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Ambos estudios, hacen una revisión amplia y profunda del sistema de compras públicas del IMSS, identificando los avances y principales desafíos de este sistema, y aportando recomendaciones de políticas públicas que ayudarán a esta importante institución a equiparar sus procesos de compras públicas con las mejores prácticas mundiales.
Mr. Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General, presented in Mexico City the findings of the OECD Review of Public Procurement of the Mexican Institute of Social Security.
This report considers why ministers use the services of advisors, how they are appointed, the special status they enjoy, the concerns they have prompted in the general public, and how reform may make them more accountable and improve the transparency of their status.
The OECD today invited Colombia to join its Working Group on Bribery and to accede to the Anti-Bribery Convention. OECD Deputy Secretary-General Richard Boucher signed an exchange of letters with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.
To help governments meet this challenge, the OECD and the World Bank/UNODC Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) released today a new study on the Identification and Quantification of the Proceeds of Bribery.
The Legal Instruments for Preventing Corruption aim at regulating lobbying, public procurement, conflicts of interest and ethics in the public sector. The setting and promotion of standards allow to improve public sector governance with a view to safeguarding the interests of citizens.
English, PDF, 1,544kb
Prepared by the OECD for the G20, this study describes the main features of whistleblower protection frameworks currently in place in G20 countries and provides guiding principles and best practices to support the implementation of the G20 commitment to strengthen the protection of whistleblowers.
Spanish, , 7,594kb
Intermediaries fulfil a key role in international business transactions. While many of them perform lawful tasks, many also engage in bribery of foreign public officials. This study, initiated in 2007, focuses on the use of intermediaries in cases of bribery of foreign public officials. It provides a definition of intermediaries and reasons for their use before examining several modus operandi, legal and practical issues, and
The OECD Guidelines for Managing Conflict of Interest in the Public Service provide aim to help governments review and modernise their conflict-of-interest policies in the public sector.


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Annika and Tom
by Polka Dot Bride | Australia - Western Australia, Bride, Inspired Weddings, Australia - Western Australia
Annika and Tom Today's wedding has a beautiful sense of peace about it. I love how Annika and Tom made their celebration their own, using touches that really meant something to them. Photos today are by Angela Higgins. Annika tells the story of how she and Tom met. "We officially met on the first day

subset: commoncrawl


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Sandy Carter: Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) -- Off the Record
Dressing up Social Media with My Virtual Model. Check them out @ IBM IMPACT 2009
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My Virtual Model enables consumers to "try on" clothes online and this is a business model after my own heart! For companies, using My Virtual Model technology improves their bottom-line profitability by increasing revenues while cutting costs. As an IBM SOA business partner, MVM will be at IMPACT 2009.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Louise Guay, the MVM co-founder and wanted to share her insight!
Sandy: This year will be your first trip to IMPACT! What are you most looking forward to?Louise: I hope that I will have the chance to share our experience of social centrality and target advertising with the participants. The moneytisation of the social shopping and networking is "le sujet de l'heure" and we have an experience conducive to it! We can provide in the core of the shopping experience of merchants a usage of social media (Show me me how people like me wear this product!) and how the users can buy the entire look with a buy all button. Once the users register their profiles (their 3D models of themselves with a picture of their faces), ads can be targeted to them via banners or in emails or when they make their model appear on a product page. We have also an amazing network driving new clients to our merchant clients.
Sandy: I know that My Virtual Model has incorporated Social Media within the online shopping experience for Sears, Cosmopolitan and others. What is the reaction from customers and users?Louise: Merchants are anxious to make a sound usage of social media. From a merchant perspective these times command a strong metrics oriented results, we also know that users trust more and more their peers comments. Imagine if they can see their peers wearing what they like and would wear also. They can choose seeing it on similar peers body types or same ethnicity or any physical affinity they have with peers! It influences their purchases and drives strong recommendations. It is an effective outfitting approach. Publishers want to go from mass media to personalized media. My Virtual Model brings each and everyone of their readers to literally try on their fashion picks and hints and all the trends presented regularly in their magazines.Users are more and more visual and very involved in the process. They already rate products. If they can see the products on themselves and on others people similar to them it has a direct impact on their decision to purchase. It boosts their confidence in their styles, their looks and their tastes and preferences. Confirmed in their personalities they feel good to go and get what makes them look great. When we install our product on a publisher/media site like Cosmopolitan, users read fashion tips and trends and are always wandering what it will look like on them and where can they get it? These questions are answered by the virtual models of the users and the comments of other users on their models.
Sandy: What are some of the more popular elements of social media that users have really loved within the new My Virtual Model experience?Louise: Users enjoy discovering their personal styles. They also develop friendships, affinities of interests and support the efforts of others. Many great talents appear and are encouraged by the Community. Users love to create looks, publish them on their public page and get rated by other users. They also appear in the most recent and popular looks of the Community and rate other users looks. They love to click the "Try On Outfit" button and wear on their model an outfit created by another user. It is a great way to shop and buy outfits. It is quick and highly efficient. They love to describe their looks and tell a story about their looks. They also love to see how each item of their looks is worn by other users utilizing the feature "More looks featuring this item "
Sandy: Why did you choose to base this on WebSphere Commerce?Louise: WebSphere is well know for it's foundational excellence and architecture of openness to integrate 3rd party applications that are user centric. By choosing WebSphere we were able to concentrate on what we do best, and leverage a powerful and robust ecommerce platform to create an innovative and solid shopping experience.This is exciting and thank you for stopping by and sharing your insights! I am looking forward to seeing you in Vegas next month @IBM IMPACT 2009[Read More]
Judith Hurwitz as my Guest for Q&A! SOA for Dummies Second Edition back by popular demand! Get the ebooks at IMPACT 2009
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I still remember when the first edition of SOA for Dummies came out two years ago! These books were snapped up and the feedback was tremendous. With cost optimization and business agility being more critical than ever to companies in these economic times, the timing for a second edition could not be better. So I interviewed Judith Hurwitz a leader in the industry!
Sandy Why do you think that SOA is hot today?Judith: SOA has moved from a technology initiative to a business initiative. Many companies are looking to SOA to codify their business practices in repeatable manner. Many of the CIOs we have been speaking to are looking at the advantage of being able to create reusable services that they can use to gain flexibility. Companies are also looking at SOA to replace some of the inflexible packaged applications that are costing companies too much money to maintain and change. SOA is proving to companies that it can also allow them to innovate in ways that have direct impact on the bottom line.
Sandy: What was your motivation to work on the second edition for SOA for Dummies?Judith: When we wrote the first edition of SOA for Dummies more than two years ago most companies were still in the pilot stage. Many executives we spoke with had a sense that this was something important but didn't really understand it. Things changed dramatically in the past two years and we really wanted to provide more insight not just into the technology but into the ways that real companies across a wide spectrum of markets were being successful with SOA. We were so pleased that 24 customers were willing to not only talk to us but be named in the book.
Sandy: I understand you have spoken to 24 companies across 9 different verticals. Can you give us a sneak peek to some of their experiences?
Judith Hurwitz: There are so many significant stories that the CIOs told us. What has stayed with me is that these companies were starting with business strategy rather than starting with writing code. These companies were setting up centers of excellence to help guide the progress towards SOA. They were also spending considerable time on the organizational issues and business process issues. Several of the CIOs we talked to were able to use SOA to positively change the relationship they had with customers.
Sandy: Judith, I do believe this is your third consecutive year at IMPACT! Anything you could share with the readers about your IMPACT experience?
JudithImpact is really a unique conference. At the first Impact we noticed that attendees were so pleased to find like minded people that were trying to achieve the same goals for their companies. Before that first Impact these executives didn't realize there was a real movement happening. The next year there was a clear change. Executives and mangers now had real experience under their belts and were eagerly sharing best practices with each other. I have found Impact to be a very customer centric event offering real value. I am also struck by the fact that Impact takes a holistic view of both software and business aspects of SOA.
Great insights, Judith. Thank you!
I know we will be giving away the mini book versions at IMPACT and you will be there in person. At IMPACT, we will give away a copy of a Mini Book of SOA For Dummees V2!
Looking forward to seeing you in Vegas next month.
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SOA growth and change
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Zapthink has referenced a TechTarget survey completed in February by SearchSOA.com and TheServerSide.com. Topics are SOA, BPM, and Cloud. Respondents (376, total) comprised a mix of developers, architects, C-level execs, managers, consultants and others. Potentially useful statistics for use in spring plan / marketing plans. Text below.
See full article! http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid26_gci1351532,00.html
Some highlights:
* SOA is in fact motoring forward. Among the survey respondents, 49% said their organization has one or more SOA projects under way, and 60% characterize their current or future SOA projects as enterprise level as opposed to departmental/divisional level (21%), or single, isolated projects (19%).
* Interest and uptick in Business Process Management with 29.7% of respondents marking BPM as one of the critical areas for their organization's technology efforts. At the same time, 35.8% respondents counted Business Process Management software among the types of infrastructure software currently used, with 38% planning to use it in the future.
* Grid/cloud software is now used by 17% of respondents, with 38% planning to use grid/cloud in the future.
*Today's SOA projects are largely about integration. The top benefits organizations hope to achieve are improved data integration (32%), enable legacy application integration (32%) and integrated disparate department applications (23%), followed by cost cutting (21%). Staying competitive (8.4%) and driving innovation (8%) tracked low on the expected benefits list.
*Those not doing SOA said it was because of skills.
* Governance is becoming more and more popular as an issue.
Happy Reading!!!!
Social Media Tweetup in NYC! Join Us!
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I am so excited! Coming to the East Coast — live — a Social Media Tweetup! We had one in the Valley — that was so energizing but being an East Coast girl, we must try one here!
