand Management
April 26, 2006
This presentation explores the evolution of brand management and the skill sets required to be effective today.
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TMAPI-XSLT provides a programming interface written in XSLT 2.0 for TMAPI. Only read functions for XTM 1.0 are implemented. There is XTM2HTML template to show how to use implemented TMAPI functions which will convert XTM 1.0-XML Topic Maps format to HTML
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Daniel Bellard will not stand trial in Christine Gestrich shooting death
JANESVILLE—A town of Plymouth man charged with shooting his neighbor to death in February will not be prosecuted for her murder after two doctors' reports found he is not competent to stand trial.
Daniel Bellard, 75, will be taken to Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison after authorities filed for an emergency detention at a hearing Thursday morning in Rock County Court.
Bellard shot his neighbor, 59-year-old Christine Gestrich, inside his barn on Feb. 6 before wounding himself with two self-inflicted gunshot wounds, authorities said.
In two separate, court-ordered competency evaluations, doctors concluded Bellard is not competent to proceed with the criminal case and is not likely to regain his competency.
Prosecutors will dismiss the criminal charges against Bellard, though they have the option of reopening the case if he regains competency, District Attorney David O'Leary said.


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5 best proofs of evolution
Discussion of everything related to the Theory of Evolution.
Moderator: BioTeam
Why did you insult me by telling me to look up "scientific theory"? I didn't insult you or even attempt to belittle anything you said. If you are going to insult me, which I find childish, then you ought to get used to it coming right back at you.
Again with the insults...
Instead of trying to bully people on a forum, try engaging in actually theoretically conversation. Otherwise, stop wasting other peoples time.
It's people like you, Jorge, that make forums like this one a bad taste.
Again - an opinion based on igorarnce is garbage abd a classic waster of time in a science forum. You need to understand science before holding forth with your sophomoric interpretation. I gave you the opportunity and provided direction that would give you some basic knowledge of marvelous concept of science and you rejected it - whining that it's bullying. I'm not one of you folks or useless teachers who think your spirited but ignorant comments are cute - I'm a scientist.
Your whining demand that ignorance be appreciated represents the continued failure of our educuational system. Again - wikipedia has a good discussion of scientific theory that describes the unique cincept and differentiates it well from the common concept of theory. Evolution is a theory and in science thery hs great weight. If you do nothing else (other than feel sorry for yourself) please read the description.
Jorge, you need to calm down. I didn't disagree that evolution isn't a theory. I know what a theory is. You don't have to try and degrade me with comments like "Childish" and "sophomoric" in an attempt to make yourself seem superior over the internet. No one is trying to harm your scientific analysis of this philosophical themed thread.
jorge you should improve your pronunciation of your written English before calling others ignorant because I put much in doubt that you are scientist. if you do not like the article dont call it a silly and instead give an opinion where is wrong and offer your evidence about it that creation is more solid than evolution. I will gladly give you my opinion on the matter.
This is not an oral forum, it is written. Therefore chllenging pronunciation of written english displays "ignorance." Ignorance is not a perjorative term - it merely says you don't know what you're talking about. This has been the case with odinraven and you (likely the same person). Unlike your other persona, I hope you hve learned something from our exchange.
PhD Microbiology
and what are your qualifications? Certainly not an english major.
You are simply ignorant, but that can change. Have you yet sought out the defintion of scientific theory or has your intellectual cowardice driven you to permanent ignorance?
I'll repeat the points you chose to ignore. Evolution is a scientific theory. Theories in science are not casual concepts (not, as you offered, everybody has a theory), they describe the prevailing concept among scientists that explain a body of phenomena. Such theories are testable and falsifiable among other characteristic. Falsifiable is not time limited - it was, is and will be possible that additional data and observations, other theories not yet offered, etc. may lead the scientifc community away from the concept. So it is not "airtight" (not a scientifc term in any case and certainly not so by your sophomoric post), it is again the previling theory at this time among scientists to explain relevant phenmena.
Further, evolution does not negate the existence of God nor God the theory of evolution (even if there were a deity-based creation). Evolution does not speak to the beginning of life, only to change after its initiation. God is not a scientific thery as it is untestable - those who accept it do so on belief.
Now try to grow up and think - and stop whining like a child.
first of all jorge I never stated that god does not exist and I am quite aware that the theory of evolution and the theory of the begin of life is quite another matter. never said that evolution is a fact I just posted a "quote " I like of somebody that consider it a fact. since you can clearly see that I support evolution instead of the ID theory that most likely you support that implied in the way you responded to my post and Odins ( two separate persons).
I am a Lift and escalator technician that does not implied I am ignorant or that you teach me anything since at the end you refrain from putting your point of view and only focus in being a critic of the most accepted theory and refrain from showing how your ID theory has a better evidence or any other theory for that matter.
note: PHD does not mean that you can treat people like dirt or act all superior and this web page is for biology online in general not a PHD only post learn a bit of humility instead of being arrogant
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These People Are All Crying in Their Mug Shots
Subscribe to 92.9 The Bull on
Hey, if you don't want your mug shot taken, don't get arrested!
In any case, no need to cry about it. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime, right? Okay, maybe a couple of these people just got a bit unlucky, and we do feel a smidge of guilt laughing at their misery, but we'd be that most of them deserve a nice warm cup of schadenfreude.


