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The WotLK profession thread
Posted 29 July 2008 - 02:52 PM
* Mixology
*** WotLK Flasks get 32 itemization points, elixirs get 16 points. Doubles duration on all flasks and elixirs.
*** Using WotLK Flasks, gives 37 spellpower, 64 attack power, 13 MP5, or 320 health
* Crazy Alchemist's Potion
*** Alchemists can still transmute items on a daily cooldown
* Endless Mana Potion, Endless Healing Potion, and Endless Rejuvenation Potion
* Indestructible Alchemist's Stone, Mercurial Alchemist's Stone, and Mighty Alchemist's Stone
*** Alchemy discoveries are on a weekly cooldown - Northrend Alchemy Research - Spell - World of Warcraft
* New WotLK drums are not in the spell database at the moment Current drums are unusable at level 80.
* Reduced cost on leg armor - does not give a special bonus
* Fur Lining - Fur Lining - Attack Power - Spell - World of Warcraft Fur Lining - Spell Power - Spell - World of Warcraft and Fur Lining - Stamina - Spell - World of Warcraft - Gives a stat boost over the equivalent enchant (+37 spellpower, +64 attack power). There's also a stamina one for 90 stamina, but no stamina enchant yet. There are also resistances for fur linings, for an additional 60 resists.
* Master of Anatomy - Spell - World of Warcraft
* Toughness - Spell - World of Warcraft
* Smelt Titansteel - Spell - World of Warcraft (20 hour cooldown transmute)
* Fire Leaf
* Fire Seed
* Lifeblood - Spell - World of Warcraft
* Enchant Ring - Assault - Spell - World of Warcraft
* Enchant Ring - Greater Spellpower - Spell - World of Warcraft
* Enchant Ring - Stamina - Spell - World of Warcraft
* Bright Dragon's Eye, Solid Dragon's Eye, etc.
*** Complete list of all Dragon's Eye gems - dragon's eye - Wowhead Search
*** A Jewelcrafter can have up to three Dragon's Eye gems equipped. They can be the same or different. They act like every color of gem for socket bonuses and metagems.
* Ruby Hare, Emerald Board, Sapphire Owl, Twilight Serpent, and Monarch Crab
* Gem Perfection - Spell - World of Warcraft -- A chance to craft green-quality gems into slightly better cuts. The gems produced will be in between uncommon and rare in stats.
*** Jewelcrafting has its own set of dailies, with which rare gem recipes (5 tokens), metagem recipes (8 tokens), and Dragon's Eyes (1 token) can be purchased. - Dalaran Jewelcrafter's Token
* Shoulder enchants - Master's Inscription of the Axe - Spell - World of Warcraft Master's Inscription of the Crag - Spell - World of Warcraft Master's Inscription of the Pinnacle - Spell - World of Warcraft and Master's Inscription of the Storm - Spell - World of Warcraft - Effectively a bonus of +37 spell power, 64 attack power, or 32 dodge rating over the epic reputation version
* Tarot cards - Darkmoon Card - Spell - World of Warcraft Greater Darkmoon Card - Spell - World of Warcraft and Darkmoon Card of the North - Spell - World of Warcraft
* Inscription discoveries are on a daily cooldown - Northrend Inscription Research - Spell - World of Warcraft and Minor Inscription Research
* Lightweave Embroidery - Spell - World of Warcraft - 50% proc rate with 45 second cooldown
* Swordguard Embroidery - Spell - World of Warcraft
* Darkglow Embroidery - Spell - World of Warcraft - 35% proc rate with 75 second cooldown
*** Embroidery is a self-only cloak enchant
* Four epic flying carpets and one regular version - carpet - Wowhead Search - acts exactly like a mount - Swift Flying Carpet
* Frostweave Net
* Reduced cost for spellthreads on armor
* Three transmutable cloths - Spellweave, Moonshroud - Spell - World of Warcraft , and Ebonweave - Spell - World of Warcraft
* A Guide to Northern Cloth Scavenging
* Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket - Spell - World of Warcraft
* Hyperspeed Accelerators - Spell - World of Warcraft
* Flexweave Underlay - Spell - World of Warcraft
* Nitro Boosts - Spell - World of Warcraft
* Personal Electromagnetic Pulse Generator - Spell - World of Warcraft
* Belt-Clipped Spynoculars - Spell - World of Warcraft
* Various goggles - Armored Titanium Goggle, Charged Titanium Specs, Electroflux Sight Enhancers, Greensight Gogs, Truesight Ice Enhancers, Visage Liquification Goggles, and Weakness Specrtalizers
* Bombs and decoys - Explosive Decoy, Saronite Bomb, Cobalt Frag Bomb, and Goblin Thermal Sapper Charge
* Gnomish Army Knife
* Trinkets - Gnomish Lightning Generator, Noise Machine, and Sonic Booster
* Portable mailbox and vendor - MOLL-E and Scrapbot Construction Kit
* Wormhole: Gadgetzan Gadgetzan group portal
* Socket Gloves - Spell - World of Warcraft and Socket Bracers - Spell - World of Warcraft
*** A socketed item can still be enchanted. A socketed item also gains a Blacksmithing requirement.
Posted 29 July 2008 - 02:52 PM
Posted 29 July 2008 - 03:04 PM
The enchant on your ring would look like: +20 Healing (Requires Enchanting (350))
Same for the JC-only gems and for everything that is for one profession only but can be used after dropping, like the new Leatherworking only enchants, socket from Blacksmithing (don't know if this is BS only), and so on.
So you would have to choose one upgrade (or two) and don't have to level up every time like Masaren mentioned.
Posted 29 July 2008 - 03:11 PM
Profession-specific bonuses...
Blacksmithing, Tailoring, and Engineering are not yet implemented
Blacksmiths can add 1 socket to weapons which do not yet have a socket.
Meaning dual wielding players get 2x +20 stats from gems. Unless the sockets also apply a bonus of +2 agi or +3 stam or such.
I'm not sure yet whether they'll be able to add sockets if the item already has some of it's own.
Also, interesting about those leg armors, i wasn't sure about those before.
The names also seem to have changed in beta, compared to alpha.
* Jormungar Leg Armor - Increase Stamina by 45 and Agility by 15.
* Jormungar Leg Chitin - Increase Stamina by 50 and Agility by 18.
* Dragonscale Leg Armor - Increase Stamina by 72 and Agility by 35.
* Nerubian Leg Armor - Increase attack power by 60 and critical strike rating by 15.
* Nerubian Leg Chitin - Increase attack power by 70 and critical strike rating by 18.
* Protoscale Leg Armor - Increase attack power by 100 and critical strike rating by 36.
Posted 29 July 2008 - 03:31 PM
I can already see having to level up tailoring or leatherworking every time I get an upgrade for pants, leveling up smithing to put a socket in a new weapon, then leveling up jcing to make a jcing gem for that socket. Then Ill have to level up enchanting to enchant my new ring, then releveling alchemy and inscription for those buffs in order to maximize dps/healing/tanking.
It seems were completely moving away from professions being a choice and going to becoming a class and spec defining decision, at least for end game raiding. It just seems to me that what was started in TBC will become much worst now.
Unless everything is equalized, which it cant and wont be from what weve seen so far, youll have professions that stand out and are optimal choices for a given class and spec. For gathering professions, unless you have the buffs they give scale with each newly added endgame raid instance, they quickly become obsolete and really worth nothing as we upgrade gear.
For myself, this is all exacerbated by the fact that if I do have to change a profession because X profession gives such a benefit to my class and my spec, then I have to drop either tailoring or enchanting to do so.
I see all professions giving different kind of bonuses, what are. Well, bonuses. I'm Alchemist/Herbalist and I can take everything Sunwell can throw at me (haven't killed KJ yet, but seen first hand what he can do in low %'s). And after finished still left standing asking for more. While having no unique JC items, with no LW drums in my party, with no special tailoring items or extra enchanting enchants.
While I understand that only way to increase your performance as dps may be gearing up, I doubt Blizzard will ever do so tight dps check that would require doing what you describe. Even one of hardest dps checks ever, M'uru, was nerfed (fairly) soon after release.
Unlike popular delusion implies, you can do Karazhan with full dungeon blue raid that has 0 professions. And repeat all the kills. This applies to all raiding levels (meaning they only require loot from previous tier). And will most likely continue to apply in WotLK.
Posted 29 July 2008 - 03:31 PM
I'm pretty happy with the alchemy changes so far. I've never really had to chain pots, being my alt the toughest content I do on him is T5 and I don't find it to be necessary. That said I definitely can't relate to Sunwell healers, but I see this as a similar "nerf" to the 2.1 battle/guardian elixir change. It will really help people who don't want to have to spend hours farming pots every day so they can match the level at which a given encounter is tuned.
Alchemical Blood looks pretty good, and should allow Blizzard to make some new alchemist stones if they choose to go that path again, with new special effects. I could see them doing something that when used, gives a partial benefit of the flask/elixirs you have equipped to your whole party (i.e. Rogue is using a 35 agility/20 crit elixir. He uses his trinket and gives 50% of the benefit, 17 agility 10 crit, to the party for 20 seconds). Obviously this is pure speculation, but seeing as they gave all alchemists AB, hopefully they won't get rid of alchemy trinkets altogether. It would be terrible to have a profession that is 100% consumables/transmutes.
I'm thoroughly unimpressed with the mining/jewelcrafting changes on the other hand. The stamina buff is nice, but overall useless for most players. I have friends of every class who mine because of, well, the cash. So this helps the tanks who mine, but what about the other classes who would rather have a more useful buff without dropping their professions (skinners get 1.25% crit at 70, I don't know how much that equates to at 80). Jewelcrafting will still be a huge money maker and I plan to dump cash on getting every pattern early, but I'm disappointed that Blizzard hasn't gone in a new direction with it. It appears to be the same green/blue/epic/BoP gems and probably the same types of trinkets (mp5 with a mana-over-time buff, AP and stealth with a used +AP buff, etc.). Can we have some more actually useful crafted accessories?
EDIT: While I'm here I might as well throw in my thoughts on inscription. In my circle of friends people are already talking about jumping ship of their professions to grab inscription and go with that. The thought of having a knockback on their attack or an extremely shortened cast time seems too great to resist. I really hope Blizzard doesn't go overboard with inscriptions. Will all of them be self-only, or just some? Either way, they need to balance the self-only inscriptions in a way that isn't overpowering. I think they did that well with ring enchants in TBC. 40 healing/24 damage/8 stats/4 weapon damage was nice, but was it required? Some may argue that it was, but for the most part it was fairly balanced.
Posted 29 July 2008 - 03:45 PM
Another thing which needs to be addressed in some way is tailoring and cloth drops. Id like to see some kind of benefit to drops of cloth if a tailor is killing a mob vs a non tailor. Tailoring for too long has the items needed to craft drop from mobs around the world, but anyone can farm these items. There should be an advantage to a tailor farming cloth vs a non tailor. Maybe something along the lines of 2x normal cloth drops if a tailor looted a mob vs non tailor. Something so that my tailor main has a reason to farm for cloth, so that if I need to farm for cloth, I can actually do so.
That makes no sense. Currently, no craftng profession has its gathering profession for free like Tailoring and Enchanting does. Leatherworking/Blacksmithing/Jewelcrafting/Engineering/Inscription all require a second profession to support them. Why would a change to make Tailoring even more self-sufficient make sense?
Posted 29 July 2008 - 03:45 PM
Glyph of Healing Touch - Decreases the cast time of Healing Touch by 1.5 sec., the mana cost by -25% and the amount healed by -50%.
My question here is: Does that say what I think it does? Clearly, it makes HT faster to cast. However, the mana cost and amount healed are less clear to me. Presumably, they're both "in the same direction". So either it makes it faster to cast and cost 25% more but heal 50% more, or it makes it faster to case and cost 25% less but heal 50% less. My presumption is that it costs more and heals more.
In either case, however, there's a trade-off here—either more speed for more mana spent or more speed for less healing done. You're changing a core spell in a pretty fundamental way, and you get to do this kind of major change to two of your spells. It seems to me that while there might end up being "standard" inscription builds for different roles, this isn't going to be as big a hang-up as having entirely different talent builds for different roles.
So, what I expect to see happen is for people to have two specs (swappable out of combat on a cooldown?), and a set of expensive inscriptions. The inscriptions define their specialty spells, the things they're the very best at. But, a druid who has one spec set for healing isn't going to be hamstrung by not having inscriptions for healing--they'll still be a very solid healer. They just won't, for example, be specialized in healing touch for very fast heals.
So, instead of "I'm a feral druid" or "I'm a resto druid", you might have somebody who's "I'm a feral and resto druid, specialized for fast healing." They can bring it hard in both roles, as long as they're geared up for both roles. It's just that they can bring it slightly harder on the healing end, particularly when there's a need for speed. And, with luck, the spec choice can be made between fights. Finally, perhaps, the holy grail of flexibility in raid composition without swapping people in and out or respeccing regularly?
On the other side, if Blizzard does things right, people will change inscriptions over the course of their character's life. The easy reason is "Oh look, better inscriptions are dropping off of bosses in T8 instance A." The more complex reason is that as the stat mix of gear changes, and as experience changes, I think we may find that the same inscriptions that were optimal at one point aren't optimal at another. And more importantly, it's my hope that it's actually worthwhile to have different inscriptions represented in raid, rather than same inscriptions.
Really, we'll just have to see. Given the rabid min-maxing nature of people, it'll probably turn out less rosy than I would like. But still, I hope.
Posted 29 July 2008 - 03:45 PM
I guess what concerns me is the possibility that while I may gain some use out of Mana/Health pots even with the change, things like Haste/Destruction pots will no longer be used. After all, what's the point of blowing your one pot for the fight, if something randomly comes up and negates you being able to use it? Some sort of 'Move out of the Fire' effect springs to mind as one example.
I'm going to have to wait and see about this...while I like the reduced Drums, this seems like too much on the surface.
Posted 29 July 2008 - 03:49 PM
Blacksmiths can add 1 socket to weapons which do not yet have a socket.
Meaning dual wielding players get 2x +20 stats from gems. Unless the sockets also apply a bonus of +2 agi or +3 stam or such.
I'm not sure yet whether they'll be able to add sockets if the item already has some of it's own.
Currently, the datamined spell to socket weapons is not restricted to items the blacksmith already owns. It also uses the "permanent enchantment" slot on an item... which is probably why it's not yet implemented. It is reasonable to assume that socketing weapons (and maybe shields and off-hands) will be the perk that blacksmiths get, but until the ability gets implemented or the datamined spell makes the item soulbound, I'm not going to include it on the list.
Socket One-Handed Weapon - Spell - World of Warcraft
Posted 29 July 2008 - 03:53 PM
So why does a jewelcrafter make more money than a blacksmith?
I really don't think there's anything that can be done to make the crafting professions more profitable than they were in BC. Primal Nethers for a long time were a big source of crafting profitability, so if there is something similar in the early stages of WotLK, that will be true again. But there are several things working again professions that keep them down.
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I'm not saying I disagree with all the points you raised, but I'd argue that it is about game design more than anything - and not just because I firmly belief game design shape player psychology. Primal Nether's were indeed an excellent source of income, and the decision not to allow the craftables made from it - or the Nether Vortex - to scale is a design decision. The decision to make them BoE, is a design decision. But, all that aside, why does a jewelcrafter generally make more money than a blacksmith?
It's not because it's impossible to design professions to make money, just look at the way professions are currently implemented. It's because the ways in which to make the big money is unevenly distributed. How many classes/spec's frequently need blacksmithing? I honestly have no idea, but I've never needed one, bar that time with the enchanting rods. How many classes/spec's frequently need jewelcrafting? Everyone. Enchanting? Everyone. Alchemy? Everyone. Engineering? Not me. Tailoring, Leatherworking? Hmmm... Well... Partial yay, for leg enchants and that-something-I-got-a-month-ago-that-can't-remember?
There's a trend here as well; The moneymakers are the ones that require a A) Recipies that are not readily available to your brother-in-laws aunts alt Many transactions (you're perfectly right when you note that no significant amounts of money is made per transaction due to undercutting) C) A widespread demand for the products. You could give each of these abilities a significantly wider spread, either by simply inventing wider arrays of products that will frequently be in demand or more inter-dependancy that ties in the "leftover" profession into the "main" professions lines-of-production.
I'd also like to point out that the primary benefit from enchants-on-scrolls is who gets paid. My last enchant required 8 Large Prismatic Shards. I could, and I practically did, aquire these from a lvl 55 DE alt with nowhere near the time invested in the profession as, well, just about any "real" enchanter. The guy with the actual recipe got 10g for his time. Now, market value of LPMs 20g+, and since I got those by buying stuff on the auction house, never selling any cloth (I send it to a guildbank until I have a 1000, then I give my brother the puppy eye look til he logs on to his tailor and makes me money, sorry, green's to DE on my own alt)... Will the actual "cost" of the enchants shift because they're available on the auctionhouse, and thus suffering from the same undercutting? Not likely.
Will the money end up in the pocket of the dude with the enchant recipie or in the pockets of my DE alt? There's where the system turns seriously beneficial for enchanters.
Posted 29 July 2008 - 03:59 PM
A "20g fee" isn't a tip. A tip is extra, which the other player may or may not give you. While it is nice, it should never be expected.
Which is exactly the point. Crafting should having nothing to do with tips. It's a service. The ability to do that service is something you either had to farm for, pay for, or otherwise obtain. Every single enchant, craft, or whatever is done for you should come with a fee. The idea that is so pervasive that it's an optional tip is exactly why it will never be profitable to be a crafter in this game. A tip is something you give to your guildie who is assuming to do it for free. I guarantee that no enchanter who sits around in trade chat all day doing enchants for tips makes even a fraction of what a gatherer would do in the same amount of time, except very infrequent occasions like the release of a new arena season.
Posted 29 July 2008 - 04:01 PM
Posted 29 July 2008 - 04:10 PM
Posted 29 July 2008 - 04:11 PM
Posted 29 July 2008 - 04:15 PM
- Ghostcrawler
Posted 29 July 2008 - 04:23 PM
There are in fact. Just going to link MMO-Champion's page for it: Profession - Leatherworking
Question regarding LW: Are there Northrend-level leg armors that can be used non-LWs? The only ones I've seen are LW-specific, and if we don't get non-LW armor, I'm pretty sure everyone else is going to keep using Nethercleft/Nethercobra in the interest of min-maxing. It's going to be a huge PITA to farm Outland mats and find a Cenarion exalted LW if that ever happens.
Of those only the Wyrmscale Leg Armor is leatherworking only. It's fairly big upgrade over the normal ones though.
Posted 29 July 2008 - 04:26 PM
My question here is: Does that say what I think it does? Clearly, it makes HT faster to cast. However, the mana cost and amount healed are less clear to me. Presumably, they're both "in the same direction". So either it makes it faster to cast and cost 25% more but heal 50% more, or it makes it faster to case and cost 25% less but heal 50% less. My presumption is that it costs more and heals more.
That would be pretty overpowered. In TBC values, that would mean a 1.5 sec cast that heals for near 10k and crits for 15k. Granted at a high price, but it would still make HT extremely good, especially if you combine it with downranking. I'm pretty confident it's meant as -1.5 sec off the cast, 75% of the original mana costs and 50% of the original amount healed. It seems like a pretty useless glyph as we already have 2 "fast heals" (Nourish and Regrowth). I see this even as a downgrade as I wouldn't have any big heals with it anymore and my "instant heal" will put out 50% less.
Also, after seeing devilsaurs becoming hunter pets and feral druids getting a polar bear glyph, I can only pray for a minor glyph that would make treeform look like the Ancient Protectors in Darnassus. ^^
Posted 29 July 2008 - 04:47 PM
It seems like a pretty useless glyph as we already have 2 "fast heals" (Nourish and Regrowth). I see this even as a downgrade as I wouldn't have any big heals with it anymore and my "instant heal" will put out 50% less.
Depends on how it interacts with the spell's coefficient, Naturalist, Tranquil Spirit, Moonglow, and Nature's Grace. Depending on how those details shake out, this could be extremely powerful.
Posted 29 July 2008 - 04:52 PM
That's right, you can't talk for other classes. So far there has been no consideration in WotLK toward mp5-based classes who already have extremely poor regen options outside of consumables. I don't see what value OOM Shamans are going to provide at 80. Nice they gave the class that already has Spiritual Attunement an Evocation as well.
One thing I've always wondered is that how people come so dependant on those extra buffs and consumables. Suuure, drums and such are a nice bonus, but with even M'uru dps requirements nerfed, I don't think they are required for any TBC fight. We cleared BT months and months with almost zero consumable usage, why would anything change now? True, DPS checks became harder if there is a debuff on drums, so I'm just going to ask "Why did you become dependant on an optional profession?"
I was able to do (not nerfed version of) M'uru by using only 1 manapot during whole almost 10-minute fight. I'm very confident I can do same thing for Kil'jaeden. I can't talk for other classes really, but I don't think mana will be a problem if you actually put some thought in managing it.
My point is, while current professions do take down the difficulty in raiding, they are hardly required in order to succeed.
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Compiled by Katrina Langer and Kevin Coughlin
Don't have tickets for the Super Bowl? Don't have a TV? Don't care?
There are plenty of worthy diversions around Greater Morristown this weekend for those who don't know a football from a footstool.
Instead of gridiron warfare, you can relive the Civil War. If Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Super Bowl halftime performers) don't grab you, how about a classical quartet, some Loose Canons or Southside Johnny?
You can Go Polar and run four miles in your underwear.
We even have gardening and ground hogs.
And if you want to change plans at the line of scrimmage, check our handy weekend preview for even more entertainment options.
Happy Ground Hog Day, everyone!
Music at Noon at the Morristown United Methodist Church features A Musical Heritage, starring Pauline and Nancie Lederer (piano and violin, respectively) and Marnie and Rick Caller (cello, piano) from Romanticism to Ragtime. Suggested donation: $6 adults/ $5 seniors. Free for students with I.D. Lunch available for purchase, for $7, between 11:30 am and 1:30 pm. At 50 S. Park Place.
The Morristown & Township Library presents "The Firsthand Account of Heyward Emmell: Witness to Battles and Treachery," featuring Jim Malcom, at 7 pm. Malcom will discuss the Civil War journey of infantryman and stretcher bearer Heyword Emmell of the Ambulance Corps in 1861. Emmell's account of the war includes rarely-reported details, including attempts to poison Union soldiers with arsenic, and uncommon war technologies. This is one of two lecture programs related to the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War and the spring exhibition (Their Memory Shall Never Fade: Morris Country and the Civil War, March 10-May 11), so if you can't make it this week, be sure to check our calendar for the next lecture in February.
The Bickford Theatre at the Morris Museum presents Say Goodnight, Gracie, starring Joel Rooks as the legendary George Burns. Opening night curtain goes up at 7:30 pm, with repeat performances on Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, and Sunday at 2 pm. The show runs through Feb. 16. Admission is $45 for the general public; $40 for seniors, Morris Museum members, and Bickford Theatre Guild members; and $20 for students with a valid college ID. At 6 Normandy Heights Road in Morris Township. Call 873-971-3706 for more information.
Morristown's Critical Mass ride begins at 6:30 pm in the Morristown town hall parking lot, behind 200 South Street (access via Franklin Street). The route is about 3 1/2 miles, and is more a community event than an endurance ride. It is not part of any organization, but you can learn more about Critical Mass rides all over the world and right here in Morristown.
Say Goodnight, Gracie begins at 8 pm at the Bickford Theatre. See Thursday's entry for details.
Songwriter Hugh O'Doherty takes the stage at The Minstrel in Morris Township at 8 pm. From romance to satire, audience members can expect a musical journey that ranges from deeply emotional to wonderfully silly. He will be joined by the appropriately named The Loose Canons. This 11-member choral group sings music favorites ranging from folk to classical — but their specialty is parodies and satire. Showtime is 8 pm; admission is $8 for adults, children 12 and under are free. Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, 21 Normandy Heights Road in Morris Township.
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes bring good times from the Jersey Shore to the Mayo Performing Arts Center at 8 pm. Tickets are $39-$69. At 100 South St., Morristown. Call 973-539-8008.
Is the family getting cabin fever thanks to all this cold weather? Warm up and have some fun with the kids with Pre-Groundhog Day activities at the Museum of Early Trades & Crafts in Madison from 4 pm to 5 pm. Recommended for ages 2-6, and pre-registration is suggested. Admission is $3 for all participants; regular admission for all others. At 9 Main St. Please call 973-377-2982 x 12 for more information.
If you're passionate about guitar, check out Guitar Passions at the Mayo Performing Arts Center. Master guitarists include Grammy-winning Sharon Isbin, jazz musician Stanley Jordan, and Brazil's Romero Lubambo, starting at 8 pm. Tickets for this evening of Latin and Brazilian are $19-$49. At 100 South St., Morristown. Call 973-539-8008.
Enjoy all the Super Bowl munchies you want…after burning off a few thousand calories at the third annual Pre-Game 4-Miler in Morristown. The race starts at 11:30 am on DeHart Street. Close to 1,500 participants are expected. Costumes are encouraged, including "Polar Bear" themes (less is more!). Proceeds will benefit the Community Soup Kitchen. Online registration is $35 through Saturday; on race day, it's $40. Packet pickup is at the Morristown Running Co. on South Street. Call 973-401-1300 for more information.
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LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - A youth football team sacked by a former coach is getting picked back up by WAVE 3 viewers.
WAVE 3 Troubleshooter Eric Flack has been following the story of the Okolona Titans and their former league president who is facing criminal charges. Now Eric is leading an effort to help the Titans get a fresh start.Eric Mason, former President of the Okolona Titans Youth Football League, is facing felony theft charges accused of stealing more than $14,000 from the kids in the league and their parents.
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There are screenshots and video about the application!


