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Yesterday Google announced Currents, a ridiculously awesome feed-reader-magazine-type thing that I think is shaping up to be pretty damn disruptive. In an attempt to really throw some egg in the faces of their competition, they've also rolled out the Google Currents Producer, giving content owners point-and-click, app-creating powers.
Google Currents is available for Android and iOS, both phones and tablets, meaning pretty much every big blog on the planet is going to be rolling onto Currents in the next few weeks. If you'd like to stand out, you're gonna have to get your hands dirty.
The good news is that Google Currents is pretty well documented, especially for a product right out of the gate, and it uses a bunch of technology you're probably already familiar with (Well, if you're a web dev, that is). Every single view (table of contents, lists, articles, etc) are templated for complete control, allowing changes with simple CSS, HTML, and HTML-like markup. I say HTML-like because I thought these XML namespaces like <g:field> looked familiar enough that if you know HTML you should be comfortable inside Currents.
Some Current Lingo
Before we get started, I'm going to ramble off some lingo that I've picked up in the last day. Since the app is called Currents, I've seen lots taking to calling a single instance a Current. The actual term appears to be Edition, but I'll probably be using them both interchangeably. Like I mentioned above, the tool to created a custom edition is called the Google Currents Producer, and can be found at http://google.com/producer.
I should also mention that this guide is aimed squarely at folks that have already logged into Producer and poked around some. Nothing that follows is crazy complex, but it might look weird if you've not even seen the Producer flow. Get in there and play around some!
Once you've created an edition, you'll be able to add sections from some predefined choices, like Feed (RSS or Atom), Articles (Google Docs or HTML), Photos (feeds from services like Flickr), Videos (from YouTube), or Social Updates (Google+ built-in or RSS for things like Twitter). Setting up your sections is mostly a point-and-click process, so I won't really be covering it in much detail here.
You can create and organize as many Sections as you want, along with a special Table of Contents section, which shows the most recent updates from all the other sections. Like I said earlier, nearly every single view here is templated. Each section can have individual templates (tabloid, list, photos, etc), along with templates for things like the section header and the article template. One thing I've noticed almost all Currents doing is defining a custom header template, so let's start there.
Creating a Custom Header Template in Google Currents
Once you've got a section created (be it a feed, videos, or table of contents), you'll probably want to slap a custom header on that bad boy. Setting it up is actually pretty easy but I found a couple "gotchas" I wanted to detail here (mainly so that other Editions I've subscribed to will use them, haha).
When you first create a section, the header template will be set to "Default". Using the drop down, change that to "Custom" and have a look around. Most of the markup, should look pretty familiar, and the piece you're looking for specifically should be near the bottom, with the class CustomHeader

 <g:text textid='editionName'></g:text>

 <g:text textid='sectionName'></g:text>

That'll give us our first glance at some of the Currents Producer template tags, which commonly start with <g: and end with some logical suffix. You can find a full list here, along with an abbreviated version right inside the Producer by clicking "Insert Tags".
The above markup will output my Edition's name and the specific section name, split by a divider (you'll find the divider CSS at the top of the template file). I'm not sure if you guys need to even see this step, but for the sake of illustration, the above code would render the following:

 Android and Me

 Latest News

While styling the header is just a matter of applying some simple CSS to .customHeader, there are a few other things we can do here. First, if you've seen our mobile site, you know we don't even display our title text, just a logo. So that first <g:text> will be getting the boot.
Also, something you might not notice until you use the Edition inside the app itself, there is no link to the index on the main title, something that drives me crazy. Virtually all websites use that convention, most apps do, too, so I wanted it in my Current. Since I now just have a main logo and section title, I no longer need the divider, so it gets the boot as well. My new section header looked like this:

 <g:link toc="true" class="logo"></g:link>
 <g:text textid='sectionName'></g:text>

I'm using <g:link> to link back to the table of contents. If you'd like to see what else you can link to, check out the documentation on g:link or try the "Insert Tags" popup directly within Producer. I classed the link with "logo" so that I'd be able to target it with CSS, and the rest was simple styling:

If you notice that weird-looking path in there (attachment/CAAqBggKMPSRFDCRyQI-logo-corner.png), you might be sort of scared, but Producer makes uploading assets pretty dang simple. There is a media manager and every image uploaded is displayed with a path you can use in your custom markup. Simply upload your logo and grab its path from the "Insert Tags" popup available directly inside Producer.
The result is a custom header, with a logo that links to your TOC section, along with a dynamic title for the section you're viewing. We named ours Current Edition, which you can see in the preview to the left. If you were in the Devices section, it would read Devices, thanks to our <g:text> template tag. All you've gotta do is make a copy of your markup to any sections you want to share this new, custom header.
There are still a few catches, like the fact that your custom header template CANNOT BE TALLER THAN 50PX. I write that in all caps because I wasted about half an hour last night trying to make it so. Anything more will definitely be cropped, no matter how many overflow:show !important's you add. It's a rule I finally found on this official Google helpdoc cleverly titled Add a custom header. If my description was too breezy or if you need more help, I'd recommend consulting that doc. I'd also recommend setting up a custom header as a nice first exercise. Adding a logo to the Google Currents header is a great way to dip your toe into the pool before experimenting with more complex template tags. Speaking of which…
Creating a list of related posts in a Google Currents article template
Earlier I was saying that if you were comfy with HTML that you'd be fine inside of Currents. What I really meant was if you know HTML and are at least a tiny bit comfortable with PHP or WordPress then you'll be fine. Creating a list of related posts is going to make use of a loop, something that should be familiar to any blog developer.
To loop through the related posts, we're going to make use of the g:related template tag, another find from the official Google helpdocs. Seriously, bookmark that thing. Anyway, after switching it to "Custom", we're going to drop the following into the bottom of our Article Template:

Related posts
 <g:related max="3">
<g:relatedLink> <g:relatedField fieldId="title"/> </g:relatedLink> <g:relatedField fieldId='created'/>
</g:related>
In the above example, the tag <g:related> will find the 3 most recent related posts and display them, along with a timestamp, at the end of the article template.
One thing to note, is that when inside a related loop, all the template tags change and get an extra "related" prefix. For example, <g:field> becomes <g:relatedField> and so on. Without the prefix, the values returned will reflect the original individual article being displayed, not that of the returned related post. It's a small difference but a very important one. Make a mental note. Now.
While I didn't exactly take the time to style these yet, at this point, it would just be a simple job of applying some CSS. I'm mainly just jazzed to have it working, as learning the Producer loop methodology is the first step in making my own custom TOC, tabloid, and list templates. For now, I'm not exactly sure what the match criteria is (topic, author, date, etc) but the articles seem to be relevant so I'm rolling with it.
Creating a link to an external site in Google Currents
One thing I noticed almost immediately and didn't really like was that a lot of articles don't display a link back to the main site anywhere. On top of that, Currents doesn't have a way for users to add or even view comments from inside the app. Those drawbacks added up to an absolute need for a button that let users visit the original article.
Oddly enough, I see some remnant styling of a button, classed .seeOriginalLink, but I don't see that anywhere in my templates. I've seen this magical button floating around in some Currents, live, but I've got no idea what triggers it or when it appears. What I knew for certain was that my WordPress-provided feed somehow wasn't triggering them and I wanted them. So I did some digging and found a JS function that will launch an external link in Google Currents:
View on Androidandme.com
Two things of note here: I used a JS onclick to fire the function and I utilized the Producer-provided class .available-width-100. The JS will open the original URL in an internal browser, along with a button to launch the site in the user's default browser. I'd much rather launch straight to the default browser (so if anyone has figured that out, please let me know) but for now, I'll take it.
Using .available-width-100 means that my button will fill all of the available space, be it full-screen or column. You can change that integer to any number really, I just wanted a full-width button. There are other special classes, like .g-unbreakable, which you can find documented over in the official Google support page.
The result was a nice, green button that will draw users back to androidandme.com. We have an insanely healthy user community and I wanted to make sure that people were still able to leave comments and upvotes with just a few clicks. If you're syndicating a feed into Google Currents, I really think you should always have a link back to the original content, even if Currents sometimes doesn't seem to want to provide one.
Import WordPress to Google Currents
I said I wasn't really going to talk about this one in depth, and I won't, so we've saved the easiest part for last. As you look around at other Currents, you'll probably notice that people create a bunch of different sections from one blog. For example, in our Android and Me Current Edition, we've got a section for Latest News, Devices, Apps, etc. We even have special channels like posts from only Taylor or just giveaways from The 25 Days of Tegra. Going from WordPress to Google Currents is easier than you'd think.
The process is really simple, actually, and just requires tracking down all the custom feeds that WordPress already provides for you. Like most of us know, WordPress generates RSS and Atom feeds from recent posts, comments, and more. Every category, every tag, every author has their own feed. You can find them just by tacking /feed onto most URLs. For example, http://androidandme.com/tag/google would be http://androidandme.com/tag/google/feed. Pretty simple, huh? With that special feed URL, you could easily set up a section on only Google news in your Current.
If you've got a special author you'd like to feature, you could easily use his feed as a custom channel. If you've got a WordPress tag that's seeing a lot of action, make a Currents section out of that specific feed. Currents even has its own CMS-style article capability, allowing you to mingle custom, non-WP data in along with your posts, but that's probably best saved for another day.
So that's it. Go make some Currents
Like I said at the start, I think Google Currents is one of the most gnarly and disruptive things to come down the pipe in quite some time. It allows virtually any content owner to create ridiculously custom Editions in just a matter of minutes. With some practice, I have a feeling we're about to see even crazier things out of folks with too much time on their hands. And on those lines, I have a feeling there is about to be a really vibrant market around custom Currents themes.
For now though, I'm just happy to tinker and share.