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Hotel Montafoner Hof
This booking is only binding once you have received written confirmation! !
The fields marked with * are mandatory!!
Great personal connection! Many of our employees have been with us for a long time, and just as many guests have stayed loyal to the Montafoner Hof its the personal touch that makes the difference!
Hotel Montafoner Hof · Familie Tschohl
A-6774 Tschagguns/Montafon · Tel. + 43 (5556) 71000
Fax +43 (5556) 71006 · firstname.lastname@example.com


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US Navy Iraqi Freedom Veteran Cap
Our Navy Caps are Navy Blue, six panel, emblematic, poly, full back (not mesh) and fully adjustable. It is made by the same manufacturer that supplies the military.
The US Navy Iraqi Freedom Veteran Cap is made in the USA and it carries a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee.
US Navy Iraqi Freedom Veteran Cap is usually shipped in 1-4 business days.
PriorService.com 2002-2017. All Rights Reserved. email@example.com Call us toll free at 877.241.8611
Home Info Privacy Policy Return Policy Links Our Cycling Gear Store Reunions FAQ Site Map


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Warren Park
6601 N. Western Ave. Chicago, Illinois 60645
(773) 262-6314
Fee: free
Age Range: ideal for those 18 & over
FREE LECTURE ON THE SECOND EDITION PUBLICATION OF THE CITY IN A GARDEN, A HISTORY OF CHICAGO'S PARKS. The book illuminates Chicago's 175-year commitment to its public parks. With historical plans, photographs and drawings, it explores how luminaries such as architect Daniel H. Burnham, landscape architect and conservationist Jens Jensen, and social reformer Jane Addams shaped and in¬fluenced Chicago's venerable green spaces. The author will share other second edition highlights including recent research, numerous restoration projects, and newly-designed facilities, such as Millennium Park and Palmisano Park. The presentation is sponsored by the Northtown Garden Society. Books will be available to purchase for $30, and a book signing will follow the lecture. Julia Bachrach has served as historian and preservationist for the Chicago Park District for more than 20 years. Bachrach is coauthor of Inspired by Nature: The Garfield Park Conservatory and Chicago's West Side. The second edition of The City in a Garden is published by Center for American Places at Columbia College Chicago and is distributed by the University of Chicago Press.


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If you were featured please grab a "featured" button from my sidebar if you don't have one.
Now we can't wait to see what you have to wow us with!
6. No link parties, please..
7. Please no more than three links per person.
Hope you will join me on FACEBOOK and Pinterest.


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The City of Franklin Hires a New Officer
The City of Franklin would like to welcome their newest employee to the police force, Ms. Nikki Chapman. Officer Chapman has been hired to fill the three month long, vacant position after the resignation of Officer Corey Keele.
Officer Chapman began her Public Safety Career in 1998 and is a certified School Resource Officer (SRO), in addition to her many other certifications. "We feel that Officer Chapman will be an asset to Franklin Police Department and this community as a whole. Her experience as an SRO will be utilized in working with Heard County High School, although she will primarily serve the community as a Patrol Officer", stated Chief Kevin Hannah.


