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Same deal as last week: I figured I'd tell you what I watch, throw out a few things that stood out or some interesting things coming up, and then let the free-for-all begin. Remember, this thread is no-holds-barred, so don't start reading it and then complain that you read something you were trying to save for later. But, do feel free to give your opinions or reviews, because that information might be helpful for somebody deciding which movie to spend $10 on, or which shows to DVR, or which stuff to add to their Netflix queue.
Let's use Ross's Rules of Order (no porn, no slurs, no illegal streams, and maybe avoid politics and religion. And the first person who bitches about Ferentz's video-editing abilities has to gas up the Rhoads' family truckster for the next Vacation. And gas is pretty expensive these days.
What did I watch this week?
(First run) PTI, Jim Rome is Burning, Archer, Justified, Workaholics, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Sports Show with Norm MacDonald, The Office.
(Repeats/Syndicated) Seinfeld, The Wire, Freaks and Geeks, The Wonder Years, Doogie Howser MD.
(Other) Some NBA playoff basketball, the old movie "The Ten Commandments", a few other things that weren't very memorable.
What did I like this week?
Justified was just alright with me. The last few minutes were particularly good, with Raylan basically forcing Winona's ex-husband to leave town. But you have to think that leaving all these loose ends may come back to haunt Raylan, with a vengeance. I think there is only two weeks left, and then we have to wait for awhile before season 3 starts.
Archer was also just OK this week. I am still mourning the loss of Katya Kasnova,but at least Archer picked up (another in a long list of) enemies in Barry the bionic bad guy. I think this was the season finale of Archer, and the next season doesn't start until at least September. It sounds like there will be 3 new episodes in September, and then the rest will air starting in early 2012.
The Office was a bit funny this week. It was Steve Carrell's final "Dundies" episode. I loved his impressions of the other people in the office. The season finale is May 19th, I believe, and will have several guest stars.
What Am I Ashamed to Admit that I Watched This Week?
I am really becoming concerned with the lack of quality in television news. If there isn't some massive story that CNN throws itself into covering, then pretty much ever cable news channel is unwatchable. And the local news coverage effort has really pissed me off lately. I know they can't make up news stories, but if I see one more story on some dog that has been trained to sniff for bed-bugs, I'm just gonna' snap. I fear that we will soon become completely dependent on internet blogs and people putting cell phone vids on youtube for all the important news.
New TV Shows Coming Up.
NHL playoffs continue, mostly on Versus or NBC. NBA playoffs continue on ABC, the ESPNs, TNT, and maybe even NBA TV. I was watching some NBA games on Friday night, and saw multiple technical fouls and two ejections (of course, the ejections were instigated by a Dwight Howard elbow, but Howard didn't get thrown out. The two guys who got ejected will also have to miss the next game of the series. Thank goodness the NBA refs are all honest.)
TV Show Seasons I Should Probably Rent.
I was hanging around at Best Buy on Thursday evening, and my cousin showed me something very important: AirWolf season 4 DVDs are now available. To be fair, I am not advocating the purchase or rental of Airwolf season 4, but I definitely laughed when I saw that Best Buy actually had this schlock. Season 4 looks to be the year when all the "well-known" people from the series said "I've got better things to do." You know, because all the other Airwolf seasons were so culturally important.
I still need to rent some old Mad Men, Justified, and Eastbound and Down. There may be some It's Always Sunny episodes I've missed, as well. Maybe I'll get around to renting some Deadwood, or Arrested Development, or the Friday Night Lights, or not.
Movies in the Theaters.
One of these days I might break down and see "Your Highness." Or maybe I won't.
Movie That Looks Like it Will Really...be released soon.
The Hangover Part II is allegedly going to be released in about a month. I guess they got in slight trouble for showing the trailer to it (an R-rated film) during the previews for a PG-13 film (The Source Code). Personally, I didn't think the first Hangover was as funny as many did, but then again, I'm always playing Debby Downer, so...
What Am I Watching Right This Very Second?
I'm watching the old Charlton Heston/Yul Brenner epic, The Ten Commandments. This usually runs on ABC sometime close to Easter, and for some reason, I usually watch at least part of it. I'm always surprised at the amount of students at the religious school I teach at, who have never seen this film. I'd think you'd watch it just to see what passed for special effects back in the day (1:45 mark).
Oh, who am I kidding? I'm really watching this movie because I like to see Anne Baxter in sheer clothing. Nefertiti's, indeed.
via www.canadianchristianity.com
I can't quite decide if this new Pepsi Max commercial is a funny homage to Field of Dreams, or if it is an atrocity that should inspire us to start an uprising that will make Syria look like group of pissed off people at a supermarket checkout line.
Have a Happy Easter, and a good week, everybody.


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One Kid. One Vote
My husband Pat and I have been taking our sons into voting booths since they were infants. During the 2006 mid-term elections, or eldest, Spencer, was 6 and his questions had progressed from "Can I have another flag sticker?" to "Does everyoneget to vote?"
With geeky civic pride, we began raving about the power voting gives an individual. Pat whipped up a ballot for Spencer so he could use his single voice to vote on issues that directly affected him: Should we go camping next year? How many times a week should he have to make his bed? Which should we serve more of — broccoli or carrots? Spencer loved it, and we were thrilled to see him deliberating so seriously. (Broccoli won, btw.)

subset: commoncrawl


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MSI GeForce GTX 670 Power edition /OC review -
Product Showcase
As stated the typical Boost Clock speed is 1089 MHz. The Boost Clock speed is based on the average GeForce GTX 670 card running a wide variety of games and applications. That Boost clock will vary from game-to-game depending on certain power conditions/envelope, we've seen it clock to roughly 1100~1150 MHz most of the time. The card is PCIe gen 3.0 compatible. Going from PCIe Gen 2 to Gen 3 doubles the bandwidth available to the add-on cards installed, from 500 MB/s per lane to 1 GB/s per lane.
The GeForce GTX 670 has a maximum power consumption of roughly 200 Watts, the typical power raw will actually be a good notch lower. You'll need to power the card with two 6-pin PCIe PEG lead from your power supply. Due to the small PCB the connectors look a little oddly placed, but that is because the cooler is longer than the actual PCB.
Power supply wise we recommend a 550 power supply to start with. With one card that is.
Here you can see two SLI connectors, the 670 series is allowed to work with up to four cards in Quad SLI mode. For proper scaling and little driver issues as possible we always recommend to stick to 2 cards in multi-GPU mode
In this review we test the GeForce GTX 780 Gaming OC 6 GB Graphics Cardfrom MSI, the OC edition specifically. The customized product is equipped with a massive cooler that can be air-cooled, this uni...
