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|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 02:26 pm: Edit
SAT 1: 1300(660M/640V) - June
SAT 2: 630 Chem, 620 Bio, 610 Writing - May
.retaking sat2 (math2, writing and chem in oct)
.taking ACTs in sept
GPA: 3.5-6 (uncertain)
Courseload: The most difficult
APs: Gov't&Politics(2,10), Chem(3,11), Bio(4,11) , Eng Lang(3,11), Phys (-,12), Calc AB(-,12), Eng Lit (-,12)
Location: Midatlantic, good public school, class size 550+, no ranking (yes %, but unknown)
Likely Major: Biology, biochem, premed
- V.Tennis, ranked player, won tournaments, played states, regionals, counties (7 years)
- Martial Arts, tournaments (states,regionals), instructor
- Science Clubs, will not specify. President or Officer in each.
- NHS, no position. (will tutor student for 2nd year)
- volunteer at elderly home (total hours 290+)
- intern in lab throughout HS
- science fairs, honors and awards (nothing spectacular, but enough to show quality in ECs)
- recommendations - solid
_cornell * -- will apply ED.
_tufts *
_georgetown *
_william & mary
_urochester *
_boston university *
_colgate *
_state school
* denotes visited school
will visit - uva, will&mary.
urochester is my #1 school, but will apply to cornell due to its prestige and lack of any sort of chance at getting in.
i will be glad to answer questions about my visits and go into more detail if requested. thanks!
any suggestions or advice?
|By Fonzie (Fonzie) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 03:20 pm: Edit
what'd you think of the comparison between Tufts adn Gtown?
|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 03:30 pm: Edit
Both have very strong political and international relation fields, but if you are planning on studying some sort of natural science Tufts would have the upper hand. Personally I prefer Boston to DC, and I have lived in both areas. Campus wise, based solely on aesthetical appearance, I would choose Tufts slightly over Gtown. Luxury of dorms would be in Gtowns favor. If religion plays a role in either direction, it is not that great of a factor. Overall, I liked Tufts more…
|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 06:37 pm: Edit
|By Anathemacipher (Anathemacipher) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 08:59 pm: Edit
Why are you applying to Gtown when you want to major in the hard sciences?
|By Spiffybrownboy (Spiffybrownboy) on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 09:44 pm: Edit
I have very similar stats to you and am a hopeful bio/neuroscience/genetics/psych major haha. I've done lots of research on schools' bio programs and Georgetown is NOT the place to go for the sciences. Like politics? Then go there. Not for science. UVA and William and Mary may have decent programs, but I think you could find better. Tufts is a great choice, as is Cornell (but VERY cutthroat). Your matches look okay (but I might consider UMich more of a reach, or at least I am considering it as one for myself). I know nothing about your safeties but you might want to look into University of Pittsburgh as a safety. Not an all around great school (still second tier though), but for bio it's fantastic. Perhaps it's because their med school is ranked in the top 20 above Northwestern, Chicago, yaddayaddayadda. Whatever the reason may be, it's a great safety for bio, and Pittsburgh rocks! Haha...
Oh, and one more thing: if Rochester is your absolute number 1 choice, then you should do early decision there, not Cornell, and secure a spot. Don't do Cornell ED just for the prestige because it's an extremely difficult school. If you would rather go to Rochester, doing ED at Cornell would be a grave mistake. Rochester has some prestige itself and is recognized as a great school... so think about it.
|By Bobellison (Bobellison) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 06:07 pm: Edit
how was colgate in relation to georgetown?
|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Friday, August 15, 2003 - 09:00 pm: Edit
yet again i hear that gtown is not a so-called science school, but the caliber of the education on the whole outweighs most others.
Spiffybrownboy, which other safeties/match schools would you recommend other than the Pittsburgh area? (I'm not too fond of it)
I've dropped northwestern, rice, wash u in stlouis and boston college from my list, so I'm pretty much in the range that I would like to stay within, but I'm very much open to suggestions/criticisms etc.
I think I stand a pretty good chance at uroch w/o ED, am I correct in my assumption? If I were to not apply early to cornell I'd probably not apply early anywhere. How's my logic?
Bobellison – colgate vs gtown. Rural vs urban. Small vs larger. Both div 1 sports! Gtown offers much more outside opportunities, say if you were to seek out an internship or job. if you can picture yourself living more or less in a field as well as right smack in the middle of a bustling city your choice should come down to specifics. I preferred the colgate campus and academics to gtowns more religious setting/atmosphere and social science curriculum. At gtown you have to take 2 theology classes, which coming from a nonpracticing household are in no way appealing. Hope I helped
|By Rwfancl05 (Rwfancl05) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 12:41 am: Edit
Sorry, but I really don't think you have a good chance at Cornell. It's a bit too much of a reach to make it a reasonable ED school. I'd apply ED to Rochester because it's within your range and it sounds like you really like it.
|By Asknot11 (Asknot11) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 01:06 am: Edit
Your categories are fairly on target. However, I don't think you stand a realistic chance at Cornell and Georgetown. Your SAT scores really wouldn't hold you back all that much, but I am afraid that your ap scores will. A 2,3,4,3 will probably hurt your chances, especially if you got A's in those classes. Getting a 3 on the AP exam and an "A" in the class will cause adcoms to think your grades are inflated. Overall, all the schools you listed fit in the right category for you.
|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 08:15 am: Edit
bio 4 - A, A
chem 3 - B, B
lang 3 - B, B
govt 2- B
Rochester has an early admission to medical school program that would like to apply to, but is not seeking students like me. this is from the roch website:
Admission to the REMS program is highly selective. We typically receive approximately 600 applications each year for ten openings. Forty finalists are selected by an admission committee to participate in mandatory on-campus interviews that take place the third week of March. Those invited for interviews generally meet the following profile:
A 3.95 unweighted grade point average
Strong SAT I (or ACT) scores (average SAT I score of previously selected candidates - 1450)
Top 2-3% of graduating class (in ranking schools)
SAT II subject tests in Biology or Chemistry, Math I or II C, and Writing - scores generally 700 or above
Course work at the highest levels (honors, Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or college classes)
Extracurricular activities that encompass medical interests (hospital volunteer, science research, etc.) and some non-medical areas (music, sports, leadership, etc.)
as you can see not exactly me. instead of wasting my time on the REMS application should I just do ED at roch and forget about everything else. although I am not too keen on the whole binding decision if I were to get in, or maybe I'm just getting nervous, not in the mood to committing myself to a reachable school. hehehe. I'll keep Cornell and gtown on just for the fun of it. That's it for my long post…
|By Cutie314 (Cutie314) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 10:30 am: Edit
Hey! I've never really heard much about Rochester until my school nominated me for the University of Rochester Humanities/ Social Sciences Award and they sent me a letter telling me that they'll waive my fee if I apply. To save money on apps, I figured I should make it one of my safeties. I don't know anything about the school so I was just wondering if you can enlighten me a bit. Why do you like it so much? How strong are their Anthropology and History Departments? How is the campus like? What kind of a social life does it seem to have? Also, how is the city of Rochester itself like?
|By Ivyrules (Ivyrules) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 10:44 am: Edit
Although ur chances are slim, just try applying to Cornell. A miracle might happen.
|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 11:16 am: Edit
Cutie314 - everything you could possibly want to know about UR is on their website - rochester.edu - as for what i like about it. for natural sciences it is regarded as top notch, many research opportunities, internships and successful staff. the campus itself is gorgeous; very green and well maintained. the buildings are traditional, but with all the new amenities, such as wireless connection and the sort. dorms are spacious and you can request to live in an all freshman dorm or more mixed year dorm. there are sororities and fraternities if you are interested, as well as cultural houses. the most appealing factor of the actual campus is the infamous underground tunnel system. you can reach almost any building, excluding dorms, by it (if i'm not mistaken). if the occasional snow shower is something that you shy away from Rochester is not the place for you.
as far as the humanities go i'm not quite sure upon specifics, but most likely they aren't 'too bad.' UR has div 3 athletics, so no sport scholarships. they do award merit scholarships as i am sure you know. Rochester the city is pretty much a mini version of a larger and more populated metropolis. you have theater, museums, concerts, athletic events and good dining. the undergrad campus is just a bridge away from the city itself, conveniently called the river campus.
wow, that was my Rochester spiel. hope you enjoyed.
|By Spiffybrownboy (Spiffybrownboy) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 11:35 am: Edit
Rochester has a bad reputation for their social scene (or lack thereof), but I have heard that it exists; one just has to find it through activities and such. If you are into music... may I mention the fabulous Eastman? :-p
|By Spiffybrownboy (Spiffybrownboy) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 11:44 am: Edit
Oh, and concerning more match or safety schools for you... try UMinnesota-Twin Cities, UW-Madison, Penn State, UIUC, UConn, UMD-College Park, Rutgers, Lehigh, RPI (yea u have it listed), ummm a bunch of others but my mind is blank right now. Basically the lower first tier schools and second tier on. I don't know which part of the country you're looking in so it's sort of hard to say.
|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 12:06 pm: Edit
east coast (above VA) and michigan. that's basically my limitation based on location. all other criteria i am without preference on.
how good is UMD college park?
rochester social scence -- i'm sure there are parties, and the sort but honestly i don't know how you can judge social scenes.
|By Cutie314 (Cutie314) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 12:07 pm: Edit
Thanx...I did enjoy the spiel. Good luck with all your schools.
|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Saturday, August 16, 2003 - 09:55 pm: Edit
|By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 06:08 pm: Edit
What is your home state? You should have some safety schools. If you love Cornell and it is your top choice, by all means go all out and apply early dec. U of Rochester is a great school; I have friends with kids there and the kids love it there. It is academically intense, however. My suggestion is to apply to a group of school you really like, add a safety school and then look at some small, nurturing schools with a premed type program. There is a book called "Colleges that Change Lives" by Loren Pope that has list of schools that uplift and help their students get into med school. If your ultimate goal is to get into medical school and you know you are not a top, top student with top, top scores, my advice is look at a school that would love to help you get into med school. The Cornells, Hopkins, U of Roch all have top notch kids that are pre-med all fighting to be top dog. It is not always pretty. These schools tend to have curriculms that eliminate med school candidates not promote them. They may say 90% or higher of our candidates get into a med school but those are the kids who did not get eliminated on the way. Let's face it--a C in Organic Chem can eliminate your chances. You may want a school that picks up a lot of premeds as the undergrads go through school, not a school that eliminates them. I can speak from experience because I went to a cut throat premed school and most of my classmates who started out premed did not end up applying, and most of my classmates were premed because the school has the reputation of being a premed school. Sometimes by going against the grain, you can find a better way than going head on. If you want to be a doctor, better you pick a route that is more likely to give you the grades and prep to get into med school than a program that pits the students against each other and sends the strongest of the bunch. Do visit a few of these smaller, nurturing schools and you might see what I mean.best of luck to youo--and please don't think I'm saying to disregard what you really want to do. The undergrad years are an experience in itself and if you really want to go to a particular school, and get in, it may not be that important that you stay premed. I know a lovely girl who got into a 7 year BA/Med program, turned down some wonderful and prestigious schools to go to Youngstown State for this program. Well, she changed her mind and is now in Youngstown State which is primarily a local school and she is not local. She tried to transfer and did not get into the same schools that had accepted her two years ago. I'm sure things will work out for her but right now she isn't very happy. So there is that balance between future goals and current happiness. May you achieve that balance.
|By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Monday, August 18, 2003 - 06:11 pm: Edit
Oh, I forgot to mention...if you are good enough to play intercollegiate tennis on a school team, you would get athletic preference. Make sure you talk to the coaches. My son is a participating college athlete and the fact that he involved the athletic department made a big difference in his school choices. His stats were similar to yours.
|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 07:03 am: Edit
Thank you Jamimom! I am looking at schools in a new light. It's wiser to get into a better med school than suffer through a difficult undergrad (even though I think I could make it).
I met with UR tennis coach and seemed to make a good impression. Playing a sport in college as I'm sure you know is quite difficult a task while also trying to get a top notch education. I think my tennis skills could help me, but only to an extent. I am not a world class player, but am willing to put in the effort.
As for BA/Med program, I was thinking of applying to UR and BU. unfortunately, the more research I do, the less likely it seems that I can get in.
Other lower tier schools that I should consider would include which? Possibly George Washington, Rutgers, SUNY stony brook, UMD collegepark, u pitt? Others?
Thanks again!
|By Nickw28 (Nickw28) on Thursday, August 21, 2003 - 01:32 am: Edit
UVA and W&M are going to be out of your league more than likely. I go to VA Tech which has a good biotech program with Wake Forest and I know a few kids who didnt get in with a 1350 SAT and a 3.7 GPA. UVA and W&M are more liberal arts schools, not really for sciences.
|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Thursday, August 21, 2003 - 07:00 am: Edit
would VA tech be a safety for me? i will be visiting UVa soon, maybe I will be convinced to take it off my list (the app is horrible!). any other match-safety schools i should consider?!
- goucher
- rutgers
- union
i think i'm leaning towards UR more and more, even though i loved tufts. is tufts too much of a reach for me? the money issue also comes into play. at BU i might be able to get merit aid, whereas as the other schools most likely not.
are there any blatant facts or myths about UR that i should know about? other than the whole snow/cold issue.
|By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Saturday, August 23, 2003 - 12:09 am: Edit
You seem to really like UR. There are some nice scholarships they offer. I think you need a 1350 on the SAT I or a 31 on the ACT to get their merit scholarships. Also if you are a NY state resident, you get a $5000 discount. They do have several merit based scholarships. Rochester is a very competitive school because of the large premed population. So bear in mind that it is going to have a tough curriculum.. Hopkins, Wash U of St Louis,CMU, Case Western are also similar schools. U of Richmond is also a consideration and they have half tuition scholarships for 1350 SAT I scores. Tulane and Vanderbilt also come to mind. None of these are true safety schools except possibly Case and Case has a 1400 cutoff on the SAT I for their half tuition scholarships.
Goucher is a recommended school for nurturing and has safety school acceptance numbers. Juniata has an early assurance med program with Tulane Med school. Again, you don't mention in which state is you have residency. One of the state schools could be a safety. If you are from Virginia, V Tech would be a consideration as well as James Madison. You have ever so many options. Godd luck
|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Saturday, August 23, 2003 - 08:55 am: Edit
i deliberately don't mention state residence, but i will say it's not VA.
U Richmond – match school with a solid bio program? Looks good on paper, but is it overrated because a mostly wealthy white school
I don't make the 1350 cutoff, which is a shame but maybe the ACT in sept will satisfy the 31 score.
Revised list:
_boston university
_maybe U Richmond?
_state school
|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Sunday, August 24, 2003 - 11:02 am: Edit
|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 07:22 pm: Edit
bump again.
|By Nhfrenchie (Nhfrenchie) on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 08:53 am: Edit
My D's stats are almost identical to yours with similar interests. She's interested in Biomedical Engineering and maybe the Premed track.
Anyway, we visited the following schools over the summer:
U or R
Case Western
Penn State
Tufts (She attended their Summer Honors Science Program)
This is now her "short" list:
RPI (Match/Reach?)
U of R (Reach/Match)
Case (Reach/Match)
She used to have Tufts on her reach list but as a result of recent visits to other schools, is now not considering it.
We are going to visit Tulane in September as a match/reach school.
Each of the schools that we visited has certain strengths/weaknesses (campus vs program vs etc. etc.)
Hope this helps?
|By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 04:50 pm: Edit
I just heard that the cut off for the half tuition scholarship at Case is 1300 or ACT of 31. Would not look down on schools that have rich kids reputation until you visit and feel uncomfortable. Many of them have the best resources and nurturing and financial aid of all. If you look at the number of kids who qualify for federal aid in alot of the top schools, ivy included, you will find that these schools have predominantly well to do kids. If you eliminate being around those who are better off financially than you, you are eliminating valuable resources. My son's music teacher who is hardly wellthy has a son at U of Richmond and another at Hofstra. Both are on nearly full scholarship and the experience has been golden to them. They love it there and feel they have been nurtured as well as educated and the older is now at a prominent law school. He has a full ride to do this because he applied thru a JD/Phd program that gives him a fellowship. U of R walked him through options in a way that would be hard to get even paying a counseler to do. Another friend whose daughter is at Pitt got no help, little advice and very impersonal information in her law school pursuit. She paid more to go to this state school than either of the music teacher's sons did to go to their private schools. If you truly do not like the atmosphere of a school, by all means do not go there. You do after all have to live there. But be wary of labels like a rich kids school. The reality is that a lot of the best schools fall in that category if you really want to add up the numbers. Hofstra offers full tuition for students with 1300 on SAT or 29 on ACT and they really want their premeds to succeed instead of kicking them in the teeth and helping eliminate them before med school. It is ever so nice to find a school that really wants to help you get what you want and is sympathetic if you find yourself needing aid, financial or otherwise. Focus on what you ultimately want and immediately need to get your college education. I am rooting for you.