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Five straight losses and they are crying like new born bitches! This makes me so happy to be a basketball fan. So they lose to the Portland Trailblazers last night and Chris Bosh is now complaining about getting touches in the low post? That bitch of a big man has always been a jump shooter. Is it only now that realizes that he should play in the low blocks? Ha! I always told people that the Heat would have problems because they do not have players that compliment one another. Both starting wings are slashers without a jump shot. All of their centers suck ass and contribute nothing. Their PF plays like an SF. And their point guards don't guard. Bibby ain't getting no younger, Chalmers aint getting no smarter, Miller ain't getting no more overrated, Dampier and Howard are ring chasers who will never get one, Joel Anthony is just awful, but James Jones is their best role player believe it or not (unless you consider Bosh a role player now lol). I spit on that team. And they really thought they assembled a good supporting cast around their three douchebags. The only way they become successful is if either Wade or James reinvent themselves to compliment the other. Since their egos are too big to do that it will never happen!. The more they lose the better the season is for me.
This is what makes me so proud to be a Rockets fan. We may not have a single top 10 or even top 20 player, but we have guys who know their roles and play them well. We have guys who work to add dimensions to their games for the betterment of the team. Our guys work hard to compliment each other on both ends of the floor. It is only a matter of time until this team develops into a contender. Our front office works to add pieces that will work for the team rather than get pieces that just look good. Go Rockets! Fuck the Heat!