MSI GeForce GTX 750 and 750 Ti Gaming review
We review the MSI GeForce GTX 750 and 750 Ti Gaming OC edition graphics cards. They both are bed on Nvidia's new Maxwell GPUs that offer low power comsumption and Full HD capable gaming. Being an M...
MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti Gaming Review
In this review we test the GeForce GTX 780 Ti Gaming edition from MSI. The customized product is equipped with MSI's popular TwinFrozr IV cooler armed two fans. It remains to be quiet and keeps tem...
MSI GeForce GTX 780 LIGHTNING review
We benchmark test and review the MSI GeForce GTX 780 LIGHTNING edition. The MSI team has been hard at work with this product, completely revamping the design, the PCB, the cooler, and tweakability.


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Speaking of Science
October 1, 2011|
A selection of quotes from past issues of The Scientist.
October 1, 2011|
A selection of quotes from past issues of The Scientist.
September 29, 2011|
A handful of life science researchers will take home the United States' top science honor.
September 28, 2011|
"Scientists Against Sample Abuse" aims to raise awareness about the importance of consistency when it comes to handling biological samples.
September 27, 2011|
A German ethics council weighs in on the discussion about the use of human-animal chimeras in research.
September 27, 2011|
The funding agency is taking strides to avoid losing parents from the scientific workforce.
September 26, 2011|
A snapshot of the most highly ranked articles in microbiology and related areas, from Faculty of 1000
September 22, 2011|
A 2012 spending bill, approved by a Senate panel yesterday, would trim the NIH budget by $190 million.
September 19, 2011|
A lawsuit accuses a Baltimore medical institute of exposing children to lead poisoning in the 1990s.
September 15, 2011|
Nerve signals control T cell responses, helping to explain inflammation and stroke.
September 14, 2011|
New doping tests that could be used at the 2012 London Olympics should ward off cheaters better than ever before.


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Former Florida St. Seminoles linebacker Derrick Brooks -- the Tampa Bay Buccaneers one, for our NFL readers -- has made some pretty big news in the great Big 12 realignment story, telling Tim Brando that the Big 12 actually contacted FSU, not the other way around.
Former player says some stuff we should ignore? Hard to say, as Brooks is also a former FSU trustee. Athletic director Randy Spetman says, "I don't know where Derrick got that."
If true, that would change pretty much everything about this story, as the Big 12 has been silent, Bob Bowlsby has called for a few weeks to get his freaking feet in the doggone door before everyone starts asking him about the goshdang Seminoles (he didn't say it like that), and DeLoss Dodds has said there's nothing to the whole thing. Thus, we should approach Brooks' claim with a good bit of skepticism.
But still! FSU-to-the Big 12 stuff remains in the news, and will continue to do so for at least a few more weeks, in all likelihood. It'll be hard for either side to release a definitive final answer until the new playoff plan gets firmed up.


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Say it ain't so!
For anyone who wonders where I stand on the issue of oversigning, here goes. As you may know, my undergraduate alma mater is Indiana University. In yesterday's Bloomington (IN) Herald-Times was a story describing the way IU head basketball coach Tom Crean is rebuilding the Hoosiers after the debacle that was Kelvin Sampson. It's not a pretty sight.
For three straight years Crean has struggled to recruit players who can compete on the floor and represent the university's values, while simultaneously passing college courses. Virtually everyone agrees that the kids he's brought in are doing a great job in their off-the-court responsibilities. But there's always that W-L thing. Last season the once mighty Hoosiers won just 3 Big Ten games. Out of 18.
It appears that Crean is turning the corner on big time recruits with the signing of Cody Zeller boy,who is Indiana's reigning Mr. Basketball and a national Top 10 high school All America. Crean's 2012 recruiting class is being called the best at IU since 1975 and perhaps the nation's #1 recruiting class for 2012. The class is strong in both quality and quantity. Therein lies the rub.
IU basketball is currently oversigned by 1 (sadly, this is allowed by the Big Ten conference) but the problem coming down the road is much bigger. I have been watching this looming oversigning status unfold and reading numerous IU basketball fan forums. The consensus of Hoosier fanatics is that Crean is going to have to orchestrate an exodus of players he recruited in their darkest days . . . players who cannot compete at the Big Ten level. Hoosier fans seem entirely OK with that. Many openly state, "That's the way big time sports operates. No player is guaranteed a 5 year career. If they can't cut it, be gone!"
In my opinion these are kids who chose to play for IU when Crean couldn't get top flight recruits to commit. Those kids forsook attending lesser programs where they could have played and probably starred. But commit they did. If those kids are jettisoned when Crean's big time recruits show up, I for one am going to have a big time problem with it.
IU's AD should have told Crean that his mission was to rebuild the Hoosiers slowly but steadily without compromising what's right. Shucking those first two signing classes now that they have better players coming in is just wrong. Moving more slowly by signing fewer top flight recruits for 2012 would have taken big cojones but it would have been the right thing to do. We'll see how this thing shakes out.
Kelvin Sampson was corrupt; let's see what Tom Crean is made of.
Chris Low Believes SEC Coaches Will Fight To Keep Oversigning
Chris Low, ESPN's SEC Blogger, was recently asked if he thought anything would come of the recent movement to have oversigning banned.
We'll find out a lot more at the SEC spring meetings in Destin, Fla., but I can tell you that a number of SEC coaches have made it clear to their ADs and to SEC commissioner Mike Slive that managing numbers in terms of scholarships has been one of the best things the SEC has done in football and a big reason the league has had so much success. In other words, the coaches will fight any kind of hard cap (similar to what the Big Ten does)in a big way.
We'll see what happens in Destin, should be interesting. Mike Slive has a real opportunity to step up and be forever known as the man who ended oversigning in the SEC, something no one has been able to do for 40 years.
Spurrier Likes the Current Oversigning Rules
Perhaps without them he would be playing golf instead of pulling scholarship offers at the last minute.
But hey, time heals all wounds, right? Are academics in South Carolina really that piss poor?
Hope Mike Slive is proud.
Florida, Muschamp Will Not Grayshirt or Sign and Place
Things are starting to heat back up a little on the oversigning topic. The last few weeks have been slow, but with the conference meetings coming soon, as well as the forced attrition to clear roster space via medical hardships, grayshirts, and coerced transfers to lower tier programs, we will start to see a lot more news on the oversigning front.