Every day companies are devising innovative techniques to leverage Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Lotus Connections, WebSphere Commerce, iLog Visualization and other Social Media technologies to develop deeper customer connections. And I see that many many countries are getting more and more interested in Social Media — like India, Brazil, and others
Many of you, have stories about ways you have deployed Social Media tactics to successfully drive demand. And I want to hear about them! I love social media and if you share that passion and quest for Business Savy in measuring it for great business value.
f you do, please plan to share in a casual conversation, Social Media Tweetup, hosted by Sandy Carter, VP of Marketing for IBM's SOA and Jeremiah Owyang, a Senior analyst for Forrester.
This event will be held in Mid Town Manhattan on Monday, March 23 from 6 - 8 PM. We are limited to 30 attendees so please RSVP quickly
To RSVP or to inquire for more details, please contact email@example.com
Are you a chipmunk or a cheetah?
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In Dubai, in Poland or at the Global Virtual Forum "Work Smarter, Take Out Costs In a Tough Economy last week, there was a common thread emerging from conversations with customers. How do we work smarter in today's economy to survive and thrive without going extinct? IBM's vision for a Smarter Planet is based on how much smarter the world has become with all the technology that exists today. We are more interconnected, instrumented and intelligent. This smart is embedded and applies to people, to industries, to companies and countries.
You may have heard my analogy of the cheetah and chipmunk (entire transcripthere thanks to @joemckendrick). The fastest animal is in danger of going extinct despite its speed but the cartoonish chipmunk has adapted to its environment due to its agility and ability to adapt to a changing environment.
Joe's excellent post onTime to get bullish on SOA, IT and the economy drives the point home where he states "Times of turmoil always equate to times of new opportunity. As I've said before time and again, the current rough-and-tumble economy is really a time for SOA — and information technology in general — to shine, to prove their mettle." @monkchips also expands the viewpoint stating that "soa isn't about cost cutting, it is a growth engine"
I want to elaborate further on why we believe that service orientation really is the key to agility and cost optimization. By extracting services from your applications, putting those business services in a reusable format, it allows you to quickly change, based on what's happening in the environment, or to invoke change yourself on the industry. It allows you to flexibly connect information, because you isolate the business logic from the underpinning IT and you can reuse.. not just the IT assets, but the business assets as well.
As @dortchonit nicely sums it up, "Yeah, it's hard work. But if you want to run a truly agile, intelligent, and successful business, it's work worth doing. And the alternatives are harder, I promise." More coverage on Michael's blogThe Big Mash Up
Meanwhile, if you missed the Global Virtual Forum, you can get to the replay athttp://tinyurl.com/bv3489 and we will continue these conversations on working smarter, taking down costs and why it is important in today's economic climate at IBM IMPACT 2009
Here's to chipmunks![Read More]
In the Press Today! Great use of SOA!
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Crowley Maritime and SOA!
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I am just back from Dubai where I saw a lot of the marina area. (More on Dubai later!)
So I thought of Crowley Maritime for our SOA story time who operates globally in a variety of businesses with a mantra of "Small Company Mentality, Big Company Efficiency." Founded in 1892, and family run ever since, Crowley Maritime began with a single 18 ft. rowboat servicing ships and sailors in San Francisco Bay.
Their primary logistics operations are based here in Florida. Over the following century, the Crowleys have grown and transformed the business into a major provider of maritime services ranging from tugs and barges to containerships, with operations from Central America and the Caribbean to Alaska's North Slope.
Their CEO is not guiding a carefully paced streamlining and repositioning of the company to meet the new challenges of its second century of operations. As Crowley Maritime has grown, it has accumulated business lines and strategies that needed reexamining and improvement in light of changing market conditions that have made 'return to core competencies' the new reality for many industries. Crowley turned to SOA as the foundation for reshaping their business for the next century.
The started with IBM Advanced Enterprise Service Bus as the backbone for corporate integration to connect disparate application components without each application component having complete dependency on other application components by service enabling existing assets. One early benefit was a reduction — by at least half — of the usual time and costs incurred in tying new, third-party applications into the Crowley core infrastructure, which included a legacy mainframe-based customer-information system. With a 30-year-old system that was heavily customized, this was no small achievement. Under previous practices, integration projects typically ate up about 300 work hours of people in the Crowley information technology group. More important for Crowley Maritime were the strategic benefits, which are part of the ongoing savings and increased operational efficiencies. Early results were seen when a major business initiative at Crowley was launched.
This major initiative, implementation of a transportation management system for inter-modal transportation, was purchased and effectively "plugging into" the adapter framework and the ESB. This particular inter-modal transportation management system automates the routing of Crowley cargo containers — several hundred per day — to dozens of terminals across North America. The application manages and improves operational efficiency of the intermodal portion of Crowley Maritime's ocean shipping business. As the first true test of the ability of the Crowley Service Oriented Architecture to easily integrate with a substantial package, the adapter framework and Enterprise Service Bus performed above expectations and with unprecedented flexibility. They began to see immediate operational efficiencies.
The routes chosen were, on average, better, cheaper and faster. They raised the quality of services and increased customer satisfaction. The ability to create services for legacy applications has subsequently added life to legacy applications that were not ready for replacement (due to years of heavy customization and unique abilities of that existing package).[Read More]
Shopping and SOA!
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I love shopping! I like the hunt for a bargain, the thrill of getting great quality and the fun of haning out with friends while we hunt!
Yansha is part of my fun of shopping in China! Yansha is one of China's largest regional retailers. An upscale brand with revenues in the billions of Yuan each year they sell high-end, exclusive goods from brands such as Versace, Prada and Calvin Klein. In order to maintain its market leadership position, they needed to increase its competitiveness against both local retailers and new foreign competitors in an increasingly deregulated Chinese retail industry.
Yansha saw that the best way forward was to transform the way it does business with its supply chain partners through the adoption of new business processes, automation and business intelligence. Yansha deployed a first-of-its-kind supply chain management (SCM) platform that leverages SOA to integrate enterprise resource planning (ERP) and SCM applications. The platform enables Yansha and its suppliers to leverage new real-time performance information to provide transparency into supply chain business processes and generate actionable business intelligence, setting new standards of efficiency.
With the SOA solution, they have reduced order lead time from 2.5 days to 4.5 hours, improved order acknowledgement rate from 80 to 99 percent, and reduced order error rate from nine to one percent. All of this was done with a nine month ROI.
To read more, click here!
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Let's Play SOA!!!!
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OK. I admit it. I am hooked -- the Wii and even my daughter's DS! That's why I love this SOA reference!
Sega, as a computer game company has received worldwide praise. While focusing on their core content, Sega as a company has produced entertainment products and services one after another. In recent years it has released hit products creating a market for children's computer entertainment, including "Mushi [Bug] King, The King of Beetles".
The company aims at dynamically developing businesses with unique products that can create new game markets, like the first ever sensory video games, "Hang-on", and "UFO Catcher" did in the past. New ideas and new ideas are the two most important requirements for succeeding in doing this, though of course since it is also necessary to smoothly hitch a timely ride on market trends, speed is essential for such development. This means that the information systems supporting such development, must also be very fast.
To meet this demanding business landscape, Sega had to rethink their IT systems to enable business. They decided that the solution was to build a human workflow system using Business Process Execution Language (hereinafter "BPEL") with a Service Oriented Architecture. It could then define things like service orders and branches accessed during business processes.
For the execution environment for the BPEL human workflow system, they use IBM WebSphere Process Server IBM WebSphere Integration Developer for development. The basic principle was to start small, and initially it focused on building a new human workflow engine and a new payment slip workflow system which use BPEL for its basic functions.
After implementing this, the project grew to be company wide. Their business processes included circular memoranda of approval and 30 old workflow systems that would have been wasteful to just eliminate them, but remaking them would have been very costly. So they decided to take an SOA approach and to wrap as services the processes of the old workflow systems, allowing them to seamlessly connect with the new workflow system. What the users see is identical to what they saw before, and the application procedures are as simple to use as they were previously.
When it is demanded, each unit of existing assets is individually wrapped so through loose coupling the new system can access it as a service, thus making real the potential of SOA while designing a new process layer.The system is extremely agile and productive from the design and development stage through operational implementation.[Read More]
Finnish Defense Forces use SOA!
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On our Board of Advisors is an organization for the Finnish Defense Forces. They are a strong supporter and user of the SOA approach.
The 17,000 employees of the Finnish Defense Forces (FDF) are responsible for territorial surveillance, safeguarding territorial integrity and defending national sovereignty in all situations. Comprised of the Finnish Army, Navy and Air Force, the FDF faces the challenge of managing and adapting to increasingly dynamic and complex situations with limited resources.
The FDF realized that closer coordination between its own service branches and with those of other nations was essential, but deeply entrenched silos in its command, control, communications and computing systems presented a major barrier. FDF created an SOA-based service hub that enables all branches to share common applications and—by enabling the dynamic reuse of services—allows the FDF to get new applications out to he field in a fraction of the time.
FDF is projecting 80 percent reduction in time required to develop new systems via SOA service reuse and projected 75 percent reduction in required infrastructure through consolidation and virtualization while providing tighter coordination and information sharing between FDF service branches. The solution includes WebSphere Portal with portlets enabled as services that utilize WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus as an ESB along with Tivoli software for monitoring.Read More]
In Atlanta -- AFLAC and SOA!
I am in Atlanta due to snow in NY!!! I love Atlanta -- sun, great people, and even Sweet Ice tea!!
So in honor of Atlanta, today I will highlight AFLAC! Quack Quack! A great company using a great Approach!
AFLAC is dedicated to delivering quality products and services at affordable prices and to utilizing new technology to better serve policyholders. Georgia-based AFLAC is people-focused, providing unmatched service to its employees, policyholders and associates. The company's business philosophy is stated simply by Daniel Amos, chairman and chief executive officer of AFLAC: "If our employees do it right, our business flourishes."
