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Causeway Bay shop rents lead world
Central and Tsim Sha Tsui score fourth and fifth in property consultant's rankings as international brands demand more space
Related topics
Strong demand from international retailers and tight supply mean retail rents in Causeway Bay, Central and Tsim Sha Tsui are among the five most expensive shopping addresses in the world.
Research by property consultant Cushman & Wakefield showed average rent in Causeway Bay surged 34.9 per cent to US$2,630 - equal to HK$20,384 - per square foot a year for the 12 months to June. It overtook New York's Fifth Avenue as the most expensive retail destination in the world. It is the first time in 11 years that Fifth Avenue with an average rent of US$2,500 per square foot a year has not led the rankings.
Hong Kong's Central and Tsim Sha Tsui ranked the fourth and fifth-most expensive retail locations with an average rent of US$1,856 and US$1,547 per square foot a year respectively. New York's Times Square ranked third with an average rent of US$2,100 per square foot a year.
John Strachan, head of global retail services at the firm, said the retail rents of prime shops in Hong Kong jumped 21.8 per cent during the period. He believes strong growth in retail rents could be attributed to extremely active demand from new international retailers, expansion plans from existing brands and the very limited availability of retail shops.
"Indeed, notwithstanding slowing economic activity, retailers continued to see the market as the ideal launching platform into the mainland," Strachan said.
Luxury and mass-market fashion brands continue to vie for the best high-street locations, although retail sales growth slowed in the summer. That put upward pressure on rents, forcing mass-market retailers into secondary street stores or shopping centres. It meant mostly luxury watches and jewellery brands were able to afford the high rents demanded in premier locations.
However, the property consultant expects the impressive rental growth in Hong Kong will cool somewhat.
Michele Woo, senior director of retail transaction services at Cushman, said: "There has been a slowing in leasing activity in the past month as retailers adopt a wait-and-see approach towards year-end and the new mainland leadership confirmation after the 18th national congress."
She said Hong Kong would remain the ideal launching platform into the mainland for international retailers although "we are unlikely to see these very high levels of rental growth sustained".
Woo expects retail activity in Asia-Pacific will remain healthy as international retailers struggle to generate profitable trading in their own markets and need to look for expansion opportunities in the region.
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I expected to hate Palm Springs. For a start, it has more golf courses than any other place on earth - 108 to be precise. They are very beautiful, and would be fantastic as parks or nature reserves. Why do they have to be spoilt by golfers?
This desert resort, 120 miles south-east of Los Angeles, also likes to boast it has 600 tennis courts and 38,000 swimming pools. So far, so bad. Then there are the town's 700 restaurants. You could dine in a different one every day for two years. Yawn!
Don't get me wrong. Palm Springs is great for golf, tennis, swimming and eateries - if you like that kind of thing. But the really sensational attractions are its mountains and architecture. Did I hate the place? I loved it.
Palm Springs has the world's finest concentration of mid 20th-century modernist architecture. Around every corner are stunning motels, offices, shops, homes and public buildings by Bauhaus-influenced designers such as Albert Frey, Donald Wexler, Richard Neutra and E Stewart Williams. Prince Charles might loathe these modern carbuncles, but I was enthralled by the creative use of concrete, glass and steel. The futuristic City Hall and Bank of America are two fine examples. Built in the 1950s, they look as if they came off the drawing board of Norman Foster only yesterday.
Most amazing of all is the domestic architecture, with its inventive use of space and light, and its low-line, flat-roof construction. Predating the eco-architecture movement by 30 years, these homes blend effortlessly into their garden surrounds. By comparison, modern British housing design is stuck in a second-rate vernacular time warp. Even if you are not normally into architecture, you'll be inspired.
Maps are available for self-guided architecture tours. Bicycle is the best way to get around. Rick Karr, of Bighorn Bicycles, charges from $20 a day or $85 a week, and provides a DIY bike tour map. But if you really enjoy good architecture, your best bet is Robert Imber, of PS Modern Tours, who offers daily mini-bus trips to all the notable buildings, including little-known gems such as Frank Sinatra's former house at 1148 Alejo.
Looking is fine, but I wanted to experience living in one of these modernist classics. Orbit In was a perfect choice. Designed by Herbert W Burns in 1952, this boutique hotel consists of 10 streamline grey-green concrete units built around a pool and boomerang terrace bar, with steel mesh walls and sun roof. The interior is 1950s original - chrome and white enamel kitchen, splayed-leg tables and chairs, and pink and yellow melmac crockery. I never imagined the 50s could be so chic.
The other big sensation in Palm Springs is the towering, all-dominating mountains. Half a mile from the main street, they rise up at an angle of 75 degrees, to nearly 11,000ft. Between the peaks, there are 54 miles of scenic hiking trails dotted with rock formations and waterfalls.
The morning after my arrival, I set off to climb Mount San Jacinto (10,804ft). Getting up the first 8,516ft was easy: I rode the Aerial Tramway. During the 11-minute cable car ascent, you travel from the sandy desert of Palm Springs to alpine snow-fields, the temperature dropping from 32C to 2C. Despite the cold air, the sun was hot. No one else was hiking, so I stripped down to my underpants and boots, and headed up through boulder-strewn pine forests, wildflower meadows and snow-covered valleys.
Golden eagles soared overhead. The tapping of white headed woodpeckers reverberated through the trees. A bobcat darted over rocks. My upward progress was slowed by the heavy snow that obscured the trail. It was trial and error, but I love a challenge. By mid-afternoon, near Miller Peak (10,500ft), I realised there was not enough time to get safely to the summit and back to the Aerial Tramway. To be stuck on the mountain in darkness and sub-zero temperatures could be fatal. Just as I was about to turn back, I came across another hiker. Gary was a huge hulk of a man. But he had over-stretched himself and collapsed with exhaustion.
I knew that if I stayed with him we might both get stranded overnight. We could freeze to death. But it was too risky to leave him. Our descent was a race against the fading light and tumbling temperature. The icy trail was treacherous. We slipped and slid all over the place. My hands and face turned numb and blue with cold. I was frostbitten and hypothermic. But somehow we made it - just. At 6pm, as darkness fell, we walked into the Aerial Tramway - frozen, hungry and exhausted. But our battered spirits were lifted by the dazzling view: 8,000ft below us, the glittering lights of Palm Springs sparkled like diamonds.
When Gary and I said our goodbyes, I couldn't resist a mischievous smirk at the irony of the day's drama: a skinny fag like me coming to the rescue of Mr Butch. That night, I pigged out at the Chop House and The Deck, two great restaurants, one above the other. The evening began with martinis in the Chop House to celebrate my safe return. Perhaps it was displaced homesickness, but I got hooked on London Fogs (gin, pernod and lemon twist). Mildly plastered (and who can blame me after the ordeal on the mountain), I got stuck into a fab main course of macadamia-crusted Hawaiian mahi mahi, with wilted spinach, lobster mashed potatoes and ginger-coconut sauce. To replenish my depleted energy, for dessert I guiltlessly devoured a giant slab of bittersweet chocolate cake.
Then it was upstairs to The Deck for live jazz on the open-air balcony - and several wicked Lizard Juice cocktails (light and dark rums, pineapple juice, midori, mango passion liqueur, and a float of chambord).
Still barely recovered from my trauma in the snow, the next day I decided to play safe by joining Trail Discovery's eco-hike through the Painted Canyons. Our guide, Heidi, drove us out to the Sonoran Desert, from where five of us set off on a six-mile, three-hour trek.
To begin with, the canyon walls are about 100ft high and 75ft apart. But after 15 minutes' walking, Heidi led us into a narrow fissure in the rock, and soon we were ambling up dark, deep chasms only two feet wide in places. Every now and then, we had to climb wooden ladders to get to the next level. Eventually, the trail emerged on to a ridge top and we traversed mountain spines for the next hour. En route, we caught sight of lizards and butterflies; plus wild tobacco and lavender. Descending into a large canyon, we followed a twisting, turning course between sheer rock faces over 150ft high. Around each corner, the rock hues changed from red to brown, purple, orange, pink and grey.
Heidi had a special treat for us on the drive back to Palm Springs. We stopped off at the Oasis Date Gardens on Highway 111, near Thermal - officially the hottest town in the US. This area produces 98% of the nation's dates. It has a restaurant, supermarket, museum and cinema - all dedicated to the glory of the fruit.
On day four, I moved to the Caliente Tropics motel, a Tiki Hut version of mid-century modernist design, with Polynesian motifs. Built in 1964 and refurbished last year, previous guests include Elvis Presley. Alas, not even his ghost made an appearance when I was there. I had to content myself with sipping margaritas in the Jacuzzi, under palm trees. But the most memorable thing about Caliente Tropics is the beds. They are the most comfortable I have ever slept in. Waking blissfully refreshed, I was ready for my next trek - this time with Desert Adventures Jeep Tours. We drove out to the Indio Hills, right on the San Andreas earthquake fault-line. The collision of the Pacific and North American plates forced millions of tons of horizontal sedimentary layers vertically upwards, creating the hills we were standing on. All around us were giant shafts of up-ended sediment rock, forming myriad canyons.
If you are looking for something slightly off-beat, then Palm Springs has a bit of that, too. It's naturist-friendly. The Desert Shadows Inn is a stylish, secluded, self-contained clothes-free resort. You could spend your whole holiday in this resort where nudism is normal and "textiles" are the weirdos.
But why would you want to, when you can also have naked adventures on the outside? Trail Discovery offers mountain hikes in the buff. But be warned: invest in some sun-screen to protect your private bits.
Gay Palm Springs and the White Party
Palm Springs has been a lesbian and gay haven for over 30 years. All the queer icons have hung out here - from Garbo to Madonna.
The top gay attractions are not bars and clubs, but the dozen major resort complexes, with names such as Inndulge and Bacchanal. Most are located in the Warms Sands Drive area, and feature pools, saunas and Jacuzzis set in tropical gardens. Clothing is optional. Need I say more?
Every year, around Easter, Palm Springs hosts two mega queer events. The Dinah Shore Weekend is a 3,000-strong dykefest of non-stop club nights and pool parties. The White Party is the equivalent for gay men. Run by Jeffrey Sanker, it is one of several huge gay-circuit parties that take place year-round in different US cities, including New York and Miami.
For the four days of the White Party, 10,000 fags turn Palm Springs into Queertown America. This year, most events were based at the Wyndham hotel. A post-modern version of the traditional southern California hacienda, its rooms overlook a giant courtyard and pool, dotted with towering palms.
Wyndham was a perfect venue for the afternoon pool parties, where 3,000 guys splashed and danced themselves into sun-drenched ecstasy. Abs and pecs heaven. So many hunky men in such tiny swimsuits. The other highlights were the Military Ball, the Tea Dance in Marquis Park and, of course, the White Party. It featured a sensational PA by Jennifer Lopez. But the real stars were on the dance floor: 6,000 gorgeous specimens of queer manhood, most stripped to the waist. The testosterone high was quite enough for me.
After the blow out of the White Party, I spent the next few days chilling by the pool at the charming, intimate gay resort, Triangle Inn. Designed by Hugh Kaptur in 1958, it is a fine example of Palm Springs modernism. The garden brims with hibiscus and bougainvillea, and is home to hummingbirds and roadrunners. Immortalised in cartoons, roadrunners really do make a 'beeping' noise and run incredibly fast with a clownish gait. The owners, Michael and Stephen, are wonderful company and a treasure-trove of useful tips on where to go and what to do in the region.
White Party or no White Party, you'll love this tranquil oasis of fag friendliness.
White Party info: Next year's White Party runs April 17-21, see Jeffrey Sanker Where to stay: Wyndham Hotel (+760 322 6000, Wyndham), 888 E Tahquitz Canyon Drive. Rooms from $99 per night. Triangle Inn (+ 760 322 7993, Triangle Inn) 555 San Lorenzo. Rooms from $89 per night.
Way to go
Getting there: American Airlines (0845 6060 461) flies daily Heathrow-Palm Springs via LA or Dallas from £581.20 return.
Where to stay: Caliente Tropics (+ 760 327 1391, Caliente Tropics), 411 E Palm Canyon Drive; rooms from $110 per night. Orbit In (+760 323 3585, Orbit In), 562 W Arenas; rooms from $149 per night. The Desert Shadows Inn (+760 325 6410, The Desert Shadows Inn); rooms from $140 per night.
What to do: Aerial Tramway (Aerial Tramway); Trail Discovery (+760 325 HIKE, Trail Discovery); Desert Adventures Jeep Tours (+760 324 JEEP, Red Jeep); PS Modern Tours (+760 318 6118, PS Modern Tours); Bighorn Bicycles (+760 325 3367); Oasis Date Gardens (<a href="http://www.oasisdate.com); Chop House and The Deck restaurants 262 S Palm Canyon Drive (+760 325 5500).
Further information: Palm Springs Desert Resorts Convention & Visitors Authority (+760 770 9000, for an information pack, call 020-8875 2859).
Country code: 001. Flight time: London-LA 11.25hrs, LA-Palm Springs: 56min. Time difference: -8hrs. £1 = 1.55 dollars.