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|HylaFAX The world's most advanced open source fax server
Hello! I'm using S.u.S.E Linux 5.3 and the HylaFAX-Version that comes with it :-). As client I use SuSEFax. The modem is a Elink EEH 323 (combined ISDN/14.4 Fax-Modem). Receiving faxes works without any problems. But sending doesn't work at all. The modem doesn't even try to send a fax (it does not dial). In fact nothing happens. But the fax is in the send queue (in SuSEFax I sent it with the "send now" option). Looking at the Log below, could you give me a hint? Thanks in advance B-Team Tobias Klug Germany ---cut---cut---cut---cut------------------------------------------------------------ Oct 6 13:26:57 Fax HylaFAX[1654]: Filesystem has SysV-style file creation semantics Oct 6 13:26:57 Fax FaxQueuer[183]: SUBMIT JOB 11 ... Oct 6 16:25:57 Fax FaxQueuer[183]: JOB 11 (ready dest +49834298702 pri 127 tts 0:00 killtime 0:00): KILL TIME EXPIRED Oct 6 16:25:57 Fax FaxQueuer[183]: NOTIFY: bin/notify "doneq/q11" "timedout" "" Reporting-MTA: dns; Fax.DB-Team Arrival-Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 16:26:06 +0200 Final-Recipient: RFC822; firstname.lastname@example.com Action: delayed Status: 4.4.3 Last-Attempt-Date: Tue, 6 Oct 1998 20:34:48 +0200 Will-Retry-Until: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 16:26:06 +0200 --UAB01713.907698888/Fax.DB-Team Content-Type: text/rfc822-headers

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Founded in 1995, Carpvale Fisheries was set up to supply Carpvale Pools but quickly expanded to offer our services to other fishery owners and clubs.
Since then, we have carried out hundreds of fish introductions throughout the country, along with many netting and electro-fishing fish removals and surveys.
Read More >
We specialise in the supply and delivery of Carp and other fish species in both Yorkshire and throughout the UK.
The species that we supply include Carp, Ide, Barbel, Chub, Tench, Crucian Carp, Bream, Roach and Rudd.
Our latest price lists are available to view online.
See it now >


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Knee Pain Health Center
Weak in the Knees?
Feb. 21, 2000 (Billings, Montana) -- You might not be a poster child for women's athletics like college basketball star Jaime Walz. But even if your physical endeavors are no more strenuous than the occasional game of softball or Ultimate Frisbee, listen to the lessons that Walz has learned. They just might save your knees.
Walz, a 22-year-old shooting guard for the Western Kentucky University basketball team, plays hard and trains religiously. She also carries a mark shared by countless other active women: a surgical scar on her knee.
The one-time national high school player of the year shredded the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her left knee during a game in January 1998. She leapt in the air, landed on another player's foot, and heard the ominous "pop" that ended her season.
Plenty of Company
Walz doesn't have to look far for sympathy. Two of her teammates ruptured their ACLs in November of the following year. And practically every team they face includes at least one player in a knee brace.
There's a plague of ACL injuries in women's sports, and they're not limited to basketball -- or to professionals, says Timothy Hewett, Ph.D., Director of Applied Research for the Cincinnati Sportsmedicine and Orthopaedic Center. Soccer, volleyball, softball, and other activities that involve jumping, sudden stops and starts, and rapid pivots can all rip a woman's knee ligaments with remarkable ease, he says.
One in 10 female college athletes suffers a major knee injury (usually an ACL tear) every year -- five to six times more often than their male counterparts, Hewett says. And while nobody knows how often casual athletes injure their knees, it's not a rare event, says Hewett, citing a recent study of recreational soccer players that found that women were roughly five times more likely than men to seriously damage their knee ligaments.
Such statistics can be frightening, but with proper training and conditioning, Hewett says, almost any woman can lessen her chances of a knee injury. And with the first-ever scientifically proven program for preventing knee injuries in female athletes, developed by Hewett and his colleagues, safe play may be more possible than ever.


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Welcome to Lonely Lane Farms, home of Free Range, grass fed Natural Beef raised on a vegetation diet without the use of antibiotics or added hormones.
Whether your looking to purchase quality cuts of natural beef and pork or just stopping by to learn about our sustainable farming and livestock practices, you will find everything your looking for right here.
Lonely Lane Farms full line of USDA inspected Natural Beef and Pork is available fresh or frozen throughout the year. Also available is our large selection of natural treats for your favorite pet.
Conditions of Use
Privacy Notice


text:
This wedding speaks to the personality of the Bride and Groom; a couple who loves the outdoors and really amazing food. Put that all together and add well versed vendors like Jeremiah And Rachel Photography, Habitat Events and Food For Thought and the result is a beautiful farm-to-table spread with wine pairings and a few...
All posts with Vendor
"Cakes by Cabin Ridge"
I've always had this weird obsession with Montana even though I've never been lucky enough to go there...and now this obsession has reached a whole, new level and I need to get my booty out west pronto! I'm loving each and every detail of this wedding as if it were my own. I love that there were hayrides and horseshoes, s'mores and campfires! What a perfect way to highlight all the things about Montana for all your out of state guests.


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Definition of taciturn in English:
(Of a person) reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little.
Example sentences
- This quiet and taciturn man has been as responsible as any individual for the rise in England's fortunes.
- A smart yet taciturn girl, she never complained and she always followed her instructions to the letter.
- He was also taciturn, but enumerated that he wanted a relationship with me.
untalkative, uncommunicative, reticent, unforthcoming, quiet, secretive, tight-lipped, buttoned-up, close-mouthed;
silent, mute, dumb, inarticulate;
reserved, withdrawn
- Example sentences
- He was true to his heritage in valuing hard work, frugality, practicality, and taciturnity.
- But I think, too, of hours spent alone with him as an interviewer, seeking to overcome his calculated taciturnity in an exercise I likened to mining gold with a plastic teaspoon.
- After all those years of taciturnity in male cinema, the floodgates opened and we were deluged by talk.
- Example sentences
- I asked him which books and music he took with him and he taciturnly told me they shared a few entertainment items.
- Judgment is passed on the two main actors who had been taciturnly, but coyly, perched for long hours, and have been sized up again and again under the unrelenting gaze of the critics.
- 'Guess I was wrong then,' he mumbled taciturnly, as he faded back into the crowd of police investigators.
Late 18th century: from Latin taciturnus, from tacitus (see tacit).
For editors and proofreaders
Syllabification: tac·i·turn
Definition of taciturn in:
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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Students in Choctaw County, Ala., returned to class Monday to continue a program that was almost given the ax.
A few weeks ago, the school district's Junior ROTC program was close to being discontinued due to the lack of money to pay the four instructors required.
School officials say they have now secured a promise from state Rep. Thomas Jackson for state funds to finance the remaining $70,000 needed for the program to remain.