|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 09:14 pm: Edit
thank you thank you is all i can say.
Nhfrenchie -- the schools you listed are all well known for their bio programs more so than anything else if i'm not mistaken. what is your Ds top choice? what is her main deciding factor against tufts?
Jamimom -- yet again you have lifted my spirits. every time i read your advice i feel as if some one believes in me, and knows i can make something of myself. my parental support and counselor support is lacking in the positive area so i'm left to doubting myself.
i think i am going to stay away from case only because of the comments i've heard from classmates and recent HS graduates. it just doesn't feel like a fit. i'm not familiar with hofstra, though the full tuition sparkle is inviting me to take a look. although money might not end up being an issue in the end i am requesting aid at all my schools.
for right now i think i better go and enjoy my saturday night. watch some US open, sulk over hantuchovas loss and do my laundry.
thanks again. i will update on how my visits to UVA and URichmond go.
|By Thinisin (Thinisin) on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 09:16 pm: Edit
|By Nhfrenchie (Nhfrenchie) on Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 11:33 am: Edit
My D indicates that her top 2 right now are RPI & Case.
Yes, all are known to have excellent Bio/chem/engineering programs and for her stats has a good chance of getting in. As I indicated, she's interested in Biomedical Engineering/BioChem and therefore the reason for her choices.
RPI does offer something that I believe other schools don't offer. "Studio Learning - Studio classes combine classical learning activities, from lecture to discussion to paper and pencil problem solving to experiments, with hardware, computer simulation and experimentation. Students learn in a collaborative environment by doing and teaching others with help from the faculty. A key advantage to the studio format is that students can apply their knowledge immediately to experiments without having to wait a week or longer for a traditional laboratory course. Such classes help to increase student motivation, understanding, and retention of knowledge and build collaboration skills that are essential for today's business and industry.
".......Troy doesn't offer much as a city but Albany is nearby and the school does offer busing/transportation options to students to help them with access outside of campus.
Case Western on the other hand, does have a lot to offer in the immediate area, including good hospitals/research for interships, etc....
She indicates that she'd be happy going to any of the schools listed.
Hope this helps...
|By Rosiebabe5 (Rosiebabe5) on Wednesday, September 03, 2003 - 06:09 pm: Edit
Jamimom- does Vanderbilt have good bio? i haven't been hearing good things about it, pre-med wise, so I was thinking that the bio wasn't good.
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October 3, 2004 - October 9, 2004 Archives
I see the Discovery Science channel is showing Jacob Bronowski's 1973 miniseries The Ascent of Man. It's a classic work of science, history, and philosophy, eloquently and beautifully created, and certainly Bronowski's masterpiece, despite several small flaws. I'm a great admirer of Bronowski (about whom I wrote for Liberty magazine in December, 2002). One astounding thing about this 13-hour miniseries is that it was almost entirely performed extemporaneously: the director pointed the camera at Bronowski, and he just talked. It's a magnificent achievement, and I encourage our readers to tune in!
After my speech at the University of Kansas a few weeks ago (see Kansas Citizens for Science), a number of ID supporters complained that even though both Chancellor Hemenway and I referred to the discussion as a debate, my speech just represented one side of the issue. In response to a post on a local discussion forum, I promised I would address this complaint, which I will now do here.
There's a new article out about a new breakthrough in controlling pesticide resistant insects in Australia, one which involes trying to shut down their ability to resist pesticides:
Australian and British scientists have achieved a technical breakthrough to help control insects that have developed resistance to common agricultural pesticides, the New South Wales state government said on Thursday.
"Developed by the NSW Department of Primary Industries and Rothamsted Research in the UK, the technique relies on the use of naturally occurring enzyme inhibitors to disarm an insect's defense system," Macdonald said.
"The enzyme inhibitor acts first to shut down an insect's resistance mechanisms. A few hours later, while the bug's defenses are still low, the pesticide kicks in."
Daniel Dennett is among the foremost writers on the philosophical issues surrounding evolution. Indeed, I consider him the greatest philosopher alive. Among his books are Darwin's Dangerous Idea, Consciousness Explained, and Freedom Evolves. He's attacked creationism and its surrounding notions time and time again. But--gasp!--he's admitted that Intelligent Design makes sense!
No, not really.
The Center for the Study of the First Americans has issued their comment on the amendment to NAGPRA. This amendment, as I've blogged before, would appease creationists by seriously curtailing the ability to do research on ancient skeletons in America. More on how you can help protect science here.
The neural crest is an example of a profound evolutionary innovation in vertebrates. It seems to be something simple—it's a population of cells that are 'left over' at the closure of the neural tube, and that wander out into the other tissues of the body—but it has been co-opted in numerous ways to provide major vertebrate features. You wouldn't have much of a face without the neural crest, for instance; this plastic population of migrating cells get recruited to build much of what lies below your eye sockets, along with some radical reorganization of branchial arches. These cells also form the myelin sheaths of your peripheral nerves, and most visibly, form all of the pigmentation in your skin. Having neural crest in the embryo, obscure as it is to most people, is considered to be one of the hallmarks of being a vertebrate.
One particularly pressing question, then, is where the neural crest came from (and no, divine prestidigitation or alien tweaking aren't under consideration, at least not until someone comes up with actual evidence for such designer intervention.) Where should we look? In lineages that branched off of the chordate line before the evolution of vertebrate neural crest. One such lineage is the urochordata.
Continue reading "Urochordates and neural crest" (on Pharyngula)
Maurice Wilkins, whose X-ray photographs of DNA were central to Watson and Crick's later elucidation of the structure of DNA, and who shared the Nobel Prize with them, died in London Tuesday.
Here are some closeups of some fossilized bones from the early Cretaceous. Look closely:
They've got fine filamentous feathery hairs all over them—it's a dinosaur with feathers. One very cool thing about it is that this is a basal tyrannosaurid, a new species named Dilong paradoxus.
Continue reading "Why, it looks like a big chicken!" (on Pharyngula)
I have resumed my analysis of the essays in William Dembski's anthology Uncommon Dissent. I am currently working my way through Frank Tipler's contribution, entitled "Refereed Journals: Do They Insure Quality or Enforce Orthodoxy?" This essay seems especially important in light of Stephen Meyer's recent paper, reported on extensively at this site and others.
My first two posts, over at EvolutionBlog, can be found here and here, I discuss four examples of Tipler distorting other's people's work or telling dubious anecdotes. For example, he suggests that the criticisms of neo-Darwinian theory offered by Lynn Margulis in her book Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the Origin of Species are effectively equivalent to those being made by Behe and Dembski. He further asserts that Ernst Mayr, in his foreward to the book, agrees that neo-Darwinism has the flaws Margulis (and by extension Behe and Dembski) describe. I show that both of these claims are nonsense.
Tipler's essay is long on arrogance and dubious generalities, but very short on substance. His bombast has to be cleared out of the way before his arguments can be addressed. I have not yet addressed his arguments on peer review, but that is coming in a later posting. Enjoy!
Tangled Bank #13 is online at Preposterous Universe, and it contains 19 entries. Wow—that's our record so far. And while you're over there, be sure to send belated birthday greetings to Sean.
And there's more to come! The next edition will be at Prashant Mullick on October 20th. Send your submissions directly to Prashant, to firstname.lastname@example.com, or to me.
Creationists like to say that evolution's influence is dying and that it is of little importance to doing biology. They take advantage of the layperson's lack of familiarity with the scientific literature to argue that evolution has little relevance, or that Dobzhansky's aphorism that "nothing makes sense in biology except in the light of evolution" is false. Anyone who actually reads the biological literature, though, will come away with exactly the opposite impression: the journals are full of references to evolution, even in disciplines and journals that don't have "evolution" in their title. The concept is central; it's as ubiquitous as references to "genes".
To demonstrate, I've carried out a quick exercise, similar to one I've done before. The latest copy of one of the major journals in my field, Developmental Biology, just arrived in my mailbox. It's a top-notch journal, affiliated with our biggest organization, the Society for Developmental Biology. It's not evolutionary biology directly, but there has been an increasing awareness of the significance of evolution to our field, so it's a good representative of an expanding, hot field which is experiencing some synergy with other disciplines.
What I did was to quickly skim through each of the 21 articles in Volume 274, Issue 2, of Developmental Biology, and ask myself how much each article depended upon or discussed the topic of evolution. I categorized and color-coded each one by the following criteria:
|Blue articles are explicit in their discussion of evolution, proposing evolutionary connections or even testing evolutionary hypotheses. The evolutionary aspect may not be the major point of the paper, but it is discussed.
|Green articles treat evolution as implicit; they may work with molecules homologous between different species, but they don't specifically address evolutionary ideas. This is not to say that they have a lesser commitment to evolution, but more that they take it for granted.
|Gray articles don't say anything one way or the other about evolutionary relationships. Most often these are papers that are tightly focused on analysis of data from a single species. It's entirely possible to imagine a creationist writing these, but of course there is no implication that the authors deny evolution.
|Black articles would be ones that directly discuss Intelligent Design or other anti-evolutionary ideas about science. This is a hypothetical category; none were found.
Here is my classification of each of those articles, with a brief justification for why I put each in its particular category.
Continue reading "How often do biologists talk about this evolution stuff, anyway?" (on Pharyngula)
I was extremely disappointed to see that the Society for American Archaeology has issued a statement supporting the amendment of NAGPRA which, if passed, would severely limit the ability of scientists to study ancient remains found on federal land. (More on this amendment below.) SAA says that they're just fine with the destruction of ancient skeletal remains, intended to appease American Indian creationists; they just oppose the way the amendment was introduced (rather quietly, and without substantial public comment). More on how you can help protect science at the Friends of America's Past.
Update: Thanks to inappropriate response, here is what the American Association of Physical Anthropologists has to say.
The school district in York, Pennsylvania has come to a compromise of sorts on the use of the book Of Pandas And People (1989) in the classroom. This book is controversial because it includes various ID elements. I haven't read it, but glancing through it, there are some pretty objectionable statements--statements that show how illusory is the attempted distinction between creationism and ID.
Phillip Johnson has once again "clarified" his position on the age of the Earth. You can read my previous comments about this issue here.
On the comments page of Touchstone magazine, we're treated to an email that Johnson sent to his list. (Note: this is not a permanent link, it will eventually be archived.) Johnson is apparently touring the U.K. with Andrew Snelling from the Institute for Creation Research, a fervently YEC outfit. So does this mean Johnson is showing his true colors as a YEC? This is what he has to say:
I received the message below, forwarded from from [sic] a theistic evolutionist Christian College professor (the explanations in brackets are mine, not Phil's):
The following paragraph comes from a post on the ASA list, citing information in a publication from ICR. This would tend to support John Wilson's implicit suggestion in his Christianity Today article, that Phil is moving toward a YEC [young earth creationist] position. If Phil has any comments, I'm all ears.
The latest issue of ACTS AND FACTS arrived today. I see that Phillip Johnson and Andrew Snelling (of ICR [the Institute of Creation Research, I think]) will be making a joint speaking tour in England from 10/26 to 11/13. The tour is being underwritten by Elim Churches and several "evangelical alliances."
I have consistently said that I take no position on the age of the earth, and that I regard the issue as not ripe for debate yet. I have also rejected all suggestions that I should denounce the YECs and instead have said that I regard high-quality YECs like Andrew Snelling as respected allies.
I am not upset when YECs criticize me for not embracing their position, nor am I upset when theistic evolutionists or progressive creationists criticize me for being overly friendly with YECs. For now I am standing right where I want to stand. When developments make it appropriate for me to clarify or adjust my position, I will not hesitate to do so.
One wonders just what developments could possibly make Johnson make up his mind about the age of the Earth. Is he holding out for some new and improved radiometric dating technique? Waiting for new ice core results? I somehow doubt it. He's probably referring to political, not scientific, developments. The scientific case for an old Earth is quite overwhelming, as can be seen by any open-minded person willing to invest some time researching it. But Johnson's "Big Tent" strategy requires him to do the exact opposite of what he pretentiously claims to be doing, which is following the evidence wherever it leads. Instead, he has to sweep the evidence under the rug when it's politically incorrect to do otherwise.
It's funny that ID advocates have been known to deride evolutionary theory as "19th century science", even though the modern synthesis was developed in the 20th century. Perhaps, previously, I didn't appreciate what they meant by that. Maybe instead of insinuating that evolutionary theory is old and stale, they meant that it's futuristic and scary. Because anyone who thinks that the age of the Earth is "not ripe for debate yet" is living in a bygone era, well before Darwin.
NAGPRA is a federal law which requires that any skeleton found on federal land or in a federal museum which is the skeleton of an American Indian, must be returned to that person's tribe, usually for burial or other form of ceremonial destruction. Archaeologists are troubled by some of the extreme implications of this law, which has already cast a dark shadow over attempts to study ancient skeletons, such as Kennewick Man. Now there is a possibility that NAGPRA will get even worse.
The announcement is on the Nobel site. Carl Zimmer has the summary.
Axel's and Buck's work was on odorant receptors, and what they accomplished was to demonstrate on the molecular level how your nose works. It's very nifty stuff from a physiological standpoint, showing how an olfactory signal is transduced via G protein coupled receptors into a change in cyclic AMP levels, which then opened membrane channels to change the electrical potential of the cell. It also turned out to have evolutionary significance, because what they discovered was a huge gene family; every different class of odorant has its own unique receptor molecule, and roughly 3% of our genome is dedicated to this one task that we take for granted. We aren't even particularly well endowed with odorant receptors, and our genome is further riddled with broken odorant receptor pseudogenes, relics of the more discerning noses of our distant ancestors.
Testing fundamental evolutionary hypotheses by David Penny, Michael Hendy and Anthony Pool was published in Journal of Theoretical Biology volume 223, pages 377-385 in 2003. Penny et al show that 'Intelligent Design' can be formulated as a testable hypothesis but this requires us to formulate motivation(s), means and/or opportunity to restrain the explanatory power of an 'intelligent designer'. Additionally, they show why various potential ID hypotheses can be rejected based on the experimental evidence. Until ID proposes other hypotheses, common descent seems to remain the best hypothesis available. Since the Geoscience Research Institute (GRISDA) proposes an alternative theory of ID (multiple independent origins) I will explore this hypothesis and show that again the data do not bode well for ID.
We're looking for more submissions to the next edition of the Tangled Bank, which will be at Preposterous Universe on Wednesday. Send links to your science writing to carroll [at] theory.uchicago.edu, to email@example.com, or to firstname.lastname@example.com. Get 'em in as soon as you can!
William Dembski has posted a revised version of his essay on human origins on www.designinference.com. This was way back in August, but I've been busy. In the acknowledgements he thanks me, amongst others, for helpful criticism. Now I'm quite chuffed that I could help the greatest philosopher of our time with his essay, but it might have been nicer if he actually had acted on my criticisms.
As before, there are still numerous biological mistakes Dembski makes in this essay. He didn't take my advice to get a real biologist to look over it carefully. What about my specific criticisms?
Last Tuesday, September 28, 2004, about 300 people attended my speech "Kansas Science Standards 2004: Will It Be 1999 All Over Again?", sponsored by the Chancellor's Office and all the natural science departments at the University of Kansas. Generally the audience was supportive and appreciative, although a few ID advocates and supporters were there (including Intelligent Design managing director John Calvert.)
If you are interested, links to some materials, including mp3's of the speech, are on the Kansas Citizens for Science website www.kcfs.org. Even if you aren't particularly interested in Kansas, much of this talk is pertinent to anyone interested in the ID movement.
1) The Powerpoint presentation is here.
2) A Word version of the Powerpoint text, with cues to the mp3 files is here. This is a more useful (and much smaller) document.
3) The speech itself is separated into a small mp3 files corresponding to the Powerpoint presentation, which you can either listen to directly or download to listen to consecutively later. I recommend listening while following the Word document. The files are all here.
The reaction by the IDists was strong - perhaps even a little over-the-top.


