text:
i definately like this move, a big man wit moblitly and some D, can play any big position
Latest news from the WFAN, the Knicks have an contract offer for Jared Jeffries of the Wizards, the Wizards have 7 days to match.
Now we know why Isiah didn't want to match Butler... still think that Butler was a keeper, it's just that with all the bad contracts and trades, we had to let a good one (Butler) go to remain flexible.
On the plus, JJ (that's not Jeromes James!!! - what a mess) has been known to play the 2, the 3, the 4 and the 5... and is a great defender, and 6'11 (also young: 24)
Let's see if the Wiz match
Last edited by thwax; Jul 28, 2006 at 18:43.
i definately like this move, a big man wit moblitly and some D, can play any big position
I most definitely like this deal...it plugs in any holes that we have defensively at any area. Although we don't get the banger i think we can survive without one. David Lee and Malik Rose will thrive in that role I think.
it seems that washington is stuck in a bit of a mess.
They have the right to match the knicks offer and keep JJ, but the thing is that he does not want to be there.
The washington post stated that before he signed the knicks offer, wizards mgt offered him a much better contract than the MLE he just signed with the knicks.
This shows that he doesn't want to be in DC even though he was getting more money...
So do the wizards sign JJ to a lower contract and then run the risk of having a disgruntled employee? or do they let him sign with us?
I think we're gonna have a 7' frontcourt: Jeffries/Frye/Curry
Where there is hope, there can be faith
Where there is faith, miracles can occur
JJ is a good player that does a little of everything. I think this is a good move as well and he is that type of guy that I have been saying that the Knicks need. I think Washington will match if they do not get Dashawn. Also, I would rather have JJ than Butler anyway. I know you guys think Butler was going to be a part the future of the Knicks, but JJ is a more proven player and right now the Knicks do NOT have any margain of error when it come to adding players to this roster so it was smart on Isiah's part to go with JJ. This is a good mark for Isiah, now let's see what he does whith Taylor's and Rose's contract.
JJ is a great player, I think he really wants to be a KNICK and I hope to see him playing for us next season.
KNICKS: 59(w)-23(l)
plz make this happen, he'll be a good addition to our team.
Just another benchwarmer or have the Knicks finally shored up the D with the bench combo of JJ, R&B and MC Collins? Time will tell... PO from PR willing to sit back and watch =)
Would like to see the following group try it out together in practice or against smaller teams that are strong offensively at the wings (i.e. New Jersey):
C - Frye
PF - David Lee
SF - Jeffries
SG - QRich
PG - Jamal
From the NYDaily News:
Sources indicated the Wizards might be prevented from matching the Knicks' offer because the contract would place them right at the luxury tax threshold. In the event that Washington decides to pass, the addition of the 6-11 Jeffries would give the Knicks a versatile small forward who can play three positions. His presence likely would force Thomas to make another deal, since the Knicks have a surplus of small forwards.
AHA!!! Begs the question, have the Knicks already targeted their next move? What will it be?
Hopefully, moving Stevie Franchise, Jerome James, the Roses, Taylor, etc...
Jeffries arrival should mean Qyntel Woods departure.
So, the Knicks maybe just starting to show some life in the trade mill.
Last edited by portega1968; Jul 29, 2006 at 17:39.
desde la cuna del chango
Well...at least this signing makes more sense than signing Jerome James last year.
JJ is a role player and the knicks need more role players so this move makes alot of sense and he has size
JJ may not be a star...but it is refreshing to see the Knicks trying to sign a young guy to a reasonable contract...I hope Washington lets him go!!!!
Isiah Thomas and Jared Jeffries are doing everything in their power to convince the Washington Wizards not to match the five-year, $30 million offer sheet Jeffries signed with the Knicks on Friday.
Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld formally will receive the contract tomorrow and will have seven days to either match the deal or allow the 24-year-old forward to join the Knicks. Washington had offered the 6-11 Jeffries $33 million over six years, so it would not be unreasonable for the team to match the Knicks' deal.
However, there are several factors that weigh heavily in the Knicks' favor. By matching the contract, the Wizards would put themselves dangerously close to the luxury tax threshold of $65.4 million. Also, Jeffries has made it known to Washington management that he would prefer to play for the Knicks.
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
we have so many one dimaensional guys on our roster, and those who play more than one position either suffer from a height disadvantage, speed variations or other factors. JJ can EFFECTIVELY play the 2, 3, 4 in my opinion. He has the length to give shoting power fowards a problem, and the speed to burn slower more dominant power fowards. He needs to work on his midrange J tho, and maybe put on a fewpounds of muscle, i think the combination of JJ, J.rose, Qrich, frye and lee will confuse and tire out any other, 2, 3and 4 spot guys uin the league
This acquisition will (maybe) finally shut up all the Isiah naysayers. It's an excellent move that will allow the Knicks to get younger and not have to give up any of our young players. It will also give us some further trade flexibility. Also, with the drafting of Balkman, this may spell the end of the Qyntel Woods Era in NY. I can see us going into the season with Balkman and Jeffries as the SFs, leaving Richardson, Malik and Jalen Rose getting missing. Hell, those guys as a package could bring a monster at any spot in the lineup!
Keep it up, Isiah, the doubters will eat their words soon!!
Hold on!!!!! this is assuming jeffries does sign with new york and rejects the extra 3 millioin washington is offering him; but im guessing there is a high chance of him signing with ny anyway with news that he is not happy with his status in washington. heres something i learned being a knick fan over the years: dont get your hopes up because of what happens might be a real kick in the balls. but to be optimistic, the signing of jeffries is definitly a move in the right direction by thomas, we will have size, defence and the athletisicm is off the charts. also, is it possible/better to work out a sign and trade involving any of the two roses, or richardson? i think crawford definitly had a better season than quentin and washington will need to compensate for the loss of jeffries


text:
After wanting this for so long, I finally had my fusion surgery yesterday. I had scheuerman's kyphosis at about 85 degrees, and my doctor informed me today that the curve is now between 45-50 degrees. I just want to thank you all so much for your support and I couldn't be more grateful to have found this web forum. I was fused from T3-L1 and currently am managing my pain at the hospital with a button I press when I need some medicine. Getting out of bed has to be the hardest part so far, and standing up felt pretty weird. I also got fitted/a mold done today for a brace.
I know that everyone is different, but does anyone have any pointers/advice for a quicker recovery or things to do while recovering that helped you?
Once again, thank you all so much

subset: commoncrawl


text: Im Jenn, I have a 3 1/2 month old daugther, Madeline. We started off exclusivly breastfeeding from the start. We did have latch issues in the beginning but used a nipple shield for about a month and then she started latching just fine. I had a wonderful supply up tell about a month ago. She started going through a growth spurt and refused to latch and it was stressing me out and I my supply def. dropped. She stopped latching all together for awhile. Right now I am pumping every 2 hours and giving her everything I pump and sup. formula bc I cant pump enough. I nurse her at night bc I have plenty of milk. I have tried Fenugeek and red raspberry pills and they havent really made a difference. Im wondering who I would go to, to get a perscription to up my supply. Im not ready to stop bfing all together so im trying sooo hard to keep this going but the pumping is getting hard. I know nursing more freq. will help but she still isnt latching all the time and will only nurse for a total of 10 mins at the most. Any suggestions? Im SO not ready to stop nursing I want to be able to provide for her


text:
The students in Mr. Hubings 6th grade science class definitely have a favorite part.
"I like doing experiments and trying different things," said Tyler Lommen, Onalaska Middle School 6th grader.
"Doing the experiments and hands on stuff," said Annika Vriens, Onalaska Middle School 6th grader.
And if Wisconsin adopts the newly released Next Generation Science Standards these kids will be able to do more of what they love.
"I think right now there is kind of a focus on getting through a lot of things," said Alex Hubing, Onalaska Middle School 6th grade science teacher. "I would say with the Next Generation Science Standards it's less on the breadth and more on the depth of getting into concepts and standards."
"This is a whole new day in terms of a national approach to how we teach science," said Roger Fruit, director of instructional services for the Onalaska School District.
The Director of Instructional Services for the Onalaska School District says it may be time to change how science is taught.
"The biggest changes will be how a district, for the first time, is looking at standards that go beyond just our state," said Fruit. "These are national standards that districts, states across the nation, and than districts will have to look at how we get them into our curriculum."
The Next Generation Science Standards were created by a group supported by 26 states. The need for the new standards surfaced in 2007 after an independent organization revealed some startling statistics about student performance.
"That study showed that the U.S. was kind of falling behind in math and science to a lot of other countries," said Hubing.
So, the Next Generation Science Standards were developed with the hopes of improving science education. And the new expectations will include more hands-on learning.
"So, this idea of actually creating models, building things, actually doing science... not just learning about science, but doing science," said Hubing. "I think that's the stunning difference when you look at those standards."
While some may argue science has always included experiments, the big difference may be how the experiments are conducted.
"A lot of times it was given to you what you needed to do," said Hubing. "Step by step what you needed to do. I would say with the Next Generation Science Standards all of a sudden it will be up to the student to design that experiment and really think about what do we want to find out."
And it's this natural curiosity which educators are hoping will create the critical thinkers of tomorrow.
"I think what we're saying is let kids be curious," said Hubing. "Let's give them the tools, the skills and the structure to actually carry out their ideas as real scientists."


