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Pastries of Demark's Petit Fours
By Mabel Suen
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By Cheryl Baehr
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By Cheryl Baehr
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By Patrick Hurley
Gooseberries Pleases Herbivores and Omnivores Alike
By Cheryl Baehr
By Patrick Hurley
Cabana on the Loop Struggles with Basics
By Cheryl Baehr
Sugar High: Strudel at Feasting Fox
By Mabel Suen
In 1876 a Swiss confectioner named Daniel Peter figured out how to mix dehydrated milk with chocolate and sugar and mold it into bars. The result was sweet and cheap and wildly popular. Peter and his neighbor, Henri Nestlé, kept their formula a closely guarded secret and set out to conquer the world candy market.
Naturally, the Americans tried to make their own approximation of milk chocolate. Milton Hershey's version came the closest to the original, but his milk was slightly sour. Most people still preferred it to the more bitter dark variety. From 1905, when he opened his first factory in Pennsylvania, Hershey's chocolate dominated in the United States, home to more chocoholics than any country in the world.
Askinosie Chocolate occupies a 115-year-old rehabbed building on Springfield's East Commercial Street. On Tuesday afternoons, Shawn Askinosie opens his factory to the public for tours.
1059 S. Big Bend Blvd.
Richmond Heights, MO 63117
Category: Restaurant > American
Region: Richmond Heights
4251 Laclede Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63108
Category: Restaurant > Cafe
Region: St. Louis - Central West End
1601 S. Brentwood Blvd.
Brentwood, MO 63144
Category: Retail
Region: Brentwood
302 N. Kingshighway
St. Louis, MO 63108
Category: Grocery Stores
Region: St. Louis - Central West End
7213 Delmar Blvd.
University City, MO 63130
Category: Restaurant > American
Region: University City
Visitors can admire the shiny metal machines and the network of ceiling pipes that carries the molten chocolate from one room to another. At a small counter at the very front, they can buy chocolate bars wrapped in Askinosie's distinctive brown paper packaging. The truly smitten purchase the "C-Ration," a box that contains a month's supply of chocolate: three squares a day, plus four extra for emergencies.
The factory is bright, clean, modern — and completely out of place on Commercial Street. The only other signs of life on the block are an Ace Hardware and a pair of rainbow-painted storefronts that house a social-service agency for gays. Across the street is an empty lot, and beyond that, railroad tracks. Once upon a time, Commercial was Springfield's main street. The grand old Missouri Hotel, a block away, is now a homeless shelter.
"This is a blighted area," says Askinosie. "It's starting a revitalization. It's important for us to be on this street. Eighty kids a night sleep at the Missouri Hotel. They come here for parties. They help us make chocolate truffles and dip strawberries."
Most of the kids are part of Chocolate University, Askinosie's community-education program funded, in part, by proceeds from the factory tours. Fifth graders at Boyd Elementary School incorporate chocolate into all of their classes: When they study machines, they visit the factory, and during geography, Askinosie comes to the classroom to tell them about countries he's visited to buy cacao beans.
Meanwhile, the student council at Pipkin Middle School, with Askinosie's help, is raising money to buy a computer so they can Skype with kids in Davao, Philippines, near one of the farms where Askinosie Chocolate buys its cacao. A group of students from Central High School consults with Askinosie twice a week about where in Africa he should source his next batch of beans. This summer, if they're able to raise the necessary funds, they will all travel to either Liberia or Tanzania on a buying expedition.
"Chocolate University is a very big part of what we do," Askinosie explains. "Obviously, I want to make a profit and be successful, but part of what age gives me — other than a lack of hair — is perspective. Having a connection to the community makes me obligated to be a part of it and involve it in what I'm doing."
Askinosie is 48 years old. He has a compact build, silver hair and beard, and eyes the color of chocolate. For twenty years, he was a criminal-defense lawyer specializing in murder cases, a few of which were featured on America's Most Wanted. It was, he says, a very stressful job. He started cooking to relax. First he tried grilling and then switched to baking cupcakes "because I liked tasting the outcome."
For five years, he prayed for guidance about what he should do if he gave up law. He considered buying a bakery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. One day in May of 2005, driving to a great-aunt's funeral an hour outside of Springfield, he had an epiphany: He should make chocolate.
"I didn't even know chocolate came from a bean," he remembers.
Nonetheless, he started experimenting with roasting and grinding cocoa beans, first at home, and then, after his wife, Caron, kicked him out because he made such a mess, in his law office kitchen. In the mornings he would go to court, and then in the afternoons he made chocolate with the assistance of the paralegals.
He traveled to Ecuador to work for a week in a chocolate factory to find out how the process worked on a larger scale. He befriended agricultural anthropologists and American commercial chocolate manufacturers, including one who worked for Mars, who could give him leads on finding cacao farmers who grew beans with the flavors he wanted.
Like grapes and coffee beans, cacao absorbs the chemical components of the soil in which it's grown, what wine experts call terroir. "Flavor profiles of beans from Madagascar have red berry notes, like strawberry or raspberry," explains Alexandra Leaf, a culinary educator who runs Chocolate Tours of New York City. "Beans from Ghana tend to be fudgy and chocolatey. Cocoa beans are 50 percent fat. They're susceptible to sucking up flavor. Beans from Indonesia taste smoky because they're dried next to the fire."
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The present invention provides a dialogue system in which semantic ambiguity is reduced by selectively choosing which semantic structures are to be made available for parsing based on previous information obtained from the user or other context information. In one embodiment, the semantic grammar used by the parser is altered so that the grammar is focused based on information about the user or the dialogue state. In other embodiments, the semantic parsing is focused on certain parse structures by giving preference to structures that the dialogue system has marked as being expected.
1. A method of utilizing and modifying a grammar in a semantic parser, the method comprising:
identifying a set of surface semantic non-terminals from user input using a context-free grammar;
using a semantic description language grammar that describes relationships between semantic non-terminals to identify a semantic parse based in part on the identified semantic non-terminals;
receiving an instruction to change the semantic description language grammar; and
changing the semantic description language grammar based on the instruction by deleting a non-terminal through steps comprising:
determining that the non-terminal is defined at least in part by a child semantic entity that does not define another non-terminal in the semantic description language grammar; and
deleting the child semantic entity based on the determination.
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9. The method of
determining that the non-terminal is defined at least in part by a child surface semantic non-terminal in the context free grammar that does not define another non-terminal in the semantic description language grammar; and
deleting the child surface semantic non-terminal from the context-free grammar based on the determination.
10. The method of
determining if the child surface semantic non-terminal is defined by a rule that does not define another child surface semantic non-terminal; and
deleting the rule based on the determination.
11. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing steps comprising:
receiving an instruction to change a non-terminal in a semantic description language grammar used in semantic parsing of text;
accessing a stored grammar formed through the combination of a context-free grammar that links text to semantic non-terminals and the semantic description language grammar that links semantic non-terminals to each other; and
changing the stored grammar based on the received instruction by changing a non-terminal in the semantic description language grammar and a non-terminal in the context-free grammar.
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15. The computer-readable medium of
16. The computer-readable medium of
17. The computer-readable medium of
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The present application is a divisional of and claims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/934,313, filed on Aug. 21, 2001 and entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMIC GRAMMARS AND FOCUSED SEMANTIC PARSING.
The present invention relates to methods and systems for parsing text. In particular, the present invention relates to semantic parsing of text.
Nearly all modern computer interfaces are based on computer driven interactions in which the user must follow an execution flow set by the computer or learn one or more commands exposed by the computer. In other words, most computer interfaces do not adapt to the manner in which the user wishes to interact with the computer, but instead force the user to interact through a specific set of interfaces.
New research, however, has focused on the idea of having a computer/user interface that is based on a dialogue metaphor in which both the user and the computer system can lead or follow the dialogue. Under this metaphor, the user can provide an initial question or command and the computer system can then identify ambiguity in the question or command and ask refining questions to identify a proper course of action.
Note that during the refinement, the user is free to change the dialogue and lead it into a new direction. Thus, the computer system must be adaptive and react to these changes in the dialogue.
The performance of such systems is dependent on the system's ability to quickly determine the user's goal. The longer it takes the system to understand the user's goal, the more frustrating it is for the user.
One obstacle to quickly understanding the user's goal is the richness of human language, which can cause strings of text to be associated with a large number of different semantic tags. This makes it difficult to identify the goal of the user because often there will be ambiguity about the semantic meaning of what the user has said. Thus, improvements are needed in dialogue systems to reduce the ambiguity associated with performing semantic parses of text, especially speech-based text.
The present invention provides a dialogue system in which semantic ambiguity is reduced by selectively choosing which semantic structures are to be made available for parsing based on previous information obtained from the user. In one embodiment, the semantic grammar used by the parser is altered so that the grammar is focused based on information about the user or the dialogue state. In other embodiments, the semantic parsing is focused on certain parse structures by giving preference to structures that the dialogue system has marked as being expected.