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Enough is enough. It's California for heaven's sake. Hey, I did my time in
the midwest, riding indoors while staring at the TV playing old Tour de France
videos. Bicycling is supposed to be fun, not work. Those trainer sessions just
seemed to be endless studies in boredom. I want to be out on my bike and not
freezing my butt off and getting drenched by rain.
OK. If you don't live in California or some other warm winter climate, you
don't need to get out the violin. In fact, I am not looking for any sympathy
from you all locked in a white winter. I understand that we have it better,
weather-wise in Arnold-country, but I am just tired of dreary skies and gloomy
weather forecasts.
The weather-liars told me last night that the rain wouldn't hit my area until
late in the afternoon. Then why, pray tell, was I topping out on the first
climb of the day before noon in pouring rain and 40F temps? The only thing
worse then riding uphill in the rain is going downhill and when you are wet
and freezing and a long way from home, there is not much you can do. Self
pity doesn't turn the pedals and even though I was headed downhill, you can
only coast so far. Sticking out a thumb is a total admission of wimpiness.
Being a guy, that is definitely the absolutely last resort!
So, I soldiered on, not really hating life, more wondering why it always seemed
to be raining on me. Obviously, our maker isn't singling me out for any extra
grief, but sometimes it seems like I am being punished for the sins of others.
Philosophizing does take my mind off of the wet and cold and as long as the car
drivers behave, it always seems like I get home somehow and will all my body
parts intact.
Don't cry for me Argentina. My memory is pretty poor. I am sure this latest
episode in unpleasantness will not have any noticeable affect on my behavior
and sooner, rather than later, I will find myself once again, soaked to the
skin, shivering like mad and wondering why I decided to head out for a ride
on a day like this. Your mileage may vary.
I have the opportunity to ride with a lot of US and European pros. As a bit
of self preservation and so they will invite me back to ride with them, a
question I often ask is 'what upsets you the most about people's riding styles?'
One thing they mention is cyclists not keeping a good grasp of their handlebars.
You have to remember that the pros ride their bikes for a living and if they
are not riding due to a crash, they are not fulfilling their contract. Which
means they try to avoid crashing as much as possible.
Well, duh? It sucks going down. But, there are a few things you can do to
minimize the occurrence and one the pros look for is how a rider grasps his/her
handlebars. They tell me that you should never just rest the palms on the tops,
your thumb or your fingers should always be hooked under the bars. This may
seem like a no-brainer. Keeping a good grip on the bars means that if you hit
an unforeseen bump, your hands won't go flying off and you won't go falling
However, when I am out riding I see a lot of recreational cyclists just resting
their hands on top of the bars. Don't get me wrong, you don't have to hold onto
the handlebars with a death grip. In fact, over-gripping the bars may be one
reason some riders rest their palms on the tops; they are giving their fingers
a much-needed break. Just keep either your thumb or several of your fingers
under the bars and apply enough grip to keep them there.
This issue is actually at the center of a court case in Scotland where a cyclist
on a group ride was seriously injured when the rider at the front of the
paceline crashed. The injured cyclist is maintaining that the lead rider in a
group has a responsibility to ride safely. Since the leader's hands flew off
the bars, causing the crash, he was clearly not riding safely.
I don't know if I would go as far as to take the matter to court, but I do
believe that, especially during group rides, everyone has the responsibility to
ride as safely as possible and that means keeping a good grip on your
I was watching the US National Figure Skating Championships the other night on
TV. I once dated an Olympic hopeful, which meant I spent a lot of time video
taping her practices and studying the film afterward. I guess it is no big
revelation, but the secret to doing well in figure skating is to be perfect,
or as nearly perfect as you can be and hope that your competition is less
perfect than you.
So, I got to thinking, we know that perfect in figure skating is nailing all
your jumps and making it looks both graceful and easy. But, what is "perfect"
in cycling terms. Sure you could lead the Tour de France from start to finish,
winning every stage, taking every jersey and finishing in another time zone
from all your competitors, but history has shown that is far from likely.
On further thought, and trying very hard not to sound like Dr.Phil, perfect is
different for every cyclist, except for those who want to lead the Tour de
France from start to finish, win every stage and take every jersey.......
There is no one thing that all cyclists will agree is the definition of perfect
on a bike.
Am I trying to show my sensitive side? I hope not. Most people I know think
that only comes out on Groundhog Day and only then if Pauxatauny Phil sees his
shadow. I guess what I am trying to get at is what puts a smile on your face
when you are out riding your bike? For me, it is a multitude of things. Doing
a long, tough ride with my buds and still feeling like a human being afterward
gives me a warm glow. Likewise, stashing a $20 bill in my jersey and heading
out into unknown territory for an all-day ride of discovery also floats my
Maybe it is easier to describe a non-perfect ride. Anything involving multiple
flat tires, bonking and/or running out of water when it is 90+ degrees
definitely qualifies in my book. Crashing is another no-brainer but, picking
oneself up and getting back on the bike, whether it is the same day or weeks
later can lead to perfection.
Hey, maybe I am rambling a bit and you all don't really care if a ride is
perfect or not. Maybe it is like the old adage, a bad day of fishing beats a
good day at work. I don't know, maybe it is time to go for a ride.
Congratulations to the Slipstream/Chipotle team for its second place finish in
the first stage of the Tour of Quatar. Jonathan Vaughter's boys were a scant
two seconds back of Tom Boonen's Quick Step squad in the opening stage, a
6km Team Time Trial(TTT). You might all be wondering, what's the big deal about
second place in an early season race in a country most of us couldn't even
point out on a globe!
Well, unlike the NFL which owns all the events it sanctions, in cycling,
individual race organizers and corporations such as ASO own and promote the
races while the NFL-equivalent, the UCI, just exists as the sanctioning body.
OK, the UCI, with its Pro Tour, tried to become more than just the sanctioning
body, but we have all seen how that has worked out. It is best to leave race
promotion to the professionals.
So, if you are a team, and you want to get into a race, you have to catch the
eye of the race promoter. Winning big races is one way to catch the eye, but
if you can't get into the big races unless you prove yourself, then you have
a Catch-22. Enter races such as the Tour of Quatar. These early season,
predominately low-key, events are the perfect platform for up and coming teams
to show race organizers that they can play with the big boys.
And, it doesn't hurt that the Tour of Quatar is owned by ASO, the same company
which organizes the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix and a whole host of the top
professional races. So, if you are a team like Slipstream/Chipotle presented
by H30(say that fast three times) then the pressure is on in Quatar and they
Also participating in Quatar is the BMC Professional Cycling Team which, while
not hoping for a slot in the Tour in 2008, is hoping for a wild-card invite to
some of the one day races, such as Paris-Roubaix, owned by ASO. The boys in
black finished 12th just 12 seconds behind the winners and 10 clicks behind
their American counterparts.
Hopefully, ASO and other race promoters are taking notice and we will see more
American teams and US riders in the biggest and best races on the professional
cycling calendar. Yeah, Paolo Bettini and Tom Boonen are exceptional racers,
but I want to be cheering for a homie when the season gets into full swing.
Rumours circulating in the media indicate that Amaury Sports Organization(ASO),
the company which owns the Tour de France, may not invite Team Astana to the
2008 edition of the race. That leaves defending Tour champion Alberto Contador
and America's best stage race rider, Levi Leipheimer, on the bench for
professional cycling's biggest show.
One of low points in last year's Tour was Team Astana's Alexandre Vinokourov
testing positive for non-homologous blood doping which resulted in the whole
team being sent home. The fallout from the affair saw a complete overhaul of
the squad, which is sponsored by a group of Kazakstani government-owned
businesses. Johan Bruyneel, who directed Lance Armstrong and his USPS/
Discovery Channel team to seven tour wins plus the win last year by Contador,
was brought in to rescue and rebuild the squad. Gone are almost all of the
team personnel and any rider who had doping problems, including Vinokourov.
Unfortunately, Contador still has a shadow hanging over him with regards to
Operacion Puerto; the initials AC appear on a questionable document. Contador
has declared his innocence, but in the world of denials by confessed dopers,
such as Marion Jones, the Tour champion's words seem to have had little affect
on the head honchos at ASO.
As I reported in an earlier blog, with the Tour de France dropping out of the
Pro Tour, the organizers at ASO now have complete control over which teams will
ride their race. At the 2007 Tour, ASO chief Christian Prudhomme told me that
in 2008 the Tour would be run under ASO's rules and not the UCI's and now that
has happened. Hey, ASO owns the Tour, they can decide to do whatever they
please. Way back in 1930, Tour boss and founder, Henri Desgrange, didn't
invite the 1929 winner, Belgian Maurice De Waele, to the race supposedly
because he didn't like how he won the previous year. I guess some people grow
on you as Desgrange invited De Waele back to the Tour the next year.
I think this sends a pretty clear message to Team Astana that the ball is in
their court and they need to take some pro-active steps to assure Contador's
innocence. The question is, if Contador's words are not sufficient, what does
he and his team need to do to prove their innocence? Hopefully, the Tour
bosses and Johan Bruyneel can come up with reasonable criteria so that everyone
feels like this issue has been dealt with fairly. It would be a shame not to
have the defending champion and also our native son, Levi, excluded from the
Tour on scurrilous grounds.
Good news on the doping front (when have we heard that, lately?). It appears
that the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), organizers of the Amgen Tour of
California(AToC) have teamed with USA Cycling and the United States Anti-Doping
Agency(USADA) to bring tight doping controls to the 2008 AToC. The controls
appear to be a manifestation of the "biological passport" adopted by the World
Anti-Doping Agency(WADA) at its recent summit in Madrid.
Briefly, the biological passport is a history of an athlete's drug testing and
biological parameters (haematocrit, testosterone levels, etc.) which will be
used to set a baseline physiology and also record of when he/she has been
tested to determine if an athlete is within those parameters or taking performance
enhancing drugs(ped's). Interestingly enough, during an interview I conducted
with then-USADA chief, Frank Shorter, way back in 2001, this exact subject came
up and Frank, the 1972 Olympic Gold Medalist in the marathon, was a huge
proponent of a testing passport.
One of the things I vowed to do with this blog was to keep the frequency of my
postings on doping to a minimum. To be sure, we need to have a dialog about
this subject because it seems, right now, to be plaguing our sport. But there
are so many other interesting things to talk about. But, this recent development
is pretty darn big.
AToC race director, Jim Birrell, told me that in 2006 the total cost of dope
testing at the race was $2300. This year, according to the agreement, over
$100,000 will be spent in an attempt to insure a clean race. That's some
major coin and it represents, IMHO, a very serious and aggressive attempt to
re-instill the confidence in the fans of the sport that the riders are, indeed,
exceptionally gifted athlete's with a burning desire to be first across the
Will money, which means increased frequency of testing and more tests, solve
the problem? After last year's Tour de France, I sent a proposal to the race
organizers to help restore credibility to their event. I proposed that they
include a new procedure during the time trials that as each rider crosses the
finish line, they are escorted to doping control to give blood and urine.
Unlike the road stages, where bunch finishes are common, in the time trials,
each rider crosses the line at about 1-2 minute intervals. With four or five
teams of sample takers each rider could be serviced in a prompt manner and
then sent on to their team bus.
However, proposals such as mine take major benjamins. But, if the sport is
going to survive, maybe that is the only solution. Some of the major
professional teams such as Slipstream/Chipotle, High Road Sports and CSC have
invested beacoup bucks to test their riders, out-of-competition. Maybe it is
time for the other pro teams and also the UCI to follow suit and increase their
out-of-competition testing.
Whadda you all think?
In 2005, the UCI, the governing body of cycling, created the Pro Tour in an
attempt to form a season-long competition involving the premier European pro
races. Unfortunately, the organizers of the premier European races such as
the Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana, known as the grand tour
organizers, were skeptical of the real reasons behind the UCI forming the
Pro Tour.
Over the past three years of its existence the Pro Tour has been a rocky road.
At the end of 2007, the UCI and the grand tour organizers agreed to remove the
grand tours and the other races put on by the grand tour organizers such as
Paris-Roubaix, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Milan San Remo from the Pro Tour. So,
instead of the original 30 races, the 2008 edition of the Pro Tour will have 16
races. Is this divorce and new version of the Pro Tour a good thing for
professional cycling? I think it is and for a lot of good reasons.