Will Muschamp got things going today during a teleconference with all 12 SEC head coaches when he had this to say when asked about oversigning and grayshirting:
Muschamp also addressed the oversigning and grayshirting of athletes that has become a recent subject of concern in some areas.
"I think there is some gray area involved with all of it," he said."Now, you're able to sign players back (previous year) as long as you're under your 85 (scholarship) total. So does that count against the 28 you signed in February? Right now it doesn't.
"Again, at Florida, we don't grayshirt. That's not something that we do; it's not a policy of ours. We don't place students; that's not a policy of ours. That's not something that I'm going to cross that bridge on right now because it's not something that we do or is part of what we're going to do."
Wonder what Huston Nutt, Les Miles, and Nick Saban had so say to that during the conference call? Kudos to Muschamp for going public with their policy on signing and placing and grayshirting, and Kudos to Florida for making it a policy (not sure if that is an actual written policy or not) not to exploit these two loopholes in the system.
Mike Slive Prepares for the Annual SEC Meetings in Florida
Mike Slive took a few minutes to answer questions about the upcoming annual conference meetings and as expected the topic of oversigning came up during the conversation (see below). The million dollar question is which athletic directors are in the group that is studying the oversigning issue??? Will Georgia and Florida have enough pull to force the rest of the conference athletic directors to seriously address the oversigning issue or will it be another round of window dressing with another toothless rule named after a coach? Or, will the SEC shock the world and come up with a set of conference rules that are the toughest in the country on oversigning and grayshirting?
Q: Will the SEC re-examine its rule, which has now become an NCAA rule, setting a limit of 28 football signees per class? Do you believe it has adequately addressed the issue of oversigning or does it need to be toughened, possibly even looking to the Big Ten model (which allows its football programs to sign only three over the number of scholarships it has available under the 85 limit)?
A: I don't think there's any particular model out there that we would care to emulate, but we're going to take a look at all these issues. It's more than just the question of oversigning. It's a question of looking at all these issues that comprise how teams develop their ultimate roster. We have put together a group of our athletic directors who have been working on this now for several months and we anticipate looking at their report in Destin, when we do our business. We expect the First Amendment to be alive and well in Destin and I actually anticipate that we would do something more than we have done up to now.
There are a lot of things that go with it -- the question of oversigning, the question of grayshirting, the question of early admission, the question of pre-enrollment in summer school. We are working to take a very comprehensive look at all the different elements, not just the one issue of oversigning.
Alabama Blacks Out Scholarship Numbers Citing Federal Privacy Laws; Legal Experts Disagree
This is somewhat old news, but Marquavius Burnett at The Crimson and White just wrote a nice article about the situation at Alabama regarding their refusal to disclose scholarship numbers, including an image of the document where Alabama blacks out the scholarship numbers in their annual report. Alabama officials are saying that federal privacy laws prevent them from disclosing the number of scholarships, but law experts disagree and question why the schools that do release this information are not in violation of the federal privacy laws.
From the article:
Deborah Lane, and assistant vice president for University Relations, said in an emailed statement that privacy laws prohibit them from disclosing scholarship numbers because they can be used by a reasonable person to find out personal information about individual students.
But law experts disagree.
"This information is not confidential," said Frank LoMonte, the executive director of the Student Press Law Center. "In fact, Alabama routinely announces the names of star athletes it has signed to scholarships…. Other schools are comfortable releasing the numbers. There is no practical way that you could match up the number of scholarships with particular athletes and, even if you could, it would not compromise any private information."
It is really unclear as to why these numbers are being hidden. Cecil Hurt at the Tuscaloosa News has filed a Freedom of Information Act request in order to try and obtain the official scholarship numbers, hopefully he will hear something soon so we can get this all cleared up.
The irony in all of this is that Alabama goes out of its way to have a fax cam streaming video of the recruits names as their faxed LOI to receive a scholarship comes in on national signing day.
The article goes on to cite the Wall Street Journal article on Alabama's oversigning:
The entire SEC, especially Alabama, has been under fire recently for oversigning in football. Under NCAA rules, it is legal to sign more players to scholarships than the limit of 85 as long as teams are not over that limit by July 31. However, The Wall Street Journal reported in September of 2010 that former Alabama players said the school tried to gain a competitive edge by encouraging underperforming players to quit the team, allowing the Tide to not exceed the limit of 85 scholarships per season.
Because the deadline to get down to 85 football scholarships is July 31, when 2010 expense reports were filed, it would not have been a violation to be over the limit of 85. In fact, LSU and Mississippi's 2010 athletic expense reports show the schools had 91 and 89 scholarships, respectively, allotted to football when the reports were filed.
Help Us Plan the Future & Make a Real Difference
As you might know, I recently launched two brand new advocacy sites/blogs, Parents of Players and Reform the NCAA. For quite some time as Oversigning.com has grown, Joshua and I have been discussing whether we should broaden our focus to cover many other (and far more serious) examples of exploitation of high school and college players.
One way is to have separate and distinct web sites/blogs for each problem/exploitation (that's the road we're on right at this minute). The other way would be to transform Oversigning.com into Oversigning & More.com. We could have a navigation bar at the top of the page with tabs for Oversigning, Truth in Recruiting, Academic Problems, Money Problems, Player Attrition, etc. Clicking one of these tabs would take you to a blog focused on the specific problem area. The benefit of this approach would be that it make it easy for highly interested people (like you) to stay informed on a wide range of NCAA problems & suggested reforms without putting a bunch of sites in your Favorites/Bookmarks.
From a business standpoint, this would enable us to aggregate our traffic and perhaps one day put us over the top in page views so that we might be able to begin covering our operating costs with a few inobtrusive ads. If things got really cranking we could afford to begin paying some talented writers to research and write highly professional pieces on each problem topic.
Last night I had this amazing epiphany (for you guys from Mississippi that means the light bulb went on. Whoa, don't get pissed off, I'm just kidding around!). My bright idea is this: Why not ask the passionate people on Oversigning.com what they think.
So, I'm asking. No holds barred. Tell us what you think. And if you'd like to nominate yourself to research & write on a topic please send an email to me at email@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com. Thanks!
SEC's Greg Sankey: Grayshirting Not Appropriate
In a very well written article by Tim Twentyman, the SEC's Associate Commissioner, Greg Sankey admits the practice of grayshirting by some of his member schools is not appropriate. Our position all along has been that for a coach to go out and offer a ton of kids and tell them all that they might have to grayshirt depending on how things work out on signing day is fraudulent, at best. It is nothing more than a tactic to string kids along and keep them away from competing schools and offers no guarantee of a scholarship; there is a reason why the NLI's Susan Peal doesn't support grayshirting.
