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Trey Anastasio Band,
Sunday, 02/20/2011
House of Blues, Boston, MA
Set 1: Sample in a Jar[1], Punch You In the Eye[1], Strange Design[1], AC/DC Bag[1], It's Ice[1], Bathtub Gin[1], Carini[2], Dog Faced Boy[1], Shine a Light[2], Sleep Again[1], Wilson[1], Chalk Dust Torture[1], Backwards Down the Number Line[1], Lawn Boy[3], Let Me Lie[4], Hey Ya![4]
Set 2: I Done Done It > Valentine, In the Wee Wee Hours > Gotta Jibboo, Sweet Dreams Melinda, Burn That Bridge, Simple Twist Up Dave, Small Axe, O-o-h Child, Tuesday, Ocelot, Ether Sunday, First Tube
[1] Trey solo acoustic.
[2] Trey solo acoustic; TAB debut.
[3] Trey acoustic with Russ Remington and Tony.
[4] Trey on acoustic.
Notes: The first set was Trey solo acoustic excepting "Lawn Boy" (with Russ Remington on tenor sax and Tony on bass), "Let Me Lie" and "Hey Ya" (full TAB with Trey on acoustic). The second set and encore was electric TAB. After "PYITE" Trey noted that he liked the room, even better than "the one across the street" (Boston's House of Blues is directly across the street from Fenway Park). "Strange Design" was dedicated to Trey's wife, Sue, and eldest daughter, Eliza, who were both in attendance; the song itself was stopped and re-started. "Carini" and "Shine a Light" were TAB debuts. "Lawn Boy" was dedicated to Kris Kristofferson, Page, and Janis Joplin.
Musicians: Trey Anastasio, Russell Remington, Jennifer Hartswick, Russ Lawton, Tony Markellis, Ray Paczkowski, Natalie Cressman


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Last Sunday was the day our nation set aside to honor fathers. The role of being a father, like that of being a mother, is certainly one of the most rewarding, yet most difficult jobs in the world. So those of us who are known as "Dad" would do well to look at some examples of other fathers, that we might learn a thing or two from them.
There's no end to examples of bad fathers. Sadly, we read about abusive and deadbeat fathers in the news on a daily basis. But there are many examples of good fathers out there. Among them is the man Jesus called "Dad." Joseph wasn't Jesus' biological father, of course. Jesus' mother Mary became pregnant miraculously through the power of the Holy Spirit. Yet Mary's husband, Joseph, served as a father figure to our Savior as he grew up.
We know relatively little about this man. The last mention of him being alive in the Bible occurs when Jesus was 12 years old, so it is assumed that he died when Jesus was a teenager or young adult. Yet the man God the Father chose to help raise his Son most certainly had an influence on him. Joseph was a carpenter by trade. Since Jesus was also referred to as a carpenter, he obviously taught his foster son the family business. But Joseph taught Jesus far more than just carpentry skills. The Bible calls Joseph "a righteous man" (Matthew 1:19). The Biblical definition of a righteous man isn't someone who is perfect, and therefore who meets God's standards of righteousness on his own. Rather, being righteous in God's sight means trusting in God for forgiveness. In other words, being a righteous man meant that Joseph was a man of faith.
But Joseph wasn't someone who kept his faith to himself. He walked the walk and talked the talk of faith. Perhaps the most telling statement the Bible makes about Joseph occurs in Luke chapter 2: "Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover." Traveling from Nazareth to Jerusalem was not an easy trip. That 70-mile journey had to be made on foot. It would require weeks of planning, loss of income, nights spent in the cold, open countryside. Joseph could have made the case for observing the Passover at home. For that matter, he could have skipped it altogether. But he didn't. Instead, Joseph led by example and made that difficult, costly journey every single year. He wanted to make sure they worshiped regularly, faithfully and in keeping with what God's Word commanded.
When it came to matters of faith, Joseph led by example. Sadly, too often we see a distinct lack of spiritual leadership among Christian fathers today. Too often, the example we dads give to our children is one that says, "God, his will, and his Word, are not all that important." We can be thankful the man Jesus called "dad" didn't leave that kind of legacy. And we dads would do well to ask ourselves, "What legacy am I leaving my family when it comes to their faith in God?"
Joseph wasn't a perfect father. There are no perfect fathers, not this side of heaven. But we imperfect, forgiven fathers can, and indeed, must strive daily to be good examples and faithful leaders when it comes to the faith-life of our families.
- Brent Merten is pastor of Mountain Valley Lutheran Church, 802 Brush Creek Terrace, Eagle.

subset: commoncrawl


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SAN JOSE -- Serra's quest to reach the Division I state championship game ended Friday night against an opponent that displayed the toughness the Padres anticipated and then some.
Del Oro of Loomis scored the first time it possessed the ball, built a two-touchdown lead in the third quarter and then held on to defeat Serra 28-20 in the Northern California Division I regional championship at San Jose City College.
Two short field goals by Steven Bodley brought Serra to within eight points with a quarter to play. But Del Oro held off every threat, including a fourth-and-1 run at the Golden Eagles' 20 midway through the fourth quarter and a last-gasp drive in the final seconds.
Del Oro advanced to play Bakersfield in the Division I state championship next weekend in Carson.
Serra's season, which included West Catholic Athletic League and Central Coast Section Open Division championships, came to a painful end.
"We lost by eight points, but there is certainly nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to the season that this team had," Serra coach Patrick Walsh said. "I'm very proud of our guys."
Del Oro (13-2) appeared to put the game away after Justin Burrage's interception, coupled with a late hit out of bounds, gave the Golden Eagles the ball at the Serra 20 with about 3½ minutes to play.
But Del Oro missed a 29-yard field goal try, giving Serra one last chance with 1:51 to play and 80 yards to go.
Matthew Fa'aita's 32-yard scramble moved the Padres to the Del Oro 46. Fa'aita then threw a 14-yard screen to Kava Cassidy, who jumped over a defender along the sideline to reach the 32.
But on fourth down from the 38, Fa'aita's final pass fell incomplete at about the 10-yard line, igniting a celebration on the Del Oro sideline.
"I thought we had them, that we were going to drive," Fa'aita said. "But again penalties hurt us. That's how we ended up going back. We really just shot ourselves in the foot toward the end."
Penalties ultimately were a huge factor. Serra was flagged 12 times for 110 yards, including nine for 85 after halftime.
Still, the Padres (11-3) had their chances.
They reached the Del Oro 21 midway through the fourth quarter. But on fourth down, Fa'aita was stopped inches from a first down.
"I needed to make a play," Fa'aita said. "Everyone was waiting for me to make a play, and I just didn't come up with one."
Serra trailed by a touchdown at halftime but fell two scores behind when Trey Udoffia scooped up a short punt and dashed 38 yards down the sideline for a touchdown.
The Padres cut the deficit to 28-17 on Bodley's 25-yard field goal with 4:13 left in the third quarter and to 28-20 on Bodley's 33-yard field goal five seconds from the start of the fourth.
But Serra could get no closer.
"We had our opportunities," Walsh said. "We moved the ball in the air very well. We just weren't finishing those drives off with sevens instead of threes. ... When you lose by eight, you look at those moments in the game.
"That's really the difference. You get down there, and they came up with a stop and we didn't. I thought Del Oro played great."
Dylan Kainrath led Del Oro with 209 yards rushing with a touchdown in 29 carries.
Fa'aita finished with 201 yards passing.
Del Oro got off to a quick start, forcing a three-and-out on Serra's opening series and then driving 46 yards for a 7-0 lead.
Kainrath finished the three-play series with a 26-yard run in which he broke three tackles on the way to the end zone.
Serra answered with a 68-yard drive to tie the score 7-7. The Padres executed their no-huddle offense to near perfection on that series as Fa'aita completed three passes before running into the end zone from 9 yards out on a read-option.
The big play came early on the drive when Walsh went for a first down on fourth-and-2 from the Serra 40. Cassidy gained 3 yards to move the chains.
Serra had an opportunity to claim the lead on its next possession, reaching the Del Oro 36 on a 13-yard pass from Fa'aita to Ian McGuire.
When the drive stalled, Bodley booted a 40-yard punt to the 1.
After gaining 1 yard on first down, Kainrath burst through a hole up the middle and had nothing but green turf in front of him. The running back gained 76 yards to the Serra 22.
Two plays later, quarterback Michael Moore rolled right and lofted a 22-yard scoring pass to Tyler Meteer in the back of the end zone to give the Golden Eagles a 14-7 lead.
Del Oro later had a chance to stretch the advantage when Udoffia stood all alone along the sideline on a halfback option. But Logan Hurst's pass floated long enough for Kelepi Lataimua to break it up.
After a punt, Serra took over at the Del Oro 36. Fa'aita's 22-yard pass to Monroe moved the Padres to the 19, and two plays later Lataimua ran in from the 4 on a double reverse to tie the score 14-14.
"I wouldn't want to be in this situation with another group of guys; these guys are great," Fa'aita said. "I love this team. It's just sad we didn't come out on top."
Del Oro 7 "14 "7 "0--28
Serra 7 "7 "6 "0--20
DO -- Kainrath 26 run (Willhide kick)
S -- Fa'aita 9 run (Bodley kick)
DO -- Meteer 22 pass from Moore (Willhide kick)
S -- Lataimua 4 run (Bodley kick)
DO -- Heryford 4 pass from Moore (Willhide kick)
DO -- Udoffia 38 punt return (Willhide kick)
S -- Bodley 25 FG
S -- Bodley 33 FG
Records -- Del Oro 13-2; Serra 11-3.