subset: commoncrawl


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Crossover conundrums and an Italian controversy
Precision Cockpit previews Acura's future interiors
Things to see when you're tired of the big-letter debuts
5.0-liter models to receive AWD
New vehicles get star treatment
Tuners beware; this dealership wants your job
The best looking prototype on the grid
Toyota joins the subcompact crossover party
Refreshed crossover will be the first to get Skyactiv-D 2.2-liter
Full-sized, three-row SUV almost ready to roll
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Picture Of The Day for February 4, 2011
Magnificent Ladies
It was Magnificent Ladies Wrestling time in Trenton, Tennessee, last weekend and...lucky for us...our buddy Brian Reese was there to snap the action that took place in the MLW ring! Today we bring you four of the gorgeous grapplers who squared-off Sunday in Trenton.
First up is Josianne The Pussycat [above]...who is making it quite clear which team she's rooting for in this weekend's big game! Also on hand to battle it out were Athena [Picture #2], Taylor Made [ #3] and G.L.O.R.Y. Girl Melanie Cruise [ #4].
Over the next several days, we'll be taking a look at some of last weekend's wild and wooly MLW mayhem.
Brian Reese
Brian Reese
Brian Reese
Brian Reese
Visitors to this page.
Quick Links


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Coupons for Nine West
Since 2010, Nine West has been helping last-minute shoppers save money with their Free Shipping Day offers. Now they're extending the savings by providing coupons and promo codes throughout the year.Shop at Nine West →
Instead of waiting until December to score that new pair of Nine West pumps, you can shop in any month you'd like without worrying about paying full price.
The deals don't stop with shoes, either. One of the Nine West coupons listed below will help you save on their handbags, clutches, totes, wallets and more. Just apply your code at checkout and watch the price drop!
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Fulbright scholar Dr. Sandep Kandhwal visits Green River
Dr. Kandhwal teaches Frank Primiani's class about the caste system in India and the challenges of overcoming discrimination when it is embedded into a society.
Dr. Sandep Kandhwal, noted Indian scholar and senior-most member of the faculty at Government College, Safidon, Jind, visited Green River on Monday, March 11.
Sophia Iliakis Doherty accompanied Kandhwal to Green River. Doherty is the Director of International Student and Faculty Services at Peninsula College, where Kandhwal works as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence.
International Programs hosted a luncheon for Kandhwal, where he lectured briefly about the caste system in India and then fielded questions from faculty and staff members, discussing topics from the differences between American and Indian students, to the role of parents in their child's education.
"One of the first things I noticed when I started teaching here," Kandhwal told his audience of fellow teachers, "is how sincere the students are."
Kandhwal also spent time with two classes, where he went into further depth about the caste system and connected it to affirmative action and reverse discrimination in the U.S. "The [Indian] constitution and government do not discriminate, but society does," he said, pointing out that a disproportionate amount of college seats are reserved specifically for lower caste members, blocking students from a higher caste with better grades and test scores from being accepted.
"Government forces reserved spots in classes, but the social imbalance is still there." While the constitution and the government work against discrimination, changing deep-rooted social traditions is a long process.
"We've learned as much from Dr. Kandhwal about India as he has from us about community colleges in the U.S. and American culture," said Doherty, "This is the mission of Fulbright and it's been fully realized with this particular Scholar-in-Residence."
The Fulbright Program is one of the most prestigious awards programs worldwide and awards competitive, merit-based grants for international educational exchange scholars, students, teachers and professionals.


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Nebraska Business Development Center
Nebraska Business Development Center offers one-stop assistance to individuals and small businesses by providing small business owners and managers and others a wide variety of information and guidance. Small Business Development Centers are cooperative efforts of the private sector, the educational community and federal, state and local governments. A listing of branch offices throughout Nebraska can be found at the SmallBusiness.com Nebraska SBDC Centers Hub.
[edit] About
The Nebraska Business Development Center helps small businesses expand operations, manage growth or launch new ventures. With offices throughout the state, its consultants help small business owners finance, market, manage and grow their companies.
[edit] Contact information
Nebraska Business Development Center
- Director: Robert Bernier
- Address: University of Nebraska-Omaha
415 Roskens Hall 6001 Dodge Street
- City: Omaha
- State: Nebraska
- Zip: 68182 - 0248
- Phone: 402-554-2521
- Fax: 402-554-3473
- Email: email@example.com
- Website: http://nbdc.unomaha.edu
[edit] See also


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Answers Home
» Puppies
What's a good name for a Black Lab?
We may be getting a Lab puppy soon and are having trouble deciding on a name.
Asked by
on Aug 31st 2012
in Puppies
- Cast your vote for which answer you think is best!
Male or Female? What kind of names do you like? People names, stereotypical dog names (spot, buster...), foreign names....?
Kelsie answered on 8/31/12. Helpful? / 0
if it is a girl i would name it Dutchess, Skyvy, A-ya (me in cheroky i beleive), Daisy, Lucy, Tela, Gypsy, Sparkels, or (i know it sounds kinda stupid but) Artumesia. if it is a boy T-Bone, Buster, LD, Chance, Duke, Casper, Case, Monkey, Hammer, Rock, Smokey, or (and i know this one is kinda stupid too but still) Kleeton (or Klee for short).
Member 1127832 answered on 8/31/12. Helpful? / 0
I am SO exited for you. For boys, Jimmy, Marley, or Mitt. If It's a girl, Mina, Nima, or Brittney. Your friend, Alley.
Sally (dead) answered on 9/1/12. Helpful? / 0


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Mils Muliaina has returned to the Chiefs to find an air of underachievement replaced by an aura of invincibility.
Much has changed since Muliaina swapped Hamilton for Osaka after the 2011 season. A new coaching regime and a revamped roster have helped deliver success to the side and to entice Muliaina to return to the franchise where he spent seven seasons.
Just one of those culminated in the play-offs but, after observing the overhauled Chiefs first-hand for the past week, Muliaina has cause to be confident about adding to the title he won with the Blues in 2003.
"There's been massive changes," he said. "The way they go about things, the attitude and the culture has been something that I certainly noticed since being here.
"They push each other to be the best and are constantly asking questions of each other."
The 33-year-old has been somewhat restricted since starting last Monday, with a couple of niggles keeping him from contact training until the end of the week.
Being in the environment, though, has allowed Muliaina to soak up an atmosphere of achievement.
"There is a bit of an aura there," he said. "But they're not arrogant about it - they've definitely made me, and also the new guys, feel welcome."
The homecoming would have been especially enjoyable after an indifferent stint with the Docomo Red Hurricanes. While Muliaina admired the culture, the rugby was lacking.
"There's a whole lot of other factors that you've got to take in account when you go over there. You don't play too much rugby, because there are only two foreigners allowed on the field at any one time.
"The rugby was a little bit frustrating, if I was to be honest. I was really keen to come back and I think the fire was still burning in me to play some top-end rugby."
Muliaina wasn't worried about the overseas stint softening his strength, but he did acknowledge he would be in store for an adjustment period to the physicality of Super rugby.
The speed of that adjustment will determine the part Muliaina has to play in the early stages of the season, as will fierce competition for places.
"From what the coaches said prior to me coming here, I'm really covering centre, wing, fullback ... Certainly for me, my focus is to try to impress the coaches, train well and strive for a starting position. That's purely my goal for the next month or so."
As for team targets, Muliaina hardly hesitated.
"The way that they train and the pressure that they put on each other, there's no doubting they still strive to be No1. That's the obvious goal this year."


