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|Homeschool Brunch Bunch- Main
Event Type: Story Time
Age Group(s): School Age Children
Date: 2/28/2013
Start Time: 11:00 AM
End Time: 1:00 PM
Homeschoolers join us for a reading and discussion of the book Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin followed by extension activities. Additional resources will be available to check out for further exploration and self-study. Bring a sack lunch if you wish. Hot chocolate will be provided. For elementary school children.Library: Main Library
Location: MN Large Meeting Room
Presenter: Staff-Juvenile Librarian


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Kidsday at Legoland in Yonkers
Kidsday reporters Chi Chi Ejikeme, Rosana Gest, Rishab Sharma and Kyle Wiblishauser, from Candlewood Middle School in Dix Hills, visit the Legloand Discovery Center where New York City landmarks are made from the legendary plastic bricks, and kids delight in rides and workshops that are Lego-based. Videojournalist: Patrick Mullooly (March 28, 2013)
Newsday.com now uses Facebook for our comment boards. Please read our guidelines and connect your Facebook account to comment.
Cop honored for ending gas station robberies Pit masters smokin' on LI Crash on Sunrise Highway shuts roadway Halloween in August Two swimmers rescued from rip currents in Long Beach Northport PlayStation event lets public play unreleased games Hot Halloween tradition continues in Lido Beach 'It's crazy that I survived' Suspect scratches 30 vehicles on Massapequa street One camper's beginning and another's end Splish Splash thrills visitors on Long Island Turtles released back into the wild in Hampton Bays

subset: commoncrawl


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The Allison Inn & Spa
|#1 in Best Portland, OR Hotels
|Hotel Class 5.0-star
|Critic Rating Excellent
Guest Rating
TripAdvior Traveler Rating
Based on 524 reviews
U.S. News Review
About 25 miles southwest of downtown Portland, The Allison Inn & Spa offers the perfect retreat from urban life; the property hosts acres of lush gardens and vineyards ready to be explored. But recent guests find the indoor resources even more rejuvenating. JORY, the on-site gourmet restaurant, serves up delicacies paired perfectly with exotic and local vintage wines. And the spa pampers visitors with a variety of treatments, such as the Divine Wine Facial, Calming Botanical Bath and Shea Butter Massage. The guest rooms impress even the pickiest traveler with complimentary Wi-Fi access, Bose sound systems, plush linens and flat-screen TVs.
- #1 in Best Portland, OR Hotels
- #1 in Best Oregon Hotels
Awards Received
- AAA/CAA Four Diamond Lodgings 2015
- Concierge.com Editor's Pick
- Condé Nast Readers' Choice List 2014
- Fodor's Choice
- Forbes Travel Guide Four Star Awards 2014
- Frommer's Exceptional
- Lonely Planet Top Pick
- Travel + Leisure 500 World's Best Hotels 2015
- Room Service
- Internet Access
- Dining
- Pets Allowed
- Parking
- Meeting Rooms
- Fitness Center
- Pool
Editor's note: Hotel information is updated periodically. If this is your property and you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know. If you are interested in obtaining a badge to display on your website or in other media, please contact us.
Similar Hotels Nearby
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18.7 miles away
- Hotel Class4.0-star
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Quixant raises £25 million
Posted: April 09, 2014|
Quixant, the Balsham company which floated on AIM a year ago, has raised a further £25 million via a share placing, which was over-subscribed.
New and existing shareholders made a grab for the extra shares in the company, which provides technology for casino gaming machines.
Nick Jarmany, CEO of Quixant, commented: "Since our IPO last year it became increasingly clear to us that greater liquidity was necessary for the long term benefit of the company. By successfully completing this placing we have satisfied significant institutional demand and broadened our shareholder base. I am very pleased with the calibre and support of existing and new shareholders and look forward to continuing to implement our growth strategy."


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Trustee Exhibit Opens at Feick Arts Center
POULTNEY, VT (May 1, 2008) – The public is invited to an exhibit at the Feick Arts Center featuring paintings, prints, blown glass objects and more, all created by current and former Green Mountain College trustees.
An opening reception for the Green Mountain College Trustee Exhibit is Thursday, May 15, from 4 – 6 p.m. It is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.
Exhibitors for the trustee exhibit include Warren Kimble, Tom Johnson, Carol Calhoun, and Judy Howell. Kimble, a well-known folk artist based in Brandon, Vermont, has combined his love of Americana, antiques and collectibles, architecture and painting to create a distinctive style recognized by collectors all over the world. Tom Johnson, a Poultney resident, works with blown glass, carved wood and iron. Calhoun, a painter, hails from Weybridge, Vermont. Judy Howell will be exhibiting her work in intaglio print and mixed media. She lives in Winter Haven, Florida.
The Green Mountain College Trustee Exhibit will be on display at the Feick Arts Center until May 30. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday 1 – 5 p.m. For more information, call 802-287- 8398 or visit http://www.greenmtn.edu/feick.


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SMU Undergraduate Admission
Far removed from the distractions of big city life, nowhere else in the world can you have such an idyllic, wide-open classroom in which to enjoy a vibrant academic community of investigation and discovery. SMU-in-Taos offers courses open to all majors, and this extraordinary campus lets you experience learning in the wide-open laboratory supplied by the cultural and natural resources of Northern New Mexico.
SMU-in-Taos offers unique, hands-on educational experiences in an active, engaged learning community. The undisrupted mountain skies offer astronomy students a clear view of the Milky Way and a vast array of celestial phenomena. Students of all disciplines benefit from the quiet and stunning natural surroundings and abundant outdoor recreational opportunities.
Support & Resources
Honors & Scholars
SMU Abroad
© Southern Methodist University
Dallas, Texas
Contact Us
Apply to SMU / Request Information / Schedule a Visit / Meet your Counselor / Frequent Questions
Legal Disclosures / A-Z Site Index / Working at SMU / En Español / 中國語言網站 / Mobile Site


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Francis Francis 208003 X8 iperEspresso Machine
The X8 is simply a fantastic coffee maker !
Insert an Illy coffee capsule, which contains a 7-gram portion of pre-ground and tamped espresso, revolve the knob on the side of the unit to the cup icon, and the machine looks after the rest--no need to learn the way to measure, grind, or tamp espresso.
And if you are a fan of golden crema on your espresso, you will love the Illy's hyper espresso system: it forces coffee through a valve at the base of the capsule, mixing the espresso with air to provide a long-lasting layer of golden crema.
What else could you possibly want from an espresso maker?
Illy FrancisFrancis! 6139 X3 Espresso maschine
This little treasure will do exactly what it is meant to do irrespective of your experience or ability!
A beautiful looking coffee maker, it has a brass boiler and a pump-driven brewing system with 8-9 bars of dynamic pressure.
The chrome-plated brass brewing handle maintains ideal temperatures for coffee, whilst the steam / hot water wand swivels for clean storage.
The X3 includes 2 brewing handles--one for loose grounds, one for pods--and three baskets to let you select from ristretto, regular, or lungo shots.
A sensible choice for little kitchens, the X3 measures 10-5 / eight by 6- quarter by 11-3 / four inches, so it's got a smaller footprint than a lot of models.
The water tank is accessed from behind, and controls are on the side. The pinnacle of the machine has a handsome mirror finish, adding a pleasing gleam to accent the playfully bright body. Guaranteed for one year after purchase, it comes with easy to follow instructions.
Unfortunately it seems to be available only in Europe!
The X6 Trio is is definitely the machine for you, if you want variety and simplicity!
Whatever you're longing for, your new coffee maker will provide it: espresso, coffee, cappuccino, latte, etc.
And what is even better, the X6 coffee machine can do all this, with just the turn of a handle. The Trio head allows for a short, medium or long espresso using the same handle. It uses pods only, which makes handling even easier for you.
Like the other Francis Francis! machines, the boiler is brass, the brewing head is chrome-plated brass, and the dual electronic thermostats control the coffee temperature and steam temperature. Easily identifiable symbols, lights and sounds makes this machine user friendly.


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Best of 2010
Top 10 of 2010
Top 10 of 2010
Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 are both incredible games and among the best Mario games ever. The variety of levels, power-ups and sheer creativeness is staggering. One of my all-time favourites.
While the main story arc of recruiting a team and fighting a big bad dude is pretty basic compared to Mass Effect 1. The subplots and missions of each recruit is more entertaining and fleshed out than anything the first game had to offer. Not to mention the better visuals, combat, inventory system, side quests and removal of boring vehicle sections!
Story is not as engaging as Assassin's Creed 2 and only takes place in Rome, but minor combat improvements and multiplayer almost make up for it. And of course maintains everything that made Assassin's Creed 2 amazing.
Great game that I spent the most time playing out of all the single player games this year. But, many problems (both technical and design wise) hold it back from being a truly amazing game.
It did rain a lot. Great visuals, story and characters, but more GAME required. Maybe add in more adventure game elements? The abandoned DLC will be sorely missed.
A great and very charming RPG!
While it didn't achieve everything it originally set it to do, it's still an original and entertaining game. Here's hoping for an enhanced PC version to address some issues.
Another great season of Sam & Max. More games need lagomorphs.
Great indie game that legitimately scares you and turns you into a shadow of your former self. The plot is just interesting enough to fight through your fear to see to completion.
A wild west game done really well. Some great moments in the game, but also a lot of boring ones.
Use your keyboard!
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Sky Sports News in Britain have confirmed that Sunderland midfielder Cabral has signed a six-month loan with Genoa.
Reports in the Italian Press have claimed this week that the Grifone were on the verge of securing the Black Cats' man.
However, Sky have revealed on Thursday afternoon that the Switzerland U21 has now officially signed with the Marassi outfit until the end of the season.
Cabral has found life at the Stadium of Light tough this term, playing just League game in the north-east.
Think you know your Italian football? Share your knowledge, tips and comments to win cash prizes in OLBG's tipster competition [12] - £11,000 to be won monthly!