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Thursday, September 27, 2012
Adorn Her with Mikimoto
Posted by Shreve & Co. at 12:00:00 AM in Mikimoto (28)
Cleopatra's wager to Marc Anthony was that she can "consume the wealth of a nation in a one meal". Marc Anthony found this hard to believe until Cleopatra dissolved her pearl earring in a vinegar cocktail and drank it. It was none but a pearl that jumpstarted a love story worthy of being told and told again. In ancient times, pearls have been believed to have medicinal attributes, symbolize purity, love and even have mystical powers. They were once exclusive to the use of royalty. But if one Japanese man, in the person of Mikimoto Kokichi, would have his way, these gems should be available to every woman. And he surely did. He single-handedly shaped the cultured pearl industry in Japan during his lifetime. It was a life's work devoted to perfection and love of craft. Mikimoto had combined technology and modern design to produced pearls synonymous to supreme commitment and passion. It is never hard to find a gift to symbolize purity, love and care as Mikimoto pearls makes the search easy. May it be her birthday, your anniversary or even just a gift on the fly; adorn her with Mikimoto – the finest cultured pearls in the world. For Mikimoto pearls, visit Shreve & Co. – authorized dealer of these best cultured pearls in the world.
Written by Shreve & Co. at 12:00:00 AM in Mikimoto (28) | Comments (0)
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This is my latest column for Truthout.org.
I. Genetic Modification
We have seen the proof of this in our time. When law – understood here as agreed-upon principles of justice and commonweal – is treated as a filthy rag or a "quaint" relic or a cynical sham by those in power, the result is an ever-growing suppuration of greed, lies, brutality and violence. Its starkest form is evident in Iraq, where a lawless invasion based on deceit has created a hell beyond imagining, and beyond control. At home, unfettered power has stripped Americans of their essential liberties and human rights, which are now no longer unalienable and inviolable but are instead the gift of the "unitary executive," to bestow – or withhold – as he sees fit.
For those who hoped that November's elections might bring some essential alteration in our degraded estate, some repair of the broken strands, recent events have been disspiriting indeed. Two in particular stand out as exemplary of the ugly reality behind the bright rhetoric of "change" and "moderation" now twinkling in the Beltway air. Although apparently unrelated, they are in fact part of the same malignant process that has been devouring the structure – and substance – of the Republic for years.
Known and very popular cialis coupon which gives all the chance to receive a discount for a preparation which has to be available and exactly cialis coupons has been found in the distant room of this big house about which wood-grouses in the houses tell.
One strand of this revealing juxtaposition involves the release of a video showing the nightmarish treatment meted out to Jose Padilla – an American citizen seized on American soil and subjected to torture under indefinite detention without charges or trial, and who was subsequently revealed by the Bush Administration itself to have engaged in no conspiracy or act of hostility toward the United States. Now his mind has been broken by years of brutal "interrogation methods," complete isolation and bizarre sensory-deprivation techniques, leaving him incapable of aiding his defense in his trial for the much-reduced – and, according to most legal experts, highly shaky – charges of trying to aid Islamist groups in Chechnya and elsewhere.
The other strand centers on the Senate hearings and confirmation of Robert Gates as defense secretary, in which one of the most compromised candidates ever nominated for a major Cabinet post was ushered into power with loving care by a Democratic faction supposedly dedicated to "vigilant oversight" and "asking tough questions" after their triumph at the polls last month.
Taken together, these events represent a kind of photographic negative of the double helix of a healthful state: instead of law and power, we see tyranny and weakness, linked in a destructive downward spiral that shows no sign of ending.
II. A Bulwark Breached
To understand more fully the nature of the atrocity inflicted on Jose Padilla – and the whole penumbra of constitutional and moral issues raised by Bush's liberty-gutting "unitary executive" dictatorship – we must go back precisely 140 years, to December 1866, when the Supreme Court rendered its formal opinion in the case Ex Parte Milligan. It was a decisive ruling against a government that had far overreached its powers, stripping away essential liberties in the name of national security. The Justice who authored the unanimous majority opinion was a Republican, an old friend and political crony of the president who had appointed him. Even so, his ruling struck hard at the abuses set in train by his patron. He stood upon the law, he stood upon the Constitution, even in the aftermath of a shattering blow that had killed more than 600,000 Americans and almost destroyed the nation itself.
This is what the Court decided:
"The Constitution of the United States is a law for rulers and people, equally in war and in peace, and covers with the shield of its protection all classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances. No doctrine, involving more pernicious consequences, was ever invented by the wit of man than that any of its provisions can be suspended during any of the great exigencies of government. Such a doctrine leads directly to anarchy or despotism, but the theory of necessity on which it is based is false; for the government, within the Constitution, has all the powers granted to it, which are necessary to preserve its existence."
The author was Justice David Davis, an Illinois lawyer appointed by Abraham Lincoln after helping run the campaign that gave his old colleague the presidency in the fateful 1860 election. (Davis was also, by a strange quirk of history, the second cousin of George W. Bush's great-grandfather.) By the time the Court issued its ruling, Lincoln was dead, but the aftereffects of his ever-expanding suspension of civil liberties during wartime were still roiling through the courts, and through America's fractured society. The Milligan ruling was, in the words of legal scholar John P. Frank, "one of the truly great documents of the American Constitution," a "bulwark" for civil liberties, expansive and exacting in the Constitutional protections it spelled out.
The ruling acknowledged that there are times when the writ of habeas corpus may have to be suspended in an area where hostilities are directly taking place – but even this power, they noted, was highly circumscribed and specifically delegated to Congress, not the president. Lincoln exceeded this authority on numerous occasions, increasing the scope of his powers until the entire Union was essentially under martial law, and anyone arbitrarily deemed guilty of never-defined "disloyal practices" could be arrested or silenced – in the latter case by having their newspaper shut down, for instance. (Lincoln would sometimes – but not always – seek ex post facto Congressional authorization for these acts.) Some parts of the Union that the Lincoln administration thought particularly disloyal were officially put under martial law -- such as southern Indiana, where anti-war agitator Lambdin Milligan and four others were accused of a plot to free Confederate prisoners, and were summarily tried and sentenced to death by a military tribunal.
It was this case that the Court – five of whom were Lincoln appointees – overturned in such a decided fashion. The ruling is plain: Constitutional protections not only apply "equally in war and peace" but also – in a dramatic extension of this legal shield – to "all classes of men, at all times, and under all circumstances." No emergency – not even open civil war – warrants their suspension. Even in wartime, the President's powers, though expanded, are still restrained: "he is controlled by law, and has his appropriate sphere of duty, which is to execute, not to make, the laws."
All of this – and much more of the ruling besides – is directly applicable to the transparently illicit and unconstitutional regime set up by the Bush Administration to prosecute its self-declared "War on Terror." Indefinite detention, torture, military tribunals, the arbitrary creation of novel legal categories such as "unlawful enemy combatant," warrantless surveillance, extrajudicial killings, kidnapping and rendition of uncharged captives, secret prisons – in short, the entire apparatus whose machinations led to the destruction of Jose Padilla's mind – is completely without basis in law, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 140 years ago.
In fact, the current Court drew heavily on Milligan in another case involving an American citizen imprisoned in the "War on Terror" (after being captured on the battlefield, unlike Padilla, who was grabbed while walking through the Chicago airport): Hamdi vs. Rumsfeld. It was this 2004 ruling that sent the Bush Administration back to Congress for rubberstamp approval of a bill that turned out to be not a limitation of the presidential dictatorship, but its vast expansion, including the permanent loss of habeas corpus rights even by Terror War captives who had not engaged in hostilities against the United States. (Indeed, as Administration officials have explicitly stated, these strictures could also apply to people who had unwittingly aided an accused terrorist organization in some fashion.) Many legal experts agree that the deliberately vague language of this new bill – the now-infamous "Military Commissions Act" – includes American citizens among those who can be arbitrarily designated as "unlawful enemy combatants" and held forever without charge or trial at the pleasure of the "unitary executive."
The MCA was regarded by many as the final guttering-out of the Republic's ancient flame. It wholeheartedly accepted the principle of the "unitary executive" and Bush's claim of "inherent powers" which allow him to disregard any part of any law that he doesn't like – despite the fact that such ghostly powers do not exist in the Constitution, as the Milligan ruling clearly stated. By codifying the principle of presidential dictatorship into "law" – now understood merely as the ratification of the executive's arbitrary decisions – the MCA transformed the fundamental nature of the American state. As noted above, all liberties are now at the mercy of the executive. The abuses of power that this principle has led to are already enormous; the potential for further abuses under this new-style state is virtually without limit.
But suddenly, in the Republic's darkest hour, came a ray of light: against all odds – and a vast GOP vote-fixing operation that shaved off at least four million likely Democratic votes, as Greg Palast has documented – the American people ousted Bush's willing executioners of liberty from their stranglehold on Congress. Hopes long quelled by years of unanswered outrages sprang back to life: Surely now will come a day of reckoning. Now will come a restoration. Now the great double helix of law and power will be stitched back together again.
But will it?
III. The Party of Surrender
The hope of a return to at least a semblance of Constitutional government rests on the Democrats' newly-acquired majority. It is perhaps a mark of how very desperate the nation's condition has become that this particular group of national Democratic leaders could actually inspire hopes for substantial change. Their record over the past five years has been one of accommodation, cowardice, confusion and weakness. No issue – with the possible exception of Social Security privatization – was worth a concerted fight, a filibuster, or even tough questioning: not even a war of aggression launched while UN inspectors were in the process of determining the veracity of the casus belli. The president wanted his war no matter what; they gave him a blank check for it – and they keep on cashing it.
From the Patriot Act to the "Authorization to Use Military Force" against Iraq – which has become the Bush Administration's repeatedly invoked "Enabling Act" to "justify" its authoritarian dictates – the Congressional Democrats (aside from a handful of honorable exceptions) have offered, at best, only token, tepid opposition to Bush's relentless encroachments and blood-soaked follies. Indeed, many of them have often been enthusiastic partners in the excesses. Very few have dissented from the underlying principles of Bush's policies (war, war profiteering, "full spectrum dominance" of world affairs, corporate hegemony of American society, the diminution of liberty, etc.); they have only taken issue with tactical questions of how these polices have been pursued. They could not even summon up the guts to filibuster the MCA, to go down fighting for the Republic with every tool at their disposal.
And yet still it is hoped that the strong support of the American people in the November elections will somehow transform this gaggle of timorous geese into bold champions of liberty when they assume the mantle of majorityship in January. Well, it may be so; stranger things have happened in the world. But if their recent performance during the Gates confirmation process is any indication, essentially nothing will change at all: the horror in Iraq will rage on and on, and there will be no legal reckoning for the perpetrators of unjust war, barbarous practices and the unlawful exercise of arbitrary rule.
Gates had been raked over hot coals during his last confirmation, as CIA director in 1991: four months of hearings, with hundreds of witnesses, thousands of documents and four days on the grill for Gates himself, as the New York Times notes. Much of the probe centered on Gates' role in the Iran-Contra affair. ("Affair" being the somewhat light-hearted word for an operation that involved shipping arms illegally to the "Islamofascist" mullahs of Iran, running a terrorist war against Nicaragua, waging "psy-ops" war on the American people and systematically lying to Congress.) And even more details of Gates' murky past in the shadowlands of covert ops and backroom deals have come to light in subsequent years, as the indefatigable Robert Parry of Consortiumnews.com reports (here, here and here). These include:
• highly credible allegations of Gates' role in the secret funneling of weapons to Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, at the behest of the Reagan-Bush administration;
• highly credible allegations of his role in the "October Surprise" plot of 1980, which saw top Reagan-Bush campaign officials (and most likely Bush I himself) negotiating with Iranian leaders to keep the American hostages in Tehran held captive until after the election (an act of high treason, by the way);
• his blatant skewing of intelligence data to serve partisan political purposes, in particular helping the Reagan-Bush team craft baseless, fearmongering scare stories about the "Soviet menace;"
• his bellicose, hair-trigger plans for bombing Nicaragua and launching an all-out invasion of Libya, which alarmed even his hardcore, hard-Right mentors like Bill Casey.
Matters worth a question or two, you might think, before giving a man control over the most gargantuan military machine in the history of the world, along with its ever-expanding intelligence tentacles (both at home and abroad) and hydra-headed covert operations. Yet none of these uncomfortable topics were broached during the perfunctory, one-day hearing on Gates' acquisition of the Pentagon. Even old Democratic lions like Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd purred like kittens as the chubby-cheeked Beltway operator offered up a few well-scripted "moderate" noises. Instead of an exercise in serious oversight, the hearing was a "day of compliments and warm chuckles," as the NYT described it.
But the past wasn't the only thing being avoided by the ever-polite "opposition" party; they gave Gates a pass on the present as well. As Parry astutely notes, the Democrats failed "to nail down the nominee's precise thinking on any aspect of the war strategy or even to secure a guarantee that the Pentagon would turn over documents for future oversight hearings. Among many gaps in the questioning, the Democrats didn't press Gates on whether he shared the neoconservative vision of violently remaking the Middle East, whether he endorsed the Military Commissions Act's elimination of habeas corpus rights to fair trials, whether he supports warrantless eavesdropping by the Pentagon's National Security Agency, whether he agrees with Bush's claim of "plenary" – or unlimited – powers as a Commander in Chief who can override laws and the U.S. Constitution."
And so Gates, a long-time Bush Family factotum – in fact, even more of a compliant "Family" member than the ever-prickly Donald Rumsfeld – is in like Flynn. Not a single Democrat voted against him. They have clearly begun this "new era" as they mean to go on. They have already surrendered the biggest weapon in their arsenal that might induce genuine change in the Bush Administration's disastrous policies and force the White House to cooperate with Congressional investigations: the threat of impeachment for the many high crimes and misdemeanors that Bush and Dick Cheney could very plausibly be charged with. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has firmly ruled out any moves toward such actual accountability.
What's more, the Democrats have also surrendered the most effective tool for bringing the murderous, illicit war in Iraq to an end: the power of the purse, which an earlier Congress used to cut off funds for the Vietnam War. Today's Democratic leaders swiftly rejected the call by Rep. Dennis Kucinich for similar action. In fact, the newly-selected House Majority Leader, Steny Hoyer, echoes warhawk Sen. John McCain in calling for even more troops and more money to be thrown into the Iraqi fire.
Yes, there will be cosmetic changes when the Democrats take the reins. There will be more investigations – largely toothless, with the White House stonewalling and running out the clock, although a few low-hanging "bad apples" might be picked off here and there. There will be symbolic gestures, such as the recently introduced bill to rescind the MCA – a piece of pure political theater that has no chance of becoming law: the Democratic majority will be too small to override the inevitable veto. In fact, the entire "progressive agenda" – which anxious moderates fret will be "threatened" if the Democrats actually try to carry out their public mandate of holding the Administration responsible for its actions – will be hobbled in any case by Bush's ironclad veto, no matter how many warm chuckles the Dems share with Administration minions. Spineless in opposition, the Democrats have already disarmed themselves before taking a share of power – and so power will remain in the lawless hands of the "unitary executive."
Where then is the end of the downward spiral, the "widening gyre" as law and power spin farther and farther apart? And what rough beast, sprung from this new genetic code of tyranny and weakness, is even now slouching toward Bethlehem – or Babylon – to be born?
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Winter Patriot said:
This is a great, great column, Chris -- one of the best pieces you have written in a long, long time, IMHO.
I wish every American could read it.
Even more, I wish every American had enough inner strength to face the truth you tell so eloquently.
It looks to me as if we need to impeach not only the elephants, but the donkeys as well.
How's that for an idea whose time has not yet come?
Bill from Saginaw said:
Padilla, Congress, and the GWOT torture regime
If it's true that Mr. Padilla now flunks the forensic psychiatry guideline for mental competence to stand trial, this twist of the old double helix is right out of Kafka: because the conditions of his solitary confinement drove him mad, and the prisoner now really cannot understand the charges against him, comprehend the basic nature of judicial proceedings, nor communicate in a meaningful manner with legal counsel to take part in preparing his defense, under current Constitutional standards defendant Padilla cannot be brought to trial at all.....
In my opinion, Robert Gates as SecDef is nothing more than just another in-your-face Bush Executive Branch promotion as reward for faithful criminal skullduggery past, another fox given front door keys to another hen house in the grand tradition of Negroponte, Gonzales, Chertoff, Abrams, Bolton, Hayden, Poindexter, etc. If the Dems want to confront the Bush White House based upon the 2006 election returns, they should do so on the war in Iraq, not some Cabinet appointment.
I agree that repeal/revision of the Military Tribunals Act would be a great first target for Congressional focus. If Bush vetoes the repealer, then cut the funding for Gitmo, the funding for the rendition prison system, and the future Pentagon/CIA appropriations for womens' panties, electrodes and goggles.
Then Congress should repeal and revise the Iraq War Use of Force Authorization, eliminating all the historically embarassing horseshit about WMD, al Queda links, revenge for 9/11, and the sanctity of UN security council resolutions. Replace the AUMF with language which authorizes US ground forces in the Middle East only for purposes of effectuating a safe, rapid and complete withdrawal from Iraq within a fixed timeline. If Bush vetoes the repealer, that's the time to turn loose John Conyers to consider articles of impeachment against both Bush and Cheney (for high crimes and misdemeanors involving torture, warrantless NSA spying, and fraud in the Iraq War run up).
Will the Democrats play the cards they've been dealt, or will the beltway DNC strategists continue to stand pat while thousands more people needlessly die, secure in the knowledge that things almost certainly will be worse for the GOP in 2008 - with or without the Baker Commission recommendations - as the Middle East implodes in reaction to the continued US occupation? I think the key is to bring grass roots pressure to have the Democrats call Bush out on his veto power.
Great essay and great Watson & Crick metaphor, by the way. It reminds me of some wonderful imagery out of a play (Beckett, perhaps?), about the dangers of cutting down the law - like hacking down the trees of the forest - in order clear cut a path to chase down the Devil. And once you've cut the whole forest down, then what stands between you and the Devil when the Devil turns around?
It's only the law that makes a government's use of coercive police power even arguably moral.