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The Robert V. Daniels Award
for Outstanding Contributions to International Education
Professor Wolfgang Mieder, Recipient of the 2012 Robert V. Daniels Award
An interview with Wolfgang Mieder by Prof. Luis Vivanco
Wolfgang Mieder is Professor of German and Folklore. A native of northern Germany, he received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1970 and came to UVM in 1971 as an assistant professor, passing through tenure and achieving Full Professor within seven short years. He is a scholar of German literature, history of the German language, fairy tales, folk songs, and a world authority of paremiology, the field that studies proverbs. Between publishing an astonishing number of books (over 200), articles (almost 500), and editing Proverbium, the international yearbook of proverbs, he served as the chair the Department of German and Russian from 1977-2008, won numerous teaching awards (including Vermont Teacher of the Year and UVM's George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award), and has lent his support to a number of endeavors that have promoted the advancement of European Studies, Russian-East European Studies, and Global Studies.
In January, I sat down with Wolfgang to learn about his remarkable career, scholarship, and involvement in international studies at UVM. Here are some highlights from that conversation.
On coming to the U.S. at the age of sixteen…
My dream as a young boy in Germany in the 1950s was to come to America, the dreamland, roads paved with gold, and so on. I had met a German-American journalist from Detroit. When I was sixteen I wrote to him to see if he could find some families for me to stay with. He did and I came for a year. The fact that I didn't come with a program was my fortune because at that young impressionable age I fell immediately in love with the United States. I do mean that. A couple of months afterwards I was begging my parents to stay. I didn't go home for four years! I took my two years of high school and ended up at a small college in Michigan, Olivet College. I'd gotten a nice stipend from the Michigan Student Aid Foundation, and that paid for about half, and the other half I worked—I ran the language lab and so on. I started off as a math and chemistry major, and like so many students I changed my mind a few times and ended up in the humanities, majoring in French and German.
How he came to the study of folklore…
I got a free ride to the University Michigan and got my M.A. there in a year, and went back to Germany to study a semester at Heidelberg. I also studied two semesters in France. Then I made the decision to switch universities one more time and decided to go to Michigan State in the German Department. That was, in a roundabout way, my good fortune because I met Stuart Gallacher who was a student of the famous American folklorist Archer Taylor. That is where I was introduced to the study of fairy tales, legends, jokes, folk songs and, of course, proverbs. And that clicked. From there it was a straight shot. I wrote my dissertation on the contextual function of proverbs in a 19th century Swiss novelist's work and then enjoyed that work so much that very quickly I started thinking of other projects.
When I came to UVM in 1971, senior professors thought that teaching a course on folklore would be a good idea because of the accessibility of the subject matter, and it enters into so many cultural, literary and linguistic aspects. Over the years my interest in folklore became very much broader as far as comparative work is concerned. I always try to tell my students if you want to do serious folklore work you should do it as comparatively as possible.
His approach to scholarship…
There are various models of scholarship. You can be like a bee and jump from flower to flower. And let's just say you jump on a rose and you do a research project and then you jump to a dandelion and you do something completely different, meaning that every time you have to start from scratch. I learned early in my career as a scholar you have to create something like the metaphor of King Arthur's roundtable—your scholarly base—which for me is literature and folklore with a special interest in proverbs. Over my 42 years as a professor what I've done is establish an international proverbs archive that by now contains close to 4,000 published proverb collections in many languages, and that's my roundtable, my base. And then since I teach medieval literature, I can ride on my horse, galloping out into the periphery, and the periphery can be whatever suits or interests me, or maybe someone needs a paper on a particular aspect. Or I can come home and I can say, are there any proverbs that deal with sport and how old are they, and where do they come from? Or I can ride out and say every year we have Martin Luther King's celebration and I can look at how he communicated, what kind of sermonic background he brought into his major addresses, and so on.
The ubiquity of proverbs, the "everywhereness" of proverbs, gave me the capacity to overcome the narrow field of German Studies that I would have faced if I had become a specialist only in medieval German literature. One thing I noticed very early is that living in America, I felt I had to run on two parallel tracks. On the one hand I could do my writing and research using primarily my German language, which opens up almost all of Europe. On the other hand I wanted to communicate with my people in Williston [where he lives with his wife Barbara], you know, give a lecture at the public library, or the elder group, or a Rotary group. And I couldn't have done that if I had confined my writing and research only to German.
On teaching at UVM…
I think the biggest challenge in a seminar or a big class is to motivate the students. I often tell students, if you can build interest and motivate yourself to enjoy the learning experience, that is important. In my folklore courses, if I could come back thirty years from now and you were to tell me that once in a while you realize that someone like Obama or whoever else might be president used a proverb strategically or effectively in an inaugrual address, I would think I have succeeded. In other words, teaching students the idea of walking around as a conscious human being and drawing on at least some of the things they have absorbed or learned over the years, and looking for connections, looking at the world beyond their own shadows, being a concerned citizen who is able to realize his or her own limitations. Nobody knows everything, of course, but the attempt of being a responsible citizen, be it regional, national or global is important. As teachers, it isn't that we know so many facts, it is that we are able to look at the big picture, to put things into categories, almost like a mosaic or puzzle, seeing how things connect.
With my folklore and language interests, I want to get students to think how people communicate and what ties us together. Are we really different as some people claim? Teaching diversity is important, but we also all have basic needs, drives, and sensations that are not that different. We realize we're all different, but there is that human element that connects us and makes us get along. So I am very interested in cultural literacy and commonality, because we can only communicate effectively if we have some kind of common denominator, of knowledge, of ability, of motivation. That should be a major part of what we do as teachers and professors, to say to ourselves, in which way can I more deeply connect people of all types of backgrounds, of culture, race, ethnicity, age, social strata, poverty.
And then all of sudden proverbs become very interesting, after all proverbs are the "wit of one and wisdom of many." Someone made an observation that was so common that it could be generalized into a formulaic statement that can be applied to numerous contexts in shades of meaning, such as irony or satire, or love and tenderness. Proverbs, in many ways, show that humans are quite a bit alike. Something proverbs have taught me is that people might use a different metaphor to speak about common human experience. If you live in the Sahara you're not going to create a proverb about fish. But you can still say, instead of "big fish eat little fish" you might say the big scorpion eats the small one. The fundamental idea that a big thing will devour a small thing to describe the rapacity of human beings metaphorically is the same.
On how international studies has changed at UVM during his 42 years…
UVM has made tremendous progress. It behooves universities to seize the opportunity to show students how things are interconnected and how small the world has become. The finest example is the global studies major. Look at the students! I marvel at the fact that it has truly rigorous foreign language requirement. That speaks to the motivation of the students. Clearly if the interest is there, the student can find the commitment, the motivation and, without being a language major, pay the price to be a global citizen. That is a really positive development. In many ways I think there is a future for foreign languages. Also regarding the internationalization of our campus, we have a high ranking administrative officer in charge of it. Study abroad has gotten richer. We are making headway on bringing foreign scholars. The thing that is holding us back, and it has nothing to do with UVM in my opinion, is simply the incredible expense of studying at an American university. German students are used to not paying anything! On the faculty too we have quite a few dear colleagues who have come from various parts of the world to work at UVM. I know wherever I go people say "Oh you work in Vermont!" There's a certain mystique about our state but also about the university. We're on the map. We can be very happy.
Last modified February 14 2013 01:46 PM


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Started this discussion. Last reply by kifaru Jul 30, 2011. 1 Reply 0 Likes
Man, these phone companies, I'm tellin' you. This is just stupid. I used to be with AT&T so this gets under my skin - they're going to throttle any remaining (read: grandfathered) plan that has…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by kifaru Sep 11, 2010. 18 Replies 0 Likes
Everytime I see a "Black" rap video (you know the deal: pimp, hos, drugs and any other negative stereotype we have) and seeing how people praise it so or buy into this crap, I always think of this…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by Kodachi Apr 30, 2010. 2 Replies 0 Likes
I sent in my pitch to be an AfroPunk blogger and it's my second try (I felt my first one was crappy) but I haven't gotten a reply back. I know you guys are rehashing the site but I was wondering if…Continue
Started this discussion. Last reply by Mocha McCall Aug 22, 2011. 27 Replies 0 Likes
Ugh, I've been fighting with my poor scalp for the longest time. It keeps flaking and getting itchy even. I have permed hair (tho I have thought about wearing it natural but that's someday, not…Continue
Kodachi has not received any gifts yet
Posted on September 26, 2012 at 9:30pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
I had the chance to catch up with tagger Baja Ukweli after the Afro-Punk Festival. Here's what he had to say about his experience on this year's festival:
Me: How long have you been graffing/tagging?
Baja Ukweli: I have been tagging since the early 80's
Posted on September 26, 2012 at 8:30pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Earlier this month I went to see Saul Williams and Dri Fish perform spoken word here in Baltimore. It was a fantastic show and excuse the crappy photos for I was in the back and with a new camera that apparently sucks at long range.
Femi the Dri Fish's set was short but very well done. Although he performs with a band now, he had his starts as a spoken word poet as part of a duo called 5th L so doing spoken word came…Continue
Posted on September 26, 2012 at 8:29pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Recently, Lupe Fiasco released the video, "B*tch Bad", a song off his newest album Food & Liquor 2. Here it is below.
Now, I have words about this. This vid is probably why Lupe will possibly be the only well-known emcee I actually like. Look at the site for the…Continue
Posted on October 2, 2011 at 7:30pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Since September 17th, there has been a long occupation happening in NYC and starting to spread all over the nation and even bits and pieces of the world: Occupy Wall Street.
There has been stirring among the people of America and the rest of the world that I think all of us can relate to in one way or another – hard time finding a job; college feels more like a bait and switch scheme titled "The American Dream" than a pass to bigger and better things; bills, loans and collectors…
I just wanted to say - "You rock!" :)
Pardon me, ma'am, but are you a graduate of the Baltimore City College?
© 2017 Created by Matthew. Powered by