The invention is operational with numerous other general purpose or special purpose computing system environments or configurations. Examples of well known computing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with the invention include, but are not limited to, personal computers, server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframe computers, telephony systems, distributed computing environments that include any of the above systems or devices, and the like.
The invention may be described in the general context of computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a computer. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The invention may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote computer storage media including memory storage devices.
With reference to
Computer 110 typically includes a variety of computer readable media. Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by computer 110 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable media may comprise computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by computer 110. Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term "modulated data signal" means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media.
The system memory 130 includes computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 131 and random access memory (RAM) 132. A basic input/output system 133 (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer 110, such as during start-up, is typically stored in ROM 131. RAM 132 typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated on by processing unit 120. By way of example, and not limitation,
The computer 110 may also include other removable/non-removable volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,
The drives and their associated computer storage media discussed above and illustrated in
A user may enter commands and information into the computer 110 through input devices such as a keyboard 162, a microphone 163, and a pointing device 161, such as a mouse, trackball or touch pad. Other input devices (not shown) may include a joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 120 through a user input interface 160 that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interface and bus structures, such as a parallel port, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 191 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 121 via an interface, such as a video interface 190. In addition to the monitor, computers may also include other peripheral output devices such as speakers 197 and printer 196, which may be connected through an output peripheral interface 190.
The computer 110 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 180. The remote computer 180 may be a personal computer, a hand-held device, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 110. The logical connections depicted in
When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 110 is connected to the LAN 171 through a network interface or adapter 170. When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 110 typically includes a modem 172 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN 173, such as the Internet. The modem 172, which may be internal or external, may be connected to the system bus 121 via the user input interface 160, or other appropriate mechanism. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 110, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. By way of example, and not limitation,
Memory 204 is implemented as non-volatile electronic memory such as random access memory (RAM) with a battery back-up module (not shown) such that information stored in memory 204 is not lost when the general power to mobile device 200 is shut down. A portion of memory 204 is preferably allocated as addressable memory for program execution, while another portion of memory 204 is preferably used for storage, such as to simulate storage on a disk drive.
Memory 204 includes an operating system 212, application programs 214 as well as an object store 216. During operation, operating system 212 is preferably executed by processor 202 from memory 204. Operating system 212, in one preferred embodiment, is a WINDOWS� CE brand operating system commercially available from Microsoft Corporation. Operating system 212 is preferably designed for mobile devices, and implements database features that can be utilized by applications 214 through a set of exposed application programming interfaces and methods. The objects in object store 216 are maintained by applications 214 and operating system 212, at least partially in response to calls to the exposed application programming interfaces and methods.
Communication interface 208 represents numerous devices and technologies that allow mobile device 200 to send and receive information. The devices include wired and wireless modems, satellite receivers and broadcast tuners to name a few. Mobile device 200 can also be directly connected to a computer to exchange data therewith. In such cases, communication interface 208 can be an infrared transceiver or a serial or parallel communication connection, all of which are capable of transmitting streaming information.
Input/output components 206 include a variety of input devices such as a touch-sensitive screen, buttons, rollers, and a microphone as well as a variety of output devices including an audio generator, a vibrating device, and a display. The devices listed above are by way of example and need not all be present on mobile device 200. In addition, other input/output devices may be attached to or found with mobile device 200 within the scope of the present invention.
Under one embodiment of the invention, the components of
Those skilled in the art will recognize that although a speech input is shown in
The text generated by recognition engine 306 is provided to a dialogue manager 300, which is responsible for interacting with the user to identify the user's goal. In particular, the text is provided to a spoken language understanding (SLU) unit 314 within dialogue manager 300.
SLU 314 constructs semantic parse structures from the text using a context-free grammar 330 and a semantic description language (SDL) grammar 331. SDL is a language-independent grammar used to define the domain knowledge of entity relationship. An entity in SDL may correspond to several non-terminals in the semantic context free grammar. The CFG non-terminals define the linguistic expressions for the entity. Under one embodiment, context-free grammar 330 consists of non-terminals that are invoked by one or more rules. Each rule consists of a series of one or more non-terminals and/or words. Initially, SLU 314 uses context-free grammar 330 to identify surface semantics for the text by identifying non-terminals that are fully represented by the text. These non-terminals are then abstracted by the parser, according to the semantic description language 331, to build the language independent semantic entity structure, which provides descriptions of possible semantic structures that can be built from the surface semantic non-terminals.
The word in the candidate list is "popped" or removed from the candidate list by a rule engine 409. Rule engine 409 uses the popped word to access context-free grammar 330 to identify non-terminals that are activated by the promoted word. A non-terminal is said to be activated by a word or other non-terminal when the word or other non-terminal is the first child node in the definition of the non-terminal. In a left-to-right parser, the first child node is the left-most child. For example, the non-terminal <MEETING PROPERTY> is defined as <ABOUT><SUBJECT>, where <ABOUT> is the left-most child node and <SUBJECT> is the right-most child node.
If the activated non-terminal is only partially defined by the current word, a partial parse of the non-terminal is formed and is added to a chart 408. If the activated non-terminal is fully defined by the current word, the non-terminal is placed in the chart 408 and candidate list 406.
The word from the candidate list is also compared to partial parses in chart 408 to determine if the partial parses can be extended by the popped word. Partial parses that can be extended but not completed by the word are extended to generate new partial parses that are placed in chart 408. Partial parses that are completed by the word result in full parses that are placed in the chart 408 and candidate list 406.
Under many embodiments, before a non-terminal is placed in candidate list 406, it is scored by a metric calculator 412 based on some scoring metric. Under one embodiment, the scoring metric is based on the number of words covered by the non-terminal, the number of levels of non-terminals formed beneath the non-terminal, and the total number of non-terminals beneath the non-terminal. The score provided to a non-terminal is used to order the non-terminals in candidate list 406 so that non-terminals that are more likely to appear in the final parse are popped before other non-terminals.
Rule engine 409 removes the non-terminals placed in the candidate list one at a time. For each non-terminal, rule engine 409 determines if another non-terminal is activated by the popped non-terminal according to context-free grammar 330. Rule engine 409 also determines if any partial parses in chart 408 can be extended based on the popped non-terminal. It then updates the chart and candidate list. This continues until all of the non-terminals have been removed from the candidate list. At that point, the next word in the text segment is added to the candidate list.
During this process, if a non-terminal is popped from the candidate list and it does not activate another non-terminal or extend a partial parse, it is marked as a full parse. When all of the words of the text segment have been processed, the full parses with the highest score that have been popped from the candidate list 406 are mapped to semantic structures in the semantic description language grammar 331. These SDL structures are then provided to a discourse engine 350 as the semantic markup of the text.
In order to cover the different phrases a user may utter, context-free grammar 330 includes a large number of non-terminals. Because of this, a number of different semantic parse structures can be generated from a single speech utterance. Embodiments of the present invention provide means for controlling the construction and selection of semantic parse structures so that the complexity of parsing is reduced. These techniques are discussed further below.
The semantic parse structures generated by SLU 314 are used by discourse engine 350 to extend past partial semantic structures, if any, that were formed from previous text segments. Discourse engine 350 then attempts to collapse the semantic structures from the bottom up. To begin to collapse a discourse semantic structure, discourse engine 350 looks at each bottom level semantic non-terminal to determine whether it has enough information about the non-terminal to identify a single entity that can replace the non-terminal. In this context, an entity is an entry in one of a set of domain tables 320 that are accessed by one or more domain experts 322. The domain experts 322 identify which table needs to be accessed and updated, and handle the overhead and protocols associated with accessing the tables.
For example, to collapse a Person non-terminal, which is a general representation of a person, discourse engine 350 attempts to find a single person that meets the values parsed beneath the Person non-terminal. To do this, discourse engine passes the values parsed for the Person non-terminal to a domain expert 322 that specializes in identifying people from such values. For example, domain expert 322 can access a domain table 320 that lists people and certain attributes associated with those people. It then locates all people who satisfy the values for the person non-terminal. If only one such person is found, the Person non-terminal is collapsed and replaced by a unique identifier for the person. This identifier then becomes a value for the non-terminal located above the person non-terminal. If more than one person is found, an ambiguity is established that must be clarified by dialogue manager 300.
After the semantic structures have been collapsed as far as possible, the semantic structures and ambiguities identified by discourse engine 350 are passed to a rendering engine 324, which applies the semantic structures and the ambiguities to a behavior model 326. Behavior model 326 determines the cost of taking various actions given the current set of semantic structures and ambiguities.
The cost of different actions can be calculated based on several different factors. For example, since the usability of a dialogue system is based in part on the number of questions asked of the user, one cost associated with a dialogue strategy is the number of questions that it will ask. Thus, an action that involves asking a series of questions has a higher cost than an action that asks a single question.