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I want to start my own training but im having trouble creating my own daily workout plan. Would it be ok to go to the gym first then practice my ball skills everyday, i heard that it help builds muscle memory. Do you guys have any tips or reccomendations on a good daily workout/skill plan?
P.S. Would it be a good idea to work on my skills one day and work out at the gym another?
Yes I think you should do that, practice your skills, then head to the gym, and work on fundamentals especially, because it's really important and that's what coaches look for to send you in the game. So fundamentals is the key while your practicing on your skills.
What @dkm235 said.
I am currently a basketball skill/strength coach. There are a lot of factors that go into a workout plan. My first question to you would be...are you currently in-season? If you are in-season and practicing/playing games 6 days/week, you should scale back your workouts a little bit until the off-season...focus on maintaing strength and skill vs. big improvements. If you aren't playing/practicing in season that much, then you can ramp-up a bit.
If you are doing any strength training and skill training in the same day, you should make sure you always do the strength training first. Injury in strength training is much more prevalent if you are doing strength training while fatigued. So if doing both skill/strength in same day...always strength first.
When you say "Would it be ok to go to the gym first then practice my ball skills everyday, i heard that it help builds muscle memory.", do you mean go to practice then do ball skills...or do you mean lift weights then do ball skills?
As far as a routine, I highly recommend a lot of variance in your workouts. So, an example would be...one day do ball-handling only, the next shooting only, then do a mix of ball handling/shooting, then defense, then defense and shooting, then passing and ball handling, etc....Map out drills for each day.
If you go to my site, www.theworldofhoops.com you can find a lot of great drills if you go the "School of Hoops".
There are a ton of videos here: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheWorldofHoops?feature=watch
We do custom programming as well, you can find info on that as well. Good luck!
I played professional basketball overseas, and have been playing basketball since the age of 9. What worked for me was ball handling and shooting on my own, while combining that with playing against older, stronger, more experienced players in pick up games. I also think a lot of one-on-one, 2-on-2, and 3-on-3 would be very beneficial, but always against better talent.
I also agree with the worldofhoops in that you should do your core or strength training prior to playing, if you are going to play afterwards. I don't agree that you don't need to dribble every day. On the contrary, have that ball in your hands 24-7. It has to become a part of you.
Best of luck!
Coach Beez
Yo, what up fools?: It's me, " THE MAN " , Zac Ryan. Even though I'm a cartoon character, I can still ball chump! So if you like basketball, then come check me out and read all my comic strips at:
I'm out.
ACTIVE is the leader in online event registrations from 5k running races and marathons to softball leagues and local events. ACTIVE also makes it easy to learn and prepare for all the things you love to do with expert resources, training plans and fitness calculators.