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Old men are not supposed to win gold medals in Olympic alpine ski races. In fact, no man over 34 has won an Olympic skiing medal.
Bode Miller is 36. You would think the New Hampshire native would not risk competing at his age. But he is – the Sochi Winter Games will be his fifth Olympics – and he's still amazingly competitive.
Based on his performance on his first training run Thursday, he is the man to beat in the downhill event. He placed first, edging out some formidable competitors, including Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal, the five-time downhill world champion and Olympic gold medalist, and Canada's top contender for a podium finish, Erik Guay.
Later, at a packed media conference – Miller can still draw a crowd – he pronounced himself in top competitive form, even better than he was in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, where he grabbed a gold, a silver and a bronze.
"I've been skiing technically really well and my fitness is really high," he said. "I think I am in a much better spot this year than I was in 2010. … I managed to pull my fitness together by the time it came to race the [Vancouver] Olympics, but not nearly where I am now. I was very fatigued. I was losing a lot of time at the bottom of the courses."
But Miller could equally blow up Sunday, when the glam alpine Olympic event – the men's downhill – takes place on the same course where he injured his knee two years ago, during a test run.
Miller takes wild chances that sometimes vault him into first place after spectacular recoveries but often send him hurtling into the crash nets. "For 16 years, he has built a reputation as an uberathletic, win-or-crash-trying daredevil who pushes the line between safety and success," Wayne Drehs wrote in the Feb. 4 issue of ESPN The Magazine.
Certainly, Miller's results in the current season suggest a podium finish is not assured in Sochi. He has been all over the map, with several top-five finishes in recent World Cup events but also no shortage of mediocre to bad runs. And while he was a star in Vancouver, he failed to secure a medal at the 2006 Turin Games.
Miller pronounced himself relaxed ahead of the downhill medal race Sunday. The Olympics are nothing new to him. "It's not just the same after you've done it so many times," he said.
If Miller is to win at Sochi, he will have to get around Svindal first. The Norwegian's eighth-place finish in Thursday's training run was somewhat out of character. He has won five World Cup races this season, and placed second or third in several others.
Sochi could emerge as a battle between the two men – the erratic-though-brilliant American against the cool, calculating Norwegian.
"Aksel is super consistent, rock solid, doesn't take risks very often," Miller said. "The risks he takes is always calculated … I more or less ski with the intent to push myself."
It is assumed Sochi will be Miller's last Olympics, especially since he seems to be settling into domestic life with his new wife, Morgan Miller, a pro beach volleyball player who is in Sochi as a fan.
If he wins gold here, Miller will make Olympic history. The downhill will be the race to watch, as observers know it will push him to edge of his ability – and perhaps beyond.Report Typo/Error
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https://i1.wp.com/www.retroepic.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/paintsplatter_featured.png?fit=740%2C210 210 740 Keith Boshoff http://www.retroepic.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/RetroLogo_300.png Keith Boshoff2011-12-19 10:06:462015-01-28 12:49:44Paint Splatter Surface Effect
Paint Splatter Surface Effect
Take a look at our 2011 Paint Splatter Surface Effect Demo:
- Mouse click / Drag – Paint on surface
- R – Reset
- Any renderable object can act as a brush, by default particles are used.
- Paint effect based on particles, any way a a particle can be moved, the paint will spread.
- Approximated/Implicit paint physics, paint slides down walls, drips off roofs and pools on floors.
- Per surface control over paint color, paint fade time, paint resolution, camera dimensions.
- Flat surfaces only, preferably Unity Planes or similar geometry (see example), Unity planes can be scaled to increase size.
- One paint colour per surface.
Let us know what you thought of the demo in the comments. If you liked it, share it with your friends!


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SH-32-PNI Soho Collection Wall Mounted Soap Dish, Polished Nickel by Allied Brass
Product ID:
Price Quote
when buying in bulk
- Classic design will compliment your décor
- Polished Nickel, a bright, highly reflective warm grey metallic look
- Made of Solid Brass
- Available in a variety of designer finishes
- Assembled in the U.S.A.
Complete your décor with this finely crafted soap dish. Keep your countertop clean and clutter free while adding the finishing touch to your space. Made of solid brass and provided with a lifetime finsh to insure products will never rust.


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CASP to lead community dialogue
The Community Alliance for Safety and Peace will hold a "Community Dialogue for Change" from 3 to 4 p.m. Sunday in the community room at Northridge Mall.
The event is a follow-up to a series of listening sessions in 2010 that led the group to create a strategic plan and ideas to create more after-school and sports programs for children.
For information, call 758-7256.
Sequestration cancels DLI Language Day
The Defense Language Institute's annual Language Day has been canceled because of federal sequestration cuts, the Presidio of Monterey announced Friday.
It was one of the few events that let the public into restricted areas of the Presidio.
The event is a celebration of the 25 languages taught at DLI, as well as their cultures, and was designed for a kindergarten through high school crowd, Presidio spokesman Dan Carpenter said.
Last year was the first year Language Day was open to the public since parts of the Presidio were restricted in 2001.
Carpenter said he hoped the event would return next year.
On Thursday, the Presidio held an Earth Day event for about 300 students. Organizer Tania Leisten, a civilian Presidio employee, said one of the reasons for the function was to teach students — who come from all over the country — about the Monterey Bay ecosystem.
Man pleads guilty to home invasion shooting
A San Ardo man pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of attempted murder and home invasion robbery, District Attorney Dean Flippo announced Friday.
Alfonso Salazar, 34, entered the home of a San Ardo man on July 24, 2012, and demanded money. When the victim said he didn't have any, Salazar shot him once in the chest. The victim sought refuge in a neighbor's house and Salazar fled to Merced, where he was arrested three days later.
Salazar will receive a prison term of 23 years and eight months when he is sentenced May 23 by Judge Mark Hood.
Rally protests weaponized drones
A rally and protest against weaponized drones will be held 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at Window on the Bay Park.
For information, call the Peace Resource Center at 899-7322.


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Item #1ACVF20
Foxboro Miran 1A-CVF with 20m cell
|Sales, Rentals 1-614-846-1900 USA RENT OR PURCHASE. The FOXBORO MIRAN 1A CVF with 20 metre gas cell is a general purpose, variable wavelength, infrared gas analyzer. Designed for ambient analysis of gases or vapors which absorb infrared energy in the infrared region of 2.5 to 14.5 microns. Cell pathlength adjusts from 0-20 metres in 13 increments enabling adjustment for sensitivity. Analog display and 0-1 V dc recorder output. Measures in absorbance units (AU) or in transmission (%T). Weighs 30 pounds. Also available with cuvette cell. Includes: Instrument, manual, case, sampling wand & zeroing cartridge. Please call 1-614-846-1900 for details.
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Category: Infrared Analyzers : Rental Item,,,