The Web has created new ways to connect home-office employees, sales associates and policyholders. AFLAC's users are demanding easier access to services such as account access and online claims processing. Taking advantage of these recent trends could help optimize AFLAC's overall business operations, cut long-term costs and keep customers satisfied - ultimately making the company more competitive. AFLAC's IT infrastructure, however, was ill-equipped to accommodate the changes. They needed to establish a flexible infrastructure that would allow it to Web-enable existing systems cost-effectively and continue to adapt them according to changing business needs.
AFLAC implemented an open-standards-based, services-oriented architecture that enables it to bring services online faster - keeping employees, sales associates and customers connected and informed - with less extensive development efforts. The solution allows AFLAC to reengineer existing application functionality into modular, portable Web components that can be reused, thus simplifying the development and integration of new online services. With the strategic adoption of the flexible middleware platform, AFLAC is prepared to meet the demands of a customer base that increasingly uses the Internet to do business. New process efficiencies gained through cost-effective channels mean that AFLAC can handle a greater volume of business - more policies, more quickly. The AFLAC solution represents innovation through evolution rather than revolution.
Leveraging the best attributes of previous systems with the latest, open-standards-based technology, the new solution lowers both the cost and the risk of change. The new architecture also opens existing core business systems to emerging technologies like service-oriented architecture and business process management. By extending legacy data to the Web, AFLAC dramatically shortened the time it takes to issue new insurance policies. Instead of taking days to issue new policies, it takes just hours. As a result, the revenue flow from policy premiums begins much sooner, optimizing business returns.[Read More]
South Africa goes with SOA!
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Cape Horn is one of the most beautiful cities in the world! And they are also embracing SOA in their growth!
For instance, the Professional Provident Society (PPS) is a South African provider of insurance products to a highly-specialized market: graduate professionals such as doctors and lawyers. The company has been in existence since 1941 and is a leader in its niche. They wanted to improve their ability to bring new products to market in order to respond to changing customer demands and stiffening competition.
PPS replaced all of its legacy systems with a completely new, modular application infrastructure based on the principles of the IBM Insurance Application Architecture (IAA) which is based on SOA. The common IAA-based platform unified several previously disparate policy systems.
This solution has enabled PPS to bring nine new insurance products to market in less than one year, allowed rapid modification of new products in response to competitor actions, reduced application development costs by 50 percent, decreased audit findings by approximately 80 percent, eliminated more than 90 percent of system code, and significantly improved controls for collecting premiums.
Awesome results for South Afrcia!
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Flowers and SOA! Valentine's Day is just around the corner!
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I love flowers! I love Valentine's day partially due to the flowers I receive!
My colleague Georgina Castanon has taken some amazing pictures of flowers! Check them out!
So of course, one of my favorite references, is 1-800-Flowers.com. To realize its vision of synergy among its 14 brands and meet ambitious growth goals, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, INC.—the world's largest florist and gift shop—is deploying a new e-commerce solution. Running on System p servers, WebSphere Commerce (built on SOA) is the singular front end for all the eCommerce sites and WebSphere MQ and WebSphere Message Broker comprise an enterprise service bus that through service orientation, coordinates messaging and integration between WebSphere Commerce and the company's disparate back-end systems.
The solution makes it easy to launch (and less expensive to maintain) new eCommerce sites, in weeks rather than months – or even years. The solution enables more rapid creation and deployment of retail Web sites, allowing 1-800-FLOWERS.COM to try out new offerings with very little investment and risk.
It also facilitates cross-selling between brands by unifying the underlying technology. The solution provides the potential for information sharing across business units, opening up the possibility for more effective marketing to customers.
It also provides a rich, differentiated customer experience with reduced maintenance and development costs.
I hope my hubbie tries it out again!!![Read More]
Obama remains Techy with blackberry!!!
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Super Secret blackberry! So cool!
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Meyer Werft Uses SOA!
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Over the last week, I have been asked a dozen times if an SOA approach requires that you start over. So today I thought I would show another example of reusing current applications and systems to achieve results toward the SOA approach.
Meyer Werft is a shipbuilder basd in Germany. Their IT infrastructure—based on siloed, heterogeneous systems that the company had inefficiently weaved together over time—no longer supported Meyer Werft's need to run an adaptable, integrated business. To boost its competitive advantage, the shipbuilder needed to transform its IT infrastructure into a modern environment that would support the integration and automation of enterprisewide business processes as a set of linked services.
The service-oriented architecture (SOA) solution gives Meyer Werft an overall picture of the entire shipbuilding process and allows employees to quickly implement changes at every stage of the production process. Meyer Werft is now able to react quickly to customer needs, build its ships to even higher standards of quality and deeper levels of customization, and compete dynamically in the global marketplace. The company used IBM WebSphere Process Server and IBM WebSphere MQ to integrate with the company's back-end Dassault Systèmes ENOVIA product lifecycle management (PLM) system.
Using Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) the new system provides an overall picture of the entire shipbuilding process. In addition to using the SOA approach to help it switch from a siloed IT infrastructure to an integrated IT environment, Meyer Werft is using the SOA approach to transform how various divisions conduct business.
Had the company not embraced the SOA solution, Meyer Werft estimates that it would have closed its doors within five years.
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Skip to comments.TEEN GIRL SCOUT CALLS FOR COOKIE BOYCOTT
Posted on 01/10/2012 10:47:44 AM PST by massmike
A 14-year-old Girl Scout has joined with parents and Scout alumni to call for a boycott of the widely popular Girl Scout cookies, claiming the organization is using cookie proceeds to push a radical homosexual agenda at the expense of the Scouts safety.
The girl, identified as Taylor from Ventura County, Calif. but whose parents have asked her last name and troop number be withheld made a YouTube video calling for the boycott after she was shocked to discover Girl Scouts USA, or GSUSA, has been admitting transgender boys who claim to be girls into scout troops.
After controversy arose over the potential admission of Colorado 7-year-old Bobby Montoya last month, The Girl Scouts of Colorado released a statement explaining, We accept all girls in kindergarten through 12th grade as members. If a child identifies as a girl and the childs family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout.
Rachelle Trujillo, vice president for communications of the Colorado Girl Scouts, added, If a child is living as a girl, thats good enough for us. We dont require any proof of gender.
The real question is, why is GSUSA willing to break their own safety rules and go against its own research institute findings to accommodate transgender boys? Taylor asks. Unfortunately, I think it is because GSUSA cares more about promoting the desires of a small handful of people than it does for my safety and the safety of my friends and sister Girl Scouts, and they are doing it with money we earned for them from Girl Scout cookies.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
homosexual agenda ping
It's bad enough that the Girl Scouts are aligned with Planned Parenthood, abortion and the Susan G. Komen crowd....
But now this?
"We dont require any proof of gender.
That there may be the problem for both the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts if they do not require any type of documentation and a medical examination to determine a child's gender.
***A 14-year-old Girl Scout has joined with parents and Scout alumni to call for a boycott of the widely popular Girl Scout cookies...***
You can count me in, along with the half dozen or so I've spoken to already.
A child changing gender is child abuse or a sign of serious mental or emotional issues.
By what possible logic do "gay rights" activists explain teh need to cross dress or even change gender?
It was one thing when they said gays are born that way. Now you are born to wear a dress? Or to have your sex organs removed? Insanity. Literally.
Was "The Brady Bunch" prophetic or what?
FUBAR-----this perversion wouldn't even be a faint blip on the radar in terms of evil taboo back in time of earlier American generations. Sorry Lord that this nation has fallen into the sewers.
Obviously, it was the Brady Bunch, while passing itself as a representation of American Family Values, actually was working to promote the Homosexual Agenda.
Anyone else have brain discombobulations besides me after reading that moronic tripe?
I STILL think Greg was up to something in the attic with that goat.....
Plus the cookies are full of bad ingredients even though they taste good. Why don't they make healthier cookies?
No cookies ping....
Time to tell Scout management to get back on board with American, Christian values!
He thinks he's a girl and he's only seven!!????
I've been boycotting for many years now.
When I was a youngster, I knew girls who could easily pass themselves off as boys...It never occurred to them they could bully their way into the Boy Scouts.
I've boycotted many things in my life, but cookies? can't do it. Addicted.
Freepmail wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the homosexual agenda ping list.
Be sure to click the FreeRepublic homosexual agenda keyword search link for a list of all related articles. We don't ping you to all related articles so be sure to click the previous link to see the latest articles.
Add keywords homosexual agenda to flag FR articles to this ping list.
Good for her! They aren't your mother's Girl Scouts any more, and haven't been for some time. They're homosexual, anything goes sexually as long as it's perverted, abortion pushers. Probably global warming, too.
We have a rebellion! Go Taylor!
I agree with the boycott starting after I receive my two cases of Thin Mints.
I stopped buying GS cookies years ago because of their pro abortion stance.
I do have a couple of good copy cat recipes for their cookies that I make. Just as good and cheaper.
There have been pinged articles about this poor kid. He's been emotionally molested by his parents and grandmother. He's twisted by them. Who knows, maybe molested physically although nothing in the news. Most kids that "think" they're the opposite sex have been directly twisted by their parents. In this case the grandmother was in on the deal too, giving him dresses, etc.
I'm not even sure most Girl Scout cookie flavors are even made out of real girl scouts.
had an argument or lets say heated debate with the misses over this.
She wanted my daughter to join a few months ago and so I said right but I feel it';s anything liberal then she comes out and she can also make her choice.
Within a month she was asked to make a report about global warming of which I told my wife that is B/S.
My wife thinking she could end this called the scout leader and told her that global warming has been proven to be a hoax and only the sheep still think of it as truth.
The leader is a nice woman, not liberal but she could only go by the list which she is given.
Anyway she is then told to write about energy of which my daughter wrote about turning off the lights in all these big cities at night, no need to traffic lights except maybe intersections etc and all these big mansions out in Hollywood need to save energy too along with build a oil pipeline from Canada and get more natural gas from our own country.
See what she did here, turn the tables on the left.
Anyway she reads it aloud but then when I saw that girl scout talking about planned parenthood I recorded it to show the misses when she got home.