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Leyland makes final pitch for Avila
Tigers manager Jim Leyland has tried to stay out of the All-Star voting process. He thinks it comes down to a popularity contest and stuffing ballots. That said, he basically asked Tigers fans to do the same for his catcher.
"I've never really got into that, but I think it's a no-brainer, and I hope that they do get behind him," Leyland said. "It would be an absolute shame, in my opinion, if Alex Avila's not on the All-Star team. That would be a shame. He deserves it, so I hope they stuff ballots, do whatever they want. I know I'm contradicting myself, but it would be a shame if he's not on the team."
Online balloting is the only way to vote now, and it ends tonight at 11:59 p.m. ET at MLB.com. The latest results as of Thursday afternoon suggest a late rally for Avila votes in recent hours, with close to 90 percent of votes over the last day going in his favor. If that holds, then it's a question of how big the final-day vote is.
What is going on with Rick Porcello?
Rick Porcello doesn't have that look at last year when he talks about his struggles. A year ago, he looked exasperated, like his mind was spinning into overdrive trying to figure out why he wasn't able to get the ground-ball outs that were so plentiful in 2009. Porcello believes he's on the right track now, and he sounds mature about it.
That's his look off the field. On the field, he's taking a beating these last three starts.
To be fair, one of those three games was a debacle of singles at Dodger Stadium last Wednesday, when he looked like a hard-luck pitcher. Another was a Coors Field game for a sinkerball pitcher, and as Mike Hampton might attest, those don't go well sometimes.
Tuesday was a different feel. If Willie Harris had gotten to second base on his fourth-inning shot off the right field fence, then Porcello would've given up the cycle in four batters and just five pitches. Their singles were not cheapies.
It was the kind of outing that, when coupled with the other two, creates concern on a ballclub and a task for a pitching coach.
"Obviously tonight, it was just one of those things," Rick Knapp said after the game. "He felt like they were on him, and he tried. He used his other pitches. He used his slider. He used his curveball. I thought he threw a couple good curveballs tonight. But at the same time, if he doesn't execute his best pitch consistently, that's when he's going to get hurt."
The mix of pitches was there for Porcello on Tuesday. The finishing pitch with two strikes was not. Divide Porcello's 47 strikes thrown by the 11 hits he allowed, and he had just over 4.25 strikes per hit. He also had just two swings and misses from Mets hitters. His 2-to-1 ratio of groundouts to flyouts was good, but that's because the vast majority of the balls they hit in the air against him went for hits.
"Tonight he threw some bad pitches that they hit, and he threw some decent pitches that they hit," Jim Leyland said. "It just wasn't his night."
When you hear about hitters doing damage on good pitches, and hitters barely missing any pitches, one of the first things to come to mind is whether a pitcher is tipping his pitches. It's something pitchers and coaches don't like to talk about much, and they weren't saying a whole lot after the game Tuesday. But it's safe to say they're looking at it, looking for anything that might even give a hint.
When those numbers are coming against a pitcher like Porcello, who focuses on one very good pitch that can get outs even when hitters know it's coming, then it can be a different question. Is he throwing his secondary pitches well enough to keep hitters honest? Is he executing the bread-and-butter pitch?
Statistically, Porcello had one of his better mixes going, with double-digit pitch totals in four different pitches. But his slider, which often complements his sinker, just wasn't working, getting just seven strikes out of 15 pitches, and his changeup was marginally better.
Look at his strike zone plot on brooksbaseball.net, too, and though he had some pitches low, almost all of them were first-pitch balls, which led to second-pitch strikes higher up in the zone. The two swing-and-miss strikes he got were both on high pitches.
"I think it's just a matter of pitch making," Porcello said. "I think early on [this season, when he was on], I was down in the zone very consistently and lately, balls have been coming up. I've been paying the price for it. It just can't go any further. I've got to squash it and make sure that everything I'm throwing is down in the zone and keeping guys off-balance with a good mix of pitches.
"I definitely felt like today and in previous bad outings, I think guys have been all over my fastball, especially left-handed hitters. That's been kind of na ongoing thing for me that I've got to make sure I shut down lefties in the lineup. Almost all the lineups I'm going to face are stacked with left-handed hitters. That's just an ongoing challenge."
I asked Porcello what he saw as the difference, pitch-wise, between what he threw in Pittsburgh in May over eight scoreless innings and what he threw Tuesday night.
"I think there's not a big difference between my stuff in Pittsburgh and now," he said. "In fact, I think velocity-wise, it was the best my fastball has been all year. I felt like I had a pretty sharp slider again. It's just a matter of throwing strikes and putting the pressure on them to (with) pitches."
It might well have been that the Pirates simply didn't hit him well, or that the Mets hit him particularly well. But unlike last year, he calls this a bump in the road.
I know the question will come up among fans whether Porcello needs to go to Toledo to work things out. At this point, I would say no. It wasn't that long ago that he was pitching effectively, and it's abundantly clear that the Tigers need to get him going here to have any shot at doing things in October. I don't see any other clear candidate as a third starter right now. I don't think Jacob Turner is ready for that yet, and I think Andy Oliver has his own set of circumstances. You have to be able to throw someone other than Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer at a team, and when Porcello is right, he's by far the best of the rest.
Best Leyland argument ever?
Jim Leyland doesn't argue very many calls, at least not as many as his personality would suggest. If he's coming out of the dugout to talk with an umpire, he's more likely looking for an explanation than a fight. He knows he isn't going to change anybody's mind, so what's the point? He doesn't believe in ejections as motivational tools for his team.
And then there are times like Monday.
There was Leyland, arms flailing, head bobbing as he shouted at Ed Rapuano. There was rookie outfielder Andy Dirks in the background of the camera shot, and it was hard to tell if he was looking on in shock or trying to keep a straight face.
Yes, I remember when Leyland took an argument into the seventh inning stretch and stopped for God Bless America before picking it up. I also remember Leyland last August at Yankee Stadium and hearing the famous line, "They're going to the playoffs, I ain't going anywhere."
To me, Monday topped that. The theatrics are the difference. There was a split second when I half-expected Leyland to stomp on first base. Thankfully, he didn't.
It wasn't the call he was arguing, but the method in which the call was reached. And that actually contributed to the theatrics.
Thoughts from Sparky's #11 retirement ceremony
Somewhat surprisingly, we didn't hear a lot of stories about Sparky Anderson on Sunday, though the few that were told were pretty good. His daughter, Shirlee Engelbrecht, admitted that even she sometimes didn't agree with her dad's decisions to pull the starter.
"I did get caught a couple times booing when Captain Hook would come out," she said Sunday morning. "I did get up, and one time he noticed when he was coming back [from the mound]. I was screaming with the crowd. But I think he set a trend, because there's not a whole lot who start a game and finish it now."
To family, he wasn't Sparky. He was either George or dad. But he still had the ability to deal with people and get the best out of them.
"One time in fourth grade, I got three D's, and I was petrified to tell my dad," Engelbrecht said. "And my mom said I had to. He was sitting on the stairs, and I had to tell him. And I went over and I told him. He said, 'Young lady, did you do your very best?' I said, 'Oh, yeah, of course I did.' He said, 'Did you study? Did you do all your homework assignments?' And I said, 'Aw, yeah.' And then I started realizing what he's getting at.
"And by the end, he said, 'If those D's are your best, those are A's to me. And if it's not your very best, then do something about it.' And I did. I brought them up."
Sparky's kids brought out a side very few of us had heard about, but a reflection of what many knew all along, that he had a big heart off the field. His former players reflected that more in lessons than in quotes.
"I still live to this today: It's not rocket science, as he used to put it," Dan Petry said. "It's just to treat people like you would want to be treated. That's pretty easy. You don't want to be treated poorly by people and be run over and abused. That's the way Sparky lived each and every day, that no matter who you were or how high on the totem pole or anything, everybody was treated the same."
The best quote of the entire weekend, I thought, came from Larry Herndon. When he asked if there was one big lesson he learned from Sparky, he summed it up like this:
"I was an average ballplayer," he said, "and so my ability took me as far as I could go. But being around Sparky taught me I didn't have to be an average man or an average person."
Verlander is on another level
This is what Jim Leyland was talking about when he talked about Verlander meeting his potential for so many years, when he talked about how good he can be. He obviously wasn't the only one.
Verlander has gone on tears during June before. He has said in the past that he believes he had better stuff in the start before his no-hitter in 2007, starting a stretch in which he won four straight starts with four runs on 16 hits allowed over 29 innings, and struck out 35.
This is something different. If not for a 24-pitch eighth inning, he would've had a chance at his third straight complete game and his third shutout of the year. He's 6-0 with a 0.72 ERA over his last six starts, allowing just 26 hits and five walks over 49 2/3 innings with 51 strikeouts.
Stretch it out to 10 starts, beginning with the no-hitter at Toronto, and he's 8-0 with a 1.56 ERA, 43 hits allowed over 80 2/3 innings, nine walks and 73 strikeouts.
He's leaving hitters guessing whether they're going to get a hard fastball or a curveball that he drops in the strike zone. And on Saturday, you can make the case that the curveball was the more dangerous pitch. He threw the curve for a higher percentage of strikes (19-for-25, 76 percent) than he did with the fastball (33-for-50, 66 percent), according to brooksbaseball.net and MLB.com Gameday.
He threw eight of nine sliders for strikes, and 16-for-25 changeups.
The run he's on is better than any stretch Jack Morris had in 1984. It was better than Mark Fidrych's eight wins in eights in 1976, though it's hard to top an 11-inning complete game.
To get a stretch like this, you might have to go back to Mickey Lolich in 1972. From April 25 to May 21, he went 7-0 in seven starts with a 1.14 ERA, allowing 48 hits over 63 innings, with 15 walks and 48 walks. And even that might not compare.
About that Avila hit …
If you thought Alex Avila saw home run on that eighth-inning drive off the left-field wall and didn't run it out like an extra-base hit, you would be right.
"When I hit it, I thought it would either be over [the left fielder's] head or out," Avila said, "and I looked down. They say you're never supposed to take your eye off the ball when you're running, and I looked down and hit first base. And I looked up, and he was throwing it in, and by then I was gone. I was going to be out no matter what. I guess it just caromed right to him. That was a heckuva throw. He threw a bullet in there."
It was an odd play for Avila, who has managed to run his way into some extra bases this year (two-triple game) that defy his image. But his teammates managed to have a little laugh over it.
"That was a little embarrassing," Avila said, "but Miguel all year has been making fun of the way I run. He thinks it's funny, so he was joking the way I look when I run was funny to him. But I've still got a couple steals over him."
Avila also took another pitch in the dirt that hit him in his right wrist — right above where he took Ryan Perry's wild pitch Friday night, Avila said. Jim Leyland said he plans on resting Avila on Sunday.
Leyland using Alburquerque judiciously
A month ago, it would've been difficult to envision Jim Leyland turning to Al Alburquerque to protect a lead with the bases loaded. He can get a strikeout when he needs one, but the risk of backfire with a walk and no base open would just be too big the way he was pitching.
If Leyland had some alternatives, he might not be turning to him either. But with Joaquin Benoit pitching setup and Jose Valverde closing, and four left-handers in the bullpen, Alburquerque is the only right-hander available for the seventh inning or earlier.
"The point is," Leyland said, "who do you bring in?"
For more reasons than one, Leyland has to watch his situations with Alburquerque. For better or for worse, Thursday was one. Alberquerque's fly out from Adam Everett for the third out made it for the better.
It isn't a situation where a strikeout is any better than an out put in play, but under the circumstances, Leyland felt Alburquerque had the best chance at an out there. He could've let Scherzer face Everett and put in a lefty against Sizemore, but he didn't want to wait for that.
Alburquerque needed two sliders to get Everett. The first, he spotted for strike one. The second got a swing and a fly ball. He stayed on to pitch the seventh, albeit with a pair of 3-0 counts, and handed the lead to Benoit for the eighth.
It marked Alburquerque's first string of pitching back-to-back days since the end of May, and his first string of three outings in four days in nearly a month. It's a little unusual for an improving young reliever, but Leyland has to protect the arm right now.
"I got a little problem one week ago in my elbow," Alburquerque said after Thursday's game.
It was pain, Alburquerque said, when he threw his slider. That's not necessarily unusual. But for someone whose slider unusually accounts for more than half of his pitches, obviously, that's not good. But some rehab work with the medical staff, he said, has it feeling better.
It puts a little extra importance on the fastball, potentially to keep him from throwing too many sliders and putting too much more stress on the elbow. If he's going to throw the fastball, he has to command it.
"Right now, I'm trying to come back with my fastball," Alburquerque said. "I got sometimes scared to trust my slider. I tried to come back working with my two-seamer, too."
Alburquerque hasn't given up a run over his last 10 outings, covering nine innings in which he has struck out 16.
It's an interesting factor for a bullpen that doesn't have anyone else who can do quite what he can. At some point, the Tigers are going to add a right-handed reliever. Ideally, it would be Ryan Perry, if he can show he has fixed his early-season issues at Triple-A Toledo. If that doesn't happen, though, it isn't hard to envision right-handed middle relief on the Tigers' priority list before the July 31 trade deadline.
For Verlander, third no-hitter looks more when than if
Ok, be honest: How many of you at this point believe Justin Verlander won't throw another no-hitter this season?
The more outings he pitches like Tuesday, the more the expectation builds. At the same time, the longer he goes without another one, the more anticipation builds that his next outing might be the one.
Now that Verlander has again looked like he had no-hit stuff, his outings are shaping up to be a very interesting part of summer.
Verlander was asked whether he expects to throw another one.
"The way I've been answering questions, I would have to say yeah," Verlander said. "But this is a funny game. You look at some of the pitchers that have come through the Major Leagues, some of the outstanding Hall of Fame pitchers that have never thrown a no-hitter. There's a lot of things that have to go in your favor. You have to get lucky. I would like to say I'm able to, but things have to be on my side."
Alex Avila wasn't as sure as his teammates that Verlander was going to pitch a no-hitter Tuesday. But short of outrighting saying it, Avila sounded quite confident Tuesday.
"He's got the stuff," Avila said. "He's got the preparation that goes into his starts. It's all there. I don't think it's a coincidence that he's been close so many times this year."
Magglio up, Gonzalez down, Wilk remains
The roster move to make room for Magglio Ordonez's return was never really a question. The Tigers had an extra reliever in the bullpen that they didn't need after getting out of Texas in fair shape. The reliever that was headed out, however, might have been a surprise.
Adam Wilk came up a week ago as a fill-in reliever once David Purcey went on paternity leave. It could've just been for a day. It might be a while now.
Though Enrique Gonzalez was a veteran long reliever who could warm up in a hurry and eat innings, the Tigers see a chance for Wilk to learn the ropes of relief up in the big leagues. Thus, the Tigers outrighted Gonzalez to Triple-A Toledo to make room for Ordonez, and kept Wilk up.
That doesn't necessarily mean he's here for the long haul. Brad Thomas will begin his Minor League rehab assignment at Triple-A Toledo on Tuesday, and there's nothing clear yet how that will shake out. But Wilk has an opportunity.
"He's done OK," manager Jim Leyland said. "He's ideally probably a left-handed long guy, to break him in the right way. Probably not necessarily good for the team, but probably good for him. He's an ideal left-handed long guy if you get behind early. It's not because you don't like him, but because that's how he can get some experience with a little less pressure on him."
Leyland noted that it's the way they broke in Charlie Furbush. Now, Furbush has the opportunity for some other situations as a third lefty reliever behind David Purcey and Daniel Schlereth, who retired his first hitter and walked another in the eighth inning before Miguel Olivo homered off Joaquin Benoit's first pitch.
"Left-handed relief pitchers cannot walk left-handed hitters," Leyland said.
He said it was a general philosophy, rather than directed at anyone in particular. Still, it was clear what he meant.
Reactions to Tigers' share of division lead
How much stock do the Tigers put in moving into a virtual tie atop the AL Central in June? Depends on who you ask.
- Alex Avila: "It's nice to get there. It definitely means something, because that's what we're working towards. We want to win as many games as possible and be in first place [at season's end]. That's the goal. But at this point, that's not something we're focused on. We're trying to win the game that day."
- Brennan Boesch: "It feels good. It's a long way to go obviously, but the Indians were playing such good baseball early on that it just shows that this team, when we put our heads down and play hard, that we can be a force to be reckoned with and it feels good to be there right now."
- Max Scherzer: "Yeah, it feels good, but we've got [about] 100 games left. That's a lot of games. A lot of things can happen. But you've got to love the talent on this team. You've got to love what our offense is doing, love what our pitching staff's doing. We're in a real good position, and we're starting to really come on strong. I definitely like our team."
- Austin Jackson: "It definitely is [a sense of satisfaction], but we've still got a long way to go. We understand that. We just need to keep playing good baseball and just take care of what we can take care of."