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may i present to you, my favorite cookie in the world. the biscotto.
(thunderous applause from the blogosphere)
ok, so maybe they're not typically pretty. no icing or sparkles, sprinkles, jam or chocolate. just a rustic beige looking baked good that i'd take over just about any cookie ever. except perhaps a black and white, but only because somewhere in my dna i'm genetically programmed to love those.
and now, dear readers – for today's lesson, courtesy of the wiki: biscotti, derived from some latin word that means twice baked, were most likely prepared this way so that they could be stored for longer periods of time, particularly useful during journeys or wars.
in america, the italian term "biscotti" has been taken to refer to a specific type of biscuit, derived from tuscan cantucci, a type of hard almond-flavoured biscuits traditionally served with vin santo, probably originating from the town of prato and therefore still known as "biscotti of prato".
ok. class over.
see how we learn together? how beautiful is that?
but before we move on i must make one thing perfectly clear. MY BISCOTTI WILL NEVER EVER CONTAIN ANY BUTTER. because it would quite simply be wrong. i am a firm believer that the moment you add butter to biscotti they turn into a whole different cookie – an imposter. they are then cake-like. they're crumbly. not crunchy. and they will then have that butter thing going on and listen, i love butter as much as you, if not more – but keep it the hell out of my damn biscotti. are we clear? i hope so because this totally matters to me. so, go ahead and put cream in your carbonara if you must, i can handle that if only barely. but no butter in the biscotti or i will be forced to talk bad about your baking decisions.
on a lighter note, every year angela and i have a tradition of getting together and baking biscotti. it's this thing we've done for quite some time now although lately it translates into her doing all the work and me pouring the wine while giving my opinion as to how it should all be done and why. anyway, we have a recipe that we've used over time that we've honed – and it's quite good. we've also tended towards over toasting them which makes them quite hard. but if you're inclined to dunk, they're perfect that way.
angela and claudia's famous biscotti
(eat at your own dental risk)
3 3/4 cups ap flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 cups almonds, whole – toasted
1 cup chopped candied ginger pieces – optional
melted chocolate for dipping – optional
toast almonds about 12 minutes or until fragrant at 350f on baking sheets – single layer… keep an eye on them.
in the bowl of an electric mixer (or not) fitted with the paddle attachment blend the flour, the sugar, the baking powder, and the salt until the mixture is combined well. In a small bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, the vanilla and the almond extract, add the mixture to the flour mixture, beating until a dough is formed, and stir in the almonds.
turn the dough out onto a floured surface, knead it several times, and divide it into fourths. Working on 2 large floured baking sheets, with floured hands form each piece of dough into a flattish log 11 inches long and 2 inches wide, arrange the logs at least 3 inches apart on the sheets.
bake the logs in a preheated 350f oven for about 30 minutes and let them cool on the baking sheets for at least 15 minutes. on a cutting board, cut the logs crosswise on the diagonal into 1/2" inch slices, arrange the biscotti cut sides down on the baking sheets, and bake them in a 300f oven for 10 minutes on each side, or until they are pale golden. transfer the biscotti to racks to cool.
but – our recipe is not the biscotti pictured. because this year, we used the biscotti recipe that i had found on the babbo website. it's quite similar to ours, but this was gina depalma's version… and well, i respect the hell out of gina depalma. so we gave her version below a go and it was excellent.
almond biscotti
adapted from babbo ristorante – by gina depalma
gina's recipe calls for 6 cups of nuts which is how they're pictured above. but when i made them a second time i brought it down to 4 cups. it really just depends on how you want them. both quantities work. i also omitted the anise seed, using other add-ins. one log had candied ginger, one had candied citron peel and another had candied orange peel. we left the 4th plain.
3 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
4 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 Tbl. amaretto
4 cups coarsely chopped whole almonds
in a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.
in a large bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar until light, about 2 minutes; the mixture will look somewhat curdled. beat in the vanilla and amaretto. beat in the dry ingredients, then the chopped nuts.
preheat the oven to 325 degrees. lightly grease two heavy cookie sheets, or line with parchment paper. divide the dough into four portions. on a lightly floured board, shape each portion into a flat log, just about the length the cookie sheet. place two rolls on each cookie sheet. bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the logs are lightly golden brown, firm to the touch and just beginning to crack slightly.
allow the logs to cool on the cookie sheet until cool to the touch, about 40 minutes. reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees. with a serrated knife, slice the biscotti, slightly on the bias, into ½-inch slices. lay the slices on the cookie sheets in single layer; return the biscotti to the oven and cook for 20 more minutes, or until the biscotti are toasted and crisp.
the ginger version is our automatic annual biscotti. sometimes we half dip them in chocolate, sometimes we don't. the citron really needed some lemon zest and in place of the amaretto, limoncello would work nicely here to brighten them up a bit. the citron kind of got lost amidst the vanilla extract and the amaretto. angela swore that the candied orange peel biscotti tasted like fruit loops and well, i'm not sure what to say about that except that she was thinking that was a bonus and i was hoping it wasn't so.
as for me, i loved them all.
but again, these are my kind of cookie…