text:
May 13, 2011 —
There was a general agreement that the village is facing dissolution at some point in the not too distant future. Richard Winters, mayor of the Village of Liberty, said, because Governor Andrew Cuomo is pushing for the consolidation of municipalities, and because the sour economy has pushed the village to the brink of insolvency, it seems that ultimately the village may cease to exist.
A couple of the board members in attendance agreed, and none voiced an opposing view. If true, then what will become of the village police force?
That was the question discussed at a meeting of the Town of Liberty board and the Village of Liberty trustees at a joint meeting at the Liberty Senior Center on May 12. Village trustee Joan Stoddard has been pushing for the town to join with the village and transform the police department into one that would serve the entire town, which includes hamlets such as Swan Lake and White Sulphur Springs.
The nineteen member force has a budget of nearly $2 million and is by far the most expensive item in the village budget.
Earl Bertsch, the director of finance of the town, said that if the cost of the police department were shifted from the village to the entire town, taxes for town residents would rise 60%, while taxes for village residents would decrease 50%. But that does not include the cost of the additional police officers and equipment that would need to be purchase to provide coverage for the town.
Not surprisingly, the town board members said that all of the constituents they had discussed the matter with said they did not want the police department to go town-wide, and that town had adequate police protection which is currently provided by the Sullivan County Sheriff's Office and the New York State. Council member Maurice Gerry said the two organizations had provided "excellent" coverage over the years.
Village trustee Joan Stoddard, on the other hand, said that at a previous meeting regarding the police department, many town residents turned out and said they would be willing to pay more taxes to ensure the survival of the village police force.
If the village were to be dissolved, one option for the town would be to form a police district, which would mean that people who live in the village would continue to pay for the police coverage. Stoddard said the drawback with that option would be that the payments for the police department would no longer be deductable from federal income taxes. Winters said village tax payers would reject such an option.
Town council member Lynn Killian wondered what the sheriff's office and state police would do of there were no longer a village police force. Representatives from both organizations said they would like to have the issues raised in a letter which their superiors could respond to.
It has been suggested in the past that the sheriff's office might be able to provide protection for a lower cost because sheriff's deputies make significantly less money than village police officers, by one account $25,000 less per year.
The two boards agreed to explore the issue further and to hold a public hearing at an unspecified date to get input from both town and village residents.


text:
Jeff Seaberg heads up the children's theater program in Danville, CA, and was director of the campy Danville classic, "Wigged Out," for many years. During the school year he runs an after-school program called Theatre Performance Workshop, which ends with performances. He has up to 50 kids in each class in what he calls "controlled chaos." He writes the plays for the group and publishes them as an inexpensive resource for other after-school programs. He says he's improved his skills at populating his stories with interesting characters, better dialog and good plots. During the summer he runs Kids Acting On Stage (KAOS), a drama camp for kids ages 7-14, and each session ends with a production and mini-movie.
Home ›


text:
Advanced Search
Collaboration | News
Technology experts at the University of Bedfordshire in the United Kingdom are launching a site specifically for academics that will act as a research repository with social networking features. The site is being pitched as a specialized "Facebook meets LinkedIn." The project, "Dr. Inventor," received $3.5 million in funding from the European Commission.
The idea is to provide faculty members and other scholars with a platform for "exchanging research experience, transfer knowledge and explore research information," said Feng Dong, a professor of visual computing who's also leading the project. "Users will be able to interact with one another and display information on their profiles such as research interests and previous places of work."
"Intelligent tools" will help participants generate their Dr. Inventor profiles automatically through an indexing of their online publications, projects, career and employment history, and their colleagues. They'll also be able to follow other researchers' profiles and stay current with the researchers they've "friended."
The service will include tools to help with literature reviews, by highlighting keywords and key paragraphs, for example, to provide summarized documents.
The initial version of the program, which is expected to begin in the new year, will target people in the field of computer graphics. If that pilot effort succeeds, the commission is expected to fund an expanded edition that will address other disciplines.
Other partners include universities, research institutions, and search engine marketing companies in Europe.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business for a number of publications. Contact her at firstname.lastname@example.com.
View More Webcasts
View More Whitepapers
Sign up for our newsletter.
I agree to this site's Privacy Policy.


text:
I was born and raised in western New York and received my undergraduate degree as a mathematics major at SUNY Geneseo. I entered the Mathematics PhD program at Indiana University, Bloomington in August of 2006. My thesis and research at IU looks at models for compressible fluid flows. I enjoy studying classical analysis techniques when applied to weak convergence arguments in the study of partial differential equations.
My mathematical research involves non-linear analysis for partial differential equations with applications in fluid mechanics. Currently, the models I study involve compressible fluids.


text:
The Real Housewives of New Jersey and New York City sure can't beat those cats who resemble those famous ladies . What do you think "Real Housewives" fans?
The Real Housewives of New Jersey
Caroline Manzo – Is seen as the matriarch of the Housewives. Caroline is dedicated to, and protective of, her family famously proclaiming "You mess with my family, you mess with me."
Cat Breed: The Maine Coon is serious, rugged and strong. A good natured cat they get along well with children and are not afraid of work.
Teresa Giudice – Outspoken and devoted to family, Teresa is not afraid to speak her mind, even if it sometimes means making a scene. She is also one of the flashiest housewives.
Cat Breed: The flashy coat of the Bengal surpasses none. Busy and vocal, the Bengal is never too shy to speak its mind. This cat is loyal to the family and always an active participant in whatever is going on.
Jacqueline Laurita– Quiet and bland, Jacqueline, a mother of three, struggles to keep her teenage daughter on the right track.
Cat Breed: The Ragdoll is a loving, quiet cat with a laidback disposition. They are known for their tolerant attitudes with other animals and especially children.
Melissa Gorga –While dedicated to her husband and their children, Melissa puts family first and will stop at nothing to defend her husband over her sister-in-law.
Cat Breed: The Korat is energetic, intelligent and affectionate. This cat loves to play but is very gentle when playing with children.
The Real Housewives of New York City
Jill Zarin – The devoted mom, wife and friend whose loud, combative antics and attention-seeking ego took her from the darling to villain in seasons past and now looks for balance somewhere in between.
Cat Breed: The Ocicat may look wild but is absolutely devoted to its family while also being confident and outgoing with visitors. Powerful cats, they look ready to stalk their prey (their toy mouse that is) at any second and can be possessive of their play things if you try to take them away.
Kelly Killoren Bensimon – Finding respite in her world of unicorns and rainbows, Kelly is known for her playful and carefree personality.
Cat Breed: The Singapura's large eyes twinkle with mischief in their angelic face. This impish, intelligent cat is curious, extroverted and has to help you with everything you do.
LuAnn de Lesseps – LuAnn likes being referred to by her aristocratic title the "Countess." Devoted to her two children, she is energetic and versatile—whether she is relaxing in the Hamptons or lunching in Manhattan.
Cat Breed: Wearing four white gloves 24/7, the Birman was once revered by priests in Burma. This cat makes the greatest buddy, friend, confidant, and all around purrfect pet.
Ramona Singer – Ramona is best known for her "crazy eyes" and her zeal for work, as she boldly proclaims that she loves making her own money and finds it "an aphrodisiac."
Cat Breed: Abyssinians are wonderful companions who are interested in everything around them and what everybody is doing. While exceedingly social, they are not always content in large cat populations where they have to share attention.
Alex McCord – Previously reserved, Alex took her claws out in the past two seasons and has found her voice.
Cat Breed: The Siamese is an elegant breed that is very vocal. Their eyes radiate intelligence and emotion. The legendary voice of the Siamese communicates like that of no other cat.
Sonja Morgan –Has a taste for luxury and fun. While staying out of drama last season, this year Sonja became a little bossy, informing new housewife Cindy of the "pecking order."
Cat Breed: The glamorous Persian cat is one of the oldest breeds of cats, it's known for its long, luxurious coat. This cat demands a quiet attention and when lavished with love, it will silently pay back with a soft purr.
Cindy Barshop – Is proud of her independence as a single mom and her ownership of "Completely Bare," a chain of hair-removal spas, but is suspicious of the intentions of others.
Cat Breed: – The Sphynx is one of a few hairless breeds. This cat is loyal and dedicated to their owner while also inquisitive and intelligent.
Simon van Kempen – Househusband Simon is known for his outrageous fashion flair.
Cat Breed: The Egyptian Mau is a vocal and active breed with a happy nature that is often in the midst of trouble. Grooming is important – after all, they have to show off all those spots on their coat!
All of these breeds will be on hand at Meet the Breeds at the Jacob Javits Center in New York City, November 19-20. You can learn more at www.akcmeetthebreeds.org


text:
Family tradition
It's a family tradition for Eric Montez — being named salutatorian.
"The tradition was started by my grandfather, who was salutatorian here in 1949, continued with my great-aunt Carol in 1957 and my aunts Lynn in 1975 and Amy in 1982," he said.
As is tradition, he thanked many of his family members — those who offered advice and support through his high school years.
"And now to my fellow classmates… thanks for showing me what not to do… from skipping class, to not showing up to school, losing your temper, not doing homework, being laissez faire, and convincing your parents, 'It wasn't me,'" he said. "You have truly been an inspiration."
Be unique
He spoke to his friends, asking them to not be "one of the crowd."
"What America needs today is more youth who are willing to be an individual — youth who have the courage to stand up and be counted," he said. "I challenge you today to be an individual.
"Decide what you believe in and why you believe in it and, above all, don't be afraid to let other people know about it.
"Have the courage to stand up and say, 'This is what I know is right.'"
Inspiration and
Clay Brown, during his valedictory address, said that he knows inspiration and influences come from everywhere.
"Kelsey, you're the best big little sister," Brown said during his speech. "Whether it's being the loudest person in the stands or helping me write a speech, you're always there for me."
No less of an influence was his aunt Rachel.
"When I look at you, I can see in your eyes that your faith in God never decreases," he said.
"You have taught me to never take life for granted because you never know what it might throw at you."
As any good son would do, he would never omit his parents in his words of appreciation.
"You were always there to support me whether it was a basketball game or an academic event," he said of his mom but echoed similar words for his dad.
There were also the teachers who passed along their wisdom and his fellow classmates from whom he learned life lessons.
"I want to also thank my fellow classmates and friends for providing me with great memories that I will never forget," he said. "Like us guys turning the AG shop into a muffler shop or hard-core stomach aches during baseball practice."
He, like the salutatorian, congratulated the fellow seniors, adding that this is just the beginning for them.
"Through our accomplishments, we have left tattoos on this town," he said. "Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, 'Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.'
"So we too should go forth and blaze our own trails."