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November 29, 1999
A year of world-renowned exhibitions that highlight American contributions to art will begin at the turn of the millennium at the Seattle Art Museum.
"Year of America" celebrates the unique talents and accomplishments of American artists and will include first-rate shows of Roy Lichtenstein, Eastman Johnson, the Ebsworth Collection of Modern Art, and John Singer Sargent.
Opening first on January 20th is the exhibition "Seattle Collects Lichenstein." Most of the works in this show will be drawn from local collections and will be representative of the pop artist's career from the 1960s to the 1990s. In his early Pop paintings, Lichtenstein mimicked commercial printing techniques and won notoriety for transforming comic book images into large, elegant, and witty paintings.
In June, SAM will host "Eastman Johnson: Painting America," the first major retrospective of the artist's work in more than twenty-five years. Organized by the Brooklyn Museum of Art, this exhibition includes paintings and drawings representing Johnson's long and productive career spanning the pre-Civil War era to the turn of this century.
In its only showing following its presentation at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., SAM will exhibit early American modern art collected by Barney A. Ebsworth (March 5-June 11). "The Ebsworth Collection: 20th Century American Art" is an exciting cross-section of American painting from the World War I era through the 1960s. Artists represented include Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, Alexander Calder, and Arthur Dove. SAM is the exhibition's only venue besides the National Gallery.
"Creating Perfection: Shaker Objects and Their Affinities" (Oct. 5-April 29) is the first show to explore the unique Shaker style through an examination of the social forces that molded the Shakers' society and influenced their art. Three-dimensional objects, mainly furniture and textiles, will be featured, along with works on paper depicting aspects of Shaker life.
To complete the year, SAM is organizing the first major exhibition of John Singer Sargent's work on the West Coast. "John Singer Sargent" (Dec. 14, 2000-March 18, 2001) will include portraits of Sargent's patrons, charcoal drawings of male figures from Harvard's Fogg Museum, holiday watercolors and oil sketches, and additional drawings and informal portraits made throughout the artist's career. SAM's Deputy Director of Art and curator of the Sargent show will author a book to complement the exhibition.
The museum will provide an extensive program schedule of lectures, art classes, gallery guides, and gallery talks for adults and children to complement "Year of America." For more information, call 206-654-3100.