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Eau Claire (WQOW) - The state budget is in the governor's hands and many people and businesses in our area want to know what he'll do with one provision about water.
High capacity wells handle anywhere from a few thousand gallons to a several million per year and are commonly used by farms and frac sand mines alike.
One part of the state budget would limit the power people have to challenge high-capacity well applications and permits.
"High capacity wells are being developed through this area on up," explains retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife regional assistant director Gerry Lowry.
High capacity wells aren't a new concept, but their popularity has grown in Western Wisconsin in recent years, leading to what opponents call a cumulative effect.
"When a large number of high capacity wells draw down the water, the underground water, the aquifer," says State Senator Kathleen Vinehout.
Something lawmakers didn't anticipate in the past.
"When the laws in relation to these and some other interests were first started, we didn't know as much about the impacts of groundwater and the interconnection between lakes and streams," says Lowry.
That can be problematic because the DNR doesn't record the proximity of one well to another when it gathers data and approves permits.
"I believe that the state should put more emphasis on monitoring. The state should look at all the wells in a single area. This is particularly important in the Chippewa Valley area as it relates to sand mines," says Vinehout.
Frac sand mines aren't the only industry drawing from the water table though, because farmers also need water for their crops.
"We understand why farmers want to put those wells down, with the price of corn what it is," says Lowry.
"I think that we need high capacity wells and there's a lot of farmers that depend on those high capacity wells. The problem comes when you have a large number of wells in a single area," says Vinehout.
If the current addition to the budget passes, no one would be able to challenge the placement of high capacity wells placed close together, which some fear could reduce water levels.
"If we lose it due to high capacity wells, it's something that can't be gotten back. It's like a Chinese finger trap. Once it's gone, very difficult to ever recover it again," says Lowry.
Meaning the controversy over high capacity wells isn't drying up anytime soon.
Republican lawmakers say the DNR will continue to protect the groundwater but it was important to preserve the role of the legislature in developing policy instead of leaving the door open for litigation.
Three democrats including Senator Vinehout sent a letter to the governor asking him to veto that part of the budget.
The governor hasn't announced whether he plans to make any vetoes.


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Briton 'worked with others to hack NASA computers'
A Briton has been charged with hacking into computer systems of the US military, NASA and other federal agencies.
Lauri Love, 28, is accused of working with two other people in Australia and one in Sweden, who have not been charged, according to the Associated Press.
The US government said the purpose of the Briton's hacking was "to disrupt the operations and infrastructure" of the federal government.


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Holiday Blues Eased By Less Spending and More MeaningBy Rhonda Miller | Published 06 Dec 2011 09:58pm |
The holidays bring joy and stress. MPB's Rhonda Miller found some people who have figured out how to keep away the holiday blues.
"Psychologically, Christmas is one of the big stressors, automatically. It's probably one of the top five. (Is it for you?) It is for me, absolutely, it is for everybody."
That's Mark Maneval of Gulfport, full speed ahead with Christmas, stress or not. Maneval is at a discount store grabbing a few more decorations, then heading home to put them up.
"I just think it's the pressure of giving and the holiday season and the relatives showing up, you know, the bustle and hustle and the parties," Maneval says.
All these activities are something psychologist Steve Barrilleaux hears a lot about at the Gulf Coast Mental Health Center in Gulfport.
"You know, there's often a lot of folks coming into town or maybe big family gatherings, and those can tend to bring out issues, you know, family dynamics that maybe involve some unfinished business or conflicts," says Barrilleaux.
He says the holiday blues are pretty common, because it's supposed to be a cheerful time, but life isn't that clear cut.
"Of course, it brings back memories, and some are good and some are bad," Barrilleaux says. "If it brings back memories of people who are no longer able to be with you, parents or people who have died, that can cause some changes in functioning, holiday blues."
Barrileaux says changes in functioning that could be a sign of holiday blues are things like not being able to sleep, or sleeping too much.
He says downplaying the financial and time pressures of the holiday can help keep a balance.
Some families have become experts at getting rid of holiday stress and keeping the joy. Enid Agee lives in Long Beach.
"Well, my family and I decided on that awhile back. We didn't want to make it stressful for our nieces and nephews and our children. So we decided either pull names or just don't shop," Agee says. "Try and keep the reason for the season."
If stress or depression lasts beyond the season, it could more than the holiday blues. That's a reason to talk with a family doctor or mental health professional for an opinion.
CommentsMPB will not tolerate obscenities, threats/personal attacks, hate speech, material that is ethnically or racially offensive, abusive comments, comments off topic and spam, to name a few. You can see a complete list of the MPB guidelines by viewing our terms of service. If you spot a comment you think violates these guidelines, report it to the moderators by clicking "x" next to the comment, then "report". MPB reserves the right to adjust these guidelines. If you have a suggestion, please contact us.


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We've reached the 4th episode of TUF 18, and the attention shifts to the women's 135ers again. But first, let's get you caught up on the rosters and cross out anyone who has been eliminated:
Women's Bantamweight
Team Tate: Julianna Pena, Sarah Moras, Raquel Pennington, Roxanne Modafferi
Team Rousey:
Shayna Baszler, Jessamyn Duke, Peggy Morgan, Jessica Rakoczy
Men's Bantamweight
Team Tate: Cody Bollinger, Chris Holdsworth, Josh Hill, Tim Gorman
Team Rousey:
Chris Beal, David Grant, Anthony Gutierrez, Michael Wootten
As you can see, Ronda Rousey is 0-2 to Miesha Tate thus far, and tonight's fight pits veteran Roxanne Modafferi against Jessica Rakoczy. You may remember Rakoczy (1-3, 1 NC) submitted Ravelina Berto with an omoplata in the season premiere. Modafferi (15-10) submitted Valerie Letorneau via RNC in her preliminary bout.
You can discuss the episode, which airs tonight at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT on Fox Sports 1, right here on Bloody Elbow.