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Last month, Chatham Financial released a benchmarking report on the state of financial risk management among U.S.-based businesses. Chatham studied the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings of more than 1,000 public companies with annual revenues between $500 million and $20 billion, excluding financial services and insurance companies, to determine how many of these organizations incur currency, commodity, and interest rate risks, and how they mitigate those risks.
Many of these organizations have experienced a significant increase in financial risks over the past decade, as they've extended their operations abroad and as volatility has increased in global financial markets. Nevertheless, Chatham found that many companies with foreign exchange, interest rate, and/or commodity risks on their financial statements are not using derivatives to hedge these risks (see Figure 1).
About half of organizations that have currency risk are hedging their exposure; the Chatham report notes that this is "a surprisingly low percentage given the extreme volatility around the currencies to which the companies have exposure." The majority of companies that are hedging foreign exchange (FX) risk are using both balance sheet and cash flow hedges.
Among the companies that Chatham found to have commodity risk, even fewer are using derivatives to hedge it. Commodity hedging is much more prevalent in industries where commodity risk is core to the business model—including natural resources and mining, transportation and utilities, and manufacturing. Larger companies are also much more likely to hedge commodity risks. From the combination of these factors, Chatham concludes: "Given the complexity of hedging commodities in the financial markets, it appears as though only sufficiently sophisticated corporations with commodities as a core exposure have a tendency to hedge in this manner."
Finally, interest rate risk—from credit agreements, asset-backed loans, bonds, etc.—is a concern for 89 percent of the companies whose financial statements Chatham studied. However, only 41 percent of those businesses hedge their interest rate risk using derivatives. This is partly explained by companies' ability to mitigate some of the risk by issuing a combination of debt with fixed interest rates and debt with floating rates.
Most companies that hedge risks in each financial-risk category use hedge accounting under ASC 815 (formerly FAS 133), but hedge accounting is by no means universal. Figure 2 shows the breakdown, including for currency risk only cash flow hedging programs, as balance sheet programs generally don't require the use of hedge accounting.


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The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has had a fairly steadfast tact when it comes to enforcement of its rules; however, on July 15, the commission made the first update to its policies in 30 years, expanding employment protection to expectant mothers. The new guidelines make it clear that the EEOC expects employers to accommodate pregnant women, and that refusing to do so is a violation of federal law.
The new rules are the first changes the commission has made to its policies since 1983, when an update offering guidance on pregnant worker discrimination was published. The new rules will supersede the previous update and offer more explicit rules on how employers will need to accommodate workers.
The new guidelines will cover pregnancy-related issues under the American with Disabilities Act, clarifying a number of conflicting federal regulations and case laws. Previously, pregnant women had been protected under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, but the law had been implemented in varying ways, and had been successfully rebuffed in several lower court decisions.
The update was passed after a 3 to 2 vote by the members of the commission.
Related Stories:
EEOC has its eye on unconscious biases against women in the workplace
Muslim job applicants apparently experience more discrimination if they are open about their religious identification
Unpacking the EEOC's increased scrutiny of severance agreements
"Pregnancy is not a justification for excluding women from jobs that they are qualified to perform, and it cannot be a basis for denying employment or treating women less favorably than co-workers similar in their ability or inability to work," said EEOC chair Jacqueline A. Berrien. "Despite much progress, we continue to see a significant number of charges alleging pregnancy discrimination…This guidance will aid employers, job seekers, and workers in complying with the Pregnancy Discrimination Act and Americans with Disabilities Act, and thus advance EEOC's Strategic Enforcement Plan."
In a dissenting opinion, Commissioner Victoria A. Lipnic said, "the (Pregnancy) Guidance takes the novel position that under the language of the PDA, a pregnant worker is, as a practical matter, entitled to "reasonable accommodation" as that term is defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). No federal Court of Appeals has adopted this position; indeed, those which have addressed the question have rejected it."
Among a number of other clarifications the new guidelines address, discrimination based on previous pregnancies, issues related to pregnancy leave, accommodations for lactation, as well as a list of best practices that help employers avoid unlawful discrimination against pregnant women.