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Exploring the Global Legacy of Zora Neale Hurston: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Research and Writing of the Anthropologist, Folklorist and Novelist.
Tuesday, January 26 7:30- 9:00 P.M. a panel of four scholars from universities in Florida and Russia will highlight the global influence of Zora Neale Hurston's work. There is also an exhibit in the library Welcome To Our Memories: Cultural Phenomena, curated by Maye St. Julian. These programs are part of the many events in Eatonville and other venues in Orange County being presented as a part of the 21st Annual ZORA! Festival that marks the 50th anniversary of Hurston's death. The discussion is free and open to the public in room 223 at the UCF Main Library, Orlando Campus. Free parking is available in Lot B3.


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Items tagged puppetry in MV Collections
Search the collections
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Items per page: 10 50 (showing 1 - 10) 14 items
Money Box - 'Punch And Judy Bank', Cast Iron, circa 1900
Cast iron money box, originally painted, featuring a Punch and Judy show. Originally owned by the donor's husband's stepmother, Mrs Ada Nugent Cockram. Ada was born around 1890, proba ...Images: 2
No Image Available
Jumping Jack - Mertens Kunst, circa 1979-1993
Alternative Name(s): Pantin Pull Toy Made: Mertens Kunst, circa 1979 - 1993 Donated by Pat Gardner and Jenny Jones from the Greenwich Toy Library who brought it to Melbourne for the ...Images: 0
Toy Wrestlers - Wood, Gurr & Jamieson, circa 1993
Toy wrestlers, made by Gurr & Jamieson circa 1993, workshops 3 & 4, the Craft Centre, Drumlanrig Castle, Thornhill, Dumfriesshire, Scotland. In 1993 a World Play Summit was held in Me ...From: Thornhill, United Kingdom Images: 1
Doll - L. J. Sterne Doll Company, Geraldine Gee, Boxed, 1962
Moulded plaster ventriloquist doll in the form of a girl, with original cardboard box and instruction cards. This doll was produced by Sterne Doll Company at their factory in Leicester ...From: Carlton, Australia Images: 5
No Image Available
Jacket - L.P. Alexander, Gerry Gee, 1956
Light grey woollen child's tuxedo style jacket, with a zip up the centre of the back, made by Melbourne tailoring firm L.P. Alexander in the mid 1950s. It was made for ventriloquist Ro ...From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0
Shoes - Regina Shoes, Gerry Gee, circa 1965
Dark brown leather child's size shoe with a brown rubber sole, brown cloth laces, and a red leather innersole with a gold logo printed on it. These shoes were made in Perth by Regina S ...From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 1
Theatre Programme - Peter Scriven, 'Tintookies in a New Play Little Fella Bindi', 1958
Program from Peter Scriven's 1958 production of 'Little fella bindi'. The program has a brown cover and a large photograph of the puppet 'Little fella Bindi' holding hands with a possum ...From: Brisbane, Australia Images: 2
Theatre Backdrop - Greek Shadow Puppet Theatre, Karaghiozis' House, 1960s
Alternative Name[s]: Paragga [an old run-down house/shack] This backdrop was made in the 1960s by the Greek puppeteer and popular artist Abraam (Antonakos) in his Athens workshop, and ...From: Athens, Greece Images: 1
Mask - GTV Channel 9, Gerry Gee, Rubber, Melbourne, circa 1960
Moulded and painted face mask of ventriloquist doll Gerry Gee. It was made at the Richmond studios of GTV Channel 9 in the early 1960s. It was used during the production of the childre ...Images: 2
Boxed Marionette - Hi-Lo, Lamont Puppets, circa 1954
Boxed Marionette or a String Puppet made by Lamont Puppets, circa 1954. It was one of a set of three of the puppets received by Ann Hargreaves as a gift for Christmas in 1954. They came ...From: South Yarra, Australia Images: 4


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I've been working on Wordza.com for which I needed Ngram data from a sufficiently large corpus. Initially, I thought of using Wikipedia data which I already have on my disk, but decided on using Project Gutenberg data as it is more representative of the general usage of English language.
Get Project Gutenberg Ngram data
The Ngram data contains bi-grams and tri-grams for now. I plan to generate uni-grams soon. I've made the data available here so you can download and use it! This data contains all of the e-books hosted by Project Gutenberg (which means the data contains English, French, German and other languages). If you want an English only dataset, check back in a week or two. I am in the process of generating the same.
The Ngram data containing bi-grams and tri-grams. Each line is prepended with the occurence count.
gutenberg_ngrams.tar.bz2 (624 MB)
This is the compressed tarball of all the txt files in Project Gutenberg (as of a week before this blog post). Note that you don't need this file unless you want to generate the Ngrams yourself using the scripts provided below.
gutenberg_files.tar.bz2.2 (5.3 GB)
My webserver (Apache) has a problem serving out files bigger than 2GB, so I had to split the file up. After you download the splits, you have to join them like this.
mv gutenberg_files.tar.bz2.0 gutenberg_files.tar.bz2
cat gutenberg_files.tar.bz2.1 >> gutenberg_files.tar.bz2
cat gutenberg_files.tar.bz2.2 >> gutenberg_files.tar.bz2
To decompress the files, you will need bunzip2 on *nix/Cygwin. On Windows, use 7zip.
Generate the data yourself
In case you want to generate the Ngrams yourself by processing the Project Gutenberg data files, follow these instructions. You will have to get the Project gutenberg data files. Use the following command to get all the English language files in txt format.
mkdir gutenberg
cd gutenberg
wget -w 2 -m "http://www.gutenberg.org/robot/harvest?filetypes[]=txt&langs[]=en"
The txt files are compressed and stored in files ending with .zip extension. These zip files are spread across multiple directories. The following command will move the zip files into the "gutenberg" directory you created in the above step.
for i in `find . -name "*.zip"`; do mv $i . ; done;
Now that all the zip files are in the same directory, unzip the zip files.Some zip files may contain files other than .txt's. The following command extracts only .txt's in the zip files.
cd ..
mkdir gutenberg_txt
for i in `find gutenberg -name "*.zip"`; do unzip $i \*.txt -d gutenberg_txt/ ; done;
cd gutenberg_txt
for i in `find . -name "*.txt"`; do mv $i . ; done;
cd ..
The gutenberg txt files have gutenberg headers and footers which should be removed lest they skew the frequency of Ngrams. The script "remove_gutenberg_text.py" does exactly this. The "generate_ngrams.py" script creates uni, bi and tri-grams of whatever text is piped into it. The following command pipes all the txt files through both the scripts to create the ngrams file.
for i in `find gutenberg_txt/ -name "*.txt"`; \
do cat $i | python remove_gutenberg_text.py | \
grep -i -v "project gutenberg" |\
python generate_ngrams.py >> gutenberg_ngrams; done;
Now you have to count the number of times an ngram occurs. The following sequence of commands process the ngrams file generated above and produce a file with the frequency counts of the ngrams. Note that the "512K" option to sort is because I had to run these scripts on my host which kills processes that take too much memory. If you have a machine with a lot of memory, sorting can be significantly faster if you use a higher value, say "1G".
sort -S 512K -T tmp_sort/ gutenberg_ngrams > gutenberg_ngrams.sorted
uniq -c gutenberg_ngrams.sorted > gutenberg_ngrams.counted
sort -S 512K -T tmp_sort/ gutenberg_ngrams.counted > gutenberg_ngrams.counted.sorted
Gutenberg data processing scripts
- remove_gutenberg_text.py — removes Project Gutenberg header and footer from txt files
- generate_ngrams.py — generate uni, bi and tri-grams for any text
Do get back
If you use this data, I would really appreciate if you get back with details about how you used it in the context of your project
Tagged: gutenberg, ngrams, project gutenberg, python, text parsing