First off, the UCI needs to prove that it can manage and promote a premier
race series on its own. Trying to latch onto races like the Tour de France,
Giro d'Italia and Paris-Roubaix, which are already wildly popular, is like
coming in to close a game with two outs, two strikes in the ninth inning with a
ten run lead. It doesn't prove the UCI's capabilities to deliver what they
promised with the Pro Tour, notably to grow cycling by increasing it's
popularity and sponsorship.
Secondly, the Pro Tour was an huge burden to the already established events
because its 20 team format severely limited the wild card invitations a race
organizer could offer non-Pro Tour teams. This caused a real have and have-not
situation. If you weren't a Pro Tour team, your squad was unlikely to get the
opportunity to prove yourself on the world's stage. A few teams, like
Barloworld at last year's Tour, got the chance and they stepped up their game
several notches and were one of the real bright moments in France last July.
This is great news for the two US teams, Slipstream-Chipotle and BMC Racing,
who are trying to gain a ticket into Europe's big races. Slipstream just
received an invite to the Giro. Would that have happened under the Pro Tour
system last year? BMC and Slipstream are also looking for a slot in the Queen
of the Classics, Paris-Roubaix. With 2004 winner, Maggy Backstedt on his
roster, Jonathan Vaughter's Slipstream squad should get an invite. It would
be great to see the BMC boys alongside them at the start as well.
And for those of you used to seeing a US-based team at the Tour, the removal
of the Pro Tour restrictions means that Slipstream could be lining up at the
start come this July.
Don't get me wrong. I am not a Pro Tour hater. One of the things I really
liked about the Pro Tour is that if a team held a multi-year Pro Tour license,
it was guaranteed entry into the biggest races. With such a guarantee, a team
could approach a potential sponsor in, say 2007, with the promise that they
would be at the Tour in 2008. Unfortunately, there were just too many Pro Tour
teams and they basically sucked up all the spots at those same big races.
Again, this was the case of the haves versus the have-nots.
It's extremely early in the season, the first Pro Tour race, the Tour Down
Under in Australia has just started, but I have a good feeling that this new
arrangement is going to force both the UCI and the grand tour organizers
to bring their A games which will ultimately be the best for professional
cycling. What do you all think?
It appears the news that Italian super sprinter Mario Cipollini has signed with Rock Racing were a bit premature. That doesn't mean that Cipo is heading back to the land of fine wine and pasta for good. It just means that the negotiations aren't over. Where's Donald Trump when you need him? Personally, I hope Mario signs and has a presence in the US. I am sure The Donald would allow him to be a judge at his Miss America pageant.
In light of being in limbo over Super Mario's future, I thought I would recount my most favorite story about the flamboyant Italian. In 2002, I was covering the spring classic in Northern France and Belgium for Cycle Sport Magazine. It was a blast. If you have never been to the classics, you should go and don't forget to bring your bike and some warm and waterproof clothing.
Anyway, the Tour of Flanders ranks just behind Paris-Roubaix in prestige and some consider it even more difficult. This is the event to win if you are Belgian. The great Belgian cyclist Peter Van Petegem once told me that after he won the Tour of Flanders he never had to worry about getting a speeding ticket (and boy did he love to drive his Volvo 760 fast). When he would get pulled over the cops would recognize him and just let him go. Unfortunately, Belgium is implementing a lot of photo radar and Van Petegem mused that his lead-footed days were soon to be over.
Hey, but this is about Mario and here's the story. The Tour of Flanders is around 165-miles long and has about 20 named short climbs most of which are cobbled and reach grades of up to 23%. In 2002, Cipollini, who is nota noted climber and seems to disappear on all but the flattest of courses, was leading the UCI World Cup, the precursor to the current Pro Tour. As such he felt a need to defend his leader's jersey and rode exceptionally strongly to win the field sprint and finish 9th overall.
As Cipo crossed the line, a female TV reporter approached him and asked, "Do you want a massage?" Now you have to remember that Mario had just ridden 165 of the hardest miles there are in pro cycling, something that would have left lesser men near collapse. But not Cipo. He looked straight at the reporter and asked, "Are we talking a therapeutic massage or a sexual massage?" The reporter answered, "a therapeutic massage." Mario responded, "a therapeutic massage? No, not a therapeutic massage."
Man, we need this dude back in cycling!
ps - anyone got a favorite Cipo story? Let's hear them.
After months of rumours and speculation, it appears that Italian sprinter
Mario Cipollini has signed onto the Rock Racing team as rider/manager for
2008. Whoa! What "Super Mario's" role will be with the team is yet
undetermined, but one thing is for sure, the US domestic professional racing
scene just got a whole lot more interesting.
The 2002 World Champion can certainly pedal a bike and even at the age of 40,
he will shortly turn 41, he will undoubtedly be capable of winning races in
America. But, more importantly, he is a showman. A rider of "rock star"
quality who brings charisma and presence just by showing up. From his
outrageous cycling attire to the time he left the Tour of Spain prematurely so
he could be a judge at the Miss Italy competition this guys makes headlines
both on and off the bike.
Does the US domestic scene need "il Leone" as Cipo is known to his Italian
tifosi? With all the doping scandals running rampant through the cycling
community Mario just could be the breath of fresh air to get people's minds
thinking the glass is half full and not half empty. We need to be reminded
of why cycling is such a great sport, not only in which to participate, but
also to watch.
Mario's wins in both the Giro, where he holds the all-time record for stage
victories, and the Tour de France are things of beauty, executed with style
and perfection. One question that still lingers is if the Rock Racing team
can assemble an effective leadout train with which to deliver the flamboyant
Italian to the line. My guess is with a marquee name like Cipollini on your
squad, you go get support for the kick to the finish.
Cipo's signing fills a couple of roles for Rock Racing. The team is in dire
need of a director sportif after the recent departure of Frankie Andreu. Also,
with the parity among the US domestic pro teams having a bunch sprinter is
almost mandatory if you want to win races. Unfortunately, Cipo's lack of
knowledge of the US race courses, the only race he has ridden in America is the
Tour of Georgia, may provide a steep learning curve if he is called on to lead
the squad from the team car. At 40, his best days are probably behind him
which means that he will most likely not be a candidate to ride the more
difficult stage races or hilly one-day events.
My guess is that we will see Cipo at the upcoming Tour of California behind the
wheel of a Rock Racing vehicle and not in the saddle. Given the rumours of how
he drives around Italy, even that scenario is sure to give race fans, and race
officials, something to talk about. Benvenuto in America Mario!
ps - what do you all out there think about Mario coming to America?
You would think that a year which saw Alberto Salazar'a 25-year old
US men's marathon record was broken would be considered a positive one
for marathoning, but Mother Nature showed us who is boss and big time.
It all started at the granddaddy of them all, Boston, where weathermen
were predicting torrential rains, heavy winds and temperatures in the
30's which almost called organizers to cancel the event something never
before done in the 111-years runners have run, jogged and trudged from
Hopkington to Bean Town. Thankfully, the weather on race day mellowed
enough to hold a successful, if not a bit chilly, event.
Lest we all forget that you can't fool Mother Nature, the Chicago Marathon
saw weather at the other end of the spectrum as sweltering heat plagued the
event resulting in the death of one runner and forcing organizers to cancel
the race after three-and-a-half hours. Of the 45,000 runners registered,
10,000 failed to start and an additional 10,000 were prevented from finishing
due to the premature course closure.
Technology shared the stage with the weather in December's Honolulu Marathon
as the event scoring system left 3500 runners wondering just how they did.
Heavy rains played havoc with the electrical generators used to power the
timing systems. Also, the scoring chip used to track each runner failed in
numerous cases some because of damage while attaching the chip to the
athlete's shoes others when runners failed to realize that the chip had to
be removed from the their race bib and attached to their running shoes.
Add to that the tragic death of up-and-coming star Ryan Shay at the US
Olympic Marathon trials in November and you can see why 2007 was a year
that many endurance runners and race organizers would rather forget. The
silver lining in this tumultuous year has to be Ryan Hall's US record
2:08:24 set in London. That's 4:54 per mile for 26.2 miles and means that
the US might just be closing the gap to the Kenyans and Ethiopians.
What's in store for 2008? Hopefully, Ma Nature will give us a bit of a
break. As we all look to Bejing and the 2008 Olympics, it's the man-made
smog blanketing China's capital city that has runners worried. For those
of us who will be going for personal bests on US soil, have no fear; Lance
Armstrong recently announced he will be running the Boston Marathon. That's
good enough for me to be positive about what's ahead!
This is the time of year when the professional cycling teams hold their pre-season training camps and one of the first teams out of the blocks is the BMC Professional Cycling Team. This is former Team Phonak owner Andy Rhis' squad and with the addition this year of John Lelangue, who directed Floyd Landis to victory in the 2006 Tour de France, and who will share the team director responsibilities with current DS Gavin Chilcott they are looking to take it up a notch in 2008.
Founded in 2006 as a US regional team, they upgraded to a full-blown US pro squad in 2007 and with the addition of riders such as Scott Moninger, Scott Nydam, Jackson Stewart, Jonathan Garcia and ex-Phonak rider Alexander Moos they were ready to play with the best teams in America and beyond. Moninger nearly pulled off a huge win at Redlands and Nydam finished a respectable sixth place in the Tour of Georgia while battling a number of European Pro Tour teams. The capper came with a win in the team time trial at the Giro del Friuli Venezia Giuli in Italy becoming the first all-American team to do so. Colorado-native Jonathan Garcia held the leader's jersey for a few stages as well.
For 2008, the team has upgraded to a UCI Professional Continental team, the same classification as Jonathan Vaughters' Slipstream/Chipotle squad. The move paved the way for the team to compete in some of Europe's best professional races. I caught up with John Lelangue on a cold, misty day in Palo Alto after the team had returned from riding stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California up and over the daunting Mount Hamilton and the brutal Sierra Road climbs. Lelangue was excited with the races on the US calendar, noting that the Amgen Tour of California, Tour of Georgia, Tour of Missouri and the Tour of Utah were all on their program. But, he was most excited about taking the team to Europe and testing the waters there. Already on the program are the Criterium International, Three Day of DePanne, Tour of Picardie and GP Pino Cerami. The squad is eyeing several more wildcard invitations to two high-profile stage races in Switzerland and a bumpy, one-day race in northern France.
It must be remembered that Andy Rhis shut down the Phonak team at the end of 2006 because of sponsorship difficulties. The BMC team has slowly evolved into a potential replacement, but to be sure, even if the European campaign is a raging success, team management will still be taking things slowly. This year they are knocking on the door. Next year they will be looking to break it down. Keep an eye on these boys in 2008!
Ever upward,
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text:
Two weeks after a catastrophic earthquake, the risks for injured survivors is still growing in Haiti.
The government was decimated by the earthquake and so far, only the most very basic services are coming back.
Most people are trying to get out of the country, but just one week ago we told you about a group of students from Union College that went to Haiti for a search and rescue mission.
That group has made it home safely now a second group is on their way.
Looting, injury and death. That is what awaits the group as they make their way to the earthquake ravaged country of Haiti.
"They are in desperate need of medically trained people. We'll be doing a lot of supporting roles, helping the physicians that are working to treat the people wounded and getting infections from their injuries," said student David Skau.
The small group of students boarded a flight out of Omaha Tuesday morning.
David Skau has been on relief efforts before, but even he admits it's hard to be fully prepared, even after talking with the first group of Union College students about their experience.
"Of course we don't know exactly what to expect, things can change on a whim. The first group went expecting to do one job and ended up having it change on way down and change the day after they arrived from search and rescue to medical care. We are expecting to do medical care and help in a hospital with emergencies and those getting infections from injuries but we may find we'll get there and have to do something else and we'd be happy to do that too."
Whatever comes their way the group says they feel as prepared as they can be. They've trained for this day and are willing to help in any way they can.
"Some of the prep is just adaptability, being prepared for the unknown. We've trained in international rescue and relief emergency med services and disaster management and a lot of broad range of skills because you never know what you'll need in a disaster," said Skau.
Skau said 5 students got on the plane Tuesday morning heading to Miami. From there they will meet up with another student from Iowa and a staff member that went to Haiti on the first trip.
They are supposed to then head to Haiti to work at a hospital in Port au Prince.