A second cost associated with dialogue strategies is the likelihood that the user will not respond properly to the question posed to them. This can occur if the user is asked for too much information in a single question or is asked a question that is too broadly worded.
Based on the calculated costs, rendering engine 324 selects an action. Often times, this involves sending a response to the user through a user output interface 328.
As mentioned above, the present invention reduces the complexity of generating semantic structures for user input. Under one embodiment, this is achieved by parsing with focus.
When parsing with focus, SLU 314 gives preference to a semantic structure that has been previously identified as being likely given the current dialogue state. In particular, SLU 314 gives preference to a semantic structure path stored in a parse focus 317 by discourse engine 350.
For example, if a user first utters "I want to schedule a meeting", dialogue manager 300 will not know when to schedule the meeting. Therefore, rendering engine 324 will have to ask a follow-up question such as "On what date?" Since the answer to this question will likely be a date, discourse engine 350 sets the semantic path stored in parse focus 317 to "<ScheduleMeeting><MeetingProperty><Date>". This path indicates that a token or semantic class that satisfies the <Date> or <MeetingProperty> semantic classes without providing excess information should be parsed only as part of the <ScheduleMeeting> semantic class.
For example, if the user responds with "on Tuesday", the <Date> semantic class will be satisfied with Tuesday's date. However, the <Date> semantic class can be used in a large number of semantic structures such as:
To avoid this, SLU 314 uses the parse focus 317 to limit the structures it returns to discourse engine 350. As such, SLU 314 would only return the parse structure:
Note that parsing with focus can accommodate additional information provided by the user. Thus, if the user responds with "on Tuesday at 3 pm with John", rule engine 409 will generate a list of satisfied non-terminals that includes <Date>(on Tuesday), <Time>(at 3 pm), <attendees>(with John). Since these additional non-terminals are alternative child non-terminals for the <MeetingProperty> non-terminal, rule engine 409 will return:
Thus, by focusing the parse based on a past dialogue state, the present invention reduces ambiguity in the parse and thus improves the performance of the dialogue system by reducing the number of questions that must be posed to the user to identify the user's goal.
In other embodiments, the complexity of the semantic parse is reduced by making the SDL grammar and the CFG grammar dynamic. In such embodiments, applications 380 of
For example, an application can make semantic parsing more efficient by changing the grammar based on the tasks that the user is likely to be performing. For instance, if a user is composing a new e-mail, the application can change the rules associated with the non-terminal <NAME> so that the rules only include names that the user can specify as recipients (i.e. names for which the application has an e-mail address). However, if the user is adding names to a contact list, the rules associated with the <NAME> non-terminal should be expanded to include common first and last names.
Similarly, the SDL grammar and CFG grammar can be altered based on the user. For example, different users can have different contact lists. As such, the rules of the <NAME> non-terminal can be changed so that they include the names of the current user's contact list.
Under some embodiments of the present invention, a set of Application Programming Interfaces (API's) 382 are provided that allow applications to request changes in the SDL and/or CFG grammars. API's 382 include methods that allow applications to activate and deactivate individual rules associated with a non-terminal ("activate( )", "deactivate ( )"), methods to insert and delete non-terminals ("insertNonTerminal( )", "deleteNonTerminal( )", a method to remove all rules for a non-terminal ("clearNonTerminalRules( )"), methods to insert and remove individual rules for a non-terminal ("insertNonTerminalRule( )", "removeNonTerminalRule( )"), a method to import non-terminals from a different grammar ("importGrammar( )"), a method to import a grammar while first voiding non-terminals in the original grammar if similarly named non-terminals appear in the imported grammar ("importNreplaceGrammar( )"), and a method of forming a new grammar by merging two grammars together ("merge( )").
The activate( ) and deactivate( ) methods take a non-terminal as an argument and activate or deactivate the rules associated with that non-terminal.
The insertNonTerminal( ) method takes the name of the non-terminal to be created and returns a pointer to the newly created non-terminal object. The deleteNonTerminal( ) method takes the name of the non-terminal to be removed as input and deletes the non-terminal. In some embodiments, deleteNonTerminal( ) also deletes any rules or child non-terminals that are unique to the target non-terminal. For example, for a non-terminal <NAMES>, which is defined as:
The clearNonTerminalRules method takes a pointer to a NonTerminal object as input. This pointer can be obtained using a GetNonTerminal( ) method, which returns a pointer to a NonTerminal object based on a name for the nonterminal. Using the clearNonTerminalRules method, all of the rules defined below the non-terminal are removed from the definition of the non-terminal. However, the non-terminal remains in the grammar. The clearNonTerminalRules method is a simple method for resetting a non-terminal before redefining the non-terminal.
If the application does not want to remove all of the rules associated with a nonterminal, it can use the removeNonTerminalRules( ) method, which takes a pointer to the nonterminal object and a string representing the rule to be removed as input. For example removeNonTerminalRules(&NAMES, Joe) would cause the rule "Joe" to be removed from the <NAMES> non-terminal defined above, without affecting the "Peter" or "Bill" rules. The insertNonTerminalRule( ) method allows applications to insert a single rule for a non-terminal. To insert a rule, the application provides a pointer to the nonterminal object and a text string representing the rule to be inserted.
The importGrammar( ) method and the importNreplaceGrammar( ) method both take a filename containing the grammar to be imported as input. In some embodiments, an additional boolean input value is provided to indicate whether the imported grammar is of a particular format. The merge( ) method takes a pointer to a CFG grammar object as input, and combines it with the grammar that makes the merge( ) call.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize that changes may be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. In particular, although the invention has been described above with reference to tree structures, any suitable data structure may be used and the invention is not limited to a tree-based structure.
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Out of the Express Line if you have more than 10 items, please!
I hate it when market shoppers take more than the max to the express line instead of waiting with the rest. And there I am holding my loaf of bread and carton of eggs just staring at you...What's up with that!
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Man pleads in fraud casesMay 18,2013Man pleads in fraud cases
BURLINGTON A Wolcott man has pleaded not guilty to selling used vehicles he is alleged to have tampered with in order to get a better price.
Douglas Jordan, 40, was charged with fraud and firearms charges in U.S. District Court in Burlington on Thursday.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Jordan, doing business under the name Auto Credit Solutions, bought high-mileage used cars at auctions in Vermont and resold them. The department says Jordan would do things like removing or disabling warning lights for anti-lock brakes, air bags and check engine systems and is also accused of rolling back a trucks odometer 100,000 miles so he could get a better selling price on the vehicles.
Jordan is also charged with having a firearm as a felon, as the department says he has a felony driving conviction in Massachusetts.
If convicted, Jordan faces a maximum of 20 years and a $250,000 fine.MORE IN This Just InThe family of a Connecticut man who was killed in a car accident on Route 4 last Friday night is... Full StoryAssociated Press Full StoryIt seems like I just started to warm up from last winter and I see back-to-school displays. Full Story
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- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: On this day in 1878, JOHN TUNSTALL murdered near Lincoln, New Mexico, by the outlaw JESSE EVANS; in 1930, ELM FARM OLLIE first cow to fly in aircraft, first to be milked airborne; 1955, nuke test WASP; '79, snow in Sahara.
- TOMORROW'S HEADLINES TODAY: Rutland Herald News Editor Alan J. Keays and staff writer Gordon Dritschilo discuss stories planned for the February 18, 2015, edition of the newspaper: Winter budgets maxed, legal marijuana, Springfield bank job, USPS slowdown
- RICHARD'S POOR ALMANACK: On this day in 1249 AD, ANDRE of LONGJUMEAU is dispatched by LOUIS IX of France to meet the KHAGAN, ruler of the Mongol Empire; in 1804, during 1st Barbary War, STEPHEN DECATUR scuttles the pirate-held USS Philadelphia in Tripoli.


text: > View Product Details Please select the size of the product. Please enter valid quantity. Ash black leather 'Zoom' clasp wedge ankle boots overview details Retail: $335.00 Reduced: $196.99 30% Off : $137.89 color : We're sorry. This style is currently unavailable. Black Fusing French luxury design with the finest materials, Ash delivers fashion forward shoes at an affordable price. Color: Black Smooth leather upper Tapered point toe Studded monk strap with pointed clasp details Zip side closure Leather lined Rubber sole 4�'' wedge heel Shaft measures 3�'' tall All measurements are approximate Leather / Rubber; Imported; style#317577601


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Julia Roberts Goad
Staff Writer
Williamson Shriver Architects, Inc. was awarded an Honor Award for Excellence in Architectural Design for the design of Mingo Central High School.
The AIA-WV awards program recognizes projects and details that demonstrate exemplary achievement of design. Entries are not judged in competition with each other, but rather by measuring the architect's performance against each project's potential. Thus, projects of ordinary program or modest budget can merit an award based on the architect's skill in optimizing the design opportunity.