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First of all, let's start this little journey by mentioning The Gloom. Fallujah. Abu Ghraib. Bodies hanging on bridges. Prisoners standing on boxes.
Listen troops, let's get this straight right off the bat: it's only a catastrophe. It's nothing more than a major disaster. I'm not being cynical, or arch, or "ironic." I am deadly serious.
We have seen two months of what looks like non-stop catastrophe, and we will see more, and maybe worse, before we are through. Here is my well-reasoned, historically researched, deeply nuanced opinion: Buck up. This war will be over when we say it is over, and not a second before.
When Santa Ana's men ran up the red flag and his band played the Deguello –- "The Throat Cutting" -- it must have made the men and women in the Alamo sick and weak in the knees. But it did not have the demoralizing effect that the Mexican dictator intended. Rather, it hardened the defenders. They did not run, and we are not going to run either, and Dan Rather and Ted Koppel and the rest can play all the goddam dirges they want to. The Alamo itself was a military disaster, a catastrophe. And when Sam Houston retreated from and kept evading Santa Ana's army, he was called a coward and a traitor -– afraid to fight, not tough enough to do what was necessary. Sam Houston was a deeply flawed man, but he had thick skin and that in itself goes a long way when you are planning deep. Sam Houston didn't give a tinker's damn about Glory or Honor. Sam Houston wanted Texas. Like the equally wily and patient George Washington before him, Sam Houston wanted to win. And they did win. And that is why there will be no major metropolitan area named Kerry.
We ran from Fallujah, we hear; those murdering bastards are laughing at us. We're not tough enough to win. Uh, not quite. Hundreds of those murdering bastards are dead. They are not laughing at anything.
The Fallujah bridge pissed off a lot of Americans. It really made us see red. Would we be disgusted enough to walk away, or furious enough to go in and indiscriminately slaughter thousands? The architects of that atrocity must have thought they nailed that perfect tic-tac-toe move: we go one way, they win on the other. Quoth Den Beste: the object of Terrorism is to provoke an overwhelming response. And the response to that response is the political and strategic goal of the terrorist.
Al Sadr, you less than magnificent bastard! We read your book!
Blah, blah…war is lost…blah blah blah... disaster, wreck and ruin… Only it turns out that the United States military may have produced a few life-long professionals who actually hold victory more precious than crowing loud. Many of us value reason over emotion, and reality over wishful thinking. Well, we did not level Fallujah, and we did not do it because those bodies on that bridge were bait, pure and simple. We didn't take the bait. Or, I should say, our military didn't take the bait; I took it, hook line and sinker. I wanted to level the goddam city and then walk away and let them kill each other. Now, as Al Sadr's support evaporates; as his militia thugs are being hunted and killed by shadowy Iraqi ghost armies and extremely corporeal Marines; as his fellow Mullahs condemn him; as Iraqi demonstrations against him and all that poison and ruin he represents continue to rise; as his headquarters are destroyed, his most vicious 'soldiers' killed in their own backyards, playing defense in an urban environment against Marines whose skill and tactics stagger credulity for their expertise and success -– now, we must ask ourselves: did you want to feel good or did you want to win?
I want to win. I was an idiot for taking that bait. And I thank God daily that America makes better, smarter people than me.
The average Iraqi knows full well we can bomb and pummel the hell out of anything we want. But this was different. This took patience, and a willingness to get inside the enemy strategy. This took commitment, and persistence. It was cunning. These people know how strong our military might is; no need to re-teach that lesson. But strong and cunning? Strong and cunning and patient? That puts the Arab imagination into overdrive.
The threat of the vast Shiite uprising that loomed in early April has largely evaporated. Things are still very tense. They may again get worse; they may become horrible. But we will win this because we are not going home until we do. This is slowly beginning to dawn on some of the hardest heads in Iraq. When Iraqi leaders start saying things like we'd better help the Americans stabilize the country, because they will not go away until we do –- well, that is precisely, exactly the kind of victory we need. We need that attitude. There is a shred of can-do self-reliance in those words. Al-Sadr will either end up like Uday and Qusay, or Saddam. Those are his remaining choices.
Fallujah still stings proud people like me. I want them to admit the obvious: that we kicked their ass and can do so again at the drop of a hat. But confidence, the confidence borne of real strength, tells me I might perhaps be wrong. Victory may be more important than my personal pride; indeed more important than the pride of the US Marine Corps. The Marines are all about pride, but their mission is Victory, and nothing gets between a Marine and Victory.
So the next time you hear this Graveyard of Americans bull, do what I do: close your eyes, picture Colonel Klink, and remember that no one has ever escaped from Stalag 13.
Because we did not take the bait, because we so clearly were not the staggering, drunken, imbecile Giant we are accused of being by our European betters, we denied the Syrians and the Iranians the general, nationwide uprising they so dearly wanted. Idiots. We vote in November. They played their hand now. Kerry and Bush are in a dead heat after eight weeks of unrelenting catastrophe for Bush. And there is such a thing as catastrophe fatigue.
On May 7th, 1864, the Army of the Potomac had once again been thrashed at the hands of Robert E. Lee. Their newest commander, US Grant, had been beaten, and beaten badly, in his first contest with the legendary Southerner. Beaten worse than "Fighting Joe" Hooker had been on the same ground at Chancellorsville. Beaten as badly as Burnside, and Pope, and McClellan had been beaten before the endless retreats, the shame, and the false hope of a never-ending parade of new commanders. They were a beaten Army. And as they marched out of the Wilderness to camp back in Washington, they had nothing to look forward to but new commanders, new catastrophes, new humiliations, and new defeats.
But when they came to the familiar crossroads, a buzz ran down the line. Some solders described it as a wave of emotion -– disbelief, mostly -– others, as static electricity. It was a murmur, then a shout, and then a cheer. They were not turning North. They were turning South, trying to steal a March on Bobby Lee! They had been beaten and bloodied as badly as any time in their seemingly endless string of utter defeats. But now they were marching South, to try again.
The simplest farm boy in that line that night knew, with certainty, that they could suffer as many catastrophes and disasters as fate could throw at them, for while they might be defeated again and again, they only had to succeed once.
So remember this; tattoo this in backward letters on your forehead so you can read it when you brush your teeth each morning: the most deadly, most awful and destructive war in our history was won not by a series of tactical and strategic masterstrokes, but rather by an endless, relentless series of monumental, hair-rending, soul-destroying blunders, missteps and debacles…that never stopped until they had won total, complete, utter, victory.
When Lee announced the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox, many of his soldiers wept. As it began to dawn on them, and they started along the winding dirt roads that led to home, they would say things to each other like One Johnny Reb was worth ten Yankees on the battlefield and Give us time to get a crop in and we'll go back and lick 'em again. They were proud and tough people trying to retain their pride in the face of the worst defeat ever suffered by Americans. We didn't club these people to death to show them they were wrong. We left them what was left of their pride; we'd need those people to be good citizens again someday. Victory is enough.
That takes strength.
Catastrophes are only catastrophes; disasters are only disasters: they are not the end unless we decide they are. And so, let us, right here and now, decide that they are not the end. Because this is something we need to understand, something we need to feel deep in our bones: we are so strong, as a nation, that nothing can stop us when we set our minds to something. Nothing. We can only stop ourselves. All the players know this to be true. Al Sadr knows it. France and Germany know it. The Jihadis know it. The UN knows it. You and I know it.
Because we, the American people, are the only ones who can decide whether or not to give up in failure and defeat or carry on to the victory of a free and stable Iraq, we find that we ourselves -– the common, average Americans -– are to be the battleground. We are the soldiers. We are the weapons. We are the targets of the enemy strategy. Our hearts, our spirit -– that is the front line. All the players know this, too. This is our war, more than it is the Marines' or Al Quaeda's.
Our war. Ours.
So we need to find the strength to fight this war. And this search will not be a quick or easy one, for our strength lies both obvious and on the surface in some places, and in other places, very, very deep.
This is a critical, essential search, for the manifest strengths and beauty of our Western Society have been under such sustained attack, for so long, that we are beginning to believe this parade of lies launched against us. We have to stop it. We have to fight it. And we have to beat it. On this everything else depends.
This will be a long and circuitous journey. I'm sorry; I wish it were not so. But we must, we must find the strength we need to sustain our spirits against an onrush of negativity, pessimism, defeatism and despair that is so deadly precisely because it is so antithetical to the natural character of the American people.
Morale, my friends. Morale. Humor and confidence are our best friends now. And so, as we begin our journey through Mordor toward the heart of Mt Doom, on this mission to defeat this pernicious attack on our strength, remember this:
Americans eat disasters and crap hand grenades. And I got your quagmire right here.
It seems fairly incredible to me that I have to spend some time on whether or not Radical Islam -– which we will, for the sake of the discussion, call Islamist -– is really a threat to the West in general and the United States in particular.
But the fact remains that those determined to weaken our will are methodically trying to undermine every aspect of what we Westerners refer to as "reality." So, like a giant and unusually serious game of Whack-A-Mole, we have to spend time going around clubbing arguments that should be blatantly obvious.
Remember, links in a chain of argument. Grab the hammer and tongs, and let's get to work:
To those who claim that Islamist terrorists do not pose a direct, immediate and potent threat to the United States, I would like to condense the next four thousand words of this argument thusly:
One of the most vilified people on the internet right now is Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs. It is the only website that I will check at least twice a day. Charles has been called a racist, a bigot, and much worse. He is personally threatened daily. Charles is attacked personally, and with a viciousness rare even among the most vicious out there, because there really is no other defense against the arguments that LGF makes, many times a day, than to attack the man.
But Charles Johnson is not the issue. I could counter with the fact that I have met him several times; he is, like Steven Den Beste, an extraordinarily gracious, soft-spoken and gentle man. None of this matters.
What does matter is what Little Green Footballs does on a daily basis. Charles Johnson does not sit down and write five essays a day on why he thinks Radical Islam is a deranged and poisonous and growing Death Cult. Charles simply links to newspaper articles, usually from Arab and Islamist sources like Arab News and Reuters, that show without question that Radical Islam is calling, daily and nightly, for the destruction of the West, the murder, enslavement or conversion of its citizens, and the establishment of a world-wide Caliphate where Shariah -– Islamic Law -– is the only law.
This is not his opinion. This is not the opinion of Western editorial writers. This is a filter (and of course it's a filter -– that's why it is useful) that looks at Islamist thinking and behavior daily and shows what Islamists are saying and doing in their own words.
I and many others view Little Green Footballs as the equivalent of the Cold War's D.E.W. Line -– the Distant Early Warning radar system that searched the Polar skies, looking for incoming threats. This is why Charles is attacked personally. He is attacked personally in an attempt to discredit him and his website because the fact remains that almost everything he links to are articles by Islamists, about Radical Islam -– and what they say in their own words is so totally compelling, damning, and downright blood curdling that anyone not seeing the danger brewing does not deserve to be part of this argument.
Now, the source of this hatred towards the West is the source of endless books and analysis and articles and thesis papers. To this interminable Gordian Knot of causes and effects and counter-causes and grievances, I can only add this:
I don't care.
If someone is coming toward me in an alley, knife drawn, I do not give a damn why their socio-economic status may have had an influence in coloring their worldview regarding income redistribution. To take such a position rather than preparing to defend yourself is suicide, and we will come back to this later because it is a key to understanding what is going on out there.
Radical Islam is a religious cult based on constant, never-ending warfare. I personally am aware of no other religious tracts that are as filled with page after page of conquest, strategy and military jargon. Islam rose to prominence under the sword, and the Prophet was, above all else, a military commander determined to spread his faith by conquest and enslavement. Islam has rules for when prisoners should be released, ransomed, sold into slavery or have their throats cut. As a matter of fact, Islam has rules for everything. What to eat, how to wash, where and when and in which direction to pray. Islam has rules for the treatment of animals and the treatment of women. There is no part of daily life that is not specifically addressed, sanctioned or outlawed by Islam.
And contrary to post 9/11 spin, the most accurate translation of Islam is not "peace." Prior to 9/11, the nearly universally accepted translation of the concept of Islam was "submission."
Of course, submission sounds a little more prickly to American ears. Matter of fact, it's hard to imagine a word that would so enrage the American psyche than the concept of submission. "Tyranny," perhaps, but tyranny is only what we are expected to submit to. Americans have fought against submission and Tyranny since there have been Americans. That's what we do. That is who we are. And ever since the Revolution against submitting to the tyranny of King George, American revulsion with the entire idea of submission has been watered each generation by fresh waves of immigrants who have fled here escaping submission.
And here are two final thoughts on this issue:
First, Islam philosophically divides the world into two camps -– these are Islam's definitions, not mine -- Dar al-Islam and Dar al-Harb. Dar al-Islam is the House of Submission. Dar Al-Harb is not the House of Infidels. It is the House of War.
I, and others who see a terrible threat in the growth of Radical Islam, did not invent this term. It is considerably older than my humble self; besides, I do not speak Arabic. It is their term. And unlike people determined to hide until this problem goes away, I am determined to take Islam at its word.
Finally, consider this: Muslims are angrily at war with Buddhists in East Asia. Muslims are enraged with Animists in Africa. Of course, none of this approaches the sheer hatred that Muslims bear towards Hindus in the South Asia peninsula. And this foaming hatred blanches compared to the white-hot fury Muslims feel for the Christian American Crusaders. And this fury is but a candle to the incandescent, boiling, supernova of murder they feel toward the Jews.
Does anyone beside me detect a pattern here? You know, my Dad told me once, "Bill, if more than three people in your life are utter, total assholes, then maybe it's you."
I am not a religious person. I do not have a horse in this race. But everywhere I turn in the world today, I see Radical Islam -- and not the United States -- at war with everybody. And I have no choice but to conclude that this is not a blip or a hiccup. It is a growing threat. And it needs to be met head-on. Right now.
Have I slandered 1.5 billion people? I don't know. Have I? I speak of Radical Islam. I speak of people determined to kill and terrorize to impose their religion on the rest of the world. If you are a Muslim who is against these practices, you have my respect and admiration. And, as with all other religions in the United States, I will as passionately defend your right to practice your faith in harmony and goodwill as I attack those who may carry the Crescent far, far away from your peaceful and devout beliefs. But I will not pretend I do not see and hear what I see and hear every single day, just because you may not like to hear it. That is not something I or millions of my countrymen will submit to. Accept, or at the very least, understand that right now. I say this for both our sakes. More on this later.
The philosophy of Radical Islam is at war, not only with America and the West, but with everything that is not Radical Islam. So, do they hate us? Yes they do. Judging from their street demonstrations, and the rhetoric issuing from their madrassas, does anyone seriously doubt that if millions were given a button that would wipe us from the face of the earth, they would push it?
I don't see how any rational person could deny this is so.
They are working on that button, by the way.
WHACK! On to the next mole.
Those who would have you doubt America and the West want you to believe that there are many legitimate grievances that Islamists have against us. They argue that they are only acting against American and Western aggression, colonization and arrogance. So it's all our fault and if we'd just come home and mind our own business everything would be dandy.
Unfortunately, when you actually listen to the Islamists talk about their "grievances" (hey, Reuters? These "quotes" really do perform as advertised!), they will start at the Crusades and work their way forward, in no particular order. Sadly for those who want you to believe they hate us for what we do rather than who we are, Uncle Sam was not at that fight -- a fact that might be apparent had their historical knowledge predated 1968. Americans were not only quite spectacularly underrepresented at the Crusades…we in fact do not make much of a dent on the Islamist bloody roll-call until the middle 1970's. Before then it was the Franks and the Spanish and the English and just about everyone else.
Why are these people still seething about things that happened a thousand years ago?
Well, because it's been that long since Islam was a dominant force in the world. It's like watching a Red Sox fan pining for the days of the Babe and the lost glory of that 1918 season.
The truly remarkable, astonishing and galling issue here is that while the multi-culturalists are the ones shrieking the loudest about understanding different people and different values, they are the ones absolutely least willing to take themselves at their own words and so they consistently apply western thought models to people who think nothing like we do.
We are a co-operative society. Compromise, agreements and webs of trust run through our culture in mind-blowing levels of complexity. The most virulent Islamist Arabs, on the other hand, live by completely different rules and values, and time and again we who should know better by now refuse to try to see things through Arab eyes because the view is frankly so jaundiced and horrible we really can't believe what we are seeing.