The SEC's Sankey admits that the practice of grayshirting by some of his member schools is "not appropriate" and says the SEC is considering adopting stricter measures on how recruits are counted.
"This year, we saw a couple circumstances where there was really late notice to student-athletes about programs' desire for them to defer enrollment," Sankey said. "Those circumstances are not appropriate. We don't want to see that type of thing happen.
"Part of the discussion is, 'Is there a way to manage grayshirting that should be out in front of folks?' In a similar way, should we be managing early-enrollment issues in a different way? All of those things mix into this discussion and that's why it takes some time to do some analysis to figure out some reasonable solution for our conference. We've been after this issue since the fall and we have an annual meeting in late May and early June, and I'd expect some potential solutions would be considered."
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110406/SPORTS0203/104060302/Big-Ten--Oversigning-gives-some-schools-'competitive-advantage'#ixzz1IkROTHrA
The article also includes quotes from several coaches, other conference officials, and recruited players who admit they had no idea what oversigning was until someone told them about it.
Madison Heights Madison defensive back Valdez Showers, who signed with Florida in February, said he never once thought about oversigning during his recruitment. He didn't even know such a thing was allowed.
"All I looked at was how many people they signed at my position," he said. "I never really thought about oversigning and I can tell you by experience that recruits aren't really looking at that, either."
Showers did say he was going to make sure future recruits at his high school are aware of the practice and ask the right questions during their recruitment — especially when dealing with some SEC schools.
"I think (oversigning) is real immature and unprofessional by a coach," Showers said. "Why would he recruit this many guys knowing that he's going to mess up another kid's chance of getting another scholarship from another school? I think recruits should start looking at that now."
Saginaw's DeAnthony Arnett, who'll also play in the SEC next season for Tennessee, said he didn't have to worry about having a spot on the team, due to his stature in the recruiting rankings. He is ranked the No. 8 receiver in the country by Scout.com and the No. 12 receiver by Rivals.com. But he said he could empathize with those players that find out too late to do anything about the fact that they are no longer wanted on campus in the fall.
"Some schools like oversigning kids and then giving them grayshirts or telling them to leave, which is wrong," he said. "Whatever your maximum is, that's how many you should be able to sign and not go over that."
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110406/SPORTS0203/104060302/Big-Ten--Oversigning-gives-some-schools-'competitive-advantage'#ixzz1IkSi2svm
Michigan State's Mark Dantonio says that they have never had to tell a kid that he doesn't have a scholarship; he also believes in Jim Tressel's method of giving open scholarships after the spring and summer natural attrition to deserving walk-on players who have earned a scholarship reward.
Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio told The Detroit News that he's never had to tell one of his players that his scholarship no longer exists, and can't imaging having to do so. But Dantonio added that he has to protect his program, which can be accomplished with moderate oversigning.
"My feeling is that as a program, you sign what you think you're going to have, and then there are always opportunities for a non-scholarship player — who's really played himself into a position to play — award him a scholarship, which we've been able to do every single year," Dantonio said.
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110406/SPORTS0203/104060302/Big-Ten--Oversigning-gives-some-schools-'competitive-advantage'#ixzz1Ika2GM6R
To be clear, when reading these articles and talking about oversigning, you have to remember that there are two kinds of oversigning: signing more than 85 and signing more than 25. In many cases, like the quote above by Dantonio, coaches are referring to oversigning the 25 not the 85. For example, if a school has 57 returning players on scholarship, they can take on 28 to get to 85, however, 28 is over the 25 limit for a given year. What happens is that 3 of the 28 enroll early and count towards the previous year, then the remaining 25 enroll in the current year and count towards the current class. Therefore, despite going over the 25 limit, the school did not go over the 85 limit. This is what the Big 10 rule of going over by 3 is really there for; not so much to enable schools to abusively go over the 85 limit every year, which in talking to Chad Hawley simply doesn't happen. Our issue has always been going over the 85 because when that happens cuts have to be made; you can go over the 25 and not have to cut anyone as long as there is room in the previous class and guys enroll early.
We encourage you to read the rest of the article and discuss in the comments section. It's amazing that kids today, despite all of the talk in the media and everyone on the Internet, do not know what oversigning is or that it is allowed. Marc's proposal for Truth in Recruiting would definitely eliminate this problem.
Updated: Added quote from Mark Dantonio and commentary on the Big 10 rule for oversigning.
Official Announcement! Marc Bailey Joins Oversigning.com
We are very pleased to finally announce that Marc Bailey, a former player at Indiana University, has joined our efforts here at Oversigning.com and will be handling various responsibilities, including business development and public relations. Marc is also going to assist us in finding writers for the site and seek out former players that have been wronged by teams that oversign and help us tell their story.
Marc is an amazing individual and we are really excited about his involvement here and what he brings to the table. Diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer in 2004, Marc was given very little chance to survive. However, thanks to radical treatment and the grace of God, Marc survived his battle with cancer and is now cancer free! In fact, when meeting Marc in person you would never know that he was a cancer survivor. In his professional career, prior to retirement, Marc worked as a turnaround manager in the software industry and has been involved in the publishing industry for 25 years.
With a lifelong background in sports, which includes his time as a player at Indiana, his masters degree in Sports Management at Ohio University where he was classmates with Florida AD Jeremy Foley, and the 40+ years he spent involved in sports outside of his professional career, which included working on projects like Hoosier for Life at Indiana and membership on the board at The Drake Group, Marc has decided now that he is retired that he wants to pursue his passion of player advocacy and NCAA reform. Marc is a true, fire-breathing reformer! Having been directly involved in college football, both in his time at Indiana and while his son was being recruited by several schools (he finally ended up playing at Georgia Tech after two bad experiences at other schools), Marc has been exposed to the inner-workings of the collegiate "amateur" model and the lies and player exploitation that takes place, and he has decided to make it his life's mission to do what he can to change the way the game is played.
In addition to his new role here, Marc has started two new initiatives: Parents of Players Association and Reform the NCAA which we hope to be heavily involved in once our work here on oversigning is complete. We strongly recommend you read the Facts of Life page on the POPA site.
This morning, Jon Solomon, who has done some great reporting on the oversigning topic, wrote a spotlight piece on Marc in The Beaufort Gazette.
Update: A similar piece is up on al.com: http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2011/04/college_athletes_rights_who_fi.html
Marc Bailey is cancer-free, itching for a fight and willing to team up. Bailey, the Drake Group and Ramogi Huma's NCPA have discussed closely affiliating their reform initiatives.