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Ali K. Choucair, M.D., cares for patients at the Brain Tumor Center, a collaboration between Norton Neuroscience Institute and Norton Cancer Institute. It's the only center of its kind in the region featuring a team of fellowship-trained physicians specializing in advanced tumor treatment. The team includes a neuro-oncologist, neurosurgeon and radiation oncologist. Additional providers in the brain tumor center include speech pathology, rehabilitation medicine, behavioral oncology, social work, and a neuro-oncology nurse navigator.
Dr. Choucair earned his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Rice University, Houston, Texas, and his medical degree from University of Calgary School of Medicine, Alberta, Canada, where he also completed a residency in internal medicine. He then completed a residency in neurology at University of Utah Medical Center, Salt Lake City. Dr. Choucair went on to complete fellowships in neuro-oncology at University of California San Francisco Neuro-oncology Services and UCSF's Brain Tumor Research Center. Dr. Choucair is the principal investigator for an international cooperative clinical trial for patients with brain tumors and is a member of the radiation therapy oncology group (RTOG) CNS tumor committee. He is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
To schedule an appointment with Dr. Choucair, call (502) 629-4440.
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Some of you may be curious how to listen to minor league games. Your first option is spend money on milb.tv. Go ahead spend money on that but i havent tried it out and i dont intend to. i use a couple of radio apps on my android phone. Yes these radio stations legally broadcast the games i think. Anyway I use tunein radio on my phone and on my computer for the quad city games, lancaster games, and corpus games. For Okc games i use iheart radio and for that one i use okcs local station 1340 the game. I dont know how many of you will get the station because here astros games arent available on iheart and okc isnt that far from dallas so that maybe why it reaches down here.
Now for those of you who already know that heres a little of my opinion with out doing any research on the draft.
First of all some of you know me as seals on the yahoo fantasy baseball league ya the one who makes lopsided trades and then drops down in the standings cause he made a stupid trade. To those who dont know it does work both ways some of my lopsided trades i was on the corrrect end of the trade.
Now im getting off topic and gotta stay focused maybe i should take some Aderall like johnathan Gray. So Gray took aderall some say big whoop, keith law seems to think its gonna help boost his stock. (that sounds so stupid probably why i dont pay for insider) I think that it hurts some because i start to question if hes done it in the past. If he took it in the past like not during finals then it might bump him to like 8th where appel was last year.if he hasnt taken it other then when he was tested for it then i see him drop to 2 or three. i just think lughnow knows what he wants and i dont think he wants any player ending up like ryan leaf in football or Matt bush in baseball. So i say Appel is who i think they need to take. hes from Houston, he was born there therefore able to sign for less and maybe re sign when he gets to the big club for less then say a verlander if he gets that good.


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More Undiluted Platinum info7 Comments Published by ZephyrWest 7 years, 3 months ago in Hardware, News, PSP.
The PSP community shook with excitement when the first PSP mod chip was revealed this week. Today, more information has been revealed about this amazing piece of circuitry including a picture of it installed inside a ceramic white PSP. The Undiluted Platinum will allow PSP users to effectively duel boot your PSP. The chip contains 32MB of its own internal NAND flash that can be flashed with previous firmware versions or custom firmware builds. This could allow users to run homebrew programs and still be able to play the latest PSP games—enjoying the best of both worlds.
The U.P. (Undiluted Platinum) is a flash replacement system for the PSP™ which allows the use of previous flash updates or custom firmware builds, opening up the possibility to run unsigned homebrew code on even the latest PSP systems. The U.P. contains 32MB NAND flash which is programmable from the PC via a high speed USB connection, using our user friendly software. You may boot the PSP from either its onboard flash or the flash contained on the U.P; the flash which is used is determined by a button press as the PSP is powered on (U.P. flash is used by default, hold L1 to use the PSP onboard flash). Since U.P. provides a secondary flash which the PSP can boot from, it can even be used to restore a PSP which has been "bricked". Every effort has been made to make our flash updater software, which will be freely available for download, both as easy to use and reliable as possible. The software also contains diagnostics which can be used by installers to determine if an installation has been successful or not.
In order to maximise the benefits that U.P. can provide its users, we have decided to take an open source approach with U.P and will be releasing source code for any software we release as well as full documentation for the U.P. hardware interface – including information on how to control U.P. from within PSP programs. This will allow anybody to create software which can take advantage of what U.P. has to offer. We have also sent a few prototype units away to some of the scene's best software hackers in order to give them a headstart at working on custom flash replacements – cant wait to see what people will come up with!
The package will have everything you need to install the mod chip properly and will be priced at $90 USD and 75 euros.
The only concern I have is that some people will undoubtedly take advantage of this chip and us it to pirate PSP games. Sony hasn't been making firmware updates because it wants to quash homebrew, they've been making firmware patches because they want to stop the piracy of PSP games. If malicious hackers hadn't created ISO loaders that allow people to play illegal ISOs of PSP games, Sony might have allowed homebrew to stay. Sure, the Undiluted Platinum will open doors for legitimate PSP homebrew developers to create new and amazing homebrew programs and games, but this could also open the door the PSP's demise.[via MaxConsole]
7 Responses to "More Undiluted Platinum info"
May 29th, 2006 at 12:57 pm
Since U.P. provides a secondary flash which the PSP can boot from, it can even be used to restore a PSP which has been "brickedâ€.
life saver!
Jun 2nd, 2006 at 11:11 pm
This is a great option for those who'd enjoy the benefits and advances in the Homebrew community but don't want to stay at an old version of the PSP OS in order to do so. As long as the installation is simple, this is one mod I'll be looking forward to buying and using.
Jun 4th, 2006 at 1:55 am
This is awsome for those of us who unfortunatly updated to 2.7 without thinking, the only part that i dont see is how to open the psp without damaging it
Jun 10th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
I would be glad and happy to buy this mod chip ( has 2.71) and now i can run homebrew on my psp!!!!!
Jun 12th, 2006 at 11:45 pm
Ah, that tag is a tad overoriced but I'll buy it to piraaa…suport the good coders who made it, and cuz my psp is bricked.
Aug 25th, 2006 at 1:50 am
..just bricked my psp trying to install a themePSP1.1 skin with tPSP1.2
and im broke, if only someone would buy me an UP or an MFM.
stupid SCEA wont service japanese psps, so i cant even get sony to unbrick it.
Jun 29th, 2007 at 2:37 pm
Your face makes me cry…


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Students at Raymer Elementary will be back in class Monday for their first day since a false report of a gun inside the school. The incident made for some tense moments for parents and staff Friday.
Police are applauding the parent who reported seeing a student with a BB gun near the school.
A parent, who did not want to be identified, says he was dropping his son off at school when he claims he saw a boy with what was believed to be a gun.
"I picked up the cell phone, and I immediately tried to call the school," he says. "I figured they would be the closest ones, they would be able to come out. He was not acting like he was menacing, like he was going to shoot anything up. He was a little kid bragging that he had something. I could tell that because he just flashed it real quick, wrapped it back up, and then he left."
Police found the BB gun and say it was broken. They say it was never in the building.
Officers applaud the citizens who reported seeing the student with it.
"Unless we are right there for something like that, we are not going to see it," says Lieutenant Mark King. "A lot of the school shootings happened in a very short period of time, less than a minute. So we rely heavily on people to give us information like that, and they acted very appropriately. Even though it turned out to be a BB gun, you can't tell a BB gun from a real working firearm anymore."
Toledo police rely heavily on the public to help be their eyes and ears. Officers hope other citizens will step up and do what this parent did and report anything they believe is suspicious.
School leaders say two students face disciplinary charges with TPS and Toledo Police stemming from the incident.