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Article Preview
HUMPHREY ASKS CHINA CONTACTS; Tells West Point Graduates the Isolation of Asian Red Nations Is Dangerous HUMPHREY BACKS CHINA CONTACTS
By DOUGLAS ROBINSON Special to The New York Times ();
June 09, 1966,
, Section , Page 1, Column , words
WEST POINT, N.Y., June 8 Vice President Humphrey pledged today that the United States would continue to try to widen its contacts with Communist China despite the "denunciation and hostility" provoked by such efforts.
June 09, 1966
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The Dangerous Deeohjee
The Deeohjee is stalking students.
Under a different name, it lives in harmony with children in many homes. But some people call it the "Deeohjee", and that's when it starts to sow confusion and frustration among young learners.
When the language problems mount, those in charge blame such conditions as "learning disabilities", "dyslexia", or "attention deficit disorder", when really, it's the Deeohjee that's to blame.
I'll explain why I think the Deeohjee is such a problem, but first some background.
The Sounds of Spoken Language
Kids usually learn to speak their native language early in life, without any particular "speaking" program. They listen to the speech of others, try to imitate what they hear, and make corrections that will help them clearly convey their ideas to their listeners. How do they do that? Even before going to school, kids intuitively learn how to use two important components of spoken language, namely syllables and speech sounds. They don't know what syllables and speech sounds are, but they also sing songs without knowing either the names or the lengths of the musical notes they're singing.
"Mama" is usually the first word acquired by children learning English. When they master it, they can say it using two syllables — ma-ma — and two blended speech sounds — "mmm" and "ah" — both spoken twice. If they say, "ma-am" or "mi- mo" or "bo-nu", the people they're speaking to may fail to respond. In that case, kids usually work hard to make their version of the word resemble or even match the version spoken by others. This means that they must use an appropriate number of syllables, present them in correct order and include appropriate speech sounds in each of the syllables in order to get attention.
Similarly, they can learn to say many different words, such as
1. "a", like the "a" (cat): one syllable (or beat) and one speech sound.
2. "sit": one syllable/beat and three speech sounds.
3."candy": two syllables/beats — "can" and "dy" – and five speech sounds.
Let's look at that last example. What's the first sound in the word "candy"? It's not "see", as we might pronounce the name of the letter "c". It's the same sound (not the name) of the letter "k". Here's what that sounds like
Likewise, the sound of the second letter in "candy" isn't "ay", as we might say the name of the letter "a", but this:
And this is where the Deeohjee comes in and makes a mess.
Sowing Confusion
Some language teachers insist on using the names of the letters when they teach speaking or reading. And so, in place of the sounds of the letters "d", "o" and "g", they use the names of those letters. As a result, young children have to try to figure out how "dee-oh-jee" can possibly give them the word "dog".
By telling students that they should pay attention to the names of the letters instead of the sounds of the letters, teachers and parents ignore what those children have been eagerly learning about language during their first five or six years of life. Instead, they ask them to change to a system that does not appropriately deal either with the syllables or the speech sounds that they had been identifying and reproducing.
In an upcoming post, I'll give you some examples of how you should teach children to sound out words.
Tokens to the rescue
If you're going to help your child learn to read, you'll need to know how to deal with syllables. I've got a tip for teaching these word parts, but first… my moment of discovery!
Years ago, I wondered if a child about to start grade school could identify the syllables he/she uses in speaking. A syllable is one of the "chunks" we use to pronounce a word. So, for instance, if you say "zombie", you say it in two parts: zom and bie. Zom-bie. Zombie.
Could my five-year-old son, Mark, break a word into parts, into syllables? I found him sitting among a pile of Lego pieces – as per usual — busily putting the tiles together to model the buildings he had seen in his travels around town.
I sat down beside him.
- Me: Markie, I am going to say something. Listen carefully. 'Paper'. Can you say this word back to me?
- Mark: Sure. 'Paper'.
- Me: I can say 'paper' in parts. Listen again. 'Pa-per'. How many parts are there?
- Mark: Two.
- Me: Great! I'll tell you another word. 'Tiger'. Can you say it back to me?
- Mark: Sure. 'Tiger'.
- Me: Can you say 'tiger' in parts?
Mark shook his head. I tried this routine with a few other words, but all I got was a lot of head shaking. Mark returned to his building, adding the next Lego tile to his construction.
I sat there, watching. A few minutes passed. As I watched, I recalled reading about the difficulties some speakers have in forming spoken sentences. Unaided, they cannot do it. But if they use a concrete aid to represent each word – "The" (put down a token) "dog" (token again) "sat" (token) – then they can create sentences.
Using a similar technique, could Mark identify syllables, if I gave him some concrete aids? Grabbing two Lego tiles, I turned back to Mark.
- Me: Look, Markie, I can say 'paper' in parts and I can put a Lego piece down for each part. See? I am putting down one tile for 'pa–' and another for '–per'. How many parts are there?
- Mark: Two.
- Me: Can you say 'tiger' in parts and put down a tile for each part?
- Mark: Sure.
He repeats the word, puts down a tile for 'ti-" and another for "-ger" and says it in parts. My enthusiastic congratulations please him greatly. But he seems disappointed by my obvious inefficiency.
- Mark: Why didn't you show me how to do that right away!
Since then I have used this natural syllabication technique with students of all ages, both with beginners and with experienced readers. Armed with a few rules and some background information and supported by some practice, they learn how to divide English words – both spoken and written — into syllables.
Why (orthographic) rules rule
While my son Kevin was attending Grade 1, his teacher called me in for a special meeting. I was puzzled. What did she need to tell me? What had gone wrong?
When we met, she explained that Kevin had been looking over her shoulder recently as she read a book aimed at adults. "I can read that," he announced. The teacher didn't believe it. After he read what she had been reading, she still could not believe it!
I think that he was able to read her book because before he enrolled in school his grandmother had diligently taught him some of the basic orthographic principles, the connections, in other words, between how words are said and how they are written.
So, by Grade 1, Kevin had three strategies at his disposal. He could
- identify unfamiliar written words, using the orthographic principles that he knew at that time. (Strategy 1)
- recognize, immediately, frequently occurring words, without sounding them out. (Strategy 2)
- by using the context of selections as a guide, he could often guess the identity of unfamiliar words that he could not yet fully change to spoken language, (Strategy 3)
So, for the most part, he was able to translate what his teacher was reading into spoken language.
When students first come to me for instruction, things look quite a bit different.
- They use Strategy 2. They read by recalling words that they had previously memorized as wholes, without orthographic analysis and synthesis. I asked Parker, one of my Grade 4 students, how he memorized the words he was instructed to remember. He told me that he wrote each word again and again, trying to memorize the names of the letters in each word. As a result, even though he uses English speech sounds every day while talking and listening, he did not know how to match these speech sounds with the letters and/or groups of letters of our alphabet. (He knows how to do it now!)
- They cannot use Strategy 1, because they don't know how to identify unfamiliar written words independently.
- They cannot use Strategy 3, unless the selection they are reading contains enough memorized words to enable them to use context as a guide.
Asked to read, they sometimes succeed. How do they feel when they try to identify a word they had not previously memorized? They feel Stumped!
I know a bright little girl who's in Grade 3. One day, while reading a story, she tried to translate an easily decodable word into spoken language. She thought… and thought… and thought…
Finally, in exasperation, she exclaimed, "I have never seen this word in my whole life!"
If only she had been able to use Strategy 1!
Sense out of sounds
Jack, my seven-year old student is lucky.
If he had lived in ancient times, he would have had trouble interpreting messages presented in pictured or written form. He would have had to guess what a particular artist was saying by carving a picture in stone. Or he might have had to memorize 50,000 different written symbols that matched every word in one of the languages. Pretty tricky.
Luckily for him, some observant language experts invented alphabets. They noticed that the stream of spoken language could be separated into smaller units, namely words, and these, in turn, could be subdivided into even smaller units, the speech sounds. Speech sounds, in combination, reflect the auditory composition of each word. Now all the experts had to do was to assign written symbols to each of the identified speech sounds–and there was an alphabet.
Some early alphabets had serious problems. They pinpointed only the consonant sounds of words, but ignored the vowels sounds.
Using such an alphabet to teach a seven-year old how to read or write would pose an insolvable problem. For example, having shown him two consonant letters, such as "bn", a teacher might persuade him that they stood for "bun". On other days, the teacher would have to explain that "bn" also represented "ban", "bin", "been", "bain" or "bone", and numerous other possibilities.
Happily, today our English alphabet contains not only 20 (or 21) consonant letters but also includes 5 (or 6) vowel letters. Now a child can look at the word "bun" and try to decode it. But how?
One approach might be to have him memorize the names (and not the sounds) of the letters of the alphabet. He could then read "bun" as something like "bee-you-en"– not a word whose sound he would recognize.
He could also memorize the word as a whole, by repeated reading and/or writing. Eventually, he would be able to read and spell it, just as pre-literate children can read and write their own name without knowing or understanding the principles of reading and writing.
Regrettably, techniques like these are implemented in many schools.
There are approximately 171,476 English words in current use. All of them can be represented in written form. Does it really make sense to have children memorize some of them, or as many of them as possible? Or should we, instead, teach them a finite group of rules of English orthographic principles that would arm them with useful reading and writing strategies?
If the latter idea makes sense to you, the next question is "How do we begin?"
I'll have the answer in my next post.
The root of the problem
One of my students this year is Jack, a seven-year old student enrolled in Grade 2.
When he arrived for his first lesson with me, he announced that he hated school and reading. He used determined and—inventive—strategies to avoid reading and writing as much as possible. Previous testing by the school identified him as someone who had strong learning abilities but who was plagued by a "learning disability".
I'm certain something is plaguing him, but it isn't a disability.
You may know a child with a "learning disability". He or she can't read or write at the expected level. But have you ever wondered whether a child's reading and writing may be blocked not by some mysterious disability but rather by an inappropriate teaching strategy?
Reading and writing in English is based on an alphabet, consisting of 26 letters. These letters, singly or in groups, have been associated with the speech sounds commonly used by native speakers, forming patterns of rules and relationships, together with some exceptions. This means that learning to read and write involves understanding and remembering such relationships, together with their exceptions.
Unfortunately, for years some educators have assumed that the relationships between English speech sounds and the letters and groups of letters of their alphabet are too unpredictable, that the effort required to learn them can't be justified. As a result, several educators have devised teaching methods—which are now being used in many schools—that require students to memorize whole words, rather than having them learn English orthographic guidelines–spelling rules, in other words– that underlie both reading and writing.
This is wrong, for two reasons.
First, experience and research show that the spelling of most written English words falls into particular, predictable patterns. Fewer than ten percent of English words have to be memorized as wholes. Second, the strategy of simply attempting to read whole words seems to have produced numbers of students, some with "learning disabilities", who don't read or write very well.
That would include my "disabled" student. The one who hated school and reading.
What happened to him?
We've spent several months studying the established correspondences between English speech sounds and the alphabet. He now reads at grade level, is able to explain newly acquired principles of the written forms of English, both to me–and to an audience of stuffed animals. And, if his invitation to join him in his school's Celebration of Learning is an indication, he is proud of his achievement.
Our work continues.