Once a turnaround manager in the software industry, Bailey believes his goals can be helped by associating with a community organizer such as Huma. Bailey wants to get parents to share their stories anonymously on the Parents of Players Association website.
If you are a parent of a player and you think your son or the son of someone you know is being exploited in any way including being a victim of oversigning -- perhaps your son lost his scholarship because a coach oversigned his roster and had to make cuts in order to stay under the 85 limit -- please contact Marc: email@example.com. We want to hear your story and share it with our readers to help force the NCAA and their member Universities to clean up the player exploitation and on this site, specifically the oversigning issue.
If you are a writer/blogger/journalist looking to investigate and write on this topic and others related, please contact Marc.
Thanks again to our readers, we are certain that Marc is going to be instrumental in our ability to dig deeper on the topic of oversigning and bring out more of the stories that have been left untold by the players and their parents.
Alabama Adds #25 to Class – Where is the Room?
Alabama had 12 scholarship players leave the team (8 to graduation, 3 juniors to the NFL, and 1 transfer prior to signing day) last year; Alabama also signed 23 new players (22 on signing day and now Duron Carter) and had 2 players greyshirt last year that now count towards this class; this puts them at 25 new players this year. On NSD, Nick Saban told the media that they signed what they could, implying they had room for 22 + 2 GS, and that they could add another player later because there were candidates for medical hardships or redshirt guys that have graduated that could be replaced. To date there have been no announcements regarding any departures, but there have been plenty of names floated around as possible candidates.
As we mentioned a month ago, the numbers just don't jive. If you have 12 scholarship players leave but add 25 new scholarship players, the only way you have room for them all is if you finished the previous season with 72 scholarship players. 72 - 12=60, 60 + 25=85.
Does anyone believe that Alabama had only 72 scholarship players last year? If that was the case, then why the 2 greyshirts last year because there wasn't room -- if you are at 72 scholarship players why in the world would you greyshirt 2? The only viable reason would be the 25 limit, but Alabama had a handful of guys last year that enrolled early and counted toward the previous year, so there should have been room. Furthermore, Alabama had a bunch of attrition last year -- we examined their roster prior to signing day and projected the number of guys they needed to lose in order to get to 85 and that was the exact number of guys they lost during the spring and summer -- so if they weren't making roster cuts to get to 85 there should have been room for the two that greyshirted last year.
We are being a little coy here, we know they didn't have 72 guys on scholarship to end the season last year. The reality is that they are over right now, and the medical hardship, transfers and non-renewals should start to emerge soon.
With spring practice in full swing, shouldn't anyone that is injured to the point that they can no longer participate already be on medical hardship? Maybe there are guys that are not participating in practice right now, not sure.
All of these questions could be answered if Alabama didn't withhold their scholarship numbers information from the media, something no school should be doing. Cecil Hurt with the Tuscaloosa News is working on this and has filed Freedom of Information requests in an effort to get scholarship numbers from the University, which is bizarre when you consider Alabama is one of the few programs around the country that runs a web cam on national signing day so that everyone can see the signed letters of intent as they come in; each time one comes in the school posts the name of the player on the fax machine so everyone can see it. Why would you go out of your way to broadcast that information yet withhold scholarship numbers from the media when asked for them?
@TheMarchTo85 I promise we are using every FOI avenue available.
We have asked Cecil Hurt to simply ask Saban if they have room for everyone right now and from this point forward if anyone leaves will it result in Alabama starting the season under the 85 limit. Those are questions that A.) should be asked, and B.) Saban should be able to answer. To his credit, Hurt acknowledged our request and stated that he would follow up with Saban this week and ask questions.
Braves and Birds on Oversigning
Over a year ago, the blog Braves and Birds was one of the very first blogs to write about our site, to which we responded. What a difference a year makes. Michael, who writes the blog, was an early anti-oversigning.com blogger who didn't believe that the abuses we claimed were taking place existed:
Paging Bob Ley: In Scenario Two, Saban either tells a player directly that he needs to transfer or implies it with something along the lines of "we're going to make your life very difficult." If that's the case, then the Oversigning.com authors are absolutely right that Saban and other coaches like him in the SEC are deriving a competitive advantage from bringing in large classes and then cutting players who don't pan out. I don't see any evidence of that occurrence, but maybe some media outlet will do some reporting on players in the Alabama Diaspora. I can't imagine that it would be very hard to get a former player to say bad things about Saban and his staff is they are indeed cutting people. I don't see any media outlet in the State of Alabama taking up the cause, but ESPN? Yahoo!? Sports Illustrated? If the story is there, they would be foolish not to take it. Media attention to cutting players should be one of the two checks on oversigning. The other is negative recruiting from rivals. If Alabama really is intentionally cutting ten players per year, then that would be an awfully effective recruiting tool for Urban Meyer or Mark Richt.
At that time Michael was right, as no major media outlet had covered the oversigning topic. This site changed all of that and since that time every major sports media outlet has covered the topic, including ESPN's OTL coverage of LSU cutting players and the Wall Street Journal's coverage of Alabama pushing medical hardships to free up roster space on an oversigned roster. In addition, Florida and Georgia officials have been extremely outspoken about oversigning calling it morally reprehensible.
Michael recently wrote a short piece on oversigning and it appears that he, like many, many others, has changed his mind about oversigning:
There is an analogy to be made between efforts to end oversigning and the efforts to end Jim Crow laws. In both instances, a minority of entities were engaged in an exploitative practice to further their own self-interest. (Note the states where oversigning takes place and see if there is something of a correlation with the states that engaged in massive resistance to Brown v. Board.) The practice went on for a period of time until attention from the national media turned the minority of entities into outliers subject to intensifying criticism. Without the ability to filibuster NCAA legislation, I suspect that the schools that engage in oversigning will meet a similar fate.
What a difference a year makes. Thanks again to all of our readers for spreading the word.