My daughter aged 10 said she doe snot want to be in it no more, my wife finally agreed and thus the girl scouts and their cookies is no more for us .
Post 'em! That will encourage people who are addicted to them to make their own and stop funding perverting girls. No doubt healthier cookies anyway.
They are too expensive anyway. Cookies for the 1%
child mutilation along with taking the rights away of that child to be a future father, boyfriend, husband, son etc and vica versa for a girl.
A child is taken away from their parents because of their weight.
A compound is stormed and all kids taken away from their parents but they find no evidence of child abuse.
But two homosexual women give a boy shots to stop him coming into puberty so they can mutilate the poor boy and make him a girl and FRIGGING NOTHING.
The Doc is not charged either
Everyone needs to talk out about this insanity as staying silent is only helping these freaks and perverts to hurt more and more children.
if the kid has a penis then it;s a boy therefore the boy should be in the boy scouts, quite simple on logic one would have thought even for today and all the perverts about.
Now the problem is that the MSM is not mentioning any of this and the public has no clue what is going on.
Then we now know why they tried to get homosexuals into the boy scouts and good on the boy scouts stopping this insanity and those with mental instability to get near kids.
not traffic lights but street lights
I can get 2 packs of deluxe grahams for a lot less than I can get one box of GS cookies.
"Hi, I am really a girl in the wrong body. I like to wear tartan skirts and knee socks. When is the next camping trip?"
I am tired of snot-nosed teenagers who are offended to the point they call for a public boycott.
"It was a rough place - the seediest dive on the wharf. Populated with every reject and cutthroat from Bombay to Calcutta. It's worse than Detroit."
Guys in the women's restroom? No problems? You like it or?
I got them online. There are several on the net. These are my favorites. (I haven't made the tagalong though. MrR has severe food allergies so I make a lot of copycats.
What do the troops end up receiving from the national organization anyway, a quarter a box? Hand the kid a
couple bucks and buy some other cookies.
direct link to video?
Could you send me the recipes?
One of my favorite lines from "The Addams Family" movie.
I posted links above. I got them online.
yea how dare a girl who has spent years in a group understand it is wrong and get the message out about that group letting men use women bathrooms, showers and boys pretending to be girls so they can go on camping trips with the girls whilst they are supposed to be in a girl group.
The perverts have really hijacked the GSA.
Plus the cookies are full of bad ingredients even though they taste good.
Not to mention the really poor profit margin that GSA gets from the overpriced junk.
Keebler also has versions of Thin Mints(called Grasshoppers) and Samoas(called Coconut Delights, I think). Their versions taste much better, have more product to the package and are cheaper than the GS originals.
Oh, for a Thin Mint!
I have parents in my Cub Scout Pack beg me to let their girls join, if only in a non-official capacity. Refugees from Girl Scouts.
The regional director in Everett, WA is discouraging HIKING because it affects the self-esteem of some of the heavier members of the group.
This from one of the troop leaders at the school They were told not to do any hiking.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


text:
By Marlena Hartz: Freedom Newspapers
An atmosphere of vigilance has settled over New Mexico law enforcement agencies since they lost one of their own in a routine traffic stop on March 22.
When he stopped the driver of a gold pickup truck, Deputy James McGrane Jr., 38, was shot in the head and died. For the Bernalillo County employee, the stop was part of regular duty. And so it is for others. Only now, the dangers inherent in the task are painfully clear.
"Levels of awareness (among officers) have been heightened in light of the situation with McGrane," said Lt. Juan Martinez, public information officer for the New Mexico State Police.
But the anxiety that comes along with making a traffic stop, no matter how many times an officer does so, never completely dissipates, officers said.
With McGrane's death, that anxiety has increased among some officers, especially since the suspected killer has not been arrested.
Federal officials have offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Michael Paul Astorga, 29, who is wanted in connection with McGrane's slaying.
"Officer safety is something we always emphasize," Tucumcari Police Chief Larry Ham said. Ham said the department constantly has refresher courses on how to recognize when there is danger in a visit to a home or a traffic stop.
Among things officers are taught is to approach the vehicle's driver on the right side, to use audible voice commands and to illuminate the roadway, as well as the interior of the vehicle at night, officials said.
Ham said officers only raise their weapons when there is a clear danger of lethal force. Certain actions by motorists can quickly put an officer on alert, such as sudden movements or hidden hands.
But keen observation and training can only do so much, officials said.
"I think that was an isolated incident," Ham said of the McGrane shooting, "but it reminds us that we need to be prepared for anything."
For family members of officers, worry for their loved ones in uniform is almost constant, officials said.
But the worries and fears that accompany the job, officials said, are outweighed by other aspects.
"For myself," said Martinez, "it's the motivation of making a difference — making this world a safer place for everyone in it."
QCS Interim Managing Editor Kevin Wilson contributed to this report.


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Borderlands Videos
Displaying 31–45 of 70 videos
Best of 2009: Best Multiplayer Game
X-Play presents the Best of 2009 Award for Best Multiplayer Game. The nominees are Borderlands, Left 4 Dead 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3: ODST and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Watch to...
Feedback -- Best of 2009 Edition
The gang gets together to talk about G4's Best of 2009 nominees, a key Valve departure, Dead Space 2, and more Borderlands.
Game of the Year Nominees for 2009
Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb reveal the nominees for Game of the Year 2009 including Assassin's Creed II, Borderlands, inFamous, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.
Game of the Year 2009 Nominees Discussion
Adam Sessler, Morgan Webb and Blair Herter discuss the nominees for Game of the Year 2009 including what games were selected, why they were chosen and which one might come out on top. Was your...
Sessler's Soapbox: Game of the Year Edition
Adam explains how this year's Game of the Year nominees were determined, and why he thinks they're all worth playing.
Game of the Year Discussion: The Top Games of 2009
Adam Sessler, Morgan Webb and Blair Herter debate possible Game of the Year titles including Assassin's Creed II, Borderlands, Halo 3: ODST and more. Get a preview of which one might come out on top!
The Biggest Blockbuster Games of 2009
Adam Sessler recaps the biggest games from 2009 including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Borderlands and talks about what exactly made them so...
Holiday Buyers Guide 2009: X-Play Recommends
The X-Play staff gets together to tell you all of the games they think you should be playing this holiday season, from the X-Play Holiday Buyers Guide 2009.
Holiday Buyers Guide 2009: Multiplatform Musthaves
Morgan Webb is here to make sure you know which multiplatform games are absolutely essential this holiday season, including Red Faction: Guerilla, Street Fighter IV, Batman: Arkham Asylum,...
Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned Preview
The first installment of 'Borderlands' DLC is here. Check out this preview of 'The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned' as Adam Sessler explains the expansion's storyline, characters and weapons.
Borderlands DLC Zombie Island of Dr. Ned Launch Trailer
2K preps the launch of the ghoulish Zombie Island of Dr. Ned DLC with an equally zombified trailer for the Borderlands expansion. Remember, AIM FOR THE HEAD!
Feedback -- Borderlands Edition
The Feedback panel addresses the controversial leaked Modern Warfare 2 footage, Left 4 Dead 2 avatar clothing, and Game of the Week: Borderlands.
Adam Sessler Gives His Take on Borderlands
Adam Sessler and Kevin Pereira discuss 'Borderlands', a new sprawling sci-fi action first person shooter game where call of Duty meets Fallout. Find out why G4 gave this title 4 out of 5 stars!
Sessler's Soapbox: Grinding is Good
Adam uses Borderlands as an example of how "grinding" can be as satisfying experience if the game's mechanics are solid.
Borderlands Review
Grab your mutating guns as Morgan Webb reviews 'Borderlands' for multiple platforms in this X-Play review.
Gearbox: Borderlands Need More Story
Next Borderlands DLC Raises Level Cap
Reaction Time -- Borderlands
The Verdict: Borderlands Mad Moxxi DLC
G4tv.com & X-Play's Top 5 of 2009
Borderlands Sells More Than 2 Million
G4tv.com & X-Play's Top 5 of 2009
G4tv.com & X-Play's Top 5 of 2009
G4tv.com & X-Play's Top 5 of 2009
New Borderlands DLC Detailed And Dated


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Strategic Suicide: The Birth of the Modern American Drug War - Buy on Amazon
Shamanism and the Drug Propaganda: Patriarchy and the Drug War - Buy on Amazon
Buy on Amazon
But This Time, SHAME Enters The Story
by Preston Peet-
for Hightimes.com
October 20, 2000
'We're not happy with those national procedures now. We're going
to back off of this knocking-down-doors. There's going to have
to be some really strong evidence that something life- threatening
is actually there. We're getting off of that. I mean, that's bullshit,
if you'll pardon my French.'
--Lebanon, TN Mayor John Fox
On the eastern edge of the Lebanon, Tennessee city limits, relaxing
for the early October evening in front of his television, 64-year-old
John Adams had no remotest reason to imagine that the War on Drugs
was coming after him. But in the dark out there on Joseph Street,
just outside his double- wide trailer's door in the predominantly
black section of town, crouched a team of federally trained narcotics
agents in black uniforms, a drug warrant, and itchy trigger fingers.
Wham, Bam, Sorry, Ma'Am
Adams' 61-year-old wife Loraine, right at 10PM that night of
October 4, heard someone knock thunderously at the door. Asking
who it was only provoked a harder knock, and then BLAM, the double-wide's
door was kicked in by an invasion squad of seven drug-war troopers
in full combat gear--and wearing ski masks, according to one close
family friend. Cuffing Loraine, they shoved her back towards a
bedroom, whereupon she yelled to her husband that someone was
breaking in, and to get his gun.
The police story alleges that Adams fired his sawn-off shotgun
at Lebanon narcs Kyle Shedran and Greg Day, as they came around
the corner to where Adams sat in front of his TV. They were "forced
to fire back" in the WORLDNETDAILY version of the invasion,
mortally wounding Adams. Afterward, a Medivac helicopter flew
the bleeding victim to Vanderbilt University Hospital, where he
died in surgery about an hour and a half later.