As Southern West Virginia is comprised generally of rugged terrain with steep mountains and deep river valleys generally subject to flooding, large tracts of land to accommodate the state standards for new high school construction are difficult to find. The Mingo Central project site, however, provided an unusual opportunity not typically available in West Virginia's southern coalfields. The project was located on a mountaintop removal site.
Ted Shriver, vice-president of Williamson Shriver, recently visited Mingo Central. He said the jury that voted to award the school's design an Award for Excellence didn't realize the specific challenges faced with this particular design.
"Interestingly, one juror said he would have liked to see the surroundings the school was situated in," Shriver said. "They didn't judge on the land up here, just on the use of space and the curriculum of the school and the design."
Mingo Central High School is a realization of the need to replace four aging high schools with an educational facility centered on offering skills to compete in the international marketplace of the 21st century.
This 850 student building includes basic skills classrooms combined with applied and advanced computer labs, science, math, communications, and a comprehensive career and technology center.
The land, as well as construction to create the site, was donated to the project by a local coal company through the Mingo County Development Authority. Additionally, the coal company donated construction of a twelve mile section of the King Coal Highway (future interstate 73/74), which serves as the access road to the school.
The 35 acre developed site area currently
contains the new school and a 4,000 seat James H. "Buck" Harless football stadium and the Shewey Wellness Center. Eventually, outside sports facilities will be expanded to include varsity baseball, softball, track, and soccer fields.
The architectural plan took its form from the desire to separate the building into zones based upon usage. The academic zone is oriented around a central court which provides natural light to nearly all of the teaching spaces. The comprehensive career and technology center is located remotely at the south end of the plan.
Of particular importance are features of the plan that emphasize the ability to share large portions of the building with the community for after-school use. The dining room, media center, gymnasia, and performing arts areas are centrally located in the plan with convenient access to parking areas, and are designed in a way which allows after hours usage while securing the academic and career center wings.
The gymnasium, auxiliary gymnasium, and locker rooms were placed one level down from the main level of the building. This was done to allow the building to conform to the slope of the site left at the conclusion of the mountaintop removal process. Additionally, this offered the added benefit of reducing the apparent mass of these large building elements from the new highway.
Additional areas of interest in the building include a 675 seat auditorium, a 2,000 seat oversized gymnasium with upper-level running track, a commercial foods careers training facility, pre-engineering lab, health careers lab, and a graphic arts careers classroom.
Williamson Shriver Architects, Inc. is an award-winning, 18 person, multi-disciplinary Charleston design firm founded in 1967. While specializing in educational planning and design, they provide architectural and engineering design services to a diverse client base throughout West Virginia.
With construction value exceeding one billion dollars over the company's history, the size and scale of their projects have ranged from detailed designs for small interior renovations to large multi-million dollar new schools and other facilities.


text:
Full detailed profile on Julia Santos Played by Sydney Penny on All My Children Daytime Soap Opera.
Sydney Penny
Birthday: 1971-08-07
Angie returns to the main desk to fill out some forms and papers. Joe tells her to go home. She can't face an empty hotel room on Jesse's birthday. Joe suggests that she go to the cemetery to visit Jesse! She looks at the locket. Julia approaches and says Frankie is doing well. Angie decides to go to the cemetery.
Tad and Kathy are playing Candy Land at his home when JR and Krystal come in. Krystal asks JR to help her with a project in another room; when they are away from Tad, Krystal tells JR that she is really worried about his safety. She admits that she's been talking to Babe, which annoys JR immensely. She begs JR to think twice. JR tells Krystal that he can handle Adam and that he will find Kate for Tad! Just then Tad walks into the room. Tad asks what is going on; JR gives him a pared down version of events, leaving out any talk about Kate, and says he knows he is strong enough to live with Adam now. Tad, Krystal and JR go back to play Kathy's game. JR leaves. The next morning Julia stops by to pick up Kathy.
Julia arrives with the crash cart just as Angie loses Frankie's heartbeat! The orderly tries to wheel Greenlee away but Kendall and Greens won't let him go. Finally they get a heartbeat. The orderly insists that they leave now. Angie orders more meds from Julia and another doctor orders an eco-cardiogram. Angie and the other doctor, Nick, confer and discover that the cardiac arrest may not have been caused by the anti-toxin they've been giving Frankie. He suggests letting Frankie build his strength and try another dose in a few days. Julia brings Angie some new research and asks what caused Frankie's reaction. Angie admits she doesn't know and continues on to talk with Joe and the lab techs. Julia follows. Angie tells them about the latest cardiac event and Joe asks the others to leave so he can speak privately with Angie. Joe tells her again that she needs to recuse herself from Frankie's case; Angie refuses. "Oh, God, I almost killed him," she cries. Joe hugs Angie, reminding her that she saved her son's life during the arrest. Joe invites the others back in and Angie goes over Frankie's latest stats - his kidneys and liver are beginning to shut down and his blood counts are off, too. Julia asks why Greenlee and Frankie are reacting differently but Angie doesn't know.
Aidan is freaking out in Greenlee's hospital room when Zach walks in. He and Zach find Greenlee and Kendall on the way to Greens' test; they tell the guys about Frankie's cardiac arrest. Greenlee believes it is the treatment that Joe, Angie and the CDC researchers have developed and is very scared that the same thing will happen to her. Aidan offers to take her to the test. Kendall stays with Zach, telling him about Greenlee's fears. Kendall and Zach return to Greenlee's room as she is returned from the test. Kendall tries to talk books with Greens to distract her; she tells Kendall to get to work on the book so the edits are ready on time. Zach agrees to stay with Greens and Kendall leaves. Greenlee begins to cry. Zach hugs her and lets her sob. She asks Zach to tell her the truth about her condition and Frankie's. Zach tells her to ask the doctors herself. Dr. Nick comes in and asks Zach to leave. He checks Greenlee's lungs and heart, asking how she is. Greenlee admits to being tired and having a sore throat from the tubes; she asks him what is going on with Frankie. Nick says her condition isn't the same as Frankie's, so she may not react the way he has. A nurse delivers new blood-work. Nick goes to find Angie. Greens is sleeping when Nick and Angie return. Greenlee's kidneys are decreasing their function and her enzymes are abnormal. Nick suggests surgery but Angie says she is too weak to survive it. Nick says they have to risk it because Greenlee is deteriorating faster than Frankie is! As they talk Jack and Aidan listen in. Angie takes them down the hall and sends Nick to check on Frankie. She tells Jack and Aidan that Greenlee's organs are shutting down. "The toxin has mutated," Angie explains and says they have developed a new treatment that may or may not have caused Frankie's heart attack. Angie is paged back to the lab. Jack and Aidan watch Greenlee through the window. Julia comes in, telling them that Greenlee is resting. She opens her eyes and smiles at Jack; Julia tells him to go see his daughter. Aidan gives Jack and Greenlee some time alone. Jack tries to hold back his tears but can't. "Montgomery's don't give up easily, so don't you," Jack says as Greenlee goes to sleep.
Zach runs into Joe, who says they don't have all the answers yet but they are getting close. Zach returns to Greenlee's room and watches through the window with Aidan for a few moments. Zach tells Aidan that she won't give up easily. "She's strong, she's not gonna quit," Zach says, asking Aidan not to quit on Greenlee, either. They turn back to Greenlee, who begins seizing! Julia is there and tells them to get Angie, quickly!
Angie and Joe rush into Greenlee's room and manage to stop the seizure. Angie says Greenlee can't take much more; she takes the family into the hall and tells them all that she doesn't know how to stop Greenlee's or Frankie's illness. Zach and Aidan fill Jack in about Sylvester. Angie hurries off to the research lab. Jack calls Erica, upset about Greenlee but needing a distraction. He tells her to take care of the stock problem they discussed at dinner earlier that night. Zach and Kendall go down the hall; she is almost asleep standing up and Zach tells her to go home. Kendall refuses, saying she has to be with Greenlee now. She returns to Greenlee's room. Aidan returns to Greenlee's bedside and holds her hand. Ryan arrives.
At Fusion the medics arrive and get to work on Greenlee. They discover an airway obstruction that they can't get rid of, put an oxygen mask on her and hurry away. Kendall finally answers Greenlee's ringing phone and tells Aidan about Greenlee's breathing troubles. She tells him to meet them at the hospital.
Zach, Aidan and Angie are waiting when the medics wheel Greenlee in. Julia hurries into the room, too. Kendall repeats, "She has to be fine," over and over and Zach drags her from the room. He tells Kendall she has to have a blood test because of the time she spent in the woods. She agrees to the test. She and Zach are walking back when he remembers the root; he leaves to check something else out. Kendall returns and Angie tells her that Greenlee is stabilized for now. Angie continues on to Julia who shows her Sylvester's files. Angie asks about the CDC and learns that they haven't returned the hospital's calls yet. Angie returns to Greenlee. Joe walks up and Julia tells him that the CDC is still not on their way. Kendall asks if she can do anything and Joe tells her to get Jack to the hospital quickly. Kendall goes off. Joe then turns to Aidan and tells him that the hospital is going to need blood - and lots of it - if Greenlee's and Frankie's conditions don't improve. Kendall tries calling Jack several times but he doesn't answer his phone.