text:
Human Line of Hope raises funds and spirits
September 21, 2011 —
The Fourth Annual Human Line of Hope, organized by Eldred businessman Lou Monteleone in the Town of Highland, transpired on September 18 at the intersection of Route 55 and Proctor Road.
"Shavees" had their locks shorn by Sophistications Hair Salon to raise money for Saint Baldrick's Foundation, which funds research to find cures for childhood cancers. Monteleone's wife, June, a cancer survivor, was a top fundraiser who had her long hair buzzed off during the event. Music, comedy, raffles and food filled the afternoon until the Human Line of Hope formed. Participants carried letters that spelled the names of friends and family members stricken with cancer and also expressed gratitude to U.S. troops and veterans.
Following the moving moments when participants reflected on their loved ones, tears turned to triumph as the Conga Against Cancer Across America made its way to the Highland Senior Center and back. The event raised approximately $14,000 for the foundation and included participants in 10 other states. To see photos submitted by those participants visit https://www.facebook.com/humanlineofhope
Learn more or donate at http://www.StBaldricks.org/events/conga.


text:
Austin Country Club
Austin, Texas
July 5-8, 2004
AUSTIN, Texas â Lance Lopez of Missouri City, Texas, continued to separate himself from the field Wednesday, firing a 2-under-par 70 and taking a commanding seven-stroke lead heading into the final round of the PING Harvey Penick Junior. In the Girls Division, Michaela Cavener of Tulsa, Okla., shot a 2-under-par 70 to leap into the lead with a tournament total of 140.
Conducted by the American Junior Golf Association, the PING Harvey Penick Junior is being held at Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas. The 54-hole event features 120 players from 11 states and Mexico, including 100 from Texas. The tournament is highlighted by second-team Rolex Junior All-Americans Jeff Gerlich of Austin, Texas, and Lauren Espinosa of Hickory Creek, Texas, third-team Rolex Junior All-American Lance Lopez of Missouri City, Texas, and two honorable mention Rolex Junior All-Americans, Michael Randle of Austin, Texas, and Stefanie Page of The Woodlands, Texas.
Lopez, who led the Boys Division after Tuesdayâs first round with a 4-under-par 68, said he wasnât as consistent on Wednesday but was still able to score.
âI made more bogeys today than yesterday, but I just hung with it,â Lopez said. âThe key to my round was my putting.
âFor tomorrow, I need to work on my irons. I need to hit solid shots to the green â Iâm not sticking them like I should.â
Will Griffin of San Antonio, Texas, is closest to the lead with a tournament total of 145 after carding a 2-over-par 74.
âTomorrow Iâm just going to try to keep it in the fairway off the tee and putt well,â Griffin said. âThatâs the only way you can score low on this course because thereâs a lot of trouble out there.â
Kyle Redman of Southlake, Texas, and Justin Mangubat of Bonita, Calif., are tied for third with two-day totals of 146, and Jeff Gerlich of Austin, Texas, and Benjamin Tewes of Lincoln, Neb., are tied for fifth place with tournament totals of 147.
In the Girls Division, Cavener shot her second-straight round of 70, Wednesdayâs only round under par in the Girls Division, to take a five-shot lead over Kimberly Meck of Austin, Texas.
Cavener opened her round with a birdie at No.1, a par 5, then drained a 45-foot birdie putt on the par-4 second hole.
âI got the day started off on a good note,â Cavener said. âAfter that it was nothing spectacular. I just tried to hit it to the middle of greens. I havenât three-putted once all tournament, so Iâll keep that same strategy tomorrow.â
Meck, who shot a 4-under-par 68 in Tuesdayâs first round, carded a 77 for a tournament total of 145, good enough for second place heading into the final round.
âTomorrow Iâm going to be thinking offense,â Meck said. âThe key factor on this course is taking advantage of the easy pin placements â whoever plays those holes the best will win the tournament.â
Andrea Zwartynski of Allen, Texas, shot even-par 72 for a tournament total of 149 and a spot in the final Girls Division pairing.
The American Junior Golf Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the overall growth and development of young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf. The largest association of its kind, the AJGA has a junior membership (boys and girls ages 12-18) of approximately 5,000 junior golfers from 50 states and 30 foreign countries.
Titleist, the AJGAâs National Sponsor, has been the catalyst and driving force behind the Associationâs success since 1989. Rolex Watch U.S.A., a supporter of the AJGA since 1983, became an AJGA Premier Partner in 2004.
Final-round tee times will run from 7 a.m. â 12:51 p.m. off the No. 1 tee. For more information on the PING Harvey Penick Junior, contact Tournament Headquarters at (512) 869-3298 or visit ajga.org.
The Foundation
The Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Grant program provides financial assistance to junior golfers who wish to play in AJGA events. Its goal is to give top-flight golf opportunities to young golfers regardless of financial resources. This program helps to fulfill the AJGA's mission of developing young men and women who aspire to earn college golf scholarships through competitive junior golf.
What is Leadership Links?
Leadership Links is a new program whereby the AJGA is able to further its mission to help develop young men and women by teaching charitable giving skills and service-oriented practices at an early age. This program gives juniors all the tools necessary to donate their time, talent and resources to local charities and the AJGA youth development programs. Please click here to learn more about the program and the different opportunities available.


text:
Congratulations — You are considering one of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of any academic career. Studying abroad opens endless opportunities and experiences. It can also be a lot of work deciding where to go, lining up proper paperwork/documentation and ensuring that you receive academic credit for your studies. Let us help you get started. Step 1: Get started.
Using the menu to the left, follow our step-by-step process to be sure that you don't miss any crucial steps.
12-15 months before studying abroad:
5-8 months before studying abroad:
After acceptance into a study abroad program:


text:
Seriously dude, people should just enjoy this run we are currently in.
I don't get why a lot of people are constantly getting on Lin's back and blaming him for Melo's struggles. When Melo and Lin do not connect it's not Lin's fault, or Melo's fault... It's both of their fault.
Melo and Lin are good friends. In fact it was reported than Melo is closest to Lin of all the players on the team. It was Melo who first told MDA to play Lin, all the way back at the start of Feb.
Tonight Lin played great when we needed him to in the 4th. He made some mistakes but Melo was lackluster at that point. After the game was more or less sealed Melo made a few nice plays down the stretch to ensure the W.
Both players had good games overall and should be praised not hounded.
Seriously dude, people should just enjoy this run we are currently in.
Lin needs to do more off ball work. He relies almost exclusively on the pick and roll and if a team stops that (Miami) then he is useless. We should have sets where Melo receives the ball in the post and lin makes a fake cut to him then he cuts to the basket or have him come off more screens from midrange.
I know this thread was directed at me because of what i said in the game thread but the truth is we need to force our superstars to man up. We can go on a 10 game winning streak but in the playoffs WE ARE NOT winning games like this.
Melo needs to be isolated and Amar'e also. Lin cannot be counted on against teams that load up on pick and rolls and apply pressure to him, We need to establish our stars perimeter game which will open up their driving lanes. Melo could not penetrate because indiana did not care if he shot from outside so he had no slashing lanes. If Melo plays like this in the playoffs we will murder him and its not his fault it is just that he is not getting established from the get go so he can stay consistent throughout the game and not in little spurts.
I like the winning but this style or play calling is not going to get us deep in the playoffs when our superstars cant go pound for pound with the other teams stars who are lighting us up and no body can respond or not enough players cant respond because maybe Lin is the only one having a good game, but that is a stretch because we have seen what Miami has done to him so who can say that wont pop up again?
Melo and Amar'e will be needed to match up with the production that Dwyane Wade and Lebron will give and not just Jeremy Lin.
Lin is not useless when the pick n roll isn't working they didn't get a lot of pick n roll in the 4th tonight and Lin did his thing. Of course he plays his best in the pick n roll but he's not a one trick pony as some people seem to think.
We already know Melo and STAT are going to see more touches Woodson has alluded to this already.
lin said they weren't allowing melo breathing room. so, yeah one of those nights. but, melo play good enough not force things and kick it back out.
good job on the d side ,also.
i was still angry at stat. this guy turns around/away while wide open collison got free from a pnr switch.
I don't really have any issue with Lin and Melo I still think he looks for Fields a little more than melo but whatever, the player I feel Lin needs to work with or look for most is Amare it still seems like he misses Amare a lot to me. Before it was Amare not setting good enough screens for Lin but lately he's been setting good screens but Lin just can't seem to find him they need to start connecting because that would be a huge plus for the Knicks offense.
I must admit i Bash Lin alot but i also give him his props when he does do good. Its more of a frustration bashing rather than a " I hate Lin you suck kind of bashing" on some nights i think he looks for his shot more than passing the ball and then his force to the basket turnovers really urk me, then i have to remember he is basically still a rookie and will make mistakes here and there.
Overall Lin is a pretty good player there is no denying that.
If Amare keeps up the good defense i have to stop bashing him to, though i will never get over the amount of times he's been rejected this season -__-
Landry fields -- if this guy does not start hitting free throws and making his 3 point shot ill probably shoot myself in the foot he deserves a bashing.
Jeremy Lin is a second year player who barely got any playing time yet managed to put up 15 points and 6.4 assists per game.
Anyone blaming Lin is a hater. Plain and simple.
CarJELLO CANThony is making 20 million dollars a year. If he doesn't play well, it's his fault. Bottom line. We're not talking about winning games. We're talking about FIELD GOAL ACCURACY, DEFENSE, AND PASSING THE BALL. Anthony is responsible for his own productivity. Bottom line.
In the last 3 games, I see JELLO passing more, playing good defense, and he's only attempting 12 shots per game. This is the JELLO we need to continue to see, if the Knicks want to make the playoffs. If CANThony starts jacking up 18-20 shots per game again, then you can kiss the playoffs good-bye.
And I wonder what happened to the people who thought CarJELLO didn't lose a step? He obviously lost a step offensively, or else Woodson would have continued to allow him to take 18-20 shots per game.
Jeremon Linbury
I understand that Lin is really a rookie, an undrafted one at that. Normally our expectation of this type of players is very low but after the Linsanity, will we ever look at Lin as just another player? Probably not and that's why he is getting some star treatment by the refs.
Having said that, Lin deserves all the criticisms. He is a TO machine. I don't care if he makes peanuts now but if he is the starting PG for the Knicks, he needs to perform at certain level for the team to have a chance.
Like Almost_Famous718 said his TO's annoy me too because he seems to keep putting himself in these bad situation and besides last night hadn't shown any growth in that department. And like I said in my other post he still does a terrible job finding STAT on the Pick and Rolls when before it was STAT setting bad picks now it's Lin not finding him.
But with all that said I still think he's gonna be a good player and he played well last night. I want him to succeed but he still has a lot to prove especially against very aggressive defensive teams on the road hopefully he gets to that point by playoff time.
Yeah there's no doubt that the starters all like LIN. Melo was more frustrated with himself then not liking LIN. Looks great these past three games to see our starters on the bench resting. With Dantoni these guys looked like chickens without a head, cause he makes no adjustments
Just my personal opinion but I think it has to do with racial pride,
which tends to become racism. Which is a shame because I don't
see that the players feel this way. At least, not outwardly.
Racial pride is a wonderful thing, but it gets in the way of objectivity.
"Winner of the coveted "Chink in the Armor" award!"
I don't think it has anything to do with race on these boards.
I think the main issue is that the Melo supporters are generally the MDA haters. Lin is kinda seen as an extension of MDA at the moment because a lot of people attribute his rise as a benefit of MDA running everything through the point.
Lin is gonna have a long successful career regardless of MDA and people shouldn't bother to connect the two of them anymore.
It's hard to enjoy Melo as much as I usually would lately. Thinking about fans groaning because he dares to hold onto the ball more than two seconds irks me. Yes he's not playing as well as early on in the season, but he might have lost some rhythm from the injuries. Lin can take a ton of dribbles and put up bad shots, yet people are probably getting pissed at Melo for even posting up.
I'm a fan of both of them. I agree, this needs to end. I'm not even negative about Amar'e lately.
Last edited by RunningJumper; Mar 18, 2012 at 17:56.
Sig made by Sons of Thunder