Narc-squad officers Shedran and Day were placed on paid administrative
leave immediately following the trailer invasion and shooting,
while state cops began investigating. The raid's supervisor, 10-year
veteran lieutenant Steven Nokes, was fired on Oct. 10, and officer
Tommy Maggort was placed on unpaid leave. Both had been involved
in the pre-raid surveillance for the narco squad, yet neither
somehow noticed that they were targeting not only the wrong residence,
but indeed the wrong kind of building: hitting a TRAILER, instead
of a HOUSE!
'Didn't Even Drink Alcohol'
"They, the police, were supposed to be targeting the [individual]
who owns the house next door," explains former Wilson County
commissioner Natchel Palmer, who became very familiar with John
Adams and his family over many years. The elder Adams, Palmer
recalled sadly for HT, "was retired from 37 years at Precision
Rubber Company. He had been sick, and retired on account of his
health. He never did drugs, didn't even drink alcohol. He and
his wife were church-going people. He was on disability, took
him several years to get it, but they paid him a lump sum, and
so he bought himself a new double-wide trailer."
The Adams trailer and one single house were the only residences
on that stretch of Joseph Street. Asked if there was any possible
resemblance between the two structures, Palmer responded, "It's
a house! John's is a double-wide trailer! John's was on the corner,
and [the other] was the house next door. But you can tell a house
from a trailer!"
Did They Even READ The Warrant?
Lebanon Police Chief Billy Weeks, at a press conference after
the shooting, called it a "severe, costly mistake. They were
not the target of our investigation. We hate that it happened."
He said that Adams' trailer was mistakenly described on the search
warrant carried by the raid squad, but that the correct address
had been plainly written there. Lebanon cops had allegedly made
at least one prior dope buy at the targeted house nearby, says
Commissioner Palmer.
Mayor Fox, speaking to HT later, said, "The problem was
that [the targeted individual] had parked in the wrong driveway,
and that is what bought about most of the confusion." The
search warrant had been written, he indicated, largely based on
descriptions given by an anonymous informant to the cops, who
themselves had only conducted a perfunctory "drive-by"
surveillance of the two Joseph Street residences: "It's a
confusing street. It's a turn, you turn off the main road, Blue
Bird Road, onto a street, and then you have to make another turn
to the right almost immediately. So there are two houses; it could
be confusing if you went out at night. As far as confusion about
which house was which, I think they knew where they were going,
they weren't lost. They had been there, there was just misinformation."
(It's also conceivable the cops were only identifying the "target
residence" here based exclusively on the make or license
plates of the vehicle that happened to be parked near it that
night, without bothering to check any more of their snitch's information
written into the warrant they were carrying.)
A Shotgun Blast In A Trailer, And He MISSED?
Commissioner Palmer told HT what he thinks of the police version
of events. "I don't see how anyone with any training at all
could make a mistake with where they were going," said Palmer.
"This [individual named on the warrant] had been known for
selling drugs, and has even been arrested before. How they could
get the two houses mixed up is just inappropriate." Sounding
angrier as he spoke, Palmer continued, "They said he fired,
but it seems to me if he fired a shotgun, somebody would have
been hit. And there should be some buckshot in the wall or something."
The Lebanon cops, says WORLDNETDAILY, have cut a large portion
out of the trailer wall, claiming it contains evidence of Adams
having fired his shotgun. Palmer is skeptical: "If you've
fired a shotgun, you know that the buckshot is going to scatter.
But even at that, his wife heard someone breaking in and said
to get the gun, and quite naturally he had it."
'Narco Ninjas': The DEA Script For Invasive Entry
Noting that Loraine Adams says the cops never identified themselves
before breaking down the door, Palmer adds, "Now I am not
sure, but I have heard that the police had ski masks on. I never
heard of the police using ski masks before. I can't understand
why the police would need masks. The crooks are the ones who use
those, the police shouldn't need to hide their faces. Anyone comes
in your home with a ski-mask on, you're going to think he's a
In fact, the wearing of ski masks and plain, dark combat outfits
devoid of police insignia has become common midnight-raid fashion
among local American narc squads over the last 20 years of the
US War on Drugs. If the Lebanon cops are wearing ski masks on
dope raids, though, Mayor Fox says he hasn't heard about it yet.
"I have been on drug raids myself with them," he tells
HT, "and have not ever seen them wear those things. This
is the first time I ever heard that. And the chief is very candid
with me. I would fire him in a minute for distortion or cover-up
on anything, not just John Adams' case."
Acknowledging that these "Narco Ninja" tactics have
indeed become overwhelmingly popular with police departments around
the country, Mayor Fox made it clear he does not condone them
for his own town's cops. However, he also acknowledged that his
cops are closely counseled in drug busting tactics by the federal
Drug Enforcement Administration, the prime promoter of the Ninja
Narco vogue for violent entry and concealed identity among America's
rising generation of storm troopers.
It's The National Way
"Our guys, the supervisor on the scene," Fox told HT,
"was trained with the DEA. We have an agreement with the
Drug Enforcement Agency, the Feds, we have a policeman working
with them full time. I mean, he's there, he works full time for
them. He's our guy, but he's down there. They are being trained.
We had a well-qualified, highly trained individual in charge there.
And we were following not only OUR procedures, but national procedures.
It is the national way."
Then the Mayor thoughtfully continued: "But we are not happy
with those national procedures now. We're going to back off of
this knocking-down- doors. There's going to have to be some really
strong evidence that something life-threatening is actually there."
Which obviously brought to mind the matter of the Lebanon dope
squad's black uniforms (recommended to local cops everywhere by
the DEA, on the plain realistic basis that citizens are sure to
file lots fewer complaints about police violence after narcotics
raids, if they have no way to tell the officers' names or ranks,
or even what kind of cop squad they're operating with.) "We're
coming off the black uniforms," Mayor Fox says he's already
ordered Police Chief Weeks. "I told him to get rid of the
damn black uniforms, get rid of them! When we go up to knock on
a door, we're going to have on our suit and tie, or our police
uniform, and that's it. And when they open the door, a citizen
is going to be a citizen until there is actually proof of guilt."
'This Was A Man Got Killed Here'
The slaying of a perfectly innocent, law-abiding 64-year-old
disabled retiree, well known to the Lebanon community, has manifestly
taken some of the glamour out of midnight Ninja drug busting for
the local authorities. Apologizing to the widow was a chastening
experience. "I went to the lady's house the day before the
funeral," recalls Mayor Fox, "and I sat down with her,
and she with me, and she was very gracious. The Police Chief has
done the same thing, trying to express our sorrow to the lady.
The chief cried over it, and when I learned we had made a mistake
there in that situation, that we had killed an innocent man, I
had to wipe tears from my eyes. I mean now, here, I had spoken
to him two days earlier! We're not talking about going in with
the SWAT bunch and wiping out some criminal. This was a man that
got killed here."
Little Lebanon, TN, now has a brand-new citizens' review board
of nine persons, in hopes of forestalling future police tragedies.
"We have really three direct victims here, or four,"
Mayor Fox concludes. "We have Loraine, we have of course
John, and the two policemen. Really, it's just terrible. But yes,
we will have some broad sweeping changes, a lot of softening.
Even if it is the national procedure, we are not going to do that."
by Preston Peet, Special to HighWitness News


text:
Israel's maverick king of the grapes
Eli ben Zaken's Domaine du Castel wines have been praised by wine gurus and served on state occasions
He never studied wine-making, he broke all the rules about where to plant his grapes and he never had any ambition to make more than a few hundred bottles for friends and family. Yet against all the odds, Eli ben Zaken has become Israel's most acclaimed wine-maker, with fans ranging from heads of state to our own television taster, Oz Clarke.
Ben Zaken was not here last year to see Oz practically fainting with pleasure over his Blanc de Castel. "It's the kind of wonderful old-fashioned chardonnay they don't make in Burgundy any more," he raved to me at the annual tasting of kosher wines at London's Sheraton Park Lane Hotel.
So this year, the shy, sixtysomething winemaker thought he had better make a personal appearance, especially with the world's most famous wine guru, Robert Parker, having just declared Domaine du Castel one of Israel's two best wineries. Whether the Brits know or care is another question. "We still have very limited distribution in Britain," ben Zaken explains. "But on the other hand, we sell out of our stocks every year."
Ben Zaken's part in raising Israel's prestige as a premium wine-maker cannot be underestimated. Sure, the Golan Heights Winery, considered by Parker the other big contender, initiated the move upmarket. But it was ben Zaken who proved you could plant cabernet, merlot, chardonnay and other noble grape varieties outside the traditional winemaking areas of northern Israel, in the unpromising Judean Hills.
"They said it was too hilly, that the plots were too small, that you'd never get machinery up there," says the Egyptian-born and European-educated ben Zaken. "But the fact is, wine was produced in that region 2000 years ago — we found the gat, or press, to prove it."
And besides, that was where the wannabe wine-maker was living, farming chickens as a new immigrant at his home, 10 miles outside Jerusalem, and later opening a pasta restaurant, Mamma Mia, in the city.
"They were good years in which we were able to travel, and I got to appreciate the fine wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy," he explains. "In 1988 I planted a row of cabernet and merlot, just for fun, and four years later we crushed the grapes in one of the empty stables where we used to keep horses, and aged the wine for two years in French oak."
In 1995 the claret-style blend which was to become Castel's Grand Vin — a swaggering name ben Zaken puts down to "typical Israeli chutzpah" — was bottled, taking the name of a nearby Crusader fortress.
It was a British expert, Serena Sutcliffe, master of wine and head of Sotheby's wine department, who gave the first accolade to this hobby wine. "I tried that fantastic 1992 made by Mr ben Zaken with my husband, David Peppercorn, also a MW, and we both thought it absolutely terrific," she wrote to the friend who had delivered it from Israel. "This wine is a tour de force… please give him our congratulations."