Joe is finishing up with Frankie at the hospital; Joe tells him he is doing much better. Opal walks in to see him and Joe leaves. She talks to Frankie about Jesse and promises that Angie will fix him right up. Opal shows Frankie a picture of Jesse and Angie and then leaves. Zach walks in and introduces himself to Frankie. He thanks Frankie for pulling him out of the hole and then shows him the rootball. Frankie recognizes it! He says he dug it up for water and then cut some up for a stew. Zach hurries away to find Angie. Angie walks in Frankie's room, missing Zach by moments, and sits with him for a while. They talk about Jesse; Angie promises Frankie that he won't die and leaves. Zach finds her in the hall and tells her about the root. Angie calls the testing lab; she and Zach hurry to the research area.
Julia runs into Zach at the hospital and learns his blood work received a clean bill of health. He has none of the issues that Frankie and Greenlee are showing. Julia hurries off to find Greenlee, who the staff has realized is missing-in-action, but Zach follows and begins asking questions about the new doctor. Julia tells him about Angie and says she has gone to the woods. She leaves and so does Zach.
At Fusion, Kendall angrily asks Greenlee where she gets off sending the book to an editor without permission. Greenlee starts to laugh at Kendall's overreaction. Seeing just how outrageous she is being, Kendall laughs, too. Greenlee pours them each a margarita to celebrate Kendall's new profession. They begin brainstorming new Fusion/Charm product lines. They talk about the time in the bomb shelter and Kendall learns about the snake and the root-water. Greens picks up the manuscript and reads another passage. Kendall says that writing the story was the only thing that kept her from losing it while Zach was missing. "It's pretty hot," Greenlee says and asks which character she is. Kendall won't say. Julia walks in and tells Greenlee it's time to go back to the hospital. Not thrilled about that, Greenlee tries to get Julia into the party mood. Julia isn't fooled and tells Greenlee it's time to go; she tells Kendall about the problems with Greenlee. Kendall tries to convince Greenlee to go, too, but she refuses. "I'm too young to be this sick," she says and offers Julia a margarita. Julia and Kendall both refuse and tell Greenlee to get in the car. Before leaving Greenlee offers another toast to Kendall but Julia grabs the glass before she can drink. Greenlee suddenly has an attack. She can't breathe! Julia calls for an ambulance and asks the staff to have Angie standing by.
« Back to Julia Santos profile


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Plus d'information
The Bank of Japan is the central bank of Japan. The Bank is often called Nichigin for short.The Bank of Japan is headquartered in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, on the site of a former gold mint (the Kinza) and, not coincidentally, near the famous Ginza district, whose name means "silver mint".
Président: Haruhiko Kuroda
Membres votants actuels: Kikuo Iwata, Hiroshi Nakaso, Ryuzo Miyao, Yoshihisa Morimoto, Sayuri Shirai, Koji Ishida, Takehiro Sato, Takahide Kiuchi


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I printed a map of the Hundred Acre Wood for the front door, incorporated all our Pooh paraphernalia, and used Teddy Grahams as cake toppers. {And can I just say I had forgotten how yummy those little suckers are?!}
We kept the festivities simple for our little introvert, and I think it worked well. She had two friends over, and she watched them play for awhile from her pack-n-play before joining in the fun. {Luckily, there were no Christmas-style meltdowns when we opened presents.}
The eating of the cupcake was also a great success...
It's always nice to be able to get in a couple of rare family photos.
And I'm not ashamed to say the birthday celebration is still going strong on the mantel. Quite a festive look!


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Lincoln Electric
Jessi Combs Mig/Stick Welding Gloves S
Model: K3232-S | Internet/Cat: 849737 | Store SKU: 1000709347
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Warranty Information
|Assembled Depth (In Inches)
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|Assembled Height (In Inches)
|Assembled Weight (In LBS)
|0.65 Lbs.
|Assembled Width (In Inches)
|Country of Origin
|Item Depth
|1.00 In.
|Item Height
|12.50 In.
|Item Weight
|0.65 Lbs.
|Item Width
|5.25 In.
Online Inventory
*Valid only on date printed
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Recipe by Keith Dallmer
"My own recipe, a summertime tradition with all home-grown ingredients. No onions, but uses a couple of herbs not found in a traditional bruschetta. Dicing the tomatoes is the time-consuming part. It is a major hit with friends and family! Serve on toasted Tuscan bread slices or crackers."
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1/4 cup
olive oil
1/3 cup
loosely packed basil leaves, very thinly sliced
2 tablespoons
chopped fresh savory
1 tablespoon
chopped fresh thyme
1/4 teaspoon
garlic powder
1 clove
garlic, minced
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 pounds
roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
1 1/2 tablespoons
olive oil
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Summer Savory Bruschetta Topping
Serving Size: 1/12 of a recipe
Servings Per Recipe: 12
Amount Per Serving
** Calories: 66
** Calories from Fat: 57
We have over 100 cucumber salads to help you keep your cool.
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|Cleo Johnny Lemons (Updated)
|Monday, 15 July 2013 12:42
Cleo Johnny Lemons 72 of Glasgow, died Sunday, July 14, 2013 at the T. J. Samson Community Hospital. Born in Barren County he was the son of the late Johnny Princess and Mandy Catherine Neal Lemons. Mr. Lemons was a retired fork lift operator for General Motors in Indianapolis, IN and retired HHB, Kentucky National Guard, 623rd FA in Glasgow.
Survivors include his wife Brenda Pulliam Lemons; 1 son Grant Lemons wife Michelle of Glasgow; 4 grandchildren Joseph, Heather, Eric and Brittany; 1 great grandchild Harmony; 4 sisters Helen Houchens of Glasgow, Virgie McCormick, Frankie Lemons and Jeannie Bratcher all of Bowling Green. Several nieces and nephews also survive.
In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by 6 brothers and sisters James McClusky, Katherine Woods, Bobby Lemons, Lorene Rigsby, Stanley Lemons and Patricia Miller.
Funeral services will be held 2PM Thursday, July 18, 2013 at the A. F. Crow & Son Funeral Home with burial in the Cedar Cross Cemetery in Allen County.
Visitation will be after 11AM Wednesday at the funeral home.


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|Elizabeth Berniece Jones
|Monday, 11 March 2013 13:57
Elizabeth Berniece Jones age 80 of Center died Sunday, March 10, 2013 at T.J. Samson Community Hospital in Glasgow. She was the daughter of the late Rupert Earl and Zora Nunn Kidd. She was a member of the Shady Grove Baptist Church.
She is survived by three children: Kathy Powers and husband Frankie of Edmonton, Ronnie Jones and wife Nancy of Center and Chester Jones of Center; six grandchildren: Christy Brooks and husband Kevin, Courtney Acree, April Rooks, Bliss Brewster and husband Matt, Jesse Jones and Dakota Jones; Five great grandchildren: Cody Brooks, Kassie Brooks, Oakley Pruitt, Preslie Acree and Tucker Brewster; One sister Linda Wilkerson and husband Woodson of Munfordville and one brother in law: Herman R. Scott Jr. of Center. Several nieces and nephews also survive.
Besides her parents she was preceded in death by two children: Johnny and Joyce Ann Jones. Two sisters, Louise Scott and Joyce Kidd. One brother Paul Kidd
Funeral services will be held 1:00 PM Wednesday at Shady Grove Baptist Church with burial in the Houk Cemetery. Visitation will be from 2:00 until 8:00 PM Tuesday at Butler Funeral Home and after 10:00 AM Wednesday at the church.


text:
MooMonth, is a JavaScript calendar application built with Mootools which is highly configurable an customizable.
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Compatibility: All Major Browsers


text:
Courses: Homer: Iliad (GREKB601001)
Spring 2012
Class Number: 1174
We will focus on a careful reading of significant portions of the Homeric epics and on the history of Homeric scholarship. Students will develop an appreciation both for the beauty of Homer's poetics and for the scholarly arguments surrounding interpretation of these texts.
Fulfills: Class Nbr: 1174
Bryn Mawr, TH223
Meeting Times
M 2:00pm-4:00pm


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Baseball generates a significant number of minor to medium severity injuries arising from being struck by pitched balls, thrown balls, batted balls, contact with ground, contact with bases, collision with opponents, and non contact injuries while running. Most of these injuries are bruise/contusions, joint sprains, or fractures.