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JANESVILLE, Wis. - Whether looking to create a custom look, replacing crash-damaged components, or simply updating blemished parts scuffed from miles of wear and tear, Drag Specialties offers a range of engine covers for Harley-Davidson models.
Starting at the top on the motor are new Rocker Covers. Built for 1992 through 1999 Evolution Big Twin engines, these cast aluminum covers are finished in a satin black powdercoat finish, include required gaskets and use exacting tolerance for a precise fit, according to Drag. They retail for $261.95 each.
Moving down to the engine's flanks, Drag Specialties also creates Primary Covers and Cam Covers. Finished in the same rich satin black as the rocker covers, these outer components offer classic looks together with robust and precise cast aluminum construction.
Outer Primary Covers include starter shaft bushings, for a wide range of Softail and Dyna models, and retail for $249.95. H-D Cam Covers come with all bushings installed, pinned and reamed to OEM specs, the required oil seal, all mounting hardware and gaskets. Drag Specialties' latest application includes 1984-1999 Evolution Big Twins, with complete kits retailing for $144.95.
Finally, while not exactly a cover, new XL Oil Tanks duplicate the OEM tank for custom applications or repair needs. Featuring a gloss black finish, these 3-quart oil tanks for 1986-2003 XL models will retail for $199.95.


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The referee blows for the end of the match.
The official flags Daryl Murphy offside. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas comes on in place of Daryl Murphy. Ben Hamer takes the indirect free kick.91
DJ Campbell goes off and Luke Hyam comes on.86
Dale Stephens takes a shot. Robert Hulse takes a shot. Save by Stephen Henderson. Guirane N'Daw concedes a free kick for a foul on Dale Stephens. Yann Kermorgant comes on in place of Ricardo Fuller. Dale Stephens shoots direct from the free kick.80
Foul by Lee Martin on Chris Solly, Penalty awarded. Danny Haynes scores a power penalty. Charlton 1-2 Ipswich.The assist for the goal came from Chris Solly.71
Nigel Reo-Coker joins the action as a substitute, replacing Andy Drury.60
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more information about:
The name Tsumeb is derived from the Hain//om Bushman word 'Tsomsoub', which menas 'to dig a big hole in loose ground', and from the Otjiherero word 'Otjisume', which means 'place of the frogs'. The Hain//om originally inhibited the area, and were based at Otjikoto Lake, 18 km away.
The Hereros gave it the name 'Otjisume' because of the varied colors an hues of the bright green, brown and grey streaks of the copper and lead ores on the rocky outcrops that resembled dried scum scooped out of a waterhole and scattered on surrounding rocks.
The diverse mineralisation originates in a volcanic pipe or throat, which was filled to the brim with astonishing richness of material. Tsumeb's ore deposits contains mainly copper, lead, zinc, silver, sulphur, and traces of gold, and no less than 240 different kinds of minerals are mined here. The of these minerals are found nowhere else in the world (such as feinglosite, leiteite, and ludlockite). Tsumeb is also a source of of many kinds of beautiful crystals and precious stones, including green malachite, azurite, smithonite, cerussite, galena and dioptase.
The pipe was discovered in prehistoric times and worked by several different indigenous cultures, who started to smelt the carbonate ore. The Hain//om use to dig green copper ore (chiefly malachite from the Tsumeb area), which they transported back to Otjikoto and sold to Owambo tradesmen. Originally the ore body protruded some 12 metres above the surface in the form of a low hill composed of minerals of brilliant variegated colors. It was later mined beyond the level of surface to a depth of 60 metres before it became too deep to transport ore to the surface and it was decided to sink shafts to reach the ore on lower depth.
European explorers and prospectors were informed of this dazzling outcrop. On 12 January 1893 a prospector named Mathew Rogers, working for the South West Africa Company, reached the outcrop and in a report to his company stated:
"In the whole of my experience, I have never seen such a sight as was presented before my view at Soomep, and I very much doubt that I shall ever see another in any other locality." Rogers negotiated with the local tribe for rights to the outcrop and began a detailed assessment of the quantity of ore, its nature and viability for a mine in so remaote a place. In 1990 the Otavi Mining and Railroad Company (Otavi Minen & Eisenbahn Gesellschaft - OMEG) was formed to work the concessions over the area. The company sent a party of 33 miners under Christopher James to commence mining. Two shafts were sunk into the hill of copper and a hint of the wonders lying beneath the surface was revealed.
In December 1900, the first shipment of ore was sent by ox-wagon to Swakopmund, 566 km away. The mine was developed in the face of tremendous difficulties with transport, while a narrow gauge railway was being constructed from the coast. The railway reached Tsumeb on 24 August 1906 and within 12 months the little narrow gauge trains had carried 25 700 tons of ore to the coast. A settlement slowly began to develop around the maining operations and the town of Tsumeb was officially established in 1905. The Tsumeb Minen (established 1906) and Makalani (established 1907) hotels are still in existence today.
Tsumbe's motto 'Glück auf' is derived from a traditional German miner's greeting, which translates fully as: 'May luck be with you and bring you safely up again'.


text: For the TAMIU women, they are coming off their first ever Heartland Conference championship and were honored as such this afternoon. Junior forward Alexis Thomas was named the Heartland Conference Defensive Player of the Year after averaging almost a steal a game to go along with seven rebounds a contest, all while guarding the oppositions best player. Senior center Malicka Jackson is the only Dustdevil to make the all conference first team after a season of averaging 16 points and nine rebounds a game. Finally Sam Chacon was tabbed as an all-conferece 2nd teamer after notching 16 points a game while shooting better than 40 percent from deep. Leading the women to the conference championship this year is Michelle Bento Jackson who was named the Coach of the Year for the women. The Heartland Conference tournament will start Friday at 5:30 with the Dustdevils taking on St. Edwards.


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As Prison Labor Grows, So Does the Debate
By DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: March 19, 2000
OTAY MESA, Calif.— Behind five barbed-wire fences, four identification checkpoints, two guard towers and one 50,000-volt electric fence sits one of the few remaining solutions to America's tightest labor market in 30 years.
Every weekday, some 100 prisoners report for work at one of three private companies here at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, a series of squat buildings hidden among the hills at the base of Otay Mountain, just five miles from the Mexican border. The men, convicted murderers and robbers among them, stitch T-shirts, recycle tires and make beer and wine vats.
Other than the workers' uniformly blue outfits and the armed guards who occasionally patrol the factory floors, the workplace looks quite normal. A radio plays the Beatles' ''Here Comes the Sun'' and Queen's ''We Will Rock You.'' Hunched over sewing machines or welding together stainless steel vats, the men earn about $5.75 an hour, the California minimum wage. The products end up attached to trendy clothing labels like No Fear and in upscale pubs.
With unemployment low and a record number of Americans behind bars, prison labor is coming to mean much more than painting license plates. As inmates undertake everything from telemarketing to the manufacturing of computer circuit boards and furniture, the change has caused a growing debate, playing out in state legislatures and in two bills before Congress, over the role the nation's two million prisoners should play in its economy.
Across the country, more than 80,000 inmates now hold traditional jobs, working for governments or private companies and earning 25 cents to $7 an hour. The private sector programs, which exist in 36 states and employ 3,500, have doubled in size since 1995 after years of almost no growth. And the federal program that employs 21,000 inmates, up 14 percent in the last two years, and that has $600 million in annual sales, is seeking to expand.
Both supporters and opponents agree the debate is at a critical juncture because employment in prisons could spread quickly in the coming years. On virtually every other question, however -- whether prison labor helps inmates or is cruel to them, whether it is an economic benefit or a force holding down wages -- the two sides differ vehemently.
Supporters of the employment of inmates include law enforcement officials who view the programs as a way to reform convicts and business groups who see inexpensive labor. Many prisoners want to work, the backers say, and they point to research showing that inmates who work are less likely to commit crimes when they are released.
''It's a problem for corrections officers to have prisoners without anything constructive to do,'' said Edwin Meese III, the former United States attorney general, who lobbies for expanded inmate labor as chairman of the Enterprise Prison Institute, a Bethesda, Md., research group financed by state grants, research centers and private companies.
In addition, supporters say, prisoners offer the ultimate in a flexible and dependable work force. ''If I lay them off for a week,'' said Pierre Sleiman, the owner of the T-shirt company at Donovan, referring to his workers, ''I don't have to worry about someone else coming and saying, 'Come work for me.' ''
To opponents, inmate labor is both a potential human rights abuse and a threat to workers outside prison walls. Inmates have no bargaining power and are easily exploited, the critics say. In one California lawsuit, for example, two prisoners have sued both their employer and the prison, saying they were put in solitary confinement after complaining about working conditions.
The opponents also say the programs have stolen jobs from outside workers and hold down wages for other workers. Inmate labor, said Gordon Lafer, a political science professor at the University of Oregon, ''is a decent-sized problem that is poised to explode.''
Most of the companies now in the program are small. Earlier in the 1990's, big companies like AT&T and Microsoft hired inmates, but most backed away after the arrangements were exposed. Some big companies, like the retailer Target, still use suppliers that employ prisoners.
Prison labor in the United States has its roots in the 1800's, when inmates worked for private companies without pay. After hundreds died on the job because of hazardous conditions, unions and prison reformers demanded a halt the practice.
In 1934, however, federal prison officials concerned about growing unrest in prisons lobbied to create a work program. Companies got involved again in 1979, when Congress passed a law allowing them to hire prisoners in some circumstances.
For most of the last two decades, the programs remained tiny. But the tough drug and sentencing laws of the 1980's helped increase the number of Americans behind bars by 80 percent, to two million, in a decade. The unemployment rate, meanwhile, was falling. ''Now the economy is very good, and businesses are looking to the prison system for labor,'' said Noreen Blonien, an assistant director of the California Department of Corrections.