After ascertaining his sons' interest in going into the wine business, ben Zaken decided to ditch the chickens and pasta and get serious. He now produces 200,000 bottles a year, but still no more than three different wines. There is a slightly more affordable (£27-ish against £37-ish per bottle) companion to the Grand Vin, le Petit Castel, also a Bordeaux blend, and the Blanc de Castel, which helped El Al win the international Cellars in the Sky competition, beating vintages served by other world airlines to the title of Best First Class White Wine.
Now Castel is conquering hearts and minds in Germany, of all places. "Ehud Olmert served my Grand Vin to world leaders at the recent talks over Gaza, and Angela Merkel ordered 200 bottles for state entertaining," says ben Zaken with glee.
"That to me is something really historic and momentous — to see an Israeli wine entering the German Chancellery." What is also historic is that despite being kosher, ben Zaken's wine is also selling like hot cakes to non-Jewish connoisseurs… the Japanese are among his greatest fans.
Sartre didn't prepare me for life as an au pair
In the summer before my A levels, I spent a month in France being the world's worst au pair.
Modern Batmitzvahs: How girls are changing shul traditions
When Laura and Alex Gordon recall their daughter Estie's batmitzvah, they kvell with enormous pride.
"Looking after a newborn is like taking charge of a tiny, semi-comatose alcoholic. With great dress sense"
I am writing this article nine months pregnant.
Fine dining at the East Jerusalem Hotel offers guilty pleasures
Chefs at Israel's five star hotels are turning to comfort foods for inspiration


text:
Having so recently installed a Lasermax guide rod laser in my Glock 30SF, I must now work it's activation into my practice drills. This article is about the slight additional twist this throws into the ballet of movement a smooth draw really is.
There are many laser aiming devices on the market, with Crimson Trace and Lasermax leading the pack. While CT makes a wonderful product, they don't have a unit for the G-30SF. Something about the short frame model Glock makes the standard G-30 Crimson Trace unit a non-starter. That leaves G-30SF owners with the Lasermax, which is commented on in a previous article here.
The Crimson Trace lasers typically activate by the simple action of properly gripping the pistol. Whether the button is on the front or rear of the grip, all it usually takes to fire up the CT is holding the pistol in your hand. The Lasermax, on the other hand, requires the shooter actively turn on the laser by performing an action. In the case of the Glock units, the factory take down lever is replaced with a new part which now doubles as an ambidextrous laser activation switch. The lever is pushed in (from either side of the weapon) and it switches the laser on.
This difference between the Crimson Trace and Lasermax products is a major reason people choose one over the other. There is one camp that believes it's better to have no actual decision in the process, and the laser should just... come on. There is another camp that believes choice is good, and there are valid reasons a shooter should be able to decide the issue.
There is one rather important point the first group always makes: "In a defensive shooting situation, the victim will be in such an adrenaline rush they will not remember to turn on the laser". The funny thing is..... a significant portion of the people who make this statement regularly carry 1911 platform pistols which require manipulating the safety on the draw. This is no less an operation than activating the Lasermax, but is usually taken for granted as something any shooter can learn to do instinctively with practice.
How does a 1911 shooter (or a Browning Hi Power shooter, or a CZ shooter, or.....) learn to sweep off the safety without giving it a thought? Practice, Practice, Practice, Practice, and more Practice.
Turning on the Lasermax involves pushing the lever on the pistol in, and in the case of the Glock 30SF this lever falls just about under the shooters trigger finger when the finger is extended along the frame in a safe position. It takes a slight crook of the finger to mate it with the switch, on it's way to being fully extended along the frame above the trigger guard.
The following images show the practice draw, step by step, with the laser activation as part of the operation.
As in most types of practice, concentrating on one simple point till it becomes second nature is usually the way to go. Work on the sight picture till it falls into place, and then trigger pull, and then follow through, etc, etc. For those who carry concealed, practicing their draw is just one more thing that should be done. For folks who carry a pistol with an external safety (1911, P-85, etc) sweeping off the safety becomes part of the motion. For those who carry a pistol with the Lasermax guide rod laser, activating the laser should become part of the drill.
It will be part of mine from now on.
TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME: Liberals Mock Victims of Wildfire in Tennessee Because They Voted for T… - TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME: Liberals Mock Victims of Wildfire in Tennessee Because They Voted for Trump.
1 hour ago


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The Binghamton Senators won their fourth game in a row on Friday night with a 3-1 victory over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.
It was a night celebrating 40 years of professional hockey in Binghamton and the B-Sens didn't let the crowd of 4,315 down.
Despite being outshot heavily again, the B-Sens added another goal in the period as Robin Lehner closed the door on the Penguins.
Binghamton went ahead 3-1 with 13:56 left int he game. Hugh Jessiman received a pass from Corey Cowick in the neutral zone, skated into the offensive zone and sent a quick, low snapshot to the net that snuck past Penguins goalie Jeff Zatkoff.
Lehner made 43 saves and binghamton wa soutshot 44-15.
The B-Sens killed off all nine Penguins power-play chances.
The B-Sens definitely put on more pressure than the shot total indicates, but still are showing problems of getting stuck in their own end.
We'll see if that trend continues in Hershey on Saturday.
Second period: The Binghamton Senators were outshot 11-6 in the second period but the majority of the pressure was definitely put on by the B-Sens despite the low shot total.
I'm wondering what Luke Richardson said in the locker room after the first period because his team came out fired up for the second.
Mark Stone appeared to give the B-Sens a 2-1 lead in the opening minute of the second period, burying a high wrist shot over the glove of Penguins goalie Jeff Zatkoff, but the referees said there were too many men on the ice and waved the goal off.
The B-Sens didn't let that deter them and took a 2-1 lead during a 5-on-3 power play with 8:41 left in the second period. Binghamton was putting on the pressure and after one of the Penguin defenders lost a stick, Stephane Da Costa sent a beautiful cross-ice pass through the crease from left to right to Hoffman standing next to the net for the one-timer.
The B-Sens also had to fight off a 5-on-3 penalty kill later in the period, which was made to look easy the the American Hockey League's second-ranked unit.
Binghamton is 20 solid minutes away from their fourth straight victory.
First period: For the ninth time in the last 12 games, the Binghamton Senators failed to score the first goal of the game. Slow starts have become a trend for the B-Sens, mainly because of their struggles to get the puck out of their own zone.
But as the B-Sens seem to always do, they rallied to tie the score on a goal by Derek Grant with 3:30 remaining in the first period.
With a 7-3-0-1 record over the previous 11 games, the B-Sens aren't letting the slow starts bother them, although I'm sure it's not their ideal way of doing things.
Beau Bennett gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead 8:21 into the first period on a perfectly placed wrist shot. Bennett skated into the offensive zone and tucked his shot from the right faceoff circle over Lehner's left shoulder and under the crossbar.
B-Sens tied the score at 1 with 3:30 left in the first period. Mark Stone battled to keep possession of the puck along the right boards just inside the offensive zone, then sent the puck to the net for Grant, who re-directed its path into the net from the low slot.
Grant has 11 goals this season in 30 games. He had nine in his first 74 AHL games over the previous two seasons.


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Peak Moment 224: Dignity Village - A Community By and For the Homeless, part 2
"No violence. No theft. No drugs or alcohol. No constant disruptive behavior. Everyone must contribute to the village." While finishing our tour, Jon Hawkes lays out the five agreements residents must abide by, all forged by real-world experience. What would it be like if our entire society followed these rules? Celebrating its tenth anniversary, Dignity Village is an organically evolving, self-organizing intentional community — and a model for others. [dignityvillage.org]
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Recipe: Summer Sauerkraut Salad
Add a Bavarian touch to your BBQ or potluck this summer with this lovely, fresh twist on the German classic. Great for piling on a vegan hot dog or as a side dish. It's also one that should be made in advance, leaving less hassle if you're going to be entertaining.
Summer Sauerkraut Salad
Adapted from Allrecipes.com
1 large jarsauerkraut, drained
1 tsp mustard seed
1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 large carrot, grated 1 14-oz jar diced pimento peppers
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
- Mix the sauerkraut, mustard seed, onion, celery, green pepper, carrot and pimento peppers together in a large bowl and set aside.
- Combine the sugar, oil and vinegar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil before removing from the heat. Pour over the sauerkraut mixture and mix well.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight before serving.
Makes 4 servings
Simple recipes like this one are perfect for summer. No need to cook up a sweat when you could be enjoying the sunshine!
For more simple vegan recipe ideas and inspiration, why not order our free vegan starter kit?
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CHICAGO (July 3, 2013) — The 10th Wheel Gymnastics World Championships are coming to Chicago July 8–14, with much of the competition happening on the campus of North Park University. This unique form of gymnastics originated in Germany, putting athletes inside a large wheel, known as a Rhönrad, to perform exercises in categories that include straight line, spiral, and vault.
Hosted by the USA Wheel Gymnastics Federation and American Sokol, the championships feature more than 130 athletes from 17 nations. General admission tickets are available, and can be purchased online. Competition will be divided between males and females, and junior and senior competitors. Awards will be given for best all-around, spiral, straight line, vault, and mono wheel competitions. This is the first time the competition has been held outside of Europe.
Prior to the world championships, the 8th USA Wheel Gymnastics Open Championship and first ever qualification trials for TEAM USA Wheel Gymnastics took place March 7–10, 2013
. Dubbed the "Chicago Big Wheel Weekend," the USA Wheel Gymnastics Federation and American Sokol hosted this weekend of training courses and competition trials to qualify for TEAM USA in the July World Championships.
In 1924 Otto Feick invented and built the Rhönrad (the German Wheel), and began traveling all over Europe and to the United States to promote the newly-created sport of wheel gymnastics. After a surge in popularity following World War II, the Internationaler Rhönradturn-Verband (IRV) was formed to oversee all international competitions and training. Seven member countries comprise the IRV and approximately 25 nations participate in the sport, with international training camps and World Championships being hosted in alternate years. The initial World Championship was held in Den Helder, Netherlands, in 1995.