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I have a few (well, four, to be exact) posts in mind to write tonight and tomorrow. Then there is likely to be a relative lack of posting for the following nine or ten days. My dear friend Cardgrrl is coming to town for a little over a week, starting Monday, for a confluence of events, including the allvegaspoker.com tournaments (details here), and some get-togethers for members of Poker Academy. The schedule is already filling up with tournaments, dinners, meetings with friends, shows, and sight-seeing day trips. And, of course, any unstructured time that I can spend alone chatting, relaxing, and/or playig poker with Cardgrrl, I'll take. Also, an out-of-town reader that will be here next week has generously offered to enter me into the Venetian nightly 7:00 pm tournament Monday, so I'll be playing that.* The predictable result of all this is that I'll be building up a bunch of experiences to write about, with no time to do the writing until after Cardgrrl leaves March 30.
So once again I must ask your forbearance. I know it's a strange concept, but the order of priorities is (1) life, (2) play poker, (3) write about poker. I do realize that so far this year there have been more than the usual number of blocks of time in which (1) has had to be tended to above (2) and (3), but that's just how it is sometimes.
*It happens with some regularity that a reader will write to say he or she will be in town and would like to meet me. I'm usually reluctant to make any particular plans along those lines, for a couple of reasons. First, I'm terribly awkward and uncomfortable in social situations, especially meeting strangers. This tendency is exaggerated when playing poker, because I'm inclined to just sit quietly and try to pay attention to the action, which usually doesn't lend itself to being chatty. As a result of this, sometimes people meeting me think that I'm giving them the cold shoulder and/or not liking them, which isn't necessarily so. Second, I'm not fond of planning my poker in advance; I like to go when and where the spirit moves me, so to speak. I often Tweet where I am, so it's not like I'm hiding, but I almost never know very far ahead of time. But the offer to stake me in a tournament--well, I'm not one to turn down free money. If this reader knew of my general reluctance to plan meet-ups with readers, he certainly devised a high-probability way of lowering my shields and making it happen!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
The week ahead
I have a few (well, four, to be exact) posts in mind to write tonight and tomorrow. Then there is likely to be a relative lack of posting for the following nine or ten days. My dear friend Cardgrrl is coming to town for a little over a week, starting Monday, for a confluence of events, including the allvegaspoker.com tournaments (details here), and some get-togethers for members of Poker Academy. The schedule is already filling up with tournaments, dinners, meetings with friends, shows, and sight-seeing day trips. And, of course, any unstructured time that I can spend alone chatting, relaxing, and/or playig poker with Cardgrrl, I'll take. Also, an out-of-town reader that will be here next week has generously offered to enter me into the Venetian nightly 7:00 pm tournament Monday, so I'll be playing that.* The predictable result of all this is that I'll be building up a bunch of experiences to write about, with no time to do the writing until after Cardgrrl leaves March 30.
Posted by Rakewell at 10:52 PM 1 comments Links to this post
Labels: about this blog, cardgrrl
Automated craps table
Today I played for a while at the Rio, because they have suspended their daily freeroll tournament during March Madness days, meaning that the games there should be good again temporarily (and they definitely were).
I then headed to the Flamingo for a second session. I've been kind of neglecting Harrah's properties so far this year, and would like to make at least some effort toward maintaining my platinum status, though it really does me little good. I have found that it's much easier, when going to the Flamingo poker room, to park at Bill's and walk to the Flamingo than to navigate the Flamingo parking garage, which is one of the worst in the city.
While walking through Bill's, I noticed this new computerized craps table. Maybe they exist elsewhere (in fact, almost surely so, since it's hard to believe that Bill's would be the site chosen for a first installation) but I've never known of them before. I was intrigued.
As you can see, players can sit instead of stand. They each have a private monitor. There is obviously some means of loading money/credit into them. (I'm guessing that you just hand cash to the dealer, who enters the credit on his central terminal, but I didn't witness this happening.) There is still a physical table with actual dice and a shooter, but no chips are used. Bets are made from the computer screen.
There are obvious advantages. This must surely speed up the process of placing bets. It reduces dealer errors in payouts, as well as the ancient Vegas tradition of dealers helping themselves to part of the payout, as recreational players often don't know how much they're supposed to be getting and therefore won't notice that they got shorted. It also should eliminate what I understand are the most common forms of player cheating, such as past posting (altering bets surreptitiously after the dice have landed).
I stood and watched for a few minutes. The computer system did not seem to reduce the players' fun at all. They were hooting and hollering the same as at other craps tables. The shooter was on one hell of a hot streak, and everybody was loving it. Or so it appeared. From the very little that I understand about craps, I gather that you can make yourself very unpopular by betting against the shooter. In a regular game, it is openly apparent that you have done so. But with the monitors, I assume that your bets are private (unless somebody is looking over your shoulder), so you can bet "don't pass" all you want, and nobody will know, unless you cheer when everybody else is dejected.
I wonder how the system affects dealer tips. I overheard enough to know that there are mechanisms built into the machine for tipping dealers from your credit and for posting bets for the dealers. But perhaps the social pressure to tip is reduced when nobody knows if you won or lost and the dealer isn't the one pushing you the winnings.
Another interesting feature is that the central monitors display information such as how many times in a row the shooter has won, and the highest number of times in a row a shooter has won since the table opened. If you're dumb enough to believe that certain numbers on the dice are "overdue," the screen helpfully tells you exactly how many throws it has been since various combinations hit.
I still have zero interest in playing craps, and have never put a single bet on the dice--a situation which is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. But I like seeing how technology changes gaming. If I were to decide to play, I think I'd seek out one of these tables. I think it would both speed up my learning curve about the multitude of betting options and enhance my enjoyment of the experience if I didn't have to be reaching down onto the table and figuring out which chips were mine, where to put them, when to pick them back up, and so forth. And secretly betting contrary to the rest of the table would satisfy some facet of my misanthropic tendencies.
Incidentally, while I was watching, one of the players' girlfriends rejoined him after having been off doing something else. He told her, "You should play this. You would win right away. Girls are always lucky at craps." I got the impression that he genuinely believed this, rather than that he was trying to butter her up in some way. Sigh. My campaign to make the world think rationally is a massive failure. Some people are just bound and determined to believe moronic things, and can't be educated out of it.
Posted by Rakewell at 10:01 PM 5 comments Links to this post
Labels: bill's, non-poker gambling
License plate FTW
I very much liked this plate, and the car to which it was attached, seen earlier today in the Rio parking garage.
Posted by Rakewell at 9:59 PM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: license plates, rio
Vengeance is mine, saith Jesus
Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
--Romans 12:19, King James Version
Warning: Contains spoilers.
Last night's "Poker After Dark," a cash game, contained what was for me one of the most emotionally satisfying hands of televised poker I've ever seen. You can watch it here.
The background is crucial. At the beginning of the first installment Monday, everybody wanted to play the 7-2 bounty game: if you win a hand with 7-2 in the hole, everybody else pays you $500. Chris Ferguson was the only holdout, so it was not on. Mike Matusow was outraged at this refusal. He harped on it repeatedly, calling Ferguson the biggest nit of all time, and so on. His haranguing was so intense and prolonged that it became seriously uncomfortable for me to watch. It was way, way beyond a friendly needle between colleagues. Ferguson politely explained a couple of times that he wasn't comfortable with the game because he had never played it and hadn't had a chance to think through what strategic adjustments might be called for. He even tried a compromise, agreeing to play if they would lower the bounty amount to $200. The others thought that smaller amount would not make it worthwhile. After these responses failed to shut Matusow up, Ferguson just sat there and took the verbal abuse without replying further.
But then on Friday's show, he got his chance to stick it to Matusow. Matusow open-raised with A-8. Ferguson reraised with 7-2. Matusow called. Ferguson then proceeded to bet every street with complete air. Finally, Matusow was faced with a $12,000 bet on the river, holding top and bottom pair. But, as Ali Nejad explained in his voiceover commentary, the only hand in Ferguson's typical pre-flop reraising range that Matusow could now beat was A-K. (You might add K-K to that, though with that hand and an ace on the flop it seems less likely that Ferguson would continue to fire both the turn and river after being called.) A-A and Q-Q would have made sets; any hand with a jack in it would all have made a straight; A-Q and A-10 would have a higher two pair.
Matusow goes into the tank and is obviously having an agonizing decision:
Finally, though, he reluctantly folds.
Ferguson shows the bluff and, to stick the needle in a little further, says, "I really like this 7-2 game."
He is visibly pleased with himself:
The other players find considerable humor in the situation:
Well, all except one, that is:
After that, Matusow, who has, as usual, been chatting up a storm, becomes noticeably more quiet for the rest of the show.
I love, love, love this. On the most basic level, Ferguson takes advantage of his tight reputation to pull a fast one and win a pot that he could not otherwise take. But it's patently obvious that he chose this particular situation because of the specific cards he held, the specific opponent he was facing, and the history of what had transpired earlier in the filming day.
He could have justifiably gotten angry at Matusow's relentless taunting--which really was over the top. Ferguson's IQ is probably, oh, I dunno, about 200 points higher than Matusow's, and he has just as great an edge in verbal fluency, should he choose to get into a war of words. But he didn't. He held his tongue, and instead waited for his chance to reply in the language of poker, which proved to be far more eloquent and effective than any verbal retort he could have contrived.
I'd like to think that I would handle the situation the same way--don't try to sink to the needler's level and get into a pissing contest. Instead, keep quiet and just outplay him. After all, taking his money is ultimately a lot more satisfying than getting the most clever rejoinder in could ever be. If you happen to get a chance to rub his face in your win a bit, well, that's icing on the cake.
Nh, wp, sir!
Posted by Rakewell at 1:14 PM 2 comments Links to this post
Labels: ferguson, matusow, poker after dark
Guess the casino, #452
To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.
Answer: Santa Fe Station
Posted by Rakewell at 4:50 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: guess
Friday, March 19, 2010
Guess the casino, #451
To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.
Answer: Texas Station
Posted by Rakewell at 4:47 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: guess
Poker gems, #346
Vinnie Favorito (comedian at the Flamingo and avid poker player), in "Poker Bustouts," a documentary about failing at poker, available here.
That's the life of a poker player, and I guess that's what makes it exciting. Y'know, one day you're a millionaire, and the next day you're hanging out in front of Jack in the Box with illegal aliens hoping someone drops a French fry.
Posted by Rakewell at 4:33 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: gems
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Guess the casino, #450
To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.
Answer: Texas Station
Posted by Rakewell at 4:46 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: guess
St. Patrick's Day, downtown Las Vegas
It was predictably a little wild and crazy. I took a bunch of pictures, uploaded to an album here, if you want to take a peek at what was going on.
Posted by Rakewell at 12:35 AM 3 comments Links to this post
Labels: vegas
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
Y'know, that might make an intriguing first line of a novel. Somebody oughtta try it.
I picked that title because last night I did a study in contrasts. I saw via Twitter that my friend Grange95 was playing at the Aria poker room. It's always fun to share a table with him, and I didn't have any particular reason to select someplace else, so off I went. As I was getting ready to go, I noticed a handful of $5 chips from Hooters sitting on the table by my door. (Actually, there are chips from lots of different casinos; they kind of accumulate and multiply.*) I realized that Hooters is only a short distance from Aria, and I thought that that particular sequence might make for a fun comparison on this here blog. So I stuffed the chips in my pocket as I headed out.
It was true: the two casinos are about as polar opposite as you could make two places. But more about that later. First, let me review my session at Aria.
Stupid parking preference
The first comment-worthy thing I noticed on my way into Aria from the parking garage was that there were maybe 10 or 12 of the spaces closest to the door marked with these signs:
There's a whole bunch of stupid things about this. First, MGM Grand is in the business of making money. This kind of policy does nothing to enhance their bottom line, unless it's by some highly indirect way of making tree huggers think that that the corporation is a wonderful friend of the earth, and thus they somehow become willing to lose more money at the slot machines, which seems dubious. MGM has no corporate interest in whether its customers arrive in a Prius or a Hummer. Worse, it offends some (like me). I had already parked farther away before seeing these spaces, but as I walked past, I noticed two ordinary vehicles (both minivans) start to pull into one of the spots, then see the sign, back out, and go elsewhere. I suspect those drivers were annoyed. It is not good to annoy your customers.
Then there's the whole question of what the sign actually means--does your car have to be an alternative fuel vehicle, or a low-emissions one, or both? And what standard is being applied? Does a flex-fuel car count? If I drive a 30-year-old diesel Mercedes that I've converted to run on used vegetable oil, but it smokes like an oil well afire, is that OK? Is a hybrid GMC Yukon OK? If so, how does it make sense to allow that but not a gas-sipping little Toyota Yaris, which is conventional in its fuel system but extremely frugal? One has no way of knowing what the powers that be at the Aria will deem acceptably green to occupy these premium parking spaces.
Next problem is that I seriously doubt the threat is real. Along the lines of not annoying your customers, are they really going to lose your business forever by ticking you off by having your car towed because it wasn't on their preferred list of models? I don't think so. The Hilton has a bunch of parking spots reserved for players who accumulate points on their member cards, with dire threats of towing violators. However, when my car was stolen from their lot, and I checked with security to see if perhaps it had been towed for some inadvertant violation, the security guy in charge confided with me that they never tow for such things--only if a car is abandoned or parked in some way that blocks traffic. I suspect that all or most casinos follow similar policies. It's hard to get a customer angrier than by towing away his car for some trivial infraction. In apparent confirmation of this theory, I took time to notice the cars parked in these alt-fuel spaces as I left, and it was a completely random assemblage, including some notoriously inefficient SUVs and one pickup truck. I'm not sure which is stupider: to have this parking policy and actually enforce it, or to have it and not enforce it, but I think Aria is choosing the latter route of stupidity.
And, FWIW, I still have serious doubts about the whole fossil-fuels-cause-global-warming hypothesis. (Sorry, Al Gore.)
Dogs playing poker?
My friend Michael Hamai, of allvegaspoker.com fame, just two days ago posted this picture of a dog accompanying its owner to a poker room, with the message, "Only at Boulder Station." It was a wonderful coincidence, then, to spot last night the only dog I've ever seen in a poker room:
My guess is that dogs are not generally allowed, but both of these two have somehow been legally designated as "companion animals" and are thus given access privileges equivalent to those of seeing eye dogs. The most common reason for little lap dogs getting this label is for "treatment" of some sort of anxiety or panic disorder. The owners claim that having the dog nearby calms them down. If you ask me (and I realize that nobody did), the vast majority of these are just scams by people who like having their pooches with them, and/or drama queens seeking and getting attention for their "disease." I can't believe how many doctors will sign off on such nonsense. I don't really mind having well-behaved dogs in public places like casinos, but they should allow anybody to bring them, not just those who wail, "I'm sick! I need Muffins with me every minute of the day or I can't cope!"
Stupid rule
Early in my session, I noticed the dealer just sitting there after a hand was over, with nothing happening, and no apparent reason for the delay. Just as I was about to ask what the holdup was, the green light flashed on the Shufflemaster, he exchanged decks, and went on with the next hand. I thought he was just being too lazy to do a hand shuffle. But then I noticed the same thing happen with each of the next two dealers when a hand ended quickly, so I asked the third one if that was a house rule. Indeed it is. He informed me that there are no hand shuffles allowed at the Aria unless the game is four-handed or less, and even then it requires the supervisor's approval.
I have never heard of this being a policy anywhere else, though when I sent out a Twitter message about it, somebody responded that they have the same rule at the Bellagio. I can't see any convincing reason for it. It slows the game down, without any meaningful advantage to compensate. I suppose there is some tiny reduction in risk of the dealer manipulating the shuffle for the benefit of some particular player, but is that really a serious concern? If there is some good reason for this policy that I'm not seeing, please let me know in the comments. Absent that, I'm declaring it to be just plain stupid.
Winning lucky, winning smart, winning strange, and winning ugly
Most of my profit came in three hands. In the first, I cracked aces with 5-5 when I flopped a full house. In the second, I correctly called down a three-barrel bluff by a tight player whom I had not seen bluffing in the two hours I had played with him. I had only top pair with a mediocre kicker (J-9 on a jack-high flop, to be exact). I just got the strange sense from him that he didn't really like his hand as much as his bets represented, though for the life of me I couldn't pick out any one thing in particular that was giving me that vibe. I was glad to discover that I had been right.
I took one pot that I didn't expect to. I raised pre- with something junky like a 7-8 offsuit, got one caller from the blinds. The board missed both of us, and it was just checked down. By the river, I had not improved at all. But to my surprise, my opponent just checked out (i.e., mucked instead of checking) on the river, saying, "I missed." I won without having to show that I had just 8-high. Who knows--maybe it was the best hand, but there's a decent chance he threw away the winner for no reason.
The biggest pot I won last night, though, came, unfortunately, at the expense of my friend CK, of the BWOP blog, who had also come to share the hilarity with Grange. He had to leave for dinner shortly after she arrived, though, so that didn't really work out. In this hand, I had K-K, and she was the only one to call my raise, with J-10 and position. Flop was J-10-x. I bet, she raised. I thought for a while. I was trying to decide, (1) Did she have something like A-J, and was probing to see if I would fold A-K or A-Q or a middle pair to a raise? (2) If she had two pair, J-10 was the obvious candidate, and could a reraise make her sufficiently convinced that I had flopped a set that she would fold? (3) If she had a set, would she raise here or just smooth-call? Well, by some series of mysterious mental machinations, I concluded that there was enough chance of either being ahead or getting her to fold two pair that it was worth pushing. I did. She called quickly, though with a pained look that, in retrospect, I take to mean that she suspected a set and called with top two pair anyway. I was in bad shape. But the turn and river were both 7s, landing me a better two pair and the roughly $500 pot. That is truly winning ugly.
We have now played two large pots (previous one in December, written up here and here), each of us winning one. But not only was hers the bigger of the two, both times she got her money in good, while I got mine in bad. That's not something I'm terribly proud of.
CK left after that hand (it being only the last in a series of ugly ones for her), and the table wasn't much fun without my friends there, so I cashed out less than an hour later, up about $400.
I headed over to Hooters to complete my self-amusement by contrast. But I've now taken long enough to write up the first half of the night that I need to get going on other things, so the second half of the story (that's the "worst of times," to give you a foretaste) will have to wait until tomorrow.
*Why? Well, sometimes I'm in a hurry for some reason and don't want to take the time to cash out, so I just bring the chips home and use them on the next visit to that casino. But the most common reason is that I pocket some special commemorative chip to add to the collection, get home, find that I already have one of that issue that I had forgotten, and then it goes by the door to be used again next time I play in that room. With Hooters, there are so many different chips, each with a pretty girl on them, that it's really hard to remember which ones I have and which I don't, so on my last trip I ended up with 10 or 15 that turned out to be duplicates, and were waiting to be recycled into the poker economy.
Posted by Rakewell at 2:34 PM 14 comments Links to this post
Labels: aria, hooters, my results, other blogs, remarkable hands, rules
Guess the casino, #449
To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.
Answer: Caesars Palace
Posted by Rakewell at 4:43 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: guess
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Just home from playing at Aria first, followed by Hooters (an interesting study in contrasts). At the latter, I liked this card cap being used by another player--a four-leaf clover encased in some sort of acrylic. It seemed fitting for the day.
I'm thinking that I might stay downtown for the evening festivities tonight. The downtown crowd tends to be fun and interesting on holidays, with great photo ops. That way, I wouldn't have to fight traffic near the Strip. Maybe Fitzgerald's would have enough action for my once or twice yearly visit to play there. If not, Binion's and Golden Nugget are reliable alternatives.
Posted by Rakewell at 1:52 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: card protector, hooters
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Guess the casino, #448
To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.
(Note: I usually don't alter the photos, but on this one after I got home and looked at it I realized that the name of the casino was plainly visible on the poker table felt, so I have obscured it here.)
Answer: Aria
Posted by Rakewell at 4:17 AM 0 comments Links to this post
Labels: guess
Monday, March 15, 2010
Guess the casino, #447
To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.
Answer: Sandia (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Posted by Rakewell at 1:18 AM 2 comments Links to this post
Labels: guess
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Guess the casino, #446
To reveal the hidden answer, use your mouse to highlight the space immediately after the word "Answer" below.
Answer: Imperial Palace
Posted by Rakewell at 1:00 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Labels: guess