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Mr. Smarty Plants often gets questions regarding hedges as privacy screens. I am going to take this opportunity to introduce you to our Native Plant Database to help you answer this question, and to share the ancient wisdom of the "green gurus" by referring you to some previously answered questions (really not that ancient).
Our Native Plant Database contains 7,161 plants that are searchable by scientific name or common name. If you are not sure what you are looking for, you can try the Combination Search or the Recommended Species lists. There are several ways to use this feature to find plants, and I will show you just a couple. Click on the Native Plant Data Base link, scroll down to the Combination Search box, and make the following selections: select Texas under State, Shrubs under General Appearance, and Perennial under Lifespan. Check Part Shade under Light Requirement, and Moist under Soil Moisture. Click on the Submit combination Search button and you will get a list of 70 native species that you can chose from. Clicking on each of the Scientific names will bring up its NPIN page that gives the characteristics of the plant, its growth requirements, and in most cases, photos.
To use the Recommended Species lists, go to the Native Plant Database and scroll down to the Recommended Species List box. Clicking on the map will enlarge it so that you can click on Central Texas. This will bring up a list of 155 commercially available native plant species suitable for planned landscapes in Central Texas. After reading through a few of these you'll realize that all of them aren't shrubs and you need to narrow your search. Go to the "Narrow Your Search" box on the right of the screen and make the selections as before. You can get several different lists by changing the selections in the Narrow Your Search box.
Next, let's look at some answers to previous questions from Texas.
Austin, TX #2080
Austin, TX #4355
Porter, TX #6506 Coral honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens (Coral honeysuckle) could be a great addition to your wrought iron fence.
Austin, TX #3664
Georgetown, TX #6126 Note the warning about the difficulty of growing some plants under Oak trees (allelopathy).
As you read through these, you will see that there is quite a variety of possibilities to use for for privacy hedges. You can also see that Wax Myrtle Morella cerifera (Wax myrtle) seems to be one of our favorites, and hopefully one of yours.