Honor and shame trump everything in that world. A pithy sentence, eh? So instead, think about what it would take for you to kill your own daughter with a knife, with your bare hands, because she was seen in the company of a man not her husband or a relative. Think about that. Think long and hard. What kind of hatred and shame could drive a human being to do such a thing? What kind of pressures does that society bring to bear on an individual to make him capable of that? How different is their view of women, of family, of honor and shame? What would it take for you to murder your daughter with a knife, or a knotted cord -– with your own two hands and against her pleading, her protestations, and her begging for her life? If your response wasn't "there is nothing that could make me do that," then stop reading right here and get the hell off my property.
Multi-culturalists will respond that Honor Killings are not the norm and not representative of Islam and life under Shariah. We can debate the exact numbers of these horrors for days, but the fact remains that no matter how many individual cases there are, there is de facto legal protection for committing these crimes. When Islamic schoolgirls attempting to escape a burning building with their faces uncovered were sent back inside to die by the religious police rather than dishonor Islam…well, that is a brush that will carry a lot of tar.
There is a simple enough reason why these Islamists so hate and despise the West, and America especially. It has little to do with our foreign policy. We have taken the side of oppressed Muslims in Kosovo, Chechnya, Kuwait and many other places. We spend billions of dollars a year in aid to Egypt. We're still waiting for the love to pour in.
No, this is not about reason, as we understand the term. This is about shame, it is about denial, and it is about transcendent revenge. Shouts of Allahu Akbar! were not overdubbed by western propaganda agencies as they sawed through Nick Berg's throat and twisted off his head. Those are authentic. As they got down to their filthy work they were screaming, over and over in a fit of religious ecstasy: God is Great! Nick Berg was nothing more than an animal sacrifice to them. That is Radical Islam.
The only thing that will appease them is your blood. All of it. Remember that.
They are the willing architects of their own brutal oppression. They are dirt poor -– not because of what was done to or stolen from them, but because of what they have done to themselves. This harsh, vicious, bitter patriarchy of control and domination has systematically and methodically wrung out of life the smallest joy or happiness. The Ayatollah Khomeini, the Santa Claus for your eternity in hell, famously remarked that:
"Allah did not create man so that he could have fun. The aim of creation was for mankind to be put to the test through hardship and prayer. An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious."
And yet, in a very different desert on the far side of the world, sits... Vegas.
There was no issuance of demands prior to 9/11. 9/11 was not a response to acts taken by the United States government. 9/11 was never about what we have done. 9/11 was an attack on Who. We. Are.
In the world today there exists a 21st Century society with unimagined freedoms, opportunities and protections for the individual. Opposing it is a 12th Century religious cult bound in concepts of tribalism, shame, revenge and envy.
The presence of Las Vegas makes a mockery of these people's lives. They have been taught that they are God's own chosen people -– but they are humans, as human as we are. And so, shackled to an ideology determined to wring every precious drop of enjoyment out of life, they look across the world to see a group of people enthusiastically breaking every commandment they were ever given, and not only do these heathens succeed and prosper beyond the wildest tales from the Arabian Nights, but they are enjoying themselves beyond any measure as they do so. These tortured souls can vaguely guess, lying in bed late at night, that even the lowest and most common working man or woman in America can, once a year, travel to Las Vegas and live a few days in luxury unknown to the grandest Caliph in the very flower of their history.
You've got to admit, if that were you -– that would suck.
The success, the strength -– indeed, the very presence of the United States tells them that their religion has been lying to them. They, who follow every stricture, who submit to every admonition, who put away every single shred of enjoyment, have been told that they are the chosen people of God, and that the World shall become their domain and its citizens their slaves and concubines.
Not happening.
This fact is not lost on them. They are told it is because they are not devout enough. They are pointed toward 19 Warriors of the Faith, pure in heart, and what they can accomplish against the Great Satan. What other explanation can they accept? That their entire religion, their entire culture, their entire history of failure, torture, hardship and ruin is their own fault? That it will not, it cannot change, and must be discarded? That there is nothing for them but more of the same endless misery, while everyone else in the world grows richer, freer, and happier?
No. That is not going to happen. We are their test. God has promised them the world, and, if you will forgive the trendy internet reference: all our base are belong to them.
To them, we and our pursuit of happiness are intolerable. More intolerable is the incredible appeal our culture has for people -– especially young people -– all around the world.
Our 21st Century society can easily survive the cultural appeals of their 12th century one. The reverse is certainly not true. Radical Islam, without Jihad, without the promise of elevation and achievement through death, cannot survive in the world we have created.
One way or another, it is going to be Them or Us. Everybody knows this, and no one will say it.
Because this conflict is about who we are, rather than what we do, defeat for us means not stepping back from places where others claim we have no business, but rather the destruction of this society, and the values upon which it is based.
And so the attacks on our foundations continue, a concerted and coordinated effort to define our history and our culture as being unworthy of defense and antithetical to humanity's greater good.
Having spent untold hours hovering in the electronic cafes, meeting halls and sewers that link us in this world wide web, I see a disgust for and frankly a complete disbelief in the amount of patriotism displayed by the average American.
I have seen ugly, mindless displays of American pride and arrogance. In some of this, I think, I see the hurt and disbelief, and the growing sense of betrayal and shock at the abandonment and slander coming at us from those formerly thought friends whom we have helped often and dearly in the past when their existence was threatened and their own buildings lay in smoke and ruin. Those friends that have remained are especially dear to us now. I suspect we will not forget either camp for a very long time indeed.
There was a time when most every nationality expressed a burning pride in who and what they were and had become. I have always understood and admired this essential pride in one's self and their extended national family.
Many in Europe, especially, have renounced such feelings of nationalism. Nationalism has not played out all too happily in Europe, and so we, who have had nothing but success in this regard, are expected to toe the line and voluntarily scrap our shiny new automobile because the neighbors went and ran theirs over a cliff.
What is not apparent from history is the simple fact that being an American is a choice. It is a choice we have all made to be here, or to come here, either ourselves, or our parents, or their parents. It is a choice new millions make annually. And any of us can leave, at any time. No one not a part of this experiment, no one who does not hold the truths we live by to be self-evident, can have a glimmer, a nanosecond flash of how deeply and brightly that pride burns inside so many of us.
This is a strength -– I believe the only strength, when all is said and done -– that has the power to stand up to these forces of darkness gathering once again in the margins of the world. It is another reason why those who would strangle liberty, individuality and joy hate and fear us so greatly.
And so the attack on our self-image is essential to weakening our fundamental strength. And it has been accelerating where we are the most vulnerable, in our schools and universities, launched by the most self-obsessed, pampered generation in our history: mine.
Do you disagree?
Well, let's start by looking at how we view ourselves now, in our antiseptic, safe and bland reality, against how we viewed ourselves in the crucible of our existence when our personal lives and the life of our Republic hung in the balance.
On the one hand, we're lucky. We've got a history that is so packed with heroism and courage and strength that the hard part is figuring out which example to start with. It could be much worse, n'est pas?
History is woven from a collection of snapshots, flashbulbs in a dark room revealing instants frozen in time and memory. Behind the boilerplate of historians are moments so fragile and ephemeral we can catch and preserve but the thinnest fraction of them. After the Civil War, many millions of delicate glass negatives were used as panes in greenhouses all across a nation determined to forget the horror and sorrow and move on with life once more. How many proud or grim expressions have simply faded slowly away in the sunlight of the succeeding years, ghosts lining the walls and ceilings of hothouses in Maine and Alabama, growing dimmer, and fainter…and…gone.
From the eve of that nightmare, that horror that so many had seen coming for so long, history and chance have snatched one of those snapshots back from eternity. Study it. Take your time. Soak it up. Even better, whisper it aloud, if you dare -– these words need human breath again. It is a dried and brittle flower, pressed into the book of our collective memory; a snapshot of American thought from 143 years ago…
Shortly before the first great battle of the Civil War, a Major of the 2nd Rhode Island Volunteers wrote to his wife in Smithfield. (The unedited text is here: )
July the 14th, 1861
Washington D.C.
My very dear Sarah:
The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days -- perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more.
If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing -- perfectly willing -- to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt.
But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows -- when, after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children -- is it weak or dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country?
Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.
The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us.
My dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.
Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have oftentimes been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the misfortune of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot. I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we meet to part no more.
But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in the darkest night -- amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours -- always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.
Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again.
Major Sullivan Ballou was killed one week later at the first battle of Bull Run.
The most remarkable thing about this letter is simply how ordinary such thoughts were in that day. Many, of course, have heard of this letter thanks to Ken Burns and his amazing documentary, The Civil War. Many have said it might be the greatest love letter ever written. And I would agree, but look deeper…
Major Ballou is, in effect, writing this letter as an apology. It is an apology to his wife and sons that his love for his country has called him away, to leave that which he loves so dearly alone and undefended in a world very much harder than our own. Until I read the unedited letter I myself never suspected that Maj. Ballou was an orphan; how bitter it must have been for him to willingly condemn his own two children to a fatherless existence in the days before life insurance and Social Security.
Look at how this man views his country. Here he stands, a beacon of love and sacrifice against the gloom of historical anonymity; a man ready to sacrifice his overwhelming love for his wife, his children and his life for a cause which he believes supercedes them all. More than anything, this letter speaks of a selflessness and gratitude that surpasses modern understanding. There is not a shred of victimhood, not a whiff of regret or bitterness from start to finish.
There are people who will read this letter and cry. I am one of those people. To me, the sentiments expressed with such casual eloquence are the absolute pinnacle of what the endless human struggle entails: Courage. Honor. Duty.
And yet, and yet…for all those hard virtues, how much love is in this letter? How much joy? How much beauty? How much pride and dignity? How much confidence? How much compassion? How much sacrifice?
How much strength is in that letter?
There are people who will read this letter and call men like Sullivan Ballou idiots and fools. They will mock those values and say they wasted their lives, and abandoned their children, to die horrible deaths at the hands of their brothers for no reason other than foolish jingoism and false glory. Such people will say that he was a mere cog in the interests of rich and powerful men struggling only to grow their own wallets. But Sullivan Ballou is above their derision and deconstruction. He had a level of courage and moral clarity so far beyond these critics that it goes through them, invisible and undetected, like an X-ray.
Those people will never know what he knew, and what some of us struggle to retain today. It is beyond them, as far beyond them as Shakespeare is to a slug or a sponge. I pity these gutless, heartless, soulless, guilt-ridden, self-obsessed, self-hating people. But every generation, it seems, we glorify the self ever further, place personality further above character, and steadily create from the security and prosperity provided by better men and women a wave of smug, unprincipled, ungrateful Narcissists who can see nothing beyond the nearest mirror and hold nothing sacred but themselves. Nothing is worth dying for to such people, because to them, the end of them means the end of everything. I once heard such a tower of self-obsession, Dr. Helen Caldicott, admit exactly such a thing on Public Radio. One of the reasons she fights so hard against nuclear war, she said, was because she can't shake the idea that if she were to die that would be the end of…well, the entire Universe.
I wasn't shocked that she said it. I was only shocked that she admitted it.
And you mark these words: in another 143 years, people like you and me will still be reading this letter and weeping at its selfless, immortal beauty, while people like Ted Rall will be as anonymous and forgotten as some crude pornographic cartoon carved in an outhouse wall in 1861.
In 1861, this love for and obligation to the ideals of America was common. The selflessness, the recognition of things greater than one's self -– earthbound, temporal realities like the ability to say what one wants, go where one wants, to live a life free from the dictates of the powerful, and the freedom to defend one's self and family from the depredations of the cruel and the ruthless -– these qualities were common, if not ubiquitous, in the America of 143 years ago
Let's look at another snapshot, shall we? Here's one that's a little more recent -– October 2nd, 2001:
Here is a song from the point of view of someone free and powerful, admired and loved; a person possessing the most fabulous gifts imaginable, a voice that has known no hardship, no fear, no illness and no enemies capable of even giving challenge, let alone loss and defeat:
By Five for Fighting
I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
I'm just out to find
The better part of me
I'm more than a bird... I'm more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
It's not easy to be me
Wish that I could cry
Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie
About a home I'll never see
It may sound absurd... but don't be naive
Even heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed... but won't you concede
Even heroes have the right to dream
It's not easy to be me
Up, up and away... away from me
It's all right... you can all sleep sound tonight
I'm not crazy... or anything...
I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
Men weren't meant to ride
With clouds between their knees
I'm only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me
Inside of me
Inside me
Yeah, inside me
Inside of me
I'm only a man
In a funny red sheet
I'm only a man
Looking for a dream
I'm only a man
In a funny red sheet
And it's not easy, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm...
Its not easy to be me
It's not easy to be me. Dear God, no -– the horror of it all. Immortal, impervious…faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. How gauche. How tacky. How totally uncool.
This modern Superman -- this symbol, this America -- hates who he is and what he has become: imprisoned in his ridiculous red and blue sheet, desperate to go up, up and away, as far away from himself as possible. There he stands, in a filthy city doorway: stooped, cynical, a broken man, digging for Kryptonite -– digging for death -- on this one-way street -- to Hell. Suicide. Ah, there you go. He'll be dead and then we'll all be sorry.
So this is Superman for the new millennium: a charcoal-gray, lower-case 's' on a black T-shirt, curled on a filthy mattress in the basement, hands pressed to his ears to tune out the screams for help from Lois Lane whose ankles he can see as she is murdered up in the alley. Superman: cowering, whimpering, the ultimate victim, who dies from stomach cancer at age 24 from endlessly using his X-ray vision to stare at his own navel.
Gone is the icon of great strength in the service of great good. Gone too is a Superman raised by a simple, honest man and woman on a farm in Kansas, who taught him that there is a difference between good and evil, right and wrong, and how to recognize it, and what to do about it. In his place sits a brooding, whining victim, an emotionally abandoned child raised by a Belgian nanny in a mansion in Bel Aire, hating his father for not producing his student-film screenplay. If our original Superman had nightmares, they were no doubt about the times he had failed to act, failed to save, failed to rescue. This Superman fears nothing more than being caught doing a good deed -- like there's any difference between "good" and "evil." They're just words, cultural relics from a bloody past leading us ever deeper into the darkness of a pointless and meaningless future. It doesn't matter anyway. Nothing matters. Not even me. Especially me.
The Superman -– the America -– that most of us love and admire is lovable and admirable because they both personify the ideal of strength against evil -- and not just brute force, physical strength, but something far more rare and precious: the ability to tell right from wrong, and the courage to do something about it.
Somewhere along the way some people have let their compassion for the weak and the victimized in society trump everything else -- everything. A growing number of people no longer wish to protect the weak and defend the victim -– they wish to become them. As champions of the victimized, it stands to reason that the more victims, the more important the champion. And so the cult of the Victim continues to grow. And since it takes strength to oppress the weak and the defenseless, but strength and courage to oppose it, those without courage have made strength the enemy instead of oppression.
Of course, for a class of people that fetishizes weakness and idolizes victimhood, the entire archetype of a Superman simply has to go. Good and unimaginably strong? Please! After all, how will the Big Brains in the teacher's lounge be able to control such a boy? Idea! Perhaps we should drill into this Kent kid the notion that if we can't all fly faster than a speeding bullet, then no one should. It's not fair to all the other kids at Smallville High. Yes, that might work: he's a sucker for wanting to play fair and do the right thing. After all, better we should all drown when the dam breaks than lower anyone's self esteem.
No, this fellow's got to go.
Of course, you can't just walk up and kill Superman. No. Too strong for that, the bastard.
We'll have to talk him into committing suicide.
And that is exactly what some people have been trying to do for no less than the 66 years Superman has been with us.
(continued below)Posted by Proteus at May 22, 2004 5:40 AM