text:
"More bounce per ounce" is a good way to sum up the new Zoom Elite+, but it also sports a cozy fit and responsive ride.
Some of you probably have fond memories of the original Zoom Elite. Versions one and two of the Elite offered a lightweight feel and a good deal of cushioning, but never lost a connection with the tarmac underfoot.
The new Zoom Elite+ has a similar design philosophy, and most of our testers liked the result. There's certainly plenty of cushion, but your foot stays in touch with the ground throughout your stride and there's some welcome responsiveness on toe-off. We wouldn't mind it if the next version of the shoe dropped a little of its cushioning in favor of a little more firmness, but we applaud Nike for bringing out another very runnable shoe.
All testers appreciated the fit of the upper. This is a shoe that fits a little more streamlined around your foot than other Nike models, which makes it feel speedier and lighter.
I immediately liked the close fit on the top of my foot. The arch seems really pronounced but did not cause any irritation. Compared to earlier versions, this Zoom Elite feels softer and has a bit of bounce to it. The first two iterations were a bit firmer and gave a better feel for the road.
You sink into the new Zoom Elite more than you do the Air Pegasus, but I think the Pegasus still edges it out as the cushioning champion. The Elite is the faster shoe.
I like the adaptive fit in the midfoot. This isn't just some marketing gimmick from Nike – it really does flex with your foot and keep you planted on the platform throughout the gait cycle.


text:
Biography All Music Guide
All Music Guide:
Guatemalan singer/songwriter Ricardo Arjona is one of the more respected Latin artists, mostly for his social conscience and his integrity in writing and performing songs. Born in Antigua, he was interested in music from an early age but later decided to become a rural schoolteacher. He also played basketball for the Guatemalan national team, but continued to play his guitar and write songs in his spare time. After realizing that music was his one true love, he moved to Mexico City; once there, he began looking for a record contract and played at many student festivals, increasing his status as a protest singer.
Arjona finally found a contract through PolyGram, but the label attempted to market him as a Latin-lover type on his debut album, Dejame Decir Que Te Amo (Let Me Say I Love You). Predictably, the album failed, and Arjona spent the next five years teaching and occasionally writing songs recorded by other artists. He moved to Buenos Aires, began playing again, and soon returned to the recording sphere with material more suited to his experiences as a protest singer, namely "Jesus Verbo No Sustantivo," a controversial song about his experiences at a Catholic school as a child. It gained him a contract with Sony, which released many of his most popular albums, including Animal Nocturno. Adentro, released in late 2005, was nominated for a 2006 Grammy in the Latin Pop Album category. 5to Piso followed in 2008, with Poquita Ropa arriving two years later in 2010. Independence released the year after that in 2011.


text:
Yellow Fever (jungle yellow fever, urban yellow fever)
Last Reviewed: November 2006
- "Yellow Fever" is also available in Portable Document Format (PDF, 13KB, 1pg.)
- Versión en español
What is yellow fever?
Yellow fever is a mosquito-borne viral disease. The disease occurs in tropical and subtropical areas.
Who gets yellow fever?
This disease can affect both sexes, all ages and races. Jungle yellow fever, of tropical Central and South America, occurs predominantly among adult males 20 to 40 years old who are exposed in the tropical forests.
How is yellow fever spread?
A certain type of mosquito, Aedes aegypti, is most often responsible for transmitting the virus. These mosquitoes are no longer found naturally in New York State.
What are the symptoms of yellow fever?
Initial symptoms may be dengue-like and include fever, headache, vomiting and backache. As the disease progresses, the pulse slows and weakens, and bleeding of the gums and bloody urine occur. Jaundice may also occur.
How soon do symptoms appear?
Symptoms occur within three to six days after exposure.
Does past infection with yellow fever make a person immune?
Yes. People who have had yellow fever develop lifelong immunity.
What is the treatment for yellow fever?
There is no specific treatment for yellow fever. People traveling to areas where yellow fever may exist should be immunized.
How can yellow fever be prevented?
Since transmission of yellow fever no longer occurs within the United States, it is important for travelers to be immunized prior to visiting areas where yellow fever exists.


text:
Dear Members,
Keep in mind that Character Bashing is now prohibited. Making fun of certain characters/character pairings leads to a pointless thread filled with insults and general rule breaking.
Also, remember that Versus threads are allowed only in the Versus section.
Thank you, NarutoBase Staff
Is it just me or Can you guys not wait to see the priceless reactions to the juubi by people who didn't believe in the So6p's story and low level ninjas compared to what we're seeing now? It will be hilarious
Forum Rules


text:
Khloe Kardashian Reportedly Hired P.I., Has Evidence Of Lamar Odom's Infidelity
Khloe Kardashian reportedly hired a private investigator after she was suspicious of Lamar Odom - and allegedly found he had no less than five mistresses.
RadarOnline.com reports the reality star hired a tail when she began to fear Odom was cheating on her - and she would need evidence in court if she were to divorce him and take advantage of an infidelity clause in the couple's prenuptial agreement.
"Khloe has not only photographic proof that Lamar cheated on her with at least five different women, but has copies of text messages between Lamar and the other women," the course told the website.
With the evidence and the legal agreement between the two, Khloe could receive a large amount of money for spousal support.
The site points out Khloe would be in for a big payday if Lamar hasn't wasted away the $56 million he received over 14 years in the NBA.
One of Lamar's alleged mistresses, Polina Polonsky, claims she lived with Lamar for six weeks and witnessed him using crack cocaine. Lamar spent one day in rehab last week for an undisclosed reason.