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Ok – I love monkeys!
I've even had my picture taken with a monkey once!
When I stumbled across "Our Little Messes" and saw the oversized reversible toddler / baby bib with a monkey print …. I had to try it!
The reversible bib is stylish and functional! The bib is oversized to reach far past the fall of projectile food, which is great for us moms who need that extra protection for our little ones.
Made of a strong cotton blend and reinforced by the dual sided material, this bib will surely hold up to the strongest and ingenious of babies.
It's two bibs in one! How could you NOT love it!
Now on to the giveaway! OurLittleMesses, the maker of the this adorable reversible bib, hasgraciously offered one of their bibs to one lucky "Going Green with Noah" followers! The winner will work directly with OurLittleMesses, upon winning, to select a pattern that you love the most!
You have many opportunities to enter! Please take the following steps to enter the contest, making sure to submit a separate comment for each entry. United States only please.
First, you MUST follow this blog "Going Green with Noah" publicly via Google Friend Connect
Publicly follow the Our Little Messes Blog
* Sign up for The Crazy Days e-newsletter and activate subscription. +1
* Visit Our Little Messes and tell me what other products you think are fantastic and would like to see in a future review / giveaway +1
* Rate me 5 stars on Alexa.com +3
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* Tweet this: I entered @mel2266 Handmade Reversible Bib hosted at "Going Green with Noah" http://tiny.cc/b5i3l +1
Tweet everyday for additional entries!! - Up to 3 x per day
* Follow Our Little Messes on Twitter +1
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* Share this giveaway on Facebook Share +1
* Add my button to your sidebar and tell me where to find it. +4
* Add me to your blog roll and leave the link. +2
Contest ends July 7th, 2010, 9 pm CST. Winner will be drawn via a random number generator.


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10 Cats Stuck in Things
Cats are funny little creatures. Some like dressing up in reindeer antlers while others bask in the grumpy glory of fame. It doesn't matter what kind of feline we come across– we're always big fans of the furballs. However, there is one type of kitty that tops our list of favorites: the kind that gets stuck in things.
A few months back, we showed you that ridiculously cute cat getting stuck in a jar. That got us thinking– if it happened to that charming kitty, there must be other internet cats who have found themselves in the same hilarious situation, right? Y-E-S! Turns out felines all-too-often find themselves trapped in jars or stuck in boxes, and fortunately for us, it's absolutely adorable. See what we mean below.


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It started out as a good day, but slowly, my skin started to not fit right and I felt the unraveling begin- maybe a pull at the string from the whining, the hitting, the fussing at each other. The un-gratefulness of the popsicle they just had when the ice cream truck drives by.
Another pull at my sanity string, from the bubbles- See? Fun! Play! Bubbles! Whee!!!- but then they spill (even out of a NO SPILL BOTTLE) and she rubs her eyes and now BUBBLES ARE BURNING MY BABY'S EYES.
And I send them all to their room. So I can have a time out. Knowing that means all four are in one small room,
but if I remember correctly,
the one thing that would bring my brother and I together, even after a day of constant fighting- was that look in Mom's eye, or hearing the snap,
of her mind
Now it's me
and I'm trying to hold it together.
The faucet in my kitchen is leaking.
The faucet in my kitchen is leaking.
Dripping- loudly- into a sink full of dishes
and it pulls
p u l l s
and continues my unraveling.
Please Lord, I need Carter, Gray, and Ivy to sleep at least one hour after Noah gets on the bus for summer school. I need some time to myself while they are ALL ASLEEP. Please, DEAR GOD.
I just want to get the playroom cleaned up without them un-doing it within 20 minutes. Just enough so I can freaking vacuum it.
I need to hear myself think.
I need
I need them to stop touching me.
I want to be able to do this and I do not want a break. I do not want someone to come take my children for the day. I do not want someone to clean my house.
I want to do it all.
I'm going to hit publish, despite my better judgment, and once I do, it's going to feel all better. I promise.


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Longitudinal Study of Cortisol and Pulmonary Function
This study has been completed.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First Posted: May 26, 2000
Last Update Posted: May 13, 2016
Information provided by:
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
No Study Results Posted on ClinicalTrials.gov for this Study
|Study Status:
|This study has been completed.
|Study Completion Date:
|March 1999
|Primary Completion Date:
|No date given