Use @npunews to follow North Park University News on Twitter. Learn more about North Park University.
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|Release Date: 10/24/12
BLM Releases Environmental Assessment on Proposed Jicarilla Wild Horse Management
Farmington, NM – The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Farmington Field Office has released a preliminary environmental assessment (EA) on proposed Jicarilla Wild Horse Management, including a proposal to gather wild horses. The EA can be found at: http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/fo/Farmington_Field_Office/ffo_nepa/ffo_range_eas_open.html
The BLM has scheduled an information meeting about the preliminary EA. The meeting will be held from 4 p.m. -7 p.m., on Monday, November 5, 2012, at San Juan College in Farmington, NM. The meeting will be in rooms 9010 and 9012 at the college. The public will be able to discuss all aspects of the gather with BLM specialists.
The horse gather is tentatively planned for winter 2013. Currently, the herd is estimated at about 400 horses that move seasonally between BLM and U.S. Forest Service lands in northwest New Mexico. The appropriate management level (AML) for the Jicarilla Wild Horse Herd is 73–128 horses. The Jicarilla Wild Horse Herd's AML is set by determining what the appropriate number of horses should be to sustain healthy land, a healthy horse herd, as well as balancing multiple-use of public lands. Methods for gathering the horses may include baiting, trapping, and using a helicopter.
Gathered horses will be put in a temporary holding facility and receive health evaluations for potential adoption through the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Adoption Program. Horses removed from the range, but not selected for adoption, will be cared for in long-term pastures, where they retain their "wild" status and protection under the 1971 Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act. The BLM plans to administer an anti-fertility drug to female horses not selected for adoption and released back on to the range.
Comment forms will be available at the meeting so attendees can provide their written comments about the EA. Comments can also be submitted by email to firstname.lastname@example.com, or by writing the BLM Farmington Field Office, Attention: Jicarilla Wild Horse Management, 6251 College Boulevard, Suite A, Farmington, NM 87402. Comments must be emailed or postmarked by November 21, 2012.
For more information about the meeting, please contact Bill Papich at 505-320-5161.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM's mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of Americas public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. In Fiscal Year 2015, the BLM generated $4.1 billion in receipts from activities occurring on public lands.
|Last updated: 01-08-2013
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The city of La Crosse seems to be recognized around the state for a lot of different reasons.
It can now add "best tasting water in the state" to the list. At least that's according to the Wisconsin Rural Water Association.
The city was presented with the award Monday.
La Crosse was chosen through a taste test of 30 samples at the association's annual conference.
The city's utility manager says it's not the first time he's heard people like water. "Family members and things like that that come to the city, come to La Crosse, comment on the taste and the quality and everything that goes into it. So I think it's real as far as people's perception on what good water should taste like," said Mark Johnson.
The utilities manager says this isn't the first time for the recognition. La Crosse won the award about three years ago, and a different taste test a few years prior.


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Results tagged ' Notre Dame '
A Snake in the Grass?
There is no Irish in baseball. Well, unless you include Jeff Samardzija, formerly of the Fightin' Irish from Notre Dame. But today is a good day so I don't want to talk about that. No, today is a day when we celebrate the completely fabricated story of St. Patrick ridding the Emerald Isle of snakes. However, apparently there are snakes aplenty within the comfy confines of the World Baseball Classic.
Much attention has been focused over the past few days on the Venezuelan fans booing of Magglio Ordonez. Now, when you seem to have become the lapdog of old friend of RSBS, Hugo Chavez and you are playing in front of a bunch of people who left Venezuela because of Hugo Chavez, well, it makes sense that something has to give. And so far that something has been any residual love for Maggs.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all about booing hated players. My brothers have made a sport of riling opposing outfielders from the cheap seats in left field and I've been known to throw a few choice words the way of batters during tight softball games. But the thing those people have in common is that they play for the opposing team. When you have become a pariah to even your own fans, it might be time to rethink your actions.
I'll admit, I hated Maggs, too, but only when he was on the White Sox. Once he joined the Tigers and especially after that killer blast against the A's that sent the Tigers to the 2006 World Series, he could do no wrong. But supporting the man who has managed to turn his capital city into the murder capital of the world? That might not have been the best choice.
Against Puerto Rico, some of the hatred seemed to subside and in a tight game, the Venezuelan fans were cheering every hit their team could muster. But pity the man if he pulls a Buckner or manages to strike out at an inopportune moment. Maggs, you're on notice.
2008: Rest In Peace (Part I)
Still pissed off that Santa didn't bring me the one thing I wanted most this year (a competent General Manager running the St. Louis Cardinals), I have little choice but to fully embrace the intangible magic of humility. In doing so, I have decided to channel the tenacity of my bitterness and turn it into sincere, reflective admiration for all that has been accomplished here at RSBS this year.
Not only did we create a unique baseball-politico universe full of hyperbolic criticism and satirically erratic fandom, we also had the good fortune of being surrounded by fabulously smart and like-minded baseball nuts with passionate political views within the MLBlogosphere.
Indeed, in 2008, we saw dreams come true; we saw corruption, glory, beauty, heartbreak, Cinderella, more corruption, more beauty and more heartbreak. We saw it. We reported it. We ripped it to shreds.
In honor of RSBS' rapturous reportage, babbling blabberings and partisan posts, I have pulled out the top three 2008 RSBS entries written by that misguided Tiger fan you have all learned to feel sorry for… the one and only Mr. Allen Krause.
The 1st Runner-Up:
Diversionary Tactics — September 18, 2008
A fat incompetent college football coach, a Broadway musical composer and an old Topps baseball card featuring a solid porn mustache have never made such sweet, sweet love.
The Runner-Up:
Golden Parachutes — December 10, 2008
Hip, Sexy, Current… these three words don't just sound like a hit NBC mini-series; they also describe the tone of this well-written commentary exploring the ins and outs of our ever-failing government, the ever-declining mystique of Detroit sports franchises and the ever-growing… well, fellas, you know what I'm tryin' to say… (*Ladies, please ignore that last line😉
…and the Winner is:
Allen's Post-Partisan Playoff Preview — October 1, 2008
Hardly known for his loquaciousness, Mr. Krause really put it to dear readers galore with this existentialist exercise in post-modern fantasy capped off by… well… by being RIGHT. Fine tuned to the unique political and social caricatures of our dear elected leaders, my colleague done me proud with this little ditty of a post — so much so that I… well… I peed a little from all the excitement.
Go ahead, hate me, folks. Just don't hate me 'cuz I'm right.
Dramatic and Devastating
Did I forget to say "Happy Autumn" last week? If I did, I truly apologize. I guess I figured that most RSBS readers had already figured out the change of season. It's usually pretty evident from the bite in the air, the start of the football season and the Mets' annual late-season choke.
And it's even better this year with the Yankees relegated to the sidelines. In fact, except for some minor concerns (the credit crisis and imminent depression, Michigan's loss to Notre Dame), things couldn't be much better right now.
But I can't just leave it at that. That's not how I roll. No, just like my buddy John McCain, I need to make a "dramatic and devastating" statement.
And here it is: I will not write any more mean things about either the Republican Presidential nominee or the Republican Vice Presidential nominee. Like my mother always told me, if you can't say anything nice, just don't say anything at all.
Instead, it's only going to be important, sports-based commentary as we shift our focus towards the ongoing playoff races. For instance, have you been watching those Mets, Phillies and Brewers as they battle for the NL wild card? Or how about the dogfight between the White Sox and Twins in the AL Central? And what about that USC-Oregon State shocker Thursday night? And…uh, well, and…
….I'm sorry. I just can't do it. I mean, have you seen this:
This is Bill Buckner-esque. I have very low expectations when it comes to our elected officials but at this point I think I'd rather have Harry Caray as VP. I'd rather have Joe Buck. Hell, I'd rather have Erin Andrews and you all know my views on her.
You know what's beautiful, though? Even though we have no control over the playoff races and what happens to our teams, we do have a say in who gets elected in November. And that's why I want to take this opportunity to urge any RSBS readers out there who aren't already registered to make sure they do it soon. If you aren't or you just aren't sure, here's a great site that will help you either figure out where you are registered or take you through the process for the first time. It doesn't matter if you "Rock the vote" or "Vote or die." What matters is that you vote.
Trading Deadline Blues
Farnsworth for Pudge? You've got to be kidding me. Although maybe the Tigers know something I don't. I mean, that Jeff Weaver trade didn't turn out so bad considering he totally tanked with the Yankees. But Farnsworth? When I was living in Chicago I used to watch him throwing BP. The only problem was that it was during the 7th inning of close games and that's not a good time to be giving up round-trippers. But, maybe Dombrowski is ahead of the curve. Maybe he wants to put together a stable of the hardest throwing guys in the Major Leagues. But Farnsworth? Farnsworth is to baseball what this kid is to basketball:
What is it about the trading deadline that makes people crazy? Griffey is probably heading to the White Sox, Texeira is now an Angel, Manny might be a Marlin and Pudge will be wearing pinstripes. Everyone is making deals. Well, except for the Cardinals, of course. Sorry about that one, buddy. Maybe they'll do something in the offseason and have a chance next year.
But I'd still rather my team did nothing than have to support a team that trades away an All-Star for a bad punchline. Yeah, Pudge is getting old and yeah, Pudge doesn't hit like he did when he was on the juice. But Farnsworth? I just can't accept this. The only way it could be worse is if I find out that he's also a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.
Speaking of which, there is one other specter that haunts me that Mr. Lung forgot to mention. And no, I don't mean Arlen Specter although he is old and old people generally scare me. I mean another former Fighting Irish who still runs through my dreams. And runs is definitely the correct word since I'm talking about "Rocket" Raghib Ismail. Man, that guy caused as much heartburn in Michigan as the Big Three's ongoing inability to make a profit. I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was glad to see him go.