text:
Humans have been making movies for 130 years, and in that time we've pretty much exhausted every story or character that could appear on film, inevitably leading to the overuse of cliched protagonists and plots that we've seen a million times. And when everyone got tired of those, we started taking the most minute, seemingly insignificant elements of movies and TV shows and turning them into cliches without anyone noticing it's happened, or that the new cliches are all about food. For example ...
4 In the Future, All Tough Guys Eat Noodles
dsk420/iStock/Getty Images
I love noodles, which is why I fear for a future where I may no longer have access to some of my favorite dishes. Why? Because judging by plenty of sci-fi movies and TV shows, future noodles are things reserved primarily for badass action heroes.
Warner Bros.
"Waiter, there's a scorpion in my food. There should be two."
The entire trend can probably be traced back to Blade Runner (1982), where we're first introduced to Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) as he's getting noodles from a dingy Japanese street diner. The scene -- which isn't from the original Philip K. Dick novel -- is obviously there to quickly establish that in 2019, Asian cooking has become so commonplace that it's being enjoyed by down-to-earth badasses like Deckard, a professional bounty hunter of homicidal robots. (In any other movie, we'd probably first see him sitting down to discount pizza or frozen tacos that legally can't be referred to as "food" anywhere on the packaging.)
It, of course, all made perfect sense in the early '80s, because back then Asian food wasn't as common as it is today, which unfortunately cannot be said about Almost Human.
Warner Bros. Television
Almost original.
Almost Human is a TV series starring Karl "Judge Dredd, Bones, and Eomer -- aka Nerd Trifecta" Urban as the gruff, noodle-obsessed detective John Kennex, who has a robot partner and literally starts talking about eating noodles during the first six minutes of Episode 1. Still, even though Almost Human premiered in 2013, Kennex's eating habits can be explained by -- to put it mildly -- the series taking a lot of cues from Blade Runner. And to put it crudely: Almost Human is so in love with Blade Runner's themes of what it means to be human that it's taped the movie's DVD case to a body pillow with a hole cut in the middle.
Interestingly, another TV show that borrows heavily from Blade Runner is the 2004 reboot of Battlestar Galactica, which also centers on the blurred lines between man and machine, and even stars Edward James Olmos as Commander William Adama, an ass-kicking, name-taking military commander of a space warship. You might remember Mr. Olmos from a role we could have mentioned a few paragraphs up: You can see him recruiting Deckard at the beginning of Blade Runner. Oh, and here he is eating noodles in the BSG miniseries.
NBC Universal Television
"All this has happened before and will happen again."
You could, of course, always make the argument that because Battlestar Galactica primarily takes place on isolated spaceships, their crews must resort to the most basic foodstuff and thus list noodles under "breakfast," "lunch," "dinner," and "cause of suicide." So maybe you can look at noodles as the food of necessity, both for people stuck in deep space and those unable to afford anything better, like with Spike Spiegel, the eternally broke space bounty hunter from the Cowboy Bebop anime:
And yet, none of the above, already very shaky justifications for futuristic malnutrition, explain why in the flying fuck Korben Dallas, Bruce Willis' flying-taxi-driver character, is shown eating noodles from a flying restaurant in The Fifth Element (1997).
Columbia Pictures
In the future everything must be flying: cars, restaurants, fucks ...
Going by that scene alone, you almost don't need to be told that Korben used to be a major in the Special Forces, and that by the end of the movie he saves the universe from a being literally called the Great Evil. The fact that he's eating noodles in the future gives away his badass status. And speaking of food giving away key plot information ...
3 Chinese Food Signals That Some Serious Shit Is About to Go Down
patrisyu/iStock/Getty Images
Living close to one of the biggest Chinatowns in the world, I've become very familiar with Chinese food and can tell you for a fact that it's very rarely a prelude to an important event in people's lives (unless you put a lot of hot sauce on yours and are nowhere near a toilet). Then again, maybe Chinese food only predicts huge plot developments in fiction, like it did in the 1979 movie Manhattan.
United Artists
You know, the one where Woody Allen plays a neurotic.
In this creepily prophetic comedy-drama, Woody Allen plays Isaac, a 42-year-old writer going out with the 17-year-old Tracy, played by Mariel Hemingway, who thank God isn't Allen's stepdaughter in this scenario. The two have fun together; they hang around, watch movies, and one time share Chinese takeout in bed. In the next scene, Isaac decides to break up with Tracy and to pursue another girl, named Mary, marking the start of the third act of the movie.
But as crazy as it may sound that a Jewish director would include Chinese food in his film for no special reason, let's be objective and say that it was all just a big coincidence. Fair enough. But what about True Romance?
Warner Bros.
"What about it?" - Audiences everywhere.
In this 1993 crime film, Clarence Worley falls in love with and marries a prostitute named Alabama, but before they can live happily ever after, Clarence must "free" Alabama from her pimp, Drexl Spivey, which he achieves by shooting the pimp in the dick. The entire sequence is so violent and chaotic that most people probably don't pay attention to what random thing Drexl is eating before Clarence comes in and performs an impromptu penisectomy on him, kicking off the movie's main plot. Incidentally, it's Chinese takeout.
Warner Bros.
The same year, a series of violent interactions was similarly signaled by Asian cuisine in the movie The Firm, which stars Tom Cruise as Mitch McDeere, a promising lawyer who gets involved with a dangerous organization with some sinister secrets. Only, instead of Scientology, here it's just a mob-controlled law firm, the acceptance to which Mitch and his wife celebrate by ordering Chinese food.
Paramount Pictures
A deleted scene shows the place they order from is controlled by the Triads.
But True Romance and The Firm were hardly the first movies to prelude senseless violence with fried rice and spring rolls, having been beaten to the punch by The Fisher King, a 1991 movie where Robin Williams gets beat up a lot, which naturally earned him an Oscar nomination.
In The Fisher King, Williams plays Parry, a deranged homeless man haunted by visions of an illusionary "Red Knight." Early in the movie, he saves the life of Jeff Bridges' character, who eventually sets Parry up on a double date that, of course, takes place in a Chinese restaurant. Soon after that, Parry suddenly gets the Red Knight vision again and is almost beaten to death by street thugs, which wouldn't have happened if they'd all just went for fucking sushi.
TriStar Pictures
Or trout. Or fish tacos. It's right there in the title of your movie!
Going back even further, we have Tim Burton's Beetlejuice, a film about a psychopathic ghost with ADHD who makes his first appearance shortly after a scene featuring Cantonese takeout.
Warner Bros.
Lastly, in That Thing You Do! a band called The Wonders is set down the path of disillusionment and misery after coming to an agreement with Tom Hanks' record company in a Chinese restaurant.
20th Century Fox
Unfortunately, they felt like making the wrong life decision again an hour later.
Have you noticed, though, that none of the folks enjoying all that Chinese food or the noodles from earlier were what you'd call "strong female characters"? That's because in movies ...


text:
ALCS Game 3
Why oh why? That was all I could say after today's game.
In another nail-biting ALCS game, the Angels beat the Yankees 5-4 in 11 innings. Not such a great day to be a Yankee fan, or me in general.
I'll start with one of the most horrible decisions Joe Girardi has ever made. David Robertson was pitching FINE! WHY would he pull him for Alfredo Aceves??!!
Robertson made two quick outs in the frame, knocking Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales down first. Then, for no apparent reason, Girardi came out and pulled Robertson for Alfredo Aceves, the same pitcher who blew the lead in the 11th inning of game two.
What was he thinking?
Aceves gave up a single to Howie Kendrick and then the eventual game-winner to Jeff Mathis, who ripped a double to end the game.
Talk about a punch in the gut.
I know for me personally, this game hurt. I had a horrible day today and I wanted the Yankees to pick me up with a win. This morning I had seen an ex-girlfriend of mine (which didn't make me happy) and later on during my ride home, another car almost hit me on the highway.
So for me, it was one of those "F.M.L. days."
As for the good that came out of the day/game, I was pleased with a number of things the Yankees were able to do. First off, Derek Jeter. The Captain took Jered Weaver deep for a leadoff homer in the first inning, getting the Yankees off on the right foot.
It was Jeter's 20th career postseason home run and he is now two behind Bernie Williams on the all-time postseason home runs list. The Captain is just doing his thing, that's basically it. He knows how to perform when it matters and his leadoff homer was just another example of that.
And then there was Alex Rodriguez, who continued his assault on October with another home run in the top of the fourth. It was his fifth career home run off Weaver and his second homer in the ALCS.
A-Rod has been awesome; a clutch hitter and a player who is helping to carry the team.
Johnny Damon finally broke through with a postseason homer, crushing his first '09 playoff home run in the fifth, again off Weaver. The homer gave the Yankees a 3-0 cushion.
Weaver was pulled after five innings because the Yankees hit him so hard; I had actually said, "The Yankees turned the dream Weaver into a nightmare."
It made sense; they really gave him a hard time.
I was also happy with Andy Pettitte, who tossed a quality start for the second straight game. The lefty went 6 1/3 innings and gave up three runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out two.
Really he only made two mistakes, one to Kendrick and one to Vladimir Guerrero. Kendrick took Pettitte deep in the fifth while Vladdy touched him up in the sixth. Other than that, I was happy with his performance.
I also have to hand it to Mariano Rivera, who was like Houdini being able to escape a huge jam in the 10th inning. The Angels had the bases loaded and one out, but with some help from Mark Teixeira was able to get out of it unscathed.
Now…back to the bad.
As I noted before, Girardi's decision just did not make any sense whatsoever. Robertson's numbers against Kendrick were barely anything (1-for-2 lifetime with one strikeout) so why in the love of God would you pull him? Especially since Robertson made two quick outs.
It made no sense. What was he thinking? John Flaherty of the YES Network said "Girardi has some explaining to do." He has got that right.
Another unfortunate occurrence for the Yankees was their caught stealing in the eighth. Brett Gardner came in to pinch-run for Hideki Matsui, but was thrown out by 11th inning's hero Mathis. I have to hand it to the Angels–they had Gardner scouted and they executed a good play. It was just bad for us.
Jorge Posada came up next and smashed a solo home run. The Yankees could have had two runs on the round-tripper, but great job by Posada tying the game. It was a big time home run in a key situation and it kept the Yanks in the game.
Plus, that homer was Posada's 11th career postseason long ball.
A lot of folks will probably be quick to destroy Joba Chamberlain, as he gave up the go-ahead run in the seventh. But in all fairness, Chamberlain had been very good in game two and in the ALDS, so I am not quick to jump on his back.
Phil Hughes gave up some runs in game two of the ALDS vs. the Twins and I don't remember anyone jumping on him. So I will not blame Chamberlain for his hiccup. He gave up a run, it happens. Just hope it doesn't happen much more.
I also have to point out Nick Swisher and Melky Cabrera. Is it just me, or are these two really not doing much of anything?
In today's game, Swisher left five men on base while Cabrera stranded seven. That's not very productive if you ask me; both of their bats are just asleep and they need to wake up if the Yankees plan on winning.
Teixeira hasn't been hitting either, he needs to break out of his slump (he was 0-for-3 today with two strikeouts) but at least he made up for it a little bit with his defense. Like I said, he helped Rivera of that precarious situation in the 10th with his D, but like Swisher and Cabrera, his bat needs to come alive.
Not to make it seem like I am bashing Swish, Melky and Tex; all three have done wondrous things this season to make the Yankee offense click. But when they aren't clicking, the Yankees do not win.
There's only so much Jeter and A-Rod can do.
Well, it's difficult to win extra inning games on the road, and just as the Angels were victimized by it in game two, the Yankees were today. But that doesn't mean the series is over for the Bronx Bombers.
Tomorrow night, the Yankees will send CC Sabathia to the mound to pitch against Scott Kazmir. The Yankees' ace will be starting on three days rest and it will be the first time he is taking the mound on three days rest this year.
I don't think it will affect him; Sabathia has been so dominant all year, what's another day of rest? I have a feeling he'll go out and do as he's been doing all year.
Well, it was a tough loss, but keep your heads up, Yankee fans. The series is not over. The way I see it, it's only just begun. And the Yankees will still be playing with a lot of confidence tomorrow, especially with Sabathia on the hill.
I'll be back after Game Four with more highlights and analysis.
Until then, Go Yankees!!!
3 Comments
I was listening to Mike Francesa after Damon's HR made it 3-0 yesterday. Mike said the the Yankees are "dominating" LA, and that the Angels are "clearly a beaten team". It seems to me that if Santana did not make a bad pitch on an 0-2 count to Arod in the bottom of the 11th, then the Angels would be up 2 games to 1.
Doesn't sound like "domination" to me….
Well, it wasn't Santana that made the bad pitch, it was Brian Fuentes. Francesa is a little crazy (lol) but most of the time knows what he's talking about. Neither team has been all that dominant in this series, but both teams have the capability to become dominant, especially the Yankees tonight w/ CC pitching. Hope everything goes the Yankees' way, that's pretty much all I can hope for.
Blah-dy blah blaaahhh. Ah, well, what can ya do now? Tonight's gonna be different, A.J. We're gonna be all smiles, I promise you that!