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The National Citizen Survey™ (The NCS) is a collaborative effort between National Research Center, Inc. (NRC) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). The survey and its administration are standardized to assure high quality research methods and directly comparable results across The NCS communities. The NCS captures residents' opinions within the three pillars of a community, Community Characteristics, Governance and Participation, across eight central facets of community, Safety, Mobility, Natural Environment, Built Environment, Economy, Recreation and Wellness, Education and Enrichment and Community Engagement. Previous survey results from 2009 and 2011 and the latest results from 2013 are available for your review.
This page originated on June 26, 2015 and was last modified on January 15, 2016


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BEACHWOOD, Ohio -- City officials have invited a small group of residents to meet Wednesday night with representatives from Beachwood Place owner General Growth Properties to discuss the mall's expansion, the city council president said.
"It's not an official meeting," Beachwood City Council President Melvin Jacobs said. "They wanted to see the agreement in writing and that's what's supposed to happen. I've never been involved in these meetings before and I haven't gotten the final word yet. It has to fit in everyone's schedules."
The informal meeting would not have to be public, if a quorum of city council members are not present. But some residents have objected to the gathering, saying residents on some streets near the mall are being excluded.
Resident Glenn Kuenzler, who has attended five meetings dating back to September with GGP representatives, said he was invited to tonight's meeting and asked to bring a few other residents by Councilman Mark Wachter. Jacobs and representatives from GGP, including the company's attorney, Sheldon Berns, also will be there.
"These are all people that I have met with before at one time or another, but this is the first time that they are bringing their lawyer," Kuenzler said. "There's been talk of backroom deals. This is the first time I feel like I've been invited into the backroom."
Wachter said Beachwood Mayor Merle Gorden is unable to attend, but others say the mayor is expected to be there.
"The purpose is to discuss the plan that GGP has proposed and to determine the residents' reaction to it. It is not a public meeting," Wachter said.
Kuenzler is a spokesman for the Community Garden Association, which includes residents of Community Drive, Union Circle and Cedar Rapids. Kuenzler said he is concerned that not enough residents are being included in the discussions.
"I know I don't represent all the people in Beachwood," Kuenzler said. "There's no representative from Hilltop, Richmond, Penshurst and Orchard Way, and I know that there are people on these streets that are concerned."
Bryan Byrne, who owns a home on Richmond Road, voiced the same concern.
"From the very beginning, Glenn has raised concerns that for these meetings to be successful they need to be as inclusive as possible," Byrne said. "Unfortunately, when my name was raised as a possible participant, I was specifically excluded by Councilman Wachter."
Residents will have a chance to sound off at a public hearing during the next city council meeting at 7 p.m. Monday.
City council members also will discuss procedural issues regarding the expansion project during a committee of the whole meeting at 4 p.m. Thursday.
Click here to see a copy of the agenda.


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Movie Review
by Eric D. Snider
Grade: B
Released: December 22, 2000
Directed by:
Director Lasse Hallstrom's last project, "The Cider House Rules," was so desperately overrated that it's good to see his latest film, "Chocolat," turn out so light and frothy there's no way it can suffer the same fate. It will be more or less enjoyed by audiences, and then quickly forgotten.
Based on a novel by Joanne Harris, "Chocolat" is a fable set in 1959 in the picturesque little French village of Lansquenet. It's an old-fashioned place where everyone goes to church on Sunday and where the mega-pious nobleman Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina) wields more power than the town's priest (Hugh O'Conor). (In one amusing sequence, the Comte ghost-writes the priest's sermons.)
Everything is calm, serene and inordinately Catholic until one Sunday, when a "clever northern wind" blows a woman and her young daughter into town. The woman is Vianne Rocher (Juliette Binoche), a pretty woman of mystical original; her daughter is Anouk (Victoire Thivisol), a girl tired of living a gypsy's life with her rootless mother.
Vianne rents a shop from the town maverick, an independently minded old woman named Armande (Judi Dench). The shop becomes a chocolaterie (its decor described as "early Mexican brothel"), which proves to be ill-timed, due to the town's universally enforced observance of Lent. But once the days of abstinence are over, it's every bit the local hangout.
Predictably, this disturbs the Comte, who is opposed to anything new on the grounds that it will corrupt the people. Indeed, Vianne has a mysterious ability to divine people's favorite confections, and one chocolate even acts as a libido-enhancer. The Comte tries to turn the people against the shop, and also against the boat full of wanderers including one Vianne has a thing for, played by Johnny Depp) that floats by.
On the Comte's side is Armande's estranged and prissy daughter, Caroline (Carrie-Anne Moss) and oafish bartender Serge (Peter Stormare). On Vianne's side is pretty much everyone else, most notably Serge's abused wife Josephine (Lena Olin).
I don't know whether it's intentional, but the basic plot is extremely reminiscent of "Mary Poppins," of all things. A strange woman of unknown origins literally blows in on the wind and instantly charms everyone she meets in a repressed society. She performs little acts of magic without fanfare and noses her way confidently into everyone's business, fixing marriages, repairing relationships and helping everyone see the light. Her chocolates, I'm guessing, each contain one spoonful of sugar.
The story is not meant to be taken literally, which one must keep remembering lest one be annoyed at the absurdity of certain events. Not quite as forgivable, however, is the film's over-simplified devices. When Serge roars that Josephine doesn't even know how to use a skillet, it is only a matter of moments before she conquers him by whacking him in the head with one. Since the film has a candy that increases your sex drive, and since the film also has a dog, one may predict with great certainty that one of them will eat the other.
That simplicity leaks into the film as a whole, too, which proves to be a good thing in the succinct way platitudes are spoken. "We can't go around measuring our goodness by what we DON'T do," someone says, tying everything up pretty nicely.
The performances are strong. Alfred Molina gives his Comte character more depth and complexity than the film deserves, and much more than the main character gets (though Juliette Binoche admittedly is an appealing star). Judi Dench (love her!), one of the great experts in making a supporting role seem like the lead, seems perfectly suited to play the rebellious senior citizen who doesn't care for the town's stick-in-the-mud attitude any more than Vianne does.
And let's not forget young Victoire Thivisol, who plays Anouk. At the age of 4, Thivisol played the title role in the French film "Ponette," a beautiful and uplifting story about a girl whose mother has died. (It was the "Life Is Beautiful" of the mid-'90s.) She became the youngest person ever to win the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival that year, and while her work in "Chocolat" is not extraordinary, it is better than most child actors can muster. The rest of the movie, well, it's nothing great. But keep an eye on those performers, because they're the best reason to keep watching.
Grade: B
Rated PG-13, very mild profanity, a brief bit of sexuality
Copyright © Eric D. Snider.
This work may not be transmitted via the Internet, nor reproduced in any other way, without written consent from Eric D. Snider.