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Reviews for Have A Little Faith In Me LyricsPerformed by Mandy Moore
Add Your New Review About The Song
Moore vs. Simpson | Reviewer: amanda | 12/29/08
Melinda, everyone has their opinion but I think this song was better coming from Moore instead of Simpson. Simpson does have an amazing voice as well but hate is a very strong word.. try 'disliked' next time. Anywho, I love when artist these days remix an old tune, it brings back good and sometimes bad memories but its music and I believe that music can reach everyone, whether its rock, country, rap etc. Either way it still inspires us, changes us. I hope I hear more old tunes replayed.. it comforts us to know that the past wont ever be forgotten.
Nice one. | Reviewer: Dana | 3/13/08
Eekz. I can't believe somebody would want Jessica Simpson to sing it. But oh well. I really think that Mandy Moore has done a good job at it. And as Rebekah said, the first half is good but the second is a bit too much. But overall, it's good!
Its worth the listening... | Reviewer: Nadine | 11/7/07
I think the rythym and lyrics complement each other. U need someone;s faith no matter what and its not something u do in a hurry and harshly.. THIS IS A GOOD SONG. I just love it.
Nice rendition | Reviewer: Rebekah | 6/1/07
It's a good rendition of the classic. It's contemporary and fresh. The second half does get a little weird and is a bit much, but the first half is pretty good. Mandy shows that she does have a better voice than people often give her credit for.
awesome | Reviewer: heather | 4/15/07
i love this song its so awesome!! i cant stop listening 2 it i love the tempo and every thing!!!!!!!
N/A | Reviewer: Melina | 3/31/07
I hated the lyrics & the way she sung the song. Would've been better if someone like Jessica Simpson sang it.
review | Reviewer: Anonymous | 1/14/05
A pretty good song, with a nice tempo! Not to large of a difference in pitch or tone!
Add Your New Review About The Song