text:
Top Definition
verb- To calm down, quiet down, or keep it down.
1st and ten SIMMA takes the snap drops back fires DOWN in the endzone for a touchdown NOW cmon hits the extra point. It's SIMMA to DOWN followed by NOW and it's SIMMADANA!!
автор: CarolinaGuy 16 мая 2003
1 more definition
slang for simmer down now,also means calm down now
Barry!Simmadown now!
автор: Matt 10 февраля 2003


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American Government and Popular Discontent: Stability without Successby Schier; Steven
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Popular distrust and the entrenchment of government by professionals lie at the root of America's most pressing political problems. How did U.S. politics get to this point? Contemporary American politics got much of its shape from the transformations brought about from the 1950s to the 1980s. Presidential and congressional behavior, voting behavior, public opinion, public policy and federalism were all reconfigured during that time and many of those changes persist to this day and structure the political environment in the early twenty-first century. Throughout American history, parties have been a reliable instrument for translating majority preferences into public policy. From the 1950s to the 1980s, a gradual antiparty realignment, alongside the growth of professional government, produced a new American political system of remarkable durability and remarkable dysfunction. It is a system that it is paradoxically stable despite witnessing frequent shifts in party control of the institutions of government at the state and national level. Schier and Eberly's system-level view of American politics demonstrates the disconnect between an increasingly polarized and partisan elite and an increasingly disaffected mass public.