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Photo: AR Rahman with wife and kids
June 11, 2012 Bollywannabe 508489 reads 29 comments
Here is a family photo of AR Rahman with his lovely wife Saira and kids Khatija, Rahima, and Ameen. For people unaware, Ameen sand the track "NaNa" from Couples Retreat and his daughter Khatija the track "Pudhiya Manidha" from Enthiran.
Ain't this a lovely family ? God Bless!


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I'm a firm believer and supporter of modern science. But scientists trying to tell me that the bottle on the right is cooler than the normal water bottle on the left? GTFOH, science. I used that acronym because scientists likes acronyms. For real though, that "bottle" looks like a fucking vuvuzela, bro.
My personal predilections aside, the point of this Fast Company piece is to highlight the steps behavioral scientists have made in attempting to understand "coolness." According to the piece, scientists have delineated four traits underlying the social phenomena known as "being cool." I'm not gonna tell you what the 4 traits are because, just like Reading Rainbow, you can't just take my word for it. But I will tell you it sounds exactly what a bunch of scientists would say when asked to describe why one alphet is cooler than the other.
The article cites another study, concluding that of four fictional fashion brands, the brand considered coolest by participants was only moderately unconventional. The key then, for all you struggle brands, is to be just different enough, while not alienating people by being too weird. Which is exactly like going to a liberal arts college. I really want to be a brand consultant now, so I can cite studies like this and say things like, "If you really want Jolt Cola to take off, you need to make the packaging different, but not too different." HEY DON DRAPER, I GET IT NOW.


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Everyone has inside him a piece of good news.
The good news is that you don't know how great
you can be! How much you can love! What you
can accomplish! And what your potential is!
~Anne Frank~
Without change, something sleeps
inside us, and seldom awakens.
The sleeper must awaken.
~Frank Herbert~
What lies behind you and what lies
in front of you, pales in comparison
to what lies inside of you.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson~
Each of us has a spark of life inside of us,
and our highest endeavor ought to be to
set off that spark in one another.
~Kenny Ausubel~
It's almost impossible to smile on the outside
without feeling better on the inside.
~Unknown Author~
The magic is inside you.
There ain't no crystal ball.
~Dolly Parton~
Inside myself is a place where I live
all alone and that is where I renew
my springs that never dry up.
~Pearl S. Buck~
Happiness is an inside job.
~William Arthur Ward~
Note: Thank you Rhonda and Barb for the lovely walks and the brainstorming for this week's theme.


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Hi guys,
I'm new here. I live since a short time in Brimingham. Came from Germany.
And now I have some questions to start fishing.
I'm a angler since years, but only in Germany in my youth or in holidays.
I looking for good places to catch trouts, graylings or salmons with the fly or a spinner.
I have any rodsm flys and spinners.
Where are such places to catch round about 2 or 3 hours by car around Birmingham?
What are the fees? Must I pay something? And where?
PS: I tried to catch trouts in the Hill Farm, Bognop Road, Essington. But was a desaster. One day, only pay, no fish.
Thank you very much!
Good Guy


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HUNTSVILLE -- Madison County's jobless rate for October was 7.5 percent, unchanged from September, according to preliminary figures released today by the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations.
Alabama's October unemployment rate was 10.9 percent, up from September's rate of 10.7 percent.
The Madison County rate last month represents 12,112 unemployed persons, up from 12,045 jobless people counted in September.
"While we did experience a slight increase in the unemployment rate, I am proud to announce that Alabama is already paying federal extension benefits to those claimants who qualify," said Tom Surtees, the director of the Alabama Department of Industrial Relations, in a release. "This extension was only signed into law on Nov. 6, so that represents a less than two week turn-around time on distributing these much needed dollars."
The department has determined that, to date, about 12,000 Alabamians are eligible for the most recent federal extension of benefits. This week, DIR asked claimants whose benefits were exhausted on or before Nov. 14 to begin certifying for the extended benefits. Claimants can certify online at www.dir.alabama.gov or by calling 1-800-752-7389.
Payments for some of these claims started earlier this week.
Other Alabama counties with the lowest unemployment rates were Shelby at 7.4 percent and and Coffee at 8.3 percent. Counties with the highest unemployment rates were Wilcox, 25.1 percent; Dallas, 21.9 percent; and Conecuh, 20.5 percent.


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TUSCALOOSA, Alabama -– The University of Alabama School of Social Work is partnering with the Birmingham Vet Center to provide services and support for student veterans in Tuscaloosa every Friday at the Canterbury Episcopal Chapel.
As part of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Vet Centers are located across the country to provide community-based services that welcome home war veterans and assist them and their families in successful readjustment to community life.
"The Birmingham Vet Center's wide range of services makes it the best option available to student veterans," says Dr. Jo Pryce, UA associate professor of social work who specializes in issues affecting veterans of military service.
The Vet Center provides individual and group counseling for veterans and their families, family counseling for military related issues, bereavement counseling for families who experience active duty death and military sexual trauma counseling and referral.The Vet Center also provides outreach and education, employment assessment and referral, VA benefits explanation and referral, and screening for medical issues such as depression and traumatic brain injury.
Veterans who wish to seek these services can visit the Canterbury Chapel, located off University Boulevard at 812 5th Ave., on Fridays throughout the summer and fall. Vet Center counselor Natalie Williams will be on hand Fridays and will also be available for individual appointments.
There is no charge.
Along with the School of Social Work and the VA, the UA Women's Resource Center has also helped in making these services available to student veterans. "The WRC is pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with social worker Natalie Williams of the Birmingham Vet Center to reach out to our student veterans," says Elle Shaaban-Magana, WRC director.
"Our goal is to have these students know that the entire University is doing everything they can to ensure the support and services they need are made available," adds Pryce.
The Friday service in Tuscaloosa is also open to veterans living in the West Alabama area.


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Drink This To Lower Your Blood Pressure
When you want to lower your blood pressure, think beyond slashing salt, calories and fat — and also consider what you can add to your diet. More vegetables, fruits and lean protein, says the Institute of Medicine in a February 2010 report on preventing and controlling high blood pressure. Plus, recent research points to three beverages that also may help to lower blood pressure.
Celebrate great health! LIKE BlackDoctor.org on Facebook!
[ione_facebook_like_box url_segment=blackdoctor.org height="260″]
Consider drinking more of the following:
Hibiscus Tea
Wondering about how to lower blood pressure? It's as easy as one, two, tea: Study participants who sipped 3 cups of a hibiscus tea daily lowered systolic blood pressure by 7 points in 6 weeks on average, say researchers from Tufts University–results on par with many prescription medications. Those who received a placebo drink improved their reading by only 1 point.


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- 3 total posts
- 1 review
- 1 comment
- 1 question
Reviews by tooo_many_shoes
Sculptra Expectations and Results - Cleveland, OH
Newbie to art of slowing the effects of aging through cosmetic procedures. I am a young-looking 57 year old who stays out of the sun, works out and fuels my body with healthy foods. I chose Sculptra after researching the options available and amount of time it should last. Arrived early... READ MORE
Questions from tooo_many_shoes
Combining Fraxel Restore and Sculptra
I am considering Fraxel Restore to eliminate age spots, remove minor acne scaring and minimize fine lines and pores. I am also undergoing Sculptra to replace age-related loss... READ MORE
Recent comments from tooo_many_shoes
Hi amrene2000. It has been over a year since my last post. I decided to go to another doctor because of the negative results and overall unacceptable experience from my previous doctor, a dermatologist. Based on the experience that I... READ COMMENT


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... to shut down city streets for a fund-raising gig?
That's what President Obama did the other day in California.
Note this excerpt from the L.A. Times article:
A Brentwood resident's two-mile jaunt took 45 minutes. An Echo Park couple who left home at 5:30 p.m. found their usual 20-minute drive west to Olympic and Rimpau boulevards took a whopping hour and 15 minutes. An attorney left his Miracle Mile-area office at 5:45 p.m. and sat unmoving in traffic for 45 minutes.
No matter their politics, Los Angeles residents found themselves united. "It was a beautiful thing," said Brentwood resident Myles Berkowitz, commiserating with his neighbors on Montana Avenue. "Young, old, black, white — everyone was pissed off."
And I'm not picking on Obama. I noticed the same thing with George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The constitution says the president is supposed to preside, not to travel around with all the trappings of royalty.
Last year when Clinton appeared at a Corzine fund-raiser in Passaic County, the county sheriff's officers actually held the crowd inside the building while waiting for Clinton to leave. This is technically a crime, unlawful restraint. It's one thing to keep people out, but if a free citizen wants to leave an event, the police have no legitimate power to stop him.
And as I noted in that recent column about Obama's non-swim in the Gulf, these things are all fake anyway. In the column, I wrote that Obama might as well have taken that symbolic swim in the hotel pool. In fact, he might as well have saved a trip and taken a dip in the White House pool.
Here's my suggestion: If the Secret Service is so worried about the president's security, then keep him cooped up in the White House and fly in the guests. They could set up a sound studio nearby and use props to fake the various locations he's supposed to be visiting. All of these visits are photo ops anyway, so why pretend?
That would leave a lot more time for the president to do what he's supposed to do: make comments that show he has not the slightest clue about how Americans think on key issues.