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Packer jnr out as Challenger chairman
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Just a day after a major reshuffle in the executive ranks at Publishing and Broadcasting Ltd, in which Kerry Packer assumed a more dominant role, media heir James Packer has stood down as chairman of Challenger Financial Services Group.
James Packer, who will remain a director of Challenger, yesterday said Consolidated Press Holdings, the Packer family company, was committed to its 25 per cent shareholding in Challenger despite his decision to stand down as chairman.
In a statement, Challenger said Mr Packer's decision to drop the chairmanship was due to "commercial obligations".
But the move heightened speculation of an impending deal between the Packer family's private company and PBL.
According to some analysts, PBL was looking to dispose of its quarter share in mortgage lender Wizard, and Challenger was shaping as a logical potential buyer.
Challenger shares have been under pressure in recent months, falling from more than 50¢ to 44.5¢ at yesterday's close.
Challenger said yesterday that former Colonial and Commonwealth Bank executive Peter Polson would replace Mr Packer and become "independent chairman" overseeing chief executive Chris Cuffe.
This week's internal reshuffle at PBL, which resulted in the long-anticipated elevation of John Alexander, was seen by some analysts as Mr Packer senior reasserting his power within the company. He appointed himself to the newly created role of deputy chairman and appeared to put his stamp on the executive ranks.
In addition to his role as executive chairman of PBL and joint chief executive of CPH, James Packer is a director of Foxtel and ninemsn, and joined the Qantas board in March.


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Drivers door key unlocking/locking problem
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: O.C.
Posts: 12
My Ride: 2000 323i
View My Garage
Drivers door key unlocking/locking problem
It looks like everything wants to go bad on my car right now. Luckily no big things though.. yet.
A little bit ago I went to unlock my door by using the key in the door and the key got stuck slightly offset from up/down and I had to use a little force to remove it.
Now the drivers door locks/unlocks fine with the button in the car and on the remote still. The problem is only when using the key in the door. It unlocked the door half the time, and made the sound of unlocking it but didn't fully unlock it the other half of trys. Nothing happened when i turned the key to the right, and the key wouldn't automatically go back to being vertical so it coul be pulled out.
Any advice?
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We collected a number of videos showing the enormous power of the Magnitude 9.0 earthquake. Large portions of the Japanese coast have been destroyed by tsunami waves up to more than 20 meters. … [Read more...]
Videos from the March 11 Japan Tsunami and Earthquake
Last update: April 2, 2011 at 11:12 am by By


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Northern Knights fast bowler Tony Goodin is disappointed former Bay of Plenty coach Ben Williams was allowed to quit.
Goodin, who had taken 28 wickets in the Cornwall Cricket League for Werrington in the English summer, said it was a shame the popular Williams would no longer be in charge of the side.
"I'm disappointed that Ben has resigned, but more disappointed in the association for letting it happen," he said. "The amount of time he gives up and effort he puts in to help the boys is outstanding."
But Goodin, who joined fellow rising Bay players Bharat Popli and Joe Carter in the Northern Knights squad when he was announced as a contracted player for the second time on Friday, did not believe Williams' departure marked the end of an era.
"I don't think so ... the processes that James Pamment put in place before moving to the Knights and that Ben followed on with will continue to produce quality players.
"I'm stoked for Baz and Joe, they really deserve it. They played well in four-dayers last year and have been amazing for the Bay over the last three to four years.
"With a few more guys being elevated to the Knights it's just giving people like Tom MacRury a chance to shine more like he did last season and a few more younger guys a chance to step up."
Goodin was looking forward to another year as a professional cricketer.
"It's nice to get a contract again. I felt last year I learned a lot so I hope I can show this season the improvements I've made and make myself a part of the playing team."