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|Paint with Acrylics!
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Start Time: 3:00 PM
End Time: 5:00 PM
Create your own masterpiece with Kathy's Kreations! All over 12 invited to attend. Reservations requested. $10. per person.Library: New Castle-Henry County Public Library Map
Location: Story Room
Registration Ends: 7/16/2013 at 12:00 AM
Contact: Elissa McDonald
Contact Number: 765.529.0362x310
Presenter: Elissa McDonald
Status: Closed
We're sorry. The registration deadline was 7/16/2013 at 12:00 AM.


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carr golf
carr golf
Results: 1 - 2 of 2
Courses & Travel
Kuchar's win at The Players is Greg Turcotte's ticket to golf in Ireland
In order for Matt Kuchar to win the Players Championship and $1.71 million last month, he needed to beat the field, which he did by two shots. But for Greg Turcotte of Lexington, Ky., to...
Tuesday, 6/5/2012 at 4:38PM
- keywords:
- Amanda Meneghetti,
- Brendan Fehr,
- Carr Golf,
- Fantasy Golf,
- Golf
Courses & Travel
Trip Report: Ireland
Roger Schiffman, managing editor of Golf Digest, was on vacation playing golf in Ireland last week. When he got back, I put him to work, managing the following pictures and captions for this blog.Here's Schiffman's...
Monday, 4/30/2012 at 7:31AM
- keywords:
- Ballyliffin,
- Busmills Dunes,
- Carr Golf,
- Dublin,
- Dunluce Castle
Results: 1 - 2 of 2


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In trading on Tuesday, shares of Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: AIT) crossed below their 200 day moving average of $39.28, changing hands as low as $39.07 per share. Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. shares are currently trading up about 0.2% on the day. The chart below shows the one year performance of AIT shares, versus its 200 day moving average:
Click here to find out which 9 other stocks recently crossed below their 200 day moving average »
Looking at the chart above, AIT's low point in its 52 week range is $32.86 per share, with $44.86 as the 52 week high point — that compares with a last trade of $39.56.
Special Offer: Find out what Dave Moenning is holding in the ETF Channel Flexible Growth Investment Portfolio with a special 20% off coupon from Forbes and 30 Days Free.
According to the ETF Finder at ETF Channel, AIT makes up 2.08% of the S&P SmallCap Industrials Portfolio ETF (NASD: PSCI)which is trading lower by about 0.2% on the day Tuesday.
See what other ETFs contain AIT »
See what other stocks are held by PSCI »


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Many of the areas magnificent old homes are open to the public -- putting antiques, history and culture on display.
Clarke County:
Each year in October, Historic Long Branch serves as the site of the Shenandoah Valley Hot Air Balloon and Wine Festival (See "Take a hot air balloon ride"). (888) 558-5567. www.historiclongbranch.com.
Frederick County/Winchester:
The house has remained virtually unchanged, offering visitors a glimpse at the experience of the people who lived there in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Today, the plantation includes the main house and gardens, original outbuildings, a 1918 barn, an overseer's house, a slave cemetery, a heritage apple orchard, fields and meadows and scenic mountain views.
Guided tours of the manor house are provided from April through October, Monday-Saturday 10:15 a.m.-3:15 p.m. and Sunday 1:15-4:15 p.m. Belle Grove is off U.S. 11, one mile south of Middletown, at 336 Belle Grove Road. The plantation offers events throughout the season including a Living History Camp for Kids. 869-2028. www.bellegrove.org
The complex is at 901 Amherst St. in Winchester. The museum is open year-round, and the house and gardens are open from March through November. The complex is open Tuesday -Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. There is an admission fee. For more information about the museum and gardens see "Go to a museum" and "Visit a garden." (888) 556-5799, ext. 235. www.shenandoahmuseum.org


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An exciting play-along that contains the most common grooves used in blues bands today.
Blues Harmonica Play-Along Trax, from the Mel Bay School of the Blues Lesson Series, contains notated examples for the 10-hole diatonic harmonica on how you can accompany vocalists or instrumentalists.
Along with the 15 jam tracks, the Blues Harmonica book is accompanied by a CD recording of all examples played by author David Barrett along with the background music.


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Oscar Carl Anderson
Position: TB-BB-WB
Height: 5-9 Weight: 165 lbs.
Born: October 15, 1894 in Erie, PA
Died: January 25, 1962 in Buffalo, NY
High School: Erie Central
College: Colgate (school history)
Weighted Career AV (100-95-...): 0 (14760th overall since 1950)
Promote your website or business by sponsoring this page for $5 on Pro-Football-Reference.com. Your message will replace this ad.


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Perhaps it will suffice to say, I did not know Orlando Bosch well, hardly at all, but will remember him well for what he told me at his west Miami-Dade house in the fall of 2001: that a Venezuela court absolved him in the bombing of the Cubana de Aviacion jet in 1976, which killed all 73 people on board, including Cuba's national fencing team; but that all of those who died were "esbirros" -- collaborators -- of the communist regime in Havana that he so despised. From his lack of sorrow with regard to those deaths, I knew that he was not well indeed.
After the interview, we chatted in the doorway, and to my amazement Bosch started to cry, blubberingly lamenting the deaths of all those people who died in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. This capacity to swing from the vile callousness he displayed several minutes earlier to an outburst of authentic bereavement still perplexes and disturbs me when I think about it.
You can read a little more about this encounter with Orlando Bosch here, in this link to an old Miami New Times article "Terrorists, But Our Terrorists."
Friday, April 29, 2011
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Helpline: 603-646-2999
Overall System Status:
Provided that you have been granted permissions to do so, you can send to a group mailing list in the same way you send to an individual. The only difference is the portion of the address after the "@" symbol. Group Mailing lists end in the following suffixes:
To hide e-mail addresses from other recipients, type the recipients' addresses in the Bcc field of the e-mail message. When creating a new email, in order to display the Bcc field:
In the field next to Bcc, enter the recipients' e-mail addresses.
Any e-mail distribution list that is world-sendable can be found in the address book under All Groups. When composing an e-mail, click the To button, which will bring you to the GAL (Global Address List), and search by group list name. The group distribution lists are in bold.
This feature is only available in Outlook 2010.
To use the DND Lookup Tool, click on the DND Lookup folder in your mail folders listing. Enter the name you are looking for. Clicking on the name will return the e-mail address. Clicking on the e-mail address will insert that e-mail address into the To field of a new message window.
There are three different ways to get people's e-mail addresses.
Click the To field in an e-mail message window and bring up the Global Address List. Within this search window, you can use the Name Only or More Columns options. The More Options selection permits you to search by last name, incomplete first name, and is generally more flexible than the Name Only option.
Alternatively, use the DND Lookup tool and click on the users e-mail address that you just looked up. It should open an e-mail window addressed to that person.
Another option is to type in a person's name in the To field, and click the Check Addresses icon on your toolbar. This should present you options to resolve the e-mail address and put the name in your To field with an underline. The underline indicates the address is complete.
Use the DND Lookup tool (see above), selecting DHMC as the site. Click on the users e-mail address that you just looked up. It should open an e-mail window addressed to that person.
A group list is also called a Contact Group In Outlook. You will manage this list.
The Contact Group list is saved in your Contacts folder under the name you give it.
Blitz system users are limited to 500 people per message. They are also limited to 10,000 recipients in any 24 hour window. However, if you need to send mail to more than 1,000 addresses in one day which are not Dartmouth addresses, please contact the IT Service Desk (Help Desk) first. We will recommend other systems for doing this. If someone sends mail to thousands of addresses that at Dartmouth, many Internet service providers will block all mail coming from Dartmouth because it looks like we are allowing spam to be send from our accounts. Use of these alternative tools prevents every account at Dartmouth from becoming blocked due to one account sending lots of mail.
Last Updated: 8/6/13


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Krapp's Last Tape
Editorial Staff • West End • 31 Jan 2000
The Gate Theatre Company's production of one of Samuel Beckett's most accessible plays made a brief appearance at last autumn's festival of the old misanthrope's plays.
It's now making a welcome return for a short run giving John Hurt the chance to reprise his role as the old man Krapp, looking back on his long and unhappy life and replaying the tape he made on his 39th birthday, that tape that contains his reactions to the death of his mother.
The play opens with a single spotlight on Hurt (made up to look like Beckett, as if to stress the loosely autobiographical nature of the work) searching for the tape that contains the relevant scene.
Unlike Proust, that other evoker of memory currently enjoying his season in the sun, Beckett concentrates on the banal. His mother's death is reduced to a series of observations of trivialities; the colour of the blinds, a small dog, a rubber ball and, at the same time, there's real poetry in the younger Krapp's observations. Undoubtedly, we get a sense of the poetry through the richness of Hurt's reading. There aren't many actors with his rich and sonorous voice and the sounds emanating from the tape contrast strongly with those emerging from this grunting, crabbed, constipated old man.
Robin Lefèvre's direction beautifully paces the play and Giles Cadle's and Jim McConnell's minimalist design and lighting respectively, leave the stage uncluttered for Hurt's tour de force.
Hurt has made a habit of playing people on the outskirts of society, but this could almost be the part he has been waiting to play all his life. He relishes every syllable of the role and when, in his last outburst he says, 'Perhaps my best years are gone, when I had a chance of happiness. But I wouldn't want them back, not with the fire in me now,' one is almost willing to believe him. This is a seriously good performance.
Krapp's Last Tape is one of the major plays of the 20th century, and it's great to see such a masterpiece in the West End. Catch it while you can.