text:
Nutrition and Wellness Programs
Summer Food Service Program
What is the Summer Food Service Program?
The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) was instituted to provide nutritious meals to children during the summer months when school is not in session. The program is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and administered by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).
Sponsoring organizations include:
- Public or private non-profit local education agencies;
- Entities of state, local, municipal or county government;
- Residential camps; and
- Private non-profit organizations with 501(c)(3) status.
Who qualifies for participation in the program?
The SFSP is directed towards children in areas of high need. As part of the application process, sponsors must document 50% eligibility of the area or individual participants they intend to serve. Eligibility can be determined through:
- Free and reduced-price school lunch statistics,
- State or local government studies plotting low-income areas,
- Updated census tract data, or
- Individual documentation.
If the service site meets the eligibility criteria, all meals served to children are eligible for reimbursement. Residential camps are an exception since they can only claim meals served to children that qualify through individual documentation. The SFSP defines a child as anyone 18 years of age or younger or any person 20 years of age or younger with a mental or physical disability that attends an ISBE certified school program during the school year.
How are sponsors reimbursed for meals?
Reimbursements are based on the number of reimbursable meals served multiplied by the sum of the administrative and operational rates. Sponsors must maintain complete records to document all costs and meals they claim for reimbursement.
What are the sponsors responsibilities for administering the program?
Responsibilities for the program include:
- Submit an annual application to participate in the program,
- Verify the eligibility of service sites,
- Train all personnel about the SFSP regulatory requirements,
- Offer meals at no cost to children,
- Serve meals that meet the federal meal pattern requirements,
- Take meal counts at point of service,
- Conduct on-site reviews of meal service,
- Submit claims for reimbursement,
- Maintain financial and meal count records to substantiate claims,
- Accept final financial and administrative responsibility for all activities associated with the program, and
- Offer all services without regard to race, color, sex, age, disability or national origin.
How can you apply to become a sponsor?
First year sponsors must attend one of the training sessions conducted by ISBE staff in March and April of each year. The online system will be available the first week of March.


text:
The contests will be run for approximately 10 days (6 for entering, 4 for scoring) - these dates are provisional and will depend on the mod running it.
*note, all contests will be run from the Contests Forum - all 'live' comps are pinned.
The top two songs from each Open Format competition will be posted in this thread (1+1 comps have their own thread) in preparation for their Year End Final. (Tied songs will also go through).
All contests will now use the 1 to 10 scoring method. You can grade the songs however you like, just bear in mind that 10 is the highest mark you can award and 1 is the lowest. Only one 10 and one 9 may be awarded.
The song that is entered into a Monthly Competition must be the same recording with no changes made for the Final Competition.
The Year End Song Comps are for active musers only, so if a writer has not been present on the board since the start of November 2011 the moderator has the right to disqualify an entry
Someone may choose not have their song move on to the final competition if they wish. This might be an option for someone who has more than one song in the final.
For the Open Format comps the 10 qualifying songs from the 5 contests will compete in the Open Format year end final.
For more information on the contests, scoring etc. see the Song Contest Rules.


text:
Celebrations Are Bursting Out All Over!
With the official World Breastfeeding Week, August 1-7, less than two weeks away, celebrations have been popping all over the USA.
Did you celebrate at Jennie Hudson's Farm in Huntsville, Alabama on Saturday, July 15? Did your kids enjoy the swimming? Or visiting the horses?
Will you be celebrating with the folks from Holland and Zeeland, Michigan on Saturday, July 29 at Smallenberg Park? You'll be able to join in the picnic and enjoy the music provided by Kindermusik of Holland.
If you're saving your energy for the big celebration week, a quick glance at the World Breastfeeding Week calendar at http://www.lllusa.org/wbw/calendar.php will show you the variety of events planned for the official week. On Saturday, August 5, for example, there will be a 5K Walk and Stroll for Breastfeeding in Bristol, Tennessee. The folks planning that event will also have information booths and prizes for most funds raised for La Leche League.
Can't manage to celebrate until later in the month? How about meeting at the Queens Zoo, Flushing Meadow Corona Park in New York on Wednesday, August 23, 2006? Folks will meet at the main gate and have a brown bag lunch by the sea lion's exhibit.
No matter where you're from, there's a celebration bursting with fun near you!


text:
Autumn Leaves Cut-Out Cookies
- Prep Time: 30 min
- Cook Time: 10 min
- Ready Time: 120 min
- Yield: 4 dozen
- 1 package Pillsbury™ Sugar Cookie Mix
- 3 tablespoons Pillsbury BEST™ All Purpose Flour
- 1/2 cup butter, softened or slightly melted
- 1 large egg
- Pillsbury™ Creamy Supreme® White Frosting
- Red, yellow and green food colors
- Decorator sprinkles or colored sugar (optional)
Preparation Directions
- HEAT oven to 375°F. Blend cookie mix, flour, butter and egg in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until soft dough forms. Roll dough on lightly floured surface to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out shapes with leaf shaped cookie cutters. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet.
- BAKE 7 to 8 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.
- REMOVE cap and foil seal from frosting. Microwave on HIGH 30 seconds. Stir. Divide frosting into 3 to 6 small bowls. Tint each bowl with a different food color combination to make various autumn colors. Spread frostings onto cookies. Use small brush to add colorful frosting highlights to cookies. Top immediately with decorator sprinkles, if desired. Let stand until frosting is set.
Nutritional Information Per Serving
Serving Size (1 of 48 cookies), Calories 110 (Calories from Fat 40), Total Fat 4.5g (Saturated Fat 1.5g, Trans Fat 0.5g), Cholesterol 10mg, Sodium 85mg, Total Carbohydrate 16g (Dietary Fiber 0g, Sugars 11g), Protein 1g; Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 2%, Vitamin C 0%, Calcium 0%, Iron 2%.
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
* Ensure all recipe ingredients are gluten free by referencing the ingredient labels, as products may vary. If uncertain, contact the ingredient manufacturer.


text:
View Regulated Products and Related Regulations, Laws and Business Guidance
View Products Outside of CPSC's Jurisdiction
To comment on these voluntary standards activities or for additional information, please e-mail us at email@example.com
The link you selected is for a destination outside of the Federal Government. CPSC does not control this external site or its privacy policy and cannot attest to the accuracy of the information it contains. You may wish to review the privacy policy of the external site as its information collection practices may differ from ours. Linking to this external site does not constitute an endorsement of the site or the information it contains by CPSC or any of its employees.
Click Ok if you wish to continue to the website; otherwise, click Cancel to return to our site.


text:
Follow Us
1327 Beach Dr,
British Columbia,
Ours is a 'hands-on' experience where you can learn how to sail or gain more experience. Your Captain is a CYA certified instructor, and our vessels include a 35 foot Beneteau sloop and an F27 Trimaran.
On cruises to surrounding islands we take along kayaks and inflatables. With our new trimaran, be prepared to hang on as she can quickly accelerate to 20 knot speeds, raising adrenaline levels. We also offer unobtrusive whale watching with her - under sail alone!
Click the checkboxes below to display the appropriate item(s) on the map.
View all locations
Find over 6,000 restaurants, activities and accommodations in BC on your smartphone or tablet.
We value your privacy and never share your information, and you may withdraw your consent and unsubscribe at any time.
Privacy Policy


text:
My LO is 7 and half months old now, and I am feeding him 3 meals a day. Sometimes he will finish his meal, but a lot of the time it takes a lot of persuading to get him to eat a few spoonfuls of any meat or veg. He has no problems eating fruit though for dessert, or yoghurt.
It feels like a battle to get him to eat more meat or veg - I don't want him to have bad feelings about eating.
Does anyone have any solutions?
The few times I have tried jar savoury foods, he seems to like them! Maybe he just does not like my home cooking.
I am breastfeeding him at least 5 times during the day and also during the night too, sometimes up to 3 times! Am I giving him too much breast milk? I want to continue breastfeeding, but he sometimes hardly eats his meals, and its not even that much. Its hard to know what quantity of food is right, but sometimes he only eats a few weaning spoonfuls!
Any advice much appreciated!


text:
1 of 1 photos
Fuji Women's Cruiser
Fuji Saratoga Women's Bicycles
The bicycle's frame can break in the center of the downtube during use, causing the rider to lose control and fall.
For additional information, consumers should contact Advanced Sports Inc. toll-free at (888) 286-6263 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit the company's website at www.fujibikes.com
About 10,500
The recalled bicycles are Fuji women's cruiser bicycles. The 2008 through 2010 models Saratoga 1.0, Saratoga 2.0, Saratoga 3.0 and Saratoga 4.0 are included. The bicycles are various colors. "Fuji" and "Saratoga" alone or "Saratoga" along with the model number is printed on the frame of the bicycle. Serial numbers beginning with ICFJ7, ICFJ8, ICFJ9, ICFJ10 and ICFJ11 are included in this recall. The serial number is located on the bottom of the frame near the crank.
The company is aware of 12 reports of bicycle frames breaking, including two injuries, a head laceration requiring 20 stitches and scrapes and bruises.
Consumers should stop riding the recalled bicycle immediately and return it to any authorized Fuji Bicycle dealers for a free replacement frame.
Specialty bicycle stores nationwide from November 2007 through December 2011 for between $300 and $500.
Advanced Sports Inc. of Philadelphia
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of
thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the
nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical or
mechanical hazard. CPSC's work to help ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household
chemicals -– contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years.
Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the
To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury go online to www.SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC's Hotline at 800-638-2772 or teletypewriter at
301-595-7054 for the hearing impaired. Consumers can obtain news release and recall information at www.cpsc.gov, on Twitter @USCPSC or by subscribing
to CPSC's free e-mail newsletters.
Times: 8 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. ET; Messages can be left anytime
Call to get product safety and other agency information and to report unsafe products.
Please use the below phone number for all media requests.
Phone: (301) 504-7908
Spanish: (301) 504-7800
View CPSC contacts for specific areas of expertise
We are still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product.
Report a Product on SaferProducts.gov
The link you selected is for a destination outside of the Federal Government. CPSC does not control this external site or its privacy policy and cannot attest to the accuracy of the information it contains. You may wish to review the privacy policy of the external site as its information collection practices may differ from ours. Linking to this external site does not constitute an endorsement of the site or the information it contains by CPSC or any of its employees.
Click Ok if you wish to continue to the website; otherwise, click Cancel to return to our site.