In addition, baseball can generate catastrophic injuries resulting in death and permanent disability. These primarily result from spinal cord injuries from sliding head first or being struck in the head or chest by line drives. Commotio cordis is a rare but often fatal injury that results from being struck in the chest at the exact instant that interferes with the heart's electrical system.
Youth baseball players are also subject to the injuries that occur when there is a lack of supervision at the lower age levels. Examples are injuries that arise from roughhousing or swinging bats when others are too close.
Proper throwing mechanics
It's critical that pitchers learn how to properly position their throwing arm in the pitching motion. Injury can result if positioning is incorrect during different phases of the pitching motion.
Excessive pitching
Baseball suffers from an epidemic of overuse elbow and shoulder injuries due to pitchers throwing too many pitches over the time period of a game, a week, or an entire season. Adolescent arms are still developing and pitching puts strain on joints and tendons. To avoid injuries to wrists, elbows, rotator cuffs, ligaments, and tendons can result from excessive pitching but can be largely avoided if players and coaches follow a few simple guidelines:
- Most leagues follow rules regarding the number of pitches kids can throw in a game. (See table below).
- All players should take at least 3 months off per year from overhead arm movements.
- If pitchers feel persistent pain in their throwing arm, they should not be allowed to pitch again until the pain goes away.
American Sports Medicine Institute pitching guidelines for youth:
|Age in Years
|Pitches per Game
|Pitches per Week
|2 games per week
|2 games per week
Parents of youth baseball pitchers on independent travel and all-star teams competing in independently-operated tournaments should take extreme caution if there are no rules on pitch limits and rest. Parents may have to track their child's pitch counts to insure recommended limits aren't exceeded.
Coach qualifications
Lack of supervision and lack of instruction are two of the leading causes of lawsuits arising out of youth baseball. Specific supervision is one-on-one interaction between a coach and a single player or a small group of players. Elements of proper supervision include the duty to stop roughhousing, being close enough to adequately observe and intervene if necessary, and proper ratio of adults to youth. Proper instruction requires coaches be knowledgeable in baseball specific techniques and game and safety rules, and that these all of these topics are covered with the athletes.
Your child's baseball coach should be knowledgeable in proper throwing, batting, sliding and catching techniques. Headfirst sliding for young players should be prohibited and batters should be taught how to get out of the way or turn away from a pitch aimed directly at them. The coach should be trained in first-aid and have an emergency medical plan for treatment of injuries in place at all practices and games.
Coaches and umpires should enforce the league's severe weather policy. Policies for practices and games in extreme heat and when lightning is observed should be established in advance of the season.
Youth coaches and umpires should be certified or trained through an organization such as National Youth Sports Coaches Association (NYSCA), which provides an appropriate education on the emotional needs of youth, the role of winning vs. having a positive experience, and the basics of safety and risk management.
Sliding into the bases
Sliding is base running strategy, but learning proper techniques of different slide styles is the key to preventing injuries. The video below illustrates how to slide safely and effectively.
Equipment safety
Proper use and fit of equipment is just as big a factor in minimizing the risk of injury. More than half of all organized sports-related injuries occur during practices, so make sure your child wears all required safety gear every time he or she plays and practices. Players should wear the following:
- Helmet. A properly fitted certified helmet should be worn when batting, waiting to bat, and running the bases. Batters' faceguards are optional safety equipment that should be seriously considered. These devices protect from the risk of a serious dental, facial and eye injuries from being struck by pitched balls. See our detailed study on the effectiveness of batters' faceguards. (Anna link to our blog on this topic)
- Protective eyewear. Players who wear glasses should obtain protective eyewear from an eye-care professional knowledgeable of sports-safety standards.
- Catcher's gear. Catchers must always use a catcher's mitt and wear a helmet, face mask, throat guard, chest protector, and shin guards.
- Molded cleats. Shoes with steel spikes are usually prohibited and leagues recommend molded cleats. Make sure the shoes fit properly, allowing for side-to-side movement. Avoid hand-me downs because they will probably fit poorly and worn down cleats.
- Mouth guard. A mouth guard protects the teeth, lips, cheeks, and tongue and can even reduce the risk of head and neck injuries as concussions and jaw fractures.
- Cups. Catchers and infielders should wear protective cups.
Field safety
- Prior to play, the playing field should be inspected for holes, glass and other debris.
- Break-away or slide-over safety bases have been proven to reduce sliding injuries resulting from contact with base by a significant percentage.
- Weather conditions should be assessed prior to play and a delay/cancellation plan in place in the event of severe weather or thunderstorms with lightning.
Lightning safety and the 30/30 rule
Outdoor athletic events should be halted or postponed if a thunderstorm is six miles or less away from the site. Use the 30/30 rule for estimating how far away a storm is. Measure the elapsed time from the flash to the bang. A count of five seconds equals a distance of one mile, so a count of thirty seconds equals a distance of six miles. You need to be indoors if, after seeing lightning, you can't count to 30 before hearing a clap of thunder. Stay indoors for 30 minutes after hearing the last clap of thunder. In most cases, when you can hear thunder, you are no longer safe.
We have a lightning fact sheet that offers more information on lightning precautions, myths, and safety tips.
Auto safety
We recommended that sports organizations that transport high school aged and younger children should require parents to transport their children whenever feasible. We also advise that 15- and 12-passenger vans should never be used when renting or borrowing vehicles to transport athletes. These vehicles have a high rollover rate. School buses, 7-passenger minivans, or passenger cars, are the preferred vehicles for team travel.
Baseball risk management content
Sadler Sports Insurance offers free risk management content for baseball leagues, including articles on important injury topics, legal forms such as waiver/release agreements and medical consent, sources for criminal background checks, sex abuse and molestation risk management programs, general ballpark safety risk management programs, awareness training videos on sex abuse and molestation protection, and how to identify and respond to safety hazards at the ballpark.
In addition, excellent baseball specific safety and risk management articles and position statements have been published by the Medical and Safety Advisory Committee of USA Baseball.
Insurance policies needed by typical baseball leagues
- Excess Accident with a medical limit of at least $25,000, preferably higher. This policy is a type of no fault insurance that pays medical bills on behalf of injured participants regardless of who was at fault. The coverage is excess or secondary which means that family health insurance, if any, must first respond.
- General Liability with an each occurrence limit of $1 million. It best to consider a $2 million option since many field owners require the higher limit. This policy covers certain lawsuits that allege bodily injury to a player or spectator or property damage.
- Directors & Officers Liability with an each claim limit of at least $1 million. This policy covers many types of lawsuits that are not covered by General Liability, such as wrongful termination or suspension of league administrators or players, allegations of discrimination, and failure to follow your own rules.
- Crime Insurance with a limit of at least $25,000 to protect against employee and volunteer embezzlement or confiscation of equipment or theft of cash by outsiders.
- Equipment Insurance with a limit to cover the replacement cost value of your equipment against certain perils such as theft, vandalism, wind, and fire.
In addition, some larger leagues with additional exposures may need to consider Property Insurance on buildings, Auto Insurance, and Workers' Compensation.
For a detailed description of each policy, see our report entitled 7 Critical Mistakes to Avoid When Buying Sports Insurance.


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Meet Our State and Local Area Representatives
These Ladies have volunteered to go to the extra effort to get our dresses collected and distributed! They promote and connect us with other organizations, schools, clubs and churches. They are fabulous!
There are a number of you "unofficial reps" who promote us and we appreciate you more than you know! You are too numerous to mention but WE know who you are
Carolyn has been to Uganda three times with Hope 4 Kids International--dressing girls and bringing back and selling jewelry made by the widows.
Carolyn is responsible for over 500 dresses going Uganda, Haiti, Costa Rica, Ethiopia, Russia, Ukraine, Kenya, Mexico, & Guatemala
email: firstname.lastname@example.com
As the Northern Colorado Rep Carolyn coordinates the distribution of dresses made in her area; makes presentations around No. Colorado to churches, service clubs and school classes and much more.
Teresa--Southern Colorado Rep!
email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Teresa is the contact for the Colorado Springs area and along with her other activities will be promoting Dress a Girl at the Air Force Academy.
|Teresa says: I'm a stay at home mom & wife. I've loved to sew since grade school. When I read about Dress a Girl I thought what a wonderful thing--to be able to help girls/ladies while doing something that I love. Knowing each dress may be the only one that a girl owns, I try to add a special touch so that she feels she owns something pretty to wear.
Sidney--Our Chicago Rep!
I became involved with Dress A Girl after seeing the pictures of the
Ugandan children on a friend's facebook page. That inspired me to
organize a group of women in northern Illinois for our first sew-fest
in my home shortly after the quake in Haiti. We didn't know what we
were doing but we had fun doing it!
Our goal was 50 dresses...we made 127 and sent them with the Reliv
Kalogris Foundation feeding program to the children there. Our sewing
group is 30+ and the generousity of our church and others has allowed
us to send dresses,"undies", bracelets and dolls to well over 500
children in Uganda, Columbia, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru
as well as Appalichia, Kentucky, South Dakota and New Mexico.