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Home →
→ Regional Highlights
| Regional Highlights
The quirky, New Wave-y Anna Banana Band delivers tunes such as "Dinosong," which includes a line about possibly getting a Barney tattoo, along with a collection of other original songs, combining different genres like rock, reggae, pop, folk, punk, and Latin music. Some songs call for the listener to sing along -- or roar. Other songs tell stories. In all, this is definitely a show the kids won't want to miss. November 5 at 1pm. FREE.
Brooklyn Public Library's central branch, 10 Grand Army Plaza. 718-230-2100. www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org.
Soul Street Company originated in Houston back in 1996 as a hip hop-inspired street dance troupe. Street dance is a high-energy style that moves to hip hop rhythms and combines break dancing, acrobatic trickery, and even gymnastics. The company's five members started out competing in contests and have graduated to working with rap music stars and performing for children at schools and outreach centers. For Breaking Backward, the troupe reflects on hip hop dance from the genre's inception decades ago to the present. Accompanying music includes, of course, lots of rap and hip hop, but also R&B and classical music. November 6. 2pm. $7.
Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, 2900 Campus Road, Midwood. 718-951-4500. www.brooklyncenteronline.org.
Pingu, the adorable and mischievous animated penguin, brings down the igloo at Big Movies for Little Kids on November 7 at 4pm. $7.
Cobble Hill Cinemas, 265 Court Street, Cobble Hill. 718-596-9113. www.cobblehilltheatre.com.
Somewhat obscured by the Thanksgiving hoopla is Native American Awareness Month, which lasts throughout November. Seriously, there wouldn't be a Thanksgiving had it not been for Native Americans who lived around Plymouth, who we know saved the pilgrims' hides by teaching them how to farm and catch turkeys. Brooklyn honors Native Americans with some classes and performances:
One is World Passport Workshop: Native New Yorkers, in which kids become familiar with the culture of those who lived in and around New York City before the European settlers. The Brooklyn Children's Museum's artifacts collection is vast and allows for a true hands-on experience. November 5 and 11. 2:30pm. Also at the museum, the MetLife Early Learner Performance Series presents Third Rail Projects: Walking in Two, led by Tom Pearson, whose heritage is Cherokee and Muskogee. Pearson will showcase contemporary and traditional dances often using hoops, all addressing themes endemic to Native American culture, such as identity and man's relationship with the natural world. Despite this event title bearing the terms "Early Learner," it is oriented to all ages, with something to be derived by everybody. November 20. 1pm. All ages. $7.50; free younger than 1.
Brooklyn Children's Museum, 145 Brooklyn Avenue, Crown Heights. 718-735-4400. www.brooklynkids.org.
Dance, songs, and drums figure large in Native American culture, and the Red Hook Dance Troupe combines all three in its performance of ceremonial and social songs and dance. November 10. 10:15am and 12:15pm. $7.
Kumble Theater at Long Island University, One University Plaza at Flatbush Avenue, Fort Greene. 718-522-4696. www.kumbletheater.org.
Keller Williams is a six-string virtuoso who's established his niche as a sort of one-man band. Normally he combines a distinctively staccato attack with styles that touch upon rock, reggae, electronica, jazz, and funk, and are often improvised-the kind of groovy stuff that has young adults in tie-dye and dreadlocks grooving like it's 1967. But these days Williams is exploring the kids' music scene, touring behind a children's record called, simply enough, Kids. The album is rife with bluegrass-inspired music, mega guitar chops, and lyrical content that doubles as humor and lessons in life. Among the choice cuts are "Take a Bath," "Car Seat," and "Because I Said So" (the latter also a Williams-penned children's book), all of which reveal that Williams knows the parenting road firsthand. November 19. 10:30am. $20 at the door; $15 in advance.
Brooklyn Bowl, 61 Wythe Avenue, Williamsburg. 718-963-3369. www.brooklynbowl.com.
Storytellers such as Maurice Sendak, William Steig, Ezra Jack Keats-all Brooklyn born and bred-complement their greatness as storytellers with illustrations and collage that deserve recognition as fine art. The Brooklyn Museum embraces the entire book with its fifth annual Children's Book Fair, where children can mingle with acclaimed local writers, among them Kate Hosford (Back to School) and John Rocco (Blackout); plus hear these authors and more than 30 others present read-alouds and sign copies of their books. The museum's Rubin Pavilion, on the first floor, has been transformed for the occasion and, of course, every book can be purchased. Games and food are also available, and there will be a performance of Prokofiev's interpretation of the folk tale Peter and the Wolf by the Brooklyn Conservatory Community Orchestra, plus some comedic theater by the Maestrosities. November 19. 12-4pm. All ages. $10; $6 students and seniors; free children younger than 12.
Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Prospect Heights. 718-638-5000. www.brooklynmuseum.org.
Subway performers are a varied lot; in my many years in New York City, I have seen the kid who banged on compound buckets wind up in a Mariah Carey video and watched a hobo-ish character pour his soul into his slide guitar. Roger G. truly deserves to be part of the MTA's Arts for Transit project, in which the agency sponsors genuine talent and allows them to busk. Roger, for his part, has combined mime and dance into Get Electric with Roger G., an energetic show that grooves and moves with a celebration of force and motion. November 19. 1:30pm. All ages. $7; $5 children and seniors.
New York Transit Museum, Boerum Place and Schermerhorn Street. 718-964-1600. www.mta.info/museum.
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May 23, 2017
All children are musical at birth and can respond to music around them.
Emily Levy, Ed.D., founder and director of EBL Coaching, provides tips and fun and educational activities to help prevent summer brain drain in your children and prepare for the new school year.
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Two years ago, the Nevada softball team embarked on a wonderful journey, one that would ultimately result in the school's first-ever Western Athletic Conference championship and its second berth into the NCAA Tournament. That 2008 season, which ended in the NCAA Regional championship game in Los Angeles, laid the stage for the future of Wolf Pack softball.
The 2009 squad, under the direction of then-first-year coach Matt Meuchel solidified the Wolf Pack's footing as one of the top programs on the West Coast as Nevada won another WAC championship and earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament once again.
The 2010 season is one filled with great expectations under Meuchel, now in his second season, as the Wolf Pack returns a solid mix of talent and a host of newcomers ready to make an immediate impact. This year's journey will be a tough one as Nevada will again face a strong non-conference schedule and WAC slate that gets seemingly gets more competitive each and every season.
"The core of this year's team is very much representative of what people have come to expect from Nevada softball," said Meuchel, who guided the Pack to a 40-19 season last year, including a 15-5 mark in WAC play. "We believe we have one of the top offenses in the country and we feel our pitching is at a similar level. I like the balance that we have on our roster and I'm excited to see how some of our younger players develop this season to match the experience that we do return. We believe that we are on the road to becoming one of the elite programs in the country."
Nevada returns five position player starters from a year ago in addition to a pair of top pitchers. Among the returners are three Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Region players in 2010 in pitcher Katie Holverson, third baseman Sam Bias and outfielder Britton Murdock. Bias and Holverson each earned first-team All-WAC honors in 2009 – with Holverson garnering Pitcher of the Year accolades – as did junior catcher Noelle Micka. Senior first baseman Kelsey Starr returns after earning All-WAC second team honors last year.
That core group of returners has Nevada receiving votes in both national Top 25 polls this year, with the Wolf Pack just outside the top 25 teams in each of the two polls.
As strong as Nevada has been offensively in recent years, perhaps the strength of this year's team lies in the pitching circle with senior Katie Holverson and sophomore Mallary Darby returning. That one-two punch was a fearsome duo in 2009 and is poised to get better this season.
But the lineup will be just as fearsome with Micka at the top of the lineup after two sensational seasons in Silver and Blue. Bias, Murdock and Starr return in the middle of the lineup and the Pack also returns junior shortstop Danielle Patrick, an All-WAC pick in 2008 who made the 2009 All-WAC Tournament team.
Seniors Jessica Haight and Amanda Nims and sophomore Kortnee Wiley also return from last year's team and each of that trio will fight for starting jobs this season. They'll be joined by five talented newcomers seeking to make an immediate impact on this year' team.
The Pack will again face a strong non-conference schedule before getting into what should be a tough battle in Western Athletic Conference play. Over the last two seasons, the WAC has taken six spots in the NCAA Tournament, including two by Nevada.
"Our offense, specifically our run-producing abilities, will continue to be a strength, as will our pitching," Meuchel said. "But I think we've added to our overall athleticism and we hope to see some more team speed on the base paths this year. Those elements are all important because when you look at our non-conference schedule and how tough the WAC will be, we'll need to have as many tools as possible at our disposal to continue upon the success our program has had."
Holverson enters her senior season with an opportunity to leave a legacy as the most accomplished pitcher in school history. Her name is all over the Wolf Pack record book and she's coming off the finest season of her career as she went 28-11 with a 1.70 ERA in 2009 while winning WAC Pitcher of the Year honors.
She'll be joined by Darby, who had perhaps the best freshman season of a Nevada pitcher in history. Darby went 12-8 with a 3.11 ERA and put up 177 strikeouts in just 151.0 innings in 2009. She also tossed the third no-hitter in school history with an 8-0 win at Boise State on April 11 of last year.
"I feel like we have one of the best one-two punches in the country with Katie and Mallary," Meuchel said. "And they complement each other perfectly as Katie relies more on her velocity while Mallary focuses more on movement.
"The big thing with these two is experience as Katie has accomplished more here than any other pitcher we've had and Mallary is coming off a strong freshman season. I think we will see an additional maturity out of each of them with Katie being a senior and Darby transitioning from being a freshman to a sophomore."
Meuchel said that the Pack might also use Haight in the circle at times to develop some depth and have a third option if needed.
"Jessica hasn't been used at the college level as a pitcher but she was an accomplished pitcher at the high school level and she's shown some potential during practice."
As of a hitter as Noelle Micka is – and she enters her junior year with a career average of .380 – she just as good behind the plate, which often gets overlooked.
"Noelle doesn't get the attention she deserves as a defensive player," Meuchel said. "She might not have the best arm strength, but she throws out runners. She handles the pitchers well and balls just don't get by her."
Micka has committed just two errors over her first two seasons and enters her junior campaign with a .994 career fielding percentage.
Meuchel said that juniors Britton Murdock and Justine Cooper are among the options behind the dish if needed.
At first base, Nevada returns Kelsey Starr, who has started there for the past two seasons after beginning her career at third base. A career .299 hitter, Starr saw her production dip slightly last year, if only because she missed the final 10 games of the season with a leg injury.
Meuchel will be looking for Starr to again be a mainstay in the middle of the lineup while also providing leadership as a senior.
"Kelsey has really stepped up and showed the maturity you would expect from a senior," Meuchel said. "She is certainly one of the vocal leaders on the team and we are expecting her to have one of her best offensive years.
"We also have a lot of options at first base as its one of the deepest positions we have."
Senior Jessica Haight filled in when Starr went down at the end of 2009 and Haight surged in the conference and NCAA tournaments. She will compete for time at first, as well as in the outfield and as the designated player.
A trio of newcomers could also push for playing time at first base as freshmen Megan Fincher, Lauren Lastrapes and Sam Puzey are all capable at the position and bring big bats to the lineup.
At second base, Nevada has the tough task of replacing four-year starter Kym Silagyi, who is now a volunteer assistant coach with the team. Silagyi set a number of records during her time, including the school's all-time hits mark.
But Meuchel believes the Pack has a more-than-capable replacement in freshman Chelsea Barilli, who brings a new element to the team.
"Offensively, she's going to do some damage on the base paths," Meuchel said. "She has some good speed and she combines that with some great instincts and footwork. Defensively, she's not going to make a lot of errors. She's shown that she is a steady player. She is just a freshman but there is a lot of maturity to her game."
Junior Britton Murdock could fill in a second if needed, as could sophomore Kortnee Wiley. Barilli is the likely backup at shortstop if needed.
Junior Danielle Patrick returns to the shortstop position that she has occupied each of the past two seasons. Patrick has shown flashes of brilliance, both offensively and defensively, during her first two years. Case in point: She was Nevada's best hitter in the WAC Tournament and NCAA Regionals last year. But what's been missing is consistent play.
"It's really nice to have a two-year starter back at shortstop," Meuchel said. "If Danielle's fall is any indication, she's got a chance to have a great season. She's very talented but she hasn't really showed consistency during her first two years. That's the step we need her to take and I think she's poised to do that this year."
In three years at Nevada, Sam Bias has been a steady, run-producing machine. She's crushed 23 home runs and driven in more than a 100 runs and her on-base+slugging percentage is near .900.
This year, Meuchel is looking for Bias to step up in another phase: leadership. Entering the season, Bias has not disappointed.
"I expect Sam to provide a ton of leadership for this team and she has been working very hard at that aspect," Meuchel said.
Bias will again be an important cog in the Wolf Pack lineup but last year she showed a new element to her game with 13 stolen bases after just six steals her first two seasons.
"We expect to see Sam continue the production she's had in her career," Meuchel said. "We are looking for Sam to be more of a catalyst in our offense – getting on base and scoring runs – because she will likely be batting higher in the lineup."
The freshman Barilli would be an option at third if needed, as would newcomer Justine Cooper.
The Wolf Pack will be missing two of its mainstays from the past four years due to the graduation of Sarah Hunt, one of the best defensive players in school history, and Brittany Puzey, the most decorated Wolf Pack softball player in history. But the Pack has plenty of options and plenty of depth to work with going into the 2010 season.
"Entering the season, we know we have five very good defensive and offensive outfielders," Meuchel said. "So it will be interesting to see how that competition and depth works out. We'll try some different combinations and sets and see what works best for us, both in terms of the lineup and defensively."
Murdock, who played extensively in the outfield last year, should occupy one of the spots and Nevada has used Haight and Amanda Nims, a pair of seniors, in the outfield during fall ball and in practice leading up to the season.
"We are looking for Britton to continue what she's done, most likely as the cleanup hitter," Meuchel said. "You know what you get with her – she's going to hit for average, drive in runs and get on base. She's got a great eye at the plate and a great head offensively.
"The big thing about Jessica is that she has earned a place in this lineup. She's taken advantage of some of the opportunities she's had. I am very impressed with what she showed late in the season last year when she had the opportunity and we need her to seize those opportunities again this year. And Nims has a great chance to start this season. She has all the tools athletically – great arm strength – and she's worked tirelessly to get better at the plate."
Two freshmen also have the chance to earn playing time and make an impact within the lineup immediately. And each comes from strong softball bloodlines.
Sam Puzey is the younger sister of Brittany and she comes to Nevada after a strong prep career at Reno High School. Her father played baseball at Nevada and in the minor leagues and her mother also played softball at Nevada.
Lauren Lastrapes comes from one of the most notable softball families around. Her oldest sister, Dominique, was an All-American at Washington and currently coaches at UC Davis while another sister, Brittany, is an All-American at Arizona.
"Sam is immensely talented as she probably has the best pure power on the team and the best arm strength on the team," Meuchel said. "She also has great speed. She is just a gifted athlete. I'm excited to see what she'll bring to our team on a daily basis. I don't like to compare players but if you compared Brittany and Sam Puzey, I'd say that Sam might be a better athlete than Brittany was but Brittany had a competitiveness that was unmatched. We're interested to see how Sam competes on a daily basis.
"Lauren comes from one of the best softball families on the West Coast. Our expectation from her is to drive in runs and hit a lot of home runs during the course of her career. Nobody is more dedicated in the cage than Lauren. She is the strongest player we have ever had. We'll put her somewhere in the middle of the lineup and let her do some damage," Meuchel said.
As has been a staple of Nevada softball, the Wolf Pack will play a challenging non-conference slate before beginning WAC play. The schedule starts off at the Kajikawa Classic in Arizona and continues the following weekend at the Stanford Nike Invitational. Nevada will then come home for its own Wolf Pack Classic the last weekend of February before two more road tournaments – at The Preview in Oklahoma and at the Capital Classic in Sacramento Calif. The Preview event features games against Louisville and Oklahoma State at the ASA Half-of-Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City as well as games at Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
"We'll see how we match up right away," Meuchel said. "After the first two weekends, I think we will have a pretty good indication where we are at because of the caliber of the competition we are playing. I am truly excited about the opportunity to play at the three venues in Oklahoma against Top-25 caliber teams."
The home slate is the largest in history as Nevada will play 22 games at Hixson Park, where the team is 38-5 since the facility opened in 2007. That includes home WAC series against Fresno State, San Jose State, Hawai`i and Boise State.
"This is more home games than we have ever had before and I know our team is excited for that," Meuchel said. "And we need that home-field advantage, especially in the WAC. It's clear that the WAC is going to be a multiple-bid league in the NCAA Tournament again. The depth of the conference is better and the league race is going to be a dogfight, day-in and day-out.