text:
On a sunny and seasonably warm January 27, 2007 Saturday afternoon about 500,000 people marched in Washington DC to send Congress the message to end America's occupation in Iraq and bring the troops home. But, if the U.S. (and other countries) war machines have their way, future conflicts will rely less on human troops and more on automated weapons systems. And for all the reasons that FOSS is being chosen to satisfy businesses and individuals IT needs, so too is it being chosen by the world's militaries to design, simulate, test and control their future weapons.
As most of us know, FOSS provides an abundant set of efficient and productive tools. Many are aware of the reported peaceful uses of FOSS in government. Linux has long been used in NASA, to create beowulf clusters, and now to develop land robot explorers. And, of course, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) provided most of the vision, funding and research in the creation of the internet, and more recently has sponsored the Grand Challenges competition for robot controlled vehicles.
Unbeknownst to many, however, is the increasing use of FOSS by the militaries of the world. Every now and then the mainstream media may report on some peripheral aspect of this, such as this article by the Washington Post onthe NSA and Vista.
But Microsoft is clearly losing its luster with the military industrial complex because, well, would you trust running your naval fleet on Windows? That was a question posed to the British Royal Navy recently. This question was brought to a head concerning the US Navy and Windows when in 1997 the USS Yorktown guided-missile cruiser was left dead in the water, and had to be towed to port, basically because its Windows-based OS wouldn't boot.
Other countries, however, don't have the money and resources to waste on buggy and old weapon systems dumped on them by American and European weapon makers, and are more and more taking the "we can do it ourselves" approach. Take for instance the Chinese FOSSinitiative. China, partly as an act of national security, is eschewing the reliance on American corporate chip makers Intel and AMD, and is developing their own microprocessors to specifically run their own versions of Linux. These will certainly find their way into future Chinese weapon systems.
While China may be the biggest, and most muscular, emerging user of FOSS for military purposes, it is hardly the only. Israel is a major developer and user of FOSS, along with its middle east neighbor Iran. And let's not forget that Venezuela is beefing up its military, while mandating the government wide use of FOSS. Not to mention South Africa, Brazil, Nigeria, Japan, and all of Europe too. The U.S., apparently seeing the light too, has embarked on robotics based, software driven Future Combat Systems program, where FOSS will play a significant role.
FOSS's role isn't just limited to running the weapons either. The proliferation of cheap and pervasive HPC clusters allow for any country to just as easily design suitcase nukes, and sequence the DNA for the next bio-weapon, while they do the design of hypersonic jets, and weather forecasting. And one of the greatest fears the U.S. government has is the cyberwar capabilities of a growing number of states (as well as corporations and individuals).
But while FOSS's role in the waging of war is surely rising, it doesn't mean that war will/should become more inevitable. In fact, the principles behind the development of FOSS can be the biggest deterrent to war—people from all walks of life, all over the world, working together, to produce tools that can be used to benefit everyone. It is up to us to work, and if necessary fight, to ensure that our creations are used to make us free, and not to destroy us.
Hello? Timeliness
You have two references to "prove" your point that Windows is "losing its luster" with the military. The so-called recent example by the British military was in fact a decision from 2004 on a version of the OS that's 7 years old.
The reference to the Yorktown incident from 1997 is now 10 years old. Surely there are more recent example than this. No? If not, then how can you draw that conclusion? You may very well be correct, but you've not made the point with this reader.
Reply - MS Windows the enabling tech for malware
Anyone who's had to reinstall MS Windows again and again and again on account of the malware deluge, knows rather well that it's not a very safe system, even behind a firewalling router - which in most cases, happens to be running Linux or a *BSD anyway.
And speaking of countries not having "the money and resources to waste on buggy and old weapon systems dumped on them by American and European weapon makers," I myself suggested that my own country define its strategic environment rather than fall in line with US hand-me-down policies.
The only problem is that they have had a look and decided that they don't really need a military aviation deterrence. Pity.
Very odd report
you honestly believe that places like China, Iran, Isreal and so on are going to develop control and command software using FOSS, and release this Source Code under the GPL ?
You've GOT to be joking,
What's the FOSS community going to do with code the controls a missile, or a launcher system ??
I also wonder that if one of these Countries you mentions does make the source code available as is a requirement for FOSS, (the OPEN SOURCE bit).
so the enemy can analysie the software's reponse and develop methods and countermeasures to exploit its design weaknesses.
THis is what happens now, all side continuously analyse the opposition system, for performance and for ways to "trick" or confuse it.
This techniquie is WHY defense keep their methods a secret.
But if you make these systems OPEN, you are giving the ENEMY a "free kick".
What about "ethics" people ?? when i read this article, i get the impression that it does not matter about the human rights, or ethics of a country, they are "OK" as long as they follow the FOSS mantra.
there may be a place in the world for FOSS, but regarding FOSS above ALL ELSE, ie Country politics, etherics, human rights, or even WHAT SIDE THEY ARE ON.
You talk about China, and at the same time, you say how good they are (ethically) because they "might" be using FOSS.
Does not seem to matter that China will happily severaly restrict access to INFORMATION, let alone source code.
why not you think China will make their source code available, and i guess you also think Google is great because they use FOSS, (except where it counts, ie they keep their search code proprietry).
Google also work closely with the Chinese government to limit what its citizens can access on the internet. Nothing that might make China out in a bad light.
as said, there may be a place and time for Open Source, and FOSS, but thinking its good for mankind, to make military control system FOSS is certainly not one of them.
But rest assured, the military does not use FOSS, as a an electronics engineer, and software developer for the military, also being Ex-military.
I KNOW its just not true,
Thankfully the military has more brains, than to allow source code, methods and procedues, and system responses to become freely availbile to ANYONE, let alone the enemy.
also, finally, to write code for a system, you generally have to know HOW that device workds, and the military usually dont like Joe public having those kinds of details on their systems. Its called "security".
its there becuase you usually dont want the enemy to know how you system work, because when you know how a system works, its quite easy to determine the easiest way to stop it from working, you only have to confuse a system ONCE and you've killed lots of people.
How to win friends and influence people, just tell them your working (FOR FREE), on a Iranian millile launcher system, writing software for them.
But its OK, just dont let you "homeland security" people know what your doing, they may just take a dim view of such practice.
If Bin Ladin was a FOSS hacker, he would be ok ?
There are some things in the world that should never be free or OPEN,
Medical equipment
Military equipment
i dont want a 13 year old hacking working on either of these systems, and am more than happy to ensure these systems are developed by "GOOD" programmers, and system developers, and not some schoolboy.
and the FOSS boys are always saying Microsoft is the "Evil force" in the world. seems to me thats its the FOSS people who are willing to "get into bed" with anyone who'll give them a platform.
Its sad that FOSS has to lower its standards, if there were ever any ethical standards to start with.
Very odd report
You seem to misunderstand the focus of my discussion, and apparently didn't look at the links I supplied. FOSS IS IS BEING USED in all the stages of weapons development, because its available, good, and FREE.
The point is not that software for command and control, etc should or would (it wouldn't) be released, but that FOSS allows for countries to get into the game very cheaply and reliably. The most important use of FOSS in weapons development is not within the weapons themselves but in the process of design, simulation, test, development and management.
Inexpensive, off-the-shelf, HPC clusters running Linux allows any country to design and simulate anything they want for fractions of the cost it used to cost the U.S. and Russia to create their war machinery at the height of the cold war. So too with information storage and data mining, communications, and all the other support activities that have to be sustained to produce any product, military or non-military.
Thus, FOSS allows countries to get more for their money, and more that's already been tested, and proven to work, so they can concentrate more on the new stuff they want to develop. This is where FOSS is making the biggest impact on weapons development, along with its increased use in actual weapons systems themselves (read the links).
Re: Very odd report
> you honestly believe that [different countries] are going to develop control
> and command software using FOSS, and release this Source Code under the GPL ?
First, they would never release such code. Second, the sources need to be accessible only for derivative work of some other program under GPL, and only when the derivative program is being distributed or sold (yes, that's perfectly possible with GPL). Third, nobody is obliged to distribute the sources, if they are using the program internally. And if some program is not based on GPL-ed work, if it is original or proprietary work, there is no way of making the authors to release its sources.
And most importantly, the code for "control and command software" wouldn't be released ever, even if this would be the violation of GPL - for obvious national security reasons.
That's why the whole situation poses a problem. Rest of your reasoning is not valid, sorry.


text:
Livingston County Health Center has announced an opportunity for children to get immunized against the flu. A "Kids Only" shot clinic has been scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 22, from 3 until 6 p.m. at the health center, 800 Adam Drive.
Other opportunities in October for children to get vaccinated include the health center's regular morning clinic this Thursday, Oct. 17, from 7 until 11:30 a.m. or the evening clinic next Thursday, Oct. 24, from 2 until 7 p.m.
Parents should make an appointment for their child or children by calling 646-5506. Those with private insurance should also bring their insurance card to the clinic. Children under 18 must be accompanied by a parent.
For more information, contact the health center at 646-5506.
Location, ST | website.com


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observed the technique and methods of the Senator
so there is no need to attempt a description thereof.
I propose merely to recall] to mind some of
the instances of abuse of power which I believe fully
warrant the motion of censure offered by the Senator
from Vermont.
Mr. President, the abuses by which the
Senator from Wisconsin has degraded and brought into
disrepute the great and vital power of the Senate
to investigate are not minor. His abuses have
recalled to the minds of millions the most abhorrent
tyrannies which our whole system of ordered liberty
and balanced power was intended to abolish.
(1) He has used the position and power
which this Senate has conferred upon
him to infringe the rights and liberties
of citizens of this Republic and
inflicted grave injury upon them.
The first case which I would like to mention
is the case of General George C. Marshall. I believe
that General George C. Marshall is a great patriot.
I think his service to his country, both in time of
war and in time of peace, has entitled him to the
thanks of the country which he has served with devotion
- 4 -
Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.