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Jeff Siegel's Prime Picks for Thursday, Feb. 19
Today's 1st race offers little value and qualifies as a "pass." #3 Third Dawn has failed twice as the choice and could finally break through with a winning effort, but she'll be a short price on the tote board. #5 Saint Cindy has improving speed figures and actually finished ahead of 'Dawn in their common race Jan. 23 but she's also a seven race maiden. The 2nd race is a modest restricted claimer ($12,500) for fillies and mares and we'll use the two class droppers, #6 Kylie's Way and #7 Good Shot Mally without a whole lot of confidence. The former is most effective as a late-running sprinter and that running style usually is promoted by the Pro-Ride surface. She should be doing her best running late with Espinoza riding her back. 'Mally exits the same race as 'Way and ran well when last tried at this level earlier this meeting. Clearly, there's not much depth to this field. A maiden claiming affair for 3-year-olds kicks off the Pick-6 in the 3rd race, with #1 Mr. Holmes and #4 Mamoonya both having a right to improve at this level. Mr. Holmes finished "absolutely" when favored against a tougher maiden claiming gang on New Year's Day and we assume something went wrong. He's fresh, retains Baze, and figures tough with a repeat of either one of his first two career starts. Mamoonya has steadily improving speed figures, exits a strong heat, and retains Talamo. With another even slight forward move, he'll be right there. I'm assuming the 4th race will remain on turf. On either surface, #2 Unusual Smoke and #4 Troubletimesthree figure very tough. Both exit the same race, an off-the turf highly-rated starter's allowance event last month in which 'Smoke improved considerably in his first start following an Avila claim to finish second. Troubletimesthree closed willingly to be third after encountering traffic trouble on the turn and into the lane while continuing his improving pattern for Powell. With good trips these two should battle it out again. The 5th race has three main contenders. #4 Tribal Deal obviously has big problems but sharp Ted West is almost unbeatable first off the claim (57%, substantial flat bet profit) and this colt has the ideal style for an extended sprint. He was a beaten favorite in his comeback last month but he's worked well since. #5 Razor Cut drops to the bottom but he, too, is in clever hands and makes a major rider switch to Tyler Baze. Look for massive improvement. #8 Major Mike was overmatched in a tough $20,000 claimer in his last start but is realistically spotted today and is back with Bejarano, who won on him two races back. The 6th race is downhill turf event for older maiden fillies and mares and we'll attack it as if it will remain on the lawn. #3 Midnight Crush was a willing second against the talented Tuscan Evening in her debut last month and there's no such filly (at least that we're aware of) in this affair. With any kind of improvement, she'll be tough to beat. #5 Kicken Vixen, a decent fourth in her debut, switches to the turf and most maidens in this barn improve considerably with a race their belt. #7 Lavender Touch has been a beaten choice in both of her lifetime starts but her numbers are strong and she figures in the thick of things once again. The feature race today is a first level allowance affair over a route of ground on the main track. #2 Nina's Pad got hot and dirty in Florida when overmatched in the Sunshine Millions Classic but he's back to reality today and a repeat of his race before last – a nice first level state bred win – will make him a solid factor from off the pace. Clearly the proven class of the field is the comebacking #5 Elysium Fields, second in the Fountain of Youth Stakes last year before finishing far back when second choice to Big Brown in the Florida Derby. He's shown the ability to run well fresh and the works for Drysdale indicate fitness. Even if he's a race a way he still might be good enough to win. The nightcap, another maiden claimer, brings #1 White Lace Jimmy back to his claim level and on speed figures he's strictly the one to beat, although the rail post does him no favors. #5 Marquet Rebel closed a considerable amount of ground to be third in his debut and today gets an extra furlong to work with while retaining Talamo. I wouldn't think you'd have to go any deeper than these two.


text: Jay Carlson is a junior at St. Pauls school. He committed to play lax for the Terps. Just an update, he had 4 goals in a 6-3 win last week against powerhouse Calvert Hall. Today he had 3-5, not sure because official stats haven't come out yet, in a 14-4 win against St. Mary's of Annapolis. He has had a fantastic year as he starts for a team that was preseason #3 and it now #13 but should be back into the top ten.


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College of Arts & Humanities, College of the Sciences and Interdisciplinary and Individual Study majors. Recorded June 8, 2013.
Science Communication & Natural Hazards Roundtable Vol. 2
Storytelling as a Survival Skill
Lion Rock Visiting Writers - Alice Derry
2013 CWU Distinguished Alumni - Richard Matthews
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How to make a "Manhattan" cocktail


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The Sporting Blog is no more and has been sold to SB Nation. This is mostly a problem for me when I try to explain what I do to people over 50—before I could just say I write for "the AOL" or "the Sporting News" and that would create flickers of recognition. In other ways it is basically no change. I'll write non-Michigan stuff for SBN, keep the mothership going as it was before, and work on my patient explanations of how you can make a living writing on the internet. Another thing that is tentatively moving to SBN: the BlogPoll. CBS never did anything with it, shoving it into a corner and studiously ignoring it. At SBN it will get the tech help it needs . . .This isn't exactly front-page stuff, but it is (a) noteworthy news of potential interest and (b) evidence of (i) the growing influence of this network and (ii) my need to check my e-mail, because I am way behind. Anyway, welcome aboard, Brian! Go 'Dawgs!
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Chris Williams
OL Chris Williams signs with Bills - BuffaloBills.com
"With the offense being second in rushing that's exciting for any o-lineman to come into and hopefully we can continue that and be first in rushing," he said. "I feel like the team is a dangerous team, very talented and it's a team that's going to win a lot of football games and I just want to be a part of that."
March blizzard embraced by new Bills OL Williams - BuffaloBills.com
Williams: "Come playoff time, hosting home games, that is what you want. It will be cold and snowing and it's hard for teams to come up here and win games," he said.
New #Bills OL Chris Williams: "The weather didn't scare me off" Welcome to #Buffalo! #BuffaloBlizzard pic.twitter.com/E3l4sy4DRU
— Buffalo Bills (@buffalobills) March 12, 2014
Inside The Bills | 3 game look at Williams encouraging
"Against all three NFC West opponents in Weeks 1, 4 and 8, Williams more than held his own. He had a lot of one-on-one assignments." Chris Brown breaks the newbie down.
Inside The Bills | Whaley pleased to plug Williams in on Bills OL
"We're excited about this start to free agency and our plans moving forward," said Whaley. "With the signing of Chris Williams, I am particularly excited about the direction our offensive line is moving in because we wanted to address this position and we feel like we filled the need with a very good player."
Inside The Bills | Marrone key in Williams decision to sign
Williams: "I've never played for a head coach who was an offensive lineman and that was super exciting for me. I'm just excited to have to end up with two offensive line coaches on staff and both of them will help me with my game. You've got to love that."
Bills looking at Rams' Chris Williams for glaring left-guard need - BN Blitz
"He played good, he was solid," Fisher said after the season. "When you don't hear his name, you don't talk about him."
Chris Williams thinks he has hit his stride after stint in St. Louis - BN Blitz
"I think it helped a lot," Williams said of his Rams tenure. "Working with my coach, coach Paul Boudreau down there, he helped me develop my game as a guard. Coming here with coach Marrone and coach Morris, I'm just really excited about it and to continue to develop my game. I'm always trying to work to get better. I think it's a great opportunity here to do that."