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The Real Poop
"Umm…no. We have a chisel."
"Cutter-section dredge?"
"Dr. Frackingstein, when can I help with excavating the dinosaur bones?"
"Never. They are my precious. Leave us alone," Dr. Frackingrock screams, laughing heartily into the night.
Geologists aren't usually that crazy, but they do love them some rocks. How do you know if you are that cuckoo for rocks?
You might be the next rock star if:
Your family album consists of fossil photos of homo habilis.
You drag your friends into the wilderness to check out a "killer sedimentary rock formation."
There are pictures of "cleavage" all over your walls. The metamorphic type.
You wear a Rolling Stones t-shirt and don't know that they are a band.
Geologists try to figure out how this big ball (our planet) formed and why it changes. To be specific, geologists study the composition and structure of rocks, plant, and animal fossils; Earth materials like oil, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and floods; as well as geological history and climate change. Oftentimes, they use high-tech instruments and scientific theory in an attempt to solve our planet's mysteries. Geology consists of many diverse areas. (Ask a geologist who has ever licked a rock—and there are more of them than you'd think—to distinguish it from a fossil. A fossil is porous and will stick to your tongue.)
Some of the many geology subfields include:
Isotope geology — The study of rock and planetary isotopic composition to piece together how they were formed. No fair looking up the IKEA manual online.
Marine geology — The study of the ocean's floor. We warn you—Nemo will not be down there. You won't find him.
Hydrogeology — The study of groundwater. These geologists want to know where it originates, where it is going and how it moves.
Paleontology — The study of fossils. Not like your grandma. They're more like dinosaur hunters. Your grandma, on the other hand, is not yet extinct.
Pedology — The study of soil and its formation. Like mud'n with your truck? Perhaps you'd like to know how nature's off-road course was made.
Volcanology — The study of volcanoes, because they are magmastic.
The field of geology you decide to go into depends on the types of questions you want answered. Want to figure out how to clean up the environment? Many geologists design and monitor waste disposal sites. They also reclaim contaminated land and help allocate areas for hazardous waste materials and landfills.
Some geologists strive to find natural resources such as natural gas, mineral, oil, and underground water. Underground water is a BIG deal. Areas of the country like Colorado added one million people to its population in the '90s. Water supplies in Colorado are limited. Most of their water comes from surface water, but that doesn't cut it. Agriculture areas in Colorado need groundwater. Roughly 90% of groundwater withdrawals are for farms. When groundwater dries up because of drought or excessive demands, agriculture doesn't have enough water. Which is where geologists come in to save the day.
"Geologists are the type of scientists where they are part artist and part scientist," said Larry Nation, a spokesman for the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. Unlike other types of scientific fields like zoology that one can easily access, geologists need to figure out what is going on beneath the earth, what happened millions of years ago (the dinosaurs apparently didn't leave their diaries anywhere we could find them), what will happen a million years from now, and what happens on other planets. Geologists are totally all up in the Earth's business. Without geologists, we would not understand what is going on with climate change. Plenty of people are more than a little confused about it as is.
According to The Geological Society of America, decades of scientific research have shown a climate change that is caused by both anthropogenic and natural causes. Geologists collect climate change data by studying glacier retreat ("Run away! Run away!") and melting Artic sea ice. They also look at ice cores, lake sediments, cave deposits, corals, and tree rings. Global warming is largely attributed to human activities, such as greenhouse-gas emissions. If current trends continue, The Geological Society of America projects an increase of temperature that will impact humans and other species. We're talking more than just a quicker suntan. It's the kind of news that makes you want to ride your bike to the grocery store rather than spew more pollution into the universe. No, the Earth is not going to blow up. At least not from climate change. However, geologists and other scientists are sending out warnings that change must occur for future generations of man and animal species.
To be a geologist, students focus their efforts on math and science during high school. Students typically earn an undergraduate degree in Earth Sciences, Geology, and Geophysics. It won't be all fieldwork. It is important to get a good background in advanced math, chemistry, physics, data processing, and computer modeling.
Your job outlook is better with an advanced degree. Most government, private industry, and academic employers want to hire a geologist with a master's degree. You'll be able to focus on a particular specialization like geochemistry, seismology, economic geology, or mineralogy in graduate school. Once out of graduate school, you can set your sights on a job at a university, mining company, petroleum company, Federal Highway department, science book publisher, legal firm, or the Environmental Protection Agency, to name a few.
There are numerous avenues to take with a Geology master's degree, but they generally lead to one place, which is right back into the Earth. Let us know when you get to China.


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From Rachel Kerstetter, PR Engineer
For most of us, a new year is a lot like a blank slate. New goals are set at the beginning of each year and new initiatives are undertaken.
To have a successful year, it's important to do more than just set goals. You don't just jump in the car to go to a new location for the first time, you look at how to get there, how long the trip will take or at least put the destination into your GPS. That's planning.
Planning is crucial no matter how big of a project you're going to start. Whether you're initiating a rebranding campaign or creating a 30-second video, you have to plan, plan, plan.
To map out your journey to your goal, decide:
- Who will be involved. Make sure you know who will be in charge of each aspect of your project and if you'll need outside help.
- What outline the strategy and tactics of your plan. Sometimes this is a simple statement of intent and the steps the "who" of your plan will take. Other times this is a large document that will guide your team in your new effort.
- Where you will focus. In the example of a 30-second video, the where is not only your filming location but where the video will go next. If it's a product advertising campaign, will you use print, digital, broadcast or other types of ads?
- When will your project start, end and when are your check-in points. A large year-end goal is great, but plan for pit stops along the way to see how you're progressing and rework that plan.
- How will your project get done and how much will it cost. Make sure you know what time, talent and equipment resources you need and how much you can spend to complete your project.
Your plan is your road map to completing a project. You can't always plan for everything, but having a plan in place gives you guidance along the way and can help you navigate whatever detours you encounter.


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CARUTHERSVILLE - A 10-year-child was seriously injured when his bicycle was struck by a vehicle.
According to the Caruthersville Police Department, the child was riding his bike at 6:29 p.m. Sunday near the intersection of Truman Boulevard and West Seventh Street when the accident occurred.
The child was transported by ambulance to Pemiscot Memorial Hospital then transferred to Lebonuer Hospital in Memphis. The 18-year-old driver of the vehicle was treated for minor injuries at the Pemiscot Memorial Hospital.
Truman Boulevard was closed between West Sixth and West Eighth streets until approximately 9 p.m. as the Missouri State Highway Patrol investigated the accident.
Also assisting at the scene were the Caruthersville Fire Department, Pemiscot County Sheriff's Office and the Pemiscot County EMS.


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Box Score (NCU)
Box Score (Martin Luther)
PLYMOUTH, MN – The Crusader softball team looks to shake off the rust, after an 8-1 loss against the North Central University Rams, and an 11-2 loss against the Martin Luther College Knights, in their season opening tournament, hosted by North Central University, at the Plymouth Creek Dome (Plymouth, MN).
Both games featured fresh faces on the pitching mound; senior Rosa Lewis (Yates City, IL) taking on the Rams, and sophomore Samantha Swiatek (Walled Lake, MI) getting the call against the Knights.
Against North Central, Lewis held the opponent to one run, and no hits through two innings, before Rachael Thearin (Hayward, WI) doubled to left center, driving in two runs, out of a team-total four that inning.
Lewis put together a string of two innings without hits, but a Rams' attack that included three more runs, on three hits in the sixth inning, pushed North Central on top.
The Rams only had six hits, but capitalized on some key doubles, and seven walked batters.
Junior centerfielder Emily Thompson (Watertown, WI) went 1-3, with a walk while sophomore Emily Boogher (York, PA), went 1-2, and debuted at shortstop, after starting at second base last season.
It was Boogher's base-hit that kick-started the inning, and ended with the second-year player crossing home plate on a wild pitch, to cut the lead to 5-1.
Lewis struck out four batters in six innings, while allowing six earned runs.
In their second game, Maranatha made quick strides, taking a 2-1 lead in the first inning, on an RBI double by Lewis, that scored Boogher and Thompson.
Martin Luther regained control in the third inning, scoring six runs, on two hits and three errors, and tacked on three more in the fourth inning.
Swiatek pitched five innings in her first career start.
Maranatha finishes the weekend with three competitions on Friday, the last, a rematch against Martin Luther, at 1:15 p.m.


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Small firms are playing an ever-increasing role in innovation, driven by changes in technologies and markets. Some spin-offs and high growth firms are having remarkable success. However, the broad bulk of small firms are not capitalising on their advantages. This book explores how government policy can boost innovation by improving the environment for entrepreneurship and small firm development and increasing the innovative capacities of enterprises. Policy findings and recommendations are presented in three key areas: embedding firms in knowledge flows; developing entrepreneurship skills; and social entrepreneurship. In addition, country notes present statistics and policy data on SMEs, entrepreneurship and innovation for 40 economies, including OECD countries, Brazil, China, Estonia, Indonesia, Israel, the Russian Federation, Slovenia and South Africa. SMEs, Entrepreneurship and Innovation is part of the OECD Innovation Strategy, a comprehensive policy strategy to harness innovation for stronger and more sustainable growth and development, and to address the key global challenges of the 21st century. For more information about the OECD Innovation Strategy, see www. oecd.org/innovation/strategy. Table of Content: -Executive Summary Chapter 1. Introduction Chapter 2. SMEs, Entrepreneurship and Innovation: An Overview by Country - Introduction - Australia - Austria - Belgium - Canada - Czech Republic - Denmark - Finland - France - Germany - Greece - Hungary - Iceland - Ireland - Italy - Japan - Korea - Luxembourg - Mexico - The Netherlands - New Zealand - Norway - Poland - Portugal - Slovak Republic - Spain - Sweden - Switzerland - Turkey - United Kingdom - United States - Brazil - Chile - China - Estonia - India - Indonesia - Israel - Russian Federation - Slovenia - South Africa - ANNEX 2.A1. Notes on the Country Data Chapter 3. Knowledge Flows Chapter 4. Entrepreneurship Skills Chapter 5. Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation -Glossary. Price: $54.00
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A baked potato soup that is cooked in the slow cooker. Cream cheese added in at the end makes it super creamy and super decadent!
Many years ago, we were having Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house. (I'm pretty sure it was Thanksgiving, but I could be wrong…) Of course, mashed potatoes are a must for Thanksgiving dinner, and my sister was in charge of making them that year. She cooked up the potatoes, then handed them off to her husband to do the mashing. (Just on a side note, my dad was never a cook, but for some reason, it was always his job to mash the potatoes. Was it like this in anyone else's house?) Anyway, my brother-in-law takes the potatoes, and thinking that he'll make easy work of it, he decides to use an immersion blender. He gets it in there, and before you know it, those potatoes went from being mashed potatoes to being glue. It completely changed the texture of the potatoes and made them very sticky and glue-y. We all laughed about it, (and didn't eat the potatoes), and still laugh about it to this day.
So I kind of feel like I should have known better when I was making this soup and took the immersion blender to it to make it into a smooth soup. Yep – kind of totally messed with the texture. Don't get me wrong, though. This soup was still amazing. And I know I would have liked it even more if I would have just used the darn potato masher!! I was first drawn to this soup because of the addition of cream cheese at the end. One of my favorite slow cooker soup recipes has cream cheese added into it, and I think it makes for an amazing soup. Gives it that little special something. And it totally worked here. Even though the temperatures are still in the upper 90s here, I was totally ok with curling up with a bowl of this soup. Add on some shredded cheddar and some bacon, and I'm one happy girl!
Recipe Rating: 8.75 out of 10
- 5 pounds potatoes, peeled and diced in 1 to 2-inch chunks
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 quarts chicken broth
- 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
- crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, green onions, or chives as garnish (optional)
- Put the potatoes, onions and garlic into a 6-quart slow cooker. Sprinkle in the seasonings and pour in the chicken broth. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4 hours, or until the potatoes are fork-tender. Use a potato masher or a stick blender (I would suggest a potato masher!) to mash the potatoes. You want a smooth soup.
- After smashing the potatoes, add in the cream cheese. Cook on high for 30 minutes, or until the cream cheese has completely dissolved, stirring a few times throughout the 30 minutes.
- Serve garnished with crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, green onions or chives.
Check out these other fabulous soups made in the slow cooker:
Red Lentil, Chickpea and Tomato Soup with Smoked Paprika from Kalyn's Kitchen
Rainy Day Split Pea Soup from A Full Measure of Happiness
Slow Cooker Sausage and Spinach Soup with Cornmeal Dumplings from The Naptime Chef