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POSITION: Left Wing
SHOOTS: Left
BIRTHPLACE: St. John's, NL, CAN
DRAFTED: SJS: 2001-175 overall
|2011-12: 6th on the team in points (17-28=45) and 1st in penalty minutes (97)…T-2nd in the League with four shootout-deciding goals…Had his third career Gordie Howe Hat Trick, 14th in Sharks history, with a goal, assist and two fighting majors at Los Angeles on April 5…Had three assists on Feb. 4 at Phoenix…Missed 5 games (Jan. 19 thru Jan. 31) with an upper body injury…Had a goal, an assist and was a +2 vs. Dallas on Dec. 8…Scored a goal, had a fighting major and converted the shootout winner vs. Pittsburgh on Nov. 3…Scored a goal and had an assist on Oct. 28 at Detroit…Posted two points (1-1=2) and converted the shootout winner at New Jersey on Oct. 21…Posted two assists on Oct. 15 vs. St. Louis…Scored a goal in the season opener vs. Phoenix on Oct. 8...Playoffs: Tied for the team lead in assists (3).
CAREER 2010-11: Set single season highs in goals, points and plus/minus (plus-13) and tied his career best in assists…T-15th in the League in even strength points (49, 19 goals)…T-4th on team in assists, fourth in goals, fifth in points, second in hits (153) and in PIM and fourth in plus/minus…One of three NHL players to have 60-plus points and 100-plus PIM…One of the team's alternate captains…Recorded his second Gordie Howe Hat Trick, 11th in franchise history, at Phoenix on March 26 with a goal, two assists and a fighting major…Missed last three games (April 6-9, lower body)…Registered his 200th point (goal) at Detroit on Feb. 22…Played in his 300th game and scored a power play goal on Feb. 19 vs. Colorado…129 consecutive games played streak was snapped on Jan. 15 vs. St. Louis (lower body)…Posted his 100th assist with three points (two assists) vs. Calgary on Nov. 13…Registered his 300th penalty minute on Oct. 21 at Colorado…Playoffs: T-15th in the League in points…Had five multi-point games (12 overall)...Missed WCSF Game 6 at Detroit (upper body)…Tied career high with three assists in WCSF Game 4 at Detroit, placing him third in franchise history in postseason points…T-5th in the League in both goals (four) and points (seven) in Round 1…Posted two goals in WCQF Games 3 and 4 at Los Angeles…Set a career high with three assists in WCQF Game 1.
2009-10: Established career highs in assists, shots (189), PIM (led team) and games played…Sharks Foundation "Player of the Month" for March...Post-Olympic break, had at least one point in 15 of his 20 games (17 points, four goals and 13 assists)…Third on the team in hits (157)…Scored on his first career penalty shot on Dec. 30 vs. Washington, the eventual game-winning goal…Had a career-high 10-game point streak from Nov. 17-Dec. 9…Playoffs: His plus-4 in WCQF Game 6 vs. Colorado tied a franchise single game playoff record…Posted two assists in WCQF Game 2, including one on the game-winning overtime goal.
2008-09: Team ranks: sixth in goals, T-1st in power play goals (11) and fifth in hits (135)...Set a career high in points/assists in a single game (four) on Jan. 17 vs. Detroit...Four-game goal streak (Oct. 30-Nov. 6, five) set a career high...Registered his first NHL Gordie Howe Hat Trick, 10th in Sharks history, on Nov. 4 vs. Minnesota with a goal, an assist and a fighting major...Playoffs: T-3rd on the team in hits (16).
2007-08: Appeared in his first game after missing 67 (knee) on March 30 vs. Phoenix. Named No. 2 star of the game with an assist and a game-high six hits…Activated from IR (knee) on March 27…Placed on IR after hurting knee on Oct. 28 at Columbus…Playoffs: 10th in NHL in hits (40)…Tied for team lead in goals…Scored two goals and led the team with eight shots and seven hits in WCQF Game 1 vs. Calgary.
2006-07: Posted five, three-point games…T-9th among League rookies in goals, T-11th in power play goals (four), T-7th in game-winning goals (three) and 10th in points…Third in shot percentage among all rookies (17.2)…Second on the team in PIM and fighting majors (eight)…Named NHL Rookie of the Month for January, the first Sharks recipient of the award since Evgeni Nabokov in Dec. 2000…Recorded first hat trick vs. Columbus on Jan. 6…Returned from IR on Oct. 29 at Tampa Bay and notched his first NHL goal…Playoffs: Led League rookies in goals (also T-1st on team) and second in points…T-2nd among League rookies in hits (25).
2005-06: Compiled his first career multi-point game/assist with two assists at St. Louis on Oct. 8…Earned his first fighting major (Chicago's Jim Vandermeer) on Oct. 7…Playoffs: Made first postseason appearance in WCSF Game 4 at Edmonton.
2004-05: Cleveland's Most Valuable Player led Barons in goals, assists, points, plus/minus (plus-19), first goals (nine), multi-point games (16), power play goals (14) and power play points (23).
2003-04: 12th among all AHL rookie scorers and fourth in assists…Fifth on team in scoring and fourth in assists, plus/minus (plus-15) and PIM…Playoffs: T-2nd on team in goals and seventh in scoring.
2002-03: Set QMJHL career highs in assists and points…Playoffs: T-2nd on team in points and assists…T-1st on team in power play goals (three).
2001-02: Third on team in points…Also fourth on the Oceanic in goals and assists…Led club in game-winning goals (eight)…T-4th on Rimouski in power play goals (10).
2000-01: Finished season with Rimouski following promotion from Tier II juniors…Led club in playoff goal scoring with eight in 11 postseason games.
PERSONAL: "Clowie" lists these favorites: Steak (food); Baseball (sport besides hockey); Beating Detroit in game 7 during 2011 playoffs (hockey moment); Chicago (NHL road city); Chicago (non-Sharks jersey); Slap Shot (hockey movie); Sons of Anarchy (TV show); Scarface (movie); Clay Morrow from Sons of Anarchy (TV character); Reggie Dunlop from Slapshot (movie character); Tom Petty (musician)…Wishes he had the nickname "Stanley Cup Champ"…Refuses to eat olives…Has the hidden talent of being a great home decorator…Would be a crab fisherman, his father's profession, if he wasn't playing hockey…If he could have dinner with anyone in history it would be Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, and Billy Martin…Hockey idol is Eric Lindros…Piece of equipment he gives the most attention to is his skates…Names Marian Gaborik as the fastest skater in the NHL…If he could change one rule he would bring back the two-line pass…Names Jody Shelley as the best teammate he's ever had in his career…Thinks goaltender Thomas Greiss is the most in-shape Shark…Admits that he's the Shark who chirps the most at the other team from the bench…Thinks Logan Couture would make American Idol if given the chance ("Ever heard him sing karaoke?").


text:
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text:
Famous for his Mediterranean skies and a vision of the East reminiscent of The Thousand and One Nights, Félix Ziem (Beaune 1821 – Paris 1911) was a nomadic, unique and eccentric artist.
The son of a Polish tailor who migrated to France, he began architecture studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Dijon before abruptly turning a page on university and his father. His long, prolific career began in the 1840s when he fell in love with the Mediterranean and, later, Venice. An extensive traveller, friend of the Barbizon school of artists, admirer of Claude Lorrain and J. M. W. Turner, Ziem played a unique part in the 19th century art world. He managed to attract a wide range of patrons through works that conjured up dreams of Venice and Constantinople.
The Petit Palais is presenting a selection of paintings and drawings acquired by the museum in 1905. At the end of his life, concerned with his legacy, Ziem had put aside a significant body of work – paintings and watercolours – to donate to the brand new City of Paris Beaux-arts museum. Open to the public on 21 July 1905, along with the Dalou room, the Ziem room was officially inaugurated on 13 December in the presence of the French President.
The Ziem donation is made up of 171 paintings and watercolours with five additional sketchbooks and one ink drawing. This selection – mainly sketches from Ziem's studio collection – reveals a more intimate aspect of the artist, whose excessive output ultimately compromised his spontaneity.
Here the painter is seen through the places that inspired his quest for the ideal natural setting, oblivious to the overwhelming Realist wave that was washing over landscape art in the last decades of the 19th century.
Curators: Isabelle Collet, Head Curator; Charles Villeneuve de Janti, Heritage Curator
Du mardi au dimanche de 10h à 18h, nocturne le jeudi jusqu'à 20h.
Fermé le lundi et les jours fériés.
Plein tarif : 6 euros
Tarif réduit : 4,5 euros
Demi tarif : 3 euros