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Cancer Services Network
What: Cancer Services Network provides help and hope to cancer patients and their families through financial, emotional, spiritual and social support from diagnosis through cancer treatment. Each year we host fundraisers to benefit our programs and services, and local groups and organizations hold fundraisers to benefit Cancer Services Network as well. Contact us if you are interested in hosting an event, volunteering during our events, or would like to donate goods or services for an event. Participants and volunteers are needed for the following upcoming events:
- 10th Anniversary Fashions for the Cure Style Show and Silent Auction: Volunteers will be needed to help with set up/tear down the day before, the day of, and during the event at the Abilene Civic Center. Tuesday, October 1, 2013, 6:30 p.m.
- 6th Annual Run Together - 5K/Walk/Waddle to honor those who have survived cancer, in memory of someone who fought the courageous fight, and to encourage physical activity for friends of Cancer Services Network. This event takes place downtown beginning and ending at Frontier, Texas. Saturday, October 5, 2013 at 8 a.m.
Location: 100 Chestnut, Suite 100, Abilene, TX 79602
Contact: Nancy Tyler; 325-672-0040; email@example.com
Date Added: 9/13
Hendrick Hospice Care
What: Hendrick Hospice Care is a not for profit providing supportive care to individuals and their families dealing with an end of life care issue wherever they call home. Hendrick Hospice Care serves a 65 mile radius of Abilene. We are always looking for volunteers to help support our patients, families, and our team.
Date: Ongoing
Time: Flexible
Location: 1682 Hickory St., Abilene, TX 79601
Contact: Leslie Weber; 325-670-6960; email@example.com
Date Added: 9/13
Pregnancy Resources of Abilene
What: Typically volunteer roles are to help at the front desk and on the phone, pregnancy test counseling, spiritual counseling, sexual integrity education with male and female clients, silent witnessing for ultrasounds and STD tests, and teaching classes (which may include parenting, healthy relationships, infant care, fathering, pregnancy, and childbirth).
Date: ASAP
Time: 10 a.m. - 1:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m. - 4 p.m., 4 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Location: 2110 North Willis, Abilene, TX
Contact: Mary Bone; 325-672-6415; firstname.lastname@example.com
Date Added: 11/12
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Please Note: Due to the volume and breadth of opportunities we post, Ministry & Service cannot screen off-campus host sites, their work environment, or the content of the activities offered. Therefore, before volunteering off-campus, it is essential for each student to (1) evaluate whether his or her goals can be achieved through the experience; (2) assess his or her mental, physical, and academic readiness for the opportunity; (3) research the safety of the environment and activity; and (4) assume all risk involved with the opportunity.


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New carpeting, technology, and venues around the ship. Definitely nicer to have flatscreens and ... continue
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My inlaws decided they wanted to take a family vacation. Our travel group consisted of my ... continue
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Sailed 5 days on Liberty of the Seas last week. Overall a good time, but I feel compelled to ... continue
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Springfield – Treasure Hunter Road Show and Associations Founder Jeff Parsons is accused of hiding millions in income.
A complaint filed last month says Parsons was attempting to avoid corporate bankruptcy proceedings, as well as millions of dollars in federal and state back taxes.
A hearing has not been set.
Evangelist Franklin Graham prayed on a sidewalk outside the Pentagon Thursday after his invitation to a prayer service inside was withdrawn because of comments that insulted people of other religions. More>>
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Are you interested in learning more about how El Camino works?
Do you have opinions that you would like heard?
Please consider joining the…
First Meeting: ECHS Library
February 18, from 6:30-7:30 pm
You can be involved in the WASC process in a few ways:
1.Become a member of a Focus Group.
Focus Groups are made up of teachers, Parents, parents, administrators and other staff and community members. We meet during Early Release Time on the first Wednesday of the month in the Library from 1:30-3. There are five Focus Group Areas: School Organization, Curriculum, Parent Support, Resource Management and Culture and Climate.
2. Become a member of the Parent Home Group.
The Parent Home Group will meet in the Library on the 3rd Tuesday of each month from 6:30-7:30 pm.
3. Watch for our emails.
Look for updates, information and upcoming Parent Surveys.
To get involved with one or both of our Parent groups, please respond to this email with the words "Parent Focus Group" or "Parent Home Group" in the subject line.
To get involved with one or both of our parent groups, please look for our email in your Schoolloop Loopmail Inbox and respond with the words "Parent Focus Group" or "Parent Home Group" in the subject line. Or email email@example.com or firstname.lastname@example.com. Thanks so much!!
El Camino High School staff, parents and students conducted a self study for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation review in April, 2009. The visiting committee provided a report of its findings. In July, 2009, the WASC Commission conferred on El Camino High School a six-year term with a mid-term review. The self study and the visiting committee report can be found in the digital locker (below).
WASC Self Study Locker
El Camino High School WASC self study report 2009
5/22/09 - Bruce Cummings
Western Association of Schools and Colleges
5/22/09 - Bruce Cummings
WASC Visiting Committee report April 2009
5/22/09 - Bruce Cummings


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When we picked up Manny Pina (along with LF Tim Smith) in the Dan Gutierrez trade last year, I wasn't very excited. He had just posted a 703 OPS at AA. This year he posted a 732 OPS at AA which doesn't sound that exciting. But check this out:
Year ISP BB% BABIP
2009 .124 5.4% .294
2010 .161 9.8% .259
Using minorleaguesplits.com's nifty little tool, it adjust Pina's OPS to a little over 800 when factoring 'luck' into the mix. Manny's defense has always been considered good. But his ISP has been increasing year by year--so it look like he's getting stronger. We'll see if he can maintain that spike in his walk rate (so far at AAA it's back around 5% in 40 PA). He's hitting really well at AAA so far with a 902 OPS.
It will be interesting to see where Pina is at in 2011--he could be ready to be a backup to Kendall--but of course he needs to play more than once every two weeks. Having a young catcher step and be ready to start would be big because it would let Wil Myers move to the OF and come up sooner.


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The weather headline across central Louisiana Thursday was the return of full-time sunshine. Everyone I spoke with said they were happy to see the sun after such a protracted spell of clouds and precipitation. At the KALB-TV studios, I saw nine straight days with measurable rainfall.
As the sky cleared Wednesday night, the cycle of nocturnal cooling began. This process sent morning minimum temperatures into the uppers 20s to the middle 30s. The lowest readings came from the western part of central Louisiana with Many and Leesville reporting 27 degrees. In the Alexandria/Pineville metro, AEX reported 31 and Esler reported 29. The 30-year daily average is 59 degrees.
The full sun brought high temperatures into the 50s. However, Many reported 62 degrees as the warm spot. Natchez, Miss. was the cool spot with a high of 52 degrees.
Friday promises to be almost a carbon copy of Thursday. Enjoy!
Tom Konvicka


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I was bored, so I started examining gametape from last season.
A&M-OU '06 in particular interested me.
OU pretty much rammed the ball down our throats on the opening drive, and I wanted to look at why.
My thoughts on their first play is here:
Running on a 40-even front
I need to use some other software to diagram, b/c the back half of the plays are getting chopped off.
Thoughts and criticism is welcome.


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Business license and personal property filing and payment has been extended to Tuesday, March 4, 2014.
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Henrico Today Winter Edition Online
Read the Winter 2014 edition of Henrico Today online…
CHANGE: Inclement Weather Closing
UPDATE: Henrico County General Government Offices, Libraries, and Rec & Parks facilities are CLOSED Thursday, February 13.
Refuse Collection Delayed One Day
Refuse collection will operate on a one day delay the remainder of the week with Friday's routes being collected on Saturday.
Henrico Planning Meeting Rescheduled for Feb. 17
The Henrico County Planning Commission will hold it's monthly meeting on Monday, Feb 17.
CVWMA Curbside Recycling Delayed
Pickup is delayed one day for the rest of the week.
Fairfield meeting Jan. 27 to spotlight services of Virginia Cooperative Extension
Fairfield District Supervisor Frank J. Thornton will hold a constituent meeting Monday, Jan. 27 to highlight programs and services of the Henrico County office of the Virginia Cooperative Extension. The Fairfield meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the … Continued
Henrico supervisors vote O'Bannon chairman, Thornton vice chairman for 2014
The Henrico County Board of Supervisors elected Patricia S. O'Bannon chairman and Frank J. Thornton vice chairman for 2014.
Holiday Closing and Refuse Collection Schedule
County offices closed Friday, Jan 17 and Monday, Jan 20
Rabies Awareness
Avoid stray or wild animals to protect against rabies


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Go Round or Square with the VersaTrim LED Recessed Module!
Ideal for highways, streets, parking lots, public entrances, and other commercial or residential applications. PRODUCTS
For pathways, parking lots, plazas, entranceways, parks, and as landscape accents. PRODUCTS
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