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Cougars Continue Fall Tournament Play at UVa Classic
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The College of Charleston men's tennis team will continue fall tournament play this weekend at the UVa Fall Classic hosted by the University of Virginia on Oct. 5-7 at the Sheridan Snyder Tennis Center in Charlottesville, Va.
Along with competing against the host Cavaliers, the Cougars will get to test their mettle against players hailing from James Madison, Penn State, VCU, George Washington, Virginia Tech, Liberty, Richmond, William & Mary, Coastal Carolina, Wake Forest, Morgan State, Binghamton, East Tennessee State, Norfolk Sate and North Carolina Wesleyan.
"This weekend is going to be very exciting for us," CofC Head Coach Jay Bruner said. "We've never been to Charlottesville as a team before, so it will be a different look for us against new teams, coaches and players we don't normally see in the fall."
CofC opened its fall season by winning three singles flights at the 49ers Pick'Em hosted by UNC Charlotte three weeks ago. The Cougars will send the same players to this weekend's tournament.
Among the eight are four members of last year's Southern Conference Championship squad in junior Brice Allanic (Colombes, France), sophomore Alon Faiman (Ramat Hasharon, Israel), senior Billy Kenny (Pawley's Island, S.C.) and junior Crescente Lesser (Santiago, Chile).
"We've been looking forward to this tournament and working hard the last few weeks in practice in preparation for it," Bruner said. "We're starting to figure out our doubles teams and everyone has been improving and getting more comfortable in singles, so we're looking forward to a fun weekend of competition at UVa."


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I think so many times in life we feel we need to be or act a certain way before God can use us or even take the time to give us an ounce of his grace or his listening ear. We live each and every day striving to become a better person, make the right choices, reach a certain status, thinking that once we reach the next level we will be in the perfect place for God to take our lives and make something amazing out it.
There are things that I still have trouble wrapping my heart and mind around, wanting to understand why things happened the way they did. I don't have answers but I've got one strong feeling -- He met me there. As I sat at Gavin's bedside and made decisions that would ultimately determine my own child's fate -- He met me there.
He will meet you there -- in the dirt, in the pain, in the confusion and He will walk you out. Sometimes a long slow painful process and sometimes in the blink of an eye.
November 5, 2009
A little more time.
"More time -- that's all I really want right now. We have been talking about Gavin's death before he was even born, yet nothing could have prepared me what these next few days or weeks will hold. I find myself in disbelief as I hear the words come out of the doctor's mouth. I just want more time.
I want so badly to bring him home into the house that so many people have worked so hard to make happen -- but I just don't know if it will happen. The doctors believe he does not have much longer. I believe he is going to come home, but as I sit hear and listen to the alarms going off telling me that the bipap is breathing for him I start to question. My heart feels that if we can just get him home -- give him something to fight for, he will turn around. I would be happy with just another week. I want his Doctor there. I want to make sure the photographer is there. I want my family there. I want it all to be prefect and planned.
Death is anything but planned.
It sucks.
The difficult part of this process is that Adam and I's decisions determine how long we have. He is suffering. In order to relieve that suffering we want to give him the medication he needs to find peace and relief. More more meds we push, the more difficult it is for him to breath. Although lots of fluid was pulled off him over the past two days his lungs have not improved, but rather have gotten worse.
I just want more time."