text:
Hi all, I've searched the forums for this but didn't find anything specifically about this problem. I should say that I've gotten the whole system set up and am successfully streaming media files from my MBP (10.8.2) to my LG Bluray player (BD570). The LG is using a wired connection, and its firmware is up to date. I'm running version 1.72.0 of PMS.
What's happening is that when I try to steam a file from a directory that contains a large number of files (400+, many of which are very large files themselves) the LG shows its 'thinking' icon (a rotating star shape) and then nothing happens. the 'thinking' icon will alternate between the 'play' icon (a small triangle) and this process will continue for about 10 minutes until an error comes up saying 'cannot play this file'. so I tried two things: I copied the file to its own directory in the root of the disc, and also into its own directory a few levels deep in the same folder with the 400+ files. both of these files, when copied to their own directory, then play just fine.
I noticed something odd in the PMS interface when I would try to play the file from the large directory: when I would select it on the LG, the PMS window would show a message 'serving xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx' at the bottom of the window, and the xxxxxx would state the name of a file it was 'serving' which is actually not the file I had requested. additionally, the file I had requested, when it's in the large directory, would show the word [MEncoder] after it in the LG interface, but that word isn't in the file itself on the disc. when I select that file from the smaller directory (where it's the only file), [MEncoder] word isn't there.
If I've just detailed a 'know issue' or if there's an article on here that covers this, please point me to it and I'm happy to take it from there. if there is simply a directory size limit, or if there's a setting I can adjust in the PMS, then I'll do that. I'm a pretty techie guy and I think I might just be missing a setting somewhere. Thanks!


text:
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text:
Why Is the Cinnamon Challenge Dangerous?
Please Note: By clicking a link to any resource listed on this page, you will be leaving this site.
American Lung Association
The mission of this group is to prevent lung disease and promote lung health. Contact the group at: American Lung Association 61 Broadway, 6th Floor NY, NY 10006 (212) 315-8700


text:
rate 1
1A measure, quantity, or frequency, typically one measured against another quantity or measure: the island has the lowest crime rate in the world buying up sites at a rate of one a month
More example sentences
- Yet their crime rates, by whatever measure one judged them, were very different.
- Although the theoretical model assumes constant yaw rate, the measured rates are highly dynamic.
- Curvature is a measure of the local geometry of the surface, while the strain rates measure its relative rate of expansion.
1.1The speed with which something moves or happens: the band is shedding vocalists at an alarming rate your heart rate
More example sentences
- It is harder to attack a convoy, however, if it is moving at a high rate of speed.
- Oh who am I kidding, the thought of riding wasn't the only thing that was causing my heart rate to speed up.
- But we are really moving at an incredible rate to get medicines to the hospitals.
2A fixed price paid or charged for something: a £3.40 minimum hourly rate of pay advertising rates
More example sentences
- In Mumbai and Pune, rickshaws have meters, and a fixed rate by which you pay them.
- The average hourly rate of pay must not be less than your minimum hourly rate of pay illustrated on the table above.
- At present all non-domestic users pay a fixed rate for water irrespective of the quantity that they use.
2.1The amount of a charge or payment expressed as a percentage of another amount, or as a basis of calculation: you'll find our current interest rate very competitive
More example sentences
- If she gets pregnant, the interest rate drops by one basis point for one year.
- On exiting the scheme, tax is charged at a rate of 23 per cent on the interest earned.
- A transfer of property between blood relatives is charged at half the rate of stamp duty which would otherwise apply.
percentage, ratio, proportion, scale, standard
2.2 (rates) (In the UK) a tax on commercial land and buildings paid to a local authority; (in Northern Ireland and formerly in the UK) a tax levied on private property.
Example sentences
- We council tax payers pay rates to Central Government, which later gives money to the council to pay for such expenses.
- Local government did tax directly; its revenue came from rates collected on land.
- Businesses often question what they get in return for paying local authority rates.
1 [with object] Assign a standard or value to (something) according to a particular scale: they were asked to rate their ability at different driving manoeuvres [with object and complement]: the hotel, rated four star, had no hot water
More example sentences
- They were also asked to describe their outfits on a 7-point Likert scale rating four options: natural, modest, bold, and sexy.
- Until 1999, Star Wars films were rated on a scale of 10 to 10 with no exceptions.
- Almost every one of the albums was rated four stars by customers.
1.1 [with object and adverbial] Assign a standard, optimal, or limiting rating to (a piece of equipment): the average life of the new bulb is rated at approximately 500 hours
More example sentences
- Although the TwinX Kit is rated at 400MHz, contrary to popular belief, the speed of the ram is not the single most important factor when shopping for ram.
- In stock form, the Ecotec is rated at 140 horsepower.
- Hansen's truck is powered by a Brent Voges-built 327-cid engine that is rated at 250 horsepower.
1.2(In the UK) assess the value of (a property) for the purpose of levying a local tax.
Example sentences
- SOME AUSTRALIAN MUNICIPALITIES were rating on unimproved land values as early as the 1850s.
- Auckland city is the last remaining instance of annual rental value rating - a relic from the nineteenth century.
- The earlier Transvaal Ordinance effectively prevented flat rating or total value rating.
2 [with object and adverbial] Consider to be of a certain quality or standard: Atkinson rates him as Europe's top defender [with object and complement]: the program has been rated a great success
More example sentences
- And out of the 10 specialist services provided at the hospital, such as paediatrics, stroke and heart treatments, eight are rated as being high quality.
- How could WorldCom, a company that was in financial trouble, issue bonds that were rated investment grade quality?
- Even yours truly rated a fleeting mention so of course it must be rated a sterling success.
consider to be, judge to be, reckon to be, think to be, hold to be, deem to be, find to be;
regard, account, esteem, mark down as, look on, count
2.1 [no object, with adverbial] Be regarded in a specified way: Jeff still rates as one of the nicest people I have ever met
More example sentences
- So how do election counts rate in terms of viewer involvement?
- A vegetable doesn't have to be high on all counts to be worth growing, especially if it rates better than the cultivar you have been putting in for years.
- Environmental quality rated considerably ahead of CEO preference - frequently alluded to as a key location factor for high tech companies.
2.2 [with object] informal Have a high opinion of: Mike certainly rated her, goodness knows why
More example sentences
- WHAT IS THE HUMAN QUALITY most rated by Californians?
think highly of, have a high opinion of, admire, think much of, set much store by, hold in esteem, esteem, value, hold in high regard
2.3 [with object] Be worthy of; merit: the ambassador rated a bulletproof car and a police escort
More example sentences
- Nine's ratings problems and management changes barely rated a mention around the market.
- By the benchmark of the Rwandan civil war, it would barely rate a mention.
- He barely rates a mention, naturally, and when he is mentioned he is sneered at.
merit, deserve, warrant, be worthy of, be worth, be entitled to, be deserving of, have a claim to, have a right to
at any rate
- Whatever happens or may have happened: for the moment, at any rate, he was safeMore example sentences
in any case, anyhow, anyway, at all events, in any event, nevertheless;whatever happens, no matter what happens, come what may, regardless, notwithstanding
- Such, at any rate, was the answer that rang back at my moment of frustration and paralysis and panic.
- We know only that the transfer was made, at any rate, according to a public statement by Earl Huntley.
- The workforce has, at any rate, been trimmed down over the years.
- 1.1Used to clarify or emphasize a statement: the story, or at any rate, a public version of it, was known and rememberedMore example sentences
- Great story for a kid at any rate, because kids love horrific things.
- But the hardships are in practice not so serious as might appear, at any rate in the case of statements which are ex facie defamatory.
- Also as usual, at any rate with Waters, there is a lesbian love story involved.
at this (or that) rate
- If matters continue in this or that way: at this rate, I won't have a job to go back toMore example sentences
- Still, it would be pretty hard to include 'computer consultant' on my business card at this rate.
- Mate, enjoy making fun of our columnists because they've only got a few years left at this rate…
- This week is going to drag on for ever at this rate.
rate of return
- The annual income from an investment expressed as a proportion (usually a percentage) of the original investment.Example sentences
- The standard story of entry and exit leads to a long-run equilibrium in which all firms earn only a normal rate of return on investment.
- It will also use the money for financing investments that will produce a better rate of return than the interest it will have to pay on its new loan notes.
- In order to do that, the tax system must let savers earn the full gross rate of return on their investments.
Late Middle English (expressing a notion of 'estimated value'): from Old French, from medieval Latin rata (from Latin pro rata parte (or portione) 'according to the proportional share'), from ratus 'reckoned', past participle of reri.
Words that rhyme with rateabate, ablate, aerate, ait, await, backdate, bait, bate, berate, castrate, collate, conflate, crate, create, cremate, date, deflate, dictate, dilate, distraite, donate, downstate, eight, elate, equate, estate, fate, fête, fixate, freight, frustrate, gait, gate, gestate, gradate, grate, great, gyrate, hate, hydrate, inflate, innate, interrelate, interstate, irate, Kate, Kuwait, lactate, late, locate, lustrate, mandate, mate, migrate, misdate, misstate, mistranslate, mutate, narrate, negate, notate, orate, ornate, Pate, placate, plate, prate, prorate, prostrate, pulsate, pupate, quadrate, rotate, sate, sedate, serrate, short weight, skate, slate, spate, spectate, spruit, stagnate, state, straight, strait, Tate, tête-à-tête, Thwaite, translate, translocate, transmigrate, truncate, underrate, understate, underweight, update, uprate, upstate, up-to-date, vacate, vibrate, wait, weight
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: rate
rate 2
Late Middle English: of unknown origin.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: rate
rate 3
Variant spelling of ret.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: rate
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed.
= trending