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IInteractive Bracket | Audio | Video (ESPN360) | Tickets | Game Notes |
Media Handbook | Tournament HQ | Gametracker
DURHAM, N.H. -- The 12th-ranked University of New Hampshire men's ice hockey team will compete in the NCAA's for an eighth-straight season when it opens play at the NCAA Northeast Regional on Saturday, March 28 (2 p.m.) against seventh-ranked North Dakota. For the third time in program history, UNH will serve as the regional host at Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H. The third-seeded Wildcats and second-seeded Fighting Sioux open Saturday's action at 2 p.m. live on ESPN2, while the day will conclude with top-ranked Boston University against fourth-seeded Ohio State at 5:30 p.m. on ESPN2. The winners of both first round games will meet in the regional final on Sunday, March 29 at 5:30 p.m. live on ESPNU.
SCOUTING THE #2 FIGHTING SOUX: No. 7 North Dakota enters this weekend's NCAA Regional game by virtue of one of 10 at-large bids. UND owns a 24-14-4 record, good for a second seed in the tournament. Despite being the WCHA Regular Season Champions, the Fighting Sioux are coming off back-to-back losses in the WCHA Tournament. North Dakota enters the Northeast Regional with its seventh straight NCAA appearance and 24th in program history. UND's seven-straight tourney appearances are third to Michigan (19) and New Hampshire (8). The Fighting Sioux have advanced to the Frozen Four in each of the past four seasons. Senior forward Ryan Duncan, the 2007 Hobey Baker Award winner, leads UND offensively with 38 points on 19 goals and 19 assists. The Sioux is anchored defensively by WCHA Defensive Player of the Year, Chay Genoway. As a junior, Genoway has recorded 32 points in 39 games this season for the Sioux. In net, it is freshman Brad Eidsness, who is 24-11-4 on the season and has a 2.47 GAA and a .908 save percentage in the wake of Hobey Baker finalist Jean Phillip Lamoreux.
SCOUTING THE #1 TERRIERS: No. 1 Boston University enters this weekend's NCAA Regional game as the No. 1 seed overall and received an automatic bid after winning the Hockey East Championship. This season BU is 31-6-4, marking only the fifth time in school history that a team has surpassed 30 wins. The Terriers enter the NCAA's for the seventh time in 10 years. Under Head Coach Jack Parker, the Terrier's have made the NCAA's 20 times. BU is led by Hobey Baker finalists, defenseman Matt Gilroy and forward Colin Wilson. Gilroy has eight goals and 24 assists on the season, and Wilson leads the Terriers with 50 points on 15 goals and 35 assists. Freshman standout Kiernan Millan has been the backbone for the Terriers in goal, going 25-2-3. The Hockey East Rookie of the Year has a 1.84 GAA and a .923 save perecentage.
SCOUTING THE #3 BUCKEYES: No. 14 Ohio State enters this weekend's NCAA regional with an at-large bid after going 23-14-4 on the season. The Buckeyes are one of four CCHA teams to make the national tournament. This will be the first time since 2005 and they enter the NCAA for the sixth time in school history. John Albert, a sophomore for the Buckeyes was an honorable mention on the All-CCHA team. Albert ranked second in OSU scoring with 39 points on 18 goals and 22 assists. Shane Sims is the leading defensemen with seven goals and 17 assists. Sophomore Dustin Carlson is the goaltending leader for OSU with a 21-11-3 record. He has a 2.39 GAA and a .920 save percentage.
SERIES HISTORY VS. NORTH DAKOTA: The Fighting Sioux leads the all-time series against the Wildcats, 10-3-2. This marks the first-ever NCAA meeting between these two teams. In the last meetings between the two, the Wildcats split a two game series in Grand Folks, losing 3-1 Dec. 28, 2007 before rallying for a 7-4 win the following night. UNH is 2-2-2 in its last six games against UND after dropping eight of the first nine all-time meetings.These two teams first met in a two-game series in Durham on Dec. 29-30, 1971, with North Dakota winning the first game, 9-3, before New Hampshire came back the next day with a 3-2 victory. Senior captain Greg Collins leads a group of six active players with two points against the Sioux, while Jerry Pollastrone is the only active player with two goals against North Dakota. Brian Foster has never played in net against UND.
Player GP G-A-P
Greg Collins 4 1-1-2
Jerry Pollastrone 4 2-0-2
Jamie Fritsch 3 0-2-2
Danny Dries 2 1-1-2
Peter LeBlanc 2 0-2-2
Bobby Butler 2 1-1-2
Thomas Fortney 4 0-1-1
Mike Sislo 2 0-0-0
Greg Manz 2 0-0-0
Phil DeSimone 2 0-0-0
Paul Thompson 2 0-0-0
Kevin Kapstad 2 0-0-0
Nick Krates 2 0-0-0
Goaltending Stats
Player GP/Min GA GAA W-L-T SV SV%
UNH VS. NORTH DAKOTA IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: UNH and North Dakota have never met in the NCAA tournament.
SERIES HISTORY VS. OHIO STATE: The Wildcats lead the all-time series against the Buckeyes 3-2-1 in six meetings dating back to Nov. 24, 1972. Most recently, the Wildcats faced OSU during the 2004-05 season. The Wildcats hosted the Buckeyes in the Ice Breaker tournament and won the first-round game, 5-1. The first time the two teams met, the result was a 4-4 tie on Nov. 24, 1972. Ohio State's two wins came in a pair of forfeits by UNH out in Columbus, Ohio to open the 1979-80 season. Those games officially went into the books as 1-0 losses for New Hampshire. No players on the active roster were on the team during UNH's 2004 win over OSU.
UNH VS. OHIO STATE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: UNH and Ohio State have never met in the NCAA tournament.
SERIES HISTORY VS. BOSTON U.: Boston University leads the all-time series with UNH, 92-44-18 in 154 all-time meetings between the two schools dating back to Feb. 5, 1925. The Wildcats are 4-2-1 in their last seven against the Terriers, despite dropping back-to-back games of a home-and-home series in January. UNH is 2-1 all-time against BU in the NCAA tournament, including a pair of wins most recently in 1998 and 2003. Coach Umile owns a 24-30-8 all-time record against Boston University. Senior forward Jerry Pollastrone is the actove leading career Wildcat scorer against BU with 10 points, while junior goaltender Brian Foster is 1-2-0 against the Terriers with a 2.80 GAA and an .897 save percentage.
Player GP G-A-P
Jerry Pollastrone 13 2-8-10
James van Riemsdyk 6 3-4-7
Jamie Fritsch 13 2-4-6
Kevin Kapstad 8 2-3-5
Thomas Fortney 13 2-2-4
Bobby Butler 9 1-3-4
Greg Collins 11 1-1-2
Danny Dries 5 1-1-2
Joe Charlebois 10 0-1-1
Phil DeSimone 6 1-0-1
Mike Sislo 6 1-0-1
Peter LeBlanc 9 0-0-0
Nick Krates 6 0-0-0
Paul Thompson 4 0-0-0
Alan Thompson 4 0-0-0
Blake Kessel 3 0-0-0
Matt Campanale 2 0-0-0
Steve Moses 2 0-0-0
Damon Kipp 2 0-0-0
Mike Beck 1 0-0-0
Greg Manz 1 0-0-0
Mike Borisenok 1 0-0-0
Kevin McCarey 1 0-0-0
Goaltending Stats
Player GP/Min GA GAA W-L-T SV SV%
Foster 3/170:50 8 2.80 1-2-0 70 .897
DiGirolamo 1/8:57 0 0.00 0-0-0 1 1.000
Foster's Game-by-Game vs. the Terriers
Date Min Res. Svs. GA Shots
Totals 170:50 1-1-0 70 8 78
DiGirolamo's Game-by-Game vs. the Terriers
Date Min Res. Svs. GA Shots
Total 8:57 0-0-0 1 0 1
UNH VS. BOSTON UNIV. IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: UNH and Boston University have met three times in the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats hold a 2-1-0 advantage in those three games, including winning the two most recent postseason contests.
third-place game 1977 Frozen Four, Olympic Stadium, Detriot, Mich.
second round 1998 NCAA's, Pepsi Arena, Albany, N.Y.
second round 2003 NCAA's, Worcester Centrum, Worcester, Mass.
Player GP G-A-P
James van Riemsdyk 1 0-3-3
Jerry Pollastrone 3 2-0-2
Phil DeSimone 1 1-0-1
Greg Collins 3 0-0-0
Thomas Fortney 3 0-0-0
Jamie Fritsch 3 0-0-0
Bobby Butler 2 0-0-0
Kevin Kapstad 2 0-0-0
Peter LeBlanc 2 0-0-0
Danny Dries 1 0-0-0
Nick Krates 1 0-0-0
Mike Sislo 1 0-0-0
Paul Thompson 1 0-0-0
Goaltending Stats
Player GP/Min GA GAA W-L-T SV SV%
RECORDS AGAINST TEAMS IN THE NCAA'S: UNH is 4-4-1 against teams in the NCAA field all against teams in Hockey East.
Boston University 1-2-0
Vermont 2-1-0
Northeastern 1-1-1
Total 4-4-1 (.500)
van RIEMSDYK APPROACHING 40 POINTS: James van Riemsdyk is just one point shy of a 40-point season. Last year, Matt Fornataro (46) and Mike Radja (43) posted 40-plus points on their way to All-America status.
HOCKEY EAST BOASTS FOUR TEAMS IN NCAA FIELD: With Boston University capturing the automatic bid from Hockey East and the top seed overall, three others emerged in the field from Hockey East as Vermont was placed in the East Region, Northeastern in the Midwest Region and UNH in its regional in Manchester.
Here is a breakdown of bids per league:
Hockey East 4 BU (AQ), NU, UVM, UNH
CCHA 4 ND (AQ), OSU, Mich., Miami
WCHA 3 UMD (AQ), ND, Den.
ECAC 3 Yale (AQ), Cornell, Prince.
Atlantic 1 Air Force (AQ)
CHA 1 Bemidji State (AQ)
ESPN FAMILY BLANKETS NCAA'S, NORTHEAST REGIONAL WITH A PAIR OF GAMES LIVE ON ESPN2: While the ESPN family of networks is broadcasting all the games in the NCAA Ice Hockey Championship, Manchester will have both games on Saturday air live on ESPN2 at 2 and 5:30 p.m., respectively. The regional final will air live on ESPNU. ESPN's John Buccigross and Barry Melrose will be calling all the action rink-side at Verizon Wireless Arena.
'CATS SECOND LONGEST ACTIVE STREAK OF NCAA APPEARANCES: With eight straight NCAA tournament appearances, UNH is second on the list of active programs with NCAA appearances.
Program Consecutive Trips to the NCAA's
Michigan 19
North Dakota 7
Miami 4
Air Force 3
Notre Dame 3
Princeton 2
Denver 2
- UNH qualifies for the field for a third straight time (2004, 2007)
- Boston College won the previous two Manchester regionals
- A CCHA team has been in Manchester all three times
(Michigan 2004, Miami 2007, Ohio State 2009)
- North Dakota becomes the first WCHA team to compete in
- Hockey East has had a pair of representatives at each of the
previous Manchester Regionals.
- Each of the previous regional finals have been played by representatives from CCHA and Hockey East (Mich. vs. BC '04) (Miami vs. BC '07).
- This is the first NCAA appearance in Manchester for Boston University, North Dakota and Ohio State
FIRST GOAL HAS DECIDED LAST 15 GAMES: The team that has scored first has won 15 and tied once in the last 16 UNH games dating back to Jan. 17 against Dartmouth. Overall, the Wildcats are 15-2-4 when scoring first.
Date Opp. First Goal Results
1-17 vs. Dartmouth UNH W, 6-4
1-23 at Boston U. BU L, 0-5
1-24 vs. Boston U. BU L, 1-3
1-30 vs. Vermont UNH W, 3-2
2-6 vs. Maine UNH W, 4-1
2-7 vs. Maine Maine L, 0-1
2-13 vs. Providence UNH T, 4-4
2-14 at Providence UNH W, 4-2
2-20 vs. Boston College UNH W, 3-2
2-21 at Boston College UNH W, 4-2
2-27 at Merrimack UNH W, 4-3
2-28 vs. Merrimack UNH W, 1-0
3-6 at Vermont Vermont L, 4-6
3-7 at Vermont UNH W, 6-5 (OT)
3-13 vs. Boston College BC L, 3-5
3-14 vs. Boston College BC L, 0-1
'CATS RETURN TO THE NCAA'S FOR EIGHTH STRAIGHT TIME: UNH has been selected to participate in the NCAA Northeast Regional in Manchester, N.H. The NCAA will officially announce its 16-team field Sunday, March 22 at 11:30 a.m. live on ESPN2. Overall, the field is made up of six automatic qualifiers and 10 at-large teams. UNH is making its eighth straight appearance in the NCAA tournament; a streak which is second longest active in Division I behind Michigan (19). Overall, UNH has appeared in the NCAA Tournament 19 times in the 81-year history of the program. UNH has appeared in the Frozen Four seven times, including national championship game appearances against Maine in 1999 and Minnesota in 2003. UNH earned Hockey East Tournament titles in 2002 and 2003 and regular-season championships in 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2008. The Wildcats won the ECAC regular-season title in 1974 and the tournament championship in 1979. UNH has posted 29 seasons with 20-plus wins.
ALAN THOMPSON FIRST-EVER WINNER OF TURFER ATHLETIC AWARD: Alan Thompson became the first-ever winner of the Hockey East Turfer Athletic Award. Thompson embodied the core values of Turfer Athletic: tenacity, commitment and innovation. Battling and overcoming four different knee injuries, Thompson has become a fixture in the UNH lineup as a senior. Thompson played in just seven games over the first three seasons at UNH and has already played in 31 games in 2008-09. With a hard-working, get-it-done attitude, Thompson showed a relentless work ethic during his knee rehab that allowed him to come back as a senior. When others may have given up, Thompson battled through adversity and is grinding it out on a daily basis on the Wildcat fourth line. After putting up just two assists in the first 18 games, Thompson has six points (3g, 3a) since Jan. 30.
VAN RIEMSDYK GARNERS SECOND TEAM ALL-HOCKEY EAST: James van Riemsdyk was voted by the Hockey East head coaches to the Hockey East second team. van Riemsdyk ranks first on the team and sixth in Hockey East in scoring with 39 points in 34 games (1.15 ppg). The sophomore forward was a member of the league's All-Rookie Team a year ago and elevated his game to become one of the top scorers in Hockey East. van Riemsdyk finished league play fifth in goals with 12, and 13th in assists with 15. He ranks first in Hockey East and second nationally in short-handed goals with four. Overall, van Riemsdyk sits in the top 25 in several offensive categories nationally, including points (19th), goals (24th) and short-handed goals. He finished the regular season with nine multi-point games and scoring streaks of three, four, six and 10 games.
NORTHEAST REGIONAL TICKETS ON SALE: Tickets for the Northeast regional at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, N.H. (hosted by the University of New Hampshire), are now on sale. Fans can purchase tickets by visiting the Verizon Wireless Arena box office, by calling (603) 868-7300 or by logging onto the internet at www.unhwildcats.com or www.ticketmaster.com. Start times for the first-round games are 2:00 and 5:30 p.m. Eastern time, March 28, while the regional final is 5:30 p.m. Eastern time, March 29. Tickets for the three-game package are $82.
van Riemsdyk second nationally in short-handed goals: With his fourth short-handed goal of the season on March 13, van Riemsdyk moved into second behind Broc Little of Yale in short-handed goals, nationally. Little has five shorties in 30 games for the Bulldogs.
'CATS, UMILE ONE WIN SHY OF 20: UNH is now just one win shy of a 20-win season for the 13th-straight year. Overall, Dick Umile is in search of his 17th 20-win season in just 19 years of coaching at UNH. Last year, BC was the only other Hockey East team to post 20 wins. The Eagles, who are four wins away from a 20-win season, hold the next longest active streak with six-straight 20-win seasons.
Team Consecutive Seasons of 20+ Wins 08-09 Wins
Michigan 22* 29
New Hampshire 12 19
Denver 8* 23
North Dakota 7* 24
Miami 3* 20
Notre Dame 3* 31
Princeton 2* 22
Air Force 2* 27
* = includes 2008-09 season
FOSTER GARNERS HOCKEY EAST GOALIE OF THE MONTH, FEBRUARY: Brian Foster was selected ITECH Hockey East Goalie of the Month for February. Foster went 6-1-1 in the month and allowed two goals or less in six of eight games, including ending the month with his third shutout of the season, fifth of his career. Foster's lone loss of the month came as Maine captured a 1-0 win Feb. 7 on a short-handed one-on-none goal. Foster had 20-plus saves in all eight games, including a pair of 30-plus save performances. Foster ended the month by winning his final five games and was unbeaten in the last six games. He ended the month with 26 saves in a 1-0 shutout of Merrimack on Feb. 28. Overall, he posted a 1.86 goals against average and a .932 save percentage.
SISLO, van RIEMSDYK APPROACHING 20 GOALS: Mike Sislo has 18 goals this season and looks to become the first 20-goal scorer since Trevor Smith had 21 goals in 2006-07. Before Smith you have to go back to 2004-05 when Preston Callander (25), Brett Hemingway (22) and Jacob Micflikier (20) all lit the lamp 20-plus times.