Anyway, I guess I should let this all go and just accept that Farnsworth is on the team through the end of the season. Maybe he'll be great. And maybe Fernando Rodney won't blow any more saves. And maybe Hillary will still get the nomination. Thank god I'll only have to live with two out of those three things. And I can still go to my happy place.
Slaying Allen's Specters
Doggie guru Cesar Millan has taught me many a valuable life lesson. The first — and most important — is that I am the pack leader. In order to maintain pack leader status, I must emit a calm yet dominant energy. A brief scan of recent RSBS posts would be more than enough to convince every living being of my fulfillment of this necessary role. Second: happiness comes from excercise, discipline, then affection, in that order and in that order only. Food is optional. Just ask the Olsen twins. They seem to be doing fine. But sometimes, dear readers, these are not enough. Fear is an untouchable giant among short people and fear can cause myriad setbacks to one's personal success, satisfaction, serenity.
For this reason, I have decided not to argue with Mr. Krause on his most recent ramblings regarding MLB playoff restructuring. Despite his fixation on how greedy and seedy MLB front offices tend to be and besides his disconnect with the purism-is-passion campaign I so wholeheartedly support, he does make a few good points. In short, nothing is going to change right now, so I might as well get used to it and hope for the best.
Just for today, I'm content with that.
Fear, which has long been an issue my Tiger-lovin' friend has struggled with, must be addressed. If I were to walk away without confronting his deepest, underlying and now-in-the-open anxieties, I would be a poor voice for US Americans. In his last post, he let it be known that:
"…a specter came back to haunt me today…"
That specter's name is Jeff Samardzija — Notre Dame superstar and latest edition to the Chicago Cubs pitching staff. Admittedly, I share no love for the man just as I share no love for Notre Dame nor the Cubs; however, to me, he is a man. Unfortunately for Mr. Krause, Samardzija has taken on an entirely phantasmal nature capable of penetrating and destroying his entire being.
And Samardzija is not the only one…
Dear readers, this must stop. It must stop today. And as Cesar has so rightfully taught us, it will stop by confronting, defeating and slaying. Attention all specters inhabiting Allen Krause's mind: Be Gone!
Regis Philbin, Be Gone!
Famed Notre Dame alumnus known for entertaining housewives for over two decades now, this specter haunted Allen by asking "Who wants to be a millionaire?" to which Allen responded, "Who wants my foot in his ^ss?"
The Combination of Brad Lidge and Roger Clemens, Be Gone!
Lidge went to Notre Dame and became a fire-balling closer infamous for losing his mind under pressure. Clemens wore a Notre Dame jersey for a publicity stunt and pressured his body by juicing it until he lost his mind.
Hannah Storm, Be Gone!
This Notre Dame graduate (are you seeing a pattern develop?) became a female sports broadcasting star with NBC — the ultimate purveyor of all-things Fighting Irish. In specter form, she subliminally caused Allen's abhorrent distaste for white women.
Phil Donahue, Be Gone!
He's loud. He's obnoxious. He's much older than Allen yet has more hair. He supports Ralph Nader. And oh yeah, he went to Notre Dame.
Carl Yastrzemski, Be Gone!
With that name, it's hard to believe he went to Notre Dame but it's true. He did. And his nickname was "Yaz", which spelled backwards is "Zay", like the language spoken in Ethiopia. And you know what you can find in Ethiopia? Missionaries. Catholic missionaries. Catholic missionaries who have ties to Notre Dame. Yeah, Yaz's specter is one that runs circles around Mr. Krause's mind.
Antonin Scalia, Be Gone!
Not a Notre Dame grad, but he might as well be. A highly conservative supreme court justice who just happens to be Catholic (not a bad thing in my book — the Catholic part), Allen saw him wearing blue and gold once and jumped to conclusions… Scalia's been fear-mongering ever since.
Aaron Heilman, Be Gone!
You guessed it. A Notre Damer. Also pitches in New York, for the Mets. Famous for giving up the 9th inning dinger to Yadier Molina that put the Cardinals in the 2006 World Series against the Tigers (whom they eventually destroyed), Allen still holds a grudge against this specter. Also interesting is the fact that Heilman sounds a lot like Heisman, which is a prestigious college football award bestowed upon Tim Brown — also from Notre Dame — in 1987, which is a year that the Cardinals went to the World Series and the Tigers did not (though they were close).
ce Thomas, Be Gone!
(see Antonin Scalia)
Craig Counsell, Be Gone!
Notre Dame grad. Weird batting stance. Doesn't wear batting gloves. 'Nuff said.
…and finally, the biggest, most bothersome, most destructive specter of them all:
Nope. No affiliation with the Fighting Irish. But I do adore my beagle, come out of arguments on the right side and haunt Allen Krause to the utmost degree…
And I ain't goin' anywhere, Al, so you just better get used to it.
I know it's tough, but don't hate me 'cuz I'm right.
The Filibuster
As of this morning, the NL Central had three teams ten games
over 500 while the NL West leader is barely at .500!
If the playoffs started right now, one superior team would be completely
left out while one mediocre team would get to compete for the World
Series title. Should Major League
Baseball reexamine the playoff structure so that it actually sends the 4 best
teams from each league to the playoffs?
If so, how would you propose this be done?
— Jeff
Ever since 1969, when MLB first started using a playoff system to determine who would play for the World Series, purists have decried the vulgarization of the sport. And when the playoff system was expanded even further in 1994 so more teams could be involved, the old-timers cried themselves to sleep, I'm sure. However, as anyone who follows this blog is aware, I am not one to yearn for the good ol' days. Baseball is entertainment and as such, it exists to make money. More teams in the playoffs means more money for the sport which means better facilities and the ongoing vitality of the game. But, there are downsides.
And the system could stand some revamping. As you point out, if the playoffs started today, a mediocre team would be in while an excellent team would be watching from home. On top of that, when you realize that due to the arbitrary makeup of the leagues a good team in a bad division has a much better chance at making the playoffs than an excellent team in a very competitive division, well, you can see how this creates a recipe for disaster. But the situation is not unprecedented.
Each year the BCS picks the two best teams in the nation to go at it in the National Championship game but every year controversy surrounds the pick. A two-loss LSU team gets in over a undefeated Hawaii squad? Yeah, LSU is better but they lost a couple games. And how are they better than a 2-loss Georgia team that went out and destroyed that undefeated Hawaii team?
NCAA football at least has a system that tries to take everything into account when deciding who will play in the championship. MLB randomly assigned teams to leagues and divisions and then wonders why people complain when a sub-par Cubs squad makes it in while a decent Padres team sits back in San Diego wondering how it all went wrong.
Suggestions exist for how the situation could be improved and it's no surprise that Billy Beane would be putting it out there (scroll down to the very last item in the article). I don't agree with both of his points because I don't necessarily think the Division series' need to be expanded but a new seeding format couldn't hurt.
However, the likelihood of things changing soon is pretty small. If anything, maybe they'll try to do like the NFL and expand the playoffs a little but it sure won't be in a way that makes sense. What matters to the owners is that MLB continues to make money and teams like Boston, the Yankees and the Cubs that maximize MLB's return on their investment continue to make it in. That's just how it is.
Now, on a side note, a specter came back to haunt me today that now firmly roots me in the anti Cubs camp. As I was watching the scroll at the bottom of the screen on ESPN, a familiar name popped out at me. The man who got the save for Chicago today? Samardzija. Now, that's not a name you see every day and the only other time I've ever heard it was was in reference to a receiver for the University of Notre Dame. And it's the same guy. I'm sorry but I just can't stand by as the Irish invade everything. Fighting Irish, that is. It's bad enough that I have to accept them in the NFL but now they're showing up in MLB as well? No, that's just too far. And so to the Cubs and GM Jim Hendry I say, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Just had to get that out there. I feel much better now.


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What is in this article?:
- Grain bin danger ŌĆö just 20 seconds to entrapment
- Other hazards
Grain bin engulfments continue to cause deaths and injuries on farms, highlighting the need for emphasis on safety measures.
SUITED FOR SAFETY, from left, Tanner Weaver, Strayhorn, Miss.; Dan Neenan, director the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety at Northeast Iowa Community College; and Chris Shivers, Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation, are ready to conduct a grain bin rescue demonstration.
Twenty seconds — that's all it takes for a grown man to become engulfed by grain in a storage bin. And even strongest, most physically fit person can't overcome the weight and force of that grain.
In 2010, according to the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, there were 51 grain bin engulfments in the U.S., resulting in 26 deaths. Additionally, there were hundreds of injuries.
"It was the worst year on record for grain bin engulfments and fatalities," says Dan Neenan, director the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety at Northeast Iowa Community College.
"It's just part of the unenviable record that agriculture has as as America's most dangerous occupation," he said at a Grain Bin Safety Workshop at Sardis, Miss., one of a series sponsored by the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation. "U.S. agriculture had 551 fatalities in 2011, and averages 70,000 disabling injuries per year."
Grain bin deaths and injuries are particularly challenging, Neenan says, because it can a long period of time for rescue personnel to reach isolated farm areas, and emergency crews often don't have the equipment needed and/or are not trained in the specialized techniques needed for rescue from a grain bin.
Rescue can be further complicated, he says, because information is often not readily available about bin layouts, equipment involved, and wiring/shutdown switches.
"The average rescue time for someone in a grain engulfment is 3.5 hours," Neenan says. "That's an awfully long time to be trapped in a mountain of grain — particularly if it's in hot weather and you're dealing with oxygen deficiency and potentially hazardous gases and dust."
Suffocation is a leading cause of death in grain storage bins, according to OSHA. Even if a person isn't trapped in grain, gases from spoiling grain or fumigants and molds can be toxic and can cause permanent central nervous system damage, heart and vascular disease, and even cancer. Carbon monoxide buildups can cause a person to quickly collapse, become unconscious, and die.