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Oracle OpenWorld Healthcare Integration Session Highlights Challenges & Solutions
By Nitesh Jain on Oct 03, 2012
In today's session co-presented by Steve Schenks, Integration Architect from Ascension Health and Oracle's Sundar Shenbagam and Suresh Sharma (apparently your initials must be SS to present during this session), interesting insights in many different areas including Steve's descriptions of the challenges with their previous environment:
Disparate hardware and software is an issue common across healthcare and most other industries…Larry Ellison spoke on this topic during Sundays' keynote address.
In the last part of session, Suresh is planning to go over some of the
best practices and lesson learned to implement successful healthcare
applications and will discuss the different options to model Sequencing
(FIF0) use cases (one of most common use cases in the provider market).
The session was "Implementing Successful Healthcare Applications with Oracle SOA Suite" – Session # CON8546. For more information about this session, please contact Senior Principal Product Manager Suresh Sharma
Ref : https://blogs.oracle.com/SOA/entry/oracle_openworld_healthcare_integration_session


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Printable View
Im sure there are plenty at WVU
Entering freshman:
"But mummy I simply must have a Jeep in order to fit in the with country folk when I go to college"
"But Jeeps are so beneath us Chauncey"
'I must insist mummy'
"very well, I will talk to your father's people and arrange it. Now leave mummy alone. I have a private appointment with my trainer"
I barely even like to visit snow these days. Sure, I like snowboarding and such... but I like warm weather so much more and am much more inclined to spend my money following warmth rather than cold.
ski season! love surfing and then driving up to vermont and skiing the next day. winter is the bomb!
Im from Jersey and can handle mountains just fine.
Attachment 9680
Four-day friggin snowstorms: go to sleep, it's snowing, wake up it's still snowing. It's 'Groundhog Day' up there in winter. And the Adirondacks are serious stuff in winter; every year, a coupla experienced hunters get turned around in the snow & wind up staggering around, slowly freezing to death. Sometimes they find 'em. Sometimes they don't.
I'm w Brew on this one.


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SANTA CLARA -- Colin Kaepernick's exciting cameos might be giving way to concern for the 49ers offense.
After early success against the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills, the WildKap scheme has lately interrupted the 49ers' rhythm instead of enhancing it.
Coincidence or not, in each of the past two games, Alex Smith had a pass intercepted on the ensuing play after a Kaepernick snap. The 49ers' production the past two games: one touchdown in 21 offensive series, not counting their kneel-down drive that capped Thursday night's 13-6 win over the Seattle Seahawks.
That begs the question: Is Smith hindered by this unorthodox and sporadic rotation?
"I'll say this: It's fun to come in when it's first down. It's not fun to come back in when it's third-and-long," Smith told Yahoo! Sports after Thursday's win. "In hindsight, it's easy to say (it's a mistake). But it's also been very effective for us at times."
Kaepernick, the 49ers' second-round draft pick last year, had a breakout performance Sept. 30 against the Jets (five carries, 50 yards). He ran for a touchdown in that game, as well as in the following week's 45-3 rout of the Buffalo Bills.
The 49ers' newfound asset didn't fare as well Oct. 14 in a 26-3 loss to the Giants, perhaps resulting in Kaepernick being used on only one snap against the Seahawks.
Offensive coordinator Greg Roman conceded after the Giants defeat that Kaepernick's insertion indeed could disrupt the offense's flow.
"Yeah, I think that's something that we've got to be mindful of," Roman said. "Got to really take a look at and try to make the best decision for the team."
Coach Jim Harbaugh said last week that Kaepernick is merely "an added weapon" and that the 49ers are happy to get "plenty of everything" from Smith.
Running back Frank Gore insisted the offense's rhythm, or at least confidence, doesn't change when Kaepernick replaces Smith.
"When Coach brings in Kaepernick, everyone feels we can make the play work," Gore said. "It doesn't bother us."
The 49ers (5-2) are prone to use as many options as possible in their strive for unpredictability. Overall, that strategy has complemented their still-dominant defense, and they're sitting atop the NFC West heading into Monday night's visit to the Arizona Cardinals (4-3).
But the 49ers have the 29th-ranked pass offense, averaging 199.9 yards per game. Smith has slid to seventh place with a 93.9 passer rating after leading the league in passing efficiency two games ago.
When Smith said "it's not fun" inheriting an ugly down-and-distance situation, a couple recent instances proved that point.
In their loss to the Giants, a wild sequence ensued with the WildKap: Smith completed a 55-yard pass to Randy Moss, Kaepernick came in to get sacked for an 11-yard loss and Smith took over a second-and-21 situation. That drive ultimately ended with the 49ers turning the ball over on downs and trailing 23-3.
Last game, the 49ers found themselves deep in Seahawks territory thanks to a 37-yard run by Gore. Two snaps later, Kaepernick came in and was stopped for a 1-yard loss on second-and-goal from the 6. Smith returned, scrambled and spotted Randy Moss in the end zone but had his pass intercepted.
Harbaugh and Roman have consistently referred to Kaepernick as Smith's "understudy," and there hasn't been a hint of quarterback controversy inside the locker room.
"His first year was somewhat of a redshirt year. But he's doing a nice job," Roman said. "He brings in a different dynamic when we bring him in there. We can run some quarterback runs, some play-actions off those types of plays."
Having an arsenal of options stands to help the 49ers' cause as they navigate the defense-rich NFC West. The Cardinals, their next foe, offer the league's seventh-ranked defense in terms of yards allowed.
Arizona's run defense, however, ranks only 20th -- a matchup that might entice the 49ers to once again break out the WildKap, for better or worse.
For more on the 49ers, see Cam Inman's Hot Read blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/CamInman.


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Heart Disease Health Center
Abnormal Heart Rhythms and Pacemakers
In this article
As a psychologist who has counseled heart patients for more than 30 years, Wayne Sotile, PhD, knows exactly how much they worry about sexafter a heart attack. "And if they're not anxious, believe me, their partner is anxious," he says. Couples worry about triggering a second heart attack, or even that a patient could die in the bedroom. But Sotile and cardiologists tell WebMD that sex isn't nearly as risky as many patients believe. With a touch of reassurance, heart patients can once...
Read the Sex After a Heart Attack article > >
How Should I Prepare to Get a Pacemaker?
Before your procedure to get a pacemaker implanted:
- Ask your doctor what medications you are allowed to take. Your doctor may ask you to stop taking certain medications 1 to 5 days before the procedure. If you have diabetes, ask your doctor how you should adjust your diabetes medications.
- Do not eat or drink anything after midnight the evening before the procedure. If you must take medications, take them only with a small sip of water.
- When you come to the hospital, wear comfortable clothes. You will change into a hospital gown for the procedure. Leave all jewelry and valuables at home.
How Are Pacemakers Implanted?
Pacemakers are implanted two ways:
Endocardial approach. This is the most common technique used.
- A local anesthetic (pain-relieving medication) is given to numb the area. An incision is made in the chest where the leads and pacemaker are inserted.
- The lead(s) is inserted through the incision and into a vein, then guided to the heart with the aid of the x-ray machine.
- The lead tip attaches to the heart muscle, while the other end of the lead (attached to the pulse generator) is placed in a pocket created under the skin in the upper chest.
Epicardial approach. This technique is more commonly used in children than adults.
- A surgeon performs this procedure in an operating room. General anesthesia is given to put you to sleep.
- The surgeon attaches the lead tip to the heart muscle, while the other end of the lead (attached to the pulse generator) is placed in a pocket created under the skin in the abdomen.
- Although recovery with the epicardial approach is longer than that of the transvenous approach, minimally invasive techniques have enabled shorter hospital stays and quicker recovery times.
The doctor will determine, which pacemaker implant method is best for you.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Today on WebMD
A visual guide.
Symptoms and causes.
10 things to never do.
Get the facts.