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Game 29
Senators 5, Isles 3
Sergei Gonchar scored the game-winning goal with one minute to play as the Ottawa Senators scored four goals in the third period to rally from a 3-1 deficit and defeated the Islanders 5-3 before a crowd of 10,668 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, dropping the Isles back to .500 (13-13-3).
The Scoring:
1st Period
06:23 OTT M. Kassian (1) Deflected - ASST: S. Gonchar (17) AND P. Wiercioch (8) 1 - 0 OTT
17:53 NYI K. Aucoin (5) Wrist - ASST: K. Okposo (8) AND J. Bailey (4) 1 - 1 TIE
2nd Period
00:14 NYI J. Bailey (3) Backhand - ASST: K. Okposo (9) AND F. Nielsen (12) 2 - 1 NYI
11:46 NYI PPG - L. Visnovsky (2) Wrist - ASST: M. Moulson (19) AND B. Boyes (17) 3 - 1 NYI
3rd Period
01:07 OTT J. Silfverberg (7) Tip-In - ASST: P. Wiercioch (9) AND P. Regin (3) 3 - 2 NYI
02:15 OTT Z. Smith (3) Wrist - ASST: S. Gonchar (18) AND A. Benoit (7) 3 - 3 TIE
19:00 OTT S. Gonchar (2) Slap - ASST: P. Wiercioch (10) AND G. Latendresse (3) 4 - 3 OTT
19:51 OTT EN - G. Latendresse (3) Wrist - ASST: D. Alfredsson (12) 5 - 3 OTT
The Skinny:
The Isles fall to 8-2-1 when leading after two periods … Matt Moulson has an assist in five straight games; he leads the Isles with 19 assists and now has 200 career points in an Islander uniform … Brad Boyes now has 10 points in the last eight games (4-6-10) …The Isles defense has combined for 16 goals this season … Josh Bailey scored his 50th career goal; he also had his first multi-point game of the season … The Isles have been outscored by a 42-30 margin in the third period, including 29-16 at home … Kyle Okposo played his 300th NHL game … Sergei Gonchar tied the Senator club record with an assist in his eighth straight game; he also finished +5 … Daniel Alfredsson's assist on the empty-netter was his 1,100th NHL point …The Isles have now allowed seven empty-net goals…The Sens scored twice in 1:08, and twice in 51 seconds (all in the third period).
The Record:
The Isles are now four games over .500 on the road and four games under .500 at home. It's the first time in Islander history that they have not been over .500 overall at a time when they were four games over .500 on the road.
The Shots:
Isles 9-12-8=29
Senators 6-7-10=23
The Disputed Goals:
The Isles had a goal disallowed after video review determined that Keith Aucoin kicked the puck into the net with his skate. The play can be seen here: http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=15461
The puck was apparently knocked down by a Senator high stick and was next played by a teammate, leading to the winning goal. That play is not reviewable.
Gonchar's Night
Sergei Gonchar was on for all five Sens goals, finished 1-2-3 and +5 on the night. He is the first player in the NHL with at least three points and a plus-5 rating this season. Gonchar is the first player to be at least plus-5 in a game against the Isles since January 13, 2011; Gonchar also did it that night. The last player to have at least three points and go plus-5 against the Isles was Olli Jokinen (2-4-6, +6, on March 17, 2007 for Florida).
Gonchar is now 17-48-65 in his career against the Isles (plus-31 in 77 games). He is plus-10 in his career against the rest of the NHL.
Home and Road
The Islanders are 13-13-3 overall, 5-9-2 at home and 8-4-1 on the road. The Isles remain in tenth place, trailing four teams by three points.
The Senators are 16-8-6 overall, 10-1-3 at home and 6-7-3 on the road. The Sens are just below .500 on the road, despite not leading a single road game this season after 20 minutes.
In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov made 18 saves but falls to 13-9-2 on the season.
Ben Bishop made 26 saves for the Senators; he is now 6-4-0 on the season.
Power Plays
The Islanders went 1-for-6 while the Senators were 0-for-1. It's the second straight game that the opposition had only one power play.
The Isles have 13 PP goals in their last 14 games (with all 13 goals coming in six games).
The Isles are 10-3-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 3-10-2 when they do not.
In (Almost) Every Game
The Isles have been tied or ahead in the third period in 23 of 29 games this season (13-7-3).
They Said It
"I didn't see it as a distinct kicking motion. I was going to the net hard and I had to stop. There's nothing you can do. The ref called it a goal on the ice, and when they were reviewing it [in Toronto], I didn't think there was any doubt it would be a goal."
They Tweeted It
@ian_mendes "Only four defensemen in Sens history have ever had 3 points and a +5 rating in same game: Redden, Volchenkov, Karlsson -- and now Gonchar."
The Coach
"The game-winning goal they got should have been a whistle. It was a high stick and Ottawa touched it first."
As Tavares Goes…
The Isles are 1-0-0 when Tavares has four points, 1-0-1 when he has three points, 5-2-0 when he has two points, 5-2-0 when he has one point, and 1-9-2 when Tavares is pointless.
What a Pair!
John Tavares and Matt Moulson have combined for 28 goals this season. Moulson has assisted on 12 Tavares goals this season after assisting on 12 of his 31 goals last season. Tavares has earned an assist on seven Moulson goals this season. Since November 2011, Tavares has been on-ice for 39 of Moulson's last 40 goals, earning 25 assists. Since November 2010, he has earned 47 assists on Moulson's last 71 goals, while being on ice for 69 of them.
Head of the Class
John Tavares has 233 career points; he is 52 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks. No other player in that draft is anywhere close. Tavares also has more goals and more assists than any other player in that draft.
114 NHL Goals
Moulson has 114 career goals (108 as an Islander). While 262 players were selected before the Penguins chose Moulson in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, only 17 have more goals. Moulson is one goal behind Nikolai Zherdev for 16th place.
Leading Ice Men
Lubomir Visnovsky played 27:21 to lead the Isles. Chris Phillips led the Sens with 27:54.
In the Circle
The Islanders won 32-of-57 draws. Frans Nielsen won 8-of-12 for the Isles.
Heavy Hitters
The Islanders out-hit Florida 34-23. Kyle Okposo led the Isles with five hits. Matt Martin had three hits, raising his season total to an NHL-leading 141. There were no fights, leaving the Isles' season total at 11.
Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 15 blocked shots. Lubomir Visnovsky led the Isles with five blocks.
All-time Winners
The Islanders are now two games over .500 all-time (1360-1358-435 in 3153 games). The Isles have been one game below .500 twice last season and four times this season. Prior to that, they had not been below .500 since they were 177-178-83 before their victory on January 16, 1978.
March to Victory
The Isles were 4-2-1 in January and 4-9-1 in February. The Isles are 5-2-1 in March.
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 275 games since joining the team. Moulson's streak is the longest for an Islander in the Post-Cup era. Billy Harris played in the first 576 games in Islander history; that figure still stands as the club record.
Three other Islanders (Frans Nielsen, John Tavares and Mark Streit) also played in every game last season. Tavares extended his streak to 188 consecutive games, while Nielsen and Streit have each played in 111.
Longest Consecutive Game Streaks, Islander History
1. Billy Harris 576
2. Bob Nystrom 301
3. Matt Moulson 275
4. Denis Potvin 262
Century Club
Mark Streit is the ninth Islander defenseman to play at least 100 consecutive games:
1. Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979 262
2. Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220
3. Gerry Hart 3/1/1975-11/22/1977 198
4. Janne Niinimaa 3/13/2004-1/7/2006 136
5. Ken Morrow 3/1/1980-12/29/1981 134
6. Travis Hamonic 11/24/2010 – 2/4/2012 113
7. Mark Streit 10/8/2011-CURRENT 111
8. Jean Potvin 10/23/1975-1/2/1977 110
9. Kenny Jonsson 12/26/1996-2/4/1998 104
Hamonic, McCabe and Morrow's streaks came at the start of their NHL careers. Both Niinimaa's streak and McCabe's streak encompassed their entire Islander careers.
Missing Men
Joe Finley was scratched. David Ullstrom, Michael Grabner, Matt Carkner and Brian Strait are on Injured Reserve. Jesse Joensuu is skating with the team but has not yet been added to the active roster.
The Isles have scored 55 goals in their 13 wins (4.23 per game) and 29 goals in their other 16 games (0-13-3; 1.81 per game). In their 13 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 20 goals (1.54 per game).
Career Wins, Active Goalies
1. Martin Brodeur 664
2. Roberto Luongo 346
3. Nikolai Khabibulin 330
4. Evgeni Nabokov 325
5. Miikka Kiprusoff 316
Career Wins
19. Nikolai Khabibulin 330
19. Harry Lumley 330
21. Evgeni Nabokov 325
22. Sean Burke 324
23. Miikka Kiprusoff 316
Career Shutouts, Active Goalies
1. Martin Brodeur 120
2. Roberto Luongo 62
3. Evgeni Nabokov 54
4. Tomas Vokoun 49
5. Nikolai Khabibulin 45
6. Miikka Kiprusoff 44
Career Shutouts
18 Clint Benedict 57
19 Evgeni Nabokov 54
19 Bernie Parent 54
19 Ed Giacomin 54
22 Rogie Vachon 51
22 Dave Kerr 51
22 Curtis Joseph 51
Career Goals as an Islander
21 Ray Ferraro 116
22 Matt Moulson 108
23 Benoit Hogue 105
23 Ed Westfall 105
25 John Tavares 101
25 Anders Kallur 101
27 Trent Hunter 99
Career Assists as an Islander
27 Greg Gilbert 138
28 Jason Blake 131
28 John Tavares 131
30 Trent Hunter 130
31 Mark Streit 129
32 Frans Nielsen 125
33 Benoit Hogue 124
33 Mikko Makela 124
35 Ray Ferraro 122
Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
25 Gerry Hart 476
26 Mariusz Czerkawski 470
27 Radek Martinek 462
28 Trent Hunter 459
39 Randy Wood 381
40 Frans Nielsen 348
41 Dave Scatchard 347
53 Ray Ferraro 316
53 Steve Webb 316
53 Richard Park 316
56 Gerald Diduck 314
57 Josh Bailey 310
58 Mikko Makela 307
59 Gordon Lane 304
60 Kyle Okposo 300
60 Arron Asham 300
60 Roman Hamrlik 300
63 Gordon Dineen 287
64 Jeffrey Norton 282
65 Steve Thomas 275
65 Matt Moulson 275
67 John Tavares 272
68 Mark Streit 267
69 Blake Comeau 261
69 Andre St. Laurent 261
Career Points as an Islander
24 Ray Ferraro 238
25 Travis Green 237
26 Kenny Jonsson 232
26 John Tavares 232
28 Greg Gilbert 231
35 Anders Kallur 211
36 Matt Moulson 200
37 Marty McInnis 198
38 Wayne Merrick 197
39 Robert Goring 195
40 Jeffrey Norton 188
41 Lorne Henning 184
42 Frans Nielsen 182
43 Kyle Okposo 172
43 Randy Wood 172
45 Claude Lapointe 171
45 Jean-Paul Parise 171
47 Shawn Bates 170
48 Jude Drouin 169
49 Dave Scatchard 168
50 Miroslav Satan 166
51 Mark Streit 166
52 Oleg Kvasha 158
Season Series Stats
The Sens win the season series two games to one (and five points to two). The Isles have not defeated Ottawa coach in regulation. The Isles are 2-5-0 against the Sens in the last two seasons, with one victory in overtime and the other in a shootout.
Happy Anniversary
9 years ago tonight (March 19, 2004): Jason Blake scored three Islander goals and Rick DiPietro made 16 saves as the Islanders defeated Minnesota 4-1 at the Coliseum.
Also on this date: Rookie Matt Hallin posts a three-goal game (1983 in Philadelphia); Frans Nielsen has a deciding goal in a shootout win at Florida (2011).
All-time, the Isles are 9-4-3 on March 19, although they are 1-2-1 in their last four.
On The Farm
Bridgeport is 26-25-6-4 on the season after blanking Albany 2-0 on Sunday. Brock Nelson and Nino Niederreiter had the goals while Rick DiPietro recorded the shutout. The Sound Tigers are six points out of a playoff spot with 15 games to play. Bridgeport is off until Friday, when they visit Providence in the first of a three-in-three weekend.
Up Next
[MSG+ (pre-game show at 6:30), WRHU (88.7FM)]
The Isles continue the home stand on Thursday with the final meeting of the season against the Montreal Canadiens. The Isles won in overtime in Montreal and hold a regulation win on Long Island as well.
Montreal lost to Buffalo in overtime on Tuesday, but the Canadiens are 13-1-4 in their last 18 games, with their only regulation loss in that stretch coming against the Isles on March 5.
Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources. Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter.
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And now in school news...my class was 50% present today. And not the mentally present, but physically. Half of my kids were out. We sent 27 kids home sick. 3 teachers had to be sent home. Yep. The flu has hit the Big K! Hello Lysol my friend! I am resigned to the fact that I will get the flu. I'm ok with this. I've accepted it. I'm prepared.
And now your freebie. I needed a set of dinosaur cards for a center I have in my room so I made these! I hope you can use them. Click on the picture for the freebie!


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Watch our 2-minute Online Prep Info/Help Video for a visual tour of our Online Prep features.
If you're taking the Praxis 1 Exam, we offer three levels of Online Prep designed to meet your individual needs: Quick Core, Core Plus, and Golden Apple. Some of the features included in our Praxis 1 Writing programs differ from those included in our Praxis 1 Mathematics and Praxis 1 Reading programs. Please refer to the appropriate chart below for a simple, side-by-side comparison of the features included in each program so that you can choose the one that's right for you.
All of our Online Prep programs include unlimited, 24/7 access to Core Videos, Core Slideshows, Advanced Diagnostics, and Smart-STEM Virtual Tutoring. (Please click on the links to learn more about each of these features.)
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Venus Linan, 28, of Scranton, will head to Monroe County Court on charges of using a murder victim�s credit card just hours after the man was found dead.
Linan waived her right to a preliminary hearing today before Stroudsburg Magisterial District Judge Kristina Anzini and will head to county court, where she can go to trial or plead guilty/no contest. Linan was denied a bail reduction request and is still in Monroe County Correctional Facility in lieu of $250,000 bail.
Blake Natal, 22, of Tobyhanna, was found murdered in the Quality Inn parking lot on West Main Street, Stroudsburg, on the night of Jan. 15. Myles White, 21, of Smithfield Township, and Linan�s boyfriend, Ralph Maldonado, 33, of Scranton, are charged in the murder and robbery of Natal.
Maldonado is awaiting trial in county court while White is awaiting a preliminary hearing in district court. Both are in county jail without bail.
Several hours after his death, Natal�s mother contacted police and said the bank had informed her of activity on his credit card.
Police traced that activity to two stores near Scranton and eventually to Linan and Maldonado�s mother, Sonia Maldonado, 50, of Scranton. Sonia Maldonado was placed in county jail in lieu of $250,000 bail and is awaiting trial in county court.
Location, ST | website.com


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PALM BEACH, Fla. - Greater collaboration and a more analytic approach to product customization will help maximize returns for retailers and manufacturers alike, concluded an industry panel who spoke here during the Washington-based Grocery Manufacturers Association's Merchandising, Sales and Marketing Conference. While half of all customized products fail to meet objectives, requests for exclusive products or new sizes and packaging options are projected to grow in the future, said Richard ...
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Wolverine poster, clawing for attention
Jan. 31, 2009 | 8:09 p.m.
Here's the new poster for the May release "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."
I'm not sure what to think about this film with the nagging rumors about a patchwork production (although the ever-earnest Hugh Jackman stepped up to say re-shoots were a planned part of a complicated schedule, not some late-in-the-game salvage effort). If the film is good, this is going to be a pretty massive year for fanboys with "Watchmen," a new "Harry Potter" film, "Terminator Salvation," "Star Trek" and "Avatar" topping the deep list of genre fare. To see the trailer for "Wolverine," check below…
— Geoff Boucher