WGR 550 SportsRadio - Bills Sign Guard Chris Williams
"Bills head coach Doug Marrone has often made the comment that he wants the Bills to get bigger along the offensive line, and the newly signed guard provides exactly that. Williams, 28, is listed at 6-foot-6 and 326-pounds."
Triple Coverage: Buffalo Bills sign Chris Williams - ESPN
"ESPN Bills reporter Mike Rodak, ESPN Rams reporter Nick Wagoner, and ESPN Chicago's Jeff Dickerson discuss the signing:"
Buffalo Bills taking odd risk in signing Chris Williams - ESPN
"But to "upgrade" doesn't mean to "overpay," and that's what the Bills are doing with Williams. The Bills are trying to correct one mistake with another. It comes off as an overreaction."
Chris Williams signs with Buffalo Bills - ESPN
"I can't say I knew how to be a pro coming into the league when I did," Williams said. "Everything that happened in Chicago happened. But now I'm excited to move on. Getting cut is the most humbling experience anybody can have, much less a former first-round pick. But I learned from all those experiences."
Former Bears 1st round pick Chris Williams signs 4-year contract with Bills - Windy City Gridiron
Bears fans are laughing at the Bills' front office.
Bills don't let Chris Williams get out of town | ProFootballTalk
"It may not be the safest of bets given Williams' history as a first-round washout in Chicago and a player who failed to distinguish himself in Buffalo, but it's never been easy to get free agents to come to Buffalo without paying a bit of a premium."
Chris Williams, Buffalo Bills strike four-year contract - NFL.com
"It's an underwhelming signing and Williams arguably has been overpaid, but Buffalo believes it can squeeze production out of a player the Rams didn't fight to keep."
Bills sign Williams to fill need at guard - Sports - The Buffalo News
"The top guard on the market, Zane Beadles, got $6 million a year from the Jacksonville Jaguars. The next best deal went to Jon Asamoah, who got $4.5 million from Atlanta. On the lower tier, San Diego gave ex-Bill Chad Rinehart $3 million a year. Williams is a better athlete than Rinehart."
Corey Graham
DB Corey Graham agrees to terms with Buffalo - BuffaloBIlls.com
"Early in the free agency process, we identified Corey Graham as a player who would help our football team," said Bills General Manager Doug Whaley. "Graham is a smart, physical and tough cornerback who has had success with both the Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens. He is playmaker defensively and on special teams. We believe he will help the Buffalo Bills improve in both areas in the years to come."
Corey Graham returns to his Buffalo roots - BuffaloBills.com
"It's an all-time dream of mine to play back in Buffalo," Graham said. "Just to come back and play in front of my family and people that never got to see me play so far in the NFL, it's a big thing."
Doug Whaley: Bills targeted cornerback Corey Graham right away - BN Blitz
"Graham is a smart, physical and tough cornerback who has had success with both the Chicago Bears and Baltimore Ravens. He is playmaker defensively and on special teams. We believe he will help the Buffalo Bills improve in both areas in the years to come."
Corey Graham's agent announces veteran cornerback is coming home to Buffalo - BN Blitz
"Graham went to the Pro Bowl as a special-teamer for the Chicago Bears in 2011."
Buffalo Bills agree with cornerback Corey Graham - ESPN
"Top cornerback Stephon Gilmore was hampered by a broken wrist last season, while the Bills were impressed by the work of undrafted rookie Nickell Robey as a slot cornerback last season. Robey's playing time could be most impacted by Graham's signing."
Corey Graham signs with the Buffalo Bills - Baltimore Beat Down
"His impact will be missed in Baltimore. But as the saying goes, it's now the next man up."
Graham leaves Ravens for Buffalo - baltimoresun.com
"In two seasons with the Ravens, Graham played in all 32 games and started at cornerback in 13 of them."
It's a homecoming for Graham - Sports - The Buffalo News
"The Bills had Miami free-agent cornerback Nolan Carroll in town Wednesday, but his visit essentially was voided when the Graham deal was closed."
Keith Rivers
Bills agree to terms with LB Keith Rivers - BuffaloBills.com
"He has 262 tackles (171 solo) and three sacks in 62 NFL career games (47 starts)."
Bills add defensive depth with LB Keith Rivers | BN Blitz
"The Bills announced they have signed linebacker Keith Rivers. A source informed me it's a two-year contract worth about $5 million, half of it guaranteed."
Thoughts on Corey Graham, Keith Rivers signings - ESPN
"There are plenty of moving parts to be sorted out, but Rivers' best shot at landing a starting job would be at strongside linebacker. That's a spot where the Bills could use help -- Manny Lawson may not be a good fit in a 4-3 scheme -- and Rivers is one option to fill that gap."
Keith Rivers signs with Buffalo Bills - Cincy Jungle
"Rivers hasn't exactly been durable with the Giants either, so the Bills probably will be suing him in ore of a backup role." I don't know what that typo means.
Bills sign Keith Rivers | ProFootballTalk
"Rivers joins a linebacker group that may lose Arthur Moats to free agency and a defense that may incorporate more 4-3 elements under coordinator Jim Schwartz. Rivers played in such schemes in both of his previous stops."
More clicks
Jairus Byrd contract breakdown: Saints safety due nearly $28M in three years - BN Blitz
"The total money is $54 million, with $27.9 million in guarantees. His signing bonus, which gets prorated for salary-cap purposes, was for $11 million."
'Winning culture' attracted Jairus Byrd to New Orleans Saints - ESPN
"The winning culture. What coach [Sean] Payton has done and what Drew Brees has done here," Byrd said when asked why he chose the Saints during a conference call with the New Orleans media on Wednesday.
WGR 550 SportsRadio - Carpenter's Contract With Bills: 4 Years, $9.95M
"Carpenter's cap hits per season are as follows: $1,812,500 in 2014, $2,362,500 in 2015, $2,837,500 in 2016 and $2,937,500 in 2017."
Bills sign three more free agents - Sports - MPNnow - Canandaigua, NY
"A blizzard didn't stop the Buffalo Bills from being active on the second day of free agency on Wednesday. The team addressed needs at three different positions, signing offensive lineman Chris Williams, cornerback Corey Graham and linebacker Keith Rivers."