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August 4, 2016 10:47 am
Wilson reviews the first impressions of a handful of prospects selected in this year's FYPD.
I'm in the middle of my home league's midseason minor-league draft right now, and that has me thinking front and center about how this year's draft class has looked in their professional debuts. As a brief aside before we dive in, I can't recommend this format of prospect drafting strongly enough. This is a 16-team league with 11 minor-league slots per team, so 176 prospects are rostered at any given time. We hold two prospect drafts annually, one in February as the off-season lists are rolling out, and one right now, after the Rule 4 draft and opening of the international signing period on July 2nd. The specter of the mid-season draft beginning right after our trading deadline encourages more deals. It gives us an opportunity to pounce on the new talent while it's still fresh. And we can pop the pop-up guys before they jump onto off-season lists. Then in the winter we get to clean up on the rest of the draft class that makes some noise after signing. It's a wonderful way to play.
Anyway, back in the aftermath of the first-year player draft in June, our noble overlord Bret Sayre unveiled his Top 40 Dynasty League Prospects for the recently professionalized players of this class. We're all of seven weeks removed from that list dropping, so realistically it is way, way too early in the process to go changing our pre-draft opinions on players. But that doesn't mean we can't start gathering some info on the early returns, for both the stars of the draft and the guys who might not have gone in the first round, but who may quickly emerge as interesting fantasy players.
July 27, 2016 6:00 am
J.P. offers his thoughts on four hot fantasy topics.
(1) Leagues that use holds + saves, rather than just saves, must expand the number of required reliever roster spots.
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July 22, 2016 10:56 am
Pitchers have zoned in on the weaknesses in the Dodgers outfielder's swing, but can he adjust back?
On the heels of an injury-ridden 2015 that saw his numbers regress across the board, Yasiel Puig slipped from a borderline-top 20 guy on Mike Gianella's Top 300 list a year ago to 77th on this year's pre-season version. And after an awfully pedestrian first couple months of the season, in which he hit just .239 with nearly five whiffs for every walk, his value cratered all the way to 201st in Mike and Bret Sayre's late-May update. Similarly, he slid from 46th on Bret's pre-season Dynasty Top 500 into triple digits at 104 in the July update. It's a freefall! Puig's value is in freefall, I say!
So what are we supposed to do with him now? The good news is that he remains a physical specimen with an absurd arm, and if FRAA is to be believed, he's been one of the best defensive right fielders in baseball this year in spite of a trip to the disabled list and periods of sporadic starting. All of those things are well and good, and the defensive value in particular is helpful fantasy-wise insofar as it keeps him in the regular lineup even when he's struggling offensively. But offensive struggle has been the norm for Puig pretty much all season long. His below-average .255 TAv ranks 24th among right fielders with at least 250 plate appearances, just behind Pete Bourjos. Yes, the Peter Bourjos who was drafted 528th overall in leagues deep enough that people drafted Peter Bourjos. Puig's return on investment has been… well, not good for fantasy players who drafted him in the fifth round this past spring. And it's been an even worse development for those who are pot-committed in dynasty leagues. So let's take a look at why his bat has been so lethargic this year, and whether there's still hope for a sequel to his first impression.
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July 13, 2016 6:00 am
With the All-Star break upon us, J.P. dishes out some (figurative) hardware.
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July 8, 2016 6:00 am
A look at how likely it is that players who underperformed in the first half will rebound down the stretch.
How likely is it that a disappointing player will return to form in the second half?
It is a simple question, but often it is approached from the standpoint of the individual player, as opposed to on the larger level of whether or not underperforming players on the whole bounce back or if they continue to underperform. Rather than run through specific, case-by-case examples of players who are struggling this year, I thought instead I would examine this year's disappointments in specific groups.
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July 7, 2016 10:57 am
Examining a handful of relievers who could have considerable fantasy value even if they don't close.
Any time is a good time to check in on reliever leaderboards to try and spot a couple loose canons for hire off the ol' Waiver Wire, but I've always tended to gravitate towards this particular time of year for a more in-depth stock check. We've got a nice combination of half-season performance from some of the older-hat options along with some dynamic recent recalls sprinkled in, so it's a particularly fertile opportunity to add ratio support to your bullpen before the final push to most trading deadlines begins. The PITCHf/x leaderboards have glorious hallways in which to wander searching for sound investments, and to that end here's a sample of four relievers who've caught my eye as potential second-half assets in formats that value bullpen arms for one reason or another.
Justin Wilson, LHP, Detroit Tigers
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June 30, 2016 6:00 am
Wilson recomments targeting these young'uns in midseason dynasty drafts and trades.
We've reached that point in the season where the minor leagues start to play their all-star games, and the first-half performers start migrating to their next respective levels, and the recent crop of draft picks starts to matriculate into short-season play, and the world is sunny and beautiful for prospect hounds. I play in a couple dynasty leagues that have mid-season prospect drafts, and I've always enjoyed the format. On one hand, it tends to encourage further prospect trading, as managers get faster and looser with their farmhands knowing they can replenish the coffers with recent draftees and J2 signees in short order. And on the other, there tends to be an opportunity to grab some helium guys that can get lost in the shuffle of the race to snag the newest first-rounders. So with that as my backdrop, here's a list of some personal favorites to either make a play for in trade over the next couple weeks or add to your target list for an upcoming prospect draft.
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June 24, 2016 6:00 am
Examining the players who've earned their fantasy pay to this point in the season and those who haven't.
We are about 72 games into the season and closing in on the true halfway mark. So it seems like as good a time as any to take a look at the hitters and pitchers who have delivered for their fantasy teams so far and the ones who have not.
Table 1: Top 10 Salaries, 2016 AL Pitchers Through June 22
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June 17, 2016 6:00 am
A look at what's been holding the White Sox slugger back, and whether he might soon emerge from his slump.
As of Mike Gianella's most recent valuation update a couple of weeks ago, Abreu was on pace for merely a $12 AL-only season--good for just 15th among first-base-eligible hitters in the junior circuit. He's since rebounded with his first sustained hot streak of the season across his last dozen games, dropping a .370/.396/.630 line with three dingers and 18 R+RBI to take some of that early-season sting out of it for mixed leaguers who, on average, bough him 21st overall in mixed NFBC drafts. Still, he remains well below his level of expected production in the macro sense, and we're deep enough into the season that we need to be asking ourselves with straight faces whether recent hot streaks like Abreu's are in fact sustainable turn-arounds, or whether they're temporary beacons among more troubled seas. So let's dive under the hood and figure out what went wrong early, why it's not going wrong now, and whether it's likely to go wrong again over the next three and a half months.
Let's start with the basics: Abreu's BABIP is down, sitting at present at a nominally-above-league-average mark of .299 that is well south of the .356 and .333 marks he posted across his first two campaigns. And sure enough, he's hitting less line drives than he ever has while seeing a boost in his fly ball contact. It hasn't been better fly ball contact, however, and courtesy of Statcast we can see that he's hitting the ball with less authority overall this year:
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June 17, 2016 6:00 am
Why high-average hitters might be undervalued commodities in fantasy formats.
In response to one of my FAAB Reviews, a reader wanted to know why John Jaso was treated like such a fungible commodity in LABR Mixed:
I'm a little perplexed how John Jaso was available for such a low bid, he's a high OBP guy on the strong side of a platoon batting lead off in a top-5 offense. Even in my home league, a deep mixer that counts OBP, he went undrafted and has been picked up and dropped to waivers twice. Maybe he's one of those players who is more valuable in real life than fantasy?
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June 10, 2016 10:49 am
Helping you get the most out of your swaps this summer.
Flags Fly Forever. Hey, that's the name of the podcast I co-host weekly with Bret Sayre and producer George Bissell. So I know a thing or two about going for it at all costs, decimating my team's future in pursuit of a title, and sacrificing the potential plum of back-to-back championships in favor of a "certain" win this year. As a rule of thumb, this is sage advice. If you are on the fence about a trade in a keeper or dynasty league because you are worried you are giving up too much value, odds are good that you should make the trade immediately and worry about 2017 and beyond later.
Yet there are cases where you can go too far and sacrifice too much future in exchange for the present. This seems to fly in the face of the advice that every fantasy expert has ever dispensed. But there are cases where it can happen.
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June 9, 2016 11:06 am
Viewing the Cal League's first-half standouts through a fantasy lens.
Yesterday the California League All-Star roster was announced for the upcoming Cal-Carolina League All-Star Game at Lake Elsinore. On paper it's the weakest crop by a good bit in the three years I've been covering the league, but there are certainly still plenty of fantasy-relevant names littering the roster that bare some discussion. Let's take a look at some of them, and then I'll follow it up with some notes on a few of the more notable non-All Stars from around the league as well.
Travis Demeritte, 2B, Texas Rangers (High Desert Mavericks) – Demeritte is a prototypical boom-or-bust fantasy prospect, with the latter the more likely outcome. He frequently loses his mechanics with wild swings from the heels, and after taking the Cal League by storm in April the book has gradually circulated on him and pitchers have been much more successful at keeping him in the yard and off the bases of late. He's got a ton of strength and bat speed though, and the ability to provide a useful power-speed combination at a shallow position, though it's likely to come with a low AVG. He's in the conversation to be a top-150 dynasty prospect at this point, but it's a high-risk profile and managers would do just as well to move Demeritte now if they're able to before Double-A pitchers sink their teeth into him.
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