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Somehow, this story doesn't surprise me. Between the recently engaged Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Brad seems to be the more traditional of the two, so it's not a shock to hear he's become very involved in the wedding planning. The wedding reportedly will be held at their French chateau.
"Brad's been doing extensive renovation on the house and is using a specialist in chateau restoration. Brad's spent over $16 million already. Now he's offering hefty bonuses to workers to complete it by summer. He's even trying to organize an airplane landing site in the grounds for guests to come in by private jet – but that's proving rather tricky, what with permits and no-fly zones.
"Brad's been asking all the locals if they'll be able to source produce from the local area for the reception. It's certainly going to be a moment in local history. Brad's been tasting and looking up French dishes for weeks. He wants the perfect menu and, of course, the perfect wine to accompany it. That is all going to be locally sourced, too.
"Brad thought it would be a nice touch to ask James [Angelina's brother] to conduct the ceremony."
About the only thing Angelina's probably going to make the final decision on will be her wedding gown– LOL. Well, Brad and Jennifer Aniston had quite a wedding, so it's no surprise Brad doesn't want to do the same thing with Angelina, especially since their kids are probably excited about it all, too.
Photos by FameFlynet


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UNDATED (21 Alive) - Girls high school softball sectionals had their usual Memorial Day kickoff on Monday around the area.
There were two strong pitching efforts of note.
Mikeila Boroff fanned 15 and moved within seven of a thousand strkeouts in her career as 2A top ranked unbeaten Lakewood Park shut out South Adams 2-0 at Eastside.
Camille Furrow of DeKalb fired a no hitter as DeKalb blanked Snider 13-0 at the 4A DeKalb sectional
And in a game with both teams hiting home runs, Jay County bested Homestead 8-2 at the 4A Homestead sectional.
For highlights of these games click on the video icon on the screen above.
Monday scores:
at DeKalb
East Noble 14 Northrop 2
DeKalb 13 Snider 0
at Homestead
Jay County 8 Homestead 2
at Angola
Garrett 3 Bishop Luers2
Bishop Dwenger 7 New Haven 2
Angola 8 Concordia 7
at Norwell
Norwell 11 Eastbrook 8
Mississinewa 12 Adams Central 3
Columbia City 8 Bellmont 7
at Fairfield
Lakeland 12 West Noble 2
at Eastside
Lakewood Park 2 South Adams 0
Eastside 15 Canterbury 0
Woodlan 9 Churubusco 2
at Westview
Bremen 11 Prairie Heights 3
Central Noble 5 Westview 1
at Triton
Hamilton 11 Elkhart Christian 3
at Wes-Del
Daleville 13 Southern Wells 7
What are your thoughts CLICK HERE to leave us a "QUESTION OF THE DAY" comment.
© Copyright 2016, A Quincy Media broadcasting station. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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The 5 Stages of Grief for a Tortured Football Fan
It isn't easy being a fan of a lousy football team. But if you can recognize the stages of grief, maybe you can help. Or not.
It isn't easy being a fan of a lousy football team. But if you can recognize the stages of grief, maybe you can help. Or not.
Because there isn't enough discussion about Tim Tebow, Dave Lifton wonders if there's hope for him by looking at the career of Eli Manning.
Now here's a fast-moving story: Just a week ago, word leaked that Rush Limbaugh was part of an ownership group hoping to bid on the woebegone St. Louis Rams. Within three business days, the head of the players union, a current owner and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had all come forward with essentially the same message: "Like hell you will!" By yesterday, ESPN had confirmed that Rush was being dropped from the bidding group. And just like that… Well, what, exactly? What has been accomplished with this brief minuet of misplaced ambition and swift smackdown? For one thing, Rush's media profile clearly has bumped up an extra tick, as if he needed it – though he's clearly sought it, considering his eagerness to sit down for an interview this week with the sworn enemy of all conservatives, the NBC/MSNBC juggernaut. (Maybe he felt the sticky, Nyquil-inebriated breath of Time cover boy Glenn Beck down his neck.) Meanwhile, the NFL suddenly – and, for the most part, unwittingly – has found itself politicized, with the usual …


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After breaking down the tape of the Jets' 27-10 loss to the Steelers, a few things jumped out:
PLENTY OF BLAME: Immediately after the game, the prevailing explanation for the utter ineptitude of the passing attack was how the wide receivers failed to handle the Steelers' aggressive press coverage. After watching the tape, I think that was a bit overblown. A myriad of factors contributed to Mark Sanchez's 10-for-27, 138-yard day.
I categorized his 17 incompletions into five different categories:
Off-target passes -- 5
QB under pressure -- 4
Drops -- 3
Miscommunications between QB and receiver -- 3
Pass breakup/good coverage -- 2
DEEP THOUGHTS: Adhering to Tony Sparano's vertical philosophy, Sanchez made an attempt to push the ball downfield, perhaps eschewing safer throws. Overall, he attempted 10 passes of 10-plus yards, according to ESPN Stats & Information -- but he completed only two. In Week 1, it was a completely different story, as Sanchez went 7-for-11 with two TDs on such throws.
PROTECT AT ALL COSTS: One of the questions that emerged after the game was, why didn't Sanchez utilize his backs in the passing game? He had no completions on two RB targets. A big reason for that was pass protection, as Sparano often kept in a back to block.
The Jets were so concerned with the Steelers' pressure that they over-emphasized pass protection. For the most part, they kept Sanchez upright (sacked only twice), but the cost of operating that way is that it takes a potential target (or two) out of the passing game. When you do that, and your wideouts can't win their one-on-one matchups, and your tight end is home rehabbing a hamstring injury, the passing attack gets choked to death. And that's what happened.
Here's a breakdown on how the Jets blocked the Steelers (most of the five-man protections came on the final possession, when they passed on every down):
Five-man protections: 9
Six-man protections: 14
Seven-man protections: 4
Eight-man protections: 1
IF ONLY HE KEPT IT: On Tim Tebow's third and final play at QB, a 6-yard loss by Shonn Greene, the Jets tried a misdirection run. RG Brandon Moore and RT Austin Howard pulled to the left, Greene ran right. If Tebow had faked the handoff and kept it himself, following Moore and Howard, he would've had a nice gain. In that case, he probably would've stayed on the field instead of getting pulled on 2nd-and-16. And who knows how things would've turned out?
RADICAL REX: We all know how much Rex Ryan and Mike Pettine like to use defensive backs. Against pass-happy teams, they've been known to dress 10 defensive backs. This time, they departed from their usual philosophy. Without CB Darrelle Revis (concussion), they dressed eight DBs and played only six. Really, it was just a five-man defensive backfield, as S Eric Smith had only seven snaps. Incredibly, they went the entire game with only three corners -- Antonio Cromartie, Kyle Wilson and Ellis Lankster.
By my count, the corners were responsible for 11 of Ben Roethlisberger's 24 completions. Breakdown:
Cromartie -- Five receptions for 77 yards, one TD.
Wilson -- Three for 41.
Lankster -- Three for 26.
BEN BUT DON'T BREAK: Concerned with the Steelers' big-play ability, the Revis-less Jets took a more conservative approach, playing more zone than usual. Roethlisberger did a nice job of finding soft spots in the underneath zones, exploiting the lack of speed at linebacker. LB David Harris allowed four completions for 44 yards (including a TD). At times, the Jets used a two-deep safety look, with Yeremiah Bell and LaRon Landry lined up on the hashmarks. Ordinarily, the Jets don't use a lot of two-deep looks. This was another adjustment to life without Revis.
BIG MAC: OLB Garrett McIntyre, who started for the injured Bryan Thomas and recorded two sacks, was praised for his production -- and deservedly so. But McIntyre is a limited player -- not good in space, as Ryan noted -- and his shortcoming was exposed. McIntyre missed three tackles in space, resulting in a couple of long gainers. It almost seemed like the Steelers made a concerted effort to pick on McIntyre whenever the opportunity was available.
NOT-SO-GREAT-SCOTT: LB Bart Scott might have experienced a moment of deja vu in the fourth quarter, when RB Isaac Redman ran through him for a 2-yard TD. Scott defeated his block and was positioned in the hole to bring down Redman at the 1- or 2-yard line, but he failed to get it done. Sound familiar? Scott also whiffed on a tackle in the 2010 AFC Championship Game, resulting in a 1-yard TD run by the Steelers' Rashad Mendenhall. Same field, different end zone.
ODDS AND ENDS: At one point, Sanchez had seven straight incompletions, the longest drought of his career, according to the CBS telecast. ... Rookie LB Demario Davis had a nice outside rush on the Jets' first sack, forcing Roethlisberger to step up. ... I counted at least four plays in which the Jets had a free runner at Big Ben and failed to bring him down. Harris had a shot at him on the 37-yard TD pass to Mike Wallace. ... Ryan went easy on Cromartie for giving up the Wallace TD, saying he had great coverage but misplayed the ball. But that's like a center fielder dropping a gimme fly ball after tracking it down in the gap. If you get there, make the play. ... The Jets made the Steelers burn a timeout when they lined up Tebow on a wing in punt protection. Great nugget from Phil Simms in the TV booth: He noted that one of the Steelers' assistants saw Tebow catching a pass in the pregame warmups, and he immediately told another assistant coach.