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Chief Sumo's Free WordPress Email Collector Plugin
Noah Kagan
April 1, 2013
Use this plugin on your WordPress site to grow your readership
At AppSumo, we love blinging up your inbox with a new email.
But for us to get access to your inbox and your attention we have to first get your email.
-- Rubs hands together --
I copied AppSumo's email collect page and created a WordPress plug-in out of it.
It only shows once to a visitor and I don't find it too intrusive. Totally customizable.
You can see it live on my site Okdork.com.
I'm making it free for you because I heart you.
It's still a work in progress, but hey, it's free :-)
Here's what someone who downloaded the plugin had to say:
Love this, its less intrusive than the annoying pop up ones. - Maria
"Tweet" or "Share" to download it now!
If you're reading this via email make sure you click "View Now" first to get to the page to find the share buttons.
- Chief Sumo
P.S. Once you install it, comment below with your URL :-)


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The Toy Industry Association is gearing up for the 112th annual North American International Toy Fair, set to take place at the Javits Center in New York City Feb. 14-17.
The Toy Industry Association has announced the finalists for the Toy of the Year awards.
The Toy Industry Association has launched The Genius of Play, a collaborative educational campaign that spotlights the role of toys in a child's healthy development.
The Toy Industry Association will induct two new members into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame.
The Canadian Toy Association and the U.S.-based Toy Industry Association have entered into a new affiliation agreement.
Carter Keithley has announced that he will retire as president and chief executive officer of the Toy Industry Association effective April 30, 2015.
John Gessert, president and CEO of American Plastic Toys has been elected as chairman of the Toy Industry Association's board of directors.
New York Toy Fair wrapped up its 111th year yesterday, after playing host to major releases from Disney, Nickelodeon, CBS, Funko and even the NBA.
The Toy Industry Association gave its predictions for the trends that will drive the toy industry this year.
Toy executives gathered in New York Saturday night to honor the year's winners at the 14th annual Toy of the Year Awards.
©2015 ADVANSTAR COMMUNICATIONS INC. All rights reserved.


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From the amazing imagination of bestselling author Holly Black, The Good Neighbor is a mysterious and wonderful teen graphic novel masterpiece. Things keep happening to Rue Silver. And she has to figure them out quick, before it's too late. Come along for the ride in this three-book set.
The Good Neighbors #1: Kin. Hardcover. 144 pages. The Good Neighbors #2: Kith. Hardcover. 128 pages. The Good Neighbors #3: Kind. Hardcover. 128 pages.
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