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Yes, I am admitting it. We went to a work dinner for Bill's work on Saturday night. It was about an hour away, so we had already decided to get a hotel room. It was really fun -- there is no need to be sending out Chicago resumes or resumes anywhere else either. We had Filet Mignon for dinner (yummy) and free drinks all night. They even opened a tab up ...continue reading
29 Sep | 2008
I'm too old
posted by Leave a Comment
23 Jul | 2008
Child Foundation Charity
posted by 19 Comments
Do you ever find yourself frustrated that the charities that you give to keep a huge portion of your donation to themselves to cover "overhead" costs? I know I feel that way a lot, so when I come across a charity that gives 100% of your donation to the kids, I want to scream about it from the rooftops. This is where the Child Foundation Charity comes in. ...continue reading


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Coleet, i dont have that problems, my Norton 360 v6, IE, Chrome and Firefox working very fast
I get the message very often, every ten minutes or so, for no apparent reason, even when the browser is idle...is very annoying and I will not renew my Norton subscription if this is not fixed ....as I can see from this forum it has been going on and on with no solution...
For newcomers to the thread:
- The core issue is with Chrome.
- Technically it is not a crash, Chrome hangs, then blames our plugin, then reports our plugin crashed, where our plugin made a call to Chrome and Chrome deadlocked itself.
- We filed a defect with Chrome August 2011, google keeps on deferring the issue:
Our apologies for the inconvenience, we are very frustrated with this issue, and with Google.
Thank you Pieter for your responses. I can't believe people don't look through the posts first and see the answers you have provided time and again regarding Norton Confidential "crashing". I completely understand your explanation and I can either ignore the crash or turn off the extension. As a company, you can only do so much and by replying on a continual basis with all the information at your disposal + not being afraid to have the community voice concerns, shows integrity. I starred the defect you filed on Chrome in August 2011. Only 76 people have done that, so suggest more go to your link and star their displeasure!
That is a preposterous answer. That is like a car manufacturer saying, our car won't survive running over a pothole, so just stay off of streets with potholes.
The internet is a real place. Chrome is a big part of it. You need to design your code so that it will work in any environment where it might be expected to operate. You've allowed your product onto the market when you have known since August last year that it won't work in one of the major browsers? How irresponsible is that?
Based on my experience from a few years ago, I used to believe that Norton was worse than any virus I could get. I reluctantly tried it again, when it came pre-installed and recommended with my new ThinkPad. I am sorry I did.
It is amazing that no other anti-viral program is reporting the same issue, or at least none that I can find.
Grow up and design your products so that they work in the real world.
Although Google really needs to address the core issue, we are not just sitting back waiting, instead we are trying various ways of working around the hang scenarios, it is not pretty, but we have no choice.
The current 2013 NIS Beta build already includes some of these techniques, and more is to follow.
If you don't mind Beta builds, give it a try and report back in the Beta forum:
That link is to the Beta Forum. I don't see a method to download the beta version you mention, either on that page, or when I sign into my account.
birwin wrote:
That link is to the Beta Forum. I don't see a method to download the beta version you mention, either on that page, or when I sign into my account.
The instructions for joining and using the Beta are in the first sticky thread:
You assume that the average computer user knows how to resolve these issues. Why can't these programs just be made to work, instead of having to tweak this and that to make it work? It's very frustrating and can get very expensive to have to call a technician to resolve these problems.
The crashing just started on my husbands laptop two days ago, 5-16-12after clicking on a "free" update from Norton. We do not have Norton Confidential. We have 360 Premier. In my research I see that Semantec doesn't even offer Confidential any more and that it has been having problems. How can we uninstall Confidential. I can not find it anywhere - no program file. I think Norton is passing the buck to Google Chrome.


text:
Minnesota legislative leaders and Gov. Mark Dayton have agreed to hold a one-day special session on Sept. 9 to provide disaster relief to the 18 counties hardest hit by storms and flooding in late June.
The special session will be limited to storm damage relief, keeping tax changes off the agenda. Some legislators pushed for the inclusion of tax repeals, including the elimination of taxes of farm equipment repair service.
"We really want to get focused in on delivering this disaster relief," said House Speaker Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis). "We've had the discussion about these taxes, and I think those discussions will go on. But right now we want to focus on delivering disaster relief for the people of Minnesota."
"We think that obviously the taxes that were passed last session were not the right direction," said Senate Minority Leader David Hann (R-Eden Prairie). "We are in favor of repealing all of those taxes, but as was said we agreed to a special session to just address the disaster relief."
Thissen will hold a public meeting next week with legislators to assess the needs of the 18 counties. There will be a public hearing on the bill in advance of the special session to determine the exact language.
FEMA is providing $4.5 million in matching aid to Minnesota.
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text:
Town Square
Want to Be Informed www.pleasantonparceltaxinfo.com
Original post made by Sam on Apr 14, 2009
The more I've been reading about the parcel tax on the blogs, the more old PW stories I read, the more I have to agree,
Measure G is No - No Good for what's wrong with PUSD.
I found a website that has a lot of information...
Web Link
on Apr 14, 2009 at 7:22 am
I agree. Wrong Tax. Wrong Time.
on Apr 14, 2009 at 7:31 am
I have been following this debate but have found the discussion confusing. The website for parcel tax information was clear and informative. As a parent It felt good to read what I have always intuitively known, that parents in this community deserve the credit for student performance that then leads to strong property values. Check it out!
Web Link
Measure G will not protect property values. Fact!
There is no direct correlation between school funding and property values. Higher test scores influence property values, but higher school funding does not equal higher test scores. Research has shown that the greatest influences on test scores are parental involvement and peer effect.
The budget shortfall is estimated to be 3-7% of the entire PUSD budget. Pleasanton property values have fallen 16.5% in the last year alone. The suggestion that our property values are dependent upon school funding is ridiculous.
What really affects student performance?
Pleasanton parents deserve recognition for their role in producing excellent students.
In Strategies to Help Solve Our School Dropout Problem by Schargel and Smirk (2001), the authors found that family support of education is the most accurate predictor of student performance. The high performing students are so because their families have created a home environment conducive to learning, communicated high expectations for their children, and are involved in their children's schools.
Other studies have found that peer effect has another large impact on student performance.
The peer effect is a particularly strong influence in academic achievement, especially for fourth graders.
The peer effect is independent of other factors such as race, ethnicity, gender, income, and other background variables.
Family background factors such as household environment and parental education also play an important role in explaining achievement in both the fourth and eighth grades.
on Apr 14, 2009 at 7:54 am
nospam1 is a registered user.
I am not voting simply "no"...I am voting HELL NO!!!
No more entitlements!!!
Thank you for your initial post!