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Brewers' day-game woes continue
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
MILWAUKEE--The Milwaukee Brewers have become accustomed to poor showings during day games and that trend certainly didn't change Thursday afternoon at Miller Park.
This time, however, they thought they had company in their misery. Let's just say the home team was not particularly pleased with the work of plate umpire Chad Fairchild—and that frustration carried over to the very last pitch of the game.
Brewers starter Kyle Lohse, who struggled through five innings in the 5-1 loss to the Chicago Cubs, is the first to admit when he doesn't have it. This time, however, he cited Fairchild as a partner in crime.
"Not a whole lot of it was me," said Lohse, who threw 100 pitches and allowed seven hits and three runs before exiting.
"When you've got an umpire that says your grumpy face is going to cost you some strikes, you've got issues. I wasn't as consistent as I wanted to be, but I made a lot of really good pitches and I guess I looked funny out there, and wasn't going to get the calls."
Lohse said Fairchild made the "grumpy face" comment to catcher Martin Maldonado after Nate Schierholtz smacked a 3-1 fastball for a two-run homer in the third inning that gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead. Lohse thought Fairchild missed some pitches that put the count at 3-1.
"I've been around long enough; you've got to make pitches," said Lohse, who allowed a first-inning homer to Luis Valbuena on a 1-1 slider that wasn't where he wanted it.
"The first one to Valbuena, I missed location and threw a pitch that came right back in to him. The rest of the day, the Schierholtz at-bat, there were a couple of pitches that changed the whole complexion of the game, really.
"When you change the count from 1-2 or 2-2, possibly, to 3-1, I'm not going to walk a guy but I'm not getting that low, outside corner. I'm going to challenge the guy and I got beat there. I've still got to make a pitch, and he put a good swing on it. That changes the ball game right there, especially when you've got a guy throwing the ball as well as (Chicago starter Jake Arrieta)."
What would have happened had Fairchild made the "grumpy face" comment directly to Lohse instead of his catcher?
"I wouldn't have lasted five innings," said Lohse.
"I don't think I did anything to show him up. I had a lot of calls that I thought could have gone my way. I got the ball back and tried to make another pitch. Obviously, it's frustrating but it's my job to go out there and make pitches. I can't do anything about what's called or not.
"It's just hard to adjust to something that's inconsistent. Just let us play the game."
The game ended with a Brewer even angrier at Fairchild. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, outfielder Logan Schafer worked the count to 3-2 against Cubs closer Kevin Gregg before taking a pitch that was quite low and should have been ball four. Instead, Fairchild rang up Schafer for the final out.
Schafer tossed down his bat and helmet in disgust, drawing an equipment citation from Fairchild that comes with a fine. The two then exchanged heated words before Brewers manager Ron Roenicke came out to intervene.
Not that the Brewers did much to help themselves throughout the day. They collected only three hits in seven innings off Arrieta, who did not allow a run until Carlos Gomez led off the bottom of the seventh with a home run to center.
Roenicke was resting some banged-up regulars and shortstop Jean Segura was unavailable with a hamstring strain, leading to a more watered-down lineup than usual. Nevertheless, the Brewers fell to 17-34 in day games, including an 8-20 mark at home.
"We've been talking about day games for quite a while," said Roenicke. "There's no answer to it. We didn't play well last year in day games. The year before, we did play well.
"It's hard to explain. If it's a day that a veteran needs a day off, that's when I usually give it to him because it's hard to recover and play that day game after a night game. Some of it has to do with that but other organizations do it, also. So, a lot of times we're facing a team that if they're resting somebody, they do it that day."


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Analyze This: Electronics winners & losers in 2012
21 comments post a comment
A look back and a look ahead at the top trends in the global electronics industry.
Heres a look back at my 10 biggest trends of 2012. Though the calendar has just turned the page, I believe my list will drive the global electronics industry in 2013. What's your take? Please read the article and enter your take in the comments box at the bottom.
1. Japans Decline
I met recently with Brian Toohey, head of the Semiconductor Industry Association. Among other things, we discussed SIAs history and how it was formed 30 years ago in response to the competitive threat posed at the time by Japans semiconductor industry. Recall that Intel had recently exited the memory business (in hindsight, a brilliant move) and other chip makers like Siemens and Texas Instruments were wishing they had got out at the same time.
Fast forward 30 years and the Japanese semiconductor industry finds itself in dire straits. EE Times international correspondent Junko Yoshida has reported about the many iconic Japanese electronics that are consolidating to survive. Sharp is perhaps the weakest and but Fujitsu and Renesas also are struggling.
What happened? My analysis is that making huge bets on commodity businesses is inherently risky, and there are no more risky businesses than memory and displays. Hence, Japan Inc. put itself in harms way and underestimated the market power of Samsung and Micron.
Thirty years ago, Japanese companies were respected for their innovation and consumer marketing prowess (think Sony, Canon and Panasonic) but something happened in the 1990s that stifled innovation and slowly asphyxiated Japan Inc. Was it simply due to the Innovators Dilemma working on a national scale? Or was the advantage provided by manufacturing excellence simply not sustainable? This is fodder for books, conferences, pundits and policy makers and would love to hear your views.
Related stories:
Yoshida in Japan: Sharp tripped by engineering ego
Yoshida in China: Time for Japan to exit TV market