text:
Donatos opens long-awaited Port Columbus store
The Columbus Dispatch - January 15, 2014 06:43 PM
Donatos Pizza has opened its first airport location in the new Southwest Airlines terminal at Port Columbus International Airport.
The long-awaited restaurant is located between Gates 4 and 5 in Concourse A, and is owned by Robert E. Lee III and Curtis Jewell of Touchstone Hospitality IV, Columbus-based Donatos said in a statement.
"We are delighted to become even more visible ambassadors for the City of Columbus at our new Port Columbus location," said Tom Krouse, president and CEO of the home-grown pizza chain.
The latest Donatos has seats for more than 40 people and plans to offer breakfast pizzas and sandwiches, and beer and wine, along with its regular-menu pizzas, subs and salads.


text:
Ok, We have hit a snag and I am feeling awful.
Baby got diagnosed with thrush yesterday, luckily i spotted the spots on his tounge and lips and we took him right up and his doc saw him right away - yup, its thrush..
for about a week hes been having fussier and fussier times getting him to eat and it just breaks my heart. I try to put him to the breast, and he takes like two sucks, and then SCREAMS bloody blue murder. Its not just the breast, its the pacifier too, he does the same thing. And I KNOW hes hungry, because these are times when hes just woken up, hasnt eaten recently, and he tries to eat his hand too..
The doc has me giving him Nystatin liquid but, I am wondering.. does thrush hurt him? Could he be in mouth pain because of the thrush? Tonight he screamed for almost an hour until he exhausted himself, then I finally got him to eat for about five minutes and then I just put him down to sleep for a bit because you could tell he was just absolutely exhausted from freaking out for so long.
I also found it a little odd that the doc never said to do anything with my boobs... no cream or anything on them.. couldnt we be passing it back and forth? I wonder if I should smear some of the liquid nystatin on my nipples after feeding?
And, I have some infant tylenol here. But the directions say under 12 pounds to ask a doc. Well he is like 11 pounds five ounces.. should I call the hospital and ask or do you think it would be ok to go ahead and give him just short of a dose? Do you think it would help?
For reference:
Baby is 7 weeks old
11 pounds 5 ounces (approx)
Normally feeds well with no problems about 10 times in 24 hours - usually more day feeds and then after midnight sleeps till around six before eating again.
No diaper rash, so i dont think the thrush is there yet.
Momma has been sick with icky bowel issues all week so this is getting very difficult as being a single mom, I am trying to cope with needing to run to the bathroom and being crampy and him crying and getting frustrated because he cant eat.
Help ladies..


text:
BMA will no longer see patients after July 19, but clinic offices will be open until Oct. 1 for patients to obtain medical records and inquire about their options for medical care.
"The medical care of the Beeville community is very important to us, so we want to leave our patients in capable hands," said Linda McKenna, vice president of CSMG. "We are considering potential options at this time to ensure healthcare services continue to be available to the Beeville community in the future."
CSMG employees affected by this closure will be able to apply for open positions within the Christus Health and Christus Spohn Health System. Any associates displaced by the closure will be provided with a complete severance package.
Patients are being notified by letter next week of the closing. The letter will include information on obtaining medical records. Anyone requiring further information to connect with area physicians can call the 24/7 Christus HealthLine at 1-800-247-6574.


text:
Getting ready to rumble in BarreApril 18,2013
By CHARLES ACEBO
BARRE — Let the rumble begin — again.
For the first time since May 2008, the superstars from Total Nonstop Action wrestling are coming to town.
And this is their weekend.
On Sunday at 5 p.m. at the BOR in Barre, TNA Impact Wrestling will host an evening of wrestling as part of The Road to Slammiversary World Tour.
Current TNA World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray leads the list of Imapct Wrestling Superstars, along with Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, the champion's Aces & Eights cohort Devon, "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan, British powerhouse Magnus, Knockouts Division Champion Velvet Sky and many more.
The road ends at the annual live, anniversary pay-per-view event "Slammiversary," scheduled for Sunday, June 2, in Boston.
TNA Wrestling offers "the world's most innovative experience in professional wrestling." It was founded in 2002 after the purchase of World Championship Wrestling by World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. and the bankruptcy of Extreme Championship Wrestling. TNA's weekly event "Impact Wrestling" airs on Spike TV Thursday at 8 p.m., averaging 1 million viewers across the United States.
Historically, the contenders have had names like "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan, "The Icon" Sting, Bully Ray, "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles, Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle, Bobby Roode, Brooke Hogan, the TNA Knockouts, as well as the no-limits X-Division.
Today's wrestlers grew up watching many of the greats, like Hogan and others.
Two-time Knockouts Division Champion Gail Kim has wrestled in every state except Montana. She was a pro wrestling fan as a child. Hailing from Toronto, Kim said she loved wrestling growing up.
"Tito Santana was my favorite wrestler as a kid," she said during a recent interview. "He was a fast-paced and high-flying wrestler."
Kim was the first-ever Knockout Division Champion, winning a 10-women gauntlet match at the pay-per-view event "Bound For Glory" in October 2007. "It was such a long road to get the women's division going. … When I won the belt it was so surreal. It was a blur."
Kim has also held the WWE Women's Championship belt and the Knockout Tag Team belt twice in her career. She was also named Knockout of the Year in 2007. Her most recent accolade? Being ranked No. 1 in Pro Wrestling Illustrated's 2012 edition of top women's competitors titled "The Female 50."
Despite these achievements, Kim's goal remains the same: the Knockout Division belt.
For the complete story, see Friday's Times Argus.MORE IN This Just In
BARRE TOWN — Firefighters faced a collection of adverse conditions as a house... Full StoryWILLISTON Police are asking for help identifying the man who tried to steal roughly $800 worth ... Full StoryNEWBURY Police said somebody stole booze and change from a Welch Road residence. Full Story
- Most Popular
- Most Emailed


text:
Snow snarls MN commute; 1 fatal accident reported
Authorities are investigating a crash during a snowy rush hour that left one person dead.
The Minnesota State Patrol says a northbound vehicle lost control and slid into the southbound lanes where it was broadsided by an oncoming minivan on Highway 13 in Eagan, just south of Interstate 494, around 8 a.m.
The Patrol identifies the victim as 24-year-old Taya N. Clifford, of Eagan. The other driver suffered minor injuries.
The Patrol reported 124 crashes statewide as of 9 a.m., including 23 with injuries, and 119 spinouts or vehicles off the road.
Driving conditions are still rates difficult in some parts of southeastern and northeastern Minnesota.
The storm left five to eight inches of snow in southern Minnesota, and four inches at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
Login | Checkout | My Account | Shopping Cart Now in your cart 0 items
Healthforce Nutritionals
Green Sage Protein is unlike ANY protein you have ever had. It is 100% complete protein, 100% whole food and 100% superfoods, with benefits far, far beyond any other protein in existence. For example, the phycocyanin in spirulina helps to protect and regenerate the kidneys* (which get damaged from animal proteins). Chlorella chelates heavy metals, and both spirulina and chlorella protect from radiation and are loaded with a full-spectrum array of cleansing and non-toxic healing vitamins, minerals, chlorophyll, and phytonuturients, for ultimate support of your entire body, including incredible recovery and immune function!*
These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.


text: Add a practical and personal touch to your nursing uniform with one of our stylish watches for nurses and other medical professionals. Available in many different colors and sizes from brands like Prestige and Nurse Mates, our collection caters to a variety of preferences, while performing the necessary functions to help you move through your rounds quickly and effectively. Watches also make the perfect nursing gift for your favorite nursing friend, family member, or colleague. Shop with us today!