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Hi Active Community!
I've been wanting to do an Olympic distance triathlon for a long time and I decided I just need to do it at the end of this summer. No more excuses. I'm not exactly a beginner - I played varsity soccer, swimming, cross country, and track back in high school and I have since completed two sprint triathlons and a marathon. I grew up riding my bike to swim practice and playing soccer in the afternoon every summer.
My biggest obstacle in training is that I'm doing it alone. I have a book with training advice and work outs for different levels, but I don't have anyone to ride my bike with or swim in the ocean with. I have access to a pool, I own a road bike, and I run frequently. I do not have a wet suit and I'm a little afraid of riding my bike around streets with cars. I live in LA and I do not have the time to sign up for something like Team in Training since I'm leaving for grad school before their planned races.
Here are my questions:
I'd love to hear from other beginners and other more experienced triathletes. Thanks so much!
While you'll probably have to do most of your swim training in the pool, it would be VERY beneficial for you to get some open water experience. I usually work out alone because of my schedule, but open water swimming is one thing that I will NOT do by myself. Hopefully you have a local triathlon club or some group that has group open water swims. There are just certain aspects to open water swimming that you can't get in a pool (sighting, the fact that there are no lane lines or walls, etc.). Some people (including me) get panic attacks the first time they try to swim in open water - better to learn how to cope with it and get it behind you in training than on race day.
I've never used a wetsuit, so sorry that I can't help you there. (No, I'm not superman, I've just never swam in cold water).
Biking indoors vs. outdoors is kind of like swimming indoors vs. outdoors. Spin classes will help you with pedalstroke technique, general base fitness building, and cadence practice, but there's nothing like the open road - the resistance is just different and on the real road you can't really control the hill that you're climbing. Try more residential streets at first, or if you can find a large industrial/office park that's kind of quiet on the weekends (as long as it's not in a high crime area).
I haven't used Nike Plus; I use a Garmin GPS watch for biking and running to measure my pace and heart rate. But it's certainly not a bad idea - it's always nice to have a good idea of how fast you're going.
Also, don't be afraid to start with a sprint-distance tri for your first time. It's a bit easier to handle - especially the swim.
Good luck!
Hi Laura. Just a piece of advice from a beginner. I only have 3 open water swims under my belt, mostly train in a pool, and I would say with certainty you should try an open water swim before your event. It is nothing like swimming in the pool. With the waves hitting you in the face and the currents pulling you around every which way, you'll be glad to be at least somewhat prepared for how you will react to all that. A friend of mine had a complete panic attack in her first open water swim and couldn't finish it. As for a wetsuit, I like the long sleeves and legs for both the warmth and buoancy they provide. The buoancy (I know I'm not spelling that right) also helps me with my nerves in the water. As for the spin vs. road bike, with a road bike you have to be able to use the gears and brakes, which you don't need on a spin bike. They can get confusing if you're speeding down a hill toward a turn, only to have to go up a hill all of a sudden once you've made the turn. If you're in the wrong gear you might find you can't pedal hard enough to get up the hill, or worse, you can pop the chain off the sproket. Definitely get some practice on the road bike.
Thanks for your responses!
Kyle39 - I have completed two sprint distance triathlons and the swim was not a problem. The problem was the bike - the first one I did with a mountain bike which was just a terrible idea because it was so slow and the second was with a road bike and my legs got tired. I have been taking a lot more spin classes since then so hopefully my legs are better prepared for that this time around. I like your idea to find a local triathlon club to practice the open water swim with - especially to scare away the sharks. I'll look into that.
ivziggy - Very good point about the bike gears! Those do take some getting used to. What brand of wetsuit would you recommend? I could ask someone at a triathlon store, but they'll probably tell me to get whatever is the most expensive.
Hey Laura...
First of all, welcome! I love this community. I am sure you will find a lot of answers not only in your posts, but in others beginners questions. Things that you didn`t even think of, probably someone did and there is an answer to you.
Well, I am a beginner, I did only one sprint triathlon last week. But I found something in common that is trainning alone.
I was in doubt about getting into a team or not, and in the end, I didn`t had the time or the money to pay for the trainning.
What I did is research, research, research....and it worked pretty well.
About the swimming, the trainning is in a pool...but is good that you swim one or two times in the ocean to know how it feels! For me the waves made things a little confused at first, but when you got used to the ocean at the day you are swimming (it changes everyday it`s mood lol) you can just keep a good rithm).
The bike I can`t say anything because I still own a MTB...and I have no idea how it feels to ride a road bike!
Abou the running... YES... anything that can track your trainning....and you can keep it and see it after in your computer is great. I use ENDOMONDO for my Android phone...it has a GPS...and Through this app I track my trainnings, time, distance, everything...wich kept me motivated! www.endomondo.com
I always trainned alone, except for the bike, that my boyfriend and his friends train together...but they had a completely different rithm, so I think I just end up kind of alone too, lol
Try to train with the cloth you want to wear in the race....try to filter all the information you get, so you know what is good for you and what isn`t...Everyone says a lot of stuff...specialy when you do things on you own, this stuff can get into your mind and someimes if you don`t filter them, they might not be as good for you as you thought!
I own a wetsuit for Surf and I wor it at the race day...it was just fine...really!
Something that helped me a lot, was my boyfriend...even though I trained alone, at the race day he was there, taking pictures...and cheering my name with his bike at some points of the curse.
What I suggest you to do, is to have someone to support you at the day...to take care of your stuff, and just be there as company..and not only as a cheering person, if you know what I mean.....
Sorry abt my english, I know sometime I spell things wrong LOL...
My best friend lives in LA, she was willing to start trainning for a sprint, but I guess she just didn`t..... so I guess she won`t be a good company..maybe on the running... I will ask her...
Be strong...I think that people that train alone tend to have a stronger mind...if you know what I mean... at that movie "Spirit of Marathon", a woman that train with a team says that she question the sanity of those who train by they`re self LOL !!!! I just belive we have a stronger mind!!!!!!!
Keep tri...have fun trainning and at the day of the race...this was the most precious lesson I got from this comunity!
Hey Laura,I also train alone and do pretty good usually top 3 in my age group 45-49 I'll break it down but remember everyone is different SWIM- I train for time,figure how long it takes you to swim a.25 mile [e.g.15min] so Olympic dist about 45min of swimming.Hit the pool until 45mins is easily done.I switch strokes to relax 20 freestyle-20 breast stroke the counting helps you relax your breathing.
BIKE-you have to get outside even if you have to drive to a good cycling spot.Check with your local cycling shop for bike freindly roads in your area.The Run-practice bricks[cycling to running],you still have a 10k run to go but by doing bricks you get your legs ready.Also remember to take in most of your fluids on the bike,best of luck and let us know how you're progressing,Mike
Cape Coral Yacht club sprint 1:03
FGCU sprint 1:03
Columbus Marathon 3:50-2010
Gator Half Ironman 5:43-2009
Venice sprint 1:09/25th overall
Captiva sprint 1:04
Laura, great for you to start your Oly training. I did my first Oly last year after doing two sprints, I just did my first 70.3 this past April. Nearly all my training is done alone. My work schedule just won't permit me to join training groups as I never know when I'm going to have free time to train. Training alone can have a lot of good things going for it. You learn to listen to your body, you learn to encourage yourself, you learn to be your own best coach and best critic.
I think you've gotten good advice here and I don't want to repeat it. However, I'm going to emphasize that you are gonna have to do an open water swim before your tri. That's not a good idea, it's just a must. There's simply a lot of difference out there; the biggest one being peering out in the mist at the impossibly far turn bouy and having your body say--oh, that again--instead of -- holy $#%$%. And you are correct you do not want to train by yourself in open water.
What I did was work with an on line coach who met me out at a lake for my first OWS swim. However, my backup plan was to drag my spouse (who is a good swimmer) along with some life jackets and position him out in the middle of my chosen back and forth place (I chose a swimming beach early in the season, and hardly anyone was there. You do need to try to get out beyond wading water but there is no reason you have to swim out to sea--just pick a back and forth swim and do it several times paralell to the beach). If you don't have a spouse, you have friends. Some of them would love to be your swim buddy I'm sure. They don't have to swim next to you, just be within 100 yards of you and prepared to take action if something goes whacky, which it won't, but you know what I mean. You might even borrow a friend with a surfboard to paddle along with you, or just rent a board (I know California has plenty of boards!).
If the rules permit wearing a wetsuit at your race, DO IT. On your first Oly, you need all the help you can get. A wetsuit provides bouyancy and it's nearly impossible to sink in one, even if you try, so mentally you will feel a lot better about being out in the water knowing you are going to float no matter what. They also increase speed slightly. I recommend a full one, unless it's just going to be too hot to handle one of those. You can rent one, but don't rent a surfing wetsuit. Go to the bike store and rent a tri wetsuit. No reason to go through all this training and not give yourself full advantage of everything you can.
Finally, you gotta--GOTTA get outside on that bike. I love my spin class, and it helps me with certain things, but it's not even close to what riding a road bike outside is like. You've got to get yourself comfy with wind, hills (up and down--sometimes going down a big hill can be scary), using the brakes correctly, turning, etc. Nearly every bike shop in the US has group rides on weekends, many of them for beginners or semi beginners, and most are free of charge. Check it out. Find a REPUTABLE high end bike shop for this. Then also ask them about local biking paths away from the traffic where you can go out and practice alone, if you have to, without worrying about becoming the next target of a texting driver. So my answer is NO--it's not the same as spin, and not even close to the same. You'll be glad you do spin because it helps the muscles and cardio, but it's not going to get you where you need to go on a 24 mile bike.
I don't use the Nike plus so I'm not sure about that. You'll probably want a simple stopwatch at the least, and of course there's all kinds of goodies out there to strap on your wrist and bike that tells you your speed, pace, distance, calories, watts, and how many dirty dishes you left in the sink. I adore these gadgets myself--I use a Garmin for the bike and run and a cheap Timex for my swims--but a lot of people do without them.
I think you are gonna have a blast. Keep us posted!!!
Active actually has really good training programs that you can buy for about $30 and they let you select the distance you are training for and your experience level. Don't be afraid to join a training group or 2 because you don't have time. You're not required to go to all or even any of their training sessions. If you want something that doesn't involve fund raising, join a tri club. Look online for clubs in your area or ask your local bike shop or tri shop who they recommend. They usually have all kinds of traingings going on during the week at different times. I belong to a free club just so that I can meet up for open water swims if I need to. Also my local bike shop leads group rides (again free) at least 3 or 4 times during the week. I'd really recommend doing some group rides so you get comfortable riding with people all around you. Start chatting it up with people you meet at the pool and maybe you'll find someone to train with. I'm always asking other swimmers if they are training for anything to see if I might be able to join them for a run or a bike ride or have some company at the lake. I kind of live out in the boonies so I love meeting other triathletes to train with and they usually know a great place to get in a long run or ride that I've never been to. Good luck!
ACTIVE is the leader in online event registrations from 5k running races and marathons to softball leagues and local events. ACTIVE also makes it easy to learn and prepare for all the things you love to do with expert resources, training plans and fitness calculators.


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This page contains all the Windows 7 Videos that we could get our hands on.
The first batch of them are all showing the milestone 1 release of Windows 7 and are usually of mediocre quality. Lots of videos from users with shaky cams and presentations from Microsoft that show only some of the features of the new operating system.
Keep checking back with this page as we will be constantly updating it with the latest videos from newer Windows 7 Builds, right up to the final launch version.
Don't forget to also check out the latest Windows 7 Screenshots, Windows 7 Wallpapers and Windows 7 Themes.
Windows 7 M3 Videos:
Official Windows 7 Videos: