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The most famous of all the missions is San Antonio de Valero, better known as the Alamo.
More than a dozen Spanish missions spread from East Texas (even Louisiana) to the Mexican border. Some missions are in Mexico, which used to be part of the Spanish territory of Texas.
But one mission is likely to be missed on that trail: the Mission Sin Caja, which sits on a hill in western Live Oak County near the Choke Canyon water tower.
Mission Sin Caja's cornerstone reads "Established 1755 plus or minus 250 years in memory of H.D. and Mildred House."
Kurt House, the son of H.D. and Mildred, built the Spanish-style mission on one of his ranches near Simmons City. The edifice can be seen from miles away.
The ranch has about 1,200 acres in Live Oak County and about 300 acres in McMullen County.
"I think Live Oak County needs a landmark. San Antonio has theirs and Goliad has theirs," House said.
He explained that the main reason he built the mission was to have it as a memorial to his parents.
But there were other reasons, too.
"My family likes to come to the ranch, especially my in-laws from Houston. We always celebrate Easter and Thanksgiving here. The object is to get away from all that – no Internet, phone or TV."
House, who is 65, studied anthropology at Southern Methodist University and taught there in the 1970s, said he is acutely interested in Spanish missions.
Missions, he said, were self-reliant. The padres in the missions oversaw growing and producing their own food, collecting water, teaching Christianity to the American Indians and making wine. The missions also served as a fortress and safe place when needed.
"A mission was a Spanish institution invented to administer all the necessities of life to the indigenous population. The padres thought it was important to convert the Indians to Christianity."
House said the padres practically lived on nothing, sometimes eating dirt to get that full stomach feeling.
"The mission was more than a church. The padres had to take care of all the Indians' needs – not just spiritual but also physical."
The Mission Sin Caja also has a vineyard, as was traditional for the padres who first brought grapes to California, for example, and House is currently evaluating six different grape varieties to see which is best, including the original variety known as "Mission." And a building that will serve as a winery is being outfitted.
Eventually, he will have a wine cellar, too.
"This is Southwestern style, evolved from necessary local materials, not Tudor or any other foreign imported architectural style." House said.
The floor plan for Mission Sin Caja is similar to San Antonio's Mission Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion. And House has filled it with replica furniture and fixtures and original pieces that accent the Spanish colonial period.
"I started collecting Spanish Colonial architectural materials about 30 years ago, without really knowing why," he said.
Some of those pieces include six 18th century-style Spanish Colonial benches made from original plans of solid mesquite by local furniture craftsman Dan Manning of George West.
Other elements in the mission include doors from an 18th century mission in Mexico (the doors are identical to those stolen from the Alamo in the early part of the 20th century), other 18th century doors, mesquite tables, art, Spanish armor and chairs that are 300 years old from a museum in Pennsylvania, and much, much more.
"My dream is to make this into a living history center – bring kids to see a blacksmith in action, hide tanning, loom weaving and flint knapping, all the things a Spanish mission would have had," he said.
He said all the schools have to do is call and set a time for a living history tour. The phone number is 361-786-2681.
Mission Sin Caja sits on a hill overlooking what Texas historians call the Nueces strip – an area between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande.
House said this frontier area of small rolling hills and the Nueces River Valley originally inhabited by American Indians and then bandits was the wildest part of Texas even up to the 1920s Prohibition era.
The Spanish sent five overland expeditions to try and find the French fort that LaSalle had established near present-day Victoria, House said.
One of those overland explorers was Alonzo DeLeon, who was the first to describe a striking feature on the Nueces Strip – a mesa that juts up and can be seen for miles around and from Mission Sin Caja, about 15 miles distance.
"Early explorers and settlers used that mesa as a landmark to navigate by," he said.
The story goes that an expedition was attacked at the mesa. The lone survivor buried the dead without coffins. So the mesa was named Sin Caja. The name translated into English means "without a coffin" although many times you see it misprinted as San Cajo and other mistaken words. Even J. Frank Dobie in his book 'Coronado's Children' refers to it this way in his chapter 'Where Parrallel Lines Intersect.'
"When I built the mission, I decided to name it after the mesa," House said.
"I had the vision to build the mission about 10 years ago, and we poured the slab in 2005."
House studied Spanish architecture in Mexico and Spain for 10 years to keep close to an authentic mission as possible.
"My wife Susie and I also went to Spain and were fascinated by Moorish architecture," he said.
To authenticate the mission further, he had all electrical connections laid underground, hiding 21st century giveaways.
"We really started in 2009," he said.
Now, in Phase 3 of the plans, which includes finishing six casitas, two suites and the winery building, House said he would take a break and rest for a period.
The next phase includes a swimming pool shaped like a Spanish quatrefoil (same shape as windows in the mission), blacksmith area, wine cellar and other features.
House said one more reason for building the mission was economical.
"I will accept reservations from people who want to stay – a bed and breakfast type of deal," he said.
House already has the first wedding scheduled at the mission. And he said he has up to a 16-person capacity for lodging.
So the mission will be available for various corporate and civic events, for hunters and for those wanting to escape to a peaceful setting.
"And it's more for functions that foster preserving history," he said.
House said he has a Sept. 15 fundraiser scheduled for the Former Texas Ranger Foundation, an organization dedicated to preserving history of the Texas Rangers, which is scheduled to build a new History and Education Center in Fredericksburg. He said the information and application to join can be found on the website:
Mission Sin Caja promises to be House's vessel to preserve Texas and Spanish history.
"I want to infect people with enthusiasm and desire to learn history," he said.


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First up: Spiced nuts are usually baked; this stovetop version speeds up the process. The smoky-spicy snack will store well in an airtight container for several days.

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text: Fall of Jerusalem (4) tv-pg Play video Select your TV provider to log in to have full access to videos Select your TV provider See all providers Don't see your TV provider? Learn more You can access this video on the free HISTORY® app. *You must verify your TV provider towatch this video on the App Your Parental Control settings do not allow you to view this content. Fall of Jerusalem (4 min) tv-pg In July 1099, Crusaders lay siege to the Holy City of Jerusalem and attempt to expel its Muslim defenders.


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The executive assistant to the president of a D.C.-based nonprofit organization also believes people get married for the wrong reasons. She does not want to fall into that category. She remains undecided about marriage.
"Some people get married too quickly, without really knowing each other well enough. Some people get married because of tax(es) or health insurance and other financial benefits," she says. "Some people get married because they feel like it's the expected thing to do, or they don't want to be alone, or because they're ready to start a family."
Marcuson's parents are divorced, but she said she does not have a negative view of marriage. However, some people get married for the wrong reasons.
"(Getting married) is not the only life choice available for a happy life," she says.
Meanwhile, Marcuson says she is busy dealing with everything else her life offers.
"The most important thing is that I continue to grow as a person. I want to be the happiest person I can possibly be," she said. "If that means I end up staying single for the rest of my life because I haven't found the right mate, that's perfectly all right with me. I'm fine with taking on the role of the hip spinster aunt to my siblings' kids."


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You probably think you know everything you need to about worms. They're just wiggling tubes of flesh with indistinguishable asses and faces that commit suicide on sidewalks during rainstorms. All caught up. But the benign worms you're used to seeing speared on fishhooks and fried up in children's literature are only a tiny percent of all the species of worm out there. And when we say "out there," we mean "crawling free of the bowels of hell as we speak."
6Bobbit Worm
At over 10 feet long, bobbit worms are about the closest thing we have to the sand worm in Dune. They have toxic bristles up and down their body that can cause permanent nerve damage to anyone who touches them, and they feed by grabbing their prey with massive, strong jaws and sucking it down into the sand.
They are ambush predators that wait in shallow waters with only about a tenth of their body poking out of the sand and their mouths stretched completely open. As soon as one of their antennae detects something in the water, they lunge for it, even if it's significantly bigger than they are. Their strikes, it should be noted, are so powerful that they'll sometimes accidentally just cut fish in half while trying to grab them. So don't be fooled by the fact that, up close, it's the iridescent color of a middle school girl's Trapper Keeper.
Dante's Inferno would have been so much scarier if he'd known anything about the ocean.
To get a sense of how horrifying these worms are, at Newquay's Blue Reef Aquarium in the U.K., they couldn't figure out what was eating all their fish each night. They set up traps with fishing line and hooks, and each morning the lines were snapped and the hooks and bait were gone. After taking the aquarium apart, they found a massive bobbit worm in the sand that had apparently just been digesting the hooks.
Oh, and the bobbit worm, just like us, prefers warm, shallow waters. So we're probably going to have to let them have the good beaches for now.
As you can see, the ragworm has an earwig's ass for a face. Those pincers right around its face hole are extraordinarily strong, too -- they can provide a nasty bite when the ragworm is threatened because the mandibles are made out of a unique substance that's both harder and lighter than most synthetic material we have. As a result, scientists have been ecstatically tearing the jaws off these worms so they can get them under a microscope and hopefully replicate it.
But as a non-scientist, this worm is all downsides for you. Think of all your least favorite characteristics of insects, spiders and worms, then combine them all together. It has the body of a centipede divided up into about 120 segments, each with its own set of appendages to help it swim or writhe around on land. It lives in slime-lined holes in shallow waters and spins a sticky web of mucus over the entrance like some kind of mutated snot spider.
"Anybody got a tissue ... or a flamethrower?"
Unlike spiders, though, who have to hang around until something's dumb enough to fly into their webs, ragworms undulate around in just the right way to create currents in the water near their trap. Any prey unlucky enough to get caught in those currents is helplessly drawn into the web, and then the ragworm just consumes the whole thing, snot web and all, because, and we can't stress this enough, it's just awful. Here's another look at its face:
Play this in the background for full effect.
Just ... wow. To the ragworm's credit, that view is more hilarious than terrifying. It looks like it just wriggled out of Jim Henson's imagination. It also has that shocked expression that says it's as surprised as anyone that it's been allowed to live this long. Oh, and did we mention they can get up to 3 feet long? So keep that in mind the next time everybody wants to go skinny dipping off the banks of some dark body of water.


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Transylvania University
300 North Broadway
Lexington, KY 40508-1797
Phone: (859) 233-8163
e-mail Tim Soulis
"You like to think that as a professor you profess your knowledge. But that's garbage. What you really do is learn with the students and try to understand the world around you."
Teaching at Transylvania, according to Tim Soulis, involves constant change and constant learning. "You think that after you get the Ph.D. you know it all, and you don't. You've barely even scratched the surface. The students keep challenging us to be better than we were. And sometimes that's frustrating. But I think it's also very humbling and rewarding."
As a theater professor, part of that learning and self-discovery comes during the search for a character. Typically, both the student and the teacher learn something about themselves in the process. "You discover aspects of yourself that you've not been consciously aware of. That can be frightening at the same time it can be exciting."
Theater students have to learn self-discipline while simultaneously opening themselves to others and examining interpersonal relationships. It's a complicated and sometimes daunting process to take something written on the page and turn it into a dynamic performance on the stage. It is essentially creating "a vision of our own world, but it's a vision that has been ordered. As Aristotle says, drama is an imitation of action, of life."
Transylvania students have an advantage that makes this process a little easier: the Lucille C. Little Theater. Many professional theater groups don't have their own space where they can enjoy a permanent home. That perk offers a comfort level and a sense of ownership that can nourish the creative process. As Soulis puts it, "When you have your own playground, life becomes more personally involving and engaging."
These days, Soulis is doing less directing and more acting and writing. For many years, he was known for his one-man performance of the Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol. He recently played Aegeus in Lexington's Summerfest performance of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He has also agreed to act in a friend's new play about the family dynamics surrounding an Alzheimer's patient, and he is writing a play of his own.
Soulis has also written lyrics and music for shows. In 2010, using a new translation of Euripides' Bacchae, he turned the 2,000-year-old play into a sort of rock opera, which he called The Bakkhai. Soulis wrote a simple musical schematic based on the melodies provided by the Greek scholar and modern translator Khalli Anna Mossi, and Transylvania students scored the accompanying parts and put together a three-piece band for the performance.
Soulis feels it's important for students to be familiar with plays from all historic periods, not just contemporary plays that seem more "sexy" and accessible. By creating a contemporary production of an ancient play, Soulis hopes students begin to understand the timelessness of great literature and the value of performing it.
"I think Sophocles' Oedipus the King is just as important today as it was when it was written. And that's not because of some Freudian oedipal conflict that some person has, but the individual search for one's identity that is at the core of that play. And it's one fine detective story, too."
Soulis enjoys teaching first-year seminar classes, which give him some latitude in the material he chooses for his students. He recently taught a course titled Performing Life that addressed the theatricality of everyday life as seen in politics, religion, games, and sports. He referenced Freud's Psychopathology of Everyday Life, which attempts to explain why we do the things we do. It becomes clear that we all play a role in our everyday living—a role guided by a hidden subtext we might not even be aware of.
One of the goals of the first-year seminars is to introduce students to a liberal arts course of study: how to see the relations and connections between disciplines and how to get away from our preconceived notions. In one class, Soulis joined the students in writing a paper where he proposed the idea of water as a "useful way to think of oneself." It's a simple conceit that captures the goal of a liberal arts education.
"Water has three phases: gas, water, ice. If you're ice, you're frozen into a set of views. You're unable to thaw or bend. If you're gas, there's nothing really there. Everything just dissipates. But if you're water, you can roll with the punches. You still have a type of container: the shore, the sides of the pool, whatever. But you can flow through life. And that's the ideal. The aquatic metaphor, I think I called it."
Want to know more about Transylvania's theater program?


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Traditionally, the connections between an adult film and the source material being parodied are, at best, tenuous. It wouldn't at all be surprising to learn that the creators behind films like Romancing the Bone or E3: Extra Testicle had ever even seen their source material. Indeed, the connection to the source material rarely extends beyond the title and, occasionally, the setting (both Romancing the Stone and its porn counterpart took place in forests, for example). But the Jersey Shore Parody changes all of that. It is clear from a glance that writer-directors Brian Bangs and Spock Buckton share an intimate familiarity with the wildly popular MTV reality show, celebrating its highs while enthusiastically embracing its flaws in the mold of all great parody work. Bangs and Buckton have a deep affection and respect for their source material. The task of recreating a beloved piece of literature like Jersey Shore is not an enviable one, but Misters Bang and Buckton are fully aware of this responsibility, and they rise to the challenge with gusto. And for this reviewer, the combination of their vigor and skill is nothing short of a revelation. Detail The attention to detail displayed by Bangs and Buckton is astounding. Every original character has an extremely convincing analogue and the house, the Italian flag, the rooftop hot tub and everything else made famous by Jersey Shore has been meticulously recreated for this parody.
Uncanny. Even the infamous Snooki punch is recreated here with a wonderful cameo from Burning Angel regular and friend to the site Brian Street Team.
In the hands of lesser directors, the parody would most likely fall apart early on and degenerate to a series of vaguely interrelated sexual acts, but Bangs and Buckton, ever the purists, soldier on with their parody and miss no opportunity to penetrate deeper into their source material. Never is this commitment more daring and rewarding than when we see the Situation and Snooki analogues canoodling in a hot tub. It is clear that Porn Snooki (Kristina Rose) is desperately craving love from The Situation (Rocco Reed); a scene that mirrors the finale of MTV's Jersey Shore and she makes multiple aggressive advances. In MTV's version, Snooki is ultimately rejected by The Situation and, in an admirable display, the Porn Situation also rejects Snooki and throws her out of the hot tub. In short, this is a porn film where the actors will occasionally not have sex with each other in service of the story. For an industry that typically regards writing and story as a nuisance, this is a milestone, and it's bold decisions like that that makes Bangs and Buckton the strongest and most consistent directors working today. Don't be surprised if you find them at the very top of everyone's list of Directors to Look Out For in 2010. Is it too soon to call these guys the Coen Brothers of porn? This reviewer submits that it is not. Cinematography I could go on and on about the film's visual storytelling structure and how it evokes the early works of Roger Deakins, but there's only so much room in this review, so I'll just focus on the impressive framing of one particular shot. To give you some context, J-Woww's boyfriend is visiting and he just interrupted Pauly D, who is trying to eat his meal in peace. Let's take a look at the shot and see what it tells us:
There's certainly a lot to take in-- Pauly D (veteran James Deen in the performance of a lifetime) is lifting weights while simultaneously eating his "spaghetts," and it appears that J-Woww (Sara Sloane), while appropriately seductive, seems to have wet herself-- but it's the arrangement that really makes the shot sing. If you'll look closely, you'll notice that, while not at the forefront of the action, the dead center of the shot belongs to Snooki, who is quietly eating a banana alone in front of the sink. The central placement tells us that this is the important visual in the scene. As any student of Psychoanalytic Literary Theory will tell you, the banana, with its phallic nature, is a very telling symbol, and one you as a viewer would be unwise to discard. A woman inserting a phallic symbol into her mouth is the centerpiece--perhaps a metaphor for oral sex? Let's pull back from the center a bit now. This visual is framed not by J-Woww and her visiting boyfriend, but by J-Woww and Pauly D, foreshadowing a future sexual romp between J-Woww and Pauly. This bit of foreshadowing is rewarded when mere minutes later, we find J-Woww's boyfriend locked in a bathroom while she performs oral sex on Pauly.
Actual lines from the film. Commentary Typical porn parodies rarely strive to make a point about their source material but, as you hopefully know by now, The Jersey Shore Parody is not your typical parody. When Ronnie and Vinnie first meet, Ronnie's immediate reaction is to ask Vinnie to touch his abs. Vinnie refuses, on the grounds that he isn't gay which, according to Ronnie, warrants proof. Happy to oblige, Vinnie immediately begins dancing and his raw, primal movements are so passionate that Ronnie can't help himself--in seconds, he is compelled to join in and the two new housemates are dancing together.
MTV's Jersey Shore is about men who believe themselves to be at the apex of masculinity, yet they're so concerned with their appearances they carry crates of hair gel and spend hours each day flexing, tanning and doing laundry. The latent homosexuality is just a subtext in MTV's Jersey Shore, but Bangs and Buckton say what's on everyone's mind and bring it out in the open in Parody. The directors are holding a mirror up to the overly-compensating hyper-aggressive men of this generation and saying, "You might think you're the toughest guy on the block, but this is what you look like to us. And it's totally OK." The directors encourage the emotionally unstable and sexually confused men of the Jersey Shore to embrace what they so clearly are, and that's a lesson everyone can learn. We all put up fronts to conceal who we truly are and keep people at a safe distance. Bangs and Buckton are here to help us tear those walls down. And that's what makes Parody great. This film is not just about tan people humping each other; it's a commentary on the show and, by extension, the culture that celebrates it. Also, tan people hump each other. Conclusion And how does this beautiful emotional roller coaster end? The housemates are sent a mysterious, ticking package as the end of their stay nears. The box, we learn, contains a bomb that is both time and motion sensitive. When an excitable Vinnie demands to see the box due to the frankly perplexing fact that he "loves clocks," the bomb contained therein detonates, destroying the house and all who dwell within.
The allusion to Mario Puzo's The Godfather--the package is from "Don Corleone, PO Box 187 Italy, Europe"--was no accident and serves many functions.
Chiefly, it trains its viewer to pay very close attention. To a casual viewer, the package likely bares no significance, but as rhetorician and New Criticism pioneer Ivar Armstrong Richards will tell you, a close reading is essential to truly capture the meaning of a piece of literature. This close reading, in conjunction with an appreciation for and understanding of The Godfather brings some of the true brilliance of the film to life. The Godfather is celebrated for, among many, many things, its incredible use of foreshadow (a talent also shared by Bangs and Buckton, as displayed earlier). As Godfather devotees will tell you, oranges serve as an important foreshadowing device, a death omen for the Corleone family: Don Corleone purchases oranges before he is shot and ultimately dies with an orange wedge in his mouth; Woltz sits near a bowl of oranges just minutes before his horse is murdered; Fanucci picks up a few oranges right before he's shot, and so on. Francis Ford Coppola trained his audience to anticipate death when they saw oranges in a Godfather film, and Bangs and Buckton make excellent use of this training. In an amusing twist, the literal oranges used in The Godfather are replaced in Jersey Shore Parody with the obscenely orange tans of the housemates. Bangs and Buckton know that the use of the Corleone name with the almost overbearingly bright orange colors of the cast will stir up a tension in the guts of their viewers. We, as the audience, sense this connection and feel that something bad is coming, thanks to the foundation laid by Coppola. As if we needed more proof that murder was afoot, the PO Box number on the package very tellingly reads "187," the penal code for the crime of murder. Our directors don't dwell on this package, we only see it long enough to feel the suspense, our hearts beating in line with the tick tick tick of the mysterious package. Before we can process this lightning-quick information and make the connection, the bomb goes off and our unlikely heroes perish. Nothing remains of the house and the sky turns black as ash rains down on the site that once held the hormone-charged antics of our dear friends. We can't be too surprised; the details were all there, for those paying attention.
It wouldn't be a Bangs and Buckton film if there weren't multiple layers to that thrilling conclusion. In addition to one of the quickest porn-related endings that doesn't directly involve premature ejaculation, this gripping finale functions as a commentary on the temporal nature of celebrity and a warning for our society. The cast of The Jersey Shore may be enjoying their time in the spotlight, and we as viewers may enjoy them as our jesters-of-the-moment, but nothing is infinite and it's only a matter of time before the next "phenomenon" sweeps the nation. As Bangs and Buckton eloquently remind us, this cast, too, shall pass. Dust to dust. Ashes to ashes.
Daniel O'Brien just simultaneously impressed and horrified all of his former Lit. Theory professors.


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If you're new here, our CEO, Wess Stafford, didn't write this post, but he did answer the question. We recorded his answer and transcribed it for your reading pleasure.
Read all the posts in the Wess Speaks series.
- I remember you telling us how the idea of LDP came to you as you were taking a walk in your garden. I have always wondered what kind of trees were in the garden and what sounds were there? (Anthony Njoroge)
Wow — you have an amazing memory.
It was on the little ranch that I now own that I first had the thought of the Leadership Development Program (LDP). I didn't even own the ranch then, I was just kind of walking through it. The trees I was walking through were Ponderosa Pines and the sounds that were all around me were squirrels chattering, cattle grazing and birds chirping. That was 11 years ago.
My great joy is out of that thought (that I'm sure was from God) we now have 1,800 LDP students. These are students who are going through university.
About two weeks ago I was in India for the country's first LDP graduation down in Chennai, which used to be Madras. We graduated 16 that day, but there are 97 more university students in that program who will graduate in the next three or four years.
I go to the very first LDP graduation of each country. I can't go to them all, but I've promised that I'll be at the first one.
I met one of the young men in that LDP who is a medical student. Last year 205,000 of India's sharpest and brightest took the medical entrance exams that the government puts out. That LDP medical student, whose father is a peasant farmer, placed second in the entire nation on the exam. That's the kind of outstanding people we have in this program.
Yeah, okay some of them are still four and five years old and in the Child Sponsorship Program. Some of them are still in their momma's womb. But when you think of the potential! What a loss the world would have if we didn't give these kids the chance to, first of all reach their potential, but then also to reach that potential with a heart to give back. What would the world be like?
Do we still have cancer because the guy that was supposed to cure cancer grew up in a dump in Guatemala and didn't make it? Or maybe he is running a sugarcane stand somewhere?
Every time I see these young people, especially when they are really, really small, I can't help asking myself, What are they becoming? What has God knit into them in their momma's womb? He knit their DNA. And what is His plan? What is His hope and future that He says He has for these little ones?
For the 1,800 that we've got in the Leadership Development Program, I'm thrilled to see that not only are they in the top of their classes, but they're also the leaders on their campuses.
And I have no doubt that the young man I met is going to be a remarkable doctor. So I ask myself Who picked up his little child packet when there was a little four-year-old cute guy on the table? I bet they had no idea that God had orchestrated for this little guy to grow up to be a doctor, or a pastor, or president of the country.
So that's where the idea of the LDP came from, walking through the Ponderosa Pines on my little ranch, and it was one of my absolute greatest joys.


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This course helps you to learn by doing. Each discussion of related components is presented with examples of how best to utilize them in your applications. Hands-on exercises and the mini-projects you develop during the course reinforce the concepts you have learned. The online Zend Training Center allows participants to develop code during the course while your instructor is able to see and coach your progress.
This course is designed for people who have a solid foundation in the PHP language and OOP, and have successfully created complex PHP web applications. This is an introductory course and assumes no previous Zend Framework experience.
While this is a fundamental level course on Zend Framework 1, it requires more than a fundamental level understanding of PHP. Participants are assumed to be proficient enough in the language to understand intermediate-level code examples and to perform coding exercises. This course is based on ZF version 1.9.
Upon completing the course, active PHP developers should be equipped to best utilize Zend Framework, along with the Model-View-Component design pattern, to create robust web applications with more ease and less time.
Solid understanding of PHP at an intermediate to advanced level and OOP experience
This class provides a series of nine 2-hr, instructor-led lectures on the Zend Framework 1 design architecture, coupled with practical examples and student exercises. Participants are provided with a course guide, and the solution code for a practice application used as a teaching tool throughout the course. You will also be granted access to the recorded sessions for thirty days after your class ends, so that you have time to review the materials at your own pace, to solidify important concepts and advance your coding skills!
Class Schedule
Hours per Session


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That news came this month from the office of State Comptroller Susan Combs when she released the July sales tax rebate figures.
According to the report, Beeville's rebate of $288,403.48 was down by 19.88 percent compared to the $359,084.35 the city received for the same period in 2013.
The year-to-date figure was not much better. Since January the city has collected $2,308,288.17 in rebates from Combs' office for a loss of 12.27 percent.
At this time last year the city had received $2,631,374.16 in rebates from Austin.
Bee County actually had good news in its July rebate payment.
With another $199,555.06 in the bank, the county was actually in the positive by 10.77 percent compared to the rebate of $180,143.77 received last July.
Although the county's year-to-date figures are still in the red, compared to that of 2013, the difference is not as significant as it is for the city this month.
The county has banked $1,190,359.99 in sales tax rebates since January. That is down by only 2.95 percent compared to the $1,226,666.71 the county had received in sales tax rebates by this time last year.
City Manager Jack Hamlett said this week that he is not sure what is causing the decrease in sales tax rebates right now.
He said projections indicate that the city's income from sales taxes could see a loss of as much as $300,000 this year.
Hamlett said it is possible to hire a consulting company which could track sales tax rebates from Austin and determine why the payments are declining.
In some instances, Hamlett said, the state could be sending rebates to another taxing entity in the county that should have gone to the city.
In a situation like that it could be worth the effort to enlist the aid of a consulting firm.
Statewide, the figures show improvement. Cities across the state received $394.1 million in July. That was an increase of 4.4 percent for July and up by 6.7 percent for the year.


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"Thanks for producing the best show on the radio (Catholic or otherwise)! My husband and I finally joined the Radio Club and look forward to supporting y'all quarterly from now on."
~ Adalee
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"No work of charity should be regarded as foreign to the Society, although its special object is to visit poor families."
~ In outlining the activities of The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, an international association of Catholic laymen engaging systematically in personal service to the poor, the founders had an eye to the future needs of human kind.


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More arrests came Thursday in the investigation surrounding the shooting on Mother's Day, WDSU-TV reported.
A second suspect was arrested in the incident -- Shawn Scott, 24. Police said Shawn is the 24-year-old brother of Akein Scott, 19.
Police called Shawn a career criminal. He was also booked on 20 counts of attempted second-degree murder, police said.
According to police, the brothers are involved in the Frenchman-Derbigny Boys gang.
Akein Scott was arrested late Wednesday night at a home in eastern New Orleans. According to sheriff's records released Thursday, Akein was identified by a witness in a photo lineup.
Police also confirmed at a noon news conference that four others were arrested on charges of harboring Akein Scott and accessory after the fact.
The four people were identified as Justin Alexander, Bionca Hickerson, Nakia Youngblood and Brandy George.
"We all came back here, to make it clear that the culture of death and violence on the streets of New Orleans is unnatural," Mayor Mitch Landrieu said. "We will not let up. The rules of the game have changed on the streets of New Orleans."
The shooting injured 20 people, according to the arrest warrant released on Thursday. Originally, 19 people were reported injured in the gunfire that erupted during a second-line parade. Three people are still listed in critical condition.
Akein Scott appeared in magistrate court at 10 a.m. and smiled as the charges against him were read. His bond was set at $10 million.
"The people of New Orleans chose to be with us and not with the coward who fired into this crowd," NOPD Supt. Ronal Serpas said.


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606-496-8756 (To request relief help, or volunteer)Volunteer Reception CenterRifle Coal FacilityHwy 172, West Liberty
Several counties within our service region (Johnson, Lawrence, Magoffin, Martin, Menifee and Morgan), as well as other areas across the Commonwealth have been devastated by recent tornados and storms, most notably West Liberty in Morgan County, which has been hit twice within just a few days.
By your phone calls, e-mails and Facebook inquiries you are ready and willing to help in any way you can. This website provides information for MSU students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends who have been affected, and for those who are ready to help.
© Copyright 2015 Morehead State University -
150 University Blvd. Morehead, KY 40351 • 1-800-585-6781
MSU is an affirmative action, equal opportunity, educational institution.


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How to Be Happy
What does it mean to be happy? Happiness isn't something you can just wake up and decide to feel. Even with all the medications and other get-happy-fast remedies on the market today, there is no way to reach a permanent state of happiness. It is ephemeral, and it can come and go with something as trivial as a change in the weather. Still, there are ways to steer clear of the paths leading you toward anger, anxiety, sadness, and frustration. Here are a few ways to help get you well on your way to achieving a happier you.


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Now is the winter of my discontent
Eyeing the pasta, I moved on and chatted briefly with Bob Eckert (www.northernfarmhousepasta.com) who explained that he and wife Jen are "new to the business"—with their second anniversary around the corner—but they are just as invested in the community. "These people are our friends," he said, looking around, "not just customers, and we look forward to seeing them every week, regardless of the season." Based in Roscoe, NY, the Eckerts use 100% organic flour from the Finger Lakes Region, and rely on local farms to provide them with "fresh, seasonal produce to create exceptional pasta and ravioli that highlights the local flavors these lands have to offer."
I stuffed my reusable bag with mushrooms from Heller's Farm in Bainbridge, NY; "Anti-Depressant" tea from Catskill Mountain Herbs of Bethel, NY (www.catskillmountainherbs.com); and an aromatic cedarwood soap from Jim and Tracy Fawley (www.windypondfarm.com) of Lake Como, PA. I spoke with the Fawleys, who enthused about their Nigerian dwarf goats and how the soaps are made. "I'm the milkmaid and he's the soap-meister," Tracy laughed. "Our neighbors call her the crazy goat lady," Jim added, waving me on to the soap-making demonstration taking place in the kitchen. Gudrun Feigl (www.mountpleasantherbary.com) was in her element, describing the history of soap to a small gathering, taking them through the process, step by step, and creating bars of soap scented with lavender and sage right there on the spot. Observer Cynthia Capicchioni had driven from Hortonville, NY to take advantage of the workshop and was "captivated." I was, too, but decided it was better to support these entrepreneurs, rather than attempt making my own, and I made my way to the Brook House Gallery in Barryville, NY to observe (IMHO) more talented people engaged in creative activities that are better left to others (rather than to of my own devices).


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Book Online - Over 4,000 hotels worldwide
Why Book With Us
- No booking fees
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Featured Destinations
New York City
The Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building.These are the icons that define New York City. But visitors quickly discover that whatever their passion, whatever their interest…
Red double decker buses and boxy black cabs sail through the streets of Europe's largest city, where the attractions seem infinite. With two thousand years of rich history…


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Information and Communication Technologies
Heartbleed and Laurier
Apr 10/14
Employee Service Desk x4357
Heartbleed and Laurier
Heartbleed and Laurier: servers not affected; preventative fix installed April 9
Ken Boyd and Carl Langford
April 10, 2014
What is Heartbleed?
Heartbleed is an Internet security breach that goes after a vulnerability in the security protocol, OpenSSL. OpenSSL is a set of open-source libraries that companies use to encrypt their websites. Over half of all secure sites (the ones that show as https: ) use OpenSSL. The vulnerability, if exploited, would enable someone to see your password on a given site and thus compromise whatever information you have stored or access on that site.
Laurier's Systems
ITS became aware of this vulnerability late last week and worked with our firewall vendor to ensure Heartbleed was prevented from coming on our campuses. The vendors have provided us with a preventative fix, which was implemented April 9. ITS servers do not use versions of OpenSSL that are affected, but our fix will prevent any pass through traffic as a result of other systems being compromised. There are some servers at Laurier that are not under ITS control. We are testing them right now. If they are vulnerable they will be taken offline until a fix can be implemented.
Heartbleed and You
Although there is no evidence as yet, it is possible that hackers may have infiltrated your accounts. There are some steps you can take to protect yourself. These are good practices you should always be doing to protect you and your information.
1) Check your accounts for any strange activity or transfers. Contact your financial institutions immediately if you see any unusual activity on your accounts
2) Here is a list of 10,000+ websites that have been scanned for the Heartbleed vulnerability. https://github.com/musalbas/heartbleed-masstest/blob/master/top10000.txt
Click Ctrl-F and type in the name of the website you want to check. This list is sorted with the vulnerable sites at the top of the list.
3) Change your passwords frequently. Especially any of your passwords that access your financial information. Change your passwords at least every 6 months, changing every 2 months is preferred. Never reuse a password and don't just add an incremental number at the end of an old password
4) Use strong passwords. Strong passwords include upper and lower case letters, numbers and special characters (!@#$, etc.)
a. Here is an example
i. Weak: password
ii. Stronger: wrdpas$
iii. Strongest:W5dP@$$
5) Be aware of any phishing attempts. We have seen a number of phishing attempts over the last few years. Fortunately we are blessed with a well informed community who are savvy to this kind of activity. We are not aware of any successful attempts and, with your continued help, none will be successful in the future.
View all Information and Communication Technologies news
View all Laurier news


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Oasis Downtown Vallarta Hostel
enjoy the summer with the Oasis Family with super low prices which are only available through Hostelworld bookings!
We are not in Downtown, We are Downtown!
We are a small hostel located at the heart of Puerto Vallarta and following in the tradition of Oasis Hostel we will be taking care of our guests in the same way we have been doing the last 5 years and that have already earned us an award as the best hostel in Mexico this Year.
We offer the most central location with all the sightseeing you may want and need available. The Ocean, Beach, Restaurants, Bars, Clubs, Museums, Plazas, Shops and beautiful neighborhood of central Puerto Vallarta are all a few seconds away.
We like to be honest so.. Being that we are located in the middle of the vibrant and dynamic downtown of PV it can get a bit noisy here, bear that in mind.
We like to think of this hostel and Oasis Hostel as one big home away from home for backpackers. We join both hostel guests in activities and trips as well as outings. We have activities planned for the week as well as tours to the jungle made by us.
Come check us out!
Check in only between 8am and 10pm. If you need an extraordinary check in please email us.
Cancellation policy: 48 hrs,
Only cash on arrival
Very important: Payment of the total of the balance is due in CASH on the Arrival day on the total of the booking. If at the time of arrival you wish to stay less nights you will be liable for 30% of the nights you had originally booked as this is considered a late cancellation.
In the case that you can't pay the total on arrival you will have to pay the normal walk-in rate at the time for every day.
Valid national Id is strictly required for check in or loss of reservation will be applied.
Availability & RatesTo view availability and prices please select dates and click 'Update Dates'
Hostel Facilities & Policies
- Bar
- Bicycle hire
- Board Games
- Book Exchange
- Free Breakfast
- Cable TV
- Ceiling Fan
- Common Room
- Credit Cards Not Accepted
- DVDs
- Free Internet Access
- Free WiFi
- Fridge/Freezer
- Foosball
- Hot Showers
- Internet Access
- Iron / Ironing Board
- Self-Catering Facilities
- Linen Included
- Security Lockers
- Luggage Storage
- Microwave
- No Curfew
- Outdoor Terrace
- Reception (limited hours)
- Taxes included
- Tea & Coffee Making Facilities
- Tours/Travel Desk
- Towels For Hire
- Wi-Fi
Cancellation PolicyThis property has a 2 day cancellation policy. Failure to cancel within this time will result in a cancellation charge equal to the first night of your stay.
DirectionsShow MapHide Map
Note: follow these directions specifically
- From the Bus terminal:
take a blue and white only bus that goes to Vallarta via 'Centro' (if you dont want to wait much you can walk 100m to the main boulevard and there will be plenty of these passing by)
Ask to be dropped off after the Municipal Hall, walk back to the plaza and find us on top of the Scotia bank, the door is next to the ATM.
- From the airport:
take any Blue and White bus that goes through 'Centro' . Ask to be dropped off after the Municipal Hall, walk back to the plaza and find us on top of the Scotia bank, the door is next to the ATM.
- There are no specific stops so...
- Be ready to get off after the promenade and the sea appear to your right and you see a fountain with dolphins. Ring the bell and the bus will drop you off at the end of the Malecon (promenade)
Taxi cab
If you say or show the next to a cab driver they should be able to find it in a second:
'En el Centro frente a la Presidencia sobre el Banco Scotia Bank'
You will see a map of our location on this site, please make sure to print it or write the address down. If you take a taxi make sure they know where they are taking you since we do not offer commissions and they will try to convince you to go to other place where they will get a comission. Cheers!!
Located Near
Restaurants, Banks, Ocean, Promenade, Museums, Amphitheatre, Bars, Night Clubs... etc


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Program and Degree Options
Mission Statement
The Political Science program stimulates intellectual curiosity with respect to power relationships within and among the mass public and its leaders. Through theoretical contemplation, applied experience and scholarship, students develop skills to contribute meaningfully to a democracy that values diversity and social justice in a global community.
The Role of Political Science
Political science enhances the liberal education of students through a focus on the ways in which we organize and govern our world, and on the continuing struggle over issues of power, freedom, equality, justice, and social order. Politics is crucial in all human relationships, whether they be social, economic, religious, cultural or even personal. In so many words, political science seeks to answer a simple question: "Who gets what, when, and how?" A serious study of politics compels us to examine ethical, moral, and value questions of the highest order, thereby enriching the moral, personal, leadership, and intellectual development of students.
The way in which we structure our institutions, whether they be global, national, or local, is a reflection of how we make decisions concerning those individuals whom we entrust to govern our lives through the policy decisions they make on our behalf. Therefore, how we decide the critical questions determines how we are governed.
Political science prepares students for many career opportunities. Graduates have pursued their life's work in the legal profession, government service, business, professional political consulting, education, and journalism. Some students pursue graduate degrees as a way to enter the work world of higher education or participating in civic life. The study of political science helps all students to be effective citizens in an increasingly complex and changing world.
We envision a person with a political science degree from North Central College as a strong writer, a critical thinker, a careful reader, and a confident speaker who is willing to listen and carefully consider diverse viewpoints and to engage in meaningful, thoughtful and respectful dialogue about the nature of power relationships and governance. To that end, 33 credit-hours of political science coursework is required for the B.A., which includes four core first-year- and sophomore-level mandated classes (Intro. to American Government, Intro. to International Relations, Theories of Political Science and Practices of Political Science) in addition to the senior seminar. Beyond that, each student must choose at least one course from among the following blocks of political science electives for a well-rounded experience in the major:
- American politics — Presidency, Congress, elections and campaigns, parties and interest groups
- International relations — foreign policy, international politics and economics, comparative politics
- Law and courts — introduction to law, civil rights, liberties and justice, international law
- Political philosophy — economic and social justice, philosophy of law, classical political philosophers
A minor in political science requires 18 credit hours, which must include Introduction to American Government, Theories of Political Science, and the senior seminar.
Pi Sigma Alpha
As one of 600 chapters of this national undergraduate political science honor society throughout the country, the NCC Pi Sigma Alpha chapter (Alpha Delta Xi) is open to juniors and seniors from all majors who have completed at least fifteen credits of political science courses, including one upper-level course, with no grade below a B in those classes. Students must also have an overall grade point average that places them in the top one-third of their class. The goal of Pi Sigma Alpha is to engage students and faculty interested in the study of political science in discussions and projects related to politics and government.


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PITTSBURGH, PA (December 1, 2006) - If you are flying this holiday season, there is a good chance you will get to enjoy beautiful music and singing at the airport. The Choral Concert Program at Pittsburgh International Airport is underway. The program features many local schools and youth music groups. Volunteer Bianca Brown and the Airport Authority`s Communications Department coordinate the project.
The groups are performing on the Ticketing Level of the Landside Terminal. So even if you are going to the airport to pick someone up or drop someone off, you can still enjoy the sounds of the season and some of the area's best young talent.
The airport`s holiday decorations are also on display. Local students make the tree decorations. The participating schools include: trees are decorated with ornaments made by students from Carnegie Elementary, Dutch Ridge Elementary, Hopewell Memorial Junior High, South Side Beaver Elementary, Burkett Elementary, Osborne Elementary School and West Mifflin Middle School.
The schools participating in the Pittsburgh International Airport Choral Concert Program include: Our Lady of Sacred Heart High School, West Allegheny Show Choir, Grandview Elementary School, Sewickley Academy, Robinson Township Christian School, Aliquippa High School Chorus, Sterrett Classical Academy, Miller African Center Academy, Allegheny Traditional Academy, Steel Valley High School, Dilworth Traditional Academy, John Minadeo Elementary, Western Beaver High School, Rhema Christian School, South Fayette Concert Choir, Moon MS Touring Orchestra, West Allegheny Middle School, David E. Williams Middle School and Thomas Jefferson High School.
The Choral Schedule is available via PDF : click here


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From tailgaters to people who take cell phone calls during a movie, the world is full of folks who just don't seem to get society's rules. We asked you to help them out with instructional diagrams that will show these people how to avoid doing the everyday annoying things that make us want to strangle them.
The winner is below, but first the runners up ...
17Entry by van Amstel
by van Amstel


text: My 4 week old was born 7 lbs 7 oz and when we left the hospital she was 6 lbs 12 oz. At her first check up she was 6 lbs 10 oz.. I was told that I needed to supplement her with formula to get her back to birth weight as breast feeding was not getting her there. So I did this.. mostly breast feeding but about 2 times a day she would empty my breast..both of them, and took a 2 oz bottle. I am wanting to phase the bottle out but she will have at least one or two times where she has emptied me out and still acts very hungry so I give her a bottle..Ive read on increasing supply, when i pump i get at least 2 to 3 oz.. is that low? i let her nurse everytime she wants...i dont want to starve my baby and im about to go back to work.. how can i satisfy my baby or is giving her a few bottles a day ok.. i feel such a empty feeling when i see her take a bottle. im rambling... help please?


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Tight Squeeze Videographer Ken Stiles crawls into a tight spot for the live shot
Taking a Break No one manning the camera, Peg's hoping it doesn't fall.
Bottom of the Shaft The live shot set up at the bottom of a 30 foot shaft at a Boston Fire training facility.
Rehearsing Peg reads over her notes that she taped to the tunnel shaft.
Getting Ready The live shot is just a few seconds away.
Peg in a Shaft Peg is looking up from the bottom of a 30-foot training shaft.
Looking Down On Peg Videographer Terry McNamara holds the camera steady while Peg is on the air.
Looking Down On Peg Videographer Terry McNamara aims the camera down a 30 foot shaft.
Peg in a Shaft Peg Rusconi didn't have much room to crawl into her live shot location.
Peg Rusconi Gets Ready For Live Shot Peg has to sit and wait at the bottom of a 30-foot shaft.
Categories: Galleries Local News Photo Galleries


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Myanmar issues cyclone warningBy TODD PITMAN
The Associated Press | May 12,2013YANGON, Myanmar Myanmars government warned Saturday that a cyclone now forming in the Bay of Bengal could slam into the countrys western coast next week, raising fears that storm surges or heavy rains could swamp low-lying camps housing tens of thousands of people who fled sectarian violence last year.
The brunt of the storm is currently barreling northwest toward Bangladesh. But its direction could shift northeast and hit Myanmars Rakhine state when it makes landfall at midweek, Myanmars Meteorology Department and humanitarian aid officials monitoring the situation said.
Around 125,000 people mostly Muslims are living in cramped tents and makeshift shelters in Rakhine state after two outbreaks of sectarian violence there last year. Nearly 70,000 of those displaced are in low-lying areas along the coast that are highly vulnerable to storm surges and flooding and should be moved to higher ground, said Ashok Nigam, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator.
Were very concerned, Nigam told The Associated Press. We need to be prepared for the worst.
Myanmars southern delta was devastated in 2008 by Cyclone Nargis, which swept away entire farming villages and killed more than 130,000 people.
Kelland Stevenson, country director for the international charity Save the Children, said aid agencies held an emergency meeting Saturday to check stocks of food and shelter and draw up contingency plans.
The information were getting now is that the storm is tracking away from Rakhine state, but it can change course at any minute, Stevenson said.
And either way, he added, there will be rain. It is likely to bring a significant amount of water.
Saturday, state television broadcast cyclone warnings and President Thein Sein instructed regional authorities to be ready in case the storm hits the country.
Chit Kyaw, deputy director of Myanmars Department of Meteorology, said if the cyclone stays on its course toward Bangladesh, its arms could sweep over Buthidaung and Maungdaw in northernmost Rakhine state.
Nigam said the United Nations is urging the government to move the most vulnerable displaced people in Rakhine to higher ground in case disaster strikes.
He named three areas with high concentrations of displaced Muslims, all of them south of Buthidaung. They are the state capital, Sittwe, Pauktaw to the east, and Myebon further south.
Discussions over where to move the displaced people have become increasingly urgent in recent weeks amid fears that annual monsoon rains could swamp the camps. The issue has been complicated by widespread anti-Muslim sentiment in the region, where tensions are still running high a year after unrest between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims erupted.
The violence has largely segregated Rakhine state along religious lines, with prominent Buddhists including monks urging people to boycott Muslim businesses.
The Rohingya, whose movement has been restricted by authorities, have suffered discrimination for decades. They are widely viewed as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and denied citizenship as a result.MORE IN Wire NewsUNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. Full StoryTroubling as the details of the McLaren Report were, a news item out of Russia earlier this week... Full Story
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Fresh from the desk of Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal, the Phillies are believed to have offered center fielder Angel Pagan a four year deal. The 31-year old Pagan hit .288/.331/.440 with eight homers and 29 steals in a bounce-back 2012. His 2012 line was just slightly better than his career line of .281/.333/.424. Pagan has seemingly emerged as the Phillies' premier center field target as the team believes it can commit to Pagan and fill holes at third and in the bullpen. Rosenthal believes the Giants have also offered Pagan four years.
Analysis: Pagan's 2012 was a bounce-back year from an out-of-the-ordinary extraordinary 2010 with the Mets. Pagan has faired well on the basepaths at a 78.98% success-rate and has played above-average defense in center for his career but really only three full and one half season under his belt with several partial seasons scattered across seven years. Four years is way too long of a commitment, in my opinion, for a player that has only had success in three seasons and is already 31.
0 Comments
This is making my soul hurt.
Im cool with this depending on the money.
Hopefully not a bust like pence was. Still like to see Shane back. They still need corner outfielders brown and Mayberry aren't going to cut it
*scratching my head* as to why you'd say Pence was a "bust" when he was our leader in HR when he was traded ( but yet, you'd like Victorino–who pretty much just gave up even really trying, to come back for us )
Still like to see Shane back? Vic had a bad season and is also just as old as Pagan. He's being pursued by seven teams, and will likely cost just as much as Pagan.
Pagan might be "meh" to a lot of people, but besides Bourn, who will cost tons of money and a draft pick, Hamilton, who will probably cost more, is an injury risk, and is probably better suited for LF, or a trade, which will cost needed players/prospects, Pagan is as good or better than the other free agent CFers.
Shane Victorino is better than Angel Pagan.
Angel Pagan put up a 0.9 fWAR season in 2011. Shane hasn't had a year in which he put up less than THREE TIMES THAT since 2006, which was before he became a full-time player.
Victorino also has more power and hits LHP much better than Pagan (although Pagan hits righties a little better than Shane does)
Sorry, Eric, but I don't go only by WAR. Victorino had a bad season, didn't have good lefty/righty splits (which have been getting worse) and finished the year worse than he started it. Pagan had a decent year. It's hard to say who might be declining the fastest, but it appears to be Victorino at this point. It's also hard to say who will get the biggest payday, but there does seem to be more interest in Victorino, except by the Phils, who probably know him best as afr as how he fits in, his current abilities, and how they might pan out in a couple of years.
I'm not totally against Victorino, but I do feel he'll be less steady than Pagan.
For what it's worth, the Bill James projection model, based on their age and recent seasons, expects Victorino to have the slightly better 2013:
Pagan …….. .277/.332/.403 (.735 OPS)
Victorino …. .269/.338/.418 (.756 OPS)
Can someone, ANYONE, get the keys away from Ruben Amaro Jr.
You've got to be kidding me. So much for right handed power…
Please name all the free agent center fielders who have good right handed power.
Shane Victorino.
Cody Ross (if you consider him a CF)
And Josh Hamilton (he doesn't bat from the right side, but he hit .291/.333/.520 vs. LHP last year)
I think he's referring to BJ Upton and is upset that the Phils did not get him.
I don't consider Ross to be a center fielder, and Hamilton is better suited for a corner. I've already given my views on Victorino, who has some power but isn't a true power bat. He's also a switch hitter, not a pure righthanded hitter. Of course that's nitpicking.
And to hk, your assumptions PISS ME OFF. Why don't you ask me what I think instead of assuming what I think. Maybe you'd actually learn something true about my feelings about BJ Upton, which are as follows: the Braves paid too much for him, and therefore I'm very happy the Phils didn't sign him. He has power, but a low BA and OBP.
George, relax. My comment was not an assumption of what you were thinking, it was a response to your "Please name all the free agent center fielders who have good right handed power" comment. I believe that Tz, not you, was complaining that they didn't sign Upton and now they have to settle for a CF without RH power (like Pagan).
Sorry about that, hk. It did appear at first that you were responding to my comment, and not that of Tz.
That said, it is still very dangerous to assume the thoughts of someone else. Maybe Tz was frustrated, maybe not.
Also, your response to my "p—-d off" remark still indicates that you're reading something a little strange into my asking the names of all the power-hitting CFers. It was a simple question, answered simply by EricL, who did it without any assumptions about what anyone was thinking.
For relatively low money Pagan will play a good centerfield. But he is no power bat. That is going to have to come from the corner outfielders or the third baseman. I don't see that this year but better to secure the defense up the middle and get a solid player.
Hamilton Please! Just saying!
Really? Another 30+ year old free agent signing? Have we not learned our lesson yet?
dude if we didnt get upton(didnt want him anyway) all other free agents that are good are 30+ not much they can do about that
Youk at 3rd and Hamilton in rf, Ruf/Brown Lf
Yeah, if they get Hamilton for right and Youk at 3rd than they can afford to have less power in center. At least Pagan gives them some above-average defensive talent, but this is a team in dire need of run production. A healthy Hamilton brings them 140 RBI and no other free agent this year has that capacity. If they don't spring for Hamilton, they're going to have to make a trade for talent that approaches Hamilton's numbers and that would likely cost them the only thing they have to offer – a starting pitcher on the level of Lee or Halladay.
I'm not convinced "Babe" Ruff should be anything more than a pinch-hitter (more a hazard in the field) and despite some long-ball success after he was brought up, he's still far from a proven and prevailing talent against major league pitching, especially considering he's no longer a young prospect. I wish Brown would show some growth. It's hard not to look at him and see the athletic potential but the finer points of the game are things that athleticism alone cannot buy.
Pagan is only 31 so its not too bad. Raul was what 35 when he signed.
Not what I wanted to hear! Don't see how Pagan makes this team better!! Is he better than Shane? Is he the RH power bat that we really need? Is anyone really excited about this proposition?
To answer your questions: No, No, and Not Really, but there's not a lot of available OF that would really excite me, to be honest.
EricL, I'm pretty sure Pagan Is an improvement over Mayberry, and therefore would improve the team. (Mayberry could assume the sub role he's more capable of.) The second part is debateable, and the third part I totally agree with. There just aren't any guys out there that excite me, either.
And all the experts said what a great crop of free agent outfielders would be available! I looked at the list early on and my reaction to the whole thing was "meh." The only thing worse was the pool of 3rd basemen.
This is a great addition especially if this allows for other additions to the lineup and bullpen. Pagan is not a superstar but he is a good player that can switch hit, be a true lead off hitter with a little bit of pop at least and best of all will not break the bank. He's only 31 that's not bad at all and is somebody who can get on base. I love this move especially if the Phils go out and get a Right handed power bat at 3B or in LF, plus a veteran set up man. Quit whining about age with the Phillies being old enough, what the heck difference does it make if the Phillies signed a guy 3-4 years younger, our window to win is now so better do all you can to take advantage of it
I'd prefer 3 years, but I agree with you that 4 for Pagan would not be the end of the world if – and it's a big if – the dollars are reasonable (maybe $11M per year). The other benefit of Pagan vs. Bourn is that Pagan does not cost the team their 1st round pick in the June draft.
Angel made 4.8 mil last year and according to article, has been offered a 4 year deal by the Giants too. Would he be a good fit on the Phils? Perhaps.
Still have a huge need though, for a big gun. If the money is reasonable (is it ever now a day?) I would fee pretty decent about this acquisition.
he takes three drug test a week and has not failed, he has bounced back strong fromn a past that should have killed him….we all have problems we r all human and make mistakes…dont mention alcohol like u dont drink any…..so f*ck and this ignorant a$$ comment like your perfect. grow up.
well robert. that was rather blunt! but i do agree with your comment as far as his testing , and
(so called problems) i think he's beyond that except, for people who keep reminding him of it!
i don't care what they want to spend for any free agents. i feel as though a lot of commentors must be certified CPA's . worrying about the bottom line all the time. if they want to spend and go over the cap they'll do it. i don't worry about the money stuff. i'd love to have a thumper like him in the order. my biggest problem with what they do spend is. his age, and length of the contract. like i said i don't care what they spend as long as it doesn't hamper them from making other moves. and basically that's what the other guys here are actually talking about in terms of money. but MY biggest problem with JH is the fact that he's another lefty.
and as far as your comment on being perfect and growing up? i'm 62 and will never grow up! lol as far as being perfect? that i am! i'm perfectly imperfect! lol put it short i'm a perfectly immature old fart!lol
If you're worried about Hamilton being lefthanded, you should read EricL's comment earlier, or better, I'll just quote part of it to make it easier:
"… he hit .291/.333/.520 vs. LHP last year…"
I would love to see Hamilton in right. He's a superb talent at bat (even against lefties), an above-average fielder (if put at a corner) and remains one of the premier players in baseball.
But as far as alcohol and drug demons go, addicts don't really ever get past it. The lucky ones manage to keep a step ahead of it. As a free agent (who won't cost the team equal talent in another position) I believe Hamilton is worth that chance, but let's not fool ourselves, he's a risk and nobody knows that better now than Josh Hamilton himself.
lol @ the free agents over 30… yea the 23 yr old free agents are just everywhere. … now you know why young talent is worth so much
SInce there are now three open roster spots, I'm pretty certain there is more than one piece is in play. Pagan could be a nice piece if paired with the other needs. Also, since trades are not out of the realm of possibility, there could be more roster spots opening. We could see wholesale changes that include Pagan.
It's also possible that we could see very little movement, which is not always a bad thing, 3 of last year's playoff teams did very little last offseason.
So, for those that are concerned that a Pagan signing means they won't be able to get some right handed pop and a reliever, don't be. This could be the just the beginning. And in my opinion, a real good one defensively. When you spend like the Phils have on pitching, you gotta have guys (particularly up the middle) that can really get after, and catch the baseball.
I agree that Pagan could be a nice piece if paired with other need(s), but in the absence of good 3rd baseman (beyond Youk) with ample power the only obvious choice is Hamilton in right field.
I don't believe the Phillies can afford to sit pat with just Pagan added to their starting lineup. He's only an answer to the team's (every team's) need for defensive talent in center and probable some on-base percentage improvement in their lead-off slot.
This team is desperate for power, even if that means adding another left-handed hitter like Hamilton. If I recall, his numbers aren't bad against lefties which is more than you can say for their current middle of the order.
Four years is too long for Pagan, considering he only had one or two really above average seasons. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem the team wants to offer Victorino a short term deal. It is ashame the team is stick with Nix's contract, as I think Nate S. is the better fielder, and although he lacks power, is a slightly better hitter. I truly think Amaro is gonna surprise us all and sign Hamilton. Not sure if in onboar with that. Who knows though. Just have a lot of holes to fill and the market isn't that great. Go Phils!
I hope they don't do that. How can they fit another over 20m player on the roster and have enough for everyone else.
Depends. If they feel their next TV contract is going to be somewhere in the Dodgers' range (not that high, obviously, but in the $4-5 billion range?) then they might not have a problem taking on a lot of salary for the right pieces.
No way to know I guess, but think about it, they probably have to give him at least Howard money right? 5/125. Then hope the TV thing works out, which is not a sure thing. Suppose all these networks that are presently paying the big money begin to look like bad investments, then everything changes.
"Ignore" signal was repeated on a bicycle "ex-convict"? How do you become the violation? I wonder is not that many people think you need much even run a red light on a bicycle, is stopped by police at best, be noted. But I might be going to come to an end also "heaven" http://www.r4kaartr4i.org http://www.r4kaartr4i.org
I'd be happy with Pagan for thee years, the more I think about it, as long as the money is reasonable and it allows us to still fill the set-up man spot and possibly third. Anyone know if Reynold is available as a short term fix at third? Heard the Orioles might let him walk.
Reynolds is officially free. I think (not sure) he made 7.5 million last year, and he's no Polly defensively at third. I wonder what his price range is now?
Reynolds is probably worse than Wiggy at third. I'd like to own the mineral rights to any of their hands.
Reynolds fielding in 2011 and early last year was so atrocious that Baltimore moved him to 1B / DH.
reynolds had 26 errors in 114 games at 3rd in 2011. his avg is low also. he hits homeruns and thats about it. no, thanks.
i know vic had a bad season this year, but is pagan really any better than him? i'm thinking they just want a new face and players always become popular when they play for a world series team. vic has better power #s.
Pagan and Vic are about the same. One advantage Vic has is he hits lefties well, which some people think the Phillies need for more balance.
Thanks, Lefty. I know Reynolds isn't the greatest fielder or overall hitter, but the guy can crush the ball with power when he is in a groove. Maybe we can get him cheap. I'm not sold on Youk. Too many injuries, and we just let Polly go because of that. RAJ has some tough decisions. Glad I'm not a GM. Lol.
Although Reynolds is a stiff both on the field as well as the bat, probably he more than anyone was the catalyst for the Orioles drive in August and September and nearly destroyed the Yanks single handedly by hitting 7 hrs against them. Reynolds hit 23 hrs for the year, 9 in September (although he batted .231) and 6 in August (hitting .275).
Reynolds saved Ryan Howard from the indignity of being identified as the single season strike out king by whiffing over 200 times in 3 consecutive years (his high was 223 K's in 2009). We would hate seeing Reynolds in a Phils uniform, really.
Lefty, I agree with you on Hamilton. When the guy is on he is phenomenal, but he brings more than the average risk to a team with his addictions, injuries, and price tag. I applaud his efforts to quell his demons and still rank as a top player in the game, and I'd love to have him as a Phillie, but the price and risk seem to be too great. Although when RAJ wants someone he usually gets them – good, bad, or ugly.
Hamilton certainly doesn't come without his own physical risks – and personal demons, and I'm sure whoever signs him will have ample clauses to protect the team in case those issues return. Than again, he's a lot less a risk to a new team as a free agent than he would be if a team had trade away existing talent for his services.
The price tag may still be too high vs risk but on one thing everyone can agree, when Hamilton is firing on all cylinders there are few better at any position.
Pagan, Swisher and a setup pitcher like uehata or Adams. Just enough money to stay under the 2014 cap.
Works for me, what is Swisher supposed to be asking now? And Ed is right, 3 years would be better for Pagan, but if they want to outbid the Giants they may have to go 4.
I hope Pagan turns down reported offer by Amaro. I want the 'Flyin' Hawiian' who creates havoc on the basepath with dynamic speed and a 3 time gold glover in CF. Pagan? What do the Phillies gained with him that Victorino does not offer? Victorino is better than Pagan and probably cheaper.
Try Alphonso Soriano in RF for 2 yrs, platoon JMJ/Brown in CF (Brown is most productive when he plays CF), platoon Ruf/Brown in LF. Reynolds would MASH in CBP! I like the thought of his whiff, whif, MASH in the lineup!
Reynolds would likely see a dip in his stats at CBP. Both Chase Field and Camden Yards are much better for RH home run hitters.
Gotta disagree here Schmenkman, I realize there are a lot of factors that go into it but most of these are way out no matter the wind direction etc. In fact the balls to the right side look like they would not go out if you overlay Chase Field.
Not that I'm campaigning for Reynolds, I don't think that would be a good move at all defensively.
As you allude to, there is more than fence distance that goes into whether a ball leaves the park (humidity, wind, etc.), but in general, RH batters are helped more by Camden Yards and Chase Field than by CBP. Could Reynolds be an exception, can you factor in more than one of his seasons? It's possible.
@Sch, how do u figure that stat since the Phils have been Lefty power heavy for the past half decade so the home run rate for Righties will be skewed low. Plus the left field walls are 329, 330, and 333 feet at CBP, Chase Field, and Camden Yards, respectively.
Park factors are calculated by comparing the stats by both teams in (say) the Phillies' home games with the stats in their away games. So same teams, same hitters, same pitchers in both situations.
And when you do that, RH hitters hit slightly fewer home runs at CBP than in the Phillies' away games. However both Chase and Camden Yards have boosted HRs by RH hitters. Look for the park factors on the right side of these pages. The factors at this site are 3-year averages:
PHI: http://www.statcorner.com/team2.php?team=143&year=2012
ARI: http://www.statcorner.com/team2.php?team=109&year=2012
BAL: http://www.statcorner.com/team2.php?team=110&year=2012
You can also see individual years' stats at ESPN (single years aren't big enough samples for park factors, so they are usually quoted as 3 or 5 year averages):
SouledOut, also the "Runs" park factors at the links above show how each park affects overall hitting.
Well regardless of who the 3B stop gap will be for now, I'm looking forward to Asche. Hopefully he has a good 2013 in AAA.
We are scraping the bottom of the barrell! This guy is just average. we need somebody with power.


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Expert Q & A Answers About Fertility
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Great Thread. GO KNICKS!
Hello and welcome to the 2013 NBA Playoffs Game 5 between our New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics!
Without JR Smith, suspended, New York couldn't finalize the sweep of Boston on their homecourt and lost in OT, extending the series to a game 5
(Photo courtesy of [Only registered and activated users can see links. ])
Tonight it's time to put an end to this and send the Celtics on vacation. A loss tonight is unacceptable!
*** Fun fact ***
On May 1st 1994, New York defeats the Nets 90-81 at MSG in game two of the 1994 playoffs. Needless to say, the Knicks won the EC Finals that year!
Starting lineups:
Last edited by rady; May 01, 2013 at 18:06.
Looking forward to the "gone fishin" picture of the 2012 Celtics
Melo has to step up. So far he doesn't impress in this series: 40 FG%, 4.5 reb and 0 bl.
Good start. 9-0 Knickerbockers.
Signature created by AmareforPresident
3 on 1 should be easy points
Joey Crawford HNNNNNNNNNNGH
Die hard Knicks fan since 90', have been waiting 13 years for this...Let' go Knicks
Something seems off about our offense in the playoffs so far. The dependence on Melo to go 1-on-1 on probably 90% of our possessions is getting really old.
Ball movement needs to return. November Knicks unselfishness is needed if we really want to get a real shot against MIA.
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Why is this game still close? We should be up by 10-12 points..


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Crown Cano With Many Crowns: Yankees Shutout O's
We are just about one month into the young Major League Baseball season and already one New York Yankee is having a tremendous year. Not just a tremendous year, though. A year worthy of the Most Valuable Player Award and a batting title.
I am of course speaking about the red-hot Robinson Cano, who at the end of the season could be wearing many crowns. In fact, I would not be surprised if he wins Player of the Month for April, undoubtedly just the first of his many accomplishments this season.
The young second baseman is absolutely locked in, going 16 for his last 24.
En route to the Yankees' 4-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles tonight, he was 3-for-4 with two home runs, a double, two RBIs, and three runs scored. Cano is currently on an eight-game hitting streak and is showing no signs of slowing down.
He is currently leading the Yankee team in practically every hitting category, and at press time is sporting an average of .407. Tonight marked the sixth time in his career he has gone deep twice in one game.
If you were to touch the hem of Cano's jersey right now, you would get burned.
Just looking at his swing and everything he is doing at the plate right now, Cano is making me think of (a young) Ken Griffey, Jr. His easy swing and effortless follow-through resembles that of Griffey's.
Comparing Cano to a hitter of Griffey's caliber might seem bold, but it's the truth. Back in the day, Griffey could just put on a hitting show night after night, and that's exactly where Cano is at the moment. He is exciting everyone and is the talk of every game.
Maybe his new nickname should be "Cano: The Kid 2.0."
Going 5-4 on their nine-game road trip, the Yankees will now head home to play the Chicago White Sox for the first three games on their six-game home stand. On the road, Cano pounded out 17 hits and knocked in a total of seven runs.
He may not want to leave the road as he is currently raking, but something tells me he will continue to do just fine hitting at Yankee Stadium. After all, his average at home is .318, so I'm reasonably sure he will have no problem coming home.
But it isn't just about his hitting.
Cano is playing some of the greatest defense I have ever seen from a second baseman. He is, without question, the best second baseman in the American League, maybe in the entire league. He proved that tonight.
Making a spectacular play in the field, Cano robbed Nolan Reimold of a base hit. He ranged all the way over to the left side of the second base bag, and tossing an off balance throw, nailed Reimold at first base for an out. Cano was actually on the outfield grass when he made the throw.
That play made even Derek Jeter drop his jaw. Cano is quite the defender.
Helping Cano out tonight was A.J. Burnett, who tossed eight innings of shutout ball. The lanky right-hander surrendered no runs on just three hits. He issued only one walk and struck out four.
Burnett, a veteran pitcher who has been in the league since 1999, improved his record to 3-0. 2010 is the best start he has ever gotten off to, as he has never begun a season with a record of 3-0.
Dr. Jekyll-Burnett showed up tonight and it was just what the Yanks needed to take the series from the O's, two games to one.
Burnett also improved his lifetime record to 10-2 against the Orioles and remains undefeated at 5-0 in Camden Yards. He seems to love to pitch against Baltimore.
I can once again say: Burnett was dealing like he was playing blackjack in Vegas. (My new favorite analogy every time a Yankee hurler tosses a great game)
A tip of the cap also goes to Marcus Thames, who had three hits and knocked in a run in the game. Alex Rodriguez also knocked in Derek Jeter with a sacrifice fly in the first inning to get the Yankees on the board.
However the real story of the night: Cano and his tear. Throw a bucket of water on him right now and he would probably still be the hottest hitter in baseball.
There's a reason he is my favorite Yankee. I have been saying for months what a great player Cano really is. And tonight just proved my point.
4 Comments
You just reminded me….I should have given a shout out on my blog to Marcus Thames. He's been pretty hot himself. If only he could field the ball in left. Oh, well. He's great off the bench.
There were a few hot performances in yesterday's game, but Cano out-shined them all. I mean, AJ pitched a gem, but all everyone was talking about was Robinson Cano. He is unbelievably hot right now. I hope he keeps this heat up.
"Pretty In Pinstripes"
A.J.: Cano is awesome. His swing does resemble the Kid's, lol. I hope he wins a Gold Glove this season. And Burnett – gotta love him🙂
Today's game…..not as much fun.
Is Ken Griffey Jr. getting to old to play? That is what some were thinking after reports in the Tacoma Tribune surfaced saying he didn't pinch hit during that game because he nodded off after inning 5 within the clubhouse. Teammates on the Seattle Mariners team all say the stories are false, and that Griffey would not fall asleep. They say he failed to pinch hit that game because he was not selected to pinch hit, not because he was asleep. All of this leads back to the question of him being too old to keep playing ball.


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Farmers in north-central Iowa's Kossuth County beat out all others in corn and soybean production last year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says in a report issued Thursday that Kossuth County led with 52.8 million bushels of corn and 10.3 million bushels of soybeans. It makes sense that Kossuth would stand out, it's the state's largest county by land size and has the most harvested acres of corn and soybeans.
The extreme heat and drought last year reduced yields significantly across much of Iowa. Only Palo Alto and Clay counties in northwest Iowa produced corn yields above 170 bushels per acre.
Southern Iowa counties suffered most. Appanoose County reported the lowest yields with corn at 44.5 bushels per acre and soybeans at 24.3 bushels per acre.


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The Broncos and Seahawks will play at Sports Authority Field at Mile High to open their preseason schedule sometime Aug. 7-10, with the exact date and time to be finalized at a later date.
The Buffalo Bills and New York Giants will open the preseason in the nationally televised Pro Football Hall of Fame game from Canton, Ohio, at 4 p.m. ET on Aug. 3.
Eight national TV games headlined by the New Orleans Saints visiting the Indianapolis Colts and Kansas City Chiefs playing at Carolina marked the 65-game NFL preseason schedule released Wednesday.
The San Francisco 49ers open new Levi's Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 24, against the San Diego Chargers, a 4 p.m. ET kickoff to be aired nationally on FOX.
---University of Phoenix Stadium will host the 2015 Pro Bowl, seven days before the Super Bowl is played at the home of the Arizona Cardinals.
After considering cutting the all-star game entirely, the 2014 Pro Bowl was deemed a success by commissioner Roger Goodell. The annual exhibition played in the playoff bye week between conference championship games and the Super Bowl will not relocate from Hawaii on a permanent basis.
In 2015 the game will be played Sunday, January 25, 2015 and televised live on ESPN at 8 PM ET from University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona, the site of Super Bowl XLIX a week later on Sunday, February 1. The Arizona Cardinals and Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee will host the Pro Bowl and surrounding activities.
The Pro Bowl following the 2015 season will be played on Sunday, January 31, 2016 and televised live on ESPN from Aloha Stadium in Hawaii, which first hosted the NFL's All-Star game in 1980. San Francisco will host Super Bowl L the following Sunday.
An agreement with the state of Hawaii ties the NFL to playing the Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium following the 2016 season pending final mutual approval.
The 2014 Pro Bowl drew 11.4 million viewers.
The 2015 Pro Bowl will be the third one played in the same city as the Super Bowl. The Los Angeles Coliseum hosted the first Super Bowl on January 15, 1967 and the Pro Bowl the following week. South Florida hosted the Pro Bowl in 2010 a week before Super Bowl XLIV.
---The New Orleans Saints restructured the contract of defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley to create $2.85 million in salary cap space, according to reports Wednesday.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that Bunkley cut his 2014 salary from $4.5 million to $1.65 million. His base salary in 2014 is now $1.3 million and he will receive a $300,000 roster bonus on April 10. His base salary in 2015 and 2016 will remain at $4.4 million.
The 30-year-old is a rotational defensive tackle. He played in 13 games and had eight tackles and five assists last season.
---The San Diego Chargers re-signed offensive lineman Rich Ohrnberger to a one-year contract, the team announced Wednesday.
The 6-foot-2, 300-pound Ohrnberger appeared in 13 regular-season games in 2013, making one start at right guard. He also played at left guard and center.
Ohrnberger, 28, has appeared in 31 regular season games (five starts) in his NFL career. He has also played for the New England Patriots (2009-2011) and Arizona Cardinals (2012). Ohrnberger was a fourth-round selection of New England in 2009.
---The Buffalo Bills signed free agent punter Jake Dombrowski on Wednesday.
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Harvard product appeared in 31 career games (2009-12) for the Crimson, booting 146 punts for 5,839 yards. A native of Gaylord, Mich., Dombrowksi earned First-Team All-Ivy League honors as a senior.
The signing means competition for veteran punter Brian Moorman, who re-signed with the Bills early in the offseason. He averaged 41.2 yards per punt with a 36.6 net average last season.
---Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne said he expects to be cleared April 25, in time to fully participate in offseason workouts.
The 35-year-old Wayne had surgery in October to repair a torn ACL. He said he is ahead of schedule and stoked to return to a wide receiving corps that added former New York Giants first-round pick Hakeem Nicks.
"I'm a fan of (Nicks). We can combine all the winning he's done and we've done and come out with a nice mixture," Wayne said. "He's a big target, great skills, big hands ... I really don't think there are a lot of guys that can cover him."
Third-year receiver T.Y. Hilton caught 99 passes, including playoffs, last season and emerged as quarterback Andrew Luck's top target in Wayne's absence.
A six-time Pro Bowl selection, Wayne is entering the final season of a three-year contract signed in 2012, when he became an unrestricted free agent. He has 13,566 yards and 1,006 receptions (regular season) with the Colts, who drafted him 30th overall in 2001.
---The Carolina Panthers re-signed defensive tackle Colin Cole on a one-year contract.
Cole returned to the field in 2013 after missing the previous two seasons recovering from a serious ankle injury suffered in 2010 against the Seattle Seahawks. He started 13 games for the Panthers and collected nine tackles and one sack.
The 33-year-old veteran is expected to back up Star Lotulelei in 2014.
Cole spent five seasons with the Green Bay Packers and two with the Seattle Seahawks before he was sidelined with the ankle problems. His career totals include 158 tackles, 5 1/2 sacks and 13 passes defensed.
---The Chicago Bears agreed to terms with tight end Matthew Mulligan on a one-year contract and claimed receiver Josh Bellamy off waivers from the Washington Redskins.
Mulligan, 29, spent his first five NFL seasons with the New York Jets (2009-11), St. Louis Rams (2012) and New England Patriots (2013), catching 16 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns while appearing in 65 games with 24 starts.
The 6-foot-4, 267-pounder entered the NFL with the Miami Dolphins in 2008 as an undrafted free agent out of Maine. He spent time on the practice squads of the Dolphins, Tennessee Titans and Jets before making his NFL debut in 2009. Mulligan was also with the Green Bay Packers last preseason.
Last season Mulligan appeared in 15 games with four starts for the Patriots, catching two passes for 16 yards. He has also played in six postseason games, catching one pass for six yards.
Bellamy has appeared in eight NFL games, all as a reserve, in two seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs (2012), San Diego Chargers (2013) and Washington Redskins (2013). The 6-foot, 206-pounder averaged 20.2 yards on five kickoff returns with Kansas City in 2012, but has yet to catch a pass in a regular-season game.
Bellamy, who will turn 25 in May, entered the league with the Chiefs in 2012 as an undrafted free agent from Louisville.
---The Tampa Bay Buccaneers waived long snapper Patrick Scales, the team announced Wednesday.
Scales signed a futures contract with the Buccaneers on Jan. 6.
Jeremy Cain now is in line to handle the snaps for the 2014 season.