text:
29 January 2013 16:37:29
Blog Piece: Nexus plans for stability and infrastructure improvements. Oh, and money.posted by Dark0ne Site NewsYes, I'm sorry, here's another one of those 5 page, 2,500 word rambling nonsense blog posts I like to make from time to time to show you that I'm not dead and we're still moving forward. If you have no interest in servers, money or talking about my narrow views on corporate greed, then I would suggest skipping this one!
We're about one month into the new year now and I wanted to share with you one of our main priorities for this year, as it's as important to us as it is to you.
Perhaps one of the Nexus's biggest pitfalls since its inception has been the stability of the service. I don't have any uptime statistics on hand to report on but I think it's pretty safe to assume that we're not hitting the 99.97% uptime that most big sites try to aspire to. Not only is it annoying because you guys can't access the site, or particular services on the sites (like the downloads) at random points, but it's annoying for the staff to be awake at 3am in the morning restarting services and troubleshooting database crashes, and it's annoying for me to be running a service that isn't 100% reliable. Moving forward I'd like the Nexus to be taken seriously by game developers, and it's hard to be taken seriously when you can't guarantee service.
It's not as though other sites and companies out there don't have reliability issues. I've been locked out of DotA 2 many times recently because the Steam servers have been down, for instance, and that's from a multi-billion dollar company like Valve. But the problem with the Nexus is that it's a regular occurrence.
I can attribute this problem to all sorts of systemic issues right through the Nexus, from the way I've set up the business to the way we've run the site and prioritised things. It's not as simple as pointing the finger at the lack of server resources, or hardware failures, or the code, or the DDoS'ers, or being a victim of our own success or any one thing, it's a multitude of things. But the highest priority of this year is to resolve this issue and make the Nexus as stable and redundant as it possibly can be.
So lets take a look at some of these systemic issues and then I'll explain what we've been doing, and what we will be doing to make the situation better and ensure the Nexus is future-proof for the foreseeable future.
The largest factor of all with the stability issues has been the sheer popularity of the Nexus sites coupled with having an inappropriate server architecture to accommodate the demand on sites that are extremely database (and ergo, resource) intensive. I've blogged many times on the popularity of these sites and the difficulty in keeping them up with the load placed upon them, so I won't bother to go into the numbers again. So you're thinking, "OK, why not buy more servers then?". The answer isn't in needing more servers, the answer is in needing to restructure the architecture of the servers and network we currently have so that the combined resources of all the servers can be used to keep the sites going.
Right now we have a situation where we have lots of lower traffic sites (Far Cry, Neverwinter, The Witcher, Morrowind and so on), some high traffic sites (Forums, Oblivion, Fallout 3, New Vegas) and one super mega ridiculous traffic site (Skyrim). Typically speaking almost every site on the internet can fit onto a single powerful dedicated server. Depending on the size of the sites you can even fit hundreds or thousands of normal sites onto a single dedicated server. We have 6 servers dedicated to just serving the Nexus sites (not the file servers, we've got 12 of them!). The problem though, is that Skyrim Nexus, and the forums, are not normal sites and they're at a point where they can no longer fit on one single dedicated server. Similarly we've upgraded the hell out of the servers so we can't make them any more powerful than they are now.
We've reached this point where Skyrim Nexus has outgrown being able to run on a single super-powerful dedicated server, so how do we resolve this issue? The solution is in server clustering, which is a technology that lets you pool together the resources of multiple servers to act as one super mega server, much like SLI allows you to connect up and combine multiple video cards in your PC to dramatically increase your frames per second. Unfortunately server clustering isn't as simple as connecting an SLI bridge connector to your video cards. It's a lot more complex.
Server clustering is not only complex, it's also expensive. We have 6 web servers at the moment. We can't just flip a switch in the servers we currently have and turn on clustering. We've got to buy completely new servers, set them up for clustering and then transfer the network on to these clusters. That means running our current setup in parallel with the new one until everything is transferred which means paying for the original 6 servers plus the new servers we need to buy to form our clusters. That's a lot of money.
And therein lies another systemic issue with the way things are setup. Money. The Nexus sites have remained completely independent; free of corporate interest and investment for its entire 11 years and it shall remain so for the very foreseeable future. The only investment these sites have had was the initial £10,000 I chucked in to the sites when I rebranded the sites as the Nexus back in 2007. I'm the sole owner and sole decision maker of the sites. There's no outside interest, board of directors or investors pulling the strings behind the scenes. Similarly no game developers have any influence or sway over me. The buck stops at me.
If I wanted to I could make a business plan (I don't have one, by the way) and go to Silicon Valley, pitch the idea to a load of private and angel investors, secure (potentially hundreds of) thousands of dollars in investment money and make a proper business out of it like many gaming sites and networks have done over the past few years. However, I then become answerable to shareholders and investors who are looking for a return on their investment as fast as possible. To be frank, F' that.
Similarly it's just me and 4 other programmers working on the Nexus. We have absolutely no one doing ad sales. I mean it, we have no ad reps at all. Others in the industry gawp at such an oddity. That's why the ads you see on the site (if you don't block them) are pretty crap, and in return we get pretty crap rates. While other networks have entire ad sales teams securing them crazy $1-$10 CPM rates on their ads, we don't. We don't get anywhere near that. So why don't I hire some ad reps to better sell the inventory and use that money to pump it all back in to the sites? The reasoning is very similar to my private investment reasoning; when the focus of your business is on increasing your ad sales, and on ensuring a prompt ROI to your investors, you begin to lose sight of what your original goals were and instead focus on one very simple goal: making money. And money isn't what I'm doing this for. Indeed, if money was my aim I'd be doing all these things I just mentioned, because the Nexus would be a cash cow. Case-in-point; I know sites that have 5-10 programmers working for them and 25-50 ad sales reps. Yes, that's a 1:5 ratio of people working on content to people working on making money. To me, it's crazy to have more people working on selling than actually improving and producing the content that sells. But that's business for you, and I'm not a good businessman.
What this all breaks down to is limiting the stakeholders in the Nexus. Right now you guys, the people who use the site, the mod authors, the downloaders, the people on the forums, YOU are the Nexus site's biggest stakeholders. If I don't appease you then these sites cease to have a point. If I seek private investment, or start directly selling the Nexus site ads then my biggest stakeholders become the shareholders and the advertisers on these sites. My focus gets shifted from serving and pleasing you, the users, to serving and please people who have no interest in you. And the point of the site changes from being about modding to being about making money. That's not what I want at all. There may come a time in the future when direct ad sales and private investment are exactly what the Nexus needs, but that time is not now.
You guys are really, really good when things go wrong on these sites. By and large the reaction is often tame and supportive rather than stressed and raging. I like to think it's because you know we're not some corporate mega-money machine that's cutting costs by cutting corners, but just 5 gamers trying to provide the best service we can. I don't want to change that, because being greeted with "Ah that sucks, I hope you can fix it soon! Good luck!" is better than being attacked with "WTF this is the worst pile of crap I've ever used and you should be ashamed" when something goes wrong.
I want to retain that focus on you guys being the primary stakeholders in the future of the Nexus, which means it takes a lot of monetary planning and saving to buy more servers and invest in expensive technology like server clustering while other sites can simply throw their private investment resources or ad sales money at the problem. That's why it takes a long time. Avoiding private investment and direct ad sales is a conscious decision that isn't without its pitfalls, but one that I think is worth it to retain the core values of what these sites were set up for in the first place; to provide mods authors with an easy platform to share their work with others that will stand the test of time.
So setting up server clustering is currently one of our biggest priorities, and we'll be setting that all up in the very near future, but in the run up to all this we've spent (and are still spending) some considerable time right now focusing on the software side of things.
Over the Christmas period, while the "normal" members of the staff were enjoying a forced two week break, Axel was working on an error logging system for the Nexus.
One of the most annoying aspects of bug hunting and troubleshooting is when someone leaves a comment on one of these news articles, or on the forums, or on the tracker that something is broken. Typically it will go something along the lines of "Downloads are broken at the moment". To which my response is "......." , followed by much hair pulling. Downloads are broken? What downloads are broken? On what site? What files? Is it all files or just one file? Is it only happening on one Nexus site or all Nexus sites? Is it just small files or large files? What error are you getting? Is it happening 100% of the time or just some of the time? What browser are you using? Have you tried using another browser? Have you tried turning your PC on and off again? Have you tried logging out and in again? Did downloads ever work for you? Have you installed any new browser plugins, firewalls or anti-virus programs recently? What time did this happen? These are but some of the questions we need answered to actually troubleshoot the issue, especially if all the staff try downloading and it works fine.
What I wanted was a system that would aggregate and parse all the error logs the servers produce and present it to the staff in a system that can help us easily pinpoint not only errors and problem areas of the site, but also pinpoint specific times when the sites are worse than others to help us troubleshoot the problem. Typically the error logs that servers produce are all flat-file text documents. Line after line after line of errors with timestamps that can run up to gigabytes in size. It's extremely hard to make use of these error logs without having a system to properly display the information, and there's nothing worse than being told something isn't working when it works for you and wondering if it's affecting just one person, 1% of people 25% of people or even more. With the error logging system we can now see that "wow, yes, at 10am today we had 5 times more errors than we usually do". It's helping us to investigate things more and we've already applied numerous hot fixes to the sites over the past month that have patched up errors and slow areas of the site.
Similarly at this very moment we're working on some more improvements to the downloading system for both manual downloads and downloads through NMM. Right now, if one of the file servers has hiccupped it can be a real pain in the ass trying to download something. These hiccups generally only last for minutes at a time, but during that minute it can make it hard to download any files, especially small files. With that in mind, we're going to present the file server selection screen on all files now, irrespective of size. If a file server is down, you can quickly select another one to use. We're also trying to implement a seamless redirect system incase you choose a file server that isn't working for whatever reason. If the file server you choose isn't working, the site will simply try another one until it finds a file server that is working. You won't really notice a difference (except far fewer, or no errors at all!), although if you typically get fast speeds on only one or two servers you might get slower speeds as your download might be served from a different file server from the ones you normally pick, if they're down.
This concept of seamlessly being moved to a server that works is very similar to our plans with the sites and servers in general. Right now, if there's a hardware or network failure on one of the servers a Nexus site is on, that Nexus site becomes unavailable. Once our full clustering solution is done we'll have a load balanced, redundant solution that means all sites are being served from all servers. If one server goes down, the other servers pick up the strain but the sites still work. It reduces the bottlenecks and also reduces our single point of failure problems. And finally, clustering restores the status quo by making "buy more servers" the viable solution to our strained server issues. If the network needs more power you just tack another server in to the cluster and you've boosted the resources available to the network. That's not possible with the current system. So for me, this is quite exciting. For you, it's more like "I don't care, just make it work".
I think I've gone on for long enough now. When I wrote my blog piece on Nexus development and expansion philsophy I was interested when I got a lot of emails and messages from people who were surprised I thought that hard about the process. I like to use these blog pieces to indeed show you that yes, I don't just sit around all day watching stocks go up and down on my monitors and playing DotA 2, but I think pretty damn hard about this network. The choices I make aren't just knee-jerk "oh, I guess we'll just do that then" solutions but plans that have been made out and expanded upon over a long period of time in consultation with others. We've wanted to do server clustering for years now (indeed, I mentioned it in that first YouTube video I did), but we've only now been in a position to actually afford it. And that's why I'm excited, even though the topic is pretty boring.