We would love to have you join us, donate material, or carry dresses
abroad! For more information please contact Sidney at 866-730-1877 or
at firstname.lastname@example.com
Donna--Illinois Rep
email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Donna lives in the Chicago area and has been on fire for Dress a Girl since the beginning. She promotes in schools, Girl Scouts, churches, and newspapers:)
Nearly 600 dresses have gone out from Donna's location to Sri Lanka, Haiti, Brazil, Tanzania, and Kenya. Donna has other clothing donations going to local organizations!
Sharon--Northern California Rep
email: email@example.com
Sharon says:
I've never been this aggressive before about anything. The Lord has opened so many doors that I know this is what I am meant to do. Thank you for inviting me. I look forward to doing the best job I can.
Sharon has helped make & distribute hundreds of dresses to Haiti, Cambodia & Kenya
Meet Sophia--Indian Wells Valley, California
When I was first learning how to sew the Lord lead me to Dress A Girl Around the World. A stay at home mom of three the idea of actually being able to do something for others in need from home was a blessing. I am excited and honored to be a part of such an amazing organization helping little girls and women in need.
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com://www.facebook.com/pages/Dress-A-Girl-Around-the-World-Indian-Wells-Valley-and-surrounding-areas/153503634724858
Karen--Southern California Rep
email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Karen has traveled to Uganda with Hope 4 Kids International and was thrilled to dress girls at the wells and other impoverished areas.
She has been instrumental in sending well over 500 dresses to Uganda and Malawi.
Mary Jo & Angels of Mercy--New York Reps
email: firstname.lastname@example.com
website: www.angelsofmercyny.org
Mary Jo & her Angels of Mercy are doing a phenomenal job in New York. They are constantly in the news for their work with Dress a Girl and have had as many as 150 women show up with sewing machines in hand.
From their base in Rochester they have made/sent/shipped over 30,000 dresses to Haiti, Peru, Nepal & France. Mary Jo says: "Our goal is to reach the ends of the earth and we are on our way!!!!"
Gina--Houston Area Rep
email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Houston is fired up about Dress a Girl! Over 1000 dresses have been delivered/sent by Houston friends Robin, Helen, Rhnee, Edith & Gina.
There have been many Dress a Girl Sewing events, Birthday parties, etc.
Gina agreed to represent Houston and is collaborating with the above mentioned to manage our overwhelming response in the Houston area.
She also has a Home Ec class committed to making 200 dresses: is partnering with at least two other ministries to distribute our dresses; has involved a quilt store and promotes Dress a Girl events in Houston.
Suzanne--Washington State Rep!
email: email@example.com
Suzanne is extremely creative and has been sewing for Dress a Girl since the beginning. She lives in Redmond--just outside of Seattle.
She says: "I love the fact that my hobby, sewing, can be used to help others!! I have sewn for years and now I am touching the lives of children in areas that I have not been able to visit. It is quite amazing!! The ministry is growing in our area and I am so thankful to see the excitement in these ladies!!
Janine--Connecticut Rep!
See her blog: http://dressagirlct.blogspot.com/
Janine is our newest representative and says, "It is so great to be a part of Dress a Girl.. . I am so moved by this organization, that I would like to move forward as a state representative."
We are as thrilled to have her a part of us as she is to be a part.
She sent her first shipment of dresses to India:)
Now she has connected with an organization who wants 10,000 dresses!
Ohio Reps--Danielle & Sue
This is how we got involved in Dress A Girl....
Written by Sue:
I heard about Dress a Girl Around the World when I was listening to K-LOVE. I checked out the website, watched the videos, and immediately went out to buy pillowcases. On the way into my first store, I called Danielle from the parking lot, told her about DAG and the website, and told her, "We have to do this." I made three dresses that night. She was getting ready to go to the Philippines on a mission trip, but when she returned, we got together at my house with friends and relatives and started sewing. We continue to host sewing events. We are friends and co-workers at an elementary school and we even have our sixth grade girls sewing. They make remarks like, "We are doing something for someone else instead of for us," and one girl now wants a sewing machine for her birthday! We love creating the dresses and are happy to have the opportunity to help get dresses to little girls.
I live in Portland Oregon with my husband and youngest daughter, and a feisty dog named Teddie. I have 4 children and 5 grand babies. I love to sew and read. I work full time at our local High School in the Attendance Office. As of March 17th I am a 2 year Breast Cancer survivor. I found Dress A Girl on the web after seeing a news blurb about dresses for Africa. After some thoughtful prayer & a quick dig in the linen closet I started my first dress, I haven't the time to look back. I am amazed how doors open up and opportunities show them selves when you are doing God's work. Please watch for Dress A Girl Oregon as we get up and sewing! You can contact firstname.lastname@example.com
I'm Cheryl Olson, I live in Brookings Oregon and have for the past 12 years. God opened the door for me to go on my first of what I hope will be many mission trips to Uganda where I was able to bring 108 dresses that the women in my community made with DAG sew fests. I have a great team that is working with me to expand SoDAG (Southern Oregon Dress A Girl) to other communities from Brookings to Roseburg and Medford Oregon.
Lisa Ward--Our North Carolina Rep!
Lisa lives in Mooresville, NC. She says: "I have been married to my college sweetheart, Jeff, for 18 years. We have two sons. Dylan is 12 and Ethan is 10. I enjoy being a homeschool mom to our sons. I heard about DAG through a local newspaper article in March 2011. I have been sewing dresses ever since. Starting to sew dresses was a easy choice for me because I could combine my love of sewing with my passion for helping at-risk girls. I had been searching for a way I could make an eternal difference in the lives of others, gobally. After reading the article, I knew this was what I wanted to do. As I am sewing each dress, I know that I am helping to clothe and protect little girls all around the world. Seeing God provide the donations and materials need to sew dresses has been a life-changing experience. I am looking forward to sharing this ministry with others, teaching other girls and women to sew dresses, helping send dresses wherever they are needed and seeing pictures of little girls smiling in their dresses.
My FB page is Dress A Girl Around the World-North Carolina
My e-mail is email@example.com
Karen--our Washington DC Rep!
Carol--Tucson Arizona
"I was introduced to Dress a Girl in 9 months through a friend at church, Eastside Covenant of Tucson. Since then the ministry has exploded and we have completed 313 adorable dresses and have sent "seat covers" (panties) with each one! I truly feel called to this ministry.
My mom taught me to sew as a child, and I made most of my clothes until I became a nurse, wife and mother of 4 handsome boys - my "mighty men." My sewing was limited to curtains, attaching Boy Scout Merit badges, Halloween costumes, and pajamas! I now have the joy of sewing with eyelet, lace and girly pink fabrics, and exploring the clearance racks for cute t-shirts in the girl's department! I am so excited to know that something so fun can bless little girls. Besides sewing, I also love to swim, garden and scrapbook."
Email: email@example.com
Kerry has been a supporter of Dress a Girl since we began. She participated in school sewing events and helped teach at our Dress a Girl Around the World Camp.
Kerry says: I was fortunate to meet Rachel nearly two years ago. Dress a Girl came to my kids' school and I jumped right in to help.
It's been a blessing ever since. We've taken Dress a Girl to churches and to homes for needy kids.I have realized that I am the hands of God. I am His voice. I am His arms. Won't you show others the love of Jesus by making a dress or a pair of britches for a little child across the world?Please contact me anytime.Blessings,
Kerry Jeanne Nickerson
Martha Lynn from Georgia!
Hello, I am honored to be the Dress A Girl Rep from Georgia. I am looking forward to helping children all over the world. As a child, I had a pen pal from Turkey which led to my getting involved in sponsoring a child. Being a Dress A Girl Around the World representative is just the next step forward. Our Georgia MaryJanes Farmgirl Chapter was looking to do more outreach projects in 2012 and I found your group on the internet. The minute I saw the Dress A Girl site I knew this was just the kind of outreach program that would fit our Farmgirl chapter. We are all sewers, knitters, and crochetters of varying stages of expertise. When I saw the information on being a state representative, I thought I would love to be involved in this way also, so, here I am! I am a CNA at a Home Health Agency but always felt I would be a better fit for Activities. I am a plant person, worked in retail plant nurseries and activities in a greenhouse at a nursing home. I am a felter and have done numerous other crafts. I look forward to working with you all to make a better world for all of us!
You can contact Martha: email@example.com
South Carolina Rep Donna DiMatteo Brodersen
Donna says: "I have been a 'crafter' for years.
You can reach Donna at email@example.com
Meet our Pennsylvania Rep--Marie
Marie, shown here with her sweet daughter says:
"I have loved to sew since I was little girl living in England, making dresses for dolls, then myself, then my own little girl, then as a seamstress and sewing instructor. I have wanted to sew for charity for a while, doing small projects now and then.When I found out about "Dress A Girl Around The World", I was totally intrigued and it just touched my heart. It was an answer to my prayers. As a mother of a daughter and a son, I just couldn't imagine a little girl out there with out just one dress. I was also excited for the opportunity to use some of my fabric stash and supplies and be able to make dresses for little girls again, since my children are all grown up now.I want to make a difference in at least one little girls life and I look forward to be able to continue to be involved in this wonderful charity."
Marie can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com
Visit her beautiful blog http://padressagirl.blogspot.com/
Meet Our Virginia Rep--Karen
Karen says: "My name is Karen Mills-Thomas and I live in North Garden, a small rural community in Central Virginia with my husband of 30 years and my cat. I have a large vegetable garden and I love playing in the dirt. I am a perennial student.
I own a small business called RozyTomato. I create and sell upcycled earth- friendly kids clothes. I also sell refurbished knitting machines.
I am a Diaconal Minister UMC. Combining my call to serve as well as my passion for sewing has led me to Dress A Girl?I am so excited.
I am looking forward working, making new friends and participating in a remarkable ministry that shares tangible love with children around the world."
Karen can be reached at email@example.com
Eileen--Our Alaska Rep!
Hi, I'm Eileen McKenney and I have moved 13 times in the past 20 years! I have seen several cultures and know how fortunate my family and I are. When my second oldest daughter moved to Malawi, Africa to work as a pediatrician we went to help her get moved and settled in. I was not ready for the dire poverty of that country. The people are so friendly and happy yet they endure so much hardship. With this in mind, I came across "Dress A Girl" website and knew this was the project for me to get involved in. Making these dresses gives my friends and me a tangible way to help my daughter and the girls of Malawi! Hope you will want to help also!
You can contact me email@example.com
Valorie--Our Southern Nevada Rep
Valorie became involved with Dress a Girl Around the World because she wanted to find a way to use her free time in a way that would help others. Her sewing machine was collecting dust and this was a good way to put it to use!
She motivated her co-workers to get involved and has this dress rack at work for them on which to hang their completed dresses.
You can connect with Valorie on her website
Our Maryland Rep--Lisa
My name is Lisa Kreiner and I live in Thurmont Maryland. I'm a single mom and I work full time in Frederick at an Orthodontic Dental Office. I bought my first house by myself and it gives me a great sense of accomplishment! I've lived in Thurmont for two years now and I love being a part of this community. I love to sew, but I never thought I would be sewing for such a worthy cause. I am honored to be part of a wonderful organization like Dress A Girl Around The World. What a blessing to have the opportunity to make a difference in a little girls life. This program has all ready made a difference in mine. Thanksgiving to God, Lisa
Lisa can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com
Meet Ingrid from West Texas
My name is Ingrid Simmons and I live in the Panhandle of Texas, Lubbock, with my husband of 25 years; my daughter, son-in-law and 3 almost grown grandchildren live here as well - Lucky Me!
My grandmother and mother always sewed and when my daughter was in high school I sewed her prom dresses and dresses for college. I had put away my sewing machine when about 18 months ago I learned that a friend's daughter in Houston was sewing dresses for Dress A Girl. With grandchildren almost grown I had some time to spare, so I started sewing pillowcase dresses with actual pillowcases. It didn't take long to switch to fabric so my creativity could be better expressed. I absolutely love what I do and love the people I've met who sew as well as those who take our dresses and distribute them to little girls in many countries. Seeing the smile of a little girl upon receiving a dress is thrilling and knowing I'm making a difference makes the time I spend sewing dresses a time of joy and gives me a great sense of accomplishment.
You can contact me at email@example.com or visit our Facebook Page, Dress A Girl - West Texas, to see the exciting things that are happening in "our neck of the woods".
Holli is our Idaho Rep!
I came across Dress a Girl quite a few months ago while I was searching for a pillowcase pattern dress for my niece. It wasn't for a few weeks that I stumbled upon it again and this time I checked it out and shared it with friends and family. I spent time praying and decided it was time to get involved. When I found out there wasn't a Rep in Idaho I knew fully that it wasn't chance that I stumbled upon the site. I have been busy doing research, following the trips over seas, gathering fabric and sewing. I am hoping to open a door to this portion of Hope International in my church and amongst my family and friends. As I stay busy doing this I also spend time with my son, work as a nanny watching twin boys and running my own business. I am continually thanking GOD for bringing me to the Dress a Girl site and for opening my eyes to the things I take for granted. I am excited to spread the fanciness as every girl, lady and woman deserve to feel like a princess, a child of the highest KING.
You may contact me at: firstname.lastname@example.com
Bay Area Rep--Suzanne
In the last couple of years my life has taken several unexpected turns. These included a very unexpected divorce (after a long marriage), new house in a new town, new church, etc. However, God was with me every step of the way, guiding and guarding. In fact, one morning in my devotions early in the process, the prayer in my devotional was this: "Holy Spirit, you know how much I hate change. Please help me to embrace this new life that you are offering me." I was stunned that this was part of God's plan, but that knowledge was certainly sustaining in the months to come. One evening, sitting in my new house, praying and contemplating all the changes that had occurred and really in awe of God's goodness to me and helping me to 'embrace this new life that he had offered me.' But it occurred to me that my focus had been totally on myself over those several months. Now, I tend to be a very giving, generous person, so having taken time to focus on myself , while I knew it was necessary, was really foreign to me. I realized that I needed to take care of myself, it seemed that it was now time to start thinking about a new ministry. I'd been very involved in the parish in the Pleasanton church, but had given up all my areas of ministry. So as I was praying that evening, I specifically asked God to give me a new area of ministry; and I added…oh, and, by the way, if it could be something CREATIVE, that would be SO cool! A couple of weeks later, I stumbled across the DAG website and within a few minutes literally burst into tears, knowing that this was a DIRECT answer to prayer. As I investigated DAG, I realized that I could sew dresses, but I am actually better an organizing events, so I chose to 'round the troops' so to speak and in the last year (our first Sew-Fest was May 2011) we have met almost monthly and made over 1000 dresses. I'm convinced that God gives us gifts and then when we use them for His good and His glory, he doubles the blessings and we get so much joy in simply USING those gifts! Addendum: In an additional amazing gift from God, I reconnected with a crush from grade-school and we were married last month! Isn't God simply FULL of surprises??!
Contact Suzanne firstname.lastname@example.com
Man's way leads to a hopeless end -- God's way leads to an endless hope!
Carla Our Missouri State Rep
The St. Louis Dress a Girl initiative started from a Girl Scout Gold Award project implemented by Alex Lambrecht. As part of that project, Alex helped to spread the word of the need of clothing in third world countries involving well over 200 Girl Scouts in the initial effort to make 100 dresses and prayer dolls. As part of continuing the spirit of her project, we are continuing to provide a conduit for anyone in the St. Louis Area, not just Girl Scouts, to make dresses and dolls that can be sent to third world countries. We are working with local missionary groups to help get the dresses delivered to those areas in need. If you live in the St. Louis area, and would like information about how to make the dresses or dolls, or have completed items that you would like to get delivered please reach out to firstname.lastname@example.com
Louisiana --Tracy!
I have lived in the New Orleans area all my life. I have been married for 26 years to my wonderful husband and have two grown children. I work full time in Children's Ministry . I've been sewing since I was 11. Both my grandmothers, mother in law, grandmother in law all sewed and my mother, sister and my daughter all sew too! I heard about DAG after seeing on a website that an orphanage in Haiti that I visited this past summer were recipients of DAG dresses. I went right to DAG website and felt God leading me to be part of this organization. I'm excited about become a state rep for Louisiana and look forward to what God has in store! Someone once said "No one can do everything, but everyone can do something." I believe this is my something! Won't you join me in doing something? You can find me on facebook @ dress a girl New Orleans.
My email contact is firstname.lastname@example.com
Meet Joanne--Our Florida Rep
I founded Dressed In Hope, which is the Florida chapter of Dress A Girl Around The World in 2011. In April of 2012 we were asked to join Dress A Girl Around The World and enthusiastically became a member of this wonderful organization.
When not sewing dresses for "our little girls" I can usually be found spending time with my husband Kevin. I love to laugh, read, and discover new museums around the country.
Contact me email@example.com
Meet Toki--our Rep from Duke University Hospital
"Toki has been working at Duke University Hospital since 1998. She has worked with Trauma and transplant patients and currently is a Quality Manager for Cardiac Surgical patients at the Duke Heart Center. She graduated from Duke University School of Nursing with a MSN in Nursing Leadership and since then has focused on leadership as well as quality care of patients in different areas of service. She is bilingual in English and Farsi (Persian).
Toki has a few hubbies such as water color painting and sewing. She has been involved with the Dress a girl project since early 2011 and is the company Rep for Duke in this project.
You can